U Miss FCS?

[Saint3333]

We often remember things the way we want to remember them. The quality of football the last few years has been improved, I don't think anyone can argue that.

[WVAPPeer]

Nope - not arguing anything - just looked up the facts because I was remembering several fingernail biting games - I remember being behind Elon 24-0 and getting text after text until about the 4th Q ---

[AtlAppMan]

I miss FCS like I miss junior high. It was fun and I have great memories, but I don't want to go back. Things get more challenging but much better as we keep moving forward.

Haha, this one made me laugh.
Yep, in junior high you were walking around smiling like you were a big man on campus. Later you realize you were really just a skinny kid with pimples in a small town school.

Now you are out in the real world competing with the best of the best in the world, and you know that is a real accomplishment.

[diehardapp18]

We've played a home game against Miami already, and we have upcoming games at home against UNC, Wake Forest and East Carolina. How could anyone miss the FCS

[bigdaddyg]

In a few years we will be referred to as the team that beat Wake, UNC and ECU and the FCS era will fade just like the NAIA or Carolinas conference eras. They will always be great memories but the future looks awesome

[SayYesToTheRock]

CUSA's bowls sound nice, but in reality none are within driving distance for the majority of our fanbase. For the conference as a whole, the SBC's bowl set up is much more fan friendly.

I agree that the Belt's bowl locations are better. I'm only envious of C-USA's Big Ten matchup in the Heart of Dallas Bowl.

To really be on par with C-USA, the Sun Belt needs to secure a tie-in with a P5 opponent.

[NewApp]

We've played a home game against Miami already, and we have upcoming games at home against UNC, Wake Forest and East Carolina. How could anyone miss the FCS

Only things I miss are being able to go to conference road games and the crowds we had. When I went to the UL-L game a couple years ago, it sounded like a high school game. Overall, I'm glad where we are, though.

[bigdaddyg]

The stadium attendance thing is a downer with several road conference games. I'm amazed some of these programs survive at the higher level.

[WVAPPeer]

The stadium attendance thing is a downer with several road conference games. I'm amazed some of these programs survive at the higher level.

That has been the only real disappointment with the SB - the paltry away crowds - not our fans, the home fans - there were a couple of games I watched over the last 2 years where our small but vocal fans made more noise --- I just expected crowds in the 20,000 range for just about every game - might have been 200 at the GA Dome

[AppOrange]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-K7fCQlUhj0

This post haunts me, lol

My answer is a definite no, the FCS was great but we outgrew that challenge.


I check in everyday to see if Carbine is going to respond . . .

[EastHallApp]

CUSA's bowls sound nice, but in reality none are within driving distance for the majority of our fanbase. For the conference as a whole, the SBC's bowl set up is much more fan friendly.

I agree that the Belt's bowl locations are better. I'm only envious of C-USA's Big Ten matchup in the Heart of Dallas Bowl.

To really be on par with C-USA, the Sun Belt needs to secure a tie-in with a P5 opponent.

On paper, yes. But it's so far down the B1G pecking order (or Big 12 in alternating years) that how often will they actually have enough teams to fill the spot? That bowl was North Texas vs. Army last year, for example. Best case is probably playing a 6-6 team that wasn't a big enough name for any of their better tie-ins to select.

[JTApps1]

The stadium attendance thing is a downer with several road conference games. I'm amazed some of these programs survive at the higher level.

That has been the only real disappointment with the SB - the paltry away crowds - not our fans, the home fans - there were a couple of games I watched over the last 2 years where our small but vocal fans made more noise --- I just expected crowds in the 20,000 range for just about every game - might have been 200 at the GA Dome

Keep in mind we are also plying in much larger stadiums now. In the SoCon only two other schools had over 20k seats, and other than GS and maybe two trips to Elon nobody ever had a sold out stadium. Of course Elon had around 9,000 seats so its easy to fill that place up especially when we had half the crowd.

Our game at Arkansas State two years ago was about half full which means there was roughly 15,000 fans. That crowd would have been a sell out or very close to it at all but two SoCon stadiums.

I do wish some schools did better (GSU is likely a lost cause), but the number of fans are still well above anything we saw in the SoCon outside of the GS which came with us. Every game being on TV also hurts Sun Belt attendance which was never an issue in the SoCon.

[Saint3333]

CUSA's bowls sound nice, but in reality none are within driving distance for the majority of our fanbase. For the conference as a whole, the SBC's bowl set up is much more fan friendly.

I agree that the Belt's bowl locations are better. I'm only envious of C-USA's Big Ten matchup in the Heart of Dallas Bowl.

To really be on par with C-USA, the Sun Belt needs to secure a tie-in with a P5 opponent.

CUSA will likely lose that tie in (which isn't always filled see EHA's post above) before long and certainly before the SBC picks up a bowl tie in with a P5.

[Yosef84]

I have many fond memories of FCS football, and the playoff system was great, but I don't miss it and certainly wouldn't want to return. I also don't want to re-create the FCS by splitting FBS down the middle and having a playoff for G5. Our FCS/I-AA national championships were great, and I'm not diminishing them but to the reality is that once we had accomplished that it was time to move on. The quality of the product on the field by Wofford, Furman and certain others was often VERY good and that really wasn't the issue either. Those were fun rivalries, but as App began winning consistently, year after year, we found ourselves in the same situation as many FBS schools who played FCS....No real bragging rights when we win (it was expected) but it was a HUGE embarrassment when we lost (loss to Wofford in 2007 after the Michigan win).

The great thing about FBS is that we can now have intermediate goals, which makes even re-building years more interesting. It's true that we seem to be winning by similar margins but anyone who thinks our level of competition hasn't jumped up is mistaken. I think that assumption ignores the achievements of the team who are playing at a higher level than we've ever had before (end to end depth and athleticism and execution). We had some players in FCS who could be stars on today's team, but we have made significant strides in overall quality of players and depth. The best teams in the SoCon this past year (UTC, Wofford, Citadel) would have struggled to make the top half of the SunBelt.

I still appreciate FCS football and believe it is a good product. I just think we had outgrown it. Those are great memories and good rivalries. I'm enjoying our current journey too much to think about to much though.

[AtlAppMan]

Elon Football stadium

Elonstadium

Elon Football stadium.jpg (15.84 KiB) Viewed 5497 times

Georgia 6A Football Stadium

ValdostaHSstadium

ValdostaHSstadium.jpg (49.83 KiB) Viewed 5497 times

This pretty much somes it up as to why it is better to be FBS and not FCS.

[EastHallApp]

Has anyone ever actually disputed on this board that the level of play is higher in FBS than FCS? I've often seen posts refuting that claim, but I'm not sure I've ever actually seen anyone make it. (And can't imagine why they would.)

[Yosef84]

Has anyone ever actually disputed on this board that the level of play is higher in FBS than FCS? I've often seen posts refuting that claim, but I'm not sure I've ever actually seen anyone make it. (And can't imagine why they would.)

Yes, I do think some of the detractors have made that claim although not as much recently. My comment was actually prompted by something you said. I don't think it was your intent to say the level of competition hadn't increased, but some readers might read it that way. I didn't "quote" you on my statement because I wasn't attempting to create a debate....just making a comment.

"Eh, other than maybe 2006, I think we had more competitive games than that. Plus it's not like we're exactly fighting tooth and nail every week in the Sun Belt. We haven't really had more competitive games here the past couple years than we did in the SoCon.

Fortunately, I enjoy watching us beat the crap out of teams, so I have no complaint about that. "

[B30020]

I miss the FCS like I miss my ex-wife.

[AppinVA]

I miss the FCS like I miss my ex-wife.

Close the thread. We have a winner.

[WataugaMan]

I miss the FCS like I miss my ex-wife.

U2,