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The SEC and its 14 member schools should be ashamed of this week’s slate of games throughout the conference, a slate littered with lopsided matchups that will surely leave fans wanting more out of the second-to-last weekend of the regular season.
Yes, six of the 14 teams are engaging in all-SEC showdowns this weekend, and yes, two of those three games are quite meaningful in the East and West division races.
But four more SEC schools are stepping out of the FBS altogether to take on a slew of overmatched FCS schools, and fans of all four schools are being cheated out of an exciting college football Saturday as a result. By the end of the weekend, all 14 SEC schools will have played at least one FCS opponent this season, meaning all 14 are guilty of the same cowardly scheduling practices.
It’s time the SEC start picking on someone its own size, and that means eliminating FCS opponents from future schedules.
I already know what you’re thinking.
What about the grueling SEC schedule? Don’t these teams deserve a soft opponent every now and again to compensate for playing in such a tough conference?
And if the NCAA will allow teams to count one FCS win toward bowl eligibility, why shouldn’t a team like Kentucky use every advantage it can to get to six wins and earn the national exposure of a bowl appearance?
Those are fair points. The SEC does present a tougher schedule than any other conference in America, and a team like Kentucky would benefit greatly from a bowl appearance, even if it only got there thanks to a win over UT Martin.
But just because the logic is sound doesn’t mean the concept is fair or good for college football.
If the SEC is truly the best conference in America (and based on the national polls it has been this year), it doesn’t need FCS cupcakes to help prove it. The SEC has collectively lost just three times out of conference all season. So if a team like Kentucky played one of the smaller FBS schools like, say, New Mexico State, rather than its FCS game with UT Martin, would it really make that big of a difference?
Frankly, if a team can’t beat New Mexico State and must rely on an FCS school to get to a bowl, it probably doesn’t deserve to go bowling. Tough break and better luck next year.
If FBS teams can schedule FCS opponents why even separate the two subdivisions of Division I football? There’s already a dramatic gap between the have’s and the have-not’s in the FBS, so if we are going to allow schools to schedule FCS opponents why not just lump the two subdivisions back together and increase the number of have-not’s in the FBS?
The FCS has its own playoff system and its own national champion. It may share in being a part of Division I football, but it is its own world entirely, and should remain separated from the FBS in every way, including the regular season scheduling.
Games like this weekend’s showdowns between Florida and Eastern Kentucky or Auburn and Samford are unfair to fans. Season tickets aren’t cheap, and fans don’t deserve to pay for these worthless games in the midst of a thrilling sprint to the finish this regular season. SEC fans only get 14 college football Saturdays a year, and they hold up their end of the deal each and every weekend. The schools they support ought to do the same by scheduling games fans can get excited about.
Does it really fire up a fan base to take down Charleston Southern at home? Is it really all that exciting to see the walk-ons get their moment in the sun in the second halves of these blowouts? The answer is a resounding no.
But these FCS schools make a lot of money by traveling to lose to an SEC team once a year. Do you really want to cheat those schools out of large sums of money that will benefit their entire university?
This is going to sound cold-hearted a cruel, but yes, I do think the SEC should stop feeding money to these FCS schools in exchange for an effortless win once a year. SEC schools also pay small FBS opponents a lot of money for the same benefit on the schedule. But at least in that scenario the SEC is helping its own subdivision of college football.
Louisiana-Monroe, which has the smallest athletics budget in the FBS, has played and lost to three SEC schools this year alone, all because it needs the money from those games to help finance its football program. In this instance, the SEC is supporting one of its brothers in the FBS, a team that theoretically competes for a spot in the same playoff system and for the same national title (I understand ULM isn’t going to win a national title but technically its possible).
Why send that money down to the FCS, where those schools have their own championship to compete for? Why help strengthen a subdivision you don’t even belong to? Again, it sounds cold, but that’s business, and if FCS schools find themselves short on money that’s not the SEC’s problem.
What is the SEC’s problem is the quality of its scheduling and the quality of the subdivision it belongs to. The conference recently instituted a policy mandating schools play at least one power conference team in the non-conference portion of the schedule each year. It’s already taking steps toward a more legitimate schedule, and eliminating FCS opponents from the equation is another logical step in that process.
Scheduling more small-time FBS opponents, and paying them the money that would have otherwise gone to the FCS, will only make the FBS bottom-feeders stronger, which, again, helps legitimize the SEC’s scheduling across the board.
The FCS is full of quality football teams and competitive matchups, and the success of its playoff system proved the FBS could do the same with its new four-team playoff. But even the best teams in the FCS haven’t achieved what New Mexico State has by reaching the FBS. Take that into consideration and then ask yourself: Is scheduling FCS opponents the right thing to do?
Yes, it might cost some SEC schools a win or two down the line, but a loss to a worthy opponent is still better than a hollow win over Lamar University.
Ultimately, if the SEC is really the best conference in America, a conference that could have as many as 13 bowl eligible teams this year alone, it doesn’t need the FCS. And to take it a step further, it’s disrespectful to fans of college football to play some of the games on this weekend’s schedule.
It’s time the SEC start picking on someone its own size, and it’s time the SEC says goodbye to the FCS.
A former newspaper reporter who has roamed the southeastern United States for years covering football and eating way too many barbecue ribs, if there is such a thing.