***This is the first of a four part series looking at the biggest factors surrounding a move to the FBS.
Ah… the new age old question of FCS football, to go or not to go? We’ve heard this drum beat about the move to FBS get louder and louder to our north to the point that it has become nauseating and induces mostly eye rolls and sighs of exhaustion from many folks who follow the subdivision, including yours truly. But with success and the number of teams that have moved on to the supposed greener pastures of FBS, it is something of a natural progression for a program and a fanbase when they reach the pinnacle of the mountain that is the FCS. In fact, with certain movement within the local media market and, with other media companies moving into the Sioux Falls area, I fully expect that drum beat to gradually start down here within the media and some of the SDSU faithful. In fact, it already has to an extent, if you are a regular listener of the Nobody’s Listening Anyways podcast that is cohosted by friend of JI Matt Zimmer and John Gaskins. They have had the conversation several times about potential moves to FBS concerning either of the xDSU schools. We’ve even had that discussion among ourselves here at Jackrabbit Illustrated. With what I see as a debate that is inevitable, particularly if Coach Rogers keeps the program at or around the same level that Coach Stig has built it to, I thought I might take this opportunity during the slower time of the off season to throw out some general thoughts about what a FBS move might take, how it could happen, and what the best scenario might be should the opportunity present itself.
Competition
One of the main arguments for moving to FBS is that the FCS has become watered down with all the departures over the last decade or so, and while that can be a very compelling argument at first blush, its not quite as simple as teams X,Y,Z left so everyone left is garbage. Losing teams like Georgia Southern, App State, JMU, and even Sam Houston or Jacksonville St absolutely hurts. There is a couple more than that even that have left along the lines of UMASS or Coastal Carolina that were solid programs at one point or were programs on the rise. However, there are some other key factors that have happened at the same time as these programs left that have had an effect on the strength of the subdivision as well. Montana and Montana St both fell off as programs, particularly Montana. Montana was a perennial top seed in the playoffs and has become a team that is on the road in the second round, if they even made the playoffs at all. Teams like Delaware, Villanova, UNI, Wofford, Furman, Stephen F Austin, and McNeese have had their programs fall off from where their programs used to be at one time or another. Two or three of those programs were a part of the blue bloods of the subdivision. If you have even half of those programs raise the level of their programs back up to their former glory, you have one hell of a fun playoff. It is possible for the subdivision to become as competitive as it was pre-NDSU title streak.
There is another side to this. SDSU and NDSU have both moved up and become national powers, admittedly with SDSU elevating it’s program in an effort to chase the incredible run that NDSU has had. If you look back on some of the talent on the field for Marker Games of the past 7 years or so, without actually doing a deep dive on the true numbers, I would fairly confidently state that there was on average 10+ future NFL players on the field for each game if you’re looking at the whole roster and not by a class. That’s an insane amount of talent for the FCS level. This can skew how the rest of the division looks in comparison, but also lends itself to the argument that the xDSU’s have more in common with the FBS/G5 programs than with the FCS.
With the departure of all the previously mentioned schools, you can make the argument that there has been an emergence of an extra tier of college athletics. That would be the G5 schools. Part of the driving force behind the jump to FCS was to be in the second tier of college athletics, and with how that world has evolved you can say that the G5 has evolved into that second tier above the FCS. Its partly why many in the FCS would so desperately love to see the long prophesied “split” happen with the Power 5 and G5, with the merger between the top of FCS and the G5 to create a new level within the NCAA with its own playoff. As it sits, that hasn’t happened yet. If it does happen, that’s where schools like the xDSU’s want to be. If you want to be best prepared to compete in that level, and assure yourself a seat at that table, then the G5 is where you want to be before the split happens. You would have your budget set and ready to go to compete with those schools you consider your peers and you would have to fight to get into that hypothetical division. In the end, with things as they are the xDSU’s still want to be in that second tier.
The other issue that exists is this. The reality of the FCS is the fact that it was created as an avenue for schools to field a Division I athletic department without having to have the monstrous financial and institutional commitment to football that the FBS demands. The vast majority of FCS schools are basketball first schools that happen to field a DI football team. They aren’t looking at football as a priority or a revenue generator, because they look at basketball as the far more profitable venture for a small school. And the reality is, for most of them that is the correct way to look at it. The majority of these schools aren’t state schools, and many, many of them are surrounded by FBS programs drawing away their fanbase to those games. The FCS was created as a cost containment subdivision for schools to be DI. It’s the reality of it. There are fewer and fewer FCS schools that put a strong emphasis on their football programs, there aren’t a lot of Montanas, Dakotas, or Delawares left in the subdivision. And that’s frustrating to folks on both sides of that fence. The schools like the Dakota schools get irritated that their competition doesn’t want to invest to the degree it would take to raise the level of the subdivision across the board, and a fair amount of schools see them as “massive” state schools bullying the other kids on the playground.
Go Jacks,
Brendan
Brendan is a cohost of the wildly successful “B-Team Podcast” and the author of this four part series.
One Response
It seems like the argument is to keep chasing the brass ring and figure a way to hit the sweet spot between FCS and G5. Is there any evidence to suggest that the target is fixed and immobile? Or is that target shifting and moving as the economic factors of D1 athletics shift and move as well? Programs rise and fall. The sun doesn’t shine on the same dog’s rear end every day. The Jacks, fortunately, are on the top of the FCS pile. I hope they can stay there for awhile. If they can, then maybe that’s the time to take the jump.