Big Ten not scheduling FCS anymore

[golfingomez]

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/8942451/barry-alvarez-says-big-ten-schedule-fcs-teams

RV needs to be on the phone immediately trying to schedule some 1 and 1's with these schools, see if he can't get some more big ten schools to Denton

[Harry]

This could affect them setting higher standards for going FBS (IA). It's too easy to move up now...but if they are eliminating the ability to schedule FCS you could see more FCS schools trying to move up to FBS...

[Arkstfan]

It actually means fewer FBS games. Big 10 is going to adopt a 9 or 10 game schedule. Results in a net loss of non-conference games even if every played an FCS (and four Big 10 did not play an FCS last year).

[El Paso Eagle]

I see it more as eliminating the possibility of one of your teams getting beat by an FCS school and making the conference look bad.

[Mean Green 93-98]

It actually means fewer FBS games. Big 10 is going to adopt a 9 or 10 game schedule. Results in a net loss of non-conference games even if every played an FCS (and four Big 10 did not play an FCS last year).

Didn't know that . . . that makes this new restriction all the tougher. I would think they would want to be able to schedule as easy an OOC slate as possible to balance out a 9-10 conference game grind.

[untjim1995]

This is why I think we don't end up playing one of those Iowa games.

On the other hand, it could also mean that they will not let us out of them, since they will want that guaranteed win...

The latter part of your post is the reality. Iowa will have gotten a bargain for two home games against a low-level FBS team. The cost to pay for a North Texas to come and play a body bag game is probably about to double, since the supply just got cut big time and the demand will still be there from the Big Five AQs.

I actually applaud the Big Ten on this decision. First off, the non-conference game involving an AQ and a FCS team has zero appeal to me. The Appy State Miracle over Michigan won't ever happen again, but I'm ok with that because that literally is the needle in the haystack of typical games like this. Secondly, now that the B1G will have 14 team, they are recognizing that their fans want to play their fellow conference mates as much as possible. Playing 10 games against conference opponents will make your conference season more intriguing, too.

I suspect that this is the beginning of the next culling of FBS down to about 80 or so. The MWC would be the one non-AQ that will still get a few bones thrown to them, but the Big East, CUSA, SBC, and MAC are probably going to be get cut off. They will probably have an attendance requirement, capacity, requirement, and conference affiliation to be considered FBS in the next move.