I am interested in conference realignment of FBS schools. I wish I could find more serious discussion on UFFP about how that is going to affect Furman and FCS generally in the future. Thanks to the 5 or so participants on this board who have given serious comments - they are good. I continue to look for more.
I cannot find the article now, but one writer stated his opinion that a likelihood is for the big conferences to partner (for example ACC & Big Ten or ACC & PAC-12, etc.), whereby they will no longer need to schedule any FCS games. They will have their conference opponents (likely being even 1 more conference opponents than they have presently, due to conference realignment and enlargement) plus their OOC rivals in some cases (such as Clemson-UofSC, UGA-GT, UF-FSU, UK-UL, Michigan-ND, Iowa-Iowa State), AND THEN PLUS 1 or 2 games each season from their partner conference (for example, NC State rotating schedule featuring Wisconsin, Rutgers, Nebraska, and all the rest of the Big 10 over a period of years, or featuring Oregon State, Arizona, Cal, and all the rest of the Big 12 over a period of years). An NC State or a Clemson or a Virginia Tech or a Pittsburgh, etc., will no longer have any need or any space on their schedule to play Furman or any other FCS team.
Additionally, all the other FBS schools are talking about conference realignment and expansion, so Furman's chances to play a Georgia State, a UCF, etc., may disappear, as their conferences get bigger or as their conferences get absorbed by or partnered with other FBS conferences.
**** A Forbes article on July 25, 2021, by Tom Layberger, SportsMoney, is titled "Only 15 of 130 FBS Teams Will Not Play An FCS Team During 2021 College Football Season".
"Scheduling non-conference games is not the easiest thing. That is especially the case for, but not limited to, teams that have only three such dates. Broken agreements can leave a team scrambling to fill a vacancy, and ultimately scheduling an opponent it otherwise would not. At least in some cases, that is how FCS teams appear on schedules of FBS teams. Of course, there are a handful of FBS teams that routinely schedule FCS opponents. Whatever the case, only 15 of 130 FBS programs do not have an FCS team on their schedule in 2021. Among them are Notre Dame, UCLA and USC, the only programs that have not played FCS teams since D1 split into I-! and I-AA prior to the 1978 season. That is scheduled to change next year (see UCLA) and it looked like it was going to change this year (see USC).
[********] Here is an alphabetical look at the ...[other 12 FBS] teams, with a note on the last time they played an FCS opponent. In many cases, games against FCS teams last year were cancelled due to the pandemic.
-Boise State (...last FCS was 45-10 over Portland State, 2019)
-Georgia State (...last FCS was 48-42 win against Furman in 2019)
-Illinois (...last FCS was 38 14 win against Western Illinois in 2018)
-Iowa (...last FCS was 38-14 over Northern Iowa - who they have played 7 times since 1995 and would have played in 2020 except for pandemic - the schools are 90 miles apart)
- Michigan (...last FCS was 42-37 over FCS [at that time, 2010] UMass)
-Minnesota (...last FCS was 2019 win over FCS #4 SD State; they would have played Furman 2021 opponent Tennessee Tech last season, except for pandemic)
-Navy (... last FCS was 45-7 over Holy Cross in 2019; Navy was scheduled to play Lafayette last year, except for pandemic; as a member of the Patriot League in all sports but football, the Middies have often scheduled games FCS teams from the Patriot; additionally, they have also scheduled games in fairly recent years against nearby FCS teams such as Towson, Delaware [often], and VMI)
- Ohio State (... last FCS was 2013 against FAMU, who lost 76-0, but got $900,000 for the game; this year, OSU brings in 2 teams that are perhaps FCS-like but are actually FBS, namely Akron [who will get $1,800,000] and Tulsa [who will get $1,100,000])
-Purdue (... last FCS was 2016, 45-24 over EKU)
-Stanford (... last FCS was 2018, 30-10 over UC-Davis [who beat Stanford in 2005, 20-17]; Stanford would have played William & Mary in 2020, except for the pandemic)
-Texas (... last FCS was 1992, 33-15 over NTSU, who was FBS until 1982 and who returned to FBS in 1995)
-Wisconsin (... last FCS was 2013, a 37-3 win over Western Illinois; Wisconsin would have played FCS Southern Illinois in 2020, except for the pandemic)
[REGARDING UCLA AND USC:]
-UCLA (...last FCS = never; will play FCS Alabama State in 2022 and will play FCS North Carolina Central in 2023; those 2 came onto the schedule as a result of Michigan cancelling a 2021/2022 home and home with UCLA)
-USC (... has had FCS UC-Davis scheduled temporarily for 2021 but paid UC-Davis $725,000 when USC cancelled on UC-Davis). [*********] "
END OF ARTICLE
END OF POST !