Football Scheduling

[lehigh90Participant]

This piggybacks off of my prior discussion about pros and cons of a conference move in football and basketball (Colonial?).

I looked at the final poll for last season in Div 1-AA. For the top 15, here is a look at out of conference D-1 FBS opponents each team played.

1. ND St – @ Minnesota
2. Sam Houston St – @ New Mexico
3. Ga Southern – @ Alabama
4. Montana – @ Tennessee
5. Northern Iowa – @ Iowa St
6. Lehigh – NONE
7. Montana St – @ Utah
8. Maine – @ Pitt
9. Towson – @ Maryland
10. Old Dominion – NONE
11. Appalachian St – @ Virginia Tech
12. New Hampshire – @ Toledo
13. Wofford – @ Clemson
14. James Madison – @ North Carolina
15. Central Arkansas – @ La Tech

You will see only Lehigh and ODU do not have a D-1 FBS team on the schedule. And, both do not again this season. With ODU potentially headed to Conference USA, that will leave Lehigh as the only team not to play a game at the higher level.

Would anybody like to see an FBS opponent on upcoming schedules? I would. Usually these are regional type games, so Lehigh could play Pitt, Penn St, Syracuse, BC, UConn or newly minted FBS UMass. I think if Lehigh wants to consider itself an elite 1-AA FCS program, then this is a must. Alumni would probably like it, and maybe you get an upset here or there (others have done it).

UMass has done a great job with their upcoming schedule and move up. Outside of the MAC teams, they are playing UConn (good rivalry game), Indiana, Michigan and Vanderbilt.

This year, we have Monmouth (return game from last year), Central Conn St, Princeton (return game) and Liberty (return game). With only 7 Patriot League football teams, you even have one extra spot to schedule it. I think it would add a lot of excitement to a very lackluster OOC schedule.

Or, is there some Patriot League rule that you cannot schedule a D-1 opponent?

• This topic was modified 11 years, 11 months ago by  lehigh90.

[LU65Participant]

No such rule re: scheduling FBS opponents. Recall Colgate vs. Syracuse in 2010 and Fordham vs. Army and UConn in 2011. Back in the day, LU played UConn in 2003 and Buffalo in 2002. We actually won the latter 37-26. Travelled to each – great crowds and excitement. Would love to see Army or Navy – both PL b’ball members – added down the line. Probably takes years of fore-planning to get on their schedules, however. Along those lines, how far out are we booked in football? Anyone know?

[TMHParticipant]

Several thoughts.
1.) I think Lehigh has one other distinction on that list. They are the only non-scholarship listed. With scholarships added next year, I think Joe will be more prone to go that route if such an opening exists.
2.)As a followup to #1, the tradeoff is a big payday vs getting your team banged up. To that end, I would love to see Army or Navy back on the schedule. A MAC team could be intriguing. Penn State or Pitt could be an embarrassment which doesn’t serve us well.
3.)I’m not sure how scheduling works now but they used to be completed about 2-3 years in advance. We settled in on 11 games with 6 being intraleague (incl Fordham) and 3 pledged to the Ivies, leaving only 2 to play with. Has the Ivy status changed?

[vanParticipant]

You are missing some facts. First, Lehigh is D-1. Second, a FBS team can only count a win towards being bowl eligible if the opponent carries 57.5 (I believe that is the #) football scholarships. This is why PL, Ivy and PFL teams very rarely get a FBS game. Colgate/Cuse is a very rare exception. Joe has no chance of scheduling a BCS game at this point. In 4 years when we get to that scholarship level, we stand a good chance of getting a money game on occasion. Army, Navy, Rutgers, Duke, Stanford, Vanderbilt would be my favorites. Not before. Don’t believe there is a pledge to Ivy for a specfic # of games, but all PL teams see the Ivy as natural competitors and gladly schedule with them. Georgetown fans occasionally opine that they don’t get their share.

[TMHParticipant]

Thanks van. Somewhere in the back of this dementia addled head of mine I thought that when the Patriot League was 1st formed, there was a relationship formed with the Ivy League. I recall there initially being disagreements with respect to spring practices etc. I also thought at that time that both leagues agreed to play 3 games/season against each other. That relationship may have dissolved as we strayed farther from the Ivy regulations or as I said earlier dementia may be winning.

[lehigh90Participant]

I didn’t realize the scholarship limit issue on 1-AA games counting toward bowl eligibility. I am surprised a school like Wofford (which is really small) and others in that conference are fully funded scholarships to that level. Apparently, it is 90% of 63 scholarships or 57, so that makes sense as to why it hasn’t happened up until now. Apparently, the going rate for the 1-AA team to show up and generally get beat is about $500K.

On the other note, you can call Lehigh D 1 if you want, but they are D 1-AA, or in today’s terms they are FCS (Football Championship Series) not FBS (Football Bowl Series). They could end up playing an FBS school in the future that is not a BCS school (Bowl Championship Series) as the BCS is only ACC, SEC, Big 12, Pac 12, Big East, and Big 10.

• This reply was modified 11 years, 11 months ago by  lehigh90.

[TMHParticipant]

I’m a bit confused now. Does the 57 scholarship rule only apply to BCS schools or any FBS team? I would love to see Lehigh play Army or Navy again. I miss the boat rides.

[lehigh90Participant]

Any FBS.

[sundayamqbParticipant]

The Army games used to be competitive. Navy, Vandy, Wake Forest, Duke, Tulane, Northwestern, Syracuse, Temple would be very challenging, but interesting, matchups, too …

[lehigh90Participant]

That Navy triple option is very tough to stop, especially if you only see it once every few years. I would probably try to avoid them. I have seen games where they just maul people with a run/pass mix of about 75/2.

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