The unofficial online home for fans of the UAB Blazers. Part of Collegiate Sports Nation (CSN).

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/e0dd8c1fc...vs-power-5

I would imagine he is not alone in this thinking...

But, this will be a common theme:

Last season, ULM played three SEC teams, losing all three games. But coach Todd Berry foresees going from two Power Five opponents this season back up to three in upcoming years because of recent cuts to Louisiana's state higher education budgets.

"Until we get more money from our university, we've got to play those games," Berry said. "I know that's against the conference's wishes, but they can take it up with my president."

You're pretty much sending your team to gallows most of the time, but that money, exposure, and experience favors smaller programs seeking to establish themselves. Now those body bag games against teams from a lower division should be reconsidered, but we're all FBS teams.

More than that, you're not going to a premier bowl game no matter how many wins you pick up if your schedule is soft. Then again, maybe I just feel this way since UAB actually fairs relatively well in a lot of those kind of games.

ULM has the smallest budget in all of FBS. It's amazing any of their sports are as competitive as they are.

If you don't get enough money from you university then maybe it's time to evaluate if it is viable to maintain a FBS program. I agree with the commissioner in getting away from playing these "pay games". You also have to find alternatives to making money. Increasing home attendance is one way to do that. There are always alternatives, you just have to be creative enough to find them.

(07-21-2015 10:32 AM)BeliefBlazer Wrote:  ULM has the smallest budget in all of FBS. It's amazing any of their sports are as competitive as they are.

The State/board of Louisiana had a policy of limiting deficits to seven million a year. This was before the I rather run for President than actually govern the state- Jindal was in charge. Even LSU has been held to that standard when they occasionally overspend. We are going to have a hard time to keep it to 20 Million and get what we need,

"Cutting back on money games" is the same as an employee asking his boss for a pay cut with no matching reduction of his/her costs of living. The expenses of playing a Bama type school is not less than those of playing a ULM type of school.

As long as the P5 schools are the millionaire programs and the G5 schools are the hundred thousandaire programs, it is not realistic to ask the latter to play for less. The problem is that the NCAA makes no effort to keep the P5 schools from playing the G5 schools against one another to bid the prices of such games down.