(12-01-2022 07:26 PM)Todor Wrote:  For anyone who hasn’t heard anything about the NMSU football season- San Jose State was due to play in Las Cruces in October but had a player pass away in an accident and the game was cancelled.

That left us with 11 games, including an already scheduled FCS team. We contacted multiple FBS teams to play this Saturday, including San Jose, and but we were unable to secure an FBS opponent.

We applied for and have now received a waiver to put us in ahead of any 5-7 teams due to the circumstances out of our control. The Valpo game was just announced within the last few days, and while not affecting our bowl eligibility, will help make up for the lost home date.

Incidentally, Valpo has never played an FBS team before. They usually play one scholarship FCS team a year, some lower level non conference teams, and then Pioneer League. I believe the amount I saw was $425,000 to come to Las Cruces. The article I read on Valpos website sounded like they were pretty excited about the opportunity, especially since they thought they had played their final game and players new nothing about the possibility of another game.

I know some may have followed us fairly closely this season, while many others may not have at all. For those that have not, you’re basically caught up.

Great analysis here, I have one other tidbit of information. The reason they haven’t played an fbs team before and it’s even more digestible for them to get a payday is because they are nonscholly. There are a lot of levels to what makes an fcs win count towards bowl eligibility and amount of scholarships is one factor.

Take it easy on those Valpo boys.

Score will get ugly.

(12-02-2022 08:24 AM)Ewglenn Wrote:  

(12-01-2022 07:26 PM)Todor Wrote:  For anyone who hasn’t heard anything about the NMSU football season- San Jose State was due to play in Las Cruces in October but had a player pass away in an accident and the game was cancelled.

That left us with 11 games, including an already scheduled FCS team. We contacted multiple FBS teams to play this Saturday, including San Jose, and but we were unable to secure an FBS opponent.

We applied for and have now received a waiver to put us in ahead of any 5-7 teams due to the circumstances out of our control. The Valpo game was just announced within the last few days, and while not affecting our bowl eligibility, will help make up for the lost home date.

Incidentally, Valpo has never played an FBS team before. They usually play one scholarship FCS team a year, some lower level non conference teams, and then Pioneer League. I believe the amount I saw was $425,000 to come to Las Cruces. The article I read on Valpos website sounded like they were pretty excited about the opportunity, especially since they thought they had played their final game and players new nothing about the possibility of another game.

I know some may have followed us fairly closely this season, while many others may not have at all. For those that have not, you’re basically caught up.

Great analysis here, I have one other tidbit of information. The reason they haven’t played an fbs team before and it’s even more digestible for them to get a payday is because they are nonscholly. There are a lot of levels to what makes an fcs win count towards bowl eligibility and amount of scholarships is one factor.

While it's technically true that Valpo does not offer football scholarships, they do give scholarships to athletes based on need. That's a good way to get around the scholarship issue.

(12-02-2022 11:55 AM)MinerInWisconsin Wrote:  While it's technically true that Valpo does not offer football scholarships, they do give scholarships to athletes based on need. That's a good way to get around the scholarship issue.

Interestingly, a non-scholarship school can give scholarships to athletes based on need or any number of other criteria such as leadership, academics, service, etc. If you had the access to the information on D3 athletes, you might well be surprised at how many of them receive scholarships based on the "non-athletic" criteria. Non-scholarship FCS schools do exactly the same thing.

(12-02-2022 11:55 AM)MinerInWisconsin Wrote:  

(12-02-2022 08:24 AM)Ewglenn Wrote:  

(12-01-2022 07:26 PM)Todor Wrote:  For anyone who hasn’t heard anything about the NMSU football season- San Jose State was due to play in Las Cruces in October but had a player pass away in an accident and the game was cancelled.

That left us with 11 games, including an already scheduled FCS team. We contacted multiple FBS teams to play this Saturday, including San Jose, and but we were unable to secure an FBS opponent.

We applied for and have now received a waiver to put us in ahead of any 5-7 teams due to the circumstances out of our control. The Valpo game was just announced within the last few days, and while not affecting our bowl eligibility, will help make up for the lost home date.

Incidentally, Valpo has never played an FBS team before. They usually play one scholarship FCS team a year, some lower level non conference teams, and then Pioneer League. I believe the amount I saw was $425,000 to come to Las Cruces. The article I read on Valpos website sounded like they were pretty excited about the opportunity, especially since they thought they had played their final game and players new nothing about the possibility of another game.

I know some may have followed us fairly closely this season, while many others may not have at all. For those that have not, you’re basically caught up.

Great analysis here, I have one other tidbit of information. The reason they haven’t played an fbs team before and it’s even more digestible for them to get a payday is because they are nonscholly. There are a lot of levels to what makes an fcs win count towards bowl eligibility and amount of scholarships is one factor.

While it's technically true that Valpo does not offer football scholarships, they do give scholarships to athletes based on need. That's a good way to get around the scholarship issue.

Just about every college does that. Ivys do it too. They choose to focus their attention on other things but the AD has to do their homework to make sure the pioneer league teams meet the requirements for Bowl eligibility.

(12-02-2022 11:45 PM)Todor Wrote:  I am posting this in an existing thread that it fits in because I don’t want to impose on your board with a bunch of threads about future members.

If anyone on this board tracks basketball NET rankings, here’s where the incoming members currently stand.

78 New Mexico State
118 Liberty
148 Jacksonville State
153 Sam Houston
224 Kennesaw State

Early in the year yet-- BUT point WELL taken.

Noteworthy--Liberty and JSU are not even having great seasons-- and they can/have done better.

Basketball will really be superb AND baseball too--- remember we have perennial top 20 Dallas Baptist (baseball only) starting THIS year.

SO... WHY do we even need SFA, EKU, and Austin Peay?????????????

(12-02-2022 11:45 PM)Todor Wrote:  I am posting this in an existing thread that it fits in because I don’t want to impose on your board with a bunch of threads about future members.

If anyone on this board tracks basketball NET rankings, here’s where the incoming members currently stand.

78 New Mexico State
118 Liberty
148 Jacksonville State
153 Sam Houston
224 Kennesaw State

I might be in the minority but I’d rather keep up with C-USA 4.0 basketball even though conference play for 3.0 is around the corner. Can’t wait for the 2023-24 season.

(12-03-2022 12:49 AM)TOPSTRAIGHT Wrote:  

(12-02-2022 11:45 PM)Todor Wrote:  I am posting this in an existing thread that it fits in because I don’t want to impose on your board with a bunch of threads about future members.

If anyone on this board tracks basketball NET rankings, here’s where the incoming members currently stand.

78 New Mexico State
118 Liberty
148 Jacksonville State
153 Sam Houston
224 Kennesaw State

Early in the year yet-- BUT point WELL taken.

Noteworthy--Liberty and JSU are not even having great seasons-- and they can/have done better.

Basketball will really be superb AND baseball too--- remember we have perennial top 20 Dallas Baptist (baseball only) starting THIS year.

SO... WHY do we even need SFA, EKU, and Austin Peay?????????????

Folks, I screwed up. I apologize. I was looking at numbers from the CBS Sports site and they are listing last years NET next to this years team records and schedules. I didn’t notice.

However, a kind Lamar fan (LUSportsFan) was gracious enough to point it out and post the Sagarin ratings from THIS season to look at.

https://sagarin.usatoday.com/2023-2/coll...s-2022-23/

I’d post the numbers for the incoming teams, but I’m on my phone right now and the formatting is a jumbled mess that is too hard to read.