I am seeing the thread on the main MAC board about Saban's recommendation for the automatically rewarded conferences to only play themselves in a superconference type format. Obviously this does appear like its going to happen, which begs the question will you support NIU football when it becomes part of a lesser division. I am afraid my answer would be nay.

Less interest in NIU. Zero interest in any super conference activities.

75% of the current AQ teams could not handle the schedule. Many would not be bowl eligible.

I see this as a move to a 9 game SEC schedule and most P5 schools stop scheduling FCS teams.

Less interest in NIU. Zero interest in any super conference activities.

Less interest in NIU. No interest in any super conference games. I would make it a point not to watch any of them.

Same interest in NIU, possibly more. Could care less about the money hoarder conferences.

(05-14-2013 05:58 PM)NIU007 Wrote:  Less interest in NIU. No interest in any super conference games. I would make it a point not to watch any of them.

I feel the same way as you and HuskieJ, Id be done with college football alltogether.

(05-14-2013 05:31 PM)HuskieJohn Wrote:  75% of the current AQ teams could not handle the schedule. Many would not be bowl eligible.

I see this as a move to a 9 game SEC schedule and most P5 schools stop scheduling FCS teams.

Bowl eligibility will be a non-factor since the AQ conferences will essentially be making their own set of rules if/when this happens.

I would still have the same level of passion and interest in HUSKIE football. It might be fun to watch our team in a Natl championship game which would then be a real possibility.

(05-14-2013 06:49 PM)bikechuck Wrote:  I would still have the same level of passion and interest in HUSKIE football. It might be fun to watch our team in a Natl championship game which would then be a real possibility.

Yea, the one thing about it is that NIU would be in a division more like FCS where they could have a playoff, which is way less dysfunctional than the way things are now. Although it might be hard to make a go of it without payday games.

Not sure I understand why anyone that graduated from NIU or roots for them now would have less interest based on anything that any other conference does.

If NIU had a full MAC schedule, wouldn't you still want them to beat every team and root for them with the same intensity as if they were playing any school?

I don't really get hyped about playing Wake, BC or Syracuse...but I still root for FSU just the same.

Strange to really see comments here where NIU fans would be less interested.

(05-14-2013 07:57 PM)PiKappNoleATL Wrote:  Not sure I understand why anyone that graduated from NIU or roots for them now would have less interest based on anything that any other conference does.

If NIU had a full MAC schedule, wouldn't you still want them to beat every team and root for them with the same intensity as if they were playing any school?

I don't really get hyped about playing Wake, BC or Syracuse...but I still root for FSU just the same.

Strange to really see comments here where NIU fans would be less interested.

How many fans does the typical FCS team have? As many as Florida State? As many as North Carolina? As many as Washington? Probably not. When you have no chance to compete against the top teams it takes away from it somewhat. That said, FBS college football is dysfunctional in a number of ways the way they have it now, so it wouldn't be a big deal to me. But casual fans are less interested. And we got more fans when we had a ranked Maryland or Bowling Green or whomever than when we're playing Tennessee-Martin. That shouldn't be surprising.

As far as watching the P5, I think you can understand why we wouldn't want to watch any of those games. They wouldn't be at our level anymore, and if we want to watch the best, we'd watch the NFL.

I wonder if it's really the money that makes them want to separate. I think the power conferences have seen the writing on the wall. Some of the top AQ teams can steal their thunder, and in any case, can beat most of the P5 teams. They can't have that, makes them look bad. They need to feel elite. Even if most of the conference is blah.

NCAA Football should be like English Premier Soccer: Relegate teams.

The bottom 1 team from each of the 5 superpowerconference should drop down every year, then move the top 5 from 5 spinoffs up a level.

A dream, but would be nice...

(05-14-2013 09:03 PM)NIU007 Wrote:  I wonder if it's really the money that makes them want to separate. I think the power conferences have seen the writing on the wall. Some of the top AQ teams can steal their thunder, and in any case, can beat most of the P5 teams. They can't have that, makes them look bad. They need to feel elite. Even if most of the conference is blah.

Of course it is the money...that is the only reason we are seeing as many changes to conference affiliation and the end of the BCS. I see both sides to this story and of course I am biased.

I would love to see the P5 teams only play each other, or at least follow the Big10's example of not playing any FCS schools. I would like to see great match-ups every weekend and not the fodder that is sometimes rolled out there.

I also agree that the P5 schools do not represent the best of college football...there are bottom feeders in each of the conferences. But this is only a football discussion...what do the P5 shools do about the other sports. With this model Butler and FGCU would never have been a story.

I enjoy the underdog and would not like to see some conferences or teams excluded. I think Saban's point was more about competition and not keeping the MAC, WAC or Sun Belt down.

(05-14-2013 09:19 PM)PiKappNoleATL Wrote:  

(05-14-2013 09:03 PM)NIU007 Wrote:  I wonder if it's really the money that makes them want to separate. I think the power conferences have seen the writing on the wall. Some of the top AQ teams can steal their thunder, and in any case, can beat most of the P5 teams. They can't have that, makes them look bad. They need to feel elite. Even if most of the conference is blah.

Of course it is the money...that is the only reason we are seeing as many changes to conference affiliation and the end of the BCS. I see both sides to this story and of course I am biased.

I would love to see the P5 teams only play each other, or at least follow the Big10's example of not playing any FCS schools. I would like to see great match-ups every weekend and not the fodder that is sometimes rolled out there.

I also agree that the P5 schools do not represent the best of college football...there are bottom feeders in each of the conferences. But this is only a football discussion...what do the P5 shools do about the other sports. With this model Butler and FGCU would never have been a story.

I enjoy the underdog and would not like to see some conferences or teams excluded. I think Saban's point was more about competition and not keeping the MAC, WAC or Sun Belt down.

No, it was about keeping the MAC, WAC or Sun Belt down. That is the inevitable result - and besides, if they want tougher competition, they could play some of these schools ON THE ROAD. Instead of having all 4 OOC games at home. Wimps. And they could also do it just by excluding FCS but that isn't what Saban said. He's an elitist, that's for sure. When Alabama had a down year they lost to NIU at home. They can't have that sort of thing happen. They can't pretend to be elite then (as a conference).

Also, the problem with your comment - all these teams can play each other now....but they don't. At best, a top P5 school will play one good team from another conference, then 1 FCS team at home, and 2 bottom-feeders at home. What will happen to the fanbases of teams that at one time we're on the verge of being good, and now they have to play no FCS teams and no bottom-feeder FBS teams (other than Indiana, Kansas, Duke, etc.). Their records will suffer. And Purdue said they couldn't get by with only 6 home games. How is that going to work?

(05-14-2013 09:28 PM)NIU007 Wrote:  No, it was about keeping the MAC, WAC or Sun Belt down. That is the inevitable result - and besides, if they want tougher competition, they could play some of these schools ON THE ROAD. Instead of having all 4 OOC games at home. Wimps. And they could also do it just by excluding FCS but that isn't what Saban said. He's an elitist, that's for sure. When Alabama had a down year they lost to NIU at home. They can't have that sort of thing happen. They can't pretend to be elite then (as a conference).

Also, the problem with your comment - all these teams can play each other now....but they don't. At best, a top P5 school will play one good team from another conference, then 1 FCS team at home, and 2 bottom-feeders at home. What will happen to the fanbases of teams that at one time we're on the verge of being good, and now they have to play no FCS teams and no bottom-feeder FBS teams (other than Indiana, Kansas, Duke, etc.). Their records will suffer. And Purdue said they couldn't get by with only 6 home games. How is that going to work?

They can't all play each other now under the current system because teams are penalized for losing games. What Saban is proposing would likely result in some sort of different end system, whether it be some sort of playoff or whatever, in which the schools wouldn't be as heavily penalized for losing a game or two.

And this is all very clearly about the money; if it wasn't, these conferences wouldn't have been hell-bent on starting their own TV networks. They would have all just been happy to plug along with their ESPN deals with bottom-tier games on ESPN+, but they weren't, because there was nowhere near this amount of money in that.

(05-14-2013 10:01 PM)UIHuskie Wrote:  

(05-14-2013 09:28 PM)NIU007 Wrote:  No, it was about keeping the MAC, WAC or Sun Belt down. That is the inevitable result - and besides, if they want tougher competition, they could play some of these schools ON THE ROAD. Instead of having all 4 OOC games at home. Wimps. And they could also do it just by excluding FCS but that isn't what Saban said. He's an elitist, that's for sure. When Alabama had a down year they lost to NIU at home. They can't have that sort of thing happen. They can't pretend to be elite then (as a conference).

Also, the problem with your comment - all these teams can play each other now....but they don't. At best, a top P5 school will play one good team from another conference, then 1 FCS team at home, and 2 bottom-feeders at home. What will happen to the fanbases of teams that at one time we're on the verge of being good, and now they have to play no FCS teams and no bottom-feeder FBS teams (other than Indiana, Kansas, Duke, etc.). Their records will suffer. And Purdue said they couldn't get by with only 6 home games. How is that going to work?

They can't all play each other now under the current system because teams are penalized for losing games. What Saban is proposing would likely result in some sort of different end system, whether it be some sort of playoff or whatever, in which the schools wouldn't be as heavily penalized for losing a game or two.

And this is all very clearly about the money; if it wasn't, these conferences wouldn't have been hell-bent on starting their own TV networks. They would have all just been happy to plug along with their ESPN deals with bottom-tier games on ESPN+, but they weren't, because there was nowhere near this amount of money in that.

I'm not talking about the realignment - that was all about the money. I'm talking about Saban's comment about only playing P5 teams.

(05-14-2013 10:03 PM)NIU007 Wrote:  I'm not talking about the realignment - that was all about the money. I'm talking about Saban's comment about only playing P5 teams.

That would essentially be realignment in it's ultimate, endgame format.

And I think it's a terrible idea.

(05-14-2013 05:31 PM)HuskieJohn Wrote:  75% of the current AQ teams could not handle the schedule. Many would not be bowl eligible.

I see this as a move to a 9 game SEC schedule and most P5 schools stop scheduling FCS teams.

Agreed.

As interested in NIU football as ever, caring even less about the AQ slobs. Remember, if this happens, which it probably won't, its not just NIU reacting, but all of the AQ teams/conferences.

Just as the DII schools insisted on being called DI-FCS recently, we would surely insist on equal level nomenclature with the break-aways, becoming something like DI-FPS, while the DI BCS guys remain D1-BCS, whatever. At that point we can advertise a different but equal D1 flavor, but with a full 16 team playoff. Could even raise our stock to be out from the BCS clowns shadow.