(06-08-2017 04:27 PM)NIU007 Wrote:  Seems to me like the gap is about the same as usual. It hurt FCS a little that GaSo moved up, if somebody like NDSU moved up also then that would definitely hurt but I don't think they have any plans for that. I think all the FBS conferences are stronger than the FCS conferences, in most cases much stronger, except the MVFC, which would be competitive with the weaker 3 G5 conferences.

You could create a G6 conference out of the strongests FCS schools to make the gap even larger.

Eastern Washington, Montana, Montana State and Northern Arizona are the strong teams that usually have winning records and make the playoffs more often out of the Big Sky.

Big South have none that could be considered strong. Wait until North Alabama joins for football, and they could be a dominate team in FCS in a few years. They were the last D2 program that beat an FBS opponent.

CAA with New Hampshire, Villanova, Stony Brook, Towson, Maine, William and Mary and Delaware are usually the stronger teams. CAA could arguably up there next to the G5 conference wise. The only exception right now is Elon.

MEAC, usually the stronger Florida pair, and the NC Central/A&M up there. Others are too weak.

MVFC from top to bottom could compete against anybody in FBS.

NEC, not sure anybody is that good.

OVC, you have Tennessee State, Jacksonville State and Eastern Illinois that have proven that they can play anybody in FBS. Tennessee State was an Independent in FBS in the early 1980s.

Patriot League only have one school that could beat an FBS team every year, Fordham.

Pioneer League, if this were in the early years, Dayton had the record that they have beaten FBS schools. I think they might be the only one that could come out of that group to become an FBS team and compete.

Southern Conference; former top level conference that was the parent to the SEC and ACC conference. This conference does have history that are tied to both those conferences, and they seem to always show up against ACC and SEC schools and win games. This conference is still relevant with the two other conferences because of a long time rivalries with some of the schools.

Southland, Sam Houston State, SFA, Central Arkansas and McNeese State are good teams and if they move up, they could be even more competitive and pull off some upset wins.

SWAC in the 1980s had numerous upset wins over FBS schools. Sadly, they have went downhill and need to go back to the 1980s where they were winning a lot, and have not become bodybag team for the FBS programs.

(06-08-2017 04:27 PM)NIU007 Wrote:  Seems to me like the gap is about the same as usual. It hurt FCS a little that GaSo moved up, if somebody like NDSU moved up also then that would definitely hurt but I don't think they have any plans for that. I think all the FBS conferences are stronger than the FCS conferences, in most cases much stronger, except the MVFC, which would be competitive with the weaker 3 G5 conferences.

Of the 65 FCS wins over FBS in the past 7 years, eight MVFC schools account for 16 of them - nearly 25% of the total.

(06-08-2017 08:33 PM)ken d Wrote:  

(06-08-2017 04:27 PM)NIU007 Wrote:  Seems to me like the gap is about the same as usual. It hurt FCS a little that GaSo moved up, if somebody like NDSU moved up also then that would definitely hurt but I don't think they have any plans for that. I think all the FBS conferences are stronger than the FCS conferences, in most cases much stronger, except the MVFC, which would be competitive with the weaker 3 G5 conferences.

Of the 65 FCS wins over FBS in the past 7 years, eight MVFC schools account for 16 of them - nearly 25% of the total.

https://www.usatoday.com/sports/ncaaf/sa...onference/

Sagarin ranked the MVC higher than the MWC West, CUSA East and West and the MAC East. Southern was right behind the MAC East. Colonial and Big Sky not too far back, but then it dropped a good bit to Big South and big drop to the rest.

MVC is pretty good top to bottom, but the Colonial, Big Sky and Southern have some weakness at the bottom. It shows, that at least by Sagarin's methods, the best conferences of FCS are very competitive with the G5.
CONFERENCE CENTRAL MEAN SIMPLE AVERAGE TEAMS WIN50%

10 AAC WEST (A) = 69.87 69.63 ( 10) 6 69.69 ( 10)
  11 MWC-MOUNTAIN (A) = 67.56 67.22 ( 11) 6 67.32 ( 11)
  12 I-A INDEPENDENTS (A) = 65.66 65.64 ( 12) 5 65.71 ( 12)
  13 AAC EAST (A) = 63.49 64.10 ( 14) 6 63.74 ( 13)
  14 MAC-WEST (A) = 63.07 64.34 ( 13) 6 63.60 ( 14)
  15 SUN BELT (A) = 59.06 59.12 ( 15) 11 59.13 ( 15)
  16 MISSOURI VALLEY (AA)= 57.54 57.97 ( 16) 10 57.78 ( 16)
  17 MWC-WEST (A) = 56.64 57.94 ( 17) 6 56.84 ( 18)
  18 CONFERENCE USA-WEST (A) = 56.63 57.16 ( 19) 6 56.96 ( 17)
  19 CONFERENCE USA-EAST (A) = 55.41 57.79 ( 18) 7 56.18 ( 19)
  20 MAC-EAST (A) = 53.85 53.95 ( 20) 6 53.92 ( 20)
  21 SOUTHERN (AA)= 52.60 52.22 ( 21) 9 52.46 ( 21)
  22 COLONIAL (AA)= 48.85 49.30 ( 22) 12 48.86 ( 22)
  23 BIG SKY (AA)= 48.25 48.37 ( 23) 13 48.17 ( 23)
  24 BIG SOUTH (AA)= 46.24 45.74 ( 24) 6 46.01 ( 24)
  25 OHIO VALLEY (AA)= 42.66 43.01 ( 25) 9 42.82 ( 25)

I do not know how the Big South is ahead of the OVC. OVC have like 3 to 4 teams challenging for the title every year while Big South usually have Liberty or Coastal. Since Coastal is gone, North Alabama will fill in the strong team.

(06-08-2017 08:33 PM)ken d Wrote:  

(06-08-2017 04:27 PM)NIU007 Wrote:  Seems to me like the gap is about the same as usual. It hurt FCS a little that GaSo moved up, if somebody like NDSU moved up also then that would definitely hurt but I don't think they have any plans for that. I think all the FBS conferences are stronger than the FCS conferences, in most cases much stronger, except the MVFC, which would be competitive with the weaker 3 G5 conferences.

Of the 65 FCS wins over FBS in the past 7 years, eight MVFC schools account for 16 of them - nearly 25% of the total.

That may be true but then the FCS schools are pretty much always playing at the FBS school, just like G5 schools are almost always playing on the road against P5 schools. The Sagarins appear to show what I thought, the MVFC is competitive, not so much the other conferences.