As much as I am not excited about any converence App would make the jump into, if Southern goes 1-A, we should too.

Hey AppFan, do you know what a muckraker is?

This writer’s idea is another sensational idea that seems good on paper, but of course it takes take into account common sense things. Namely, the math doesn’t make sense.

In 2009, there will be 125 1-AA programs, 54 non-BCS conference 1-A programs (including WKU), and 66 BCS conference 1-A programs (including Notre Dame). If, as the writer suggests, all 122 1-AA programs recieved $250,000 from the BCS, that would mean that the BCS would be giving up an extra $31.25 million on top of what is giving out to the non-BCS programs. Riiiiiiiiiight….

As we all know, the BCS is not just about money. It’s about greed. It’s designed for the six power conferences to align themselves together so that its members are making as much money as possible while excluding other programs from that revenue as much as possible. It literally took Congressional intervention to force the BCS conferences into sharing more revenues and access to BCS games for non-BCS conferences.

The BCS conferences won’t yield another dime to non-BCS programs, let alone 1-AA programs. And under no circumstances will the BCS conferences surrender their enormously screwed-up system to the NCAA for a college football playoff. They don’t want, under any circumstances, for non-BCS teams like Utah to have a fair shot at a championship, and they especially don’t want them to get TV revenue distributed more fairly, as it is in the NCAA tournament.

I don’t see ASU letting the offer of $250,000 become a factor in whether it stays in FCS or transitions to FBS. If all it took was $250,000 to keep ASU in FCS, we would have no business looking into a move to FBS.

To me, the problem doesn’t lie with the programs that have the fans, money, facilities, and resources to be FBS schools…it’s with the schools that are allowed to remain FBS, despite meeting almost none of the criteria to be in the subdivision.

You can usually find them in the MAC, WAC, and Sun Belt…the NCAA should work to clear out some of the chaffe, and give better positioned schools like App and GSU a chance.

Appgrad, I disagree that the schools with “the fans, money, facilities and resources to be FBS schools” aren’t a problem. Specifically, the BCS conferences, and their member schools, have aligned themselves together to exclude, as much as possible, the other conferences from BCS revenue and championships. The result is an enormous injustice. Imagine if ASU joined the FBS and accomplished what Utah has done. It would be awesome… until we realize that even after sticking it to the big dogs like Utah did, the BCS system would still be screwing us out of the major BCS revenue and, more importantly, a fair shot at the national title. Nothing our team could possibly accomplish on the field would get us a national title or an equitabale share of BCS money. Not even if we beat 2 Top 10 teams, including a previously top-ranked SEC power, beat 2 more Top 25 teams, including one team (Oregon State) that was coming off a defeat of another former #1, and finished as the only D-A team with zero losses. I cannot imagine how frustrating that could be. After their grandest season ever, Utah fans probably feel more angry than happy. That is a HUGE problem.

While I agree that the NCAA needs to crack down on programs that annually struggle both in the win column and in meeting the minimum standards, App and GSU aren’t “better positioned” for the FBS.

Attendance-wise, we’re just a little above the MAC and Sun Belt schools. GSU’s attendance is pretty much just on par.

Most of our facilities are better than MAC & Sun Belt teams, but then again, we have zero full-size practice fields. Most D-1A athletes (and potential future talented head coaches) expect at least one field for offense and one for defense.

The NCAA does give schools like App and GSU a chance to join D-1A if they so choose, as long as they meet certain criteria. ASU already meets all the criteria. It’s up to App whether it feels it’s in the university’s best interests to invest in such a move.