Pioneer Football League gains championship automatic qualification

[VULB#62]

The official Pioneer Football League site released this today:  The Pioneer Football League has gained a championship automatic qualification with 2013 bracket expansion.  We all knew it was going to happen, but this makes it official.  It adds some appeal to the recruiting pitch for prospective VU football players.  Now we have to build a program that'll get the Crusaders that automatic bid. That's still a few years away.  The auto-bid is the only way, cuz I doubt that a second place PFL finish will ever get an at-large bid (similar to the conundrum facing mid-major BB programs).   

Here's the link:

http://pioneer-football.org/news/default/31/749/

[valpotx]

Definitely a positive, and something that will help Coach Carlson!

[setshot]

As a member of the class of '54, I probably won't be around to see VU in a championship game. However, a 6+ win season this year will restore my faith in the program. GO VALPO!

[crusaderjoe]

I think this decision completely changes the dynamic regarding athletic funding and venue/facility improvements for the VU football team.  Now that the program has a legitimate chance at competing in a real postseason tournament via the automatic birth like most other Valpo sports, I would think that any contemplated upgrades for the program in this regard would need to be re-prioritized.  Abandon FITT completely and attach the track as part of this process and kill two birds with one stone. 

I still think MBB should remain #1 as the flagship as far as venue and facility updates, but once those are completed, hell, why not significantly update the football venue?  I'm just hoping we're not going to wait another 30 years to start major improvements to the ARC just because we installed new videoboards and a new floor.

[covufan]

This is good for the Pioneer League and Valpo!  While most times the PFL champion will not win this game, it will be good for the non-scholarship league to have the chance to play with the others in the playoffs.  Depending on how the first round is seeded, the PFL Champion should be competitive in most years, and may be able to pull out an upset once in awhile.

[NuPudge]

This should help with landing higher/better recruits for the sports programs at Valpo. I noticed that the conference is adding new schools to it (2013) It seems all the new schools are Christian/private school related and are not offering any athletic scholarships.

Doesn't this hurt us when we are competing against other schools who are not playing by the same rules..

These are just my thoughts and observations.

Do anyone see the scholarship thing changing in the near future?

I also saw that a few other conferences are starting to offer athletic scholarships.

[VULB#62]

This should help with landing higher/better recruits for the sports programs at Valpo. I noticed that the conference is adding new schools to it (2013) It seems all the new schools are Christian/private school related and are not offering any athletic scholarships.

Doesn't this hurt us when we are competing against other schools who are not playing by the same rules..

These are just my thoughts and observations.

Do anyone see the scholarship thing changing in the near future?

I also saw that a few other conferences are starting to offer athletic scholarships.

Keep in mind that no one joins the PFL unless they are committed to no scholarships.  The PFL auto-bid will probably seldom ever make it out of the first FCS playoff round, but that's not the point.  And PFL schools will continue to schedule scholarship programs (and get clocked more often than not), but that too is not the point.  So that's the "hurt"  you refer to.  Will the PFL go scholarship?  Doubt it.  Schools that want to go that route will drop out and join other conferences.

[valpotx]

Such as what Austin Peay did a few years back 

[VULB#62]

The PFL in a couple of years will be much more formidable with the addition of Mercer and Stetson down south.  Both are investing heavily in their new programs -- Mercer is building a beautiful stadium and field house (basically a football building).  Unless VU steps up and similarly invests, no matter what the current coaching staff does (and they are improving the program and the quality of kids they recruit) it still may not be enough to dig our way out of the basement, because the path upward has now become longer and steeper.   

[milanmiracle]

I'll keep this short and not too sweet...the PFL champion is going to be roadkill for the #1 or #2 seed every year and get crushed. The conference as a whole is the bottom feeder of D1 football. Think of this as a #1 seed playing a #16 seed in the NCAA tournament. It's nice to say you qualified, but it won't be a competitive game.

[VULB#62]

I'll keep this short and not too sweet...the PFL champion is going to be roadkill for the #1 or #2 seed every year and get crushed. The conference as a whole is the bottom feeder of D1 football. Think of this as a #1 seed playing a #16 seed in the NCAA tournament. It's nice to say you qualified, but it won't be a competitive game.

Provisionally agree but reserve final agreement on the SDU and JU scores today.  These are two of the PFL's better/best (?) teams going against a middle of the Big Sky Conference team and a traditionally powerful FCS presence in GSU.  If these scores are competitive, maybe it won't be as bad a roadkill situation (road-severe injury?).  Unlike the BB tourney with  four #1s vs. #16s, being seeded #24 in the FCS guarantees that #24 will meet a #9 or lower seed in round one, because after the first 8 are seeded and get a first round bye, the remainder of the pairings are done on a geographic basis to hold down expenses.  Major travel doesn't kick in until the second round and that's probably the real road kill time ---- that is, IF.... a PFL team manages an upset in round one.

[milanmiracle]

I'll keep this short and not too sweet...the PFL champion is going to be roadkill for the #1 or #2 seed every year and get crushed. The conference as a whole is the bottom feeder of D1 football. Think of this as a #1 seed playing a #16 seed in the NCAA tournament. It's nice to say you qualified, but it won't be a competitive game.

Provisionally agree but reserve final agreement on the SDU and JU scores today.  These are two of the PFL's better/best (?) teams going against a middle of the Big Sky Conference team and a traditionally powerful FCS presence in GSU.  If these scores are competitive, maybe it won't be as bad a roadkill situation (road-severe injury?).  Unlike the BB tourney with  four #1s vs. #16s, being seeded #24 in the FCS guarantees that #24 will meet a #9 or lower seed in round one, because after the first 8 are seeded and get a first round bye, the remainder of the pairings are done on a geographic basis to hold down expenses.  Major travel doesn't kick in until the second round and that's probably the real road kill time ---- that is, IF.... a PFL team manages an upset in round one.

Well...

Georgia Southern 58 - Jacksonville 0
Cal Poly 41 - San Diego 14

*Campbell lost to Shorter (who?) 31 -20. Good thing they didn't play Taller, it could have been much worse.

[VULB#62]

ROADKILL it is.

From the PFL website here is this week's carnage vs. legit FCS scholarship programs:

WIU 23 - Butler 15 -- actually competitive
Illinois State St  56 - Dayton 14 -- Dayton picked 4th in 2012 PFL.  ISU - Preseason FCS rank #20; 2011 record 7-4.
Georgia Southern 58 - Jacksonville 0 -- JU picked 3rd. GSU - Preseason FCS rank #3; 2011 record 11-3.
Cal Poly 41 - SDU 14 -- SDU #1.  Cal Poly is picked 5th in The Big Sky (their first year in the conference).  They were the Great West FB Conference champion last year and had a 6-5 record

Other scores of note:
Georgetown 35 - Davidson 14 -- G'Town is football only Patriot League.  Patriot League is going the scholarship route but is building toward full 63 player limit and teams vary right now
Marist 35 - Bryant 10 -- Bryant is NEC that is also going the scholarship route as far I know.  NEC used to also be non-scholarship and PFL champion used to meet the NEC champion in a postseason classic.  (I wish that would still be the case today).
Morehead State 55 - Southern Virginia 0 -- SVA football is kinda like club football (i.e., not quite traditional D-III or NAIA from what I can judge)
Shorter 30 - Campbell 21 -- Shorter is D-II like St. Joe's.

Upset of the week:
Grandview 8 - Drake 28  -- Yes, upset, because Drake was picked #2 in the PFL.  Grandview is a 2100 student Lutheran-affiliated college in Iowa in the NAIA (same league as St. Francis of IL) and has only been playing football for 4 years.

In the past, the PFL has scheduled FCS scholarship schools in order to support their application for an auto-bid.  They've got it now.  From now on PFL teams need to be choosey about which of the scholarship schools they schedule (i.e., bottom half of conference finishers).  But after seeing the results above and YSU's drubbing of Pitt,  scheduling definitely has to be the bottom finishers (not the bottom half).

[valpotx]

If our league was to go scholarship, do you have to use all 65 scholarships, or can you just do whatever you want at or below that number?  We are the last of the non-scholarship league, just curious what it would take if we were forced to bump up

[VULB#62]

From the NCAA website:
"The Patriot League plan will allow schools to begin offering 15 athletics scholarships in football beginning with the 2013 season, with the potential to add 15 per year up to the predetermined limit of 60. The Football Championship Subdivision allows 63 total scholarships, though legislation eliminating three scholarships in football is pending before the Presidential Advisory Group, which has the final say on all FCS issues. Many schools will be able to accomplish the shift without allocating new dollars. Roach said Colgate will simply move its need-based aid to merit-based aid in football. Lehigh President Alice Gast said that her school won't allocate new dollars to the effort, either.

"We are committed to making this transaction within our current budget and to working very closely with our football team to make sure they are able to optimize their recruiting in the same way the other sports have been able to," Gast said. "I feel confident that we will be able to make a very smooth transition that holds our values and maintains our current financial level."

Femovich said the move might require some schools to add additional scholarships for female student-athletes in order to remain compliant with federal gender-equity law. Colgate had always counted its need-based aid in its Title IX calculations, so additional athletics scholarships for women won't be necessary at his institution.

The decision will also assist schools in scheduling. Once they offer aid, games against Football Bowl Subdivision opponents will count toward bowl eligibility for those opponents, making it easier for Patriot League institutions to schedule FBS schools in football."

And this from the Patriot League:
Beginning with the class entering in fall 2013, the rule allows for each institution to offer up to 15 athletic scholarships and a total of 60 financial aid equivalencies per year. Whatever football scholarships the colleges add will have to be matched under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which mandates equitable competitive and financial aid opportunities for female athletes.

Read more: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/02/14/football-scholarships-patriot-league-distances-self-ivies#ixzz25Pdj2JXq

As far as the NEC goes:
Back in 2010 this quote came as a result of Wagner beating Cornell:  "The NEC allows a maximum of 34 scholarships. FCS teams from larger conferences, like defending champion Liberty of the Big South, can offer 60 scholarships."

A more recent article (2012) out of University of Albany (NY):
"With the UAlbany football team getting a new facility, perhaps as soon as next season, could a move to full-scholarship status be far behind?

That was a logical question on Wednesday, when UAlbany announced it is building a 6,000-seat venue for football and soccer that might be ready for next season's home finale.

The Great Danes gave out the equivalent of 36 football scholarships last season, the maximum allowed by the Northeast Conference, but well below the 63 full rides permitted by the NCAA in the Division I Football Championship Subdivision.

The Great Danes have belonged to the NEC in football since 1999. They play in the America East in other sports."

NOTE #1:  I read that the NCAA is looking at reducing the FCS total to 60 from 63.
NOTE #2:  It's notable that this past weekend UAlbany (NEC) crushed Colgate (Patriot) 40-23

[valpotx]

I've never understood how it was that big of a difference to offer 60 versus 85 scholarships.  Obviously, you will typically get the better recruits by saying that you are in the FBS, but only so many athletes play in each game, that those 25 scholarships should be negligible...

[VULB#62]

Someone else would have to confirm this, but for FBS the 85 are 85 full rides no exception.  I think at the FCS level the 36, or 50 or 60 or whatever are grant equivalents, meaning that 1 full boat could be divided among two partials for two players (or whatever), much the same as baseball or soccer is today.

[valpotx]

Sure, but I was more referring to the competitiveness of the teams at each level, since you really only play 30-35 people throughout the game?

[VULB#62]

At the FBS level I "think" the rationale for 85 was to ensure depth and continuity over 4 years (plus one other thing I mention at the end of this rant).  So if you have each class provide 22 players per year,  theoretically every senior class will be all starters and each successive class moves up a notch each year until they are senior starters.  Theoretically, that is.  Haven't figured out how red shirting works in this scenario but......   

85 is a ridiculous number anyway.  Talk about cost?  If the typical FBS state school tuition, etc. is, say, $20K, that's an annual cost of $1.7 million before you even strap on the pads.  And FBS schools are required to fund all 85 full rides.  Private universities in FBS pay even more.  Stanford applicable annual fees are around $56K.  That's $4.7 million.  Wake Forest = $52K, Northwestern = $56K and Boston College = $58K.   

So to your original question, 60 versus 85, I gotta wonder the same thing.  If I were king, I'd limit each class to 11 "merit grants," as the NCAA technically calls them, and provide plenty of leeway for walk-ons who could be helped on need through regular channels.  The 44 total would cover my 2-deep each year -- shouldn't that be enough?  Ah, but then the NCAA and the FBS schools would not have as much control over these programs because so many of the players are not bound into athletic slavery.   

[covufan]

I think the difference between 60 and 85 is injuries, both for practice and games.  Forty years ago the number of football scholarships was unlimited, then 105, then 95 moving down to the present 85.  For parity, I like 85.  When unlimited or 105, some schools could/would offer an athlete just to keep them from going to a conference or state rival.  With transfers less rare these days, I'm sure most players on scholarship would transfer if they did not get the playing time they felt they deserved.  For Pitt's 1976 Championship team, they had 130 scholarships:

http://www.mmbolding.com/Upsets/upsetsDynasty.htm

For most schools 85 should be enough.  However, there are years when you have 3-4 injuries at QB, RB or another position, and you are down to your last scholarship player with no experience, and expected to redshirt that year.

[VULB#62]

FYI -- This week the PFL has unveiled a new look website.  It adds Mercer and Stetson as links and seems to be a bit more navigatable.  Also generally looks better all around.

[vu72]

FYI -- This week the PFL has unveiled a new look website.  It adds Mercer and Stetson as links and seems to be a bit more navigatable.  Also generally looks better all around.

The addition of Mercer and Stetson further solidifies the position of the PFL as a top academic conference as both (Stetson #3 and Mercer #7) are top 10 Regional Universities in the South section.

[VULB#62]

Although qualified by a 2013 under the logo (gone are the helmets) it is, aside from the initial announcements previously, the first visual acknowledgement that they are full members and kick off next year.