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Big Ten’s no-FCS policy hurts YSU
By Joe Scalzo
YOUNGSTOWN
The Big Ten’s scheduling policy is creating big headaches for Youngstown State.
Late last month, Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany unveiled the conference’s “1910” scheduling model, which begins in 2016: one non-conference game against a “Power Five” team (i.e. a team from the SEC, ACC, Pac-12 or Big 12), nine conference games, one conference championship game and zero games outside the FBS.
While it’s not mandatory, Delany has been pushing the latter policy for the past few years in an effort to boost the league’s strength of schedule for the College Football Playoff. It’s been bad news for YSU, which was originally going to play a lucrative game against Ohio State this fall (the Penguins will now play Pitt) and must now work harder to find FBS games.
“Clearly when the teams in your region have decided not to play you, it makes it really hard,” YSU athletic director Ron Strollo said. “We’ve had to reach out nationally a little bit, which defeats the purpose a little bit in the sense that you’re now flying your team. There’s a lot of additional costs that you have to factor in to play those games.”
The Penguins originally agreed to play Ohio State for $750,000 but when the Buckeyes backed out, they scheduled Pitt, which will pay $420,000, just $20,000 than the Panthers paid YSU in 2012. (OSU will make up the $330,000 difference.)
Pitt is arguably a better matchup, both because the game features two area coaches (Mooney’s Bo Pelini vs. Ursuline’s Pat Narduzzi) and because nobody in his right mind would want to play Ohio State right now.
But in the long term, the policy could cost YSU more than a big(ger) paycheck.
Because the Missouri Valley Football Conference is such a poor geographic fit — the closest team to YSU is Indiana State, which is seven hours away — Strollo tries to find FBS games within driving distance for YSU’s fans, which is why the Penguins have played Ohio State, Penn State and Michigan State twice since 2005.
All but one of those games has paid more than what YSU will make against Pitt this season. Ohio State paid YSU $650,000 in both 2006 and 2007, Penn State paid $350,000 in 2006 and $450,000 in 2010 and Michigan State paid $600,000 in 2011 and $650,000 in 2013. Last year’s opener against Illinois required a much longer car ride, but still paid $560,000.
Strollo has scheduled West Virginia in 2016 and has been in touch with other regional schools, including Kentucky, where Mooney graduate Mark Stoops — the brother of YSU defensive coordinator Ron Stoops — is the head coach.
Schools like Syracuse are also an option, “but the revenue’s not there and it doesn’t generate the excitement that some of the Big Ten schools would,” Strollo said. “We’re reaching out to everybody. We’ve got a full list of all the Big Five conferences.”
So far, the Big Ten is the only major conference to eliminate FCS games.
The Southeastern Conference and Atlantic Coast Conference each require their teams to play at least one Power Five nonconference opponent, but play only eight conference games and have no plan to eliminate FCS opponents.
The Big 12 plays nine conference games, but has no conference title game and its teams play FCS opponents.
The Pac-12 has a nine-game conference schedule and a championship game, and while its members don’t play FCS opponents as frequently as other Power Five leagues, they do play outside of the FBS. Pac-12 teams are also not required to team teams from other Power Five conferences, though most usually do.
Penguins coach Bo Pelini has been on both sides of the issue, having coached at Big Ten/Big 12 member Nebraska the past seven years before getting hired at YSU in December.
When asked about the Big Ten’s new policy, Pelini said: “If that’s what they feel they need to do, that’s their prerogative. Obviously, I’m sure it has to do with strength of schedule points or perception in terms of getting into playoff position.
“Not every conference has adopted that [policy]. I think there’s a time to [play FCS schools] and a time not to. Our job when we get the chance to play FBS schools is to be ready to play and ready to get after them.”
Pelini went 5-0 against FCS schools at Nebraska, with narrow wins over McNeese State in 2014 (31-24) and South Dakota State in 2010 (17-3). He also had big wins over SDSU (59-20 in 2013), Idaho State (73-7 in 2012) and Chattanooga (40-7 in 2011).
“When we played South Dakota State, we knew we had to roll up our sleeves and be ready to go,” Pelini said. “You can’t just lump everyone into one category. Some [FCS] teams are better than others. And there are some FBS schools that would struggle in our conference. It’s all on a case-by-case basis in my opinion.”
Privately, FCS schools are hoping the Big Ten will rethink its policy over the next few years, especially after it negotiates its latest round of TV contracts. While Ohio State can afford to shell out $3.1 million for three non-conference opponents (which it did in 2013 to play Buffalo, San Diego State and Florida A&M), a school like Indiana might rather pay $500,000 for a game against YSU than $1.2 million to play, say, Kent State.
Mid-American Conference member Miami of Ohio, for instance, won’t consider playing a major conference team for less than $1 million and its athletic director, David Sayler, told Fox Sports that the Redhawks will get $1.5 million for Power Five games by 2020.
By contrast, the Big Ten paid an average of $438,181 for 11 home games against FCS schools in 2014 — nearly $400,000 less than the cost of a one-time FBS home game, according to Fox Sports.
Also, the Big Ten’s nine-game conference schedule will create an unequal number of home games, with teams getting one fewer home game every other year. Since Big Ten schools make between $3 million and $7 million per home game, that’s a significant hit.
The Big Ten does have one major incentive to stop scheduling FCS games, though, and it’s to avoid some of the embarrassing losses from the last few years. Appalachian State’s win over Michigan in 2007 is the best-known example, but North Dakota State beat Minnesota in 2007 and 2011 and YSU should have beat Illinois last year.
“To think they’ll get better games against some of those other teams than they would against some of ours is disappointing to say the least,” Strollo said. “I think [FBS-FCS games] have been good for college football, but we’ll see what happens. No matter what, we’ll adjust.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.