roTSU50
July 29th, 2009, 11:55 AM
By David Coulson, FCS Executive Director
Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - In the Southwest Athletic Conference, there are the battles both on the field and away from the gridiron.
Teams such as Jackson State and Prairie View would love to challenge themselves in the FCS playoffs, even at a time when commissioner Duer Sharp has proclaimed that the SWAC has no desire to return to the playoffs.
And then there are teams such as Grambling, Southern and Alabama State that would prefer to play nationally-televised, regular-season games on the opening weekend of the playoffs, rather than make themselves available for the postseason.
Of course, there is also that little matter of the SWAC championship game, which is scheduled for the weekend before the NCAA Division I National Championship game.
Last year, Prairie View thought it had a squad worthy of playoff consideration after the Panthers tore through their schedule with a 9-1 record. But with only a loss to Grambling smudging its ledger, Prairie View was declared out of the playoffs even before the selection committee began deliberations on the 16-team field.
With the possibility of a three-way tie for the SWAC's West Division title between Prairie View, Grambling and Southern, Sharp decided that the SWAC would not hold a coin toss to break the potential tie until after Grambling and Southern met in the Bayou Classic on the day the playoffs began.
When Grambling beat Southern to clinch the West Division title and a spot in the SWAC championship game, that left Prairie View on the outside looking in.
"We felt like we were good enough to be in the playoffs last year," said Prairie View coach Henry Frazier, who led the Panthers to their first-ever ranking (No. 25) in the Sports Network poll and to back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since 1967. "We want the chance to compete for a national championship."
Jackson State, a school that has competed in the FCS playoffs 12 times, would like to get back to that level, something the Tigers haven't done since 1997. But as long as the SWAC has its championship game, JSU's chances of returning are severely diminished.
Jackson State coach Rick Comegy said that schools like Grambling and Southern should be forced to share revenue with the other teams in the league, if games such as the Bayou Classic interfere with other SWAC teams reaching the playoffs.
http://64.246.64.33/merge/tsnform.aspx?c=sportsnetwork&page=cfoot2/news/news.aspx?id=4245178
Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - In the Southwest Athletic Conference, there are the battles both on the field and away from the gridiron.
Teams such as Jackson State and Prairie View would love to challenge themselves in the FCS playoffs, even at a time when commissioner Duer Sharp has proclaimed that the SWAC has no desire to return to the playoffs.
And then there are teams such as Grambling, Southern and Alabama State that would prefer to play nationally-televised, regular-season games on the opening weekend of the playoffs, rather than make themselves available for the postseason.
Of course, there is also that little matter of the SWAC championship game, which is scheduled for the weekend before the NCAA Division I National Championship game.
Last year, Prairie View thought it had a squad worthy of playoff consideration after the Panthers tore through their schedule with a 9-1 record. But with only a loss to Grambling smudging its ledger, Prairie View was declared out of the playoffs even before the selection committee began deliberations on the 16-team field.
With the possibility of a three-way tie for the SWAC's West Division title between Prairie View, Grambling and Southern, Sharp decided that the SWAC would not hold a coin toss to break the potential tie until after Grambling and Southern met in the Bayou Classic on the day the playoffs began.
When Grambling beat Southern to clinch the West Division title and a spot in the SWAC championship game, that left Prairie View on the outside looking in.
"We felt like we were good enough to be in the playoffs last year," said Prairie View coach Henry Frazier, who led the Panthers to their first-ever ranking (No. 25) in the Sports Network poll and to back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since 1967. "We want the chance to compete for a national championship."
Jackson State, a school that has competed in the FCS playoffs 12 times, would like to get back to that level, something the Tigers haven't done since 1997. But as long as the SWAC has its championship game, JSU's chances of returning are severely diminished.
Jackson State coach Rick Comegy said that schools like Grambling and Southern should be forced to share revenue with the other teams in the league, if games such as the Bayou Classic interfere with other SWAC teams reaching the playoffs.
http://64.246.64.33/merge/tsnform.aspx?c=sportsnetwork&page=cfoot2/news/news.aspx?id=4245178