TexasTerror
September 30th, 2006, 07:29 AM
Tom Burnett knows what's going on. I've said it the last few weeks. The SLC has done an awful job as a whole scheduling out of conference games, completely throwing out our chances of getting two teams into the I-AA playoffs.
`We've historically been a very competitive conference," said Burnett. ``My concern is, are we giving that up to pay the bills?"
I think that quote above sums it up. Unfortunately, most of the conference was heavily impacted by Katrina and Rita in various ways (heck, all the Louisiana schools were!), so they had to do something to help their coffers.
Hopefully, these money games this year have helped out some of these schools get straightened out and we don't see scheduling of three I-A games as we saw this year by Northwestern St and we see less teams scheduling multiple I-A games (pending the 12 game schedule issue).
Til the SLC fixes out their schedule issues or can pull some more I-A wins, I don't see the SLC fitting into the I-AA playoff equation as much as we would like. Even the school that "underscheduled" and has a weak schedule, Texas St-San Marcos, a year removed from being I-AA semifinalists, have already lost to Southern Utah and Northern Colorado, hurting their chances at an at-large...
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That's how it's been for ages. Over the last seven seasons, NCAA figures show, the One As have a 372-54 advantage and were 50-1 last year (Northwestern State beat Louisiana-Monroe). This year, the Southland Conference, which includes Sam Houston, is 0-13 against a 1-A slate top-heavy with Big 12 powers. ``I think we've probably overscheduled, and it may have hurt our competitiveness," conceded commissioner Tom Burnett .
Southeastern Louisiana, which played respectably against New Mexico State (30-15), since has been outscored, 107-0, by Southern Mississippi and Texas Tech. Northwestern State took 49-18 and 47-10 beatings from Kansas and Baylor a week apart. ``We've historically been a very competitive conference," said Burnett. ``My concern is, are we giving that up to pay the bills?"
http://www.boston.com/sports/articles/2006/09/30/these_games_win_win/
`We've historically been a very competitive conference," said Burnett. ``My concern is, are we giving that up to pay the bills?"
I think that quote above sums it up. Unfortunately, most of the conference was heavily impacted by Katrina and Rita in various ways (heck, all the Louisiana schools were!), so they had to do something to help their coffers.
Hopefully, these money games this year have helped out some of these schools get straightened out and we don't see scheduling of three I-A games as we saw this year by Northwestern St and we see less teams scheduling multiple I-A games (pending the 12 game schedule issue).
Til the SLC fixes out their schedule issues or can pull some more I-A wins, I don't see the SLC fitting into the I-AA playoff equation as much as we would like. Even the school that "underscheduled" and has a weak schedule, Texas St-San Marcos, a year removed from being I-AA semifinalists, have already lost to Southern Utah and Northern Colorado, hurting their chances at an at-large...
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That's how it's been for ages. Over the last seven seasons, NCAA figures show, the One As have a 372-54 advantage and were 50-1 last year (Northwestern State beat Louisiana-Monroe). This year, the Southland Conference, which includes Sam Houston, is 0-13 against a 1-A slate top-heavy with Big 12 powers. ``I think we've probably overscheduled, and it may have hurt our competitiveness," conceded commissioner Tom Burnett .
Southeastern Louisiana, which played respectably against New Mexico State (30-15), since has been outscored, 107-0, by Southern Mississippi and Texas Tech. Northwestern State took 49-18 and 47-10 beatings from Kansas and Baylor a week apart. ``We've historically been a very competitive conference," said Burnett. ``My concern is, are we giving that up to pay the bills?"
http://www.boston.com/sports/articles/2006/09/30/these_games_win_win/