FOX Sports: Why You Need to See the I-AA Championship Game

[Lehigh Football Nation]

http://blogs.foxsports.com/HunterWannabe

I'm blogging this for the FOX Sports Blogging contest. I think it's a goody. Please do me a favor and fly over there and add a few comments.

I think this getting on "Most Popular Blogs" over there on FOX may open up some eyes about I-AA football. We all hope.

[Bronco]

Says it all...... why we have a better system.


Had I-AA had a BCS-like system, the #1 and #2 teams in the final ESPN/USA Today poll would be playing for the title: #1 ranked New Hampshire of the Atlantic 10 would have taken on #2 Hampton of the MEAC for the national championship. But at our level, they were unable to prove it on the field: New Hampshire lost to Northern Iowa, and Hampton lost at home to Richmond of the Atlantic 10.

[LacesOut]

UNH vs. Hampton for the NC.............oooh! That could have been U-G-L-Y!! Like last years I-A NC game, what was it, like USC 55 - Oklahoma 17 or something?

[jmuroller]

Nice. I like it!!!! :hurray: :hurray: :hurray: :hurray: :hurray:

[Lehigh Football Nation]

http://lehighfootballnation.blogspot.com

Add to my FOX sports blog, my preview of the I-AA championship game in my regularly-scheduled blog. Click above to read.

Whew!

[catamount man]

AWESOME article!!! GO CATAMOUNTS!!!

[goasu984Life]

I couldn't have said it any better myself.

[yosef1969]

Nice article. Applying the BCS formula to I-AA really puts it perspective. (although Hampton would not have been rated that highly in computer rankings)

Maybe the talking heads like John Saunders at ABC can one day understand that creating a playoff system doesn't eliminate the excitement of the weekly schedule. Every game (minus the LSU game) from October 8th at Furman meant something to ASU (even the last game at Elon secured the #2 seed as we had already clinched the autobid). Every one of those games was essentially a playoff game. Lose and you're out.

BTW, Maybe nitpicking but LSU isn't BCS bound.
Go 'neers!

[FCS_pwns_FBS]

What I liked best about it was the point that you made at the very beggining. Teams often sneak deep into the playoffs because they are much better than their stats and their record looks. There is no way Northern Iowa would be in the national championship in a BC$ system. If IA had a playoff, the same could happen and I seriously doubt if USC would have won 2 (maybe even 3) in a row.

IAA rules
IA drools

[ASUMountaineer]

What I liked best about it was the point that you made at the very beggining. Teams often sneak deep into the playoffs because they are much better than their stats and their record looks. There is no way Northern Iowa would be in the national championship in a BC$ system. If IA had a playoff, the same could happen and I seriously doubt if USC would have won 2 (maybe even 3) in a row.

IAA rules
IA drools
Nothing compares to the drama and intensity of a playoff. I-A will always suffer criticism until they get a playoff. But, I hope they don't. I-AA has the only Division I National Championship game and it decides the true champion. I'd rather settle it on the field then let a computer decide it. I dig it IAA_pwns_IA, IAA does rule and IA does drool.

[HensRock]

Dead on except for one small point. You said:

if Penn St. wins, what will every college football fan in America be thinking? "Gee, if they only had been able to stop Michigan on the goal line."

You see, the real travesty of the BcS is that it wouldn't matter if Penn State had stopped Michigan on the goal line. They STILL wouldn't playing for a national championship! I guess then it would be more obvious (as it has been in other years) that a 2-team playoff field is a bit narrow. With only 11 (or now 12) games in a regular season - that's just not enough data to distinguish the 2 best from the rest. I-AA has it right!

[SoCon48]

Dead on except for one small point. You said:

. I-AA has it right!
If you can convince people every year that teams were not left out of the running unjustly or given a more difficult path.

[TypicalTribe]

Says it all...... why we have a better system.


Had I-AA had a BCS-like system, the #1 and #2 teams in the final ESPN/USA Today poll would be playing for the title: #1 ranked New Hampshire of the Atlantic 10 would have taken on #2 Hampton of the MEAC for the national championship. But at our level, they were unable to prove it on the field: New Hampshire lost to Northern Iowa, and Hampton lost at home to Richmond of the Atlantic 10.

This is just plain wrong. If I-AA used a BCS-like system, the #1 and #2 teams from the GPI would play for the title. So, we would have had ASU versus UNH in Chatty. Would have been a heck of a game.

[Granite]

Would have been a heck of a game.

Ah, what could have been.......... :bang:

I'm sure UNI-ASU won't disappoint, though. :beerchug:

[Wellington]

Agreed, its about time for the game to be on. Just be ready for the layout of ESPN, sanders passes the ball.........1-a is so cool............touchdown UNI.........yeah, the 1-a is just SO COOL............"appalatchin's" elder fumbles........ I-A I-A I-A.