Two Great Games and a Question

[JohnStOnge]

Two great seminfinal games. The Appalachian State at Montana game was particularly good because of the whole deal. The weather. The competetivness. The crowd. Then nail biting finish.

While I was watching yesterday, I thought about something a fan of a wannabe FBS program posted here once. He posted that last year a Tuesday night game between Middle Tennessee State and Florida Atlantic had better ratings than the FCS championship game.

Why does that happen? When you're watching FCS semifinals or championships you're watching at least as high a caliber of football...and probably higher...than you're going to be watching if you're watching a Sun Belt Conference game. Think about what we had in this year's semis, for example. We had a team, Villanova, that beat a Temple team that is usually bad but this year finished the regular season 9-3. We had a William & Mary team that beat Virginia 26-14. Virginia wasn't good for a BCS league team but people give TCU a bunch of credit for beating the Cavaliers 30-14. And we had an Appalachian State team that, playing without a starting quarterback many consider to be the best player in FCS, took eventual Conference USA champ East Carolina to the wire before losing 29-24.

Why on EARTH would more people want to tune in on a Tuesday night to watch something like that game the wannabe program fan referenced...something like a Middle Tennessee State team that finished 5-7 play against a Florida Atlantic team that finished 7-6 including actually losing to that 5-7 Middle Tennessee State team playing...I guess...for position in the worst FBS conference and maybe for a berth in a bowl against another bad FBS team? And I don't even know if it qualifies as that because Florida Atlantic lost that game, finished 6-6, and STILL got into a bowl against another bad FBS team.

It just absolutely makes no sense.

[Reign of Terrier]

Unless your a close fan who goes on boards like AGS or your conference team is playing in the championship very little FCS fans will watch it. I'm willing to bet more people go to the schools and conferences affiliated with those sucky games so more people want to watch, that's my best guess

[UMass922]

My best guess is that more people are at home watching tv on a Tuesday night than on a Friday night.

[Dblue]

My best guess is that more people are at home watching tv on a Tuesday night than on a Friday night.

I totally agree with you, plus you have to consider how much easier it is to place a wager on a I-A game vs. a BCS one. The NFL knows one of the reasons for their ratings is the amount of money wagered on them.

[JohnStOnge]

I totally agree with you, plus you have to consider how much easier it is to place a wager on a I-A game vs. a BCS one. The NFL knows one of the reasons for their ratings is the amount of money wagered on them.


Ahhhh...that gambling angle is something I hadn't thought of.

[proasu89]

I totally agree with you, plus you have to consider how much easier it is to place a wager on a I-A game vs. a BCS one. The NFL knows one of the reasons for their ratings is the amount of money wagered on them.

True, but you need to be signing up for Gambler's Anon if you're betting on Sun Belt gamesxnodx

[Poker Alan]

True, but you need to be signing up for Gambler's Anon if you're betting on Sun Belt gamesxnodx

Apparently tens of thousands do, those lines ain't up there for show....

[3PeatNation]

Yeah gambling makes sense, that Florida vs Alabama game had a bunch of people gambling on it. Most of the people i knew bet on that game, but it could also be that the typical FBS football fan thinks of us as cupcakes and not intresting so they dont watch.

[FCS_pwns_FBS]

I think it may have something to do with a lack of marketing. It's not as if MTSU's and FAU's attendance is that much better than those of the App. States and Montanas of the FCS.

I'll use last year's New Orleans Bowl as an example...do you think even a majority of the 35,000 people or so that attended that game are fans of either Troy or Southern Miss, seeing what their attendance was for home games? No way. The games were attended because there is far more awareness even about lower-tier bowl games then there is for the FCSNC.

IMO, moving the FCSNC game to January is a good idea. We need to give the game a nickname that ends in "bowl" and probably people won't realize it's not a team from the division that uses the bowls.

[WyomingGrizFan]

We need to give the game a nickname that ends in "bowl" and probably people won't realize it's not a team from the division that uses the bowls.


There used to be a Camellia Bowl, played in Sacramento, Calif from 1961 to 1980 that preceeded the present FCS I-AA Playoff Format. Montana played in it in 1969 & 1970 against North Dakota state both times. I think, if not mistaken, the winner was declared the equivalent to the FCS champion nowadays, but there were two teams considered before 1980 for participation in a type of National Championship Game, not as it is nowadays with sixteen teams in a Playoff system. This before a number of expansion formats entered the equation from four to eight to the present sixteen, if memory serves me correctly. They could just as well call the FCS NC game in Chattanooga, Tenn this year the Camellia Bowl as well, for that's what it was before 1980.

[Ronbo]

I've said for years Friday night is the worst night of the week for TV viewership. That is date night and nightclub night. People are out at the movies, dinner, and nightclubs.

[Rekdiver]

Having the game on a major network helps tremendously and the popularity of FCS teams went up dramaticaly with the emergence of NFL players like Rice, Westbrook, Romo, McNair, Flacco....and the epic upset of Michigan by App State.
ESPN is recognizing the playoff format as something special and the caliber of play is much better than mid level FBS teams.

I was unfortunately out to dinner Saturday night and DVD'd the game. We had dinner at an upscale restaurant and while we were eating a huge crowd formed in the bar. The TV was tuned to the ASU/UM game. I was stunned. We live in the middle of ACC and on the fringe of SEC country and 5 years ago you never would have seen any bar here turn on a FCS game. It seems the popularity of the level of football we play and enjoy is rising. All we need to do now is get the game moved to a major city and we will grow even more.

I promise you there is no way that a game between wannabe FBS teams will have greater share that the top FCS games in the future.

[BarefootApp]

I agree with you. Did you have dinner in Charlotte? If so, I'm not surprised. ASU has a huge alumni/fan base there, plus, of course, it was the only football game on, I think. We will never be the equals of the major football programs in marketing, etc. and I kinda like it the way it is. Pure college football w/o all the bs money machines. Just a thought.

[SCBluehen]

I agree with you. Did you have dinner in Charlotte? If so, I'm not surprised. ASU has a huge alumni/fan base there, plus, of course, it was the only football game on, I think. We will never be the equals of the major football programs in marketing, etc. and I kinda like it the way it is. Pure college football w/o all the bs money machines. Just a thought.

Alot SoCon fans in Charlotte, period.

Plus, don't you have the best football program in the state of North Carolina?

If you were eating dinner in an Applebee's in Possum Trot, KY, I would be impressed with your realization. :)

[Rekdiver]

Charlotte is still eaten up with UNC, NC State, South Carolina and Clemson fans....
They did have an NBA game on prior to us getting there at 6.... By 7 there were more people in the bar watching the game than in the dining area. For us blue collar SoCon fans this was a win in itself.

[jmufan999]

Having the game on a major network helps tremendously and the popularity of FCS teams went up dramaticaly with the emergence of NFL players like Rice, Westbrook, Romo, McNair, Flacco....and the epic upset of Michigan by App State.

i halfway agree.... i don't know that those individual players did much to raise the awareness of FCS football (especially when Flacco says stuff that makes it sound really puny, don't have the quote but it wasn't that great)....

but the app state win over michigan did a lot. probably more than any event ever has, that i am aware of. unfortunately (for non-app state fans), it helped them more than it helped FCS in general.

do you think it's a coincidence that last year's FCS brackets were announced with the #2 seed before anyone else? if that had been (insert any team besides ASU, and that includes Montana), they would have announced JMU first as the #1 seed, as every selection show does.

i'm not complaining... at all. kinda was weird, but the point i'm making is that the Michigan win did a LOT for FCS in general, but even more for App State in particular.

[Eight Legger]

I guess to turn the tables, we could ask how many people on this board watched the NW Missouri State-Grand Valley State D-II national title game on Saturday? I watched half of it, mostly because I was waiting for the Montana-App game to start on ESPN.

If more D-II games were televised, I would probably watch a few from time to time.

I guess it just comes down to people assuming that FBS is significantly better than FCS. Anyone who has watched the FCS playoffs would know that the level of play, to the casual fan, is very similar. But FBS fans probably don't watch our game enough to realize that it is high quality.

[GannonFan]

It's easy to see why Sun Belt/MAC games outdraw FCS in terms of viewers:

1) You can easily get a betting line on FBS games and you can't on FCS games - let's face it, there isn't a huge viewing audience out there for either set of games, but the gambling crowd can and does tune into games they can wager on.

and
2) the FCS title game is on Friday night - no one watches TV on Friday night. As unappealing as Tuesday night sounds, it's incredibly more watched than a Friday night game is. Doesn't matter who's playing.

[JohnStOnge]

I guess to turn the tables, we could ask how many people on this board watched the NW Missouri State-Grand Valley State D-II national title game on Saturday? .

I watched it in the sense that I was flipping back and forth between the Louisiana High School Football championship games on during the same time frame and the D-II championship game. I also did that with the D-II semifinal between Carson-Newman and Grand Valley State...flipping back and forth between that and whatever FBS game was on. That's usually how I watch football though. I'm flipping back and forth between games almost play by play.

[GoneTribal]

True, but you need to be signing up for Gambler's Anon if you're betting on Sun Belt gamesxnodx

hey, foozball is foozball when you think you know the winner....a ****ty team makes the same type of green that a good team does ;)

[proasu89]

hey, foozball is foozball when you think you know the winner....a ****ty team makes the same type of green that a good team does ;)

I know that all too well. I had some friends in college that would have bet on Pop Warner gamesxlolxWhen I saw the sketchy looking guys in their parking lot I headed the other wayxsmiley_wix

[GoneTribal]

I know that all too well. I had some friends in college that would have bet on Pop Warner gamesxlolxWhen I saw the sketchy looking guys in their parking lot I headed the other wayxsmiley_wix

I am glad to say I haven't bet on a pop warner game.....





yet xlolx