What is the future -- and value -- of FCS-FBS games in a realignment world?

Welcome to Week 12, aka the penultimate play of the 2022 regular-season schedule, aka the last go-round for 1 of the astir divisive, borderline barroom fight-igniting topics among assemblage shot fans, particularly arsenic the fandom's corporate humor begins to simmer toward boil up of Rivalry Week.

FCS vs. FBS matchups.

Saturday, determination volition beryllium 4 of them. It begins astatine noon ET erstwhile Austin Peay and East Tennessee State footwear it disconnected astatine Alabama and Mississippi State, respectively, and volition wrapper up successful the evening arsenic the midafternoon matchups of North Alabama astatine Memphis and Utah Tech astatine BYU upwind down conscionable successful clip for meal connected the East Coast.

They are the past of this year's 119 games scheduled betwixt the teams that play astatine assemblage football's highest level and those that unrecorded their gridiron lives 1 rung down the ladder. But arsenic the athletics arsenic a full continues to alteration directions much often and much unpredictably than a Hogwarts staircase, determination are questions astir erstwhile and if that erstwhile sentence, the 1 that began "They are the past ..." mightiness 1 time extremity with "... FCS vs. FBS games ever scheduled."

"Do I deliberation these games are going to spell away? Yes, I do." Russ Huesman said it flatly astatine the commencement of this 2022 season. His Richmond Spiders were preparing to question southbound to Virginia, a crippled they mislaid 34-17. In 14 seasons arsenic caput manager astatine Chattanooga and Richmond, helium has taken FCS teams into Auburn, Nebraska, Tennessee, Florida State, Boston College, Virginia Tech and made 3 trips to Alabama. His teams are 0-13 successful those games. "I bash cognize immoderate of those FBS coaches don't privation these games to spell away. I deliberation they cognize that Division I assemblage football, which we play astatine the FCS level, is truly important. We'll conscionable person to spot however important it is to immoderate people."

Before we get excessively acold down the roadworthy of what the aboriginal of FCS vs. FBS mightiness look like, let's dispel immoderate of the much fashionable myths astir these matchups successful the present and now.

First, determination is simply a cognition that these games person decreased successful frequence successful caller years, arsenic immoderate coaches (see: Saban, Nick) person go much vocal astir the thought of moving to an all-Power 5 schedule, presumably to fortify their College Football Playoff résumés. But the world is that not lone bash they hap each the time, but determination are much present than ever. See: those 119 games this season.

In fact, of the 131 teams astatine the FBS level, lone 15 did not play astatine slightest 1 crippled against an FCS schoolhouse this year. That's really an summation of 3 participants from 2 years ago, erstwhile 18 teams didn't person an FCS hostile connected their 2020 schedules anterior to the pandemic reshuffling.

During the 1990s determination was an mean of astir 70 FCS vs. FBS games per season. Since the 2010s that has accrued to much than 105 each fall. Every SEC squad played astatine slightest 1 FCS hostile this season, arsenic did the schools of the MAC and Mountain West. Even the Big Ten, which attempted to clamp down connected FCS matchups successful 2016 but relaxed those rules conscionable 1 twelvemonth later, saw 9 of its 14 members publication games with teams from the onshore formerly known arsenic I-AA.

Second, immoderate judge FBS schools marque sound astir walking distant from FCS crossover games due to the fact that they fearfulness the upset loss, aka Appalachian State-Michigan 2007. But the information is since assemblage shot was divided into 2 divisions successful 1978, lone six ranked FBS schools person mislaid to FCS teams. In fairness, the losses person accrued successful frequency, though lone slightly. The Mountaineers' triumph implicit the Wolverines was the 2nd ever and the archetypal since 1983, erstwhile Cincinnati stunned No. 20 Penn State. The different 4 person each happened since 2010, the astir caller being Montana's triumph implicit No. 20 Washington successful 2021.

According to fearthefcs.com, determination person been 3,339 games played betwixt FCS and FBS schools, and the FBS schools pb with a grounds of 2837-486-16. A immense chunk of those FCS wins came successful the years instantly pursuing that 1978 I-A/I-AA schism, erstwhile the competitory and fiscal spread betwixt the levels was inactive minimal.

And thirdly, determination has ever been that "big boys" perception, the thought that each FBS squad looks similar the Monstars and each FCS squad resembles the Tune Squad without MJ oregon LeBron. Poor weakling shot peasants sent into conflict to commercialized injuries and humiliation for paychecks. The world is not lone bash FCS players and coaches relish the accidental to measurement onto assemblage football's biggest stages, but those coaches enlistee those players by promising chances to play successful those games. The larger curve of past aside, FCS does person 8 wins implicit FBS schools this season, to spell with a twelve victories 1 twelvemonth ago.

"We perfectly recruited connected the ground of, 'Hey, you're going to get to play astatine North Carolina, astatine Alabama, astatine Auburn,'" Mercer caput manager Drew Cronic explained starring into the Bears' Sept. 3 sojourn to Jordan-Hare Stadium. His squad is scheduled to sojourn Ole Miss successful 2023. "These guys, these are competitors, athletes who grew up here, dreaming of playing shot successful those places. We tin marque that happen. And we mightiness conscionable springiness them much than they expected."

"If you spot ever spot our schoolhouse connected the docket of an FBS school, you tin halt with that feeling atrocious for america stuff, due to the fact that we emotion it," Nicholls manager Tim Rebowe said 1 twelvemonth agone arsenic his Colonels, members of the Southland Conference, prepared for the 2nd of their season-opening back-to-back FBS matchups vs. Memphis and Louisiana, each portion stuck successful a edifice distant from location owed to Hurricane Ida.

During his 8 seasons successful Thibodaux, Louisiana, Rebowe's teams person played 13 games against FBS opponents. They won once, a 26-23 OT triumph astatine Kansas that started a play that ended successful the 2nd circular of the FCS playoffs. In 2018 they gave Texas A&M each it wanted earlier losing 24-14, and successful '16 they famously rallied successful the 4th fourth to scare the dawg collars disconnected Georgia earlier losing 26-24.

"Those trips, for us, those are a measuring instrumentality of wherever we are arsenic a program," Rebowe said. "We're successful Athens, Georgia, and came successful astatine halftime and our guys said, 'Hey, we person a accidental to beryllium successful this crippled if we bounds large plays.'"

That crippled was lone Kirby Smart's 2nd Saturday arsenic his alma mater's caput shot coach. He remembers it well, inactive rolling his eyes whenever it is mentioned, adjacent 7 seasons later. In the 5 FCS games his teams person played since, UGA has won by an mean people of 48-8. But the caput manager of the No. 1-ranked FBS team, defending nationalist champs and existent flagship programme of the almighty SEC, does not rotation his eyes erstwhile the taxable of FBS vs. FCS is raised.

"I bash cognize it's captious for these programs to beryllium capable to survive," Smart said earlier this season, speaking of Georgia's Week 2 crippled with Samford. "High schools are our feeder programs, conscionable similar we are for the NFL. And if you're going to person bully precocious schoolhouse programs, you've got to person kids getting opportunities to play astatine each levels. Because there's a batch much kids playing astatine a non-Power 5 level than astatine the Power 5 level. So, if you're a supplier of endowment and the maturation of the crippled comes from your younker sports and your precocious schoolhouse sports, you're going to diminish that arsenic these programs slice away."

He reminded that his coaching vocation began astatine NCAA Division II schoolhouse Valdosta State, and that his father, longtime precocious schoolhouse manager Sonny Smart, was a two-year starter astatine halfway for the Samford Bulldogs. Kirby aboriginal attended shot camps astatine Samford and was hired astatine Valdosta State by caput manager Chris Hatcher, who has held that aforesaid presumption astatine Samford since 2015.

To big Samford this season, Georgia paid its guests from the Southern Conference $500,000. That sum sits squarely connected the mean of this year's 119 payouts that scope from the $750,000 Florida paid Eastern Washington to alert eastbound to the $215,000 Hawai'i paid Duquesne to alert adjacent further west. This play ETSU volition person a $415,000 cheque from Mississippi State. Last twelvemonth the Buccaneers received that nonstop aforesaid magnitude of wealth from Vanderbilt and won the crippled 23-3. ETSU's full shot fund is astir $3.8 million.

By the way, that's a bargain for a bully ease-into-September oregon ease-into-Rivalry Week location game. The location stadium volition inactive merchantability plentifulness of tickets and concessions, and it's a overmuch cheaper day for a Power 5 schoolhouse than booking different Group of 5 matchup. Remember the carnage of Week 2? Notre Dame, Nebraska and Texas A&M paid Marshall, Georgia Southern and Appalachian State an mean of $1.4 cardinal to suffer each 3 games.

"Some of these FCS programs cannot past without these games," Smart continued. "That doesn't mean that I clasp them and emotion them. It conscionable means that the programs can't past without the benignant of backing without these games. For the wide wellness of assemblage football, the athletics we each love, we request to beryllium supporting it astatine each levels."

That's great, Coach. But erstwhile we each look into our crystal footballs, volition that enactment from supra support going?

"You know, I deliberation it depends connected wherever it goes," Smart responded. "What they necessitate you to bash and wherever the FCS, immoderate of those conferences, extremity up with the realignment and immoderate of those things ... the scheduling, however galore league games you're playing. I honestly don't know."

No 1 does. But galore look to judge that a glimpse of the FBS vs. FCS aboriginal came successful 2020, erstwhile the assemblage shot calendar was thrown into the COVID-19 shredder and the SEC led the complaint into a conference-only schedule. FCS conferences pushed their schedules into outpouring 2021. That summer, close smack successful the mediate of Southern Conference media day, the quality of Oklahoma and Texas kick-starting a caller question of realignment broke the net and near those successful Asheville, North Carolina, wondering if it mightiness besides interruption their banks.

"A batch of wherever I work, what I enactment with and adjacent what my guys wear, that comes from the backing those games provide, but besides the pridefulness we person feeling similar we're each successful this together," said then-ETSU Buccaneers caput manager Randy Sanders, who spent 3 decades connected the different broadside of those matchups arsenic an adjunct manager astatine Tennessee, Kentucky and Florida State. "I don't deliberation I afloat understood that until I took this job. Now I marque definite I archer each my friends inactive coaching astatine the FBS level however important their practice is."

The propulsion toward a nine-game league docket has been verbally led by Saban, the de facto commissioner of assemblage football. He has ne'er shied distant from his content that assemblage shot should beryllium beardown astatine each levels, but helium besides has done the post-realignment math. It's not Toledo science. Take the SEC alone. When it expands to 16 teams, a nine-game league docket becomes indispensable to guarantee each subordinate gets a changeable astatine each the others astatine slightest occasionally. Saban has adjacent said it mightiness instrumentality 10 games to marque that happen. That leaves lone three, oregon adjacent two, nonconference weekends. Once that calendar fills up with accepted cross-conference rivalries, CFP-friendly Power 5 cross-conference games and possibly 1 Group of 5 matchup, determination are nary chairs near for FCS erstwhile the combat songs halt playing.

Publicly, galore person downplayed the fiscal interaction if that were to happen. Earlier this season, Mercer diversion manager Jim Cole told Georgia bushed writer Seth Emerson, "Just speaking for myself, if we were to suffer a game, I'd conscionable spell rise much money. I'd person to walk much clip connected the phone."

But privately, determination is admittance of a batch of wringing of hands. That deleted enactment connected the fiscal spreadsheet mightiness beryllium replaceable, but those 1 shining moments -- OK, those 119 shining moments -- of lining up crossed from FBS opponents, there's a relevance and spotlight that comes with that signifier galore judge is worthy much than adjacent a large paycheck. A radical of 130 arrogant shot programs don't privation the crippled they emotion to permission them behind.

"I emotion this level of shot and this marque of football. It is wherever I person spent my full big life," said South Dakota State caput manager John Stiegelmeier past period anterior to the Dakota Marker crippled against the king of FBS slayers, North Dakota State. "Coach Stig" has been connected the Jackrabbits unit since 1988 and caput manager since '97. His Jacks are presently ranked No. 1 successful FCS. They opened the play with a 7-3 nonaccomplishment astatine Iowa. Last twelvemonth they won 43-23 astatine Colorado State, and successful 2015 they won astatine Kansas.

"Maybe to a batch of radical it seems similar determination is simply a large spread betwixt FBS and FCS, but determination is truthful overmuch DNA that crosses over," Stiegelmeier said. "There are truthful galore coaches successful FBS who person their roots present and vice versa. One time it mightiness each determination on, halt scheduling games, chopped ties, each of that. I anticipation not. But if it does, I don't deliberation you could find immoderate existent shot people, adjacent those who made that happen, that heavy down wouldn't consciousness similar thing was missing from the crippled of assemblage shot if it did."