http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/20100910_BIG_UPS_.html Personally I think it is terrible a team could move from the subdivision right into AQ status especially when you consider the BE took Cinci, Louisville and USF from a non AQ conference. The real question behind the BE asking Nova to jump is it because they are planning on more expansion? East Carolina, Memphis and Central Florida along with Nova give the BE 12 teams and the potential revenue from a chmapionship game Or is it in preparation of a strike from the Big 10? Will be interesting to see.
This is a bullshit move by the BE. Remember I said this a couple months back they wanted to bring Nova up. The basketball schools in the BE don't want to lose power. They don't want the control to move towards the football schools. Bringing Nova up keeps the power with them and it fixes the football scheduling. It's great for Nova, great for the basketball schools, horrible for anyone that wants to see the BE get better as a football conference. They should lose the Auto-bid if this happens.
2 points: I think that Nova could make the jump to D1, but here is a question isn't there going to be a transitional period for any team going up to D1? One issue I already see involving with any of the Philadelphia schools is do they have the facilities to compete with the Big East? I've never been to a game in Villanova but there is no chance their stadium can compete with most of the schools in the Big East nor do they have the fan base to make an expansion worth it. We already saw how Temple was basically kicked out due to poor performance, what is to avoid Villanova from suffering the same fate?
Nova's stadium doesnt even meet minimum FBS requirements. They have a 12,000 seat stadium, minimum is 15K... Where do they expect to get attendance from? In 09, they hosted the FCS semi final and drew something like 4500 people. The BIG EAST keeps saying no teams out there add value to the conference. I have a hard time believing they honestly think Nova adds more than UCF/MEMPHIS/ECU. The football schools should be outraged. There is no way Villanova does not lose money on the football contract. Is anyone going to be in a rush to expand the BE's TV deals to show games with 12,000 fans at an MLS stadium?
Having graduated 'Nova last year I'm thrilled with this. Hopefully eliminates that rumor that pops up every so often of the Big East kicking out teams that don't have a football team and an all catholic conference of 'Nova, Gtown, Providence, St. John's, etc for basketball. The current stadium is nowhere near ready to be a DI site. Villanova does have options, such as possibly playing at Penn's Franklin Field, Lincoln Financial Field, or even the new MLS stadium that opened about 20 minutes away in Chester. I'm not sure there's really enough of a fan base for the team to be succesful. With an undergrad student body of roughly 6,000 and a surrounding town that doesn't exactly embrace Villanova as part of the community, I'd be surprised to see that big of a turnout. However in response to Vin's Jets, that game was held I believe the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend, when all the students were home.
This is what should happened. No way Cinci, West Virginia, Louisville, South Fl, and Syracuse are happy about this. It just really puts into perspective where the BE position is. It also does absolutely nothing for their ability to get a better television contract in the future. I'm pretty sure that no TV network sees this as a good move. IIRC, Lincoln Financial has an exclusive contract with Temple as the only college team that can play their home games there (army/navy excluded). Edit: I just checked, the game I was referring to was December 11th vs W&M, announced crowd was 4,171. I'm not taking a shot at Nova, more so the demographic in the region... College football has never been a big draw in the Philly area. Take away games against Penn State, and Temple's record crowd is around 42,000. That happened in the late 80's. Edit: Home games in 2009: Game 1: 8,811 Game 2: 11,119 Game 3: 8,217 Game 4: 5,517 Game 5: 12,073 (11/21) Game 6: 4,319 (11/28) Game 7: 2,661 (12/5) Game 8: 4171 (12/11) Semi finals
Interesting, didn't realize the numbers were that low. I blame it on my graduating class leaving in May. I wasn't aware of the arrangement with the Linc but makes sense. The stadium in Chester is probably a more likely alternate. As a 'Nova fan I obviously wouldn't want to the all catholic conference move to happen, but I can see the benefits if the Big East wanted to remain an AQ conference. To me the easy solution would be to add a Memphis and remove DePaul. You get your 9 team football conference while still maintaining basketball.
Well to be fair we are still just talking about FCS football attendance, the switch alone would easily double the attendance, the biggest question to me is finding a stadium that is close enough that the fan base can follow in full force and if Villanova has the cash to upgrade their facilities enough to be successful in the Big East
Their endowment is around 300 million dollars which is good, not great. The issue will definitely be can they sustain a team that can compete at the Big East level. I'm not sure but Rutgers is not too pleased at the thought of this as they are just starting to turn Eastern PA and South Jersey into RU country. Having to compete with another team for the Philly/South Jersey market for television as well as recruiting will not have a good effect on RU if this happens.
RU already has its jaws in pretty deep in the south jersey/philly area, and I'm not sure that what will be a bad Villanova team will throw that off. They're pulling more and more recruits from there (Savage is from the Philly area), and they just added TV and radio deals for Philadelphia, too. Going to the area every two years and putting a whipping on Nova may actually be a boost for their appeal.
As a Nova grad last year, this would be awesome. Footballwise, it's a good fit. Villanova obviously isn't going to be a good team, but the FCS champions plus extra scholarships plus the appeal of playing in the Big East should help the team out enough to make them at least not atrocious. Sagarin ratings listed Villanova as the 30th best team in all of college football last year, ahead of WVU, USF, RU, UL, and SU. Do I believe Villanova is better than all those teams? No. But they should be able to compete in the lower/middle of the pack almost right away. The Big East is not a good conference. And the other schools would welcome Villanova in. The school has already been accepted into the Big East, all they need to do is move up to the next level. The schools would have to vote a place like UCF in. It protects the basketball side of things in case of a split, and if the Big 10 or someone does poach a team or two away, it's less likely the conference crumbles. The three biggest obstacles are as follows. 1. Villanova's endowment is not very large, so moving up may be too big an initial cost. But then again, if you're going to have football, you're automatically losing money, so I think push comes to shove, they'd pay it. 2. Where does Villanova play? The current stadium isn't big enough and the town won't approve an expansion most likely. PPL Park where the Philadelphia Union soccer team plays would be the best option because of the size of the stadium, but Chester sucks. Lincoln Financial Field where the Eagles play would be good, but the Eagles and Temple both play there, so I doubt they want a 3rd team. Franklin Field where UPenn plays is another option, but it's old. 3. Is there the fan base? Vinsjets makes a good point about that, our attendance is not very good. Part of it is the stadium. Part of it is the lower level of football. The attendance has improved recently, but there's not the fan commitment yet. Would more people go if they moved to FBS? Absolutely. Would enough people go? That's a big question. Villanova also doesn't improve the Big East's case for a BCS bid, but that seems to be safe...for now. But if Syracuse or Rutgers goes to the Big 10, Villanova should step right in and replace them in football in terms of a football team. If a team like Pitt leaves, that could be trouble.
As a current Nova student, I would just like to point out that the William and Mary playoff game was during finals. That's why the attendance was so low
The BE might not be a good conference, but you don't really think they'll hang in the middle of the pack right away, do you? I don't know a lick about Nova football, I admit this and feel free to school me.. but WKU was a very successful FCS school, we all see what they're doing in the sunbelt. I can't see the BE being able to keep their Auto-bid with the addition of nova. It just doesn't make sense. The big east's real Master Plan is to bow down to the basketball schools and do absolutely nothing that would improve the football side of the conference, that much is clear. All these years I wanted to be in the BE. Now I hope the MWC and CUSA merge and steal an autobid.
Well not that it matters anyway but if they decide to make the jump they would have a good 2-3 years due to the mandatory transitional period to prepare for the BE so by that time they could jump right into the middle of the pack, Connecticut is a prime example for that
I think the big difference between UCONN and Nova is that Uconn was a D1 school playing in the subdivision. They have nearly 20 K students compared to Nova's 6. Uconn is also the only D1 school in the state so they also had that built in advantage. I think Western Kentucky is a perfect example of how this could turnout. They won national titles in 1AA but I think have lost 27 straight to 1A programs. Not every school is succesful at the jump like Troy or FAU. The U Louisiana schools have struggled mightily. Can Nova succeed? Maybe and playing in the Big East helps but they'd be one of the smallest 1A schools I think only bigger then Tulsa and on par with Tulane (about 6 K) I personally don't think the BE should have AQ status to begin with and I don't claim to know the formula but I have heard from people who do understand how it works that if all the conferences were required to have to "reapply for the BCS" the Big East would be on the outside of meeting the standards. I just don't think it's right that a school that jumps up to teh worst BCS conference by far should be granted AQ status. I think this is done in attempt to lessen the blow when the Big 10 comes calling, we know they're not looking at Nova but they are looking at Rutgers. Bringing in the Philly and South Jersey TV market will soften the blow for losing NY. It obviously hurts but it's not that Mike Tyson on Michael Spinks KO punch.
They may not be Uconn but they were much than Western Kentucky when the made the switch, I looked and WKU was a good 4 years of being mediocre in the FCS before they jumped to the D1. Another point to mention is that unlike Kentucky which is hideously weak in instate talent for a recruiting base, being in Philly even with all the competition from Temple, Rutgers, Penn State and anyone else they will be able to gather better talent than WKU.
I agree that it can't be a bad thing for them to beat up on Nova every two years in the area. However it's just another school in an area that they're really trying to become the destination of choice for top recruits. Savage is only one recruit and they have lost out on way more 3, 4 and 5 star recruits in this area than they have landed. Schiano's vision for success is based on keeping all of the talent home in the "State of Rutgers" which is all of NJ, Southeastern PA and all of Eastern PA, NYC, LI, Westchester, Fairfield Cty, CT. RU still hasn't been able to land the majority of the Top 10 NJ kids in ANY year. These are all national level kids who just in the 2011 class have opted for Pitt WAY more than they have RU which is ridiculous but their lead recruiter is a North Jersey guy and is cleaning house in NJ. The top players in South Jersey the last 5 years have gone to Penn State, Pitt, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Michigan, USC, and FSU. Across the Delaware in Philly the top recruits are choosing Penn State, OSU, Florida and others over RU. Yes Rutgers is starting to pull in some good recruits down there but they are far from the preferred destination for the best players.
Exactly. Nova for the past couple years has been the best or one of the best teams in the clear-cut best conference in FCS and last year they won the title. 0-1 this year, but that game went down to the last minute against Temple, who I believe are favorites to win the MAC. Nova right away should be able to win 2-4 games in the Big East. That could put them ahead of Cuse and Louisville and right there with RU, USF, and UConn. They're not an upper level contender, but it's possible they could get in a crappy bowl in their first year of eligibility with some extra scholarships. Remember, this is the Big East. If you put us in the SEC or something, we'd win like 2 games maybe.
What seems odd to me is the fact that it should seem as if Villanova should need the Big East more than the Big East needs them. The Non-football schools face the risk of getting shut out if/when another realignment comes about. Villanova needs to get into FBS so they're not stuck in an A-10 like basketball league. The ACC is my dream, I'd have to think they would be interested in adding the Philly market if nothing else for basketball. While the Administration has be anti-football for a while, the biggest thing they have going for them is the fact that Jay Wright is a HUGE proponent of the move. He realizes football is what rules college sports, and knows that the school needs an FBS team in order to stay on top in basketball. I think the football side is eventually going to win out and convince the BOT that without football, the basketball team won't be able to survive, and without either, it will be incredibly difficult for them to get the national appeal Father Peter desperately wants. They'll probably play either at the soccer stadium in Chester or alternate home games with Temple at the Linc for the first couple of years before figuring out a more permanent solution. I really think there's too much smoke for there not to be fire to this story.
If the Big East keeps playing like this, maybe they need Villanova more than we think... UConn loses by double digits to Temple, a team Villanova was leading with under a minute to go before losing. Rutgers is a joke. Cincinnati sucks now. UConn sucks. Syracuse sucks. And Louisville sucks. That's half the conference. In FCS level, the CAA (Nova's conference) has 6 of the top 12 teams, and 7 of the top 16. That #16 team, UMass, almost went to Ann Arbor and beat Michigan today.
