|
Post by The Cats on Nov 21, 2022 14:24:11 GMT -5
So, if you have a decent record, you can just buy your way into the playoffs, based on your bid to host?
|
|
|
Post by jim68 on Nov 21, 2022 20:42:53 GMT -5
Guys - If you want to be the best, you have to beat the best. Until the SoCon can go deep in the playoffs, we are not going to get three or four teams in. Someone mentioned we get paired against the higher ranking teams. Those teams are from conferences that beat each other up like we do. Having more teams in the conference doesn't guarantee you'll get more bids. We need to prove our strength by winning in the tournament. Both Samford and Furman have brackets where they could end up in the quarter finals and beyond. Granted Samford has the tougher road, but they earned a first round bye - which seed would you want them to be at? If we had 11 teams like Big Sky, and the top 5 were of similar strength - we would still need to be able to have one or two of those get to the semi-finals and finals - like Big Sky. We'll see how they finish up this year. It's tough that neither UTC or Mercer got in - I agree. But in the past - the SoCon has had a tough time just getting past teams like KSU, let alone a Montana, SFA, or NDSU. I think you need to look at the odds of making it to the finals. When you have 13 teams make the playoffs from three conferences and only have 2 teams representing the SoCon, what are the odds that 2 teams can outperform 13 teams out of 24. The Laws of Probability favors the 13 teams rather than the 2 SoCon Teams.
|
|
|
Post by LCACAT on Nov 22, 2022 7:49:43 GMT -5
As far as expansion, not sure who the SoCon can bring in. We certainly do not want another private school. IMO we missed the boat by not bringing in NC A&T. They would have given us a In State game, easy road trip as they are in the middle of the state for away games. So as far as state supported schools go, I'm not sure who it would be. Unless William and Mary could be convinced to come back to the SoCon, I really don't know of any other options.
|
|
|
Post by wcatradio75 on Nov 22, 2022 8:26:31 GMT -5
As far as expansion, not sure who the SoCon can bring in. We certainly do not want another private school. IMO we missed the boat by not bringing in NC A&T. They would have given us a In State game, easy road trip as they are in the middle of the state for away games. So as far as state supported schools go, I'm not sure who it would be. Unless William and Mary could be convinced to come back to the SoCon, I really don't know of any other options. There are some solid teams in D-II that could be ready to come up. West Georgia was 8-2 this year. West Florida is 10-1 and in the playoffs. Valdosta is down right now, but won't stay that way. Maybe we could add one or two of those. Each of those schools has decent enrollment (12,000 for VSU & UWG, and 7,000 for W. FL in Pensacola - a decent market).
|
|
|
Post by LCACAT on Nov 22, 2022 9:14:51 GMT -5
As far as expansion, not sure who the SoCon can bring in. We certainly do not want another private school. IMO we missed the boat by not bringing in NC A&T. They would have given us a In State game, easy road trip as they are in the middle of the state for away games. So as far as state supported schools go, I'm not sure who it would be. Unless William and Mary could be convinced to come back to the SoCon, I really don't know of any other options. There are some solid teams in D-II that could be ready to come up. West Georgia was 8-2 this year. West Florida is 10-1 and in the playoffs. Valdosta is down right now, but won't stay that way. Maybe we could add one or two of those. Each of those schools has decent enrollment (12,000 for VSU & UWG, and 7,000 for W. FL in Pensacola - a decent market). Good call, I hadn't thought about teams moving up!
|
|
|
Post by FLCATAMOUNT on Nov 22, 2022 9:23:06 GMT -5
What about bringing in Campbell, GW or bringing Elon back. Not sure any of those teams would be interested but all would be good additions, in my opinion. Not going to happen though as we dont want any more privates and the privates don’t want expansion.
|
|
|
Post by wcugrad95 on Nov 24, 2022 11:32:33 GMT -5
Campbell is going to the CAA next year. I think as a conference we missed a great opportunity in not grabbing NC A&T and Campbell when we had the chance. We could have added 1 more team to get to 12 football schools - 2 divisions where you play 5 teams every year, then you alternate with 3 other teams from the opposite division (meaning you would play everybody over 2 seasons). Still gives you 3 OOC games to get a decent FCS opponent, a money game, and each school could decide what they wanted to do with that last spot. IMO it would have been really nice to add A&T, Campbell, and a pipedream of getting somebody like William & Mary.
But given the SoCon didn't go after anybody (at least that we know of) in this last round, seems to me they must not be interested in expansion. As others have noted, what we need is the teams that do make it to win some games. As a conference we had 4 teams ranked but late-season losses made a couple of those teams drop towards the bottom of the top-25. When 10 teams get in with auto-bids (to me it is a joke most years that a team from the Pioneer gets in, and this season it is a joke that Gardner-Webb got in), there is a lot of competition for those 14 at-large bids. If one of the SoCon teams gets to say the semifinals, the perception will change.
With 4 teams ending ranked, hopefully it will also mean we can start the season next year with some teams in the rankings - that always makes staying ranked a lot easier.
|
|