Big East Teams as FCS Games

[Drew]

So I got to thinking in perusing the FBSchedules site- the following teams are in the Big East for basketball but have FCS programs: Villanova, Butler (non-scholarship Pioneer League), Georgetown (Patriot League- but still non-scholarship).

The precedent has already been set playing a “non-scholarship” FCS team this year in Yale (although this may have simply been done as a way to fill a gap in the home schedule rather than something that will be repeated in the future).

My question is- would playing any of the above three names in the future be of interest to anyone on the board? We’ve played Nova quite a bit in the past and honestly I wouldn’t mind playing Georgetown if they’d be up for it. Butler has had some decent teams previously as well despite being non-scholarship.

 

[Storrs South]

So I got to thinking in perusing the FBSchedules site- the following teams are in the Big East for basketball but have FCS programs: Villanova, Butler (non-scholarship Pioneer League), Georgetown (Patriot League- but still non-scholarship).

The precedent has already been set playing a “non-scholarship” FCS team this year in Yale (although this may have simply been done as a way to fill a gap in the home schedule rather than something that will be repeated in the future).

My question is- would playing any of the above three names in the future be of interest to anyone on the board? We’ve played Nova quite a bit in the past and honestly I wouldn’t mind playing Georgetown if they’d be up for it. Butler has had some decent teams previously as well despite being non-scholarship.

Does playing a non-scholarship program and winning not count towards bowl eligibility? I know only 1 FCS game counts a year but I am not knowledgeable on how scholarships impact the count.

Definitely keep Nova in the rotation. If Georgetown counts towards the 6 wins then why not? It's more interesting than playing Wagner or Holy Cross imo. If not, then Georgetown or Butler probably dont make sense. Maybe we bully Xavier to bring their FB team back from the dead.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

Yes to Villanova as a home game only. Wouldn't mind a rotation of Nova, URI, UNH for our FCS game.

No to the non-scholarship programs.

 

[huskymedic]

Does playing a non-scholarship program and winning not count towards bowl eligibility? I know only 1 FCS game counts a year but I am not knowledgeable on how scholarships impact the count.

It doesn’t count absent extraordinary circumstances (they made an exception in 2020).

Here is a blurb that lays it out...

- > No more than one win against an FCS team may count toward that win total, and only if the FCS team has awarded at least 90% of the scholarships that FCS rules allowed it to award over the last two years.[3] (Currently, that means that wins against Ivy League, Georgetown, Pioneer Football League, and some Northeast Conference teams and do not count.) The requirement that the FCS team must have awarded 90% of its allowed scholarships may be waived if a "unique or catastrophic situation" prevented the FCS team from meeting that requirement. <-

I wouldn’t have a problem w/ Villanova in the FCS school rotation.

 

[History Geek]

Given the blurb, only Nova then. Oh well.

 

[freescooter]

Yale is a different animal from most FCS schools of course. Probably not in the eyes of the ncaa but in the real world. Maybe they don’t give athletic scholarships, but they do subsidize tuition to a greater extent than most. As an old friend wh coached hockey at an Ivy once told me, “ we give aid based on need. If we need a goalie, and you are a good one, we will give you the aid.”

 

[ktuck911]

The only school considered out of the BigEast basketball schools for a football contest would more certainly be Villanova..