As was reported by the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, the Big Ten will no longer be scheduling FCS schools. This is according to Wisconsin Athletic Director Barry Alvarez who said “the nonconference schedule in our league is ridiculous…So we’ve made an agreement that our future games will all be Division I schools. It will not be FCS schools.”
Will this have any impact on Liberty? On the surface, no. Liberty has played 17 games against FBS foes, but has never played a Big Ten opponent. Most of these contests have been against the MAC or, more recently, the ACC. Liberty is currently scheduled to play games against FBS foes Kent State, West Virginia, Virginia Tech and Baylor. Where it could get dicey for Liberty and FCS as a whole is if other conferences follow in the Big Ten’s footprints.
The rumor is that this new “rule” for the Big Ten will go into effect for the 2014 season when Rutgers and Maryland are scheduled to join the conference. The Big Ten is scheduled to play 10 games against FCS opponents in 2013, so there will be fewer games for FCS schools to schedule in the future with their FBS counterparts.
There were 106 FCS vs FBS games in 2012, a number that has risen significantly since 2005 when just 54 FCS vs FBS games were played. The decrease in number of FCS vs FBS games that will come from the Big Ten’s decision will hurt some universities as many FCS schools use the paychecks received from FBS schools to fund their entire athletic department.
