EMU faculty, students: Drop out of Division I football

[jpfalcon09]

Idaho is announcing tomorrow that they are dropping to FCS.

[Schadenfreude]

Idaho is announcing tomorrow that they are dropping to FCS.

That's a pretty special situation. They have no league that will take them given the geography. The Big Sky should be a pretty good fit for them.

I wonder what New Mexico State will do.

[jpfalcon09]

Idaho is announcing tomorrow that they are dropping to FCS.

That's a pretty special situation. They have no league that will take them given the geography. The Big Sky should be a pretty good fit for them.

I wonder what New Mexico State will do.

Geographically and in terms of success rate, yes FCS and the Big Skymakes the most sense. They've won an average of 2.5 games since 2000.

[transfer2BGSU]

Just in case anyone was curious, but EMU plays two September home games on ........FRIDAY NIGHT!!!!!

September 2 v. Mississippi Valley State
September 23 v. Wyoming

They get two Saturdays in October at home and then of course, November and ESPN mid-week action.

[mscarn]

Yes the economic realities suck. The atmosphere is corrupted and I have as much distaste as anyone for the current structure that's set up to let the rich get richer and keeps the others fighting for scraps, but the payoff is in the love of the sport and the pride of the success we've had competing at this level. EMU doesn't have that because they've had no success for as long as anyone can remember. I don't know what the answer is, but for me, it's not to throw in the towel and walk away. You can make that argument for EMU, but we're not in the position they're in.

Anyone that thinks we're irrelevant now and that dropping down to dominate a lower division will somehow change that is fooling themselves. Yeah we may only get, 15,000 - 20,000 a game now on a good week, but start playing in the FCS and you'll see those numbers plummet, right along with any enthusiasm for the program by the students and whatever fan base we have. No, we're not on par with the Floridas and LSUs of the world, but most college football fans know who we are because they've seen us on tv and we get to compete with and at times, beat P5 schools. Bolting from this level will put us into football oblivion and as a fan and alum, I don't want that for us.

Like many of us, I'm no fan of ESPN, but I like the fact that when I can't make it to a game in person, there's a way for me to see the game either on tv or online. I'd like to keep it that way.

We seem to be attempting to break and discard what doesn't need repair. People like to bemoan college football turning into an "arms race," which it may be, but the solution isn't to unilaterally disarm and forfeit everything this program has been built into. We're not talking O$U or LSU money but simply an operating budget and facilities plan consistent with the rest of the conference. Our superior history and community environment can take it from there.

Of course it's ugly and of course we're swimming upstream, but we've got a strong foothold in this battle and should fortify it rather than abandon it.

[Flipper]

To what end?

[Tech2000]

A co-worker came up to me last week, as I was wearing a Bgsu alumni dress shirt, and told me he's become a BG fan
He said last season he was watching a game on ESPN and liked what he saw. The next day he ordered a bgsu football hat. Once I mentioned what ticket prices are he said he and his son is going to take in a couple games. That's advertisement! As for the stadium yes please keep it in good shape but do we need to keep up with the rest!? We seem to have and currently doing well with recruiting for what matters to them. Would I like to see hand rails up the stadium steps? Yep, I've watched many elderly people use the back of chair seats to get up but doesn't mean a new stadium. After the Boise game I had a chance to talk with a gentleman who played oline for Michigan and he complemented on how nice our stadium is, said he never realized it. Many stadiums are old, yes hot water in the restroom would be nice, but I would rather see the money go to the program; after all this is football, outdoors and not in the living room. Don't like the concessions bring your own and eat before the game, visit the car at half time and kill time after the game. Oh and yes, I have great enjoyment in watching our FBS team play at this level. I would be happy to watch them at any level but the sports teams have climbed a huge mountain to get to and stay competitively at that mountain. Is it wrong for students to subsidize athletics, I don't know, I am helping subsidize all students anyway thru gifts to the university and taxes. Life lesson, nothing comes for free. Someone somewhere has to pay for free.

[Globetrotter]

Attendance issues could be helped by forcing teams to play balanced out of conference schedules. Osu plays 9 home games.

[Flipper]

Tech2000 sort of raises the one truly compelling argument for the status quo. It's my understanding that the "MACtion" era of midweek football roughly correlates to a nice uptick in out of state enrollment. Out of state students pay more to be here...Michigan routinely turns down qualified in state students in favor of out of stater's and...even more important forie...excuse me...International...students (goldmine!!!). If that is the case...and you can show me some research that supports it and the numbers make sense , I'm open to staying put.

We'd still be irrelevant in the grand scheme of things...but it would at least make sense to kid ourselves

[Flipper]

And that stuff about professors and their compensation is complete horseshit...BGSU has traditionally been one of the poorest paying colleges in Ohio

[Falconfreak90]

A co-worker came up to me last week, as I was wearing a Bgsu alumni dress shirt, and told me he's become a BG fan
He said last season he was watching a game on ESPN and liked what he saw. The next day he ordered a bgsu football hat. Once I mentioned what ticket prices are he said he and his son is going to take in a couple games. That's advertisement! As for the stadium yes please keep it in good shape but do we need to keep up with the rest!? We seem to have and currently doing well with recruiting for what matters to them. Would I like to see hand rails up the stadium steps? Yep, I've watched many elderly people use the back of chair seats to get up but doesn't mean a new stadium. After the Boise game I had a chance to talk with a gentleman who played oline for Michigan and he complemented on how nice our stadium is, said he never realized it. Many stadiums are old, yes hot water in the restroom would be nice, but I would rather see the money go to the program; after all this is football, outdoors and not in the living room. Don't like the concessions bring your own and eat before the game, visit the car at half time and kill time after the game. Oh and yes, I have great enjoyment in watching our FBS team play at this level. I would be happy to watch them at any level but the sports teams have climbed a huge mountain to get to and stay competitively at that mountain. Is it wrong for students to subsidize athletics, I don't know, I am helping subsidize all students anyway thru gifts to the university and taxes. Life lesson, nothing comes for free. Someone somewhere has to pay for free.

We may not have the most beautiful stadium but what we do have is tradition, a history of success and the Falcons are OURS. Akron has a beautiful Stadium...Infocision is a palace and yet they have no tradition, very limited success and I can tell you here in Akron, all they care about is the Evil Empire in Cbus. I would love to have their stadium but will take our success and tradition over that any day of the week and twice on Sunday. Less than 130 days til kickoff...upset the schmucks and everybody in the country will be talking about BG.

[2006Grad]

The way I see us being relevant is, last year BGSU played 14 games and every one was accessible with minimal effort by Falcon fans across the nation, many of these games were played on major networks as well. If we drop out of FBS that WILL NOT be the case. Also there is a student subsidy added to tuition, that sucks, BUT there are 50+ homes BGSU athletic events a year that these students can attend for free. If they simply walked their lazy asses out of the dorm over to the event they would reap the benefits of that subsidy.

[Flipper]

A benefit that you express no interest in using but are forced to pay for anyway is not actually a benefit....it's more like a tax...or maybe a kind of extortion.

[Falconfreak90]

Attendance issues could be helped by forcing teams to play balanced out of conference schedules. Osu plays 9 home games.

The poor dears only get 7 home games this year. How will they ever manage??? Problem is money talks and they're the buck$ for a reason. How sweet it will be to take a BiG ol check for $1 mil+ and beat them this year.

[footballguy51]

A benefit that you express no interest in using but are forced to pay for anyway is not actually a benefit....it's more like a tax...or maybe a kind of extortion.

There are also taxes for parking, shuttle services, dining, etc. If students don't use those services, they still pay for them. Welcome to the real world, where you pay taxes for things you may never use but are forced to pay.