College Football's Five FCS (I-AA) Teams That Should Move Up to FBS (I-A)

With no offense meant towards the University of Southern Alabama and Texas State, FBS football deserves better.

For every Boise State to move up, there have been numerous Florida Internationals that have just cluttered the landscape of college football's premier level.

What FBS football deserves are teams that combine tradition, fan support, and the all important on-field success.

These teams have not moved up due to reasons such as financial costs, travel problems, or the fact that they would rather play every year for a real national championship instead of a third tier bowl.

Nevertheless, if quality ever became the determination of who should move up, these are the teams that should be at the front of the line.

Appalachian State Mountaineers

Three straight national championships and the historical win at the Big House make the Mountaineers the No. 1 candidate to move up to FBS.

Yet, it is the terrific coaching by coach Jerry Moore and the amazing fans at Kidd Brewer that would keep the Mountaineers competitive.

While most teams can talk the talk, Appalachian State has walked the walk by facing some of the toughest teams in FBS.

I can guarantee that this Mountaineer team will not only compete in FBS, but will also succeed and wipe away the memories of their last bowl appearance (a 7-0 loss to East Tennessee State in the 1955 Burley Bowl).

Montana Grizzlies

A large modern stadium, check. A long storied tradition of winning, check. Some of the most passionate fans in all of college football, check.

With a current record of 16 straight playoff appearances, the Grizz show that they have what it takes to win on a consistent basis.

Grizz fans would also be a huge boost to whatever bowl selected them, draping the entire city in a hue of visiting purple.

The Grizz have already shown that they have what it takes to win in FBS with their recent, and consecutive, demolishings of Idaho in the battle for the Little Brown Stein.

FBS would be lucky to have a team like the Grizzlies, who would add so much of the storied traditions that college football fans love.

Georgia Southern Eagles

I don't care how bad the last couple years have been—six national championships in 25 years is an amazing accomplishment.

This school's commitment to winning is even more evident when one realizes that these championships were won by three different coaches.

This is not even taking the two Walter Payton Award winners and great fan support into consideration.

Thankfully, some sanity has taken hold in college football with the news that the Eagles are looking into the possibility of moving up to the FBS level.

Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens

You have already heard it all by now: Delaware has amazingly loyal and passionate fans and a long tradition of winning, but coach K.C. Keeler himself best describes what makes Delaware football stand out.

“We’re the LSU; we’re the Georgia, the Florida of Division I-AA...we have every resource. There’s some people who have better resources than we do, but in general, the college campus we have is in one of the greatest college towns in America, and the academics...we led the nation last year in out-of-state applications, more than Michigan or Texas. But that’s what this school has become—everybody wants to come to school here."

Seeing how Delaware has sent three consecutive coaches to the College Football Hall of Fame, I will not disagree with that statement.

Mount Union Purple Raiders

I know that I am cheating here by adding a Division III school to the list, but I don't care—Mount Union deserves to play with the big boys of college football.

It doesn't matter what level of football a team plays at; Mount Union's stats are impressive to the point of disbelief.

How about 10 national championships since 1993 and an NCAA record 110-game winning streak while being led by Larry Kehres, the winningest coach in the modern era of football (.929 winning percentage)?

The list of accomplishments continues with 16 Ohio Athletic Conference Championships and 14 undefeated regular seasons.

Mount Union may not contend for a BCS title right away, but even in their current state, they could give the MAC a very nice challenge.