College Football: FBS Teams without FCS Opponents on their Schedule for 2011
The NCAA allows FBS teams (Football Bowl Subdivision, formerly Division I) to count one victory over an FCS opponent (Football Championship Series, formerly Division I-AA) towards bowl eligibility.
Not surprisingly, even though it’s legal, many FBS programs (especially those who are members of BCS automatic qualifying (AQ) conferences) take heat for scheduling non-conference opponents that are not FBS programs.
Fairly or unfairly, terms like “cupcake,” “gimmee,” “easy or automatic win,” etc. are used to describe these games that at first glance may seem less than intriguing (until, of course, the FCS team triumphs, the college football world gasps for 48 hours and the fanbase morosely rubbernecks the aftermath like a fender bender on the interstate).
Regardless of the upward trend in scheduling FCS opponents, there are still programs that stand out because they do not have FCS foes on their slate.
To illustrate the rarity, only 27 of the 120 FBS teams do not have an FCS game scheduled in 2011 (working out to roughly only 23 percent of the entire FBS field).
The flip side is that 93 teams (77 percent) of FBS teams have at least one FCS game slated for 2011.
The breakdown by conference is also very interesting; at the high end are the Conference USA and Sun Belt conferences that have five teams each with no FCS teams on their schedules.
Next are the Big 12 and Pac-12, each with four teams scheduling all FBS opponents, then the WAC with three, the Big 10 and MAC tied with two each followed by the Mountain West and Independents with one team each.
At the very bottom of the barrel are the ACC, the Big East and the SEC, who each have zero teams without an FCS team on their schedule. In other words, these three conferences have 100 percent of their programs playing an FCS team in 2011.
Further number crunching indicates that of the 65 BCS AQ schools, only 11 (or 17 percent) have an all-FBS schedule; the other 83 percent are playing an FCS team in 2011.
The following slideshow breaks down the FBS teams with all-FBS schedules for the upcoming season.
Should these 27 programs be applauded, sent back to scheduling school or simply looked upon as the last bastions of hope in a gridiron society that is slipping into the haze of mediocrity?
Ball State
1 of 27
Conference: MAC
2011 Non-Conference Opponents:
vs. Indiana (in Indianapolis)
at USF
vs. Army
at Oklahoma
FCS Opponents in 2010? Yes. Southeast Missouri State and Liberty.
Boise State
2 of 27
Conference: Mountain West
2011 Non-Conference Opponents:
vs. Georgia (in Atlanta)
at Toledo
vs. Tulsa
vs. Nevada
at Fresno State
FCS Opponents in 2010? No.
Colorado
3 of 27
Conference: Pac-12
2011 Non-Conference Opponents:
at Hawaii
vs. California (this is to be counted as a non-conference game)
vs. Colorado State (in Denver)
at Ohio State
FCS Opponents in 2010? No.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
East Carolina
4 of 27
Conference: Conference USA
2011 Non-Conference Opponents:
vs. South Carolina (in Charlotte, NC)
vs. Virginia Tech
vs. North Carolina
at Navy
FCS Opponents in 2010? No.
Florida Atlantic
5 of 27
Conference: Sun Belt
2011 Non-Conference Opponents:
at Florida
at Michigan State
at Auburn
vs. UAB
FCS Opponents in 2010? No.
Florida International
6 of 27
Conference: Sun Belt
2011 Non-Conference Opponents:
at Louisville
vs. UCF
vs. Duke
at Akron
FCS Opponents in 2010? No.
Marshall
7 of 27
Conference: Conference USA
2011 Non-Conference Opponents:
at West Virginia
at Ohio
at Virginia Tech
at Louisville
FCS Opponents in 2010? No.
Miami (OH)
8 of 27
Conference: MAC
2011 Non-Conference Opponents:
at Missouri
at Minnesota
vs. Cincinnati
vs. Army
FCS Opponents in 2010? No.
Michigan
9 of 27
Conference: Big 10
2011 Non-Conference Opponents:
vs. Western Michigan
vs. Notre Dame
vs. Eastern Michigan
vs. San Diego State
FCS Opponents in 2010? Yes. Massachusetts.
Middle Tennessee
10 of 27
Conference: Sun Belt
2011 Non-Conference Opponents:
at Purdue
vs. Georgia Tech
vs. Memphis
at Tennessee
FCS Opponents in 2010? Yes. Austin Peay.
Nevada
11 of 27
Conference: WAC
2011 Non-Conference Opponents:
at Oregon
at Texas Tech
at Boise State
vs. UNLV
vs. New Mexico
FCS Opponents in 2010? Yes. Eastern Washington.
New Mexico State
12 of 27
Conference: WAC
2011 Non-Conference Opponents:
vs. Ohio
at Minnesota
vs. UTEP
at New Mexico
at Georgia
at BYU
FCS Opponents in 2010? No.
North Texas
13 of 27
Conference: Sun Belt
2011 Non-Conference Opponents:
vs. Houston
at Alabama
vs. Indiana
at Tulsa
FCS Opponents in 2010? No.
Notre Dame
14 of 27
Conference: Independent
2011 Opponents:
vs. USF
at Michigan
vs. Michigan State
at Pittsburgh
at Purdue
vs. Air Force
vs. USC
vs. Navy
at Wake Forest
vs. Maryland (in Landover Maryland)
vs. Boston College
at Stanford
FCS Opponents in 2010? No.
Ohio State
15 of 27
Conference: Big 10
2011 Non-Conference Opponents:
vs. Akron
vs. Toledo
at Miami (FL)
vs. Colorado
FCS Opponents in 2010? No.
Oklahoma
16 of 27
Conference: Big 12
2011 Non-Conference Opponents:
vs. Tulsa
at Florida State
vs. Ball State
FCS Opponents in 2010? No.
Oklahoma State
17 of 27
Conference: Big 12
2011 Non-Conference Opponents:
vs. Louisiana-Lafayette
vs. Arizona
at Tulsa
FCS Opponents in 2010? No.
Rice
18 of 27
Conference: Conference USA
2011 Non-Conference Opponents:
at Texas
vs. Purdue
at Baylor
at Northwestern
FCS Opponents in 2010? No.
San Jose State
19 of 27
Conference: WAC
2011 Non-Conference Opponents:
at Stanford
at UCLA
at Colorado State
at BYU
vs. Navy
FCS Opponents in 2010? Yes. Southern Utah and UC Davis.
Stanford
20 of 27
Conference: Pac-12
2011 Non-Conference Opponents:
vs. San Jose State
at Duke
vs. Notre Dame
FCS Opponents in 2010? Yes. Sacramento State.
Texas
21 of 27
Conference: Big 12
2011 Non-Conference Opponents:
vs. Rice
vs. BYU
at UCLA
FCS Opponents in 2010? No.
Texas A&M
22 of 27
Conference: Big 12
2011 Non-Conference Opponents:
vs. SMU
vs. Idaho
vs. Arkansas (in Arlington Texas)
FCS Opponents in 2010? Yes. Stephen F. Austin.
Troy
23 of 27
Conference: Sun Belt
2011 Non-Conference Opponents:
at Clemson
at Arkansas
vs. UAB
at Navy
FCS Opponents in 2010? No.
Tulsa
24 of 27
Conference: Conference USA
2011 Non-Conference Opponents:
at Oklahoma
vs. Oklahoma State
at Boise State
vs. North Texas
FCS Opponents in 2010? Yes. Central Arkansas.
UAB
25 of 27
Conference: Conference USA
2011 Non-Conference Opponents:
at Florida
at Troy
vs. Mississippi State
at Florida Atlantic
FCS Opponents in 2010? No.
UCLA
26 of 27
Conference: Pac-12
2011 Non-Conference Opponents:
at Houston
vs. San Jose State
vs. Texas
FCS Opponents in 2010? No.
USC
27 of 27
Conference: Pac-12
2011 Non-Conference Opponents:
vs. Minnesota
vs. Syracuse
at Notre Dame
FCS Opponents in 2010? No.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
