America East Football: Stony Brook over Albany 31-28
How much longer is the America East Conference going to pretend that a Football program doesn't make sense? The Stony Brook v. Albany game (Go Seawolves!) is proof positive that there can be exciting--and high-quality--football on par with basketball. As a matter of fact, with four America East schools making it to the FCS playoffs (New Hampshire and Maine in addition to SB and Albany), AE would have been the most represented conference in the entire FCS. (CAA Football has 5 teams in, but Maine and NH are two of them).
Let's make it happen, America East!
6 months ago
AdamNPeck
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Never gonna happen
How many of those schools would be in without the automatic conference championship bid that three of them wouldn’t earn if there was America East football? Unless the travel costs for being in the Big South are crippling — and they’re really not that bad — it doesn’t make sense for any of those schools to leave a conference where they have a chance at an auto bid, not now. Albany and SBU especially (I admit to not knowing much about the other football programs) need to make perennial FCS playoff visits in order to develop.
Tougher Conference vs. Auto-Bids
There are really two issues at play here. On the one hand, America East’s football schools currently each have different, and arguably easier, paths to the FCS playoffs. Albany and Stony Brook have auto-qualifiying conferences to prey on, while Maine and New Hampshire can impress voters in a tough CAA conference for at-large bids come November.
But on the other hand: what really changes in AE football? Of those four teams, one would win the auto-bid, and as the CAA has shown, there is certainly room for two, three or even four other teams from a single conference in the playoffs though at-large bids.
You could argue that Stony Brook has an easier road to the playoffs in the Big South right now, but I would actually argue the opposite: Stony Brook has no room for error in the Big South. Our playoff chances are pinned to pretty much one game every year. One bad day for Essington, one week when Maysonet or Jackolski come down with a cold, and that’s the season.
In a hypothetical America East conference, there would certainly be tougher competition. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Never mind the benefits fans enjoy (I love the occasional 76-28 games as much as anyone, but tell me the Albany nail biter wasn’t more exciting?), but Stony Brook wouldn’t have to be perfect to win the conference. Albany wasn’t.
But
It’s true that there’s a better chance for an at-large bid with better competition. But those are much harder to get already, and with the non-conference schedule Stony Brook plays, it would be all the more difficult.
In the third paragraph, you describe college football. You have to be perfect, or very close to, to get to the big games. That’s one of the arguments for the BCS system — every game is a playoff game. In the Big South, it’s like that, and Stony Brook can more than handle it as it stands. Why ruin a good thing?
In an AE conference, Stony Brook might not have to be perfect to win, but it would have to be much better week in and week out, whereas now there are virtual off weeks where you can sit the first team after three quarters. The conference season is basically stay focused, beat CCU and Liberty, and you’re good. That’s good for recruiting, and that’s why it won’t change, at least not for Stony Brook, not yet. In ten years, when the Seawolves consistently get better players from the LI/tri-state area — guys that would normally have gone to UConn or Syracuse or Rutgers, etc — then maybe it would be time.
But from a fan’s standpoint, I certainly would love to see it happen.
It's a pretty typical argument
Between those who want to see wins vs. those who want to see the highest level of competition.
I prefer to take the side that all programs – 1-A and 1-AA – can agree with: good competition = good money.
Look at the SBU vs. Albany game. We packed house to overflowing. It wasn’t because it was a playoff game. No one understands playoffs with 1-A Bowl Games the far more recognizable form of college football post-season. They understood it as a SUNY grudge match. Now go to our game at home against [insert small baptist college here]. 2-3 thousand tops. But WAIT! Surely – as you note in your second paragraph – every fan GETS that the game against [small southern baptist college] was just as critical to advancing as the SBU vs. UA game!
But alas, the common fan doesn’t care. Nor do broadcasters. Nor do sponsors. And thus our bread and butter – gate receipts and concessions – suffer.
Here’s the deal – college football is a money sump. There IS no profit in college football for 90% of the teams that play in it. But the reason you invest is for turnout, for competition, for reputation. You can go to the playoffs 100x in the Big South and not get one ounce of prestige for doing so. Going 50x out of a conference with recognizable, 1-AA brand name teams…..there’s a perceived achievement. There’s your money at the gate, there’s your sponsorship, there’s your improvement of brand image, recruitment, fanbase, and overall good MONEY.
But no, let’s keep getting to the playoffs as we thump teams that only matter because we have to schedule them. Oh, and one team that plays well but: let’s be blunt, I feel dirty whenever we play them. I agree, it’s far more satisfying to get to the playoffs that way.
Northeast Football
I could not agree more. It’s not about the playoffs. It’s about building regional rivalries that people are passionate about. It’s about driving fans to our small but financially important stadiums to making northeast football viable.
Stony Brook fans do NOT care about small Baptist colleges in the southeast. They do care about a SUNY grudge match with Albany. They do care about New Hampshire and Maine. Don’t get lost on the idea that maybe America East football might result in fewer playoff slots for NH, Maine, SBU and UA. Think that each regular season game means so much more in America East footbll.
The northeast is the most densely populated region in the country and once the Big East conference folds or becomes a national league, it will be the only region WITHOUT a full scholarship based league. The SEC works because it’s based on regional schools and building grudge matches. Georgia versus Florida etc. For northeast football to survive, we need those rivalries. Playoffs? Who cares that Stony Brook plays Sam Houston State? Albany vs Stony Brook will always out sell a game againt Liberty or Presbyterian.
Regional games matter!
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