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Post by brandon on Jun 6, 2017 1:13:40 GMT -6
2018 will be interesting to say the least. NDSU and AA&M get me excited, having AA&M in Florence in 2019 is great. Hopefully this will be every year. It will be the best for UNA to have guaranteed rivalry games non-conference. So we have a huge amount of schools to find and play in 2018, who else can realistically be on the schedule from FCS? And who can we make a every year game? My list is (in no particular order)
JSU (should be a state mandated law)
BAMA St. (Not really a rivalry, but could turn into one.)
Samford (never really considered a rival myself, but some think it is)
Tennessee Tech (not bad drive, been to Cookeville several times, same colors almost)
UT Chattanooga (could turn into a rivalry, after all, we share the same river)
UTMarin (an old GSC foe, not a big deal in my mind, but to some I guess)
ETSU (a good regional game with a possibility for a rivalry)
Tennessee State (2 hours and some change away)
Western Carolina (not too bad of a drive considering in Carolinas, would love to get things started with them, but I doubt they'd ever consider UNA a rivalry)
Last but definitely not least
University of South Alabama........I know, they are FBS. So what. I have an idea that I think would be beneficial to both schools. Since they can't come to Florence to play, and UNA wouldn't want to play in Mobile every year, have a neutral site game in Montgomery at the Cramton Bowl, each school splits ticket money. USA don't have to pay UNA and it would probably pull more fans than 90% of their home game do anyway. It is a natural rivalry, and could be a very competitive series. Anyway, just my 2 cents.
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Post by lions09 on Jun 6, 2017 12:55:13 GMT -6
Some good names on that list. I certainly wish that JSU would become an annual game quickly. We shall see. USA would be a great first FBS school to face and the tied with Erdmann should help that become a reality.
That said, 2018 could start to get very interesting without having the benefit of playing the Big South schedule. Who will fill out these games for the teams in their OOC slots, especially mid/late season when most FCS teams are in the heart of their conference schedules. Also, many teams (if not most) have had 2018 already scheduled for a year or more. I assume we have to play the majority of the schedule with DI schools for UNA to count as a DI school for them. But, I'll be we'll see a weird sprinkling of other schools in 2018 possibly including a couple of GSC teams.
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Post by brandon on Jun 6, 2017 13:58:24 GMT -6
Just making out that list, it got me to thinking, What if? What if UNA was to do extremely well in FCS and D1 in general? Would a FBS conference be interested in UNA? What if "Super-Conferences" are on the horizon? So I made a list of schools I think UNA would be a good fit in with in a FBS super-conference.
Southern Mississippi
South Alabama
LA Tech
Tulane
UL (Lafayette) they are trying to drop Lafayette.
Arkansas State
Central Arkansas
Missouri State
Memphis
MTSU
JSU
UAB
Troy
UNA
Kennesaw State
Chattanooga
ULM
I think if Super-Conferences ever do happen, you will have to have some top FCS schools come up to fill in gaps. The P5 conferences will merge regionally more than likely and you can have part SEC/ACC, ACC/Big Ten, SEC/Big 12, and so on.
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Post by 1949lions on Jun 7, 2017 12:23:37 GMT -6
Well, that escalated to La La Land quickly. Haha, just picking on ya Brandon.
I hope there's planning going on to get JSU on the schedule for 2018. I think we could also see former GSC foe Central Arkansas.
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Post by brandon on Jun 7, 2017 20:09:49 GMT -6
Well, that escalated to La La Land quickly. Haha, just picking on ya Brandon. I hope there's planning going on to get JSU on the schedule for 2018. I think we could also see former GSC foe Central Arkansas. Yep, I don't know why I left Central Arkansas out, they were on my mind too. I was only thinking about the FBS thing because of the past Super-Conference talk. I would prefer to stay in FCS unless that happened. The reason I would vote to go if that happened is we would end up back to square 1 and left behind by our rivals and main FCS regional schools. |
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Post by northalaspectator on Jun 7, 2017 20:12:55 GMT -6
Central Arkansas is already full for 2018, but I'm sure there will be a game in the future as long as Steve Campbell is the Coach there since he was Chris Willis coach at Delta State.
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Post by unafied on Jun 19, 2017 13:24:37 GMT -6
Saw it on Twitter just moments ago - we have scheduled a home & home with Western Illinois. Florence in 2019, their place in 2020.
They are a decent program. Last made the playoffs in 2015.
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Post by lions09 on Jun 19, 2017 13:50:08 GMT -6
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Post by brandon on Jun 19, 2017 14:08:36 GMT -6
Great add, they play in the toughest conference in FCS.
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Post by 1949lions on Jun 19, 2017 14:13:14 GMT -6
So cool to see the schedules filling out. Plenty more teams to come, especially for 2018.
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Post by brandon on Jun 19, 2017 16:43:00 GMT -6
So cool to see the schedules filling out. Plenty more teams to come, especially for 2018. [b As fun as it is to see who will be added after 2018, we need as many FCS schools in 2018 as possible or 2019 and beyond don't mater. |
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Post by lions09 on Jun 21, 2017 13:11:01 GMT -6
So cool to see the schedules filling out. Plenty more teams to come, especially for 2018. [b As fun as it is to see who will be added after 2018, we need as many FCS schools in 2018 as possible or 2019 and beyond don't mater. Did I read somewhere that we have to have the majority of the schedule in 2018 to be DI in order to count as DI for those schools? Seemed like some of the press for the NDSU game stated that was one of the reasons they scheduled us. So, maybe the schedule is pretty much done and they are just leaking it to us incrementally. |
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Post by brandon on Aug 21, 2017 10:14:44 GMT -6
Any more schools to be added to 2018? Kinda slacked off for a while.
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Post by brandon on Aug 22, 2017 21:32:08 GMT -6
Someone told me today that we are trying to negotiate deals with Montana, JSU, and Chattanooga. He said the plan is to be able to play A&M and JSU every year. Also play the best from around the country as well. Well NDSU,Western Illinois is a good start. Getting Montana and Chattanooga would be awesome too. Maybe we could turn one of those into a cross country rivalry. Wouldn't mind going to Montana some. Beautiful state, great stadium and atmosphere. Would love to see schools like that in Florence.
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Post by unafied on Aug 23, 2017 4:39:32 GMT -6
Someone told me today that we are trying to negotiate deals with Montana, JSU, and Chattanooga. He said the plan is to be able to play A&M and JSU every year. Also play the best from around the country as well. Well NDSU,Western Illinois is a good start. Getting Montana and Chattanooga would be awesome too. Maybe we could turn one of those into a cross country rivalry. Wouldn't mind going to Montana some. Beautiful state, great stadium and atmosphere. Would love to see schools like that in Florence. Living in Chattanooga, playing the Mocs would be awesome. Obviously we need to play them in Florence and not just Chattanooga, but I won't complain about a game 20 minutes away. The Mocs don't always even draw as many fans as we do, but they have really improved their game day experience over the years. Finley Stadium is a great facility, the tailgating and pregame festivities are fun, plus there are a lot of fantastic bars and restaurants within walking distance of the stadium or s short drive away. I want this to be a rivalry so bad, but I admit I'm biased! Playing JSU and A&M would also be an incredible deal for us. To get back our biggest historical rival and one that sits just an hour away is almost enough to justify moving to FCS by themselves. As for Montana, I actually remember talking to some of their fans about 8 years ago (don't remember the exact year), when the FCS title game was still in Chattanooga and my office was a short walk from Finley. They seemed to be a very friendly group of folks. I came away a fan that day. Would love to play them. |
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