Thursday, April 30, 2009

Something to think about

It’s been a while since we posted. Well, here’s a question that should make up for the wait.

It’s one we haven’t explored or have even seen brought up during the debate.

Jacksonville State officials just went before an NCAA academic committee to make its case for waivers against potential penalties against the football program for missing the APR benchmark for the third year in a row. The most visible of the penalties would be a ban on post-season play for the 2009 season, which, as the dominoes fell, could impact the Gamecocks’ guarantee games.

An decision is expected within the next three weeks.

All indications are the football program has been making what appears to be a good-faith effort to improving its academics. But the question for your consideration today is if the Gamecocks’ are denied the waiver and banned from post-season play in 2009, would you go watch them play and is the season really worth it? After all, the biggest thing the Football Championship Subdivision, Division II and Division III have going for them is they get to play for their football championships on the field.

Now, if you can’t play for the championship, is the season really worth playing?

Your responses are more than welcome here.

6 comments:

Stephen Brackett said...

Thats an interesting question. I feel as long as the Southerners are performing there is reason to go, even if the team were crap (which it isn't-just saying). I guess they would still be competing for the OVC title, which would be worth watching.

Unknown said...

Yes, I'll still support the team. There are plenty of FBS teams that have no chance of getting into a bowl game and their fans still come out.

al muskewitz said...

If they're ineligible to compete in postseason play, its unlikely they'll be competing for the ovc championship, since the winner of the ovc gets an automatic bid and the league certainly isnt going to give its automatic bid to a team that cant go.

Here's another thing to consider. If the Gamecocks aren't eligible for postseason play, how much does ryan perrilloux play to build his stats and enhance his draft status. with no championship to lead his team to, which he says he wants to do, what else does he have to play for.

Smucker D said...

This is a great topic Al. I just wonder how much "reason" there will be for the JSU players to play and the coaches to coach if they are banned from post-season play.

I wonder if the ovc will consider JSU's games against the ovc teams non-conference and therefore will not impact OVC teams conference records. So JSU would technically play their 7 conference opponents but would be 0-0 in the conference. For the OVC teams it would be a non-conference game.

Have you contacted the OVC about this topic Al? I would guess (unless they have their heads up their butts) they have already discussed how to handle the situation if JSU gets banned.

al muskewitz said...

If JSU gets the postseason ban, they would be ineligble for the OVC championship since the OVC winner gets the NCAA automatic bid. JSU would play a full schedule of OVC games, just wouldn't be eligible for the championship. The games will count toward the other teams' records, though. It was just like Central Arkansas in the Southland last year, although that league had to make a ruling for itself as the season progressed. The OVC changed its bylaws to a similar ruling when that happened.

Unknown said...

I understand the point, and it would really take the wind out of our sails to have the post-season off the table before training camp. All of that said, it'll still be fall, it'll still be football. I just happen to believe that supporting your school and the sheer enjoyment of the sport outweigh the NCAA issue.