The FCS Daily Dose is a blog-style article series featuring an assortment of news, rumblings, quick-hitters, and commentary on various topics. A new Daily Dose will publish multiple times a week to keep the FCS discussion going throughout the long offseason.
For March 13, 2024, let’s talk about…
Year Of The Jackrabbit
I don’t really follow college sports outside of FCS tackle football. But I do follow several FCS beat writers, so you see updates on the Twitter timeline about other teams.
So yesterday, I saw that South Dakota State clinched spots in the women’s and men’s NCAA basketball tournaments. Not that that’s anything new for those two teams. SDSU has been and arguably still is a basketball school with no real tradition of football success until the 2010s and of course the 2020s. The Jackrabbits typically own the top basketball teams in the Summit League.
But to win an FCS championship, punch your ticket to the women’s basketball tournament, and then punch another ticket to the men’s tourney in three months is quite the success for a mid-major athletic department. And via Twitter updates, SDSU seems to be pretty dang good in its other sports too.
It seems everything SDSU touches right now is turning to gold. From on-field success, to facilities, to player retention, to fundraising, to growing its fan base. The Jacks are rolling right now. And one fan base that is becoming more vocally tired of it is NDSU.
As Michael Scott once said, “How the turn tables…”
I covered NDSU Athletics as a whole for several years as the sports editor and then editor-in-chief of the NDSU Spectrum from 2012-2015 and then writing for Bison Illustrated in 2017. During those times, NDSU was riding a similar high as SDSU is now. Probably a bigger high, actually. The Bison were winning FCS titles, beating FBS opponents, getting players drafted, getting ESPN College GameDay visits, putting up new or updating existing facilities, reaching the NCAA men’s tournament, and even winning an opening-round game as a No. 12 seed. NDSU was the thing in the region. Bison fandom was at a fever pitch.
But as the saying goes: It’s hard to stay on top.
When you’re the chaser, you’re constantly pushing the envelope to reach the top. When you’re at the top, it’s easy to have a “let’s just maintain what we got” mindset.
And as the other saying goes: If you’re not getting better, you’re getting worse.
It’s been interesting to hear/read the conversations of NDSU and SDSU fans and media. The general thought is that the Jacks are better than NDSU in just about everything right now. Now, it’s NDSU as the chaser and SDSU that needs to avoid complacency in its athletic department and amongst its fan base.
Where Does The G5 Fit In Postseason Play?
The Group of Five has a seat at the College Football Playoff table, at least for now. The 12-team format will include the highest-ranked G5 champion in 2024 and 2025. The CFP format and revenue distribution model for 2026 and beyond is still undetermined.
As the power leagues continue to chase as much money as possible — which is selfish from a college sports ecosystem perspective, but also understandable as athlete pay and court settlements may be coming — a general online vibe is that the G5 is eventually going to get squeezed out. And signs are starting to show why the G5’s spot in the CFP isn’t rock solid.
While a majority of proposed formats for the CFP in 2026 and beyond include a spot for the best G5 team, the revenue distribution isn’t friendly for the G5s. So much so that G5 commissioners went on a separate call to discuss:
Commissioners of the Mountain West Conference, Sun Belt, Mid-American Conference, Conference USA and American Athletic Conference aren’t keen on the proposed revenue distribution, which sources said would limit the Group of 5 conferences from making any substantial increase in revenue in the next contract, which would begin in 2026. One source described it a “slight uptick; nominal.
The question is if there is enough pushback to delay or derail the progress — or if those leagues are simply in a tough spot and have to acquiesce or risk being excluded from the CFP. Sources have leaned toward the latter.
The CFP’s management committee was expected to have a conversation about it on Tuesday evening, and one source said the Group of 5 commissioners held their own separate call to address the issue.
It’s understandable why G5 teams want an increase in revenue as the new TV deal is north of $1 billion. This is the type of revenue that recent FCS-to-FBS move-ups point to. And also why an entire FCS conference going FBS would get significant pushback. More hands in the revenue pot is not wanted. But you could also argue that G5 conferences have no leverage to fight for more revenue and they should be happy just being included.
Why is this relevant in an article called FCS Daily Dose?
Well, the idea has been floated out there plenty of three D1 football subdivisions: a power conference breakaway, a G5 merger with the top 10-20 FCS teams, and then the remaining 110ish FCS teams still doing their thing in the usual 24-team playoff bracket.
I personally would love this. The new G5 (or whatever it would be called) and the FCS (or whatever it would be called) would both be fun to cover. Seeing teams like SDSU or Montana in the same playoff bracket as James Madison and Boise State would be sweet. And honestly, the FCS playoffs would probably be more fun. Weaker, yes. But plenty more parity if you take the higher-resourced teams out of it.
And frankly, Georgia and Michigan being in the same subdivision as MAC and CUSA teams is laughable. Just as bonkers as NDSU, SDSU, and the Montana schools being in the same subdivision as Pioneer and NEC teams.
A merger for a middle subdivision is a thought not only fans discuss, but FCS ADs and coaches have also publically talked about as a possibility. But the thought of a G5-top of FCS merger has only come from the FCS side, not the G5. The G5 wants to attach itself to the P4 for as long as possible. That’s where the money is. And such a merger would feel like a step down.
But things are adding up where three subdivisions is starting to feel more likely along with some sort of G5 playoff system:
1. The power conferences want more money, power, and access to championships.
2. Bowl game reputation hit an all-time low last fall.
3. And an FBS coach recently mentioned a G5 playoff:
“I would like to see a G5 team still have that opportunity to play in the CFP and play for the ultimate national championship, but I would like to see the G5 have their own version of a national championship,” Liberty’s Jamey Chadwell said. “We have that at D2, D3, FCS. I think it’s for teams that have a phenomenal year. Like this past year, we got into the Fiesta Bowl, SMU didn’t. Well then maybe SMU and Troy — who had a great year — they have an opportunity to play for a trophy.”
“I think we can get to that ultimately,” he added. “I think they’re going to eventually try to continue to weed out the G5s because of the money. Those bigger conferences, they want to keep that money.”
How that G5 national championship looks (4-team playoff? 8-team? 12? 16?) and whether it is its own entity like the CFP or adopted by the NCAA like the Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament (WBIT) is another rabbit hole. But at least there is a dialogue about it potentially happening.
And my guess is if there’s some playoff format and a national title to play for at the G5 level, some top FCS teams or even conferences would be more aggressive in moving up a subdivision.
Then the discussion would turn to how open the G5s would be in welcoming top FCS teams to their new playoff party. And that’s another rabbit hole.
3 FCS Players In Kiper’s NFL Draft Position Rankings
Three FCS players were named in Mel Kiper’s recent Top 10 position rankings for the 2024 NFL Draft:
No. 8 OG: Mason McCormick, SDSU
No. 9 OLB: Jalyx Hunt, Houston Christian
No. 8 TE: Mason Pline, Furman
The first two aren’t surprising. McCormick has been a steady riser throughout the draft process. And Hunt has been thought of as one of the top prospects from the FCS for a while now. Both tested very well at the NFL Combine.
Pline is a name we haven’t seen as much for the 2024 NFL Draft. But every year there seems to be at least one guy who splashes onto the scene.
And what a story it’d be for Pline to sign an NFL contract, whether that be via the draft or a UDFA deal. He is 6-foot-7, 260 pounds, and only played one year of D1 football. Pline transferred to Furman after playing basketball and football at Ferris State from 2019-23. Last fall for the Paladins, he caught 32 passes for 287 yards and four touchdowns.
Pline is the type of athlete that NFL teams are willing to spend a Day 3 draft pick on to develop and polish him into an impact player.
