Why Play Vs. I-A
HARRISONBURG - James Madison will be a double-digit underdog on Aug. 30 when it opens the football season at Maryland - for good reason.
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The Division I-AA Dukes are just 4-18 all-time against I-A teams. One of those victories ranks among the biggest upsets in state college football history - 21-16 over No. 13 Virginia Tech in 2010 - but I-AA teams rarely beat their top-tier cousins.
I-A schools have defeated I-AA teams roughly 82 percent of the time, according to data compiled by footballgeography.com.
But those David vs. Goliath matchups have value for schools like JMU. The payout is high - Madison will receive $325,000 for playing Maryland - and the risk is relatively low. Lose, and nobody notices. Win, and you shock the college football world.
Plus, there are just enough upsets to give I-AA - also known as FCS - teams hope.
"They're just like any other game," JMU coach Everett Withers said of games against I-A schools. "You got to be careful about calling FCS a lower level. You better start preparing for them just like you would your conference opponents."
There's some question about how much longer the high-paying major-conference schools will continue to schedule non-Power Five teams, though. Because strength of schedule will be a key factor in selecting the four teams in the new I-A playoff system, big-time programs are expected to shy away from I-AA opponents.
Both Withers and William & Mary coach Jimmye Laycock agree that I-A vs. I-AA matchups might not exist much longer.
"The direction it's going with the autonomy with the big five and that type of stuff, I would think it's something that might happen in the future, they might come to an agreement about not playing FCS schools, I don't know," Laycock said.
Withers said that because of the emphasis on strength of schedule in the new I-A playoffs, the games will probably disappear. While some believe even low-level I-A leagues will be shunned, Withers said he expects them to slide into slots once taken by I-AA programs.
"I think the schools like the MAC and the Sun Belt are going to take the place of the FCS schools …" Withers said. "Strength of schedule is going to play a lot into that, and playing a I-AA school is going to be hard for the big boys to do."
Craig Haley, who covers I-AA for The Sports Network and is in charge of the outlet's Top 25 poll, disagrees. He doesn't see the games going away for a simple reason: I-A schools with no realistic shot at the national playoffs still need to fill their home schedules and might opt for winnable games.
"I do think it's still a viable option for an FBS [I-A] school to play a game," Haley said. "If you're one of the lower Big Ten schools, there's no harm in playing an FCS school."
For now, though, I-AA and I-A matchups continue. In the Colonial Athletic Association, 11 big-versus-little games are on tap, including eight against the Power Five conferences (ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and Southeastern).
Withers has been on the other side of the fence his whole career. At his previous coaching stops as an assistant, including Ohio State, North Carolina (interim coach for one season) and Minnesota, his teams played I-AA teams. Now that he's coaching the underdog in those matchups, he realizes the benefits those games have.
"Anytime you have an FBS opponent for your ballgame when you're FCS, it gives your kids a good offseason goal to shoot for, a chance to look at the light at the end of the tunnel is somebody you strive to go compete against," Withers said.
Especially when the opponent is a major-conference team like Maryland, which plays in the Big Ten.
Former JMU coach Mickey Matthews was 1-9 all-time against the big boys, coaching the Dukes to several blowout losses over his 15 years. Under Matthews, Madison was outscored in games against I-A teams by an average score of 37.6-14.2, including two shutout losses to Virginia Tech in 1999 and 2003.
There are many reasons I-AA teams rarely beat I-A teams, notably lesser talent and fewer scholarship players. They also have to play on the road, which is why I-A teams schedule them in the first place. Playing lower-level opponents gives major-conference schools more home games, which translates into more money to help prop up cash-gobbling athletics departments.
For I-AA schools, the allure also is financial: sizeable guarantees. JMU got $425,000 for playing Tech in 2010. If Madison moves into a low-level I-A conference, it would reap even more money. Nebraska paid the Sun Belt's Arkansas State $1 million to serve as fodder in Lincoln.
"We certainly want to be fairly compensated for that, so I guess it plays in," said Laycock, who has coached the Tribe since 1980. "It certainly does help our program to help our budget out with the finances."
Matthews said he was always against scheduling I-A games because of the low odds of winning and the risk of injury. JMU, despite perhaps the biggest athletic budget in I-AA at $36 million, also didn't need the payday, he said.
"I never really thought at James Madison we needed the money that bad," Matthews said Thursday by phone shortly after watching Delaware's football practice.
Laycock is a fan of playing I-A teams. Besides the money, he likes the exposure his team gets from facing big schools as well as selling recruits on the big non-conference games. It doesn't hurt that the Tribe has beaten Virginia.
"We've played a lot of them over the years and it's a big challenge, there's no question about that," said Laycock, whose team opens the season at Virginia Tech on Aug. 30. "If we didn't, my win-loss record would probably be a whole lot better. It's certainly does add a lot more sense of urgency to preseason preparation that you got to get ready for that game rather than something else."
The common misconception, Laycock said, is that I-A teams beat up I-AA teams so badly that the smaller schools walk away with more injured players than in a typical game. He said he's found that to be untrue, and that the only true downside is the likely defeat.
"It can hurt your won-loss record because the odds are stacked against you and it may not give you as much margin for error as far as getting an at-large bid in the [I-AA] playoffs," Laycock said. "To me, the experience outweighs that."