In the past, Division I-A college football teams would schedule I-AA teams to start their seasons with an easy win in hopes of boosting confidence or giving players a break from a grueling conference schedule.
That scheduling philosophy sounds great in theory, but it can also lead to disastrous results if an upset occurs. Just ask Colorado, New Mexico and Duke, each of whom lost ? at home ? to a so-called weaker I-AA opponent last week.
Colorado, which played eventual BCS champion Texas in last year?s Big 12 Conference championship game, lost to Montana State. New Mexico lost its season opener to Portland State, while Duke fans can?t wait for basketball season to start after getting blanked by Richmond. Even Maryland didn?t have the easiest of times in its 27-14 win over William & Mary.
This recent trend could take on added meaning locally, as Navy hosts I-AA power Massachusetts today at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. The Minutemen play in the powerful Atlantic-10 Conference and are nationally ranked. While the Midshipmen are now a consistent winner at football under fifth-year coach Paul Johnson, they know not to take UMass lightly. They found this out the hard way when Delaware, another A-10 school, traveled to Annapolis in 2003 and came away with a 21-17 win.
“Anybody can beat us,” Johnson said. “Go back and look at the record book here. It?s not like we?ve had a program that?s won every game for 30 years. We have to be ready to play no matter who we play.”
Area football coaches list a number of reasons why I-AA opponents are no longer the easy win they once were. This includes the 85-scholarship limitations at the I-AA level and the fact that I-A players can transfer to the lower division and play right away.
Towson football coach Gordy Combs has experienced the benefits of these rules first-hand. His Tigers have two players on the roster that played at the I-A level in 2005 in kick returner Jimmy McClam (UConn) and defensive back Khaliq Price (Iowa). Both players saw action in last week?s win over Morgan State. McClam, who went to high school at C.H. Flowers in Prince George?s County, had the bigger impact in the game with a 68-yard kickoff return.
“The scholarship limitations have helped a great deal,” Combs said. “A lot of guys who may have rode the bench at a bigger school can come to a I-A school and make an impact right away. The only major difference between the two levels other than the talent level is that they can offer 22 more scholarships than we can.”
This recent string of upsets will just add more fuel to the fire of a potentially great local football game two years from now when Navy opens its season at home against Towson. By then, the Tigers will have a full compliment of scholarships and should provide just as strong of a challenge as Delaware did.
Johnson also knows what it is like to be in Combs? shoes. He turned Georgia Southern into a I-AA power before coming to Navy in 2002. He said the scholarship limitations definitely helped him at his previous job.
“Oh, it helps,” Johnson said. “Just look at the NFL. They have all kinds of guys from I-AA in the NFL. I was trying to think the other day: I was at Southern for five years, and I think I still have four or five guys in the NFL [from there].”
Ron Snyder is a staff writer for The Examiner. He can be reached at [email protected].
