Reports: Idaho to drop down to FCS after 2017
After losing its membership to the Sun Belt Conference, Idaho is dropping down a tier in college football.
The Vandals will start playing at the FCS level in 2018 as a member of the Big Sky Conference according to Football Scoop and the Idaho Statesman. The school announced Wednesday it would have a Thursday press conference regarding conference alignment.
Idaho’s final season in the Sun Belt is in 2017 after the conference made the decision to play with 10 teams starting in 2018. New Mexico State also lost its membership to the conference along with Idaho.
The Sun Belt was already a wacky geographical fit for the school because most of its members were in the southeastern part of the United States. With no openings in other FBS conferences, Idaho could have either gone independent or joined the Big Sky.
And going independent would have been a logistical nightmare and not very feasible. As an independent, Idaho would have had to schedule every game itself and getting teams to come to the Kibbie Dome without an exorbitant cost to the school would have been hard. Not to mention the lack of television revenue that comes with conference membership; there would not be a nationwide market for the rights to broadcast Idaho football games.
The Vandals are members of the Big Sky in all other sports and were previously part of the conference in football from 1965-1995 before moving up to FBS. Idaho also becomes the first team to drop out of FBS and into FCS football.
Idaho has games against FBS teams scheduled from 2018-2022. And as a member of FCS it can keep those games. However, its opponents – especially Power Five schools – may not want to keep the Vandals on the schedule, especially because of the College Football Playoff. Teams can only count one win against FCS schools for bowl eligibility.
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And as we saw last season with North Carolina, having two FCS teams on the schedule can be a serious schedule strength detriment. Despite having just one loss before the ACC Championship Game, North Carolina wasn’t within sniffing distance of making the Playoff.
Here’s Idaho’s currently scheduled future non-conference opponents starting in 2018:
2018
Fresno State
Wyoming
Northern Illinois
Florida
2019
Penn State
Wyoming
San Jose State
2020
Temple
San Jose State
LSU
2021
San Jose State
Indiana
2022
San Jose State
Indiana
Old Dominion
The Sun Belt is currently an 11-team league with New Mexico State and Idaho, though that’s about to change. Coastal Carolina is joining the league and the conference will play at 12 teams for two seasons before dropping down to 10.
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Nick Bromberg is the assistant editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @NickBromberg
