Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez says Big Ten officials recently agreed to stop scheduling nonconference games against FCS programs.

"The nonconference schedule in our league is ridiculous," Alvarez said on WIBA-AM in Madison, Wis. "It's not very appealing ...

"So we've made an agreement that our future games will all be Division I schools. It will not be FCS schools."

Alvarez didn't say when the agreement would take effect.

Wisconsin has one FCS team on its schedule in 2013, a Sept. 7 meeting against Tennessee Tech.

A source told ESPN.com's Adam Rittenberg the ban could start in 2016, with several FCS games already on the books for 2014 and 2015. But it could be a gradual move with some schools stopping now and some stopping later, the source said.

Teams from FCS, formally known as I-AA, have become common nonconference opponents for FBS teams because they will accept a relatively big payday without asking for a game on their campus. Generally, they provide little more than a tuneup for the teams from college football's highest level -- with some notable exceptions such as Appalachian State winning at Michigan in 2007.

Most of those matchups, though, don't do much to generate excitement for fans or TV networks. And the lackluster games might prove to hurt a teams' chances of getting picked to play in college football's four-team playoffs that will start in 2014 -- when Maryland and Rutgers likely join the conference.

That's why the Big Ten is looking to beef up football schedules, with nine or 10 conference games and tougher nonconference opponents.

"The coaches and ADs met this week and the ADs will continue to meet in the coming months to prepare a proposal for the council of presidents/chancellors to consider in June," Big Ten spokesman Scott Chipman wrote in an email Wednesday. "So, the process continues."

Illinois sports information director Kent Brown said the football-related topics also included reviewing the conference's divisional alignment.

"It's kind of a re-engineering of Big Ten football," Brown said. "But there was no decisions made on any of those things. Really, it'll have to be taken to the presidents and chancellors of the Big Ten in June before anything could be finalized.

12233 wrote: IMO, this decision has nothing to do with the B1G coaches or Athletic Directors wanting to play better competition. I would bet money it's a direct result of intense pressure from the Big Ten Network. BTN was getting stuck with broadcasting lousy match ups with FCS (Division II) schools, because ABC, ESPN and CBS refused to pick up a lot of those games. It had to be hurting BTN audience ratings as well as income from advertisers. Fox owns 51% of BTN and I bet they demanded that the B1G eliminate the games with FCS schools. The B1G will spin it like they've done this for their fans.

12233 wrote: IMO, this decision has nothing to do with the B1G coaches or Athletic Directors wanting to play better competition. I would bet money it's a direct result of intense pressure from the Big Ten Network. BTN was getting stuck with broadcasting lousy match ups with FCS (Division II) schools, because ABC, ESPN and CBS refused to pick up a lot of those games. It had to be hurting BTN audience ratings as well as income from advertisers. Fox owns 51% of BTN and I bet they demanded that the B1G eliminate the games with FCS schools. The B1G will spin it like they've done this for their fans.

OUknowitscomin wrote: Agreed to certain extent numbers, but the playoff committee also will take scheduling into account. Combined with even former B1G commentators on ESPN literally laughing about how pitiful it's been for the conference, it only further damages the brand & respect for conference. They don't like getting embarrassed on Gameday either.

Minnesota is a big boy?

BleedingCrimson4Life wrote:

Minnesota is a big boy?

WhiskyKilo wrote: This is an absolute stupid decision and the reason why is that they have just lumped all of the FCS teams together, when in fact they are very different.

I've posted on here before about North Dakota State, I lived up there for awhile, so I got to see their program firsthand.  They are 6-3 all time against FBS teams.  They beat the MAC champion one year by 30 points on the road.

NDSU has a 2-1 record vs. Minnesota and now they are not good enough to play them?

Also, the lack of fan interest sited as a reason for stopping FCS games does not apply in this situation.  In 2007, the NDSU game was the highest attended game for a home game at Minnesota.


The Bison defeated the Gophers 27–21 in front of 63,088, the most people to attend a Gopher game to that point in the season. The Gophers were dominated in every facet of the game, by a team with 22 fewer scholarship players and none with scholarship offers by Minnesota. The game was considered a low point for the program as a whole. NDSU rushed for 394 yards and totaled 585 yards with an edge in time of possession of nearly 14 minutes. Bison running back Tyler Roehl had a school-record 263 yards on 22 carries with one touchdown. The defeat put the Gophers at 1–7 and official out of contention for a bowl game bid. The victory extended NDSU's winning streak to 11-games, then the longest in all of football.


I agree that most of FCS should not be playing FBS.  But there are teams in FCS that can compete, and should be able to compete, with the big boys.

12233 wrote:

WhiskyKilo wrote: This is an absolute stupid decision and the reason why is that they have just lumped all of the FCS teams together, when in fact they are very different.

I've posted on here before about North Dakota State, I lived up there for awhile, so I got to see their program firsthand.  They are 6-3 all time against FBS teams.  They beat the MAC champion one year by 30 points on the road.

NDSU has a 2-1 record vs. Minnesota and now they are not good enough to play them?

Also, the lack of fan interest sited as a reason for stopping FCS games does not apply in this situation.  In 2007, the NDSU game was the highest attended game for a home game at Minnesota.


The Bison defeated the Gophers 27–21 in front of 63,088, the most people to attend a Gopher game to that point in the season. The Gophers were dominated in every facet of the game, by a team with 22 fewer scholarship players and none with scholarship offers by Minnesota. The game was considered a low point for the program as a whole. NDSU rushed for 394 yards and totaled 585 yards with an edge in time of possession of nearly 14 minutes. Bison running back Tyler Roehl had a school-record 263 yards on 22 carries with one touchdown. The defeat put the Gophers at 1–7 and official out of contention for a bowl game bid. The victory extended NDSU's winning streak to 11-games, then the longest in all of football.


I agree that most of FCS should not be playing FBS.  But there are teams in FCS that can compete, and should be able to compete, with the big boys.

I see your point Whiskey, but the fact that an FCS school can totally dominate a Big 10 program is probably one more reason why the Big 10 doesn't want to play them anymore . It's one of those "no win" situations for the B1G schools. If Minnesota defeats a school like NDSU, everyone says, "SO what -- it was just a division II school. " And if the Gophers lose, it's an embarrassment for the whole conference. You're familiar with the Bison program because you lived there, but most football fans view NDSU as just another Division II team. It's nothing personal against NDSU. It's just public perception, and as the saying goes, perception is reality.

soonersw wrote: It's also going to create a problem for FCS teams. Northern Iowa who nearly beat Wisconsin on the road and later lost to Iowa on the road picked up $950,000 for those games. Without those payouts and with a program already in deficit, they may have to drop football.