SWAC: FCS in Name Only

[IdaGriz01]

I realize that the Southwestern Conference (SWAC) qualifies at the FCS level, technically … since they offer the requisite number of scholarships, etc. But I am sometimes puzzled that they are even part of the FCS conversation, as in this Haley item: http://www.fcs.football/cfb/story.asp?i=20190716132432141336004&ref=hea&tm=&src=FCS

Note that their goal heading into the 2019 season has nothing to do with FCS football:

Southwestern Athletic Conference commissioner Dr. Charles McClelland didn't mince words when he addressed his conference's football media day on Tuesday.

He told the 10 teams that it's time for one of them to bring home another Celebration Bowl championship. …

And here are another couple of articles that basically prove, IMO, that the Southwestern Conference (SWAC) is FCS in name only.
http://www.fcs.football/cfb/story.asp?i=20190716132432141336004&ref=hea&tm=&src=FCS
https://sports.yahoo.com/swac-keeping-title-game-increase-schedule-183915224--ncaaf.html
Note this from the second article:

SWAC teams played a nine-game conference schedule as recently as the 2016 season before it was dropped to seven the last two years. It will remain at seven this season before increasing to eight next year.

For the 2018 non-conference schedule, SWAC teams played more non-FCS opponents than they did FCS. They were 0-11 in FBS money games and 7-1 against D-II and NAIA opponents (yes, one of them did lose to a D-II opponent). That’s a combined 7-12 against non-FCS opponents. Against non-conference FCS opponents, they went 3-14. And, of course, with a conference championship game and the Celebration Bowl, they take no part in the FCS playoff system.

Tell me again: Why should the SWAC be part of the FCS conversation?

Of course, you might say the same thing about the Ivy League and the MEAC. The Ivy does not take part in the FCS playoffs. However, those teams at least play credible FCS non-conference schedules. The MEAC does too, and, once in a while, even has a team good enough to get an at-large bid.

 

[IdaGriz01]

(Bump)

Actually, I discovered a mis-count in the number of out-of-conference wins. Turns out, the way ESPN presents the team records, they made the SWAC championship game look like a non-conference matchup. My bad for not catching that, but some of that’s on ESPN too.

Anyway, the SWAC was really only 2-13 against out-of conference FCS opponents. One of those wins was a squeaker, 18-16, over Florida A&M (6-5 record with 1 win against a D-II). The other had Prairie View over North Carolina Central (5-6 with 1 win against a D-II). Not exactly powerhouse opponents.

To add insult to injury, Arkansas-Pine Bluff lost its home opener to D-II Morehouse College (7-3, fifth in the SIAC).

 

[zootownrox]

Who cares that they are a lower level fcs conference? At least they have scholarships unlike the the Frontier. Seriously why are you upset about a conference that doesn't even get a playoff bid?

 

[CatGrad-UMGradStu]

Who cares that they are a lower level fcs conference? At least they have scholarships unlike the the Frontier. Seriously why are you upset about a conference that doesn't even get a playoff bid?

This discussion is really familiar, at least to me. Years ago when I lived in the middle of SEC and ACC country, I'd enter into discussions about various football teams throughout the country and inevitably someone would ask where I went to school and I'd tell them "Montana State" and get the usual "Oh, small college football" and get dismissed as inconsequential even though Dennis was coaching Miami under Sam's tutelage at the time. My utterance that we were I-AA would get met with "Yeah, small college football" and then the discussion would always go to either the ass stompings Georgia Southern put on everybody during that era or Hal Mumme and his assistant at Valdosta State, Mike Leach (who never played the game like George O'Leary who was Tech's coach at the time)...

I always enjoyed going to HBCU games with my colleagues because they do a wonderful job with the entire gameday experience. They take all aspects of college football to a much higher level than the big sigh conference we're choosing to associate with that often times reminds me of a Patriot or ivy league gameday experience. Missoula, MSU and Weber are the only schools in our conference that takes football seriously, and that's a shame. Hopefully Portland will sway a few of their soccer moms to more closely scrutinize their misguided priorities but, alas, I firmly believe PSU is much too close to Corvallis and Eugene to ever get out of their shadows--but what do I know? I'm like O'Leary, Leach and another coach around here who never played the game beyond high school...

 

[IdaGriz01]

... This discussion is really familiar, at least to me. Years ago when I lived in the middle of SEC and ACC country, I'd enter into discussions about various football teams throughout the country and inevitably someone would ask where I went to school and I'd tell them "Montana State" and get the usual "Oh, small college football" and get dismissed as inconsequential ...

I always enjoyed going to HBCU games with my colleagues because they do a wonderful job with the entire gameday experience. They take all aspects of college football to a much higher level than the big sigh conference ...

Don't get me wrong: I agree that the HBCU -- including the SWAC -- put a quality product on the field for the fans. (I almost put some comments about this on the original post, but felt like it was already getting too long.) ESPN certainly thinks so: They plan to cover 13 games just from the SWAC. Note that all of the games will be on ESPN3, but also that seven of them will be broadcast on ESPNU or ESPN2 ... giving them national coverage.
https://www.hbcusports.com/2019/06/20/swac-releases-2019-espn-football-schedule/

And I can't recall the exact count, but the SWAC and the MEAC, between them, play a couple dozen money games every year. Many of them are against Power-5 teams and also get national TV coverage. Numbers show that the SWAC is not football-competitive even at the FCS level. But the big-time FBS programs know that HBCU fans will still turn out in large numbers for the game-day experience, even though they know their team will get slaughtered. The experience, of course, includes the traveling HBCU bands, which are almost invariably really, really good (often better than the host ... including in the vaunted SEC).

All that is great ... for the HBCU. My only points were (1) the SWAC chooses to dissociate itself from the rest of FCS football and (2) they are not even competitive when they play teams at the FCS level. Hence the title of this thread ... and the question: Why are they even included in "conversations" about the FCS?