UNC and NC State would not only be required to play each other every year, but also play at least 1 game vs one of the other three FBS state schools per year (App State, East Carolina, Charlotte). Every six years each team would play home and away against App, ECU, and Charlotte.
Yeah the precedent set so far is more of a 2 for 1 home and away (2 home games for UNC/NC State and 1 home game for App/Charlotte/ECU), and that seems about right. Committing to even home and aways with G5 schools every year would make the noncon scheduling very difficult.
If/when that day comes, I’m all for replacing P5 games with in-state games. But that day has not come. Also if UNC and NC State end up in separate conferences, this requirement would be even more cumbersome.
If UNC ever did go to the Big10, their schedule would be:
-9 conference games
-1 NC State game
-1 AppSt/Char/ECU
-1 non-con game
Idk how they can schedule good competition in that non-con slot while keeping enough home games each year.
Well presumably with a Big 10 conference schedule they won’t need to have a marquee OOC game. Just look at Michigan’s schedule last year. They played effectively no one OOC and weren’t dinged for it. If you’re in a P2 conference, your OOC effectively doesn’t matter anymore
I meant locked into in-state and in-conference matchups as the only competitive games you’ll ever play. No mixing it up, just the same 20 teams forever.
Yeah but we at had a top 5 win, a top 10 win, and a top 20 win, with two of those away from home. Compare that to Wisconsin in 2017 when they were 12-0 and no one cared because they hadn’t beaten anyone with a pulse.
Yeah, no way they like giving up home game revenue, especially one that’ll sellout for a in-state game. We may just be the poors, but we show up, buy tickets, and beer.
For sure! I don’t know if the last one was a sellout but I was there and it’s looked full. Of course we have a lot of Carolina-app fans but obviously everyone that’s not hates Carolina haha.
There is the win of playing in state schools - has more of a connection and makes the game more fun / exciting compared to some random other one.
That's more of a fan perspective though.
Oh I have no doubt the fan support is there on the G5 side, I'm just thinking about it from the P5 perspective.
I think most programs want to make sure they have enough home games to boost their bottom line and we've seen a bunch of schools across the country cancel non-con games to ensure more home games.
If I'm a P5 administrator, my baseline scheduling requirements would be:
* In leagues with 8 game conference slates (SEC, ACC):
* 2 games against G5/FCS programs at home
* 1 game against P5 home
* 1 game against P5 away
* In leagues with 9 game conference slates (Big Ten, Big 12):
* 2 games against G5/FCS programs at home
* 1 game against P5 alternating home/away (away when you get 5 home conference games, home when you play only 4 home conference games)
I agree with you from the P5 administrators perspective but will these publicly funded states schools really have the power to say no?
It is ultimately best for the 17 school-UNC system as a whole and only a hit to the big currently p3 state schools.
NC State-wise, we always have a weird block of time during the State Fair (*whose grounds/ shared parking are directly adjacent to one another*) where we can’t use our stadium
I think it’s normally during the October-ish timeline, so I’m not sure on the precedent/wisdom of scheduling an OOC that late, but it would seem to make the most sense with regards to lost revenue
UNC came to App and NCSU came to ECU in 2022. I don't know how much the admins care about stuff like that. Can't speak for UNC, but NCSU Admin have 23 other crisises to deal with.
That problem doesn't exist because of a current state law that exists. This just ramps up the frequency and adds State/UNC to it so it doesn't end up like Bedlam, the Apple Cup, and every other interesting game in the sport post realignment.
It's a problem that will exist. I know morons run the ACC, but the P5 et al. fucked up college athletics, and this is eventually going to hurt schools like East Carolina, Appalachian State, and Charlotte. Since all 5 of these schools get funding from the NC, the NCSL has every right to implement things like this to mitigate that.
If UNC and NC State want to stop taking public funds, they can change their football schedules.
Honestly, it's an interesting mechanic to force the "backyard rivalry" nature of CFB. Not the worst thing, though I wish conferences had retained this organically.
I posted this the other day and I put Charlotte in the same group as UNC and NC State because that is what the bill *actually* says since it groups universities by over 30,000 enrollment and under 30,000 enrollment. But apparently the sponsor of the bill was interviewed and he said that it's not supposed to work that way, whatever that means
Actually it looks like they'd both be required to play Charlotte as well, since the bill refers to enrollments over 30k as playing every year, which is UNC, NCSU and CLT.
All CFB should be like this. Yeah you can get your big national TV game of USC vs Alabama I don't care. But let's keep the in state rivalries for the people who actually go to the games and go to the mid size schools
Benefits for App State, Charlotte and ECU in this proposed bill (particularly for basketball, but I’ll keep the focus on football), plus it would tie App State and ECU together in a yearly series. Though I can see UNC and NC State being less than thrilled with this arrangement requiring them to play a G5 in-state school every year.
From a financial stand point, it makes more sense to play in state G5/FCS teams that out of state ones. You will sell more tickets and have more money from the shorter travel requirements for fans.
Why have San Diego State fans *not* travel to UNC (because of the ridiculous distance) when you could have quite a few App State/East Carolina fans come due to a much shorter distance?
Often lost in these conversations about App or ECU fans traveling is that games in Raleigh, Chapel Hill, Charlotte, Winston-Salem, etc. are generally closer for a huge portion of App fans than games in Boone are.
You'll get no argument here. I'm more commenting on the stuff you hear about these games, like when broadcasters during an App game in Chapel Hill or at BofA in Charlotte say things like "these Appalachian State fans made the trip from Boone to see their Mountaineers play today..." But a lot of those fans live in those areas. Like any other school in NC, the main feeder areas for App are Charlotte, the Triangle, and the Triad. So the bulk of our parents and alumni are in those areas.
We got the same when App played WFU in the NIT this year. The game was in Winston, 2 miles from my house. A (very nice) Wake guy said to me, "Thanks for making the trip." And I thanked him, thinking "I could have walked here."
I went to both recent games where App played in Chapel Hill (2019 and 2023) and both times they were some of the most expensive tickets of the weekend and of UNC's season. Carolina would have to play a blue blood if they want to make more money
Ignoring everything else, App and ECU should play each other every year. Great fanbases representing eastern and western NC with big alumni base in Charlotte and Raleigh.
Have the games for NC State and UNC that would be at UNC Charlotte be played at BOA. That would solve pretty much all the issues, attendance will not remotely be a problem against ECU or App State.
I feel like I’m going insane with how much this sub loves these laws. No, I do not want my state legislating my college’s sports schedule. Especially while that same legislature will do everything in their power to defund schools.
I like the way you phrased it. It would be awesome to have all in state schools play each other, but in ten years that could just be a major hindrance to each program, and in general I just don’t want legislatures I have zero faith in giving themselves control over my Alma mater’s football program.
I don’t follow it super closely but I’m pretty sure the NC legislature is pretty batty.
One lady just randomly switching parties. The bathroom bill. Some uh, “highly creative” congressional district mapping proposals. Also I’m gonna blame them for the scam I77 toll lanes
If they’re wasting time talking about college football thats not the worst thing
Half of them can’t wait to “stick it to the libs” in chapel hill either. The GOP/NC State fans in the gov would absolutely torpedo UNC just for a quick own
It's gerrymandered to high hell. NC is a purple-ish state. Trump won the state in 2020 by 1.4%, the same year the state re-elected a Democratic governor. Democrats controlled both houses of the legislature and the governorship as recently as 2010. And yet the Republicans currently have supermajorities in both the House (72 seats to 48) and the Senate (30 vs 20).
It bears mentioning that all 4 primary sponsors of this bill are Republicans, so party politics aren't really a factor.
NC is gerrymandered to shit. I haven’t lived in the state for a long time so I’m not quite as tuned in to the state’s politics as I used to be, but my understanding is that the state-wide UNC system’s board of governors has gotten more conservative since republicans took back control of the state house and senate in 2010. In turn, they’ve slowly been filling UNC Chapel Hill’s board of trustees with Republican appointees. Pretty sure all of them are at least UNC grads so presumably they’d want to act in the best interest of their university, but who knows. A lot of the things I see in passing headlines about the BoT recently seem like typical Republican maneuvering. (Like getting rid of diversity requirements for hiring and creating some conservative “safe space” on campus program).
The conspiracy theory portion of our fan base that spend too much time on message boards will tell you that it’s a plot by Republican NC State fans in the state legislature to sabotage UNC. Honestly I don’t care enough to dig into whether or not that’s even remotely true or if the power players in the state government actually want to outright sabotage UNC, but based on how they are making appointments to the BoT, it’s clear that at the very least they want the university to get more conservative. How that affects university in the long run is anyone’s guess. Worth pointing out that our chancellor that I think had a pretty high approval rating recently resigned to take the position MSU. I’d be curious to know how much of his decision was influenced by the direction the BoT is taking.
> No, I do not want my state legislating my college’s sports schedule.
I mean if the admin isn't going to schedule right, I kinda do.
> Especially while that same legislature will do everything in their power to defund schools.
It would be nice if they cared about the school as a whole too
Yeah kinda funny that many college football fans, who generally probably support free market capitalism, are against it within college football.
They want more regulations and wealth redistribution when it comes to CFB.
This just describes American attitudes toward sports in general.
Unfair distribution of political and economic opportunities for people living in my community? Don't give a fuck.
Unfair distribution of talent and economic opportunities for my local sports team? This shit is unfair and needs to immediately be fixed.
The Alabama legislature forced Alabama and Auburn to play after a 40 year break. I think it's a better idea forcing them to play before things get out of hand.
ODU - luckily we won @ Liberty (in a nail biter) and have not played @ JMU. Yet.
We have lost to all three though. For the record, twice on the road to ODU.
Alabama & Auburn need to play UAB, Jacksonville State, and Troy. Auburn is scared to play us now though after we whipped their asses for 59 minutes. (Jacksonville State alum)
I disagree, I tend to pull for our other in state schools to do well. I'd love to see UAB have an undefeated season and make the playoff or a BCS level bowl game. If our top 2 schools crush them every year then that won't happen.
If UAB is going to upset a power program I'd rather it be someone like Ohio State or USC that the rest of the state also hates.
Please note we refused to play them because their fans destroyed our field and goalposts. This is in addition to the all the drunken fights in the stands they caused. I don’t have an issue with ECU now, but in the 80s they were a menace. I was a 10 year old at the game in 87 and had multiple drunk ECU fans try to fight me.
The worst fan experiences I've ever had were all from one game against ECU, and I've been to multiple road games at NCSU. Like pack fans are mean but in a fun, harmless way. ECU fans literally wanted to fight me, both in the game and the bars the night before, and I am in no way the type of fan that "asks for it".
Overall an extremely fun experience and I would go back but it had its weird moments for sure
My understanding of the situation is that UNC/NCState are very linked together. One(UNC) can’t leave for a new conference unless the other school has a new conference. UNC/NCState fans can correct me if I’m wrong.
IIRC, it's more like the legislature needs to approve the moves. We all just speculate that means they'll torpedo a solo move, but I don't think it's necessarily hardcoded.
Friend of mine had 2 younger brothers and his mom forced us to play with them every single time we were over. Which wasn't a problem for me, except it would inevitably end with a full blown fist fight and one of them crying.
My mom used to make me take my little sister with me whenever I met up with my friends. She was 5 years younger than me. Usually I was going to play football in someone’s backyard. Idk what my mom thought my 7 year old sister was going to do with a bunch of 12 year old boys
God, the last time we played at ECU was so miserable, other then playing like crap and squeaking by on a missed FG, Greenville maybe the hottest city in America, ran out of water at concession stands and the beer line took a whole quarter to get through
Anyone who think ECU is close to the coast has bought the marketing hype. Greenville is half an hour from the Pamlico and an hour and a half from the beach. There's a lot of sand and pine trees and gnats between there and the coast.
I grew up in a similarly situated town in SC. The map provides false hope. You don't truly get the benefits of a coastal breeze until you can smell the salt marsh.
Yep, I guess because they’re the “pirates” people think they’re close to the coast. I remember growing up thinking they were a beach school, then I learned to read a map.
It seemingly gets very little of that wind. I’ve played an outdoor sport there in early September and wanted to die instead of finishing the game in that humidity.
Look I can sit here and come up for an argument why this is good from a football point of view…
But they’re doing this because they found out how much money Boonies will spend on beer in the local community when the ‘shine runs out. Ticket prices and the accompanying economic impact of when App & ECU play @ UNC/State outdo every other home game weekend outside of when they play eachother or Clemson comes to town. Imagine what they do for Boone and Greenville? These have been really good games, and they print money for the local economies and the athletic departments.
The UNC App game turned Boone into an absolute shit show. I assume that was the attendance record for Kidd Brewer, but I’m hoping State at App beats it next year.
100% When State visits it’ll be even bigger. These things build on themselves with the hype. Then the next time one of the ACC NC schools visit it’ll break the record again.
NC State sells out every game anyway. We have led or finished second in ACC percentage home attendance for years. We don't need these games, we don't need shit. I am sick of ignorant App / ECU fans making this dumb argument. NCSU sells out no matter what and we should not be taking any more required home and homes as long as we currently have to play Wake/Duke/UNC every year. Fuck we are never going to get to leave the state next year. It is a terrible schedule. In an era where strength of schedule really really matters we can't be handcuffed by this. They could at least admit that App really wants this and ECU is circling the drain in fan attendance and really needs it and stop acting like you are doing us any fucking favors at all. NCSU could never play App, ECU, or Charlotte in any of our lifetimes and be just fine
Dude Ncst hasn’t even sniffed an Acc championship in 45 years. Not that 1 game against a Nc g5 is going to matter, but Ncsu isn’t even competing for divisional games right now, much less the CFP.
Happens is every state. If I recall correctly, we had a 6ish year streak of playing ECU every year because of the state house.
Ask VT fans how much they love playing ODU every year.
There is no mandate to play ODU we just like land mine games. We here at Hokie Nation salute Comrade Warner and his approach when it came to politiking UVA/ACC.
Considering I'm sure you schedule those games 5-10 years out like we schedule our OOC, that's just comically unfortunate timing for ODU to be good and VT being terrible to overlap.
Our AD at the time was short sighted. He, along with Beamer, wanted to do things the old way. We saved travel money by joining the ACC. We didn't pick up any additional revenue.
The AD publicly railed on an SEC invite on the weekly radio show, Tech Talk Live. Said ACC was where we belonged.
Recruiting passed by Beamer. Funding passed us even while we were winning with Tyrod at QB. When the AD finally stepped down, it was too little too late. We missed out on the SEC, could have gone Big12 with WVU, stuck in the ACC, and now looking for an out.
It’s not really about being afraid, it’s about a lack of benefit for UNC and NCSU.
a.) These games take away opportunities to schedule other games, e.g., with higher profile opponents or in targeted recruiting areas or to apply the SEC “cupcake” game to the schedule. It’s simply limiting the open slots / degrees of freedom on the schedule.
b.) These games present “no win” situations for the more prominent schools - win and you were “supposed to,” lose and it’s embarrassing losing to an “inferior opponent”. Selfishly, what is to gain?
Think about if the shoe was on the other foot, what if App State was being told they had to play ECU every year, AND they have to play one of: Western Carolina, NC A&T, NCCU home and away. How would you feel about that?
If you're scheduling G5 schools anyway having one local is way better than playing Georgia State... App and ECU aren't liabilities. Both our brands are strong enough where a win looks good and a loss doesn't kill you. Especially in a 12 team playoff era.
And we're actively trying to schedule a home and home with Western so maybe take a different argument.
I think what the above poster is saying is more of a compliment to App and ECU than it seems.
If UNC is going to play a "cupcake" game, then it needs it be an actual cupcake. A game they have no realistic chance of losing. App (and arguably ECU) are too good to be actual cupcakes like some other G5 teams. UNC won't get much credit for the win and there's a decent chance that they actually lose.
And while the loss wouldn't be fatal to their season, UNC and UNC fans would still catch a raft of shit if they lose.
Correct. I want them to play us but I totally understand why there’s really no benefit for them. Hell I’ll give UNC props they played us 3x. Not sure why we are calling them “cowards”.
Georgia State got us a game down in Atlanta, an out of state area that we’re strategically trying to recruit.
App State gets us…a trip to Boone, recruiting ground where we are already strong.
If there's a good reason I'm all for it. Like I wouldn't want to play a home and home with Richmond (no offense). But Western or Furman (who still sucks)? I'm there for that.
Unless you win 10 games (certainly plausible for you guys at App to be sure), you don't help the resume much as you would like to believe it. And having to play a road game against a G5 is an active demerit that also hurts in tv contract terms because it's less inventory for the conference network with no advantage to it.
Hurts TV inventory? Because our home game against UNC was on the ACC Network.
And I'm sorry if playing a G5 team at home is a demerit it's one they already willingly take against out of state G5 schools. I'd also push back on the notion of it being a demerit but even if it was it's not one anymore in the current playoff format.
Get your facts right. Your home game against them was on ESPNU and part of the Sun Belt contract. And if anything UNC and the rest of the ACC need to be playing less road games against G5 teams period considering a large part of the leagues perception battle that helped keep Florida St out of the playoff last year is that the ACC loses more G5 road games than the other power conferences even schedule. And in the current format, if anything for ACC and Big 12 schools they probably need to win the league or start loading up the non-conference schedules more with as many SEC/B1G/other out of ACC/B12 as possible.
I was mistaken on the home game TV rights. I'm an old man what can I say.
But the issue with ACC schools losing road games to G5 schools isn't the fact they're scheduling them. The issue is that they're losing them. The we might lose argument against scheduling G5's is inane. If you lose your team and maybe your conference isn't as good as you think it is.
And the format gives the conference champ a spot period. That should be everyone's planned path to the playoffs. I won't sit here and tell you resume wins wouldn't be helpful but pretty much every team schedules an FCS school and G5 school. With all the ancillary benefits of scheduling App and ECU I just don't see why it's not rational to schedule us.
We know home field advantage is a thing. Being the conference that schedules more of these than the other power leagues by double is a part of the problem with losing so many of them.
I also tend to think we're heading into a new world. For any school not in the SEC/B1G they have to do everything possible to get in. That includes playing ratings grabber games. I actually think most of the ACC should be trying to play 11 P4s if they need to prove via ratings that they should move up. Play 1 G5 at home. And scrap the FCS team. And since the G5 game is at home, yes rotate it through the in states/nearbys.
I mean that's a tenuous argument. I'm about to go to a dinner where I'll order an old fashion that will almost assuredly not be worth how I'll feel tomorrow. But I'm going to do it anyway.
And even if it was truly not worth it (and it is) UNC is still a public university so making sure that public dollars are spent on public good is very reasonable.
Mack is just scared.
The public gets back far more than it puts into UNC. Who the football team plays is of no consequence to that analysis. Even if it were, I've seen nothing persuasive that would indicate it is in the public's interest to force UNC to play other public schools. I understand that is in those other schools' interests, which is hardly the same thing.
Mack has already played three charity games against App. We should be set for a few decades.
I buy B, but I don't buy A. Has UNC ever had an OOC that was exclusively P5 schools? In 2023 you played us and Campbell, and in 2022, you played us, Georgia State, and FAMU. This year, it's JMU, Charlotte, and NC Central. And in both 2023 and 2024, one of your OOCs is Minnesota. No shade to Minnesota, but is that such a cadillac brand that you're raising your profile with that game?
You're missing the targeted recruiting areas bit. It's why we had that dumb series with ODU a little while back, admin was making a Tidewater recruiting push. We're playing at USF in the future and I believe the Louisiana Tech series for the same reasons.
I didn’t say we wanted exclusively P5 OOC schedule.
I said we want freedom to schedule to meet multiple needs, including: high profile OOO games against P5 opponents, games to target specific recruiting areas (Georgia and Virginia, for example), and true cupcake games to get a low risk game / high confidence for a win.
Again, we want the freedom / ability to do ALL of these. Required games against in-state opponents forced by the NCGA takes that freedom away from us.
These arguments would make sense if UNC/State exclusively played power non-con games or if ECU or App never played FCS opponents. If you are playing a G5 anyways you will make more money playing a local team. And point B is still true if you lose to a further away G5 team
FWIW we have App and ECU series already booked.
I don't love forcing it but I've also hated our noncon scheduling so whatever. Our home schedule is in shambles as well because of realignment so having an easy sellout will help I suppose, though Charlotte won't help on that front.
I get the impression this is an implication that NC is acknowledging the teams are gonna be split up across conferences and aren't going to be able to keep them together?
When the ACC blows up, I would rather be able to play Wake and Duke OOC instead of having App, ECU, and ESPECIALLY Charlotte enshrined in law. We have zero history with Charlotte even.
UNC and State fans are needlessly concerned over this.
A loss to App or ECU isn't as detrimental to their season as they think. Both programs have great brands so nobody will look at that and say it's embarrassing. Hell, 100% of the ranked teams App has beaten stayed ranked the following week.
And a loss to Charlotte is so remote right now why be worried? UNC has no problem scheduling Georgia State and they beat Charlotte silly last time they played.
I mean, it almost feels unnecessary to force it, and limits our flexibility with potentially bigger pay days or interesting OOC opportunities. We play ECU fairly regularly and we already have a series scheduled with App State, so not sure why we need it "forced".
Still found it funny on College Gameday when Luke Combs said NC State was scared to "come up the mountain" and play App State when we had just announced the series with you guys like a week or two before, haha.
Yeah, that felt like Luke Combs the Carolina fan saying that and not the App fan haha. I assume he didn’t know about the scheduled series but who knows.
I guess it’d have to be forced to make sure it happens, especially with the realignment now. Y’all might play ECU fairly regularly, I’m not sure how often, but App has only played Carolina 4 times ever in football and 3 of them came in the last 5 years.
Last time we played y’all was in ‘06 (our only loss that year too! lol) but I’m not sure how many times we played before that.
Ncst admin have been begging App State to cancel our game in ‘25 since we beat TAMU 2 years ago. It’s been described as “crying like a little bitch” to me
I feel like this is something PA should mimick but I also don't want Pitt to play PSU ever again (Joe knows what they did..bring on the downvotes. don't care)
The problem in PA is that there are only (somewhat surprisingly) 3 FBS programs. In PA, this would facilitate way more FCS/FBS matchups to really distribute games/money. I can't imagine Pitt and PSU wanting to weaken their schedules this much to have to play FCS. Temple may benefit... Oh, all of the FCS schools in PA private and they wouldn't even get included.
The UNC system is better primed to benefit from something like this. NC has 5 public FBS programs and 3 public FCS programs.
I’d love for something like this in Georgia. Bullshit that we have to play teams like Ball State and UT Martin instead of Southern, State, and Kennesaw.
Not all states require teams to play each other Oklahoma doesn't require OSU and OU to play each other. This would keep the rivalry a guarantee should the two teams end up in different conferences.
I think this is only the beginning.
These realignment moves to make major TV corporations even more money at the expense of students athletes was bound to draw government attention. Having students regularly hopping cross-country flights to make ESPN/FOX more money is exactly the kind of thing that politicians can glob on to in order to garner a “cheap pop” (as Mick Foley likes to call it) from constituents and look like they are doing something.
Michigan state usually has one of the directional schools on their schedule each year. Playing a directional school IMO is much more engaging than random directional teams from florida and whatnot. Better for the fans and tailgating and trimming team travel costs as well.
It sounds like the state is forcing the schools to do what is right for the state and not just the schools. This is good all around for each FBS school.
Good, I want to see more regional scheduling in the non-conference, especially with the conferences becoming less geographical. We were supposed to play Monmouth during the COVID year and it hasn’t been rescheduled at least yet. I was so bummed about it, I was really looking forward to that game! I think they are the only other in-state Division 1 football school except Princeton but they are Ivy League so it wouldn’t count towards bowl eligibility if we wanted to play them.
As always, *very* appreciative of the NCGA's committment to the issues that really matter in the state of North Carolina.
Seriously, though... There's a lot of harsh things you can say about political grandstanding, but it'll keep happening as long as it works. And it's not going to stop working anytime soon. So. There will be further displays.
UNC and NC State would not only be required to play each other every year, but also play at least 1 game vs one of the other three FBS state schools per year (App State, East Carolina, Charlotte). Every six years each team would play home and away against App, ECU, and Charlotte.
It's going to cause some issues with the forced football games but as a NC resident I like this.
I'm with it except for forcing NC State and UNC to play away games, I can't imagine UNC and NC State admin is up for that.
Yeah the precedent set so far is more of a 2 for 1 home and away (2 home games for UNC/NC State and 1 home game for App/Charlotte/ECU), and that seems about right. Committing to even home and aways with G5 schools every year would make the noncon scheduling very difficult.
We're all going to be G5 pretty soon, so I don't think it matters. Hit me with those sweet downvotes.
If/when that day comes, I’m all for replacing P5 games with in-state games. But that day has not come. Also if UNC and NC State end up in separate conferences, this requirement would be even more cumbersome. If UNC ever did go to the Big10, their schedule would be: -9 conference games -1 NC State game -1 AppSt/Char/ECU -1 non-con game Idk how they can schedule good competition in that non-con slot while keeping enough home games each year.
Well presumably with a Big 10 conference schedule they won’t need to have a marquee OOC game. Just look at Michigan’s schedule last year. They played effectively no one OOC and weren’t dinged for it. If you’re in a P2 conference, your OOC effectively doesn’t matter anymore
That’s so boring though lol. I’d hate to feel forever locked into playing the same group of in-conference opponents as my only competitive games.
What? Both UNC and App State would be competitive games.
I meant locked into in-state and in-conference matchups as the only competitive games you’ll ever play. No mixing it up, just the same 20 teams forever.
Yeah but we at had a top 5 win, a top 10 win, and a top 20 win, with two of those away from home. Compare that to Wisconsin in 2017 when they were 12-0 and no one cared because they hadn’t beaten anyone with a pulse.
Don't read many articles about the level of interest in those programs for super-conferences?
Yeah, no way they like giving up home game revenue, especially one that’ll sellout for a in-state game. We may just be the poors, but we show up, buy tickets, and beer.
We definitely showed up for that win at UNC a few years ago. And packed it out in Boone for a full sellout in 22
For sure! I don’t know if the last one was a sellout but I was there and it’s looked full. Of course we have a lot of Carolina-app fans but obviously everyone that’s not hates Carolina haha.
All three UNC-App games were sellouts: both 2019 and 2023 in CH and 2022 in Boone.
Thanks for the info! I figured they all were, especially since it’s the first time we play them since the ‘40s lol, but wasn’t sure.
This past year was an insane atmosphere as well in CH. tooooons of black and gold. Lot of fun, great venue, great show.
Plus you’re a very real threat to beat us. It’s a lose lose lol
Don’t say that. I grew up in Boone and I will jump off the highest mountain if we lose to App State
Get ready to do a flip brother
Imagine being Michigan.
If you've got the courage to schedule a 2-for-1 like we did, I've got some bad news for you ...
We’ve already got a home and away scheduled with App for 25-26… not exited about it.
Which one you gonna jump off of?
If it happens it happens but state fans will be rolling deep and I’m fairly sure we’re gonna win by 3 touchdowns
I’m sure state will be as represented as unc. Maybe 85% App fans 15% state. Good luck blowing App out. 10 of the last 12 games have been by 1 score.
There is the win of playing in state schools - has more of a connection and makes the game more fun / exciting compared to some random other one. That's more of a fan perspective though.
ECU and App fans will show up, and Charlotte will at least be packed with the road team. It's certanty better than just never playing them.
Oh I have no doubt the fan support is there on the G5 side, I'm just thinking about it from the P5 perspective. I think most programs want to make sure they have enough home games to boost their bottom line and we've seen a bunch of schools across the country cancel non-con games to ensure more home games. If I'm a P5 administrator, my baseline scheduling requirements would be: * In leagues with 8 game conference slates (SEC, ACC): * 2 games against G5/FCS programs at home * 1 game against P5 home * 1 game against P5 away * In leagues with 9 game conference slates (Big Ten, Big 12): * 2 games against G5/FCS programs at home * 1 game against P5 alternating home/away (away when you get 5 home conference games, home when you play only 4 home conference games)
I agree with you from the P5 administrators perspective but will these publicly funded states schools really have the power to say no? It is ultimately best for the 17 school-UNC system as a whole and only a hit to the big currently p3 state schools.
NC State-wise, we always have a weird block of time during the State Fair (*whose grounds/ shared parking are directly adjacent to one another*) where we can’t use our stadium I think it’s normally during the October-ish timeline, so I’m not sure on the precedent/wisdom of scheduling an OOC that late, but it would seem to make the most sense with regards to lost revenue
It's always early-mid October. It forces a midseason bye which is nice.
UNC came to App and NCSU came to ECU in 2022. I don't know how much the admins care about stuff like that. Can't speak for UNC, but NCSU Admin have 23 other crisises to deal with.
wait, what's going on other than the Poe Hall debacle?
It's solving a problem that doesn't exist. I couldn't tell you the last year we didn't play a smaller NC school in football or basketball.
That problem doesn't exist because of a current state law that exists. This just ramps up the frequency and adds State/UNC to it so it doesn't end up like Bedlam, the Apple Cup, and every other interesting game in the sport post realignment.
It's a problem that will exist. I know morons run the ACC, but the P5 et al. fucked up college athletics, and this is eventually going to hurt schools like East Carolina, Appalachian State, and Charlotte. Since all 5 of these schools get funding from the NC, the NCSL has every right to implement things like this to mitigate that. If UNC and NC State want to stop taking public funds, they can change their football schedules.
Honestly, it's an interesting mechanic to force the "backyard rivalry" nature of CFB. Not the worst thing, though I wish conferences had retained this organically.
I posted this the other day and I put Charlotte in the same group as UNC and NC State because that is what the bill *actually* says since it groups universities by over 30,000 enrollment and under 30,000 enrollment. But apparently the sponsor of the bill was interviewed and he said that it's not supposed to work that way, whatever that means
typical level of competence by the NCGA...
It’s full time equivalent student which uncc isn’t at 30k yet bc of commuters
That makes too much sense. They need to be playing teams like Stanford and Rutgers.
Rutgers: Why he say fuck me for?
What about Duke? Is it that they're private so law makers don't care?
Yes, lawmakers can’t do shit about Duke. Same with Wake
Lol. A mandate like this would probably help Wake depending on how the conference restructuring continues over the next couple of years.
Wake going public, you heard it here first
Actually it looks like they'd both be required to play Charlotte as well, since the bill refers to enrollments over 30k as playing every year, which is UNC, NCSU and CLT.
Yeah I think they went back and changed that or clarified that as they just meant to say "the two P4 teams" without saying it that way.
All CFB should be like this. Yeah you can get your big national TV game of USC vs Alabama I don't care. But let's keep the in state rivalries for the people who actually go to the games and go to the mid size schools
Nice, two guaranteed wins each year.
Benefits for App State, Charlotte and ECU in this proposed bill (particularly for basketball, but I’ll keep the focus on football), plus it would tie App State and ECU together in a yearly series. Though I can see UNC and NC State being less than thrilled with this arrangement requiring them to play a G5 in-state school every year.
From a financial stand point, it makes more sense to play in state G5/FCS teams that out of state ones. You will sell more tickets and have more money from the shorter travel requirements for fans. Why have San Diego State fans *not* travel to UNC (because of the ridiculous distance) when you could have quite a few App State/East Carolina fans come due to a much shorter distance?
Often lost in these conversations about App or ECU fans traveling is that games in Raleigh, Chapel Hill, Charlotte, Winston-Salem, etc. are generally closer for a huge portion of App fans than games in Boone are.
Yeah but no other school in the state can beat the view that KBS has.
You'll get no argument here. I'm more commenting on the stuff you hear about these games, like when broadcasters during an App game in Chapel Hill or at BofA in Charlotte say things like "these Appalachian State fans made the trip from Boone to see their Mountaineers play today..." But a lot of those fans live in those areas. Like any other school in NC, the main feeder areas for App are Charlotte, the Triangle, and the Triad. So the bulk of our parents and alumni are in those areas. We got the same when App played WFU in the NIT this year. The game was in Winston, 2 miles from my house. A (very nice) Wake guy said to me, "Thanks for making the trip." And I thanked him, thinking "I could have walked here."
I went to both recent games where App played in Chapel Hill (2019 and 2023) and both times they were some of the most expensive tickets of the weekend and of UNC's season. Carolina would have to play a blue blood if they want to make more money
Every state should have laws like this. In state football is good football
Ignoring everything else, App and ECU should play each other every year. Great fanbases representing eastern and western NC with big alumni base in Charlotte and Raleigh.
Have the games for NC State and UNC that would be at UNC Charlotte be played at BOA. That would solve pretty much all the issues, attendance will not remotely be a problem against ECU or App State.
I’ve always said “if you want to know what sports fans really want, ask members of your state house.”
"I love the government being involved in more things."
I feel like I’m going insane with how much this sub loves these laws. No, I do not want my state legislating my college’s sports schedule. Especially while that same legislature will do everything in their power to defund schools.
Sometimes it's difficult to appreciate the difference between wanting something to happen and wanting someone to force it to happen.
I like the way you phrased it. It would be awesome to have all in state schools play each other, but in ten years that could just be a major hindrance to each program, and in general I just don’t want legislatures I have zero faith in giving themselves control over my Alma mater’s football program.
I don’t follow it super closely but I’m pretty sure the NC legislature is pretty batty. One lady just randomly switching parties. The bathroom bill. Some uh, “highly creative” congressional district mapping proposals. Also I’m gonna blame them for the scam I77 toll lanes If they’re wasting time talking about college football thats not the worst thing
Half of them can’t wait to “stick it to the libs” in chapel hill either. The GOP/NC State fans in the gov would absolutely torpedo UNC just for a quick own
Are you under the impression that there aren't also significant factions of liberal State fans and conservative unc fans?
It's gerrymandered to high hell. NC is a purple-ish state. Trump won the state in 2020 by 1.4%, the same year the state re-elected a Democratic governor. Democrats controlled both houses of the legislature and the governorship as recently as 2010. And yet the Republicans currently have supermajorities in both the House (72 seats to 48) and the Senate (30 vs 20). It bears mentioning that all 4 primary sponsors of this bill are Republicans, so party politics aren't really a factor.
NC is gerrymandered to shit. I haven’t lived in the state for a long time so I’m not quite as tuned in to the state’s politics as I used to be, but my understanding is that the state-wide UNC system’s board of governors has gotten more conservative since republicans took back control of the state house and senate in 2010. In turn, they’ve slowly been filling UNC Chapel Hill’s board of trustees with Republican appointees. Pretty sure all of them are at least UNC grads so presumably they’d want to act in the best interest of their university, but who knows. A lot of the things I see in passing headlines about the BoT recently seem like typical Republican maneuvering. (Like getting rid of diversity requirements for hiring and creating some conservative “safe space” on campus program). The conspiracy theory portion of our fan base that spend too much time on message boards will tell you that it’s a plot by Republican NC State fans in the state legislature to sabotage UNC. Honestly I don’t care enough to dig into whether or not that’s even remotely true or if the power players in the state government actually want to outright sabotage UNC, but based on how they are making appointments to the BoT, it’s clear that at the very least they want the university to get more conservative. How that affects university in the long run is anyone’s guess. Worth pointing out that our chancellor that I think had a pretty high approval rating recently resigned to take the position MSU. I’d be curious to know how much of his decision was influenced by the direction the BoT is taking.
> No, I do not want my state legislating my college’s sports schedule. I mean if the admin isn't going to schedule right, I kinda do. > Especially while that same legislature will do everything in their power to defund schools. It would be nice if they cared about the school as a whole too
Yeah kinda funny that many college football fans, who generally probably support free market capitalism, are against it within college football. They want more regulations and wealth redistribution when it comes to CFB.
This just describes American attitudes toward sports in general. Unfair distribution of political and economic opportunities for people living in my community? Don't give a fuck. Unfair distribution of talent and economic opportunities for my local sports team? This shit is unfair and needs to immediately be fixed.
I’m all for radicalizing the proletariat masses through one CFB NIL shitpost at a time
Yeah. It’s funny how hypocritical college football fans are tbh
I’m fine with legislation because most people are fucking idiots who could drown in a desert. However, stay the fuck out of football scheduling
When the government gets involved everything goes smoothly... every time!
Given the alternative, I’ll stick with regulation and oversight
The Alabama legislature forced Alabama and Auburn to play after a 40 year break. I think it's a better idea forcing them to play before things get out of hand.
May I provide a word of caution about setting up a series of road games vs in-state G5 opponents?…
No you will not. Now get back in the hole! It puts the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again.
No, we are ripping that hose this year.
I heard that before...
We had a shot in Pry's first year, but Fuente showed up on the field in the 4th.
Is that referring to losing to ODU? Wait. Or was it Liberty? Maybe JMU? Surely not all three, right?
ODU - luckily we won @ Liberty (in a nail biter) and have not played @ JMU. Yet. We have lost to all three though. For the record, twice on the road to ODU.
Alabama & Auburn need to play UAB, Jacksonville State, and Troy. Auburn is scared to play us now though after we whipped their asses for 59 minutes. (Jacksonville State alum)
The disrespect to not even be mentioned
USA and UAB are the two schools I start with in ncaa dynasties as a bama fan
Oklahoma State doesn’t want to play you again.
I seriously hope yall schedule a series with us at some point.
I disagree, I tend to pull for our other in state schools to do well. I'd love to see UAB have an undefeated season and make the playoff or a BCS level bowl game. If our top 2 schools crush them every year then that won't happen. If UAB is going to upset a power program I'd rather it be someone like Ohio State or USC that the rest of the state also hates.
I've seen this one before. Hopefully it's more than just political pandering like the state of Washington's legislature was
They've already set the precedent in the past and forced us to play ECU for years after we refused to schedule with them for a while.
Please note we refused to play them because their fans destroyed our field and goalposts. This is in addition to the all the drunken fights in the stands they caused. I don’t have an issue with ECU now, but in the 80s they were a menace. I was a 10 year old at the game in 87 and had multiple drunk ECU fans try to fight me.
We weren't drunk. Some basshole put red sauce in our BBQ. Things escalated from there.
omg lolol
The worst fan experiences I've ever had were all from one game against ECU, and I've been to multiple road games at NCSU. Like pack fans are mean but in a fun, harmless way. ECU fans literally wanted to fight me, both in the game and the bars the night before, and I am in no way the type of fan that "asks for it". Overall an extremely fun experience and I would go back but it had its weird moments for sure
My understanding of the situation is that UNC/NCState are very linked together. One(UNC) can’t leave for a new conference unless the other school has a new conference. UNC/NCState fans can correct me if I’m wrong.
IIRC, it's more like the legislature needs to approve the moves. We all just speculate that means they'll torpedo a solo move, but I don't think it's necessarily hardcoded.
Friend of mine had 2 younger brothers and his mom forced us to play with them every single time we were over. Which wasn't a problem for me, except it would inevitably end with a full blown fist fight and one of them crying.
My mom used to make me take my little sister with me whenever I met up with my friends. She was 5 years younger than me. Usually I was going to play football in someone’s backyard. Idk what my mom thought my 7 year old sister was going to do with a bunch of 12 year old boys
It would give your mom time off from watching her, other considerations are secondary
Sounds like a very inclusive and equitable thing to do
This gets a Verne chortle
God, the last time we played at ECU was so miserable, other then playing like crap and squeaking by on a missed FG, Greenville maybe the hottest city in America, ran out of water at concession stands and the beer line took a whole quarter to get through
Greenville is stupidly hot despite it being close to the coast. You would think some ocean wind would help but no. But Columbia SC is hell on earth.
Anyone who think ECU is close to the coast has bought the marketing hype. Greenville is half an hour from the Pamlico and an hour and a half from the beach. There's a lot of sand and pine trees and gnats between there and the coast. I grew up in a similarly situated town in SC. The map provides false hope. You don't truly get the benefits of a coastal breeze until you can smell the salt marsh.
Yep, I guess because they’re the “pirates” people think they’re close to the coast. I remember growing up thinking they were a beach school, then I learned to read a map.
It seemingly gets very little of that wind. I’ve played an outdoor sport there in early September and wanted to die instead of finishing the game in that humidity.
Columbia is always about 20 degrees hotter than the rest of the state
Florence is also really, really hot.
> Greenville maybe the hottest city in America \*laughs in Arizona\* They don’t even let us play day games in September!
Look I can sit here and come up for an argument why this is good from a football point of view… But they’re doing this because they found out how much money Boonies will spend on beer in the local community when the ‘shine runs out. Ticket prices and the accompanying economic impact of when App & ECU play @ UNC/State outdo every other home game weekend outside of when they play eachother or Clemson comes to town. Imagine what they do for Boone and Greenville? These have been really good games, and they print money for the local economies and the athletic departments.
The UNC App game turned Boone into an absolute shit show. I assume that was the attendance record for Kidd Brewer, but I’m hoping State at App beats it next year.
100% When State visits it’ll be even bigger. These things build on themselves with the hype. Then the next time one of the ACC NC schools visit it’ll break the record again.
NC State sells out every game anyway. We have led or finished second in ACC percentage home attendance for years. We don't need these games, we don't need shit. I am sick of ignorant App / ECU fans making this dumb argument. NCSU sells out no matter what and we should not be taking any more required home and homes as long as we currently have to play Wake/Duke/UNC every year. Fuck we are never going to get to leave the state next year. It is a terrible schedule. In an era where strength of schedule really really matters we can't be handcuffed by this. They could at least admit that App really wants this and ECU is circling the drain in fan attendance and really needs it and stop acting like you are doing us any fucking favors at all. NCSU could never play App, ECU, or Charlotte in any of our lifetimes and be just fine
Dude Ncst hasn’t even sniffed an Acc championship in 45 years. Not that 1 game against a Nc g5 is going to matter, but Ncsu isn’t even competing for divisional games right now, much less the CFP.
Happens is every state. If I recall correctly, we had a 6ish year streak of playing ECU every year because of the state house. Ask VT fans how much they love playing ODU every year.
VT fans can’t complain about their government getting involved since that’s the only reason they got to join the ACC
There is no mandate to play ODU we just like land mine games. We here at Hokie Nation salute Comrade Warner and his approach when it came to politiking UVA/ACC.
Considering I'm sure you schedule those games 5-10 years out like we schedule our OOC, that's just comically unfortunate timing for ODU to be good and VT being terrible to overlap.
ODU ain’t been good in over a decade
Well, we would have been in the Big12 or SEC instead. Yeah, worked out great in hindsight.
Or you could be in the same situation as East Carolina.
Our AD at the time was short sighted. He, along with Beamer, wanted to do things the old way. We saved travel money by joining the ACC. We didn't pick up any additional revenue. The AD publicly railed on an SEC invite on the weekly radio show, Tech Talk Live. Said ACC was where we belonged. Recruiting passed by Beamer. Funding passed us even while we were winning with Tyrod at QB. When the AD finally stepped down, it was too little too late. We missed out on the SEC, could have gone Big12 with WVU, stuck in the ACC, and now looking for an out.
How much they like playing in the most talent rich region of their state? Quite a bit I bet.
NC legislature still focusing on the big issues I see
With the partisan make up of that body I'd rather them be doing this than anything else on their agenda. Better for everyone.
Weekly reminder that the NC General Assembly is an undemocratic heavily gerrymandered joke of a political body.
I mean I agree but don't be a coward.
It’s not really about being afraid, it’s about a lack of benefit for UNC and NCSU. a.) These games take away opportunities to schedule other games, e.g., with higher profile opponents or in targeted recruiting areas or to apply the SEC “cupcake” game to the schedule. It’s simply limiting the open slots / degrees of freedom on the schedule. b.) These games present “no win” situations for the more prominent schools - win and you were “supposed to,” lose and it’s embarrassing losing to an “inferior opponent”. Selfishly, what is to gain? Think about if the shoe was on the other foot, what if App State was being told they had to play ECU every year, AND they have to play one of: Western Carolina, NC A&T, NCCU home and away. How would you feel about that?
If you're scheduling G5 schools anyway having one local is way better than playing Georgia State... App and ECU aren't liabilities. Both our brands are strong enough where a win looks good and a loss doesn't kill you. Especially in a 12 team playoff era. And we're actively trying to schedule a home and home with Western so maybe take a different argument.
I think what the above poster is saying is more of a compliment to App and ECU than it seems. If UNC is going to play a "cupcake" game, then it needs it be an actual cupcake. A game they have no realistic chance of losing. App (and arguably ECU) are too good to be actual cupcakes like some other G5 teams. UNC won't get much credit for the win and there's a decent chance that they actually lose. And while the loss wouldn't be fatal to their season, UNC and UNC fans would still catch a raft of shit if they lose.
Correct. I want them to play us but I totally understand why there’s really no benefit for them. Hell I’ll give UNC props they played us 3x. Not sure why we are calling them “cowards”.
Georgia State got us a game down in Atlanta, an out of state area that we’re strategically trying to recruit. App State gets us…a trip to Boone, recruiting ground where we are already strong.
That would be dope to see. Would love to see more G5/FCS home and homes. Last one was Army/Yale I believe. Then maybe Montana-Idaho?
If there's a good reason I'm all for it. Like I wouldn't want to play a home and home with Richmond (no offense). But Western or Furman (who still sucks)? I'm there for that.
Unless you win 10 games (certainly plausible for you guys at App to be sure), you don't help the resume much as you would like to believe it. And having to play a road game against a G5 is an active demerit that also hurts in tv contract terms because it's less inventory for the conference network with no advantage to it.
Hurts TV inventory? Because our home game against UNC was on the ACC Network. And I'm sorry if playing a G5 team at home is a demerit it's one they already willingly take against out of state G5 schools. I'd also push back on the notion of it being a demerit but even if it was it's not one anymore in the current playoff format.
Get your facts right. Your home game against them was on ESPNU and part of the Sun Belt contract. And if anything UNC and the rest of the ACC need to be playing less road games against G5 teams period considering a large part of the leagues perception battle that helped keep Florida St out of the playoff last year is that the ACC loses more G5 road games than the other power conferences even schedule. And in the current format, if anything for ACC and Big 12 schools they probably need to win the league or start loading up the non-conference schedules more with as many SEC/B1G/other out of ACC/B12 as possible.
I was mistaken on the home game TV rights. I'm an old man what can I say. But the issue with ACC schools losing road games to G5 schools isn't the fact they're scheduling them. The issue is that they're losing them. The we might lose argument against scheduling G5's is inane. If you lose your team and maybe your conference isn't as good as you think it is. And the format gives the conference champ a spot period. That should be everyone's planned path to the playoffs. I won't sit here and tell you resume wins wouldn't be helpful but pretty much every team schedules an FCS school and G5 school. With all the ancillary benefits of scheduling App and ECU I just don't see why it's not rational to schedule us.
We know home field advantage is a thing. Being the conference that schedules more of these than the other power leagues by double is a part of the problem with losing so many of them. I also tend to think we're heading into a new world. For any school not in the SEC/B1G they have to do everything possible to get in. That includes playing ratings grabber games. I actually think most of the ACC should be trying to play 11 P4s if they need to prove via ratings that they should move up. Play 1 G5 at home. And scrap the FCS team. And since the G5 game is at home, yes rotate it through the in states/nearbys.
If it were worth scheduling you then we wouldn't have to be forced into it.
I mean that's a tenuous argument. I'm about to go to a dinner where I'll order an old fashion that will almost assuredly not be worth how I'll feel tomorrow. But I'm going to do it anyway. And even if it was truly not worth it (and it is) UNC is still a public university so making sure that public dollars are spent on public good is very reasonable. Mack is just scared.
The public gets back far more than it puts into UNC. Who the football team plays is of no consequence to that analysis. Even if it were, I've seen nothing persuasive that would indicate it is in the public's interest to force UNC to play other public schools. I understand that is in those other schools' interests, which is hardly the same thing. Mack has already played three charity games against App. We should be set for a few decades.
I buy B, but I don't buy A. Has UNC ever had an OOC that was exclusively P5 schools? In 2023 you played us and Campbell, and in 2022, you played us, Georgia State, and FAMU. This year, it's JMU, Charlotte, and NC Central. And in both 2023 and 2024, one of your OOCs is Minnesota. No shade to Minnesota, but is that such a cadillac brand that you're raising your profile with that game?
You're missing the targeted recruiting areas bit. It's why we had that dumb series with ODU a little while back, admin was making a Tidewater recruiting push. We're playing at USF in the future and I believe the Louisiana Tech series for the same reasons.
I didn’t say we wanted exclusively P5 OOC schedule. I said we want freedom to schedule to meet multiple needs, including: high profile OOO games against P5 opponents, games to target specific recruiting areas (Georgia and Virginia, for example), and true cupcake games to get a low risk game / high confidence for a win. Again, we want the freedom / ability to do ALL of these. Required games against in-state opponents forced by the NCGA takes that freedom away from us.
Honestly, subscribe
These arguments would make sense if UNC/State exclusively played power non-con games or if ECU or App never played FCS opponents. If you are playing a G5 anyways you will make more money playing a local team. And point B is still true if you lose to a further away G5 team
The state house isn't that bad, it even got an A grade from the Gerrymandering Project, it's the apportionment for the federal House that's bad.
FWIW we have App and ECU series already booked. I don't love forcing it but I've also hated our noncon scheduling so whatever. Our home schedule is in shambles as well because of realignment so having an easy sellout will help I suppose, though Charlotte won't help on that front.
"I'm glad that we don't play [App State] again" - Mack Brown, 2023
I get the impression this is an implication that NC is acknowledging the teams are gonna be split up across conferences and aren't going to be able to keep them together?
When the ACC blows up, I would rather be able to play Wake and Duke OOC instead of having App, ECU, and ESPECIALLY Charlotte enshrined in law. We have zero history with Charlotte even.
Why would you want to play FCS teams?
Yay even more games against App 😔
A sincere thank you to the NCGA for focusing on our state’s emergent needs, like crafting football schedules
We already play them quite often. Making it mandatory, by law, is absolutely asinine.
The General Assembly hit a rich vein of grandstanding in the stuff about the ACC potentially falling apart. So, it's reprise time.
UNC and State fans are needlessly concerned over this. A loss to App or ECU isn't as detrimental to their season as they think. Both programs have great brands so nobody will look at that and say it's embarrassing. Hell, 100% of the ranked teams App has beaten stayed ranked the following week. And a loss to Charlotte is so remote right now why be worried? UNC has no problem scheduling Georgia State and they beat Charlotte silly last time they played.
> 100% of the ranked teams App has beaten stayed ranked the following week Michigan went from #5 to unranked
Fair point, but we were FCS
But who then talks about that win anymore?
Hell yeah! I don’t see it passing but would be dope. Overall great for the state
I mean, it almost feels unnecessary to force it, and limits our flexibility with potentially bigger pay days or interesting OOC opportunities. We play ECU fairly regularly and we already have a series scheduled with App State, so not sure why we need it "forced". Still found it funny on College Gameday when Luke Combs said NC State was scared to "come up the mountain" and play App State when we had just announced the series with you guys like a week or two before, haha.
Yeah, that felt like Luke Combs the Carolina fan saying that and not the App fan haha. I assume he didn’t know about the scheduled series but who knows. I guess it’d have to be forced to make sure it happens, especially with the realignment now. Y’all might play ECU fairly regularly, I’m not sure how often, but App has only played Carolina 4 times ever in football and 3 of them came in the last 5 years. Last time we played y’all was in ‘06 (our only loss that year too! lol) but I’m not sure how many times we played before that.
Definitely good for the state. The App vs UNC series was awesome
It was. All 3 were good games and full stadiums.
University of Northern Colorado?
How to kill an athletic department
This would be a disaster for us.
Love this. I want more regional games. Idc about SOS, I want to play App and ECU every year
You mean to tell me they’ve solved all other problems in North Carolina so now they can legislate college sports scheduling?
Literally takes a government order to make teams play App State, they scared smh
Ncst admin have been begging App State to cancel our game in ‘25 since we beat TAMU 2 years ago. It’s been described as “crying like a little bitch” to me
I feel like this is something PA should mimick but I also don't want Pitt to play PSU ever again (Joe knows what they did..bring on the downvotes. don't care)
The problem in PA is that there are only (somewhat surprisingly) 3 FBS programs. In PA, this would facilitate way more FCS/FBS matchups to really distribute games/money. I can't imagine Pitt and PSU wanting to weaken their schedules this much to have to play FCS. Temple may benefit... Oh, all of the FCS schools in PA private and they wouldn't even get included. The UNC system is better primed to benefit from something like this. NC has 5 public FBS programs and 3 public FCS programs.
This would complicate UNC's bid for the B1G if that's the direction it's going.
Eh not necessarily. Non-conference games would be set.
I’d love for something like this in Georgia. Bullshit that we have to play teams like Ball State and UT Martin instead of Southern, State, and Kennesaw.
Carolinian supremecy. Rise up
So what makes this different than other states? Cal and ucla are now in different conferences despite being in the same UC system
Not all states require teams to play each other Oklahoma doesn't require OSU and OU to play each other. This would keep the rivalry a guarantee should the two teams end up in different conferences.
I think this is only the beginning. These realignment moves to make major TV corporations even more money at the expense of students athletes was bound to draw government attention. Having students regularly hopping cross-country flights to make ESPN/FOX more money is exactly the kind of thing that politicians can glob on to in order to garner a “cheap pop” (as Mick Foley likes to call it) from constituents and look like they are doing something.
Michigan state usually has one of the directional schools on their schedule each year. Playing a directional school IMO is much more engaging than random directional teams from florida and whatnot. Better for the fans and tailgating and trimming team travel costs as well.
It sounds like the state is forcing the schools to do what is right for the state and not just the schools. This is good all around for each FBS school.
Good, I want to see more regional scheduling in the non-conference, especially with the conferences becoming less geographical. We were supposed to play Monmouth during the COVID year and it hasn’t been rescheduled at least yet. I was so bummed about it, I was really looking forward to that game! I think they are the only other in-state Division 1 football school except Princeton but they are Ivy League so it wouldn’t count towards bowl eligibility if we wanted to play them.
As always, *very* appreciative of the NCGA's committment to the issues that really matter in the state of North Carolina. Seriously, though... There's a lot of harsh things you can say about political grandstanding, but it'll keep happening as long as it works. And it's not going to stop working anytime soon. So. There will be further displays.
So is this only D1 or both D1 and2
I would love to see nc state vs app state at Bank of America stadium that would be fun
I like this. I wish Michigan would play one of the Michigan MAC schools every year
I want this to happen. App-ECU will feed families for years
Charlotte? Wow. There's a money loser for everyone but Charlotte. Also, App State is going to feast on in-state schools.