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Solochek: Lesser foes can’t be overlooked
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Suddenly cupcakes do not look so delicious.
I’m not talking about the tasty birthday treat but the overmatched teams which enter major conference football stadiums during the first few weeks of September.
Each year, top 25-ranked football teams — including Wisconsin — invite non-Football Bowl Subdivision teams to their campuses each year to act as a preseason game before the conference schedule starts.
It used to be these teams would get beaten pretty handily by many of the big football schools. However, the cupcakes are starting to fight back. We all know about last year’s historic upset at the Big House as Appalachian State beat Michigan, becoming the first Football Championship Subdivision team to beat an FBS team in NCAA history.
This year, history has begun to repeat itself.
During the first week of the season, Fresno State beat a favored Rutgers at home. Last week, East Carolina pulled its second upset of the season by beating then-No. 8 West Virginia 24-3.
These upsets should not come as a surprise to a lot of people. For many years, there has been a growing parity in college football. Many non-FBS teams have been able to delve into a growing talent pool which has been unprecedented in recent years. Teams are finding players to fit their systems — whether it be the spread or West Coast offense — that can make a major impact for their teams.
Although some of these programs are getting better, it does not mean there is a mutual benefit for the two schools to play each other. In fact, these games have the potential to hurt the teams from the major conferences more than help them.
For the smaller teams, there is a lot to gain by walking into a large stadium and playing a football powerhouse. Not only does it give the players experience in front of a large crowd, but it also allows them to go up against a team much better than many of their conference schools in order to prepare for the rest of the season.
Also, the exposure the smaller teams get by playing against major conference schools is unparalleled. This exposure helps the team for recruiting purposes and exposes them to prep athletes who would have never even heard of many of the smaller, non-FBS teams.
For the larger, major conference teams, the risk is greater than the reward. Sure, playing these cupcakes warms the team up for the conference season and helps solidify a lineup that may have some questions at any of the positions.
But what happens if one of the team’s star players goes down for the season? What about if you are a top-10 team and you lose? What happens to your ranking?
A loss by a highly-ranked team to a smaller school could have a profound impact on the program for the rest of the season. Not only could it drop them from the top 25 altogether, but it could eliminate them from any chance of making a major bowl game.
These days, going to bowl games isn’t always about winning, but about the money. If a team makes it to a BCS bowl game, they get millions of dollars just for showing up, with the winners taking home even more.
For a team like Wisconsin, especially this year, losing to a team like Fresno State could have huge implications. The Badgers are in contention to make it to the Rose Bowl and are being closely followed by both Illinois and Penn State. If UW falters this weekend before they have the chance to play any of their conference rivals, it would mean another trip down to Florida for Bielema’s squad. Or worse.
It has been my feeling for years that the Badgers should bolster their preseason schedule. For the last two years, they have begun to play better teams before going into the conference season. Last year, they played Washington State from the Pac 10 and take on Fresno State this Saturday.
By playing a stronger preconference schedule, Wisconsin would be better prepared to play some of the tougher teams in its conference, such as Ohio State or Michigan. Also, if the Badgers were to play more challenging teams earlier in the season, it would allow them to move higher in the rankings before the season even started. If they lost one of these games, it would not have the impact as a loss to a less talented team.
However, it does not look like the cupcakes are going away any time soon. So beware, FBS teams. These games could get a little sticky.
Ben Solochek is a senior majoring in journalism and history. If you would like to talk about the dangers of pastries, e-mail him at bsolochek@badgerherald.com.
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This article is wrong. I’m not sure where the writer got the incorrect information that Fresno State (and East Carolina, for that matter) are not FBS (Division I-A) teams. They are FBS teams. While Fresno and East Carolina aren’t members of BCS conferences, they are still members of the FBS. Thus, on Saturday, Wisconsin is playing one of its own — a fellow FBS member — in Fresno.
Which is it…is Fresno State a “cupcake” that’s a lose lose on Wisconsin’s schedule, or a strong opponent that strengthens the OOC schedule? This article is contradictory, and even worse, clearly written by someone who spent little time researching the topic before hitting the keyboard. Fresno State and East Carolina are both FBS programs. Appalachian State is not. And Fresno State is perennially in the Top 25, so I’m not entirely sure where the writer gets off calling them a “cupcake” in the first place.
App State was “not” the first lower division team to beat a D-1A team. The confusion is with the FBS and non-FBS. It was only a couple years ago that these terms have been used. It used to be D-1A and D-1AA. App State is only the first D-1AA team to beat a D-1A team since they changed the names to FBS and FCS
Ummm….where to begin on this BAD article. Fresno State is not non-FBS. Fresno State has beaten Wisconsin AT Wisconsin, so much for the cupcake theory. A loss to Fresno State doesn’t really effect the Badgers hopes for a Rose Bowl appearance since it doesn’t have anything to do with their Big 10 record. Wisconsin has been a football power longer than Fresno State and they are in that CARTEL we call the BCS, while better teams like Fresno State are not, but I doubt the Badgers can beat Fresno State on the road. In fact, the rankings should be switched after Saturday’s game.
In the future, please try to learn a little about college football before writing about it.
Nice quality control on this article. Just so inaccurate it is funny.
This is NOT a no win situation for Wisconsin. As most of you remember, the Bulldogs beat us in our own house in ‘01, then we returned the favor in ‘02 but BOTH were in Wisconsin. Fresno State is considered one of the premier non-BCS schools in the country, and better than a lot of BCS schools in bigger conferences (Purdue, Northwestern, Minnesota, Iowa, and Indiana…I’m looking in your direction).
Pull your head out of your a** Solocheck, Fresno State is a tougher opponent than half the Big 10!!