Last game of the season live thread

[Ship69]

The State of Meatchicken hands money to Grand Valley and Ferris Bueller State to full fund their program.

The only way we compete is if Harrisburg stops being a bunch of conservative *******s and fund our sports programs to the fullest.

Might be nice if they came anywhere close to funding higher education, period.

[Brandon]

I never said anything about that. But being good at D2 basketball doesn't get you nearly the same amount of publicity as being good at D2 football. That's a fact. NW Missouri basketball has been the best in the country for what, a decade now? And it still doesn't get nearly the publicity as NW Missouri's football team who hasn't won anything in the same time frame.

Also, GV absolutely does not have a nice gym. It is not even a good high school gym.

From 2013-2022 (10 years/9 seasons), Northwest won three football national championships. From 2013-2022, Northwest won four basketball national championships.

Still, your statement about football v. basketball is correct.

[Brandon]

Meatchicken doesn't have FCS schools. If you are a kid that may just sit on the bench at a Directional MAC school ...why would you go there and not play at the D2 schools like Ferris and GV and get to start and win. I can't imagine anyone wanting to play foosball at a MAC school.

If you are a kid in PA...are you going to West Chester or take your chances at Villanova or Delaware? Pee Sack teams get the leftovers from the WPIAL.

The fan boys of the Upper GLIAC teams and the MIAA don't seem to take in the whole picture.

State Funding For All Scholarships + Minimal Competition for good players in the region = D2 Dominance.

If Harrisburg handed IUP the difference in schollie money it lacks and we ditched half of the FCS schools and Fake D1 Poser Schools in the Northeast...yeah...we'd be pretty potent too. If this was a foot race between IUP and Ferris based on the money they get and the regional competition for players...Ferris would have like a 10 minute head start and IUP has to run like **** to catch up and they never will....

The big boys really are FCS teams in D2 clothing. Looking at the D2 landscape...there are vastly more teams like IUP than there are Ferris. I don't buy the nonsense that the bad teams in the "better" conferences would eat us all alive. Ashland was the GLIAC champion in 2017...who beat them in the first week. Then beat them again the next year on their Taj Mahal field (and then beat them again this year).

Some of your comments are somewhat valid and some positions are left over from the 1990's.

Michigan doesn't have FCS schools. They have FBS schools, which are a level above the Pennsylvania FSC schools you claim are enticing to recruits.

There are more schools in Pennsylvania. There is also a larger population (Pa - 12.96, Mich. - 10.05, Mo. - 6.16, Kan. - 2.9).

State funding for scholarships is a big deal.

Look at a larger picture.

In the FBS, Penn State is the only and northeastern-most ranked team but the FBS is still dominated by the southeast.

In the FCS, Holy Cross is ranked as are New Hampshire, Fordham, and Delaware, but the division is still dominated by teams in the upper Midwest.

D2 is currently dominated by the Midwest as well.

It's simply cultural. Football seems to be a lot more important in the Midwest than it is where you live.

All it would take would be one school, say IUP, Shepherd, or Slippery Rock to double or triple down on facilities to become a true national contender. Right now, not a single PSAC school separates itself from the others in terms of facilities or perceived commitment. It doesn't seem that there is the willingness or maybe the ability to do so.

I also do not believe that bad GLIAC or MIAA teams kick the asses of the best teams in your state. I do believe that some of the third or fourth place teams in the Midwest leagues would challenge or could win the PSAC title, but that's a small portion of the teams and certainly the bottom feeders wouldn't do it.

[Brandon]

I updated my post by saying that the vast majority of foosball playing schools in D2 are closer to IUP in competitiveness than they are to Ferris/GV/NW/Valdosta/West Florida. Those schools are FCS teams in D2 clothing. I imagine most schools in D2 are not funding close to the max.

The majority of D2 Football schools are not as good as IUP/SRU.

[Brandon]

There is no publicity of D2 sports. Nobody outside of this board cares.

The common perception (outside of this board) is this is glorified high school. We know that's not true, but the general public could care less about D2.

It depends on where you live. Where I live, it's not looked down on.

In general, I think that most people think you're either Power 5 or you're small school and the details of how the small schools align themselves are irrelevant.

[Brandon]

So basically IUP has decided to hitch their wagon to hoops instead of the turf. If that trend was reversed, would IUP have the money to be a fully funded D2 football program?

I believe the limit for men's basketball is 10, so even if the program were only half funded and the other half given to football, it likely wouldn't make the difference.

In the past, most of the PSAC schools threw their money relatively equally over a broad number of sports while others in D2 would focus more on certain sports. I don't know if that is still the case.

[Brandon]

So GVSU has the lowest funding per student but then you say GVSU is fully funded for football. Where are you going with all your lines of BS?

Those are two separate issues.

[IUPNation]

So basically IUP has decided to hitch their wagon to hoops instead of the turf. If that trend was reversed, would IUP have the money to be a fully funded D2 football program?

Fully funded in hoops is like 10 scholarships.

[IUPNation]

I distinctly remember taking your side. I may have been the only one but I had your back, LOL.

IUP is a great basketball school with a better than average football program. It’s not a bad deal really. It could be a great cross country school with a better than average softball team.

It used to be good in cross country!

[IUPNation]

I believe the limit for men's basketball is 10, so even if the program were only half funded and the other half given to football, it likely wouldn't make the difference.

In the past, most of the PSAC schools threw their money relatively equally over a broad number of sports while others in D2 would focus more on certain sports. I don't know if that is still the case.

Pee Sack school’s sponsor more sports on average too. There aren’t many field hockey and lacrosse teams west of here…

[DawgUp]

Fully funded in hoops is like 10 scholarships.

I get that, but if you can build and maintain an arena for the basketball team I would think there's a little that can be siphoned for the football program along with some other sports, similar to what Brandon stated. I may be dated but I thought the sports bringing in the cheese sprinkles that cheese across the athletic dept.

[EyeoftheHawk]

I get that, but if you can build and maintain an arena for the basketball team I would think there's a little that can be siphoned for the football program along with some other sports, similar to what Brandon stated. I may be dated but I thought the sports bringing in the cheese sprinkles that cheese across the athletic dept.

I believe IUP got a nice chunk of money from the state to build the KCAC (arena) because it was touted as a regional event center, which it turned out to be. It has been profitable and a really nice venue for a variety of events for the community beyond basketball. There are others on the board more educated on this than I am but as I understand it, state schools in PA can’t just use funds to throw up multi-million dollar football stadiums without approval, and considering what the other state schools have, it’s going to be hard to get. I’m not sure how it would be handled if a big money donor wrote a check for that purpose.

As Brandon mentioned earlier, the Pennsylvania schools (none of them) have not invested in the sport the way others have in other parts of the country. If you visited every football stadium in the PSAC (minus Shepherd, which is in WV), you would find very little difference. That’s true for most of SR 1 really with few exceptions. The level of investment aligns with the level of results, and that’s not changing anytime soon.

[IUPalum]

Those are two separate issues.

The guy has contradicted himself a few times. I’m calling him out. For this guy to continuously say GVSU is behind the 8 ball is absurd. Yes, they might not get the state funding but they are getting the funding from somewhere. Donors, etc to be fully funded and have that facility. I don’t want to hear anyone cry poor mouth for GVSU! It’s a BS take!

[IUPNation]

The guy has contradicted himself a few times. I’m calling him out. For this guy to continuously say GVSU is behind the 8 ball is absurd. Yes, they might not get the state funding but they are getting the funding from somewhere. Donors, etc to be fully funded and have that facility. I don’t want to hear anyone cry poor mouth for GVSU! It’s a BS take!

It certainly helps being located outside a small city like Grand Rapids with its own media market as opposed to being in a small rural town in PA. It’s an enviable position financially.

[IUPalum]

It certainly helps being located outside a small city like Grand Rapids with its own media market as opposed to being in a small rural town in PA. It’s an enviable position financially.

I didn’t even get into that part but you 100% correct!