Power Five Florida and Virginia Tech Play Two 2019 FCS Games

Alone among the Power Five, Florida and Virginia Tech play two FCS games each in 2019.  What gives Gators and Hokies?  Hopefully, a good reason.

A scheduling snafu, past or present, that required drastic measures, could be in the mix.  Still, when evaluating Florida and Virginia Tech’s overall and non-conference records this year, this weakness in their scheduling must be taken into account.

The first of Florida’s FCS games is against UT Martin on September 7 and the second is against Towson on September 28.  Towson is a top-flight FCS opponent, while chomp-bait UT Martin is not.

Virginia Tech gets high-quality Furman on September 14 and hopes to gobble-up improving Rhode Island on October 12.

Obviously, all of the above games are home games at the FBS team site.  The evil eye is always on the lookout for this kind of scheduling and takes a rather jaundiced view of the same.

150 years of College Football

As you may have noticed, this year is the 150th anniversary of the advent of the glorious game of college football.  The first game was in 1869.  Perhaps you have noticed the 150th year anniversary logo already.  If not, it will become readily apparent as the season goes on.  In 1969, teams wore a 100th year anniversary logo on their helmets which was a football with “100” on it.  The 125th year celebration was marked, among other ways, by a jersey patch.

FCS Victories Over FBS Danger Zone

Next week, when the college football season kicks-off in full, there are a number of FCS versus FBS danger games on that horizon.  Dangerous for a potentially hapless FBS outfit.  A couple of handfuls of these caught my eye, as follows:

• Wagner at UConn – How badly are the Huskies reeling football-wise from the decision to leave the AAC?
• Central Arkansas at Western Kentucky – The Hilltoppers would like to put last year behind them immediately.
• South Dakota State at Minnesota – The Golden Gophers should know not to take this lightly.
• Northern Colorado at San Jose State – Both are struggling in their respective divisions.
• Northern Iowa at Iowa State – This game has been triumph/tragedy, but that was then and this is now.
• Indiana State at Kansas – Can Les Miles stop an era of Jayhawk futility?
• James Madison at West Virginia – It is always dangerous to roll the high risk/no reward dice against top-notch FCS teams.
• Incarnate Word at UTSA – City bragging rights at stake.
• Sam Houston State at New Mexico – Lobos hope to avoid nightmare in Dreamstyle Stadium.
• UC Davis at California – This game gets credit on the smart-kid scale.
• Nicholls at Kansas State – Kansas was upended last year, so the Wildcats must be wary in Klieman’s first game.

History has shown that some of these, or ones not listed, may well end with the comedic and tragic masks of drama being traded between the willing and the unwilling.  Such is life.