OT - Baylor Football Schedules... Wait for It... University of the Incarnate Word in 2019
This is not an April Fool's joke. UIW is a school which has been playing football since '07. No, not 1907...2007. I think Baylor will be attempting to be the first team to score >100 in the past however many decades.
For those curious UIW plays in a stadium of 6000... in Texas. There are HS stadiums in Texas that seat 30K+.
Not sure what Baylor is doing if it wants to be a legitimate playoff contender, when strength of schedule is supposedly going to be a key component.
The University of the Incarnate Word announced Monday that it has scheduled a 2019 game against the Bears in Waco. The game will be played Aug. 31 in McLane Stadium, which is currently under construction. UIW founded its football program in 2007 and played at the Div. II level before moving up to the FCS in 2013.
Between 2014 and 2019, Baylor has just two non-conference games scheduled against programs from the five power conferences: a home-and-home with Duke in 2017 and 2018.
If they're division one, how bad can this really be? I know this looks very bad superficially (based on the things you point out in your OP) but it seems to me that there are a lot of division 2 teams that get scheduled by big programs and that is probably worse that this. Alabama will probably be playing worse teams that year, for example.
Probably the terminology is confusing. They are now entering FCS not FBS. Both FCS and FBS are formally "division 1". It would be like UM scheduling a team that has entered FCS for the first time this year... the teams getting slaughtered most Saturdays are teams who have been FCS for a long time. (granted a few are now fighting back and pulling upsets) But there are not teams in FBS playing "Division 2" teams. Div 2 is where teams like Grand Valley State play. And Grand Valley State is a premier Division 2 program, not one which started a football program in 2007.
Specific to this school, in 2009-2012 they were in Division 2. They have graduated in 2013 to the division where these FCS schools are... aka Division 1B if you like, so now eligible for slaughter (and payday). Division 1A is where the name programs play.
Maybe the best way to put it into context if you are a local is if Wayne State / Hillsdale started football in 2007, moved up to FCS in 2013, and UM scheduled Wayne State / Hillsdale in the Big House in 2019. And Michigan had an offense that averaged 750 yards in non conf, and put up 700-900 yards on Purdue and Indiana.
Baylor's going to have an 11-1 year one of those years and they will proceed to throw a hissy-fit because they're left out of the playoffs due to a horribly weak schedule
- University of the Dangling Participle
- University of the Hanging Chad
- University of the Run-On Sentence
- University of the Metaphoric Speaker
- University of the Syllogistic Argument
- Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
- Fawz U.
And Jesus Christ!
This is ridiculous. Somewhere in the world Grant Teaff is chewing nails in disgust.
we get to make fun of other schools' non-conference scheduling? please.
They went 6-5 last year against a combo D2/FCS schedule* and they''re currently ranked #301 among NCAA football teams.
Delaware State was #313 when we played them in 2009.
No FBS school ranks worse, but Miami (O) was #289 and would be a five-point favorite at Massey if they played.
*A weird schedule, too, pointing out how hard it is for teams to schedule when they're transitioning. They played a home and home with Abilene Christian in the same year--lost 40-6 on the road and then won 34-31 at home three weeks later.