Patriot League adding football scholarships in 2013
NCAA Football Betting Lines
02/13/2012 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Touchdown.
After exhaustive debate in recent years, the Patriot League has decided to start awarding athletic scholarships in football - 15 each year - beginning with the 2013 season.
The league announced the new policy on Monday, although the decision by its school presidents was termed a "consensus" and not likely a unanimous vote, which in the coming years may fail to fully remove the cloud that has hung over the league.
Bucknell, Colgate, Holy Cross, Lafayette and Lehigh are full Patriot League members which sponsor football, while Fordham and Georgetown are associate members for the sport. Fordham started offering athletic scholarships in 2010 and was planning to leave the FCS league if they were not voted in league- wide, while Georgetown was generally believed to be against a change in policy.
Patriot members Army and Navy, which participate on the FBS level, and American, which doesn't sponsor football, also were part of the league's vote, which limited Patriot teams to 15 athletic scholarships, including those to transfers, in future recruiting classes.
"First of all, we make this decision in recognition that we believe that it will help the league to remain strong and competitive, both with regard to our academic goals, which are foremost in the league, and to athletic competitiveness," Lafayette College president Dr. Daniel H. Weiss, the chair of the league council of presidents, said on a conference call.
"We believe over time that this decision is in the best interest of the league because it will help us with future membership prospects for joining the league, it will help us with scheduling out-of-league competitors in football, it will allow us to be more competitive in admissions with regards to identifying and recruiting to our campuses' outstanding students who also play Division I football at the level of the Patriot League.
"The decision that was reached is the result of several years of discussion and analysis by the presidents and their colleagues, and it represents the consensus, and argues that it is the right thing for the league to do at this time."
Patriot League football celebrated its 25th anniversary last year. Need-based financial aid has always been offered to student-athletes, but the athletic scholarships, or merit-based financial aid, have not been offered despite being allowed by the league's 22 other sports. Football has been considered a separate entity by the league.
The need-based financial aid will continue alongside the athletic scholarships. However, athletic scholarships will not be offered to this year's recruits or any student-athletes already in the programs. Only those enrolling in the fall of 2013 and beyond will be eligible.
Holy Cross athletic director Richard M. Regan Jr., the chair of the league's committee on athletic administration, said he expects the addition of athletic scholarships to at least double the size of the recruiting pool.
Since adding scholarships, Fordham has been declared ineligible for the Patriot championship and the league's automatic bid to the FCS playoffs. The league announced that later this spring a decision will be made regarding when that policy will change.
Patriot League executive director Carolyn Schlie Femovich said league expansion could result from the change in policy.
"I don't think we're going to be in any rush," she said. "I think there would be some attractiveness to adding one or two more members on the football side and perhaps one or two more members on the full member side. Those conversations have yet to take place. I expect that we'll be in a good position to do that over the course of the next year or so."
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Numerous College Basketball teams take final big step to March Madness betting
So, what turned on the lock spigot? Well, after what felt like weeks of teams treading water and slipping back into the bubble muck, a bunch of them finally decided to say "to heck with parity" and won games that should put them into the Big Dance.
Disagree with some of these? Then here's the challenge. Take all of the "should be ins" and make a legit case that each should be ahead of the team that's a lock. Then find 10 more teams that also should be placed in the bracket ahead of that lock team. Not so easy, is it?
If you want more evidence that these locks should be good to go, check out what our research department dug up. Since the NCAA Tournament went to 64 teams in 1985, only six teams from a "big six" conference have had a record of 10-6 or better in conference play and not been selected: Colorado (2004) and Nebraska (1999) from the Big 12, Boston College and Seton Hall (both 2003) from the Big East, Indiana (2005) from the Big Ten and UCLA, which somehow went 12-6 in the Pac-10 in 1988 and still missed out. (Note: Five teams went 11-7 and didn't get in, the latest being last season's Stanford team, which had a brutal nonconference run.)
Yes, 10 conference wins doesn't always mean what it used to because of unbalanced schedules, but this season, it should be plenty good in all but the extreme cases (see: Iowa).
In a way, this is a welcome development, because this is a bubble watch, not a lock watch. We can finally be done with teams like Maryland and Virginia Tech and start really bearing down on at-large battles such as Syracuse-West Virginia and Appalachian State-Georgia Tech.
Interestingly, all the shifting of teams into lock status appears to be more administrative than impactful. The number of remaining available at-larges didn't change one iota. The only difference is that teams on the bubble now have a clearer idea of which team(s) they are competing with for those precious bids.
| The Bubble Breakdown | |||
| CONFERENCE | LOCKS | SHOULD BE INS | AT-LARGES TAKEN (assuming no auto bid outlier) |
| ACC Betting Odds | 6 | 0 | 5 |
| Big East Betting Odds | 5 | 0 | 4 |
| Big Ten Betting Odds | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| Big 12 Betting Odds | 3 | 0 | 2 |
| Pac-10 Betting Odds | 5 | 1 | 5 |
| SEC Betting Odds | 4 | 0 | 3 |
| MVC Betting Odds | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| MWC Betting Odds | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| TOTAL | 28 | 5 | 25 |
As always, I've tried to be as inclusive as possible while only including teams that would have a reasonable chance of at least being discussed if this were Selection Sunday. If your team's not on here, there's probably a good reason (or three) -- start with the RPI and SOS numbers and work your way down.
(Please remember, per selection committee criteria, that records displayed are Division I only. Next update: Feb. 28)
If you have a legitimate grievance, or just like talking bubble, send an e-mail. Polite ones with fact-based arguments have a much better chance of receiving a response. I apologize in advance if I can't get back to all of you.
Atlantic Coast Conference
Work left to do: Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech
The ACC moves to six locks as BC, Va Tech and Virginia all got their 10th ACC wins, which should be more than enough this season, and Maryland rallied past North Carolina to get the final piece the Terps needed. After that? It could end there unless FSU, Ga Tech or Clemson picks things up in a hurry.
Work left to do:
Clemson [19-9 (5-9), RPI: 41, SOS: 42] The Tigers are closer to locking up the collapse of the year award (in a good battle with OK State) than they are to grabbing an at-large. Clemson's been very competitive, but there's no really positive way you can spin nine losses in 11 games. They now cannot get to .500 in ACC play and still must head to Virginia Tech in the season finale (after hosting Miami). Unless the Tigers win both and/or do some serious work in the ACC tourney, they very well could be left out. There are no great nonconference wins, but ODU, App State, Miss. State, South Carolina and Georgia are all respectable W's.
Florida State [18-11 (6-9), RPI: 48, SOS: 14] The Noles got thrashed at Maryland to run their losing streak to five, but then pounded NC State at home to set the table for what likely is an elimination game at Miami. You can at least make a case for the Seminoles at 7-9 in ACC play (and some work in the ACC tourney), but 6-10 is not going to cut it. Wins at Duke and over Florida will resonate, but the computer numbers remain questionable. Beyond Florida, FSU thrashed bubble buddy Providence, but there's not a ton beyond those two games that will help. They didn't show well in big-time opportunities against Pitt and Wisconsin (before the Florida win).
Georgia Tech [18-10 (6-8), RPI: 51, SOS: 46] The Jackets beat Wake on Wednesday but couldn't get it done at UVa on Saturday, which could be a crucial loss with UNC and BC (both at home) remaining and 8-8 almost a certain need for at-large consideration. A nonconference win over Memphis helps, but the RPI and SOS are not at-large quality right now; if you combine those with a sub-.500 ACC mark, that could spell NIT for GT.
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