Pac-12 set to add Boise, 3 other MW schools Oh baby this is the thread and topic I have been waiting for…
I am a believer that we should do everything we can to play with the big teams and put Davis on the sports map. I would have loved to see us move up to FBS/Pac 12 even before all of this chaos. I see no reason that we can’t given other “academic” schools can also have top programs (UCLA, Cal, Stanford, USC are all as tough or tougher to get accepted to)
For context - I went to every football and basketball game while in attendance and still watch them now to this date. Very few of my friends joined me at Davis and even less keep up with the teams now. So while I’m going to be a little critical, I’m a huge supporter of our program.
Students in seats:
Part of the problem here in my opinion is that sports is not a reason to come to Davis as part of your Davis experience outside of the athletes who play it. We aren’t attracting a sports fan student. If you got into Cal, Stanford, UCLA, and Davis and you wanted sports as part of your college experience, you aren’t picking Davis. You are picking a bowl eligible, pac 12 school playing against some of the better college program and NFL level talent. While we are technically D1, we are a lower level D1 than the college football programs you know. We get one game a year (Cal) to put us on the map. Imagine a whole schedule.
Respectfully, the world doesn’t care about FCS. Outside of the playoffs and maybe even just the championship does ESPN talk about the FCS or show games? No.
Let’s talk about the best scenario for a second. We are the #1 ranked team in the FCS for the next 5 years. Ok, so we are North or South Dakota state? There is still an element of “ok, so what?”. There is no doubt a move up, we would likely lose a lot of games in the short term, but imagine a schedule filled with mid to top FBS talent. Imagine upsets over UCLA, Cal, Stanford, a random Auburn or Wisconsin game. Imagine we finally put together a good season and make it to a bowl. I guarantee any one of those situations gets more attention than our current best possible scenario.
This leads me to my next point, which a lot of folks in here are not going to like. In basketball and football specifically, I would be open to scholarship players not needing to separately hit the requirements for acceptance to Davis. I know we pride ourselves on the scholar-baller but the kids getting into UCLA/USC etc wouldn’t get in without their athletic achievements and scholarships and truthfully, no one is looking at those schools as any less prestigious.
If you want to get butts in seats, you need to be in the highest division possible, playing the best talent and making sports part of the college experience at Davis.
My solution:
- move to the PAC 12
- relax the scholarship requirement to allow athletes to join the program that wouldn’t otherwise be able to come to Davis
- join with Sac State to fuel a rivalry from day 1 that can grow for years to come at the new level.