Tiny sports gripe
This is not a big deal, but: The local sports media are always careful to say “Division 3″ if they talk about Bridgewater College’s football team when it achieves national ranking. They say things such as, “Bridgewater is number 9 nationally in Division 3 college football,” or whatever. When JMU gets a national ranking in Division IAA, like this one, it’s that JMU is ranked number 1 or number 4 “in the nation.” That’s just silly since, taken at face value, it would indicate JMU’s better than Ohio State or USC. It sounds like over-reaching to say “in the nation” about JMU instead of “in Division IAA football.”
As I said this is just a tiny gripe. Go Eagles! Go Dukes!
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July 24th, 2008 at 9:21 am
So explain all this ranking to me. I’ve always found it confusing. How many levels of Division I are there? Are the others - II & III - also sub-divided? When my daughter attended Longwood they were in the process of “moving to Division I” and it was a big deal. It seemed to me that, given their size, the cost was not worth it. But then again, Longwood’s football team is undefeated!
Can you tell I really do not follow college sports unless I know one of the players?
July 24th, 2008 at 7:47 pm
There’s a good reference on that at http://www.ncaa.org/about/div_criteria.html . Only Division I football is subdivided. The other divisions aren’t subdivided. Sports other than football aren’t subdivided.
Moving toward Division I (or Division I-A) is controversial at most schools considering that each upward move will cost a lot for sure, while competitive success is uncertain. A school can go from being a truly good lower-division team to a doormat in the next division up.
NCAA is trying to extinguish the I-A and I-AA terminology, I see. The new terms are supposed to be:
I-A = Football Bowl Subdivision
I-AA = NCAA Football Championship Subdivision
July 30th, 2008 at 12:30 pm
All I know is that my school, Appalachian State U., won the I-AA championship 3 years in a row. Go ASU!! Sorry JMU fans, there will be a rematch in Sept.
Michigan whoooooooo???
July 30th, 2008 at 12:33 pm
Also wanted to point out that because of our upset of Michigan, any team may now be listed in the top 10 ranking no matter what division they are listed in!!!
Go ASU!!
July 30th, 2008 at 1:50 pm
app state is strong all right. if that post season tournament were seeded better we might see app state vs james madison in the final. i look for a real knock down drag out when the teams meet this fall in the regular season.