Unlike the National Football League, college football does not have preseason games. There are no exhibitions to get game experience without worrying about a win-loss record. However, the setup of NCAA Division I football permits the next best thing for big-name teams.
In other NCAA sports such as basketball, baseball and soccer, all 347 Division I teams compete at the same level. In football, the teams are split into two levels — the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) and Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). The two levels have many differences, most notably different scholarship caps (85 for FBS, 63 for FCS) and different methods to crown a champion (bowl system in the FBS, playoff in the FCS).
Every year, teams from the FBS schedule FCS teams, frequently early in the season, to provide a near-guaranteed win for their team. According to footballgeography.com, FBS teams are 1,933-407-18 against FCS teams since 1978. These games have become especially popular since 2006, when FBS teams began to play 12 games per year and the FCS wins began to count for bowl eligibility. Despite complaining from fans that do not want to see a blowout, 85% of FBS teams will play a game against an FCS team in 2013.
The question is, what’s in it for a small school such as Elon University? The answer: money.
FCS teams earn a major payday, usually in the neighborhood of $400,000-$750,000, simply for showing up. This money allows the FCS team to fund multiple aspects of their university’s athletic department for the year.
When Elon takes the field on Saturday at Georgia Tech, the Phoenix will be playing an FBS team for the sixth time in school history — all of which have come in the past seven seasons. Elon is 0-5 in their previous five FBS contests, with the closest result coming in a 41-27 defeat at the hands of Duke University in 2010. That year, the Blue Devils would end the season at 5-7; certainly not among the national powers.
Basic history suggests that Elon has their backs against the wall. The Vegas lines agree, as Georgia Tech is an early 47-point favorite for Saturday’s game. The host Yellow Jackets have not lost a game to an FCS team since 1983, when Furman University beat Georgia Tech 17-14. Last year, the Yellow Jackets beat Presbyterian College 59-3. On a larger scale to show just how powerful the Georgia Tech offense was a season ago, they scored 68 points on the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill — the same team Elon played to open the season and could barely cross the 50-yard line.
Does Elon have a chance? Hey, you never know. Appalachian State University, a rival of Elon in the Southern Conference, shocked the college football world with a 34-32 win at the University of Michigan in 2007.
To put that win in perspective, Appalachian State was in the midst of a run of three consecutive FCS championships and barely squeaked by Michigan. Three years later, James Madison University, a future rival of Elon in the Colonial Athletic Association, defeated Virginia Tech 21-16.
In recent years, other FCS teams have picked up wins against weaker FBS teams, but no major upsets have occurred.
The Georgia Tech game is not the end of this trend for Elon. The Phoenix already has three more FBS games scheduled — at Duke in 2014, at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in 2016 and at the University of South Florida in 2018. For now, Elon will try and stay competitive and healthy while increasing the program’s exposure, even if they lose by 47 or more.