The Big South Issue

One piece of advice from a teacher training exercise that I received was that if I am going to teach writing, I should practice it. I am going to take that advice. I will periodically write blogs about random subjects, mostly about sports. Most of these subjects will be those that very few people write about. My first subject will be about the state of the Big South Conference football. The Big South Conference is part of NCAA’s Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). Last season there were nine teams. However, the conference was going to lose two of them when the ASUN announced that it was going to have football. Therefore, the Big South associate members, Kennesaw State and North Alabama would join, as they are full members of the ASUN. This week, full member Hampton and associate member Monmouth announced that they were going to join the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) in July. Suddenly, the Big South found itself with five football-playing schools for the 2022 season. NCAA rules say that a conference must have at least six members. According to HBCU Gameday, the Big South can apply for a one-year extension to get a sixth member. It would be a wise idea, especially when the conference dropped to five members at practically the last-minute. I have a few ideas for a solution to the problem (I am sure the conference officials have many more). Idea number one, put pressure on Presbyterian to leave the non-scholarship, Pioneer Football League, and join the rest of its sports in the Big South. The second idea is to have the remaining Big South football teams merge with the Southern Conference teams to form one league for football only. If this move were to happen, it would not be unprecedented. In division II, the remaining three football-playing schools in the Great Northwest Conference (Central Washington, Simon Fraser, and Western Oregon) will merge with the mostly Texas-based Lone Star Conference beginning in the 2022-2023 season. My final idea is that the teams can align with the remaining MEAC teams. This possible solution has some problems, though. The primary issue is that the MEAC champion plays the SWAC champion in the Celebration Bowl. If this merger were to happen, would the top MEAC team still play the SWAC team? Would the top Big South/MEAC team from the merger play? That could defeat the purpose of the Celebration Bowl. Regardless of the decision the Big South makes, the conference officials need to make a move soon before it loses other programs.