A new and better FBS thread

[Professor Chaos]

Sacramento State is a proven FCS powerhouse. But It’s not ready for FBS

No, I'm not buying you a new monitor after you spit your drink all over this one.


FWIW Sacramento St notified the Big Sky that they plan to depart on June 30th 2026. So they may still be eligible for the Big Sky auto this upcoming season although I think that depends on what the remaining Big Sky schools want to do with them.

[taper]

Crazy to me that Texas St is seen as a valuable enough program to add to the PAC.

But we’ve hashed and rehashed the stupidity of conference additions before.


*Sent from my iPhone where autocorrect is definitely not my friend*

Texas St was the least worst add.
PAC2 tried to get a P4 invite. That failed.
PAC2 tried to poach the top AAC members to form the top G5 conference. That failed.
PAC2 tried to survive by adding the top MWC programs. Mostly successful but they ended up 1 short.
PAC7 required a football and baseball member to remain a valid NCAA conference. There weren't a lot of options.

[KSBisonFan]

https://www.footballscoop.com/2025/0...-football-2026

Sac State still intends to be FBS in 2026.

[DePereBisonFan]

https://www.footballscoop.com/2025/0...-football-2026

Sac State still intends to be FBS in 2026.

"Sacramento State has met every meaningful benchmark for FBS membership, and we believe our university, our students, and the entire Sacramento region deserve major college football," Wood wrote in a statement posted to X. "We're full steam ahead and we still plan to be playing FBS football in 2026."

Wood did not provide details of potential next steps. Boise State law professor Sam Ehrlich said on X that legal action could be an option.

"This will lead to litigation. Forcing a school to rely on the whims of conferences (to) let them compete for the economic benefits of a higher division is just the sort of arbitrary gatekeeping that draws harsh antitrust scrutiny," Ehrlich wrote.

Interesting lawsuit there...

[BigHorns]

"Sacramento State has met every meaningful benchmark for FBS membership, and we believe our university, our students, and the entire Sacramento region deserve major college football," Wood wrote in a statement posted to X. "We're full steam ahead and we still plan to be playing FBS football in 2026."

Wood did not provide details of potential next steps. Boise State law professor Sam Ehrlich said on X that legal action could be an option.

"This will lead to litigation. Forcing a school to rely on the whims of conferences (to) let them compete for the economic benefits of a higher division is just the sort of arbitrary gatekeeping that draws harsh antitrust scrutiny," Ehrlich wrote.

Interesting lawsuit there...

It will be interesting to see if they follow thru on that. Litigation can be expensive, but do they have backing of state AG? If so, what type of money/budget for that case? Won't be made public, so could become a game of poker if NCAA fights them. Court cases often are won by deeper pockets.

JMU threatened a lawsuit against NCAA during transition because they thought they had a shot at NY6/CFP, but ultimately backed down. Legal argument being posed was essentially the same as the one here. They had state legislators and AG backing it for a while. Suspect it was largely sabre rattling for their constituency. A real court case would have been expensive.

[BigHorns]

PAC offers Texas St, expected to be finalized/accepted Monday.

This move has been obvious for months now, it just got to the point where PAC exhausted any better options (eg: Memphis, Tulane or UNLV) for #8 this year. They could add those schools later with lower exit fees, say 1-2 years from now. FCS callup was not going to happen with PAC, they are trying to poach from "lower" FBS conferences only. There is a hierarchy/tiering of FBS conferences, even inside the G6.

https://x.com/ChrisVannini/status/19...88-page-6.html

[NI4NI]

It will be interesting to see if they follow thru on that. Litigation can be expensive, but do they have backing of state AG? If so, what type of money/budget for that case? Won't be made public, so could become a game of poker if NCAA fights them. Court cases often are won by deeper pockets.

JMU threatened a lawsuit against NCAA during transition because they thought they had a shot at NY6/CFP, but ultimately backed down. Legal argument being posed was essentially the same as the one here. They had state legislators and AG backing it for a while. Suspect it was largely sabre rattling for their constituency. A real court case would have been expensive.

Regardless of who wins or loses a suit, the NCAA could make Sac State wish the never heard of FBS. Undesirable time slots or not televised at all for not just football, but all their sports could bankrupt an athletic dept.

[BigHorns]

Regardless of who wins or loses a suit, the NCAA could make Sac State wish the never heard of FBS. Undesirable time slots or not televised at all for not just football, but all their sports could bankrupt an athletic dept.

Indeed, that is the real risk with suing NCAA, you can become effectively blackballed by the system, and lose even if you win on paper. I suspect that is also part of why the JMU lawsuit thing quietly went away.

Beyond figuring out timeslots, no conference has to accept you. Good luck lining up a full FBS schedule these days outside of a conference, its nearly impossible. And thats just the start of the headaches, because there is also no guaranteed access to the CFP, etc. FBS Indy is extremely risky path, and even more so if you got there by suing NCAA. If you can't line up a FBS schedule because teams won't play you, you still lose status. Could win on paper, and still be locked out.

[NI4NI]

Indeed, that is the real risk with suing NCAA, you can become effectively blackballed by the system, and lose even if you win on paper. I suspect that is also part of why the JMU lawsuit thing quietly went away.

Beyond figuring out timeslots, no conference has to accept you. Good luck lining up a full FBS schedule these days outside of a conference, its nearly impossible. And thats just the start of the headaches, because there is also no guaranteed access to the CFP, etc. FBS Indy is extremely risky path, and even more so if you got there by suing NCAA. If you can't line up a FBS schedule because teams won't play you, you still lose status. Could win on paper, and still be locked out.

And at the end of the day the P2 control the NCAA, so if it doesn't sparkle with them it ain't happening.

[56BISON73]

Regardless of who wins or loses a suit, the NCAA could make Sac State wish the never heard of FBS. Undesirable time slots or not televised at all for not just football, but all their sports could bankrupt an athletic dept.

NCAA has no teeth. They have lost every law suit as of late. Plus truth be known I think every school would love to see the NCAA lose again so they can control their own destiny.