Like Grift, I am ambivalent about anything political lately. So let’s talk I-AA football.
To tell you the truth, I know very little about championship division football other than they have a playoff and that Appalachian State is a lot better than the two teams I’ve seen them play on TV. I know Georgia Southern was really good for a while and gave Georgia a hard time a few years ago in a game that was supposed to be a snoozer. I also know that Georgia State will announce its intention to start a football program today (watch it live here at 2 p.m.).
I’d suggest reading Tony Barnhart’s column for some more background. I agree with everything he wrote there, but am curious where they’ll actually play games (Barnhart thinks they should play in the Georgia Dome).
I’d like to add another suggestion to Tony’s list: schedule a lot of Thursday night games. Virginia Tech schedules a lot of Thursday games, which has garnered its program national exposure which it wouldn’t have received if it had to compete with 40 other games going on at the same time. Often, Virginia Tech and its opponent will be the only bowl division teams playing on a Thursday. I’m not going to skip watching a Tennessee game on TV to watch playoff division football (just as I don’t expect Georgia or Georgia Tech fans would skip watching their games), but I’d go to some games if I could take MARTA to them after work on a Thursday.
GSU will probably go through a few 0-11 seasons at first, but there’s enough talent in this state (even after UGA, GT, and Southern have had their shots) for them to put together a watchable team if they go about this the right way. It’s not unrealistic to think that in four or five years the games could be more fun to watch than Falcons games.
I’m excited about the possibility of having a I-AA team here for what I think would be the same reasons I’d be excited if there was a minor league baseball team in the city. I hope they get it right.
