Moore not a fan of date change for FCS title game
Some significant changes for the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision playoffs are planned for next season.
The field will expand from 16 teams to 20 teams, and the championship game will move from mid-December to the first week of January on the eve of the Bowl Championship Series national title game.
The venue for the FCS championship game could also change. Frisco, Texas, a suburb of Dallas, is a finalist along with Chattanooga, Tenn., which has played host to the title game since 1997. A decision on the site is expected next March.
Coach Jerry Moore of Appalachian State, whose team has played in three FCS title games, isn’t an advocate of the move of the title game to January.
“I like it like it is,” Moore said.
His concern with the move has to do with the one-month gap between the semifinals and championship game, and the fact that the title game could be overshadowed by the BCS title game scheduled the night after.
“What are you going to do with those players after the third round?” Moore said. “You have to wait a month to play…. There’s a lot of expense involved in that, and players have to come back for another three weeks.
“Then we’re going to be matched up the night before the (BCS) championship game. It’s kind of like the show before the show.”
Moore isn’t against expansion of the field, but likes the fact that the FCS title game is now played in mid-December without a gap between rounds.
“It’s better than going to a small bowl game, I think,” Moore said of the title game. “I see us losing that and getting caught up in the stuff the night after. That’s just my take on it.
“I think we’ve got a great situation just like it is where we’re the only game in town.”