Coaches: Don't eliminate preseason bowls
Posted: Monday August 24, 1998 09:33 PM
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Over the past decade Bobby Bowden's Seminoles are 86-11-1 for an .883 winning percentage, second among Division I-A schools to Nebraska's .884 AP |
EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey (AP) -- The NCAA should limit the number of preseason bowl games rather than ban them, the coaches appearing in this year's Kickoff Classic said Monday.
Bobby Bowden of Florida State and R.C. Slocum of Texas A&M both had concerns about a proposal being considered by the NCAA to eliminate the preseason games after 2002. The proposal will be voted on in January at the NCAA Convention in San Antonio.
"I don't know why if the concept was good to start, ... as a kickoff showcase for college football to whet everyone's appetite for the season, then I don't know anything that has changed since then that would make these games bad," Slocum said in a telephone conference call to promote the Kickoff Classic on August 31.
Slocum and Bowden were concerned about the increase in the number of preseason games. The first Kickoff Classic was played in 1983 and the Pigskin Classic was added in 1990. Four will be played this year.
The lineup this year will have Colorado State playing Michigan State on Aug. 29 in the Black Coaches Association game and Louisiana Tech and Nebraska will meet in the Eddie Robinson Football Classic, both on August 29.
Purdue will play at Southern California the next day in the Pigskin Classic and Texas A&M and Florida State play on August 31.
"If we are going to get where everyone can have a little opening bowl game, I'm not in favor of that," Bowden said. "If you want to keep the Kickoff Classic and the Pigskin Classic, and maybe that's all, then I can live with that.
"If everyone is going to have one, we ought to have everyone go to a 12-game schedule and forget the classics," he added.
Dropping all the games would hurt some causes.
Money from the preseason games helps finance groups such as the National Association of College Directors of Athletics, American Football Coaches Association, Black Coaches Association, and the National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame.
"When I first heard that idea [eliminating the preseason games], I thought there is no way they are going to do that because the whole idea was to make money for the colleges and the retirements and things like that," Bowden said. "I could not see the NCAA wanting to eliminate them."
While preseason games earn money for their schools, the coaches said that they also give them a chance to play quality opponents and get on the field sooner than other teams.
Had they not agreed to play in this game, both schools would not have opened the season until September 12.
"We have an aspiring team and an aspiring program," Slocum said. "We have rolled along the last nine years winning over nine games a year and we would like to be better than we are. I think the best course for us is to take the opportunity to play a team like Florida State."
Over the past decade, the two schools have been among the best in college football.
Florida State is 86-11-1 for an .883 winning percentage, second among Division I-A schools to Nebraska's .884. Texas A&M is 75-21-2 and its .776 percentage is sixth best.
The Aggies return 14 starters from a 9-4 team that lost to UCLA in the Cotton Bowl, while Florida State returns 14 from an 11-1 team that beat Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl.
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