Sac Planning to Jump to FBS as Independent

[bonarae]

They filed an application with the NCAA to transition from the FCS to the FBS.

[Mvemjsunpx]

The UMass of the west…

[SuperHornet]

The UMass of the west…

You might well be right, Venus. UMASS recently announced jumping ship to the MAC; what they SHOULD do is go to the CAA, along with UCONN....

[SuperHornet]

I REALLY don't like this move, but it seems inevitable. I'm the only fan at SacBuzz against it, and the President is all in on it. I have no idea if the NCAA will approve the indy application; that's a hard road to hoe, particularly in terms of scheduling. That's why Penn State hooked up with the League That Can't Count after decades as an indy.

That said, it looks like Sac will be FCS (ineligible for the playoffs) in 2025 and FBS (ineligible for bowls) in 2026. I did an exercise today in schedule crafting for 2026. I'm certainly no expert, but I do know that as a transitioning team, there's going to be some flexibility in scheduling in terms of levels of the opponent. I'm presuming an 11-game season, though I COULD go to 12 games anyway because I'm factoring in a road trip to HI. In general, I'm keeping everything mostly West to keep travel costs down, but I do have a home game against an East coast team. I have no clue what these schools already have down in terms of a schedule for 2026; I'm just riffing. Please tell me what you think. Too ambitious? Too light? (I do have a D-II on this schedule to compensate for all the FBS schools, understanding, of course, that 2026 likely would be the last year with a D-II, unless 2025 is.) I'm starting in Week 0, and I'm keeping the Causeway Classic, though it won't be the last game of the season anymore because the Manure Pile has to be ready for the playoffs, which start before bowl season.

26 AUG: Portland State at Sac State
05 SEP: S. Oregon at Sac State
12 SEP: Sac State at San Jose State
19 SEP: BYE
26 SEP: Sac State at Fresno State
03 OCT: Sac State at Hawai'i
10 OCT: BYE
17 OCT: Cal Poly at Sac State (Homecoming)
24 OCT: Liberty at Sac State
31 OCT: Sac State at NV-Las Vegas
07 NOV: UC Davis at Sac State
14 NOV: Sac State at Incarnate Word
21 NOV: AZ State at Sac State

[JALMOND]

I REALLY don't like this move, but it seems inevitable. I'm the only fan at SacBuzz against it, and the President is all in on it. I have no idea if the NCAA will approve the indy application; that's a hard road to hoe, particularly in terms of scheduling. That's why Penn State hooked up with the League That Can't Count after decades as an indy.

That said, it looks like Sac will be FCS (ineligible for the playoffs) in 2025 and FBS (ineligible for bowls) in 2026. I did an exercise today in schedule crafting for 2026. I'm certainly no expert, but I do know that as a transitioning team, there's going to be some flexibility in scheduling in terms of levels of the opponent. I'm presuming an 11-game season, though I COULD go to 12 games anyway because I'm factoring in a road trip to HI. In general, I'm keeping everything mostly West to keep travel costs down, but I do have a home game against an East coast team. I have no clue what these schools already have down in terms of a schedule for 2026; I'm just riffing. Please tell me what you think. Too ambitious? Too light? (I do have a D-II on this schedule to compensate for all the FBS schools, understanding, of course, that 2026 likely would be the last year with a D-II, unless 2025 is.) I'm starting in Week 0, and I'm keeping the Causeway Classic, though it won't be the last game of the season anymore because the Manure Pile has to be ready for the playoffs, which start before bowl season.

26 AUG: Portland State at Sac State
05 SEP: S. Oregon at Sac State
12 SEP: Sac State at San Jose State
19 SEP: BYE
26 SEP: Sac State at Fresno State
03 OCT: Sac State at Hawai'i
10 OCT: BYE
17 OCT: Cal Poly at Sac State (Homecoming)
24 OCT: Liberty at Sac State
31 OCT: Sac State at NV-Las Vegas
07 NOV: UC Davis at Sac State
14 NOV: Sac State at Incarnate Word
21 NOV: AZ State at Sac State

Southern Oregon is NAIA. The only DII schools left playing out west is Western Oregon and Central Washington.

[SuperHornet]

One of the guys at SacBuzz mentioned that. However, many NAIA schools are roughly equivalent to D-II. I'm not sure if that applies to Southern Oregon, though.

A couple of SacBuzzers had some better schedule proposals, mainly involving Pac-2 and MWC schools, though one did an East Coast stretch with UCONN. That one didn't generate the objection that my Liberty suggestion got, though....

[Mvemjsunpx]

One of the guys at SacBuzz mentioned that. However, many NAIA schools are roughly equivalent to D-II. I'm not sure if that applies to Southern Oregon, though.

In terms of football ability, NAIA is between DII and DIII.