Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 26, 1995 TAG: 9507260043
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
GREENVILLE, S.C. - The Southern Conference is celebrating 75 seasons of football. But with high-powered schools freezing out league teams and administrators asking for cutbacks, how much longer can the NCAA Division I-AA conference exist?
``Unless there are some changes in the way things are done, we won't be able to survive,'' Citadel coach Charlie Taaffe said Tuesday at the conference's annual football preview meeting.
Division I-AA schools are struggling to maintain quality football and meet budgets at the same time Division I-A schools are spiking the playing field.
A NCAA rule requiring six victories against I-A competition to qualify for a bowl makes schools such as Alabama and Auburn reluctant to play strong I-AA teams such as The Citadel and Appalachian State.
That means no lucrative trips to College Park, Md.; College Station, Texas; or State College, Pa., and the $150,000 to $300,000 guarantees that come with them.
``We haven't had a money game since 1992 when we beat Arkansas,'' Taaffe said. ``We don't have another one until 1998 [with Georgia Tech], and who knows what could happen before then.''
Among the nine league teams, there are five games this year against Division I-A opponents.
In 1994, the Southern Conference matched up eight times against I-A teams, including Western Carolina's contests against Georgia Tech and North Carolina State.
``If you're a I-A school, you've got to be careful who you play if it affects your bowl game,'' Marshall coach Jim Donnan said.
That has forced some Southern Conference teams to look elsewhere. Marshall will join the I-A Mid-American Conference after 1996, and The Citadel is exploring its options.
Some Southern Conference officials say the big schools are reneging on a pledge made when Division I-AA was formed in 1982.
``We were told we'd always be able to play I-As,'' league commissioner Wright Waters said. ``They say we can still play them but it's not economically smart for them to do it.''
Waters thinks I-AA schools will get some relief from a proposal at January's NCAA convention in Dallas that would let victories against I-AA schools with at least 60 scholarships count toward the six wins for bowl qualification.
He does not expect a resurgence of the proposal defeated at the 1993 convention to cut the scholarship limit, now at 63 for I-AA schools.
I-AA proponents say a strong, but smaller league gives a chance to the players not ready for the Penn States and Florida States out of high school.
For instance, Carl Lee, a three-time Pro Bowl player during 11 seasons with the Minnesota Vikings, was deemed too small at 155 pounds for West Virginia. Instead, he became a star at Marshall.
But still Lee thinks Marshall's switch to the MAC will reflect well on the Southern Conference. ``It's like you've mastered one thing and ready to move on to another challenge,'' he said.
``They've got the credentials to take that leap,'' Waters said. ``As for the rest of our teams, we'll have to see.''
by CNB