College going from Division II to Division I -- good or bad?

Speaking of Middle, you could put the entire Sun Belt conference into the category of don't belong.
NLU, now Louisiana-Monroe, plays a home game in Little Rock ... Arkansas. Some 150 miles north of home, but Arkansas needed games in Little Rock to satisfy donors and NLU stepped up. So the Indians now the ???, can count Little Rock's attendance into the home game category.
Missouri has taken to scheduling games in Kansas City, and letting the other team being designated as home. The opposing team gets the check and the attendance. Mizzou makes fans happy by playing at Arrowhead and an easy win.
I'm surprised the NCAA hasn't come down on this practice.
Read another column, can't find the link, where a couple of years ago a D-II was moving up to D-I and they had about 50 calls from D-I schools looking for a game. Football, basketball, you name it. They all wanted a game and the school was shocked to see what the D-I's were offering: money, free travel, warmup suits, shoes, practice gear and all to get a game.

 

Every 4 years you are allowed to count a I-AA opponent toward the 6 wins you need to be bowl-eligible.

 

They've actually changed that rule (I think in an effort to help the I-AAs make more money). I'm pretty sure it's one a year now.

 

In the pre-Gary Barnett days, Northwestern played a home football game at Cleveland Stadium. Ohio State, you might have guessed, was the visiting team. The 76,000 or so attendance is the technical all-time record for an NU home game, though, to the credit of the SID at the time, it was never listed as such in the media guide.
Around the same time, NU sold a home game back to Michigan for a large chunk of the gate.

 

Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks.

Obviously, Peacedoves did not fire up the student body.

 

Speaking of Sun Belt schools and mascots, Arkansas State remains the Indians. "Razorback Rejects" just isn't as appealing as being banned from tournament play.

 

UVSC?

I'm sure Barry Collier will be delighted to hear that.

 

University at Buffalo. IMO, the program there will be better in the future. A new AD (Warde Manuel) and football coach (Turner Gill) has some promise for what has been a dismal situation.. I'm not saying to expect a 7-win season, but four isn't out of reach even though the schedule is pretty brutal.

 

Also, the University of Northern Colorado. They're transitioning their athletic teams from D-II to D-I over the course of a few years.