Division I-AA or FCS? Division I-A or FBS?

I just asked the two ASE's sitting at the desk tonight. They were completely unaware of the official name change -- and we have two FCS schools in our coverage area.

I'm thinking we just drop in the parenthetical designations a couple of times then stick with FCS and let people figure it out on their own. The argument about confusing people is one the NCAA should think about.

Name changes happen to schools, the mascots, to leagues, to players and coaches. I think if the official name has changed, you just change the way you type it in and get used to it.

 

Both polls on the agate wire use FCS verbage.

Time to make the switch, methinks.

 

Why doesn't the SE put his/her foot and say, "It's going to be FCS and FBS," or "It's going to be I-A and I-AA."

 

When Memphis State switched to Memphis, did SEs gnash their teeth over that name change?

Bite the bullet, call it by its official name and deal with it. For most, it's not something to worry about most days anyway.

 

Most people in the real world, which the NCAA doesn't deal in, but whom we write for, don't use any of these terms. It's "big-time" and "small-time" college football, and to them, small time is everything not including Notre Dame, Michigan and USC, all the way down to NAIA Division III, if there is such a thing.
We're taught to avoid jargon. All of this is jargon. I'll explain it once this year and then not use it again unless I'm quoting an NCAA flack. Best to avoid it the way we just write Interstate 10 or I-10 rather than National System of Interstate and Defense Highway 10. And you have a more extreme example, be my guest.

 

What is this "sports editor" thing you speak of? We haven't had one for three months now.

 

It's a weak and confusing change, when there was no need for one. In a few years, when I-A embraces a playoff system of some kind, they'll have Football Championship Subdivision I-A and Football Championship Subdivision I-AA.

I continue to write I-A and I-AA and haven't heard the first word from an editor or copyeditor to change. Southern California asked to be called Southern California: do you yield to their request?

 

We had this pop up in agate yesterday. We used both (Division I-AA topper, Football Championship Subdivision Top 25 subtitle), and will continue to for the rest of the season in agate unless told otherwise. That way, at least in our thinking, the reader will get to know the new name and we can move towards ditching I-AA ... if we have to...

 

So is the National Christian Alliance (NCA) now the NCFCS or the NCFBS? Or is it just the one the NCAA isn't going to be? And what will become of those left behind Division II and III programs? Will Division II become the STFU (Selling Textbooks For UnderArmor) and Division III become the WTF (We Try Football)? Let's do it like T-ball, freaking politically correct NCAA: No championships, no bowl games. Hell, don't even keep score. Every Saturday, everybody wins!

 

Dennis Dodd's take, from CBSsports.com

 

Fuck the "official name" nonsense.

Call it what makes the most sense. That's I-A and I-AA.