Dixie State to BSC Inevitable?

[GreenArmySwarm]

First, looks like Paul Peterson will get his chance to coach at the D1 level with Dixie State moving to the FCS from DII, so huge congrats to him and his family!

Second, I don't know if we've covered this but let's talk about Dixie State and their jump to the FCS. This is an obvious move to secure a spot in the Big Sky isn't it? They'll be moving up as an FCS Independent in football and WAC in all other sports. With the University situated in Utah, and the Big Sky HQ being in Utah and the Big Sky fondness of all Utah schools, (SUU during the last conference expansion), doesn't it feel like the only Independent in the West Coast is going to join the conference that just lost North Dakota? Personally, I wouldn't like this move. Trading North Dakota for Dixie State is a huge downgrade (tradition/recent play and all that jazz). It wouldn't benefit SAC in any way because it's not like we're recruiting the state of Utah for our players. if this becomes a reality, it'd just mean that the Big Sky stays bloated as a conference and that auto bid (good lord, if we EVER get it) would continue to be the most difficult at the FCS level.

Any takes on this?

 

[Kadeezy]

Sac State will be the first D1 team to ever play at Dixie State in 2021. They’ll visit us in 2020.

I think it’s inevitable that they land in the sky, but I think there’s a desperate need for a second FCS West Coast Conference. Ever since the Great West went away, the BSC has been a hodge podge of legacy school and randos.

I would love to see a break off conference of:

Sac State/UC Davis, Portland State/EWU, Cal Poly/U. San Diego, NAU/SUU.

This would ensure conference play continuity,
And open weeks each year for schools to play other FCS schools OOC (like EWU and UM), or to rake in some money games.

The New BSC would look like:

Idaho/ISU, Weber/Dixie, UM/MSU, UNC/CSU Pueblo (jumps up too), UND/USD (baby come back!)

Just spitballing...

 

[superhornet]

If we're going to bring in a D-II, I'd rather see School of Mines.

But that's beside the point. Kadeezy is right. We DO need a second conference out here so we can have a decent OOC schedule without having to schedule bodybag games, waste schedule time with D-II games, or do a dumb in-conference "OOC" game. That said, there are some I-AAA schools out there that I'd love to see resurrect football (notably UOP, LBSU, and CS Fullerton). Doing this from the construct of the Big West Conference would be pretty neat, but it COULD be done another way, too. Kadeezy's got a good idea there. I do like pulling U of San Diego out of the Pioneer, though that WOULD force them to embrace the idea of the athletic scholarship. I don't like the idea of including SUU so much, though I could see either Dixie or Mines in their place. Actually, geographically, it might be better to talk GCU into fielding football at the FCS level. They'd be a great travel partner for NAU....

 

[GreenArmySwarm]

Can't blame Dixie State for making this smart move.

The second that they saw that North Dakota was going to join their neighbors in the Summit/Missouri Valley Conference, Dixie immediately announce that they're going to D1 as they saw an opening in the Big Sky. But that's the LAST thing this conference needs. A DII jump up to dilute the SOS making it even HARDER to make the playoffs in a bloated conference.

At the end of the day, there's got to be a clean way to do this. Even if we split up the 14 football playing schools (that's including Dixie State), it's going to be difficult to split up the 12 Olympic BSC schools. The fact that there isn't enough FCS football school makes this split extremely difficult, unlike the mid-west and what we see with Summit/Missouri.

 

[SDHornet]

Pass on Dixie State (Hornets have already inked a home and home FB deal), but I admit they would be an ideal addition for the BSC given their past additions.

It would be great if an FCS FB only conference out west was formed.

 

[StockonLB]

The Big Sky is getting too thin, us Big West folk have chatted on the boards about a Big West FCS with Cal Poly, Davis but the truth is it's just not in the cards. Sac would have to come aboard full member, and you could do something like Dixie and USD as affiliates for football only, but you still need one more full time member, and no one else plays football out west except for Big Sky teams, so you would need one of them to jump ship, or have someone like SJSU drop down to FCS status.

Fullerton had fan momementum 10 years ago to get football back in their stadium, but truth is all CSU's budgets are scrutinized so you would need a big athletic foundation going to support it if you want to see Fullerton/Long Beach with a team again.

 

[josephpoint]

Take a look at Dixie State athletic facilities. Just expanded their football stadium and have a basketball arena that is Division I caliber. A school of 6,500 students. Impressive

 

[GreenArmySwarm]

Absolutely. But we gotta take into consideration that projects like those in a state like Utah would cost 1/3 of what it would cost here in Sacramento. Plus, the fact that there are 22 other CSUs vying for state money doesn't help.

 

[Green Cookie Monster]

Absolutely. But we gotta take into consideration that projects like those in a state like Utah would cost 1/3 of what it would cost here in Sacramento. Plus, the fact that there are 22 other CSUs vying for state money doesn't help.

But....Sac has had 25yrs to sort this out and still nothing. Id like the Big Sky to sponsor a memorandum that if a new Arena isnt built in XX yrs. its adios.
PSU found a way to get a new arena and Utah is a dot compared to Kalifornia's budget spend. If the state wasn't funding all the illegals and indigents, the people who actually pay tax would be able to enjoy a new facility. Its not the 22 other campuses siphoning money, it is the deadbeats.

 

[HornetHope]

Twitter had Dixie’s 2020 schedule posted today. 4 Big Sky teams, 3 MVFC and a couple D2, if that is not making a pitch to join conference I don’t know what is.