Other SEC coaches talk on the FCS scheduling issue

Other SEC head coaches than Florida Gators coach Will Muschamp have spoken on the scheduling issue.

This is what they had to say.

Nick Saban (Alabama): “I don’t know that we have a choice sometimes. We can’t just call people up and say, ‘We want to have a game.’ It’s not like setting up a golf game. I call up three of my buddies and say you guys want to play and you play Sunday morning. Then everybody says, ‘Yeah, I can play.’ You ever try to schedule a game? Do you know (what) goes into that? It’s very difficult to do home-and-home with quality teams. To be honest with you, you almost have to buy games to get people to play you. Outside of the neutral-site game we do and our conference games, we struggle to schedule three other games.”

“We try not to do it now, but sometimes it’s all that we have left to schedule so we can get 12 games. It’s not by choice that we want to do it.”

“The first people that need to be taken into consideration here, who get no consideration, are the fans and the people who support the program. Quality games for them, so they want to come to the stadium and come to the game and support the program and make it exciting for the players. No, we do not want to play those types of teams. Sometimes we don’t have a choice.”

Hugh Freeze (Ole Miss): “At this point, I believe it’s best for us to continue doing that. I just find it hard to believe that one game like that … over the totality of the season would really hinder you if you perform well in those other games.”

Bret Bielema (Arkansas) “I know we’re trying to stay away from them if physically possible. But I think they have their place, especially if they’re a regional game. It gives an FCS (opponent) a chance to play what used to be a BCS team. I think that has a lot of merit. I was in the Big Ten when the Appalachian State thing happened and I think that makes college football pretty cool.”