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FBS vs. FCS

In the college football arena, one should be familiar with the various conferences or game divisions. Each division can vary per state, or per country, but above all else, this simply makes football more exciting. In this scenario, you have more game options to watch, compared to watching only one single division being played over and over again. More players also get the chance to play football as well.

FBS and FCS are two new terms that surfaced several years ago. These terms were originally named according to the different college levels. These levels pertain to how well the institution is equipped and funded. If it is well funded, with lots of sports scholarships offered, then most likely it will be classified as Division I. The lower the number of the division, the less funded the school is expected to be.

FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision) is very different from FCS. FBS, also known initially as Division I-A, conducts a sort of ‘bowl’ for their post season games. Its games are less organized in nature. Conversely, for FCS (Football Championship Subdivision), this division concentrates on a sort of playoffs that will eventually end with a grand championship game finale. There are usually 16 teams that battle it out through the process of single elimination. FCS is also usually referred to as Division I-AA, its former name.

The two divisions also differ in terms of authority. Although both are within the scope of the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association), the FCS has the I-AA Committee for Playoff Selection. They determine the ranking of the teams who are able to play in the playoff series. In the case of the FBS, their authority falls under an independent body ‘“ the Bowl Championship Series (BCS), whose authority is above that of the NCAA.

Lastly, in the aspect of scholarships, FBS colleges usually give 85 scholarships to 85 different and qualified players. FBS almost always rewards these players with full scholarships, as opposed to FCS that leans more to giving away only partial scholarships. They are given the choice as to how many partial scholarships they can give in a year’s time. Moreover, FCS can also give full scholarships, but are limited to only 63.

Overall,

1. FBS is also known by its former name, Division I-A, whereas, FCS is known by its previous name, Divison I-AA.
2. FBS conducts bowl-style post season games, whereas the FCS stages a playoff series that makes use of a single elimination process.
3. The FBS is also governed by a separate body, apart from the NCAA, which is known as the BCS.
4. Although not mandated by the regulating authorities, FBS can give full scholarships to more players compared to FCS.

10 Catches Better Than Odell Beckham's SNF Touchdown

Marcus Mariota is in the midst of a busy week -- one made hectic due to a whole lot of winning. 

Tuesday saw the explosive quarterback add another honor to his trophy case. The Polynesian College Football Hall of Fame named Mariota, who is of Samoan descent, its first-ever Polynesian College Football Player of the Year. Jesse Sapolu and Ma'a Tanuvasa, the organization's co-founders, made the announcement in Honolulu -- Mariota's hometown. 

"We congratulate Marcus on this historic accomplishment," Tanuvasa said. "He is a great role model for our youth and a great source of pride for Polynesians everywhere." 

Hawaii's Scott Harding, Washington's Hau'oli Kikaha, Utah's Nate Orchard, and Arizona's Anu Solomon were also finalists. 

Mariota's sensational season has put him at the top of the nation's quarterback heap. Among his impressive numbers, this nugget might be the most staggering: Mariota has accounted for 53 total touchdowns (passing and rushing) against only two interceptions. 

That's why this week is so busy for him. 

Last Friday, Mariota led the Ducks to a 51-13 romp over Arizona in the Pac-12 championship game. Another gaudy statistical performance (300-plus passing yards, two rushing touchdowns) earned him title game MVP honors. 

On Monday, Mariota was officially named a Heisman trophy finalist. That means he'll be in New York City this coming Saturday, but not until after a quick stop in Orlando on Thursday for The Home Depot College Football Awards Show, where he's a finalist for the Maxwell Award (player of the year) and the Davey O'Brien Award (best quarterback). 

A topic that you will hear come up ether in the locker room or just on the streets with your friends is who is the best basketball player to ever play. This question alone can cause some serious heated discussions. Its also a question that cant really be answered unless you took the top basketball players from this time and had them travel back into the future to play. All you can go off of now are stats. Most people like to compare LeBron James to Michael Jordan. So for James, these are what the stats say LeBron’s  got 7 All-NBA Selections, 5 All-Defensive first team selections, 4 MVP awards in 5 years, 10 selections to the All-Star game, and a pair of championship rings. That’s pretty rad. It’s not quite Jordanesque, though. LeBron’s in his 11th season, and when Jordan was at that same point he’d taken two years off in order to cope with the murder of his father, so his 11th season was the 1996 season when the Bulls ran rampant over everyone  he was still better. Jordan, in 1996, was a 10-time All-Star, 8 time All-NBA first team,   Defensive Player of the Year, Four time MVP, Four time Finals MVP, Four time NBA Champion, and 7-time All Defense first team. Again, that’s when he took two years off, so it would be pretty easy to add a pair to the All-NBA and All-Star award count. As you can see when you compare both of them together they both stand out but one is more clutch than the other. Not only do stats and numbers play a huge role in the debate but the fact the Jordan’s will to win was above any other athletes ever. When in an interview with MJ they asked him why he never lost playoff games. MJ said it’s because I trained my mind to never fail. When the game was on the line I knew that I worked harder than anyone on the court at that time so I wanted the ball in my hands. Now this has nothing against James because that guy is a giant and one of the best players to ever play the game. But in all honesty the only thing that matters at the end of the day is how many rings do you have. And MJ has the most rings to this day. I also find it very inspiring that MJ was cut from his high school basketball team and he was able not only to come back from that but to be the best basketball player to ever play the game. So when it comes to the question who is the best basketball player to ever play the game of basketball? Well for one no one will ever know because Jordan and James will never be in there prime at the same time unless there is basketball in heaven. But when it comes down to numbers and stats I’m going to have to give it to MJ 

There are many things that people care about and take serious. The most serious thing would have to be people’s sports teams. How many videos out there in the world do you see when fans go crazy if there team loses? How bad of a mood they will be in until there team wins again. Or even the other way around, if your team wins your on cloud nine and it makes your hole week.  That’s why I feel like social media is so important because for one it doesn’t matter where you are at in the world you can always watch and hear about your favorite team or players just by your phone. Social media has changed the world. Expessually the sports world. One of the biggest things today that fans are involved in is called fantasy football. Fantasy football is the closest you get to being a coach. Not only do you get to be a coach but you get to draft and pick the players that are on your team.  So basically you take your favorite players or the players you think will do the best in the up coming season and make a team. Each week you look up and keep track of how well those players did and then you are able to see other teams in relationship with your team.  Hundreds of thousands of fans will participate each year. There are actually different leagues that you can join and earn money if your team ends up having the better record or most points at the end of the season. Its amazing to see how people can come up with things like this in order to keep people involved. Its also a good marketing strategy because it gets people more involved in players and in the team.

So now that we have classified why the social media is so important for the fans lets talk about why its so important for the players. Some people think that because of social media as in twitter, Facebook and insta that it get the players in trouble. Then others say that they like it because they get to follow some of their favorite athletes. There are some athletes that will literally let you in there day to day life. Let’s take LeBron James for instance. He will po as if they are even that much closer to him.st things on his fan page or to the people that are following him about his day or things that have happened with his family. Which makes a connection to the fan and the athlete.  Some athletes actually take it to the next level and respond to comments or questions that the fan might have. I find that to be really cool because not a lot of people do that. On the down side social media will also get you in trouble. Because there are so many people out there following you have to be careful what you say. Because if you say the wrong things you will be scolded for it.

                                                      NCAA playoffs.

The FCS has had playoffs for a really long time. This is the first year that the FBS has decided to have playoffs as well. It’s a good idea to have playoffs because that way you are able to have the two best teams play each other in the rose bowl. Before there would be teams in different conferences with the same record but would not get the opportunity to play because of the fact that they were in a different conference. So the NCAA decided to make it so that the 4 best teams in college football will be able to play each other no matter if the are in the pac 10 or even an independent conference. They will take the best records of each team and make a bracket. Those teams will play each other and the winner takes all. The question is why did it take so long for them to switch to playoffs in the first place?

            Bowl games are huge in college football  because that’s where all the money is. So they thought that if they did playoffs that they wouldn’t have enough bowl games and fans would not want to go as bad anymore. But they are finding out that it will be the opposite. Because of this teams that have never played each other before will finally get to play. Every year there are two big bowl games and every year people ask the same question. What if this undefeated team played this undefeated team who would win? And because of how everything was played out the would never have the opportunity to see who the best college football team in the world is.  The fact that they are now having the best teams and the best record teams play each other will make it so much more exciting for the fans. And to be honest its all about the fans and the reaction they will get out of this. They did a vote to see if its something the fans would want to happen and 90 percent of them said it would be a good idea.

            I also find this a good idea because being a player in the FCS it is really hard to make it to playoffs in the first place. Then once you do you have to keep beating out teams one after another just to make it to the championship game. The FBS championship is a 2 game playoff. You take the top 4 teams with the best record. After that you take the two teams that have won and that will be the national championship game. I find this to be very exciting because this has been talked about for years and it is finally happening. From a fan stand point I wont be able to say well my team would have beat your team anymore. Because this gives each of the best four teams to play each other. Cant wait for the national championship game!

The hardship of Sean Taylor’s death

 

 

            One of the hardest things to ever have to go through is the death of a family member, friend or both, a teammate! One of the best players to ever play the safety position not only in collage but in the national football league as well was Sean Taylor.  Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder's said this was one of the hardest things he has ever had to go through. Not only for himself and because of the close relationship he had with Sean, but because of the leader and role model he was for the Washington red skins. Dan said one of the hardest things he has ever had to do was tell his brotherhood teammates that Sean would not be playing with them anymore because he was murdered. Dan said he has never seen so many grown strong men cry before. It was because they knew they had lost someone that no one els could replace. This is a huge event that I feel like will never be forgotten. There have been so many other incidences and tragedy’s that other teams have had to also try and push through. Denver Broncos cornerback Darrent Williams was killed in a drive-by shooting on New Year's Day, the day after the season ended in a playoff loss. San Francisco 49ers offensive lineman Thomas Herrion died of a heart attack after a preseason game in September 2005. Minnesota Vikings tackle Korey Stringer died of heatstroke at a training camp practice in 2001. Philadelphia Eagles defensive end Jerome McDougle was shot in the stomach by three armed robbers in southwest Miami in July 2005 and missed the following season. So the question is how do teams, players or even franchises get over the death or something like this happening to one of there own. Or do they ever get over it?

            The teammates of Sean were asked how will they deal with the loss of their friend. I found there response to that question to be very interesting. They said no matter what anyone says you can never forget about that person. Because in one way or another they have influenced your life for the better and they will always be a part of you. If you think of it what would you want to happen if it was you that passed? Would you want people to be sad and depressed that your gone and not be able to move on from it? Or would you want them to keep you in there hearts and keep doing them. That’s what we did. The teammates of Sean said they will never forget and every time they play they play for him and his family. The Washington red skins organization showed so much compassion to the family and were there for them any way that they could be. The Owner Dan said he thought that because of this tragedy event it brought the Red skin organization closer and the fans as well.

 

By Justin Brown

Should high school kids be drug tested?   

 

It really doesn’t matter what level of sports you play in because it’s happening as soon as freshman in high school. Kids all over the world are taking supplements in order to enhance their performance as an athlete. It’s sad to see that kids as young as 16 are taking things that could harm there body’s permanently. But how would anyone even know if high school kids don’t get tested. In college there is something called NCAA random drug testing. It means that if the NCAA has any suspicion of any player in the NCAA taking anything that is not under the regulations they have a right to ask you to take a pee test. If you fail the drug test you will be suspended for the rest of that season and your year of eligibility will be lost. It’s the same for the NFL or any other professional organization. Now days you can’t even take certain pre workouts or protein. So its important to know what you are taking. High school is the only time when you can take things and not get tested for it. Is it ok for high school kids to be taking supplements or not?

For as many years as I have played sports I have never known people that were really good that didn’t take some sort of performing enhancement. I feel like that’s the only way to stay ahead of the game now days because if you’re not taking anything you are going to fall behind in strength and speed. So kids feel the need to start taking things in high school even more so because they don’t have to worry about any kid of drug test. Because of this it is leading to more injury’s than ever before. More kids in high school are pulling muscles and tearing ACL joints. If you don’t think that supplements have anything to do with injury please do your research.  So how can we prevent this from happening? I think that if the high school organization were to do Radom drug testing’s through the year not as many kids would be taking them. Witch would then lead to less injury’s.  kids now days feel like because everyone in the NFL take them they have to. It just puts a really bad look and it’s a bad example for the kids of this generation. I also feel like it would stop kids from doing drugs. I know that when I went to high school kids on my team were doing drugs a lot. Then when I made the transition from high school to the college level I hardly saw it at all and it was because of drug testing. It would be a really good idea and set a standard to work hard if high school kids were drug tested. If they make it to the next level they will be ready and smart enough to not take anything that will harm there body’s.

SHOULD NCAA STUDENT ATHLETES GET PAID WHILE THEY ATTEND SCHOOL?

One of the bigger topics today on ESPN and around colleges across the nation is should athletes that attend a D 1 school get any kind of income while they play a sport and go to school? This is a touchy topic because a lot of people don’t understand the life of a student athlete and how they have no time to hold a job to pay for anything that they might need. As a student athlete you are held to a higher standard than the rest of the students. You must uphold a 2.5 GPA attend all classes with minimal absences. As well as going to practice, workouts and film witch takes up majority of the day. When you finally get done you have 4 or 5 classes that you have homework in and have to finish that before the night is over. Leaves no time for a job or anyway of making a income. There are many times when student athletes struggle to eat or even buy cloths because they just have no money. I think the NCAA is aware of this situation and is hopefully trying to find a solution to this problem.

Then there are Student athletes that take advantage of the system and use the talents that they have for their own personal gain. For example there was a situation just this week that happened that blew up on ESPN. A college football Player by the name of Todd Gurley was caught celling his autograph. He was charging 8-25$ per autograph. I don’t know his situation but I do know how big of a school Georgia is. I also know that the bigger school that you play for the more help in money problems you get. For this young man to go against NCAA regulations just to gain a couple bucks blows my mind. You have someone who is a Heisman watch  food or whatever ets they need.  Its easy for people from the oulist player could easly make millions of dollars a year soon and he takes a chance of throwing that all away because he wants to take advantage of the system.  Is sad to see that there are so Many player across the country that could help others and make a good role modle for kids but are so selfish they only care about there own gains.

So there are two types of situations here. Maybe all of this could have been avoided if student athletes got money each month in order to pay fortside looking in to say that college athletes already have it easy. But do they really? Do those people saying that really know the life that they have to live. It is unacceptable to take advantage  of the system. But I feel like the NCAA needs to make a way so that student athletes don’t have to worry about money and can focus on a education as well as preforming as a athlete. After all sports teams are the ones who brand the university and make them money.

My blog is called the spot light is always on for a reason. When you make it in the world and you because a person that is well known because you ether are famous for sports, music, fashion or whatever it may be. You should know that wherever you go there will always be someone taking pictures and recording you. I honestly don’t know how stupid some of these people can be. I feel like because of who they are and because they have money they somehow become above the law. These are the people who kids now days are looking up to and in no way shape or form are any of the professional athlete’s good role models. Just a week or so ago a pro football player for the Minnesota Vikings beat his kid with a tree branch. Not only did he hit his kid in public repeatedly but they fact that he was so conferrable doing in in public. That makes me think that when he punishes his kid at home when no one is around if it’s even worse. But the fact of the matter is how far is too far when it comes to punishing you’re kids. I’ve heard everywhere form well it’s my kids and I can punish them how I want, to I think kids should get whippings because that’s the only way they will learn. I feel like there is a point when it is to far. And Adrian Peterson went too far. You know you have gone too far when you make you’re own kid have welts all over his legs and start to bleed. I agree that every kid is different and should be punished in different ways. I even think that a hand or belt to the butt is ok. But when you start to seriously hurt a kid then you have gone way too far and the law will now come into place for child abuse. People say that the times are different now and back in the day my parents used to give me a belt or anything they could find to my backside. If you do that now the cops are called. I feel like there is a middle ground. You should punish your kids if they act up. But you should never allow your punishment to get so out of hand to where your kid starts to bleed. Now days it is a serious thing that kids are getting beat up by their parents. That’s not ok and people that have no self-control should not have kids in the first place. No matter who you are in the world the law is for everyone. You should figure out a way to punish your kid without resorting to violence. People who have the spotlight on should know that the world is watching at all times. So take that and own up to the talents god has given you and be an example to the younger generation of this nation.

 

For the past couple weeks everyone has been talking about Ray Rice. For those of you out there that are unaware of what happened the picture above should give you a clue. He got into a argument with his girl on a elevator.  Moments later he punched her in the face knocking her out. No one knew that someone had this on tape. So when the NFL heard what had happened they suspended him for 2 games. Shortly after TMZ released the video and people were able to see what really happened. So the problem here is that people think that he should have been punished more for what he did. Ive heard that he should be suspended for the rest of the season and I have also heard that they should never let him play in the NFL again because of what he did.

                So after gathering all of this information and hearing what everyone has to say about the matter I have come up with what I think about this whole thing. For those of you who think that being suspended for a season is extreme!! You know nothing. Ray Rice is a pro athlete. That means he is also a celebrity and should be held to a higher standard than majority of the public. But this doesn’t mean he is above the law. You can’t just punch someone and walk away like nothing happened. He should know that he is always being watched because of the position that he is in. even playing college sports here at southern Utah university a small D1 college in cedar city Utah we are held to a higher standard than the rest of the student body. If we mess up just a little people find out fast and are held more accountable then others. WHY? Because of the image we portray. Ray rice was the face of the team he played for because he was a good player. His actions were wrong and I think that he should be suspended for a season without pay and get some help as well.

                Which brings me to my next point. For those who are saying that he should be suspended indefinitely for what he did probably don’t understand what guys like Ray Rice go through on a day to day basis. I completely agree that what he did was wrong and that he being suspended for a season was the right call. But people make mistakes. I heard my teacher say that if he were to hit a kid he would be fired on the spot no question about it. So why should Ray Rice get a second change when others don’t. Like I said before, he is no better than anyone elts because of who he is. But I feel like people make football players, basketball players ect… bigger then what they really are. They play sports.. That’s it. If a teacher were to hit a student of course he should never be a loud to teach again, in or outside of a classroom. But again depending on the situation of what happened. I honestly think that Ray Rice should be punished for what he did. But I also feel like once he has done his part then he should definitely be a loud to play again.  It’s hard to transition being a stone cold killer on the field to being this perfect person off the field especially when alcohol is involved on both sides.  

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