Over on the CSNBBS site there was a discussion on the main forum about rivalries that were once competitive/one-sided, but then completely turned in one direction. Our series again UC is unfortunately a notable example, but in the midst of research I found some info about our past series against Dayton and Xavier. Some highlights:
Miami played UD almost every year when their football was DI Indy (only missed one season from 1935-76, outside of WWII). The overall series was 29-10-2 Miami, though from 1960 onward it was 14-1-1 (over that stretch the Flyers averaged just 7.4 points per game and were shut out six times).
Miami played X every year when they were DI Indy as well (1946-72 uninterrupted, X discontinued the program after 1973). The overall series was 18-10-3 Miami, it was 9-9-1 from 1949-67 though outside of that period it was 9-1-2. They were our only loss in 1950 (Woody Hayes’ last season, when we won the MAC and beat Arizona State in the Salad Bowl).
IIRC wins over FCS non-scholarship teams like UD today don’t count towards FBS bowl eligibility. If that weren’t the case it’d be nice to schedule them for an early-season buy game, for sentimental value at the very least.
I don’t believe that we can, or would, ever schedule a non-scholarship team- beyond perhaps a scrimmage. Instead of buying a scrimmage like this- If we want to run through some things with a non-scholarship team, might as well play the club team for fun, and for free
Because most FCS schools have 63 scholarship athletes - compared to 85 in FBS. But Dayton has zero scholarships and is classified as D1 only because that is where their other sports that do offer scholarships are classified. So Dayton would not be competitive and the NCAA would not recognize the win for bowl eligibility
I attended the only double header in major college football history. It was held at Riverfront Stadium kn Cincinnati. We played X and Dayton played Cincy back to back. It was one price admission and about an hour between games. I think it was the first game of the 1970 season.
Also, the goal of playing an FCS team is to have a tune up against a team that’s an easy win, but will still challenge you in areas. A decent FCS team will be comparable at skill positions, but the line and quarterback play will be worse. You can mix in things to see how they look at game speed without too much risk of losing. You can also throw in receivers and DBs who typically don’t get many reps to get a better idea of how they’ll look against FBS talent.
Playing UD would give us none of those benefits, ignoring that fact that a win doesn’t get us closer to bowl eligibility.
As noted, UD is not = DIII…it equals or is more similar to, probably at this time, a lower tier Ivy team in Football.
Make no mistake, until recently Princeton and Dartmouth would give Miami some issue…I’m sure UD gives some aid to its player, just not official scholarships.
I went to that DH as well. And I think the last time we played Xavier was a home game in September 1967, my freshman year. I remember one of my high school basketball teammates was a freshman at X and spent Saturday night in my dorm. I had bragging rights, lol.
Yes, a few guys from my high school (Mariemont) played football for X. When I played pee wee football, the entire team always went to one game at X stadium…big stone facade oval seating around 15,000 I would guess.