College Football Question (1 Viewer)

[Philip_cw_H]

My first post on Home Theater Forum, and it's about college football, go figure.

Okay, here is what I don't understand. Why is there only one Division 1 football team in the state of Missouri?

I did some research on nearby states with similar population figures and here is what I came up with:

-Missouri, 5.5 million people, 1 team, Missouri

-Louisiana, 4.4 million, 5? teams, Tulane, LSU, LA Tech, UL Monroe, UL Layette

-Tennessee, 5.6 million, 4 teams, Memphis, Vandy, Middle TN, UT Knoxville

-Arkansas, 2.6 million, 2 teams, Arkansas, Arkansas State

-Oklahoma, 3.4 million, 3 teams, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Tulsa

-Kentucky, 4 million, 2 teams, Kentucky, Louisville

-Colorado, 4.3 million, 3 teams, Colorado, Colorado State, Air Force

Now if the Missouri Tigers were a dominating force in college football, or if the state was considered a hotbed of high school talent I could understand why they were the only team. But, and no offense to the school or the state, they aren't really in the top echelon of either category. Is football, or college sports in general, just not a priority in the state. I know KC and St. Louis have some very good fans for their pro teams, could this be the reason why?

Anyone who's got any ideas or answers thank you. While it's not the most pressing issue in my life I've wondered about this for a while now.

 

[Dheiner]

Wisconsin 5.3 million one team

And no, I don't know why.

 

[Geno]

My guess... Who wants to got to school in Missouri? I figure there has been no need to make any other colleges Div 1 because they know no one will go!!!

 

[Howard Williams]

I'm willing to bet the answer somehow is related to $$$

 

[Steven K]

Quite Simple: there's no conference for them to play in!
With regard to college football, there are three states which dominate all of the others with regard to talent:
Florida, Georgia, and Tennessee
If you play college ball, there's a good chance that you went to high school in one of those states (especially Fla).

 

[Jay H]

I think that's always been a problem with recruiting for places like the Big East... Hmmm, Syracuse or Miami? Do you like Lake Effect snow or hot sunny beaches!! Not that they haven't done well recently, but it is always on the back burner there when I attended it..

Jay

 

[Philip_cw_H]

I don't really think that the conference issue has much to do with it. True, it isn't wise for a 1AA team in Missouri (or anywhere for that matter) to move up _now_ unless they have a conference to play in. But, in the past conference affiliation wasn't as important as it is now. Now being independent, minus Notre Dame, is really a kiss of death in college football, but back in the 60's and 70's it wasn't as much as a impediment. Why didn't a team move up in the past? Are any of the lower level teams really good? I can think of a few teams that were really good 1AA teams that moved up (Arkansas State, Troy State, Middle TN), although with varying degrees of success.

I'm starting to form the opinion that Missouri only has one 1A football team because of demand. Maybe there just isn't a lot of desire for more college football there, and I'm sure that the University of Missouri has a pretty firm hold on the state's legislature and higher education apparatus that would prevent any competition in the state. Of course I could be completely wrong.

 

[Jim__B]

Steve, you forgot Texas, in the past few years a lot of big name recruits have come from there. The biggest state for recruits is Forida by far. I only wish my Noles would concebtrate more on Florida players. Over the past few years FSU has been recruiting pretty good on a nationwide scale, but I think they could have got the same quality if they found them at home.

 

[RossTerry]

i would have to agree that Texas should be on your list of football talent, StevenK

 

[Steven K]

Yeah, I should have mentioned Texas as well. California also, there are actually some decent recruits coming out of Cali (Casey Clausen, anyone?) OK, so I'm a bit biased for Casey (he plays for my team, what can I say!)

Plus there are always some decent recruits coming out of Miss, Arkansas and Bama.

 

[BryanZ]

I'm just wondering how a college team like Nebraska is eligble to win the national title when they couldn't even win their division.