Closing the Gap or Confusing the Letters?

Over the opening weekend of the 2009 college football season, we saw some FCS (Football Championship Subdivision, formerly I-AA) teams taking it to FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision, formerly I-A) teams. The last time the CAA won 3 games against I-A teams was in 2000 when two teams beat (then) I-A transition team UConn and another beat Arkansas State. The quality of FBS teams was much more impressive this time around. To start it off, Thursday night Temple (MAC - FBS) was defeated by Villanova (CAA - FCS), 27-24. To be fair to Temple, it was probably our fault they lost because we've stolen so many of their recruits over the past few years (no, but really, two of our top recruits from just this year had offers from Temple). This outcome wasn't that surprising given that Villanova is one of the top FCS teams and Temple is a bottom-tier FBS team.

Now, let's move on to Saturday, as it was much more amusing. There was an apparent confusion between the nation's #4 and #6 public colleges' conference acronyms as the similarity between 'ACC' (FBS conference) and 'CAA' (FCS conference) left players and coaches scratching their head over which team belonged to which conference. UVA, of the ACC, sent an array of unqualified quarterbacks unseen since last year's Delaware team at W&M. W&M capitalized off of a -6 turnover margin and embarrassed Al Groh's team, winning 26-14. Alas, don't let W&M beating UVA put fear into the hearts of those with purple pumping through their veins. The (featherless) Tribe amassed a grand total of yards barely breaking the 300 mark even with the ball being constantly handed to them. They also only converted 25% of 3rd downs. Duke Dog is not scared.

Next up was Richmond traveling to Duke for the third CAA vs. ACC matchup. This game had to be embarrassing for the Blue Devils. For the second time in four years, the Ticks (sorry...Spiders) traveled to Durham and defeated Duke, this time 26-16. If that wasn't enough, there was a crowd on Saturday of 33,311, their highest attendance since 2001. There's no reason to belabor my point. Duke football = fail.

Other close FCS vs. FBS games:
16-17 - Norther Iowa (MVC) vs. #22 Iowa (Big Ten)
17-21 - UMass (CAA) vs. Kansas State (Big 12)
24-28 - Samford (SoCon) vs. UCF (C-USA)
24-29 - App St (SoCon) vs. ECU (C-USA)
20-33 - Liberty (Big South) vs. West Virginia (Big East)

Not-so-close games of note:
14-47 - Towson (CAA) vs. Northwestern (Big Ten)
17-37 - Jacksonville State (OVC) vs. Georgia Tech (ACC)
7-40 - Wofford (SoCon) vs. South Florida (Big East)
6-40 - The Citadel (SoCon) North Carolina (ACC)
0-54 - Northeastern (CAA) vs. Boston College (ACC)
3-38 - Youngstown St (MVC) vs. Pittsburgh (Big East)
3-62 - Charleston Southern (Big South) vs. #1 Florida (SEC)

So with less than 5 days before the JMU vs. Maryland game, the CAA so far is 2-1 against the ACC this year. Will we add on another upset and take the record to 3-1? It seems the gap between FBS and FCS is gradually narrowing. It's only a matter of time until the elite FCS teams make the jump. How soon will it be? I'll leave you with this quote from the Richmond Times-Dispatch:

In light of yesterday's events across the region, it can now be asked without any irony or intended humor whether the ACC really is that much better than its FCS counterpart.