Among schools who still schedule FCS programs, most end up doing it towards the beginning of the year. This allows for a warm-up game of sorts, letting coaches play with their depth charts and (unless you’re playing North Dakota State) ensure easy victories to start out the season.
Notre Dame head coach calls out weak scheduling by top-ranked teams
Could Brian Kelly be referring to the Mississippi schools?
The SEC doesn’t quite do it that way -- schools in that conference often schedule FCS games towards the latter portion of the season, leading to arguments about the conference’s out-of-conference scheduling. Arguments like this, made by Notre Dame’s Brian Kelly!
Brian Kelly with a shot at scheduling on @dpshow: "Some teams that are ranked highly are having their third bye this week."
— Bryan Fischer (@BryanDFischer) November 4, 2014 Kelly never specifically mentions any school or conference in the quote, but Mississippi State and Ole Miss both play FCS opponents this weekend (UT-Martin and Presbyterian, respectively). Every other highly ranked team is playing a conference game or a ranked opponent.
The Irish do not schedule FCS opponents. They will travel to play ranked Arizona State this weekend. Football Outsiders rates MSU’s schedule as the country’s 19th-toughest, with Notre Dame’s at No. 29, two spots ahead of Ole Miss.
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