Five-a-Side: Ivy League's Robin Harris
NCAA Football Betting Lines
02/15/2012 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The big question with Ivy League football often centers around the school presidents keeping the league champion on the sidelines during the FCS playoffs.
This week, another important issue developed for the Ivy League: the Patriot League announced it will begin to offer football scholarships with the 2013 season. It certainly isn't welcomed news for the Ivy League, which offers need-based financial aid to student-athletes, but not athletic scholarships.
The two leagues have enjoyed an outstanding relationship through the years, both in their commitment to academics and their regional proximity for scheduling games. Two-thirds of the Ivy's non-league games will be against Patriot opponents this coming season.
But as the scholarships in Patriot programs - 15 per recruiting class - add up, the playing field won't be so level. Ivy programs will be hard-pressed to be as competitive as they have been against their sister league.
Robin Harris, executive director for the Ivy League, wants to see the rivalries continue, but acknowledges there could be some change in future scheduling.
It might not even be the decision of the Ivy schools. Patriot programs may want to branch out with more non-league games against scholarship opponents.
In Five-a-Side - In the FCS Huddle's monthly feature of "five questions, five answers" with an influential person in the FCS - Harris discusses the Patriot League's decision to add football scholarships as well as that old elephant in the room, the Ivy football champion not going to the playoffs.
Let's kick off:
TSN: How will the Patriot League's decision affect the Ivy League?
RH: I don't think it will affect us that much, to be honest. Our schools were not offering athletic scholarships before the Patriot League was formed (in 1986) and will continue to not offer athletic scholarships. We enjoy playing Patriot League schools, they're not changing who they are academically, it's a good fit for us to play them when we can. I think that you'll still see our schools playing Patriot League schools, certainly in the near future. Even if there's diminishment of the number of games that we would play them, I still think there are natural rivalries and we're in the geographic region, our academic values are similar. Our schools are still going to have to play teams that offer athletic scholarships.
TSN: Obviously, some of your football programs play scholarship opponents even now, like Penn playing a Villanova or another school playing a Fordham with scholarships. Is it difficult to do that?
RH: Well, there's a difference, right, playing a Villanova who recently was in the championship game versus playing other scholarship schools that don't even qualify for the tournament. So I think it just varies. It's no different than any other sport, where we're playing scholarship schools in every other sport and we have wins in some of those and we have losses in some of those. So I think the same dynamics will be in play. We have great coaches and we have great tradition in the Ivy League. We have an ability to attract good student- athletes because of the schools that we are - the academics that are involved, the degree that they get and how that sets them up for a life beyond athletics.
TSN: Your programs often schedule games years in advance. Is it possible that feelings five years down the line could be different?
RH: Sure. I have no way of knowing that, how things will change. I think things tend to evolve. And I haven't had a chance to talk to the athletic directors since the decision, but I think they're going to continue to schedule programs that make sense for our schools to play. Same thing for our coaches. We have certain rivalries with the Patriot League that I think will continue. There may be other games that stop because there will be reasons to look at other athletic scholarship schools. But, certainly, I like the relationship that we have with the Patriot League and I hope that that continues.
TSN: How viable is it to schedule more games against Pioneer League teams (the only other FCS conference without football scholarships)?
RH: You know, then you start to get into travel issues. So I think that's the other key piece to this, is that the Patriot League is in our footprint. I think you may see occasional games where we go outside our footprint - that happens now - so we may see that a little bit more. But I don't know because that has a financial component and a time component to it.
TSN: So many people around your football teams, especially the coaches, continue to be in favor of sending the league champion to the FCS playoffs. Why aren't the school presidents changing that policy?
RH: There's an interest in focusing on the Ivy League season, that that should be the most important thing in football. We just have so much tradition and there's great value to be placed on the Ivy League season. There's also a concern with exams at that time of year.
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FOOTBALL BETTING LINES
NFL Football Sports BettingTwo playoff teams from 2007 take center stage on the NFL Network Sunday night in a Week 2 NFL betting match-up when the (0-1) New England Patriots betting head south to Florida for a contest with the (1-0) Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
New England HC Bill Belichick couldn’t care less about the way his team plays in the preseason. With a chance to tie last week’s game with the Baltimore Ravens betting, He elected to go for the two-point conversion and outright victory. The conversion failed, and the Pats ended up falling to the Ravens by a 16-15 final count.
New England rolled off twelve unanswered points to give it a chance at securing the victory, but it never threatened to cover the 3.5-point spread. NFL bettors saw this one coming, as they bet the Ravens down from +6 to +3.5 as the week progressed. QB Tom Brady didn’t take part in the Patriots first preseason clash, but could see action this weekend.
His three replacements all put up embarrassing numbers. They went a combined 17 for 33, and threw three interceptions and no touchdowns. The New England defense was encouraging, as they held the Ravens to 2/12 third down conversions and surrendered just ten first downs. That ‘D’ should be bolstered with the addition of former Bucs and Denver Broncos betting safety John Lynch, who could make his Patriots debut on Sunday against his former mates.
HC Jon Gruden had to be impressed with the way his Bucs played on both sides of the ball in their dominating 17-6 victory over the Miami Dolphins in Week 1’s NFL pre-season betting action. Bucs bettors were quite happy with the effort, as they made a mockery of the fact that they were underdogs in the game.
The logjam at the quarterback position didn’t get any easier to separate for Gruden, as all four of his QBs had positive experiences in the first exhibition of 2008. The four combined to complete 28 of their 40 passes for 204 yards and a touchdown, and that was without starting QB Jeff Garcia in the lineup.
RB Michael Bennett had 19 carries and four receptions, totaling 90 yards and a touchdown. Expect to see more of Bennett, Kenneth Darby, and Earnest Graham, as they all compete for playing time with Warrick Dunn in the backfield this season. Defensively, the Bucs recorded four sacks and held the Fins offense in check all day.
First round draft pick Aqib Talib was impressive in the secondary, recording a tackle and two pass defenses in his debut. Don’t be surprised to see Talib in the starting lineup opposite Ronde Barber for the Bucs in ’08.
The betting trends suggest that NFL bettors should be backing the Bucs in this intra-conference exhibition.
These two teams hooked up last year in Tampa Bay, with the Bucs winning that game 13-10. The Buccaneers have only lost one preseason game at home dating back to the beginning of the ’05 preseason. The Patriots have had a mixed bag of results in their recent exhibitions. They have gone 2-2 ATS and SU each of the last three years.
New England currently sits as modest 1-point favorites in this preseason showdown with the ‘total’ now sitting at 34.5.
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