Why Mitch Barnhart, Mark Stoops don’t want to drop FCS games from UK football schedule

Changes are coming to the Southeastern Conference football schedule when Texas and Oklahoma join the league.

What exactly those changes look like remains a question, but the most likely scenario is the addition of a ninth conference game to the schedule, according to an August report from ESPN. An additional SEC game means the subtraction of a non-conference game, possibly putting rivalries like the annual Governor’s Cup game between Kentucky and Louisville at risk.

Instead of cutting a marquee non-conference opponent, couldn’t SEC schools simply eliminate the annual FCS game from their schedules?

Not if Kentucky Athletics Director Mitch Barnhart and Coach Mark Stoops have their way.

“Youngstown State, this is a big game for them,” Stoops said Monday when asked if he would be in favor of dropping FCS games like Saturday’s matchup between Kentucky and Youngstown State from the schedule if the SEC schedule expands to nine games. “They compete and depend on these games as well. I like supporting them in that area.”

Kentucky will pay Youngstown State $550,000 to play at Kroger Field on Saturday in a game that was scheduled in 2017.

In 2021, revenue from guarantee games accounted for 2% of athletic department revenues for FCS schools, according to data compiled by Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.

Youngstown State’s total athletic revenues in 2021 were just more than $15 million. That number was similar at Kentucky’s FCS programs Eastern Kentucky ($17.4 million), Murray State ($15.7 million) and Morehead State ($10.5 million).

“It’s important to support FCS football because I want people participating in college football,” Barnhart said this summer when asked about potential changes to the football schedule. “I think sometimes we forget about thinking about the end game, making sure everybody is still playing. If there’s opportunities that go away and there’s not kids that want to play the game of football, the game of football suffers. We’ve got to make sure we do things that ensure the game of football and people want to play the game.

“Keeping FCS football alive is very, very important to that end. We like playing one of those games. That’s important to us.”

FBS programs like UK also benefit from games against the division formerly known as I-AA.

Attendance for the FCS game in 2019 and 2021 (UK played only SEC games in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic), was the lowest total of any home game those seasons, but it still represents a cheaper option for a home opponent. UK paid Miami (Ohio) $1.4 million to play in the 2022 opener at Kroger Field. It will also pay Northern Illinois $1.4 million for next week’s home game.

Games against other Power Five conference programs almost always require a return trip to their campuses, eliminating a potential home date every other year. A ninth SEC game would be played at home only every other season, cutting further into the ticket revenue.

It is becoming more difficult to schedule guarantee games against Group of Five conference opponents like Miami and Northern Illinois without agreeing to play in their stadiums, too. Contracts for future UK home games against Mid-American Conference programs require the Wildcats to play road games at Akron (2024) and Toledo (2028).

“We’ve got to have a couple of those (guarantee) games at home to make sure it has a chance to feed the rest of our program,” Barnhart said. “So, those things are important to us. If we got to nine (SEC games), it dramatically impacts our competitive piece, it impacts our financial piece and it impacts I think what you’re maybe able to do to help the game of football. So, you’ve got to be really thoughtful about that.”

The “competitive piece” of scheduling an FCS opponent represents the closest thing to a guaranteed win.

Kentucky has never lost to an FCS opponent since the schedule permanently expanded to 12 games in 2006, though there were scares in an overtime win over EKU in 2017 and a five-point victory over Chattanooga last season. Kentucky’s average margin of victory in the FCS games since 2006 has been 29 points per game.

Barnhart and Stoops have been clear that the standard of success for UK is no longer simply reaching bowl eligibility with six wins, so the FCS victory might not be as important as it once was to the program. It does still offer a valuable opportunity for a breather from the gauntlet of SEC football and a chance to find developmental snaps for younger players, though.

Kentucky has played EKU four times since 2006, when the NCAA allowed FBS teams to schedule one of their 12 games against an FCS opponent. It has played Murray State once in that span. The Wildcats have never played Morehead State.

Youngstown State may not bring the appeal of an in-state opponent for the FCS game, but it does bring deep ties to Stoops and several members of his coaching staff who grew up in Youngstown.

“I’m really proud that they’re coming in and I’m looking forward to it,” Stoops said. “I know how tough they are, what type of program (they are) and the history they have. They’re not going to be intimidated.

“That’s all good and there’s a connection there but at the end of the day, they’re coming in to beat us and play well. We have a job to do. It’s our job to keep that intensity, to keep that focus and keep on improving.”

Next game

Youngstown State at No. 9 Kentucky

When: Noon Saturday

TV: SEC Network

Records: Kentucky 2-0, Youngstown State 2-0

Radio: WLAP-AM 630, WBUL-FM 98.1

Series: First meeting

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