UPDATE: So the App State blog linked below responded to my reasons saying it "They all boil down to - "App State might win." Wow, I wish I had thought of that I could have saved myself the time I spent actually typing the ones I did.
I am not sure how you get that from reason #3, maybe they care to explain.
Reason #2 has a hint of that but in terms of this present season and how scheduling is done, there is no way UNC or any other BCS school would schedule a team like App State, with all of the local pressures, for their fourth non-conference game when there are three tough non-conference games on the schedule already. It just doesn't happen and that is more about the rest of the schedule than it is App State.
Reason #1 is the only one that hints strongly at the "App State might win" logic but that feeds into the larger fact that UNC gains nothing from playing them. UNC does not get extra points for beating the three time defending I-AA champs and stands to lose a great deal should they lose. App State on the other hand benefits either way so when it came down to it, as it pertains to 2008, scheduling App State was not going to happen. As I said in the original post, App State beating Michigan made them radiocative to a majority of I-A teams the same way Davison is in basketball along with other mid-majors. The difference here is even greater than Davidson because there is an actual division between the level UNC plays at and the one App State has ruled for three years. Losing to a I-AA school is nothing short of humiliating regardless of how good that team is which is odd because in many ways App State gets respected and disrespected all at the same time.
Also, tarryheel at 850 pointed out that UNC's final slot was for the first week of the season and App State already had LSU on the schedule so count the lack of a mutually open date as another reason why it did not happen.
Original post after the jump.
That seems to be what App State fans think following the revelation from Moutaineer coach Jerry Moore that an attempt has been made to schedule a ASU-UNC game and so far the Heels have not been interested.
I tend to look at it as showing proper respect but there are two good reasons and one random one I think of for this decision:
1. UNC has nothing to gain and everything to lose by playing ASU. Beating Michigan basically turned ASU into a radioactive isotope that not many folks on the I-A level are willing to touch. That is because ASU would be a tough opponent and winning over them would take a great game. The problem is win nothing more an a I-AA win. Sorry but there are much easier ways to get them(i.e. McNeese State) and losing to ASU would bring a boatload of trouble we could do without.
2. UNC had three fairly tough out of conference teams on the schedule already for this season so adding a fourth in ASU would have been a bit ambitious. UConn and Rutgers are in the upper level of the Big East and I will be shocked if Notre Dame does not improve upon their record from last season plus they are still Notre Dame. With those three already set and UNC needing another non-ACC opponent they opted to schedule a team like McNeese State versus somehow at or near the top of I-AA. It seems perfectly logical to fill that final slot with a home game that you should win.
3. Probably not relevant but these two teams have not played in 68 years. UNC simply does not look to schedule ASU and it has been like that even when the Heels were a top ten program during the 1990s.
So, if ASU fans want to carry on about how UNC is scared to play them, feel free to do so if it makes you feel better. As it turns out the UNC schedule already had it's quota of tough games and playing ASU would deprive the young Heels of their cupcake snack.
And a word of advice to App fans. You might want to spend less time whining about UNC not playing you and worrying about that season opener versus LSU because if there is two things I know for sure it is Baton Rouge ain't Ann Arbor and SEC speed does kill.
Hat tip: 850 the Buzz