Division I Football Championship Subdivision: It's More Than a Game

Take a look at the new commercial promoting the Football Championship Subdivision. The theme of this year's video is "It's More Than a Game."

With the football season just a few days away, there are some important things to remember about the FCS. The FCS is the only Division I group of teams who compete in a football playoff, meaning the champion is determined on the field and not by polls and power rankings.

And whether you like the new venacular of FCS (vs. the previous I-AA), it is all Division I football. Too often I hear people refer to Bowl Subdivision Teams (FBS) as Division I and leave everything else to be lower.

OVC Players in the NFL; DRC Returns to Nashville

At the opening of training camps earlier this month there were 19 former OVC players on NFL rosters. Once training camp ends and the season begins we will do a complete feature on the former OVCers who have made NFL rosters in 2010.

Last night former Tennessee State Tiger Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie came back to Nashville to play in the same stadium he did in college. DRC, now a member of the Arizona Cardinals, played in a preseason game against the Tennessee Titans (Arizona also played a regular season game with Tennessee last season at LP Field).

Below is a photo of DRC with Titans superstar Chris Johnson before last night's game (photo by Don McQuistion).

TTU Men's Basketball Adds 7-Foot Transfer

The Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles have added a big man in the middle in 7-foot transfer Liam McMorrow. McMorrow was recently granted a waiver from the NCAA to play immediatly this season.

McMorrow played the 2007-08 season at Durham College in Canada, then transferred to Marquette and sat out the 2008-09 season due to NCAA requirements. He sat out the entire 2009-10 season for medical reasons, so Tennessee Tech submitted a request to the NCAA for a waiver on the requirement that would have forced him to sit out an additional year.

Read the full story at TTUSports.com.

Here is a video interview of McMorrow from the 2008 Marquette Media Day:

First FCS Top 25 Poll is Out

The Sports Network released its preseason FCS Top 25 poll today. The poll saw Jacksonville State land at No. 17 and Eastern Illinois come in at No. 18. Eastern Kentucky, Tennessee Tech and Austin Peay were among those receiving votes.

The other major FCS poll, the FCS Coaches Poll, will be released next Monday.

The OVC had some relative success and earned some respect in the national poll a year ago. During the season the OVC had a stretch were five weeks were three league teams were ranked in the Top 25 at the same time.

On Oct. 12 and 19 Jacksonville State was ranked 12th, the highest ranking the school had received since joining the FCS/I-AA ranks. It was the highest an OVC team had been ranked since Eastern Kentucky was No. 9 in the Nov. 19, 2007 Sports Network poll.

So what do you all think? What can we expect out of OVC teams in the national rankings this season?

Vote for Former APSU Pitcher Rowdy Hardy in "Minors Moniker Madness"

Former Austin Peay pitcher Rowdy Hardy needs your votes. The Governor is in the finals of the fourth annual "Minors Moniker Madness" held by MILB.com.

From Austin Peay State University Sports Information ...

After five rounds of voting spread out over nearly four weeks, the field of Minors Moniker Madness contestants has been reduced to two: Hardy and Seth Schwindenhammer. Hardy reached the final in come-from-behind fashion, defeating Mark Hamburger with just 50.08 percent of the vote inthe semifinal.

Hardy has reached the semfinals each of the last of the last two seasons, losing to the eventual champion. He reached the semifinals last year and was knocked out by eventual winner Dusty Napoleon. Hardy also reached the semifinals in 2008 and lost to eventual champion Will Startup. In 2007, Hardy lost to eventual champion Houston Summers in what would have been the regional championship.

Voting continues through midnight, Tuesday, at MILB.com. Each time you vote, you can enter to win a great prize. The more you vote, the better chance you have to win the prize and the better chance that your favored name will take the crown.

Click here to vote for Rowdy.

OVC Teams Starting to Release 2010-11 Basketball Schedules

I know the fall sports seasons have not started yet, but OVC schools are already releasing their 2010-11 basketball schedules. Teams will hit the practice court for the first time on Friday, Oct. 15 with the season getting underway in early November.

Don't forget this season the OVC Tournament is switching formats, by bringing all 8 men's and all 8 women's teams to one site instead of having first round tournament games on campus sites. The event will also now move to a merit-based format, with the No. 3 and No. 4 seeds getting a bye and the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds getting two byes (into the semifinals).

With the switch the OVC Championship has moved to Municipal Auditorium in Nashville as its new home. This year's tournament runs March 2-5.

The OVC will hold its annual Media Day on Monday, Oct. 25 and there will show off the new court at Municipal as well as unveil a new tournament logo.

Below is a list of the OVC men's and women's basketball team's who have officially released their schedules. Click on the links to see that team's 2010-11 schedule.

Men's Teams
Austin Peay

Eastern Illinois
Murray State
Tennessee State

Women's Teams
Austin Peay
Eastern Illinois
Tennessee State
UT Martin

Fall Camp Begins Around the OVC

First off we apoligize for the blog being slow this summer. With not as much news happening there just were not a lot of stories that needed to be told. But as the fall gets ready to gear up and teams are now back on campus practicing, we promise to have some news, notes and opinion in this space more often.

All around the OVC there are football, soccer and volleyball teams hitting the practice field/court to prepare for the 2010 season.

I had the pleasure of attending the Tennessee Tech Media Day event in Cookeville today and got this video of TTU head coach Watson Brown.

The video was shot with our new Flip HD cam, which we hope to use this year to get ever better video than we did last season.

So check out the video and don't forget the first football contest of the year is Sept. 2 (just 24 days away).