Dana Holgorsen wants FBS teams to stop scheduling FCS opponents

West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen his calling for his FBS brethren to stop scheduling FCS schools.

Holgorsen on Tuesday said West Virginia would not be scheduling FCS opponents on future schedules and he wants other FBS teams to follow the Mountaineers’ lead.

"We are one of the only teams in the country that are scheduling two Power 5 schools in the future," Holgorsen said. "If you look at our future schedules, we are scheduling them. I wish that everybody else would do the same thing.

"If we are scheduling two Power 5 schools and a non-Power 5 school, then I wish everyone else would, too, as opposed to what some of the other schools are doing by scheduling an FCS school or two FCS schools and two other non-Power 5 schools. You can figure out who I'm talking about."

West Virginia plays FCS Liberty this weekend and Youngstown State is on the schedule in 2016. However, Holgorsen said those games were scheduled prior to his arrival in 2011. There are no plans to add FCS schools to future schedules.

The Big Ten already has outlawed FCS games from its schedules starting in 2016 and other conferences have kicked around a similar mandate though none have instituted it.

The vast majority of those FBS-FCS matchups end up lopsided affairs that are used to pad the schedule and give backups and younger players much-needed game experience. But they don’t add to strength of schedule or draw much fan interest.

And those games often give FBS teams more credit than they probably deserve.

"Don't get me wrong," Holgorsen said. "I can't blame our schedule-makers for doing what everyone else in the country does — and I know these matchups are huge paydays for these little schools — but these games count as wins for the FBS schools."

To the FCS’ credit, its schools did pull off four upsets this past weekend, including two wins against Power Five programs (Washington State and Kansas). And there are the classic examples of Appalachian State knocking off Michigan and North Dakota State beating Kansas State.

But in general Holgorsen has a point that the best conferences in college football should be playing the best schedules and not just out to pad their stats.

For more West Virginia news, visit WVSports.com.

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Graham Watson is the editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at dr.saturday@ymail.com or follow her on Twitter! Follow @YahooDrSaturday

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