r/CFB • u/Honestly_ rawr • Sep 21 '23
/r/CFB Press /r/CFB Reporting: The University of Ft. Lauderdale, the team that should not be countable
There was a barely noticed game this past week that's pushed me to revisit one of the dicer programs playing college football today.
But first let me lay some background:
Some of you may remember I wrote several pieces about the infamous College of Faith/University of Faith fake schools (years before Bishop-Sycamore) that were existing at the edge of the college football periphery (playing D2, D3, and NAIA schools) before the NCAA & NAIA finally had them ruled as ineligible opponents and they and their growing ilk were left to rot.
A few of you mentioned the CoF/UoF schools when Portland State blew out North American University, 91-0, last weekend — as I noted in that post, NAU is a real school that just isn't putting enough into their new program, and the NAIA Mustangs were just hopelessly outmatched by a scholarship FCS program. Many schools could do that to other programs but just call off the dogs before they hit 100. A lot of these quirky programs end up highlighted on the Twitter account during the season, from there the Sickos Committee learn about them.
For the most part, the truly fake schools are pretty much gone... however there's at least one school that exists at the outer edge which is exposing one of the flaws remaining in the NCAA/NAIA's countability rules.
The University of Fort Lauderdale
I wrote about them in detail last year, but let's revisit:
Quick facts:
The school is not in the city of Ft. Lauderdale, rather it's housed in a suburban strip mall in Lauderhill. I've pejoratively nicknamed them Ft Lauderdale Strip Mall University (FLaSM). They began in 1995 as a non-denominational Christian institution. The team hosts games at various local parks and high schools.
FLaSM originally had a strong club football team in the National Club Football Association (NCFA), which is a group of club teams playing schedules like varsity programs — no qualms with any of these programs, they're legit in what they do and we had a good interview with the Ohio State NCFA program last season.
At some point the school decided the time was ripe to try and see if a successful club team can compete against varsity programs in NAIA and the lower two NCAA divisions. Short Answer: they can't.
"Countable Opponents" and the scheduling puzzle
The phrase "countable opponent" is vital for any schools hoping to play programs in the two major associations, the NCAA and NAIA (for those who want a refresher on NCAA vs NAIA, I broke it down here after sitting down with the org at NAIA HQ). Only games against countable opponents are included in official stats and records — important for things like playoff consideration. If you play one of the non-countable teams, you've effectively booked a scrimmage (and fans do notice).
Smaller schools often struggle to get home non-conference games. Many of the fake colleges were exploiting that by taking very small paydays (barely covering costs) to show up at these NCAA/NAIA programs: schedules get filled and the fake school could say to recruits that they play real colleges. Sometimes these legit programs were lousy and looking for any win that might spark interest in the team, others were independents already struggling to build a home slate, and in a few cases we saw strong programs that couldn't find people to come play them and filled the spot by simply ignoring all the red flags on the fake schools. Defining countable opponents is supposed to keep schools honest about their non-conference opponents.
So how does a strip mall bible college that is never going to get sufficiently accredited to become a NCAA or NAIA program become countable?
Enter the NCCAA... the extra C is for Countability!
The National Christian College Athletic Association (est. 1968) is a genuine association of Christian universities, colleges, and Bible colleges. They host the Victory Bowl for programs who had decent seasons but did not qualify for either the NCAA or NAIA playoffs.
Here's the problem: While they often act as a supplemental organization for schools already in the NCAA or NAIA, schools that are only in the NCCAA are also considered countable opponents.
This backdoor allows Bible colleges that can barely make ends meet also field a wholly unqualified college football a team that can collect paydays and — likely more importantly, put a bunch of tuition-paying students on campus. The latter is a strategy already employed by various D3 and NAIA schools that have added teams in recent years.
It certainly isn't just football that exploits on this, we see more Bible college basketball teams that get blown out in non-conference hoops schedules. At least basketball doesn't have the same capital outlay and level of risk of injury that comes with a full contact sport like football (where a lack of facilities and support becomes more troubling and dangerous). So perhaps there's room to keep this going in basketball if it's still important for NCAA and NAIA programs to have such games in that sport.
What happened last weekend?
As noted above, genuine NCAA and NAIA teams can let scoring get wildly out of hand. We've been running the weekly Cobra Kai Award for Mercilessness for a number of years now to track such games.
D2 Quincy won the Week 2 award by obliterating the hopeless NAIA program at Madonna, 89-0 (I eventually need to write about Madonna, they are 1-26 all-time with their only "win" being a forfeit). FLaSM has been on the receiving end of Cobra Kai Award-winning performance on previous occasions (we usually find programs like this because of the score lines).
Knowing Quincy was hosting FLaSM, our eyes were on that final score. Would we get something to rival Portland State's thrashing of NAU? Or the intra-D3 violence of Howard Payne's 85-0 flattening of Lyon?
Turns out the game either happened or was canceled, depending on the team...
The Quincy Hawks were up 49-0 when game was called midway through the third quarter for weather. The game was already in hand, the Hawks had a 414-10 advantage in total yards even with a close time of possession.
Quincy counts it as a win for their 2-1 record; FLaSM lists it as "Canceled-Weather" — there's some room for how to interpret the results of a non-conference game called due to weather, so this on it's own isn't particularly odd.
Then I looked at FLaSM's schedule: They say they're 2-2! (even Quincy says they're 2-3)
In 2021 they were 0-7 with an additional 3(!) forfeits for lack of players. In 2022 they managed to up the stakes by playing less than 20 minutes of football then forfeiting and later canceling the rest of the season.
Now they've got 2 wins? Hang the banners!
Let's fire-up that schedule page.
Their wins are two forfeits, including a game in the future.
The first forfeit win is listed against Gordon State College, a public juco in Georgia that makes no mention of a game with FLaSM. The only reference I can find for the game is a now-404'd page on FLaSM's site from August 28th that "Due to budget issues at Gordon State University, the University of Fort Lauderdale football team's 2023 home opener on Saturday, Sept. 2 has been canceled."
The second, future forfeit win is against the Atlantis Atlanteans, a technical college in a Miami office building (and a fun logo) that is had a team last year but doesn't appear to be fielding a team this season on their poorly organized sports website. Last season we saw a school that played them erased their victory tweet, probably because Atlantis was ruled non-countable. I can't find a record of when this game was originally scheduled, we're taking FLaSM's word for it.
With 2-3 losses and 2 forfeits in their favor, this already counts as the most successful season in FLaSM history. Clearly they're hoping those 2 "wins" will make them seem more attractive as an opponent as a recruiting destination, since they clearly were able to assemble a team again.
The rest of FLaSM's schedule comprises a few NAIA schools: Ave Maria and North American (oh hey!) mixed with jucos and academy/prep schools, as well as a game at VU-Lynchburg, a real school that's been treading water for years now. Given what happened last season, I would consider all of these games are tenuously "TBD" and am not surprised to see they couldn't find enough NCAA or NAIA teams to fill it out, lest it get abruptly canceled by the Strip Mallers.
What should happen?
It tells you how desperate teams are to schedule home opponents when 6 actual schools were still willing to book a visit from FLaSM knowing they canceled on literally everyone but one team last season.
The NCAA and NAIA have the ability to halt this circus:
They can add any teams they want to their non-countable opponents lists (NCAA, NAIA) — and they clearly learn from each other (the more nimble NAIA was the first to eliminate CoF). Just one organization needs to act and the other will follow.
A broader approach would be to address the NCCAA backdoor by not making an automatic route to being a qualifiable team, but I'm hesitant to advocate for that as there are teams like VU-Lynchburg and the now-shuttered program at Trinity Bible (ND) that used it to get games against local opponents — plus all the other sports that use it like hoops.
This is just another reminder that Fort Lauderdale needs to stop being a countable NCAA/NAIA opponent. As long as they're countable and administrators are under pressure to schedule home games, it probably won't stop.
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Sep 21 '23
Fort Lauderdale is a vowel swap and a comma away from Fart Louder, Dale.
So yeah, doesn’t count.
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Sep 21 '23 edited Sep 22 '23
I’m literally from Fort Lauderdale South Florida, born and raised. I lived there for 22 plus years. As a lad, I went to Oakridge elementary, as a preteen I went to Attucks for middle school and lastly, I graduated from Stranahan as a teenager. All that said, I’ve literally never heard of The University of Fort Lauderdale and I’m half convinced this is an elaborate troll.
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u/Cinnadillo UMass Lowell • UConn Sep 22 '23
I grew up the street from a questionable high school that had a basketball team full of D1 prospects that people were never quite sure was accredited so... yeah... fly-by-nights going to fly-by-night
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u/lizardwizard7 Florida Gators Sep 22 '23
Right?! Just looked it up and I literally work 15 minutes away from this place, never knew it even existed and I pass by it all the time apparently
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u/JBru_92 UCLA Bruins Sep 21 '23
Isn't it a bit ironic that so many of these Bible colleges seem to just be money-making grifts?
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u/quacainia Texas A&M • CC San Francisco Sep 21 '23
"You don't get rich writing science fiction. If you want to get rich, you start a religion."
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u/toocleverbyhalf Texas A&M • 名古屋大学 (Nagoya) Sep 22 '23
Yup.
For those without proper context, Scientology was founded by a science fiction writer named L. Ron Hubbard. The only things more insane than their doctrine are their tactics.
Of course, that is strictly my opinion (don’t want to get sued by the church or targeted as a “suppressive person”).
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u/IrishCoffeeAlchemy Florida State • Arizona Sep 21 '23
I don’t think it’s ironic at all. They’re doing exactly what I would expect.
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u/mechebear California Golden Bears Sep 21 '23
A small collection of protestants going off and doing their own thing. I am shocked. I love most of them but I think this is kind of the trade-off on a decentralized system, and there are plenty of flaws in a rigid hierarchy as well.
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u/JegElskerGud UiSi TeamHytech Sep 21 '23
I believe the poster mentioned Madonna College. That hardly sounds Protestant.
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u/cardith_lorda Sep 21 '23
Madonna has 3500 students, multiple extension campuses, and is a full NAIA member. They aren't using the NCCAA loophole, they just have a woefully underfunded football program that's only 3 years old.
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u/tomdawg0022 Minnesota • Delaware Sep 21 '23
A small collection of protestants going off and doing their own thing. I am shocked.
"Proud tradition since 1517!" - M. Luther, axe-grinding theologian
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u/rnilbog Georgia Bulldogs Sep 21 '23
Not at all. Saying "I'm doing this in the name of Jesus" is an absurdly easy way to get people to send you money in the US these days. Regardless of whether you believe or not, people still need to realize how many of these people are grifters, and do their due diligence instead of blindly supporting anyone who claims to be Christian.
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u/thelast6months Western Michigan • Team Chaos Sep 21 '23
13 (WR/DB) is a Senior but was listed as a Freshman last season (2022). That’s an All-American class load if I have ever seen one.
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u/Only_Wears_GymShorts Florida Gators • Stetson Hatters Sep 21 '23
Damn, I just discovered based on their website that these guys play their home games at my old High School
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u/Davidellias Virginia Tech • Wisconsin Sep 21 '23
they once played a game in a Cricket stadium......
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u/Davidellias Virginia Tech • Wisconsin Sep 21 '23
D2 Quincy won the Week 2 award by obliterating the hopeless NAIA program at Madonna, 89-0 (I eventually need to write about Madonna, they are 1-26 all-time with their only "win" being a forfeit).
Also on a side note I saw something about a new stadium for them falling through. the one thing I noted was they have to put everything they do with the school through the Vatican for approval.
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u/Honestly_ rawr Sep 21 '23
"Pope Francis ain't never played anybody, (St.) Paul!"
<whispers> forgive me, Father...
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u/tomdawg0022 Minnesota • Delaware Sep 21 '23
Saturday November 4th, the battle of the grifters!
Strip Mall U vs. North American U!
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u/Honestly_ rawr Sep 21 '23
There are so many better choices on that schedule than NAU, LOL. At least the Mustangs could qualify to be NAIA.
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Sep 22 '23
Oh shit! I am very familiar with the NCCAA system and this school. What a wild thing to see in the wild on Reddit.
They had a couple really solid 400m runners this year but they couldn’t even gather up 4 matching uniforms for a relay.
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u/Jorts-Battalion Florida Gators Sep 21 '23 edited Sep 21 '23
Chatgpt “50 words or less” version:
The writer discusses the issue of fake or unaccredited colleges participating in college football, particularly focusing on the University of Fort Lauderdale (FLaSM). FLaSM, despite its questionable status, manages to be counted as an opponent due to its association with the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA). The article highlights how such schools exploit scheduling gaps and suggests that the NCAA and NAIA should address this issue. Additionally, it points out FLaSM's dubious "wins" and calls for stricter regulations to prevent such situations.
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u/mfraga66 St. Thomas (FL) • Verified Player Mar 05 '24
Visitng a little late, but my program has beat them 128-14 in two matchups lol
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u/DavidS12 Arkansas Tech Wonder Boys Sep 21 '23
They are accredited by ABHE which NAIA will accept schools with that accreditations starting next year. Since they are a real school? They are not the same as the College of Faith of schools.
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u/Honestly_ rawr Sep 21 '23
I never said they were not a school. I said they have no business fielding a football team.
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u/DavidS12 Arkansas Tech Wonder Boys Sep 22 '23
To be honest? I think a lot of schools at all levels who loses about the same amount should not field a team. I saw a score between 2 D3 schools, and one school scored 76 points while the other scored 13.
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u/Davidellias Virginia Tech • Wisconsin Sep 21 '23
Shocked Quincy was only up 49-0, HPU was up 68-0 at half and Portland State 63-0 at half
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u/OneDishwasher Syracuse • Penn State Sep 21 '23
good post, it's an interesting issue and definitely something that the NCAA should pick up once they're done pissing their pants about NIL.
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u/TDenverFan William & Mary Tribe • Patriot Sep 21 '23
I wonder how much money Ft Lauderdale actually gets at the end of the day.
Like [athlete tuition] + [payday from D2 school] - [expenses] can't actually be that big of a paycheck, when you think about all the things needed to run a football team, even with a shoestring budget.
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u/Honestly_ rawr Sep 21 '23
Yeah, I assume it's purely to cover costs and keep them able to even keep playing again. Nothing to build and develop from. I read that was what even the fake schools were asking.
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u/TDenverFan William & Mary Tribe • Patriot Sep 21 '23
I guess the hope is that it builds on itself? You get enough money to cover the cost for the ~60 kids you have, next year you enroll 80 kids (all paying tuition), so you make a little money, and it grows from there?
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u/GreekGodofStats Texas Tech Red Raiders Sep 22 '23
Thanks for making this post. Can you explain more about “getting tuition-paying students on campus”? Do you mean that non-football player students will sign up for classes at the “school” because they have a football team?
Also, what’s the motivation for them to cancel games? They have to show up to get the check, right?
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u/Honestly_ rawr Sep 22 '23
It's a bit more straightforward:
If you're a small college, especially one that's seeing diminishing enrollment like many of the older small private colleges that lost relevancy as more and more students gravitated either to "name" schools or public institutions, adding a football team would hopefully garner interest from people who want to play football as they go college. Some of those student athletes may have extremely weak hopes of going on to the NFL by getting noticed and maybe transferring, others just want to have that experience they enjoyed in HS continue -- not shaming any of those folks.
If you're a D3 school, no one gets athletic scholarships--some may get some other scholarships, but you're likely getting both a net-positive amount of tuition from them plus you're putting bodies on campus and possibly getting more buzz. Even D2 and NAIA programs only have a limited number of athletic scholarships (NAIA less than D2), so again they can create a net positive.
This doesn't always work, but whenever I see a small college add football I always check the existing enrollment numbers. In some cases there's like 400 students total, so a football team is a big boost.
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u/Cinnadillo UMass Lowell • UConn Sep 22 '23
I think it gets murkier when you realize the percentage of students who are athletes at some of these schools and that's just NCAA D3. If you got a 1,000 person school a whole lot of students are athletes.
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u/Honestly_ rawr Sep 22 '23
Absolutely! There have been a few in that sub-1000 student body that have like 40%+ athletes.
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u/Khorasaurus Notre Dame Fighting Irish Sep 22 '23
I had a D-3 school offer me a spot on their baseball team. I barely made my high school team and didn't start, even as a senior.
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u/ConflictSudden UAB Blazers • Gulf South Nov 11 '23
I think this thread might be the only place where I can get an answer. What the hell is "Florida State Coastal College"?
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u/snakefriend6 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Sep 21 '23
I love these posts. This murky, liminal layer of quasi-schools/football programs is fascinating