The radio voice of the South Dakota State Jackrabbits, Tyler Merriam, has been named the 2022 winner of the Bill Schwanke Award. The Bill Schwanke Award, named after the longtime radio voice of the Montana Grizzlies, is awarded annually to the top play-by-play radio broadcaster in DI 

 Football. A voting panel including Tim Brando from Fox Sports, Paul Pabst of the Dan Patrick Show, Freddie Coleman from ESPN, Kevin Marshall and Stone Labanowitz of FCS Nation Radio and other media and broadcasters who cover FCS Football decide the winner. Past winners include 

. Congratulations to all of the finalists, every one of them was deserving of the award.

Finalists for the 2022 Bill Schwanke Award

Merriam wins 2022 Bill Schwanke Award for FCS Football Broadcasters

Western Illinois University Director of Athletics Paul A. Bubb announced today (Friday, May 12) that the Leathernecks are becoming the newest members of the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) for all of the University's Division I Athletics programs. The agreement between the University and the OVC was signed by WIU President Guiyou Huang Friday morning.

WIU will exit all other sports from the Summit League in the fall of 2023 and football will leave the MVFC in the fall of 2024.

Western Illinois, which is located in Macomb, Illinois, marks only the 25th full-time member in the 75-year history of the Ohio Valley Conference.

"We are delighted Western Illinois has decided to join the OVC," said OVC Commissioner Beth DeBauche. "The WIU athletics programs have long competed against OVC institutions given the similarity of programs and geographic proximity. Accordingly, there is a high-level of comfort and excitement about the Leathernecks becoming part of the OVC community. We cannot wait to extend a warm welcome to WIU's student-athletes, coaches, administrators and fans."

"This is going to be an excellent new endeavor for Western Illinois University," said Dr. Huang. "We are excited to join our peers of similar size and communities, and we look forward to great competition."

WIU received an invitation from the OVC Board President Thursday to join the conference, effective July 1.

Western Illinois will join the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Eastern Illinois University, Lindenwood University, Morehead State University, Southeast Missouri State University, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, University of Southern Indiana, Tennessee State University, Tennessee Technological University and the University of Tennessee at Martin as OVC full member institutions.

WIU will also the eighth football team in the OVC football conference,
joining Southeast Missouri State University , University of Tennessee - Martin, Eastern Illinois University, Lindenwood University, Morehead State University, Tennessee State University, and Tennessee Technological University.

Western Illinois University Leathernecks Are Leaving the MVFC in 2024

The anticipation of the College Football Playoff's expansion from a four-team field to a 12-team field is brewing among both casual and diehard football fans. On the third weekend of December of 2024, a new era in college football will begin, but for bowls like the New Mexico Bowl, Las Vegas Bowl, and Celebration Bowl, it is the end of an era.

The third Saturday of December has always been fun for college football fans, especially in the Group of Five, as it marked the beginning of the bowl season. Now, with the first round of the College Football Playoff on the third Friday and Saturday of December in 2024 and 2025, these bowls suddenly have to find new homes. With 42 bowls, bowl season is crowded enough, and fitting in the nine bowl slots affected by the CFP schedule change is almost impossible with the current Bowl schedule.

Thus, the FBS should consider extending the bowl season into the first week of January. Throughout the College Football Playoff era, non-Playoff bowls played after New Year's Day (or January 2nd, when New Year's Day occurs on a Sunday) have been an off-and-on phenomenon. After the first-ever College Football Playoff on January 1st, 2015, five non-New Year's Six Bowls were played from January 2nd-January 4th, while January 2nd, 2016 featured a quadruple-header of non-New Year's Six bowls.

After this, 2019 would be the next season to have post-New Year's Day non-CFP bowls as five bowls occurred from January 2nd-January 6th due to the 3rd Saturday of December falling on December 21st. The 2020 bowl season had a pair of non-New Year's Six Bowls on January 2nd to close out the season, while the Texas Bowl closed out the 2021 bowl season on January 4th of 2022.

The CFP's semifinals will be on the second Thursday and Friday of January in 2024 and 2025. Spreading the bowls that once called the third weekend of December home across the first week of January would benefit both parties. Most of these bowls would get their own TV window, while ESPN gets live programming to build excitement for the college football playoff.

Additionally, having non-New Year’s Day bowls after New Year’s will be less awkward in the new playoff structure. With college football fans’ attention hyper-fixated on the Playoff (by design by your favorite TV conglomerate), having bowls such as the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, Guaranteed Rate Bowl, and Texas Bowl occurring after the Playoff hardly drew the attention of casual fans and even some die-hards. Having the bowls build up to the CFP semifinals will build excitement and make fans more inclined to watch, as the perception of having a lot of impactful football left on the schedule will prevail.

The 12-team Playoff’s impact on the other 30+ bowls on the docket is unknown, but it is far from time for these bowls to hit the panic button. A simple lengthening of the bowl schedule is a win for all parties involved.

How the FBS Can Move Around the Opening Saturday of Bowl Season's Games

The fallout from the decline of RSNs has already began as pro teams in two markets have already made the decision to air their game on local over-the-air channels. Following the 

 lead were the Las Vegas Golden Knights and Las Vegas Aces who decided to air their games on 

, and also to the following markets in Idaho (Boise, Idaho Falls, Twin Falls), Montana (Billings, Butte-Bozeman, Glendive, Great Falls, Helena, Missoula), Utah (Salt Lake City), Wyoming (Casper-Riverton, Cheyenne-Scottsbluff) and Northern Nevada (Reno).

More moves like these seem to be coming, but for now, Las Vegas and Phoenix are the only pro cities to make this bold move. Of course, with KMCC jumping into the sports broadcasting business, they could make a move for UNLV and Nevada games.

The Mountain West's current TV deal is unique compared to other Group of Five conferences as any games not picked up by the conference's national TV partners, CBS and Fox, are either aired online on the Mountain West Network, or aired on linear TV on RSNs or local channels. 

Last year, two UNLV and three Nevada games, were aired on local Nevada channels. Since one of the games was the Freemont Cannon game, this made a total of four games. Additionally, Nevada Sports Net also simulcasted Spectrum Sports Hawaii's feed of the Nevada-Hawaii game on October 15th. 

So how does Hawaii fit into this Las Vegas TV picture? The quirkiest of college football fans know that Hawaii and UNLV have a seemingly random rivalry game where they play for a 

. Yet, this rivalry has strong roots as Las Vegas has long been considered Hawaii's "Ninth Island." as over 50,000 Hawaiians reside in Sin City. 

UNLV and Nevada both have non-nationally-televised games picked up by local over-the-air sports networks, with the Silver State Sports Network picking up Rebels' games and Nevada Sports Net picking up Wolf Pack games. As a result, KMCC will likely have no college football coverage to air during the NHL offseason.

Catering to Las Vegas' strong Hawaiian population and ties would be a strong counter to UNLV and Nevada's locally-televised games. Hawaii's well-known, midnight Eastern/ 9 PM Pacific time slot for its home games would give KMCC the rights to an exclusive time slot each week, an advantage that neither Nevada Sports Net or The Silver State Sports and Entertainment Network have.

The best part in all this is the broadcasts would not even have to be produced by KMCC, but rather redistributed to the station. As I mentioned earlier, the Nevada Sports Network 

 the Spectrum Sports Hawaii broadcast of the 2022 Nevada-Hawaii game and KMCC can easily do the same for Hawaii home games. Redistributing broadcasts saves KMCC immense amounts of money that the station can use to optimize the quality of its Las Vegas Golden Knights' and Aces' broadcasts. 

The recent KMCC news could potentially make it a great time to be a college football fan in Nevada, with increased accessibility to Mountain West games. KMCC getting into the "Hawaii After Dark" action is a no-brainer for the emerging over-the-air sports network. 

Merriam wins 2022 Bill Schwanke Award for FCS Football Broadcasters

Finalists for the 2022 Bill Schwanke Award

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