This weekend, the SIUC football team travels south to take on Division 1-A Arkansas State an opponent Saluki head coach Shawn Watson is glad to be dropping from the schedule after this contest.

We are where we should be, Watson said. I like playing at Division 1-AA. That’s the only way were going to get a measuring stick of where we are and where we are going to go.

Last season, SIUC lost to Arkansas State 41-14. Watson said the almighty dollar is the reason a Division 1-AA school plays a Division 1-A team.

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Everybody who plays those types of games, plays them for money, Watson said. Sometimes you ask yourself if it is all worth it.

Watson said since the games are played solely for money, at times the kids end up getting beat and sometimes, because of the loss, wiped out emotionally.

Watson said it is entirely to early for SIUC to compete against Division 1-A teams at this point in time.

There are people who would like to see us play teams like Ole Miss, he said. But give it a chance first. Let us get a program built before we go out and start doing that kind of stuff.

The Sycamores of Indiana State felt the burden of playing Division 1-A Mississippi last weekend. Mississippi won the game in a 56-10 route.

Indiana Head coach Dennis Raetz feels playing a Division 1-A School can be both a good and bad thing.

We didn’t play well against Mississippi, he said. We’re not going to sit around and feel sorry about it.

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Playing a Division 1-A team can hurt or help a team, it all depends on how you want to look at it. There are times when we’ve played very well against them. There are also times where we have come out of a game with a Division 1-A team with fewer players.

Raetz said that although Mississippi was a one-time deal, Indiana State has always had, and in all probability always will have, Division 1-A teams on the season schedule.

Raetz said it helps to play Division 1-A football because it can be a motivator and allows a team to see where they stand.

We have played well against teams in the past, he said. That has helped us to go on to a good season.

Raetz said playing Division 1-A teams also help to bring in revenue for a football program.

There are only so many ways to make money, he said. Playing Division 1-A schools is one of the ways.

Northern Iowa coach Terry Allen said playing Division 1-A schools is a boost to his football team and helps to attract fans, even though money is the key reason to playing Division 1-A schools.

I think money plays a factor, Allen said. But when we play teams like Iowa and Iowa State, it means a lot to our fans. That’s the reason why we average 15,000 fans per game.

Allen said playing Division 1-A teams is great for Northern Iowa because it is also a good learning experience for his players.

Allen, whose football squad is recovering from a 34-13 loss at the hands of Iowa, said the loss takes a back seat when compared to the experience his team received from playing in front of 70,000 fans.

Allen agrees with the rational of Watson when wanting to shy away from Division 1-A play until it has established itself in the Gateway Conference.

Watson said he feels comfortable competing with 1-A down the road, so as long as it is in the Midwestern and Mid-America conferences and not any big matchups at least for a while, anyway.

I don’t think playing Auburn and those types of people is the greatest idea, especially if you are just trying to get your team off the ground, he said.

These types of games against Midwest and Mid-America schools are more along the lines where we can be competitive because I am more familiar with them, he said. We can be competitive, yet at the same time, competing means we’ve got a chance.