After watching a very subpar performance by the Tide this past weekend, I started thinking (perhaps too much) about the pros and cons of playing lower tier teams. I would like to get your thoughts on this.

Pros for playing FCS opponents:

• Easier game, where players can rest up before a bigger opponent
• Easier to schedule as bigger brands/teams may not want to play (looking at you Notre Dame)

Cons for playing FCS-like opponents:

• Players don't properly prepare during the week
• Players don't execute with same intensity during the game or take plays off resulting in injury or team regression
• Fans aren't nearly as excited, so there's a risk of lower turnout

So it seems to me that this is more of a pure revenue play than anything else as we can dictate terms to an FCS opponent while an FBS opponent wants a home and away series. Are we hurting for the money?

I get that we need a breather, but why not schedule a home and away with a lower tier FBS opponent? To me the risk of injury and team regression outweighs the benefit of a "breather" as that's not guaranteed. We just lost Fowler and Arky just got rocked by La Monroe (been there, done that). I'd rather take more risk and have the players properly prepare and be intense/focused on getting better rather than getting our QB sacked a million times and lose a valuable contributor in Fowler.

Thoughts?