Colonial dominating Championship Subdivision

[ericsaid]

Anyone besides me think Erik Johnson will make a storng case to win the Buck Buchanon award this season? Could be drafted to if he plays well this season, any thoughts on that or anyone who has any insight into anything about this?

[URMite]

Wait, now you are arguing that Fruman was potentially better then Hofstra? And by your reasoning, Woffy was potentially better the UR? xeyebrowx xlolx

Get a grip. You might not be able to make it back to this reality if you keep going that far. xlolx

Ol' Mickey says that they were the champs if their back had stayed healthy. xrolleyesx Richmond, was potentially better than ASU. Imagine if they had their lines and Hightower healthy. xwhistlex And UD only was without 40% of it's starting OL and 1/2 of their D line was injured. But potentially...wow. :D

And they give out potential trophies...uh, where?????

xdizzyx

Back to this reality...JMU played their regular game - they didn't play their minds out. I know you aren't used to seeing quality teams down there, so you might think JMU played out of their minds, but they just dominated a rather weak ASU run defense. The only ones who played out of their minds were Armanti (on a regular basis..he's that good) and the MEAC refs. "First down, Delaware State!" xeekx xoopsx xlolx

BTW, another real reality is that Woffy beat ASU without a healthy Armanti - count ASU out in each of their playoff games without him...potentially. xnodx xeyebrowx xlolx

Don't get me started thinking about how good a few teams could have been without injuries last year. Just looking our situation is amazing (I know there are others)...We lost an NFL prospect at both WR & OL in the first game, an AA DL in game 4, continued on with a gimpy Hightower for the rest of the season after halftime in the UD game, and lost our best DB and an all-CAA DL @Wofford. Last year was the 1st time I've ever seen us be able to overcome a situation like that in 25 years. Normally our 1st team can compete in the CAA but our 2nd team has difficulty. It just seems our players aren't ready until they are starters. It looks like that is changing, and if so maybe we can become a consistent program.

[89Hen]

NDSU never had a tough enough schedule hugh? Then how did they merit a number one ranking last year for weeks? They were ranked over you, Appy, everyone!!! Must have had a cupcake schedule.xlolx
xconfusedx Polls do nay equal strength. They equal perceived strength. Because there are so few good OOC games on which to base opinion, the opinions expressed in the polls are often very shaky. #1's lose all the time.

[89Hen]

The GSU's and YSU's even though I know nothing about them have a strong argument for the best 1-aa teams in history. Just had to throw that out there.
xnodx However, the '03 playoff run was one of the best ever. Even thought the score was somewhat close, Delaware won all four games by the end of the first quarter. xnodx

[Saluki Fan in FL]

xconfusedx Polls do nay equal strength. They equal perceived strength. Because there are so few good OOC games on which to base opinion, the opinions expressed in the polls are often very shaky. #1's lose all the time.

How about the AGS poll? Do you think AGS folks know what they're talking about? Be careful, there may be some lurking around. xlolx They were undefeated Hen, come on. Everyone thought they were the best team around last year. Everyone was asking who's better, them or UNI all the way up to the playoffs.

They beat WIU at Macomb, ISU, and Big Ten opponent Minnesota, then traveled all the way to San Luis Obispo and beat Cal Poly (who y'all are saying will not only make the playoffs, but favored to go deep this year). Is that "perceived strength" or is that reality?

First year in the Valley, and they are favored to win it. That is the vote from all the veteran coaches in the Valley. I think they know a little more than we do.

And yes, #1's lose all the time... then what's the point of this thread. Aren't we discussing who's the #1 conference? xthumbsupx MoValley '08!xthumbsupx

[89Hen]

First year in the Valley, and they are favored to win it. That is the vote from all the veteran coaches in the Valley. I think they know a little more than we do.
xlolx C'mon man, predictions aren't worth the paper on which they are written. Like I said twice now, NDSU and SDSU may turn out to be great teams in the GateValley, but until they have a full season of playing a MUCH tougher schedule than in the past, we will have to wait to see.

The coaches did get UNI right finishing first last year, but they also had Illinois State second, YSU third and SIU fourth. xrulesx

[rudy1648]

Over the last 10 years the SoCon the CAA/A10 have both won 38 playoff games... but in terms of overall strength the CAA has demonstrated far more balance...


ASU - GSU - Furman have 35 of the SoCon's last 38 playoff wins over the past 10 seasons.. that's over 92%

ASU & GSU combine for 31 of the 38.. over 81%



compare that to the CAA where the top three UD - UMass - JMU have 23 of the CAA's last 38 wins... 60%


UD & UMass combine for 19 of 38 wins... 50%

the stats make it very obvious that there is much more competitive balance in the CAA than in the SoCon

The thread is not titled "which conference has the most competitive balance" . It is titled "Colonial DOMINATING Championship Subdivision". I will agree with you that the Colonial has deeper balance, that the SoCon has been dominated by 3 teams in the past. But to say that the CAA is dominating because it has more teams in the playoffs is a flawed assumption. The teams in the SoCon play ever team in the conference, so many of the better teams beat each other up every year. Teams in the CAA do not play every other team in the conference, so often a team can come out with a good looking record, but never has played the top teams. Plus, when a conference has to many teams, that conference would naturally have more teams in the playoffs. I think a better indicator of which conference is dominating the subdivision would be to look at which conference has won that subdivision more over the last 10 years.

[IndianaAppMan]

The thread is not titled "which conference has the most competitive balance" . It is titled "Colonial DOMINATING Championship Subdivision". I will agree with you that the Colonial has deeper balance, that the SoCon has been dominated by 3 teams in the past. But to say that the CAA is dominating because it has more teams in the playoffs is a flawed assumption. The teams in the SoCon play every team in the conference, so many of the better teams beat each other up every year. Teams in the CAA do not play every other team in the conference, so often a team can come out with a good looking record, but never has played the top teams. Plus, when a conference has too many teams, that conference would naturally have more teams in the playoffs. I think a better indicator of which conference is dominating the subdivision would be to look at which conference has won that subdivision more over the last 10 years.

couldn't have said it better myself

[89Hen]

couldn't have said it better myself
Except for the fact it works both ways (sometimes you miss the 'easy' teams). xcoffeex

[Reign of Terrier]

xnodx However, the '03 playoff run was one of the best ever. Even thought the score was somewhat close, Delaware won all four games by the end of the first quarter. xnodx

It took wofford to the third quarter to get beat but otherwise....xbangx xbangx xbangx xbangx xbangx xbangx xbangx xbangx xbangx xbangx THIS THREAD WON'T DIExbangx xbangx xbangx xbangx xbangx xbangx xbangx xbangx xbangx xbangx xbangx ......Is it football season yet?

[furman94]

DIE DIE DIE!

[GP91HEN]

I agree....you can kick around the past all you want, but its time to look forward and play some football ! Settle it on the field.

[BDKJMU]

Don't get me started thinking about how good a few teams could have been without injuries last year. Just looking our situation is amazing (I know there are others)...We lost an NFL prospect at both WR & OL in the first game, an AA DL in game 4, continued on with a gimpy Hightower for the rest of the season after halftime in the UD game, and lost our best DB and an all-CAA DL @Wofford. Last year was the 1st time I've ever seen us be able to overcome a situation like that in 25 years. Normally our 1st team can compete in the CAA but our 2nd team has difficulty. It just seems our players aren't ready until they are starters. It looks like that is changing, and if so maybe we can become a consistent program.


As far as Sherman Logan "AA DL in game 4". He was 3rd team All CAA in 06', and was preseason 1st team ALL CAA in 07'. This season (for those who don't know he got a 6th yr of eligibility with a med redshirt) he's not pre season All CAA. Logan is good, but hardly an All American as of yet.

[JDC325]

By Brian Dale, USA Today

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/colonial/2008-08-06-colonial_N.htm

USA Today is comparing the CAA to the SEC in our respective divisions. Of course we all know that the CAA is the best 1AA Conference top to bottom. USA Today just confirmed that fact. xsmiley_wix

More like the big ten. xcoffeex

[IndianaAppMan]

So the CAA was vastly better than the SoCon? Look at how close some of the other teams were to making the playoffs:

The Citadel played 11 games. They lost an FBS game and beat a DII team, which basically didn't count. That left 9 games to get 7 wins. They took care of business with the OOC games; however, in the SoCon, they ran into problems.
Exact same story for Elon and GSU, except that both those teams beat one of the conference champs.

None of them got 7 DI wins, and it was thanks largely to the strength of the SoCon.

If the reason those teams missed the playoffs wasn't due to the SoCon beating up on itself, then what was?

[IndianaAppMan]

By Brian Dale, USA Today

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/colle...colonial_N.htm

USA Today is comparing the CAA to the SEC in our respective divisions. Of course we all know that the CAA is the best 1AA Conference top to bottom. USA Today just confirmed that fact.

Think about this: App was two plays from missing the playoffs. If Corey Lynch doesn't block the field goal, App's down to 7 DI wins. If App doesn't intercept the pass against the supposedly lowly SoCon team Furman in the final minute, App's down to 6 DI wins.

Ga. Southern, The Citadel, and Elon had to go at least 5-2 in the SoCon if they wanted to have any shot at the playoffs. After all, their games against DII teams (which Delaware does annually) and their losses to FBS teams made that mandatory. Instead, the SoCon beat up on itself, and only 2 teams could make the playoffs.

I suspect that this year Samford will help make the rest of the SoCon's records improve drastically and make it clear how strong the remaining teams really are.

[Go...gate]

xnodx However, the '03 playoff run was one of the best ever. Even thought the score was somewhat close, Delaware won all four games by the end of the first quarter. xnodx

Amen. That was a hell of a club. It's hard to compare so-called "greatest squads ever" but IMO, that one has to be at the very least, sharing the top rung with the great ASU, YSU and GSU teams.

Personally, I also believe that '87 Holy Cross, a the only full 63-scholarship team in PL history, is up there - unfortunately, we will never know for sure because the PL prohibited its champion from participating in the tournament. They were 4-0 against the PL 6-0 against a strong I-AA schedule and 1-0 against I-A. AIR, none of the games they played in were close.

[URMite]

As far as Sherman Logan "AA DL in game 4". He was 3rd team All CAA in 06', and was preseason 1st team ALL CAA in 07'. This season (for those who don't know he got a 6th yr of eligibility with a med redshirt) he's not pre season All CAA. Logan is good, but hardly an All American as of yet.

But I thought he was 1st team All A10 in 05 (and Defensive rookie of the year) after a neck injury in 04(1st med RS). Although who knows what he is now, after another injury. To be honest, he hasn't appeared the same after some reoccuring effects of the first injury that seemed to cause a drop in mobility in 06. He was preseason 3rd team All American by I-aa.org in 06 but that was assuming full mobility, something I don't expect to see again. So I was a bit ambitious assuming in 07 he would back to 05 performance with more experience.

[uni88]

http://www.crackunit.com/wp-content/image_well/pissing.jpg

Is it over yet?

[furman94]

Haha! No kidding! Where is that?

[BDKJMU]

But I thought he was 1st team All A10 in 05 (and Defensive rookie of the year) after a neck injury in 04(1st med RS). Although who knows what he is now, after another injury. To be honest, he hasn't appeared the same after some reoccuring effects of the first injury that seemed to cause a drop in mobility in 06. He was preseason 3rd team All American by I-aa.org in 06 but that was assuming full mobility, something I don't expect to see again. So I was a bit ambitious assuming in 07 he would back to 05 performance with more experience.

Mite, you're right about 05' in him being 1st team All CAA I didn't bother to look at his redshirt soph yr. He's not on any pre season lists this season, All CAA or AA.
http://richmondspiders.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/logan_sherman00.html

[Hoboken Dukes]

That's the goal of the opposing fanbase and their conference mates - to let you know how bad you're gonna suck. xlolx Gotta take that stuff and all the silly predictions in stride.

Last year, according to our esteemed CAA posters, the Richmond running backs, Hightower and Vaughn (I think), were going to run for..oh, about 600 yards on us in the semifinal game. ;) Flacco and Cuff were gonna pass and run for like a grand in the championship game..

Just how it goes. xthumbsupx

i'd imagine they thought that way after they saw jmu march up and down the field on asu until the most untimely of all fumbles.

will be nice to have holloman back and landers on 2 healthy ankles to see if we can replicate the statistical dominance, albeit with a different result.

all credit to asu, 3-peat was very very impressive. but they run into a mack truck this year in the burg.

and when discussing the power of the caa, let's not forget it's the only conf to ever go 4-0 in first round games and have a full 50% of the semifinal participants hail from one conf. being so close to 5-0 last year was very, very disappointing.

[URMite]

Mite, you're right about 05' in him being 1st team All CAA I didn't bother to look at his redshirt soph yr. He's not on any pre season lists this season, All CAA or AA.
http://richmondspiders.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/logan_sherman00.html

My original point was how different we could have been if everyone was healthy. (I'm sure you guys could say the same thing xthumbsupx ) In his case, I guess I was thinking completely healthy.

High school 02, RS 03, Med RS 04, Rookie 05, partial reoccurrence of spinal injury in 06 so 3rd team CAA was pretty good, better but not the same as 05 in 07 for 4 games. So if he makes it through this year, he will still only have 38 regular season games in 6 years.

I don't expect him to be AA this year. I wouldn't be surprised if he was 3rd team again after the season, maybe higher if not playing many games last year helped him recover (wishful thinking). But I think he isn't on any list because he didn't play enough last year and the voters aren't confident enough of his health status (and neither am I).

At least I expect to see one thing. Logan & Sidbury on the field at the same time. In the past, we have mostly had them share one DE spot. I'm not sure why, maybe because the other DE had different strengths and wasn't far behind them.

[JohnStOnge]

I haven't read all the posts so I don't know if someone already said this, but:

The analogy to the SEC in the BCS doesn't work because the SEC has won 4 BCS championships while no other FBS conference has won more than two.

The Colonial (formerly A-10) has three national titles over the past 10 years while the Southern has five. I can't get to collegesportingnews.com right now but if memory serves me the Southern has had a team in the championship game at the end of 7 of the past 10 seasons.

I actually do think that the Colonial/A-10 has been the toughest top to bottom conference in I-AA/FCS over the past 10 years overall. But the SEC/BCS comparison doesn't quite work because the top teams in the Southern have outpaced the top teams in the Colonial/A10. Bottom line is that there is a conference that has done better in terms of getting to and winning the title game of I-AA/FCS than the Colonial/A10 has. That's not true of the BCS and SEC.

You could say that the Big 12 has gotten to 5 BCS championship games to the SEC's four. But the SEC is 4-0 when it's gotten there while the Big 12 is 2-3.

[89Hen]

xoopsx I thought we put this to bed.

[JohnStOnge]

Bottom line is that there's no way it's valid to say the Colonial/A-10 has "dominated" I-AA/FCS when there is a playoff system and another conference has earned more national championships.

[89Hen]

the Colonial/A-10 has "dominated" I-AA/FCS
Agreed. xthumbsupx

[JohnStOnge]

Agreed. xthumbsupx


Uh huh. You know better. You know very well it's not possible to say the Colonial has "dominated" when another conference has won more national titles.

Can you make an argument for being toughest top to bottom? Yes. Can you make an argument for having dominated the subdivision? No way.

[89Hen]

the Colonial has "dominated"
You're preaching to the choir here JSO. xthumbsupx

[89Hen]

Don't feel bad JSO, most people agreed with you...

I believe that the CAA is the best conference

the CAA is the best conference in FCS

Currently it is the CAA

Put me down as saying that, year in and year out recently, the A-10/CAA has been the tougest conference

The CAA has had some impressive "road warrior" teams in the playoffs

the CAA is better than the SoCon

the CAA is dominating

So the CAA was vastly better than the SoCon

xthumbsupx

[89Hen]

And yes furman94... it's still going. :p

[IndianaAppMan]

Don't feel bad JSO, most people agreed with you...









xthumbsupx

xoutofrepx

As much as I disagree with you, I've gotta give you props for going out of your way for that. Totally out of context, but funny! xlolx

[uni88]

xoopsx I thought we put this to bed.

We did. Unfortunately, the kids started fighting again after the grown-ups left the room ...

http://children-family.punchstock.co.uk/images/galleries/childhood-memories/1781306.jpg

:D

[yorkcountyUNHfan]

my god what other web sites to you frequentxsmhx

[Mountaineer]

my god what other web sites to you frequentxsmhx

Are you referencing uni88's picture? If so, I think it says more about you than him. xrolleyesx xeyebrowx

[YoUDeeMan]

We did. Unfortunately, the kids started fighting again after the grown-ups left the room ...

http://children-family.punchstock.co.uk/images/galleries/childhood-memories/1781306.jpg

:D

Wait a minute. With all of the feathers, it is hard to see which two of the SoCon teams you captured in that photo. Is that the third quarter of the Elon-Citadel game? xeekx

:D

[Reign of Terrier]

Wait a minute. With all of the feathers, it is hard to see which two of the SoCon teams you captured in that photo. Is that the third quarter of the Elon-Citadel game? xeekx

:D

It's the citadel's spring gamexlolx xlolx

[uni88]

my god what other web sites to you frequentxsmhx

Do prefer this one?

http://www.fightdump.com/thumbnails/bYh5sUS2.jpg

note: both found using a Google image search for "pillow fight"