OOC 2020 ?

[ccoates]

Villanova won it all in 2009. They've had a Furmanesque fall from prominence (picked 9th in the CAA this year). I think routinely playing the CAA is a must because so many voters and FCS media types consider it the premier conference- or at least one of the power 3.

Even going .500 against CAA foes for 3-4 years would start turning heads. Not only would it increase the likelihood of our getting ranked higher (which I believe we all agree helps our playoffs outlook fair or not), but it also would get us familiar with teams we must best in order to advance to a quarter or semi-final.

Colgate was a great opponent to schedule despite their belonging to a relatively weak (Patriot) conference. But after we clobbered them up in NY 45-14, they wanted badly to avoid the beatdown they'd likely receive in Greenville so they took the bad weather report as an excuse to renege on the home-and-home agreement. Sly move for them, as it allowed the narrative of Colgate being a power (they went 10-1 reg season allowing only 4 defensive touchdowns all year- 2 against a ranked Army team) and received a seed e.i. , first round bye. Granted, they made a last-second FG to beat JMU in the 2nd round, a team that was injury-ridden, had just lost its head coach, and had an uncharacteristic 5 turnovers, but it was still seen by many to be an upset. (Rant over. Maybe.)

So, if we are indeed getting back to the dominance that we used to enjoy, I figure we have just a couple chances to schedule OOC competition against good-but-not-great teams before they realize there's not much to be gained by losing to us. CAA and good Southland teams like JaxSt will soon be our best bet I think.

Of course, if we manage to go 2-0 against FBS this year, we won't get any good OOC to schedule us- and I might be ok with the trade-off

interesting note - Villanova plays Colgate this year first game ! tomorrow

along w Samford v Youngstown state.. go samford/ go SoCon

Villanova thumped Colgate, at Colgate, 34=14.

[AstroDin]

Samford is about to get blown out 24 - 7 Youngstown heading into halftime.

Samford D is getting ripped by the YSU downhill run game. The YSU QB ok runner is eating them alive.
Not a good sign for the DOGS when they face Wofford, Furman, The Citadel, and WCU and Mercer.
Got a feeling they will be in a lot of high scoring games.

[The Jackal]

Samford is about to get blown out 24 - 7 Youngstown heading into halftime.

Samford D is getting ripped by the YSU downhill run game. The YSU QB ok runner is eating them alive.
Not a good sign for the DOGS when they face Wofford, Furman, The Citadel, and WCU and Mercer.
Got a feeling they will be in a lot of high scoring games.

I've noticed a few things

Samford is struggling with a physical downhill run game. YSU is ripping off big chunks on simple counter runs.

Liam Welch, the new Samford QB, looks like a good player, but is not as crisp as Hodges. Notably, he doesn't appear nearly as elusive while running, which was a huge part of Hodge's game.

Samford's offense moves incredibly fast and not entirely efficiently. Samford's defense is going to wilt under a pounding run game if the offense doesn't hold the ball longer.

[Jasper]

I don’t think Welch is in the same universe as Hodges. The whole team looks pretty weak against what I think is a non ranked YSU team. I believe they were something like 4 and 7 last year. Looks to me like Samford is in for a long season.

[gofurman]

I don’t think Welch is in the same universe as Hodges. The whole team looks pretty weak against what I think is a non ranked YSU team. I believe they were something like 4 and 7 last year. Looks to me like Samford is in for a long season.

good - I wish we played them in September before they figure out QB situation. Still, if we are good we should be able to run on them.

[Jasper]

I agree. Apparently they brought in a new QB later in the 2nd half and he drove them to another score. I hope Welch is able to keep his job.

[gofurman]

Yeah. ETSU will haunt us. I recall thinking in 2018 ‘no no stick w your starter’ Lol. Then Mercer did sane thing and the second QB did much better (granted he was supposed to be starting ahead of the first guy. He was just hurt). We need to devise a plan to avoid teams changing QBs. Lol

[Thorny]

We might be the team switching up QBs this year.

Interesting that this year the coaching staff has all but said that they will primarily be leaning on Granger but will likely use Sisson also when last year they weren't even hinting at what was going on with the QBs.

Shiflett likely would be fun out of the wildcat as well.

[apaladin]

We might be the team switching up QBs this year.

Interesting that this year the coaching staff has all but said that they will primarily be leaning on Granger but will likely use Sisson also when last year they weren't even hinting at what was going on with the QBs.

Shiflett likely would be fun out of the wildcat as well.

IMHO it will be Grainger all the way unless something unforeseen happens. Will only see Sisson when games are either in hand or out of hand.

[Jasper]

Possible but I don't think so.