FB: Middle Atlantic Conference

[bill]

Also, as you can see from jmcozenlaw and my own posts on this board, we can see speculation developing about a new conference forming with Stevenson, Salisbury, Frostburg St, McDaniel, Hood, John Hopkins (Hopeful would joins too), Wesley, a few Virginia schools, and maybe a PA school too. What are your thoughts?

The conference talk is fun...but I think it would be a cold day in hell before Hopkins joins a conference like that. No offense meant to any of the prospective schools - but I can't fathom a Hopkins president/board of trustees going for anything like that. It' also why Hopkins maintained its affiliation with the UAA for so long....

Back to the MAC - I do know Shenandoah was a target back in the mid 2000's... but I'm not sure that's still on the table. I think that ship sailed...

[tweisman5]

tweisman - Some have more of an "inside track" to information, but nobody has the market cornered. When Jason states that Wesley will be in the NJAC, it is an opinion, and they probably will be for several years to come. The NJAC, like many other conferences in the Northeast, will undergo changes over time, it's just a matter of how much change and who it affects.

I happen to know, from very firsthand accounts (feasibility studies, fundraising, etc.) that DeSales, Messiah, Arcadia, Eastern and a few other schools have looked at adding football. Most will not (will not name names here). One will. Two might. That's about it. You may very well see that 12 team MAC and a championship game, but not for several years.

This is my opinion, based on facts as I know them, and how the conference shuffle spins down the road is anybody's guess. If anybody, and I do mean anybody thinks they know......they don't.

Jmcozenlaw:

I'm glad to hear your okay after that accident. I enjoy your insightful posts as it seems you are more informed than people realize. I completely understood that nobody truly knows everything unless they are running point on operations, but I was curious to hear either what others opinions are or maybe some inside rumbles they may have heard. It seems like you definitely are closer to those rumblings than others may believe.

I'm not surprised other institutions have thought about sponsoring football, but I'm intrigued to see who would be next to get this conference to 12 members and finally have a conference championship. I'm curious to see the schedule setup for when it does happen. My hunch would be two divisions of six teams. Each team would play the other 5 divisional opponents, a permanent crossover conference opponent, 2 rotational cross division opponents, and a non conference opponent. The final week (Championship Weekend) would match division #1 vs division #1, division #2 vs. division #2, and etc. I believe the Midwest conference does something similar their final week. This ensures every team plays a 10 game schedule with 9 conference games total.

Below is what I think would be a likely divisional setup as it already would follow the conference setup for other sports:

MAC Commonwealth

• Stevenson
• Widener
• Albright
• Lycoming
• Lebanon Valley
• Alvernia

MAC Freedom

• Delaware Valley
• King's
• FDU Florham
• Misericordia
• Wilkes
• 12th MAC Member

What is everyone's thoughts?

[bman]

A car accident and a few broken bones kept yours truly from his week five predictions last week.....................but I do have a prediction or three for the 18 year old kid who was texting while driving and crossed the center line. Cha-Ching!!!

Week Six Predictions:

Lycosimba - 37     FDU - 20     This might be the game that brings Simba out of the witness protection program!!
King's - 40      Miserables - 33     Miser looks like they've found a QB.................King's is ticked for choking up the 24-7 lead at home last week.
Widenerbman - 47     Wilkes - 13     The misery in Wilkes Barre continues!!

Albright - 20     DelVal - 16     My preseason #1 nips my preseason #3 at home. The kicking game factors in large!

Eagles - 27     Cardinals - 17     3-1 and at the top of the NFC East.......who would have thought it missing half of the defensive starters!

JM...Drive carefully amigo...and heal quickly!

I haven't had time to post much this year, but time for some predictions...

Lycoming 24- FDU 14           Lyco is still young, but FDU won't have enough, unless Lyco lets them in the game...
Kings 42 - Miseracordia 14    Le Mis has a win under it's belt, but number two will not be this week...
Widener 28 Wilkes 7             WU O has not shown much, so not expecting much here...the WUs O is light years worse than the team that put up 90 on Wilkes a few years ago
Del Val 35 Albright 21          WU shut down the Albright O, and I expect Del Val will too.

F'Burg 38  Wesley 35           Just a hunch

Eagles 24  Arizona 21          This will be closer than people think

[tweisman5]

Below are my week 6 predictions and rankings. The spread (-#) is provided by Massey Ratings and the top 25 rankings are from the Hansen Ratings composite. Good luck to everyone this week!

Week 6 Predictions

King's (-7.5) @ Misericordia: King's wins by 10

#14 Del Val (-8.5) @ Albright: Albright wins by 3 

FDU @ Lycoming (-17.5): Lycoming wins by 20

Widener (-20.5) @ Wilkes: Widener wins by 23

Week 6 Rankings
1. Del Val (5-0, 4-0)
2. Stevenson (3-2, 3-1)
3. Albright (5-0, 4-0)
4. Widener (3-2, 3-1)
5. Lycoming (2-3, 2-2)
6. King's (2-3, 1-3)
7. Leb Val (2-3, 2-2)
8. Misericordia (1-4, 1-3)
9. FDU (1-4, 0-4)
10. Wilkes (0-5, 0-4)

Prediction Record
Week 5: 5-0 (1.000)
Season: 20-10 (.667)

[kate]

Congratulation Del Val - Aggies 41/Albright 6!

[kate]

Please make that huge "Congratulations"!!!

[bman]

Below are my week 6 predictions and rankings. The spread (-#) is provided by Massey Ratings and the top 25 rankings are from the Hansen Ratings composite. Good luck to everyone this week!

Week 6 Predictions

King's (-7.5) @ Misericordia: King's wins by 10

#14 Del Val (-8.5) @ Albright: Albright wins by 3 

FDU @ Lycoming (-17.5): Lycoming wins by 20

Widener (-20.5) @ Wilkes: Widener wins by 23

Week 6 Rankings
1. Del Val (5-0, 4-0)
2. Stevenson (3-2, 3-1)
3. Albright (5-0, 4-0)
4. Widener (3-2, 3-1)
5. Lycoming (2-3, 2-2)
6. King's (2-3, 1-3)
7. Leb Val (2-3, 2-2)
8. Misericordia (1-4, 1-3)
9. FDU (1-4, 0-4)
10. Wilkes (0-5, 0-4)

Prediction Record
Week 5: 5-0 (1.000)
Season: 20-10 (.667)

Tweis
I am very interested to see if your rankings of Stevenson and Albright hold water.  Before the demolition of Albright this weekend, I would have reduced your Stevenson ranking to "homerism", but now I'm not so sure...I guess because Stevenson loss to Del Val was "less worse" than Albrights, I don't have as much of a disagreement with the placement.  However, at face value, I feel icky that you rank a 2 loss team over a 1 loss team, especially when the 2 loss team doesn't have a win over a quality opponent.  I guess the acid test will be the Albright and Widener games.
Anyway, nice job on the rankings (keep em coming!), and hopefully you can generate some more discourse on the board....

[tweisman5]

Below are my week 6 predictions and rankings. The spread (-#) is provided by Massey Ratings and the top 25 rankings are from the Hansen Ratings composite. Good luck to everyone this week!

Week 6 Predictions

King's (-7.5) @ Misericordia: King's wins by 10

#14 Del Val (-8.5) @ Albright: Albright wins by 3 

FDU @ Lycoming (-17.5): Lycoming wins by 20

Widener (-20.5) @ Wilkes: Widener wins by 23

Week 6 Rankings
1. Del Val (5-0, 4-0)
2. Stevenson (3-2, 3-1)
3. Albright (5-0, 4-0)
4. Widener (3-2, 3-1)
5. Lycoming (2-3, 2-2)
6. King's (2-3, 1-3)
7. Leb Val (2-3, 2-2)
8. Misericordia (1-4, 1-3)
9. FDU (1-4, 0-4)
10. Wilkes (0-5, 0-4)

Prediction Record
Week 5: 5-0 (1.000)
Season: 20-10 (.667)

Tweis
I am very interested to see if your rankings of Stevenson and Albright hold water.  Before the demolition of Albright this weekend, I would have reduced your Stevenson ranking to "homerism", but now I'm not so sure...I guess because Stevenson loss to Del Val was "less worse" than Albrights, I don't have as much of a disagreement with the placement.  However, at face value, I feel icky that you rank a 2 loss team over a 1 loss team, especially when the 2 loss team doesn't have a win over a quality opponent.  I guess the acid test will be the Albright and Widener games.
Anyway, nice job on the rankings (keep em coming!), and hopefully you can generate some more discourse on the board....

Bman

Glad to see your posts again! I'm always glad to have engaging discussions on the board. Regarding your post, I admit to the struggle of "homerism" as most fans due too. I always strive to be as objective as I can, but the struggle is real. Also, I agree with the ill visual of a 2 loss above a 1 loss team that has a quality win. My case though essential had to come down to common opponent. The margin of victory Stevenson had against King's compared to Albright's was a key point to figure out the floor for both teams. Furthermore, I have been able to observe the many self inflicted errors Stevenson had against 2 top 25 opponents, which gave me confidence how relatively close they were to notching a quality win. I can't speak to the play-by-play of Albright so far during the season, but I'll note the separate of my rankings between 2 and 3 wasn't significant. I'm intrigued to see how Stevenson performs this month against both Albright and Widener. It will be a real tough 2 weeks, but will be a good gauge.

I look forward to hear further input and discussion from you bman. I'm hopeful to see this board return to life again!

[jknezek]

Albright making news today. This was also on ESPN. http://www.readingeagle.com/sports/article/college-football-albright-player-dismissed-from-team-for-kneeling-during-anthem

[bman]

Albright making news today. This was also on ESPN. http://www.readingeagle.com/sports/article/college-football-albright-player-dismissed-from-team-for-kneeling-during-anthem

Looks like this was the players decision (or at least a committee of them), and not Albright's decision...a shame for the player that took a stand, but at least he was informed of the consequences prior to his actions... 

[D3MAFAN]

Albright making news today. This was also on ESPN. http://www.readingeagle.com/sports/article/college-football-albright-player-dismissed-from-team-for-kneeling-during-anthem

Looks like this was the players decision (or at least a committee of them), and not Albright's decision...a shame for the player that took a stand, but at least he was informed of the consequences prior to his actions...

Yes, truly unfortunate that he would be kicked off the team. 

[MRMIKESMITH]

Albright making news today. This was also on ESPN. http://www.readingeagle.com/sports/article/college-football-albright-player-dismissed-from-team-for-kneeling-during-anthem

Looks like this was the players decision (or at least a committee of them), and not Albright's decision...a shame for the player that took a stand, but at least he was informed of the consequences prior to his actions...

Yes, truly unfortunate that he would be kicked off the team.

I am thinking he was dismissed not because he kneeled, but because he went against a team vote. If he disagreed initially with the vote, he should have told them so and that he felt compelled to do so, then the team would not have been shocked, which would have allowed them acknowledge and empathize with their teammate. However, it is unfortunate that he was kicked off, I thought a game suspension would have been enough. It still not going to go well for Albright. I am curious if other players shared the same sentiment.

[tweisman5]

Below are my week 7 predictions and rankings. The spread (-#) is provided by Massey Ratings and the top 25 rankings are from the Hansen Ratings composite. Good luck to everyone this week!

Week 7 Predictions

Lycoming @ Widener (-3.5): Widener wins by 4

King's @ #7 Del Val (-28.5): Del Val wins by 27   

Stevenson (-16.5) @ Leb Val: Stevenson wins by 23

Week 7 Rankings
1. Del Val (6-0, 5-0)
2. Stevenson (3-2, 3-1)
3. Albright (5-1, 4-1)
4. Widener (4-2, 4-1)
5. Lycoming (3-3, 3-2)
6. King's (3-3, 2-3)
7. Leb Val (2-3, 2-2)
8. Misericordia (1-5, 1-4)
9. FDU (1-5, 0-5)
10. Wilkes (0-6, 0-5)

Prediction Record
Last Week: 3-1 (.750)
Season: 23-11 (.676)

[jmcozenlaw]

JM...Drive carefully amigo...and heal quickly!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks my friend!!

[jmcozenlaw]

A car accident and a few broken bones kept yours truly from his week five predictions last week.....................but I do have a prediction or three for the 18 year old kid who was texting while driving and crossed the center line. Cha-Ching!!!

Week Six Predictions:

Lycosimba - 37     FDU - 20     This might be the game that brings Simba out of the witness protection program!!
King's - 40      Miserables - 33     Miser looks like they've found a QB.................King's is ticked for choking up the 24-7 lead at home last week.
Widenerbman - 47     Wilkes - 13     The misery in Wilkes Barre continues!!

Albright - 20     DelVal - 16     My preseason #1 nips my preseason #3 at home. The kicking game factors in large!

Eagles - 27     Cardinals - 17     3-1 and at the top of the NFC East.......who would have thought it missing half of the defensive starters!

JM, I love your predictions, but I see little to no chance that Albright beats Del Val.  2 teams playing at different levels at this point.

Wesleydad, you were spot on about the DelVal vs. Albright game. Myself and tweisman had it completely wrong. I did not see the complete dismantling that occurred. With all of the social media chirping that was coming from the Albright side in the week leading up to the game.......no wonder the Aggies put their foot on Albright's collective throat!!