FB: Middle Atlantic Conference

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

I'm glad they are still going to play each other. My understanding is that was left up to the individual schools who aren't scheduled to play each other in conference this year.

That was my understanding as well. Basically, here is your conference schedule. If there is a conference team you want to play, you are welcome to play them in your "non-conference" schedule if you would like. It just won't have any affect on standings and such.

[bman]

I get it.   But I feel that certain teams should always play each other due to the history.

It's like saying "Well Army-Navy" won't count this year....

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

I get it.   But I feel that certain teams should always play each other due to the history.

It's like saying "Well Army-Navy" won't count this year....

To be clear, Army-Navy isn't a conference game in football. Army is independent and Navy is in a conference (after being independent). They play for the Commander and Chief trophy (along with the Army-Navy Star series involving all sports, but they don't have any conference affiliation in football.

All other sports they are in the Patriot League together.

The Lycoming-Wilkes game will still count as a game, it just won't have any conference implications. When you have a rotating schedule based on strength (to help the top of the conference), it makes it far more difficult to throw in most-played rivalries. They are willing to play when it won't count for conference action... that is great.

[bman]

I get it.   But I feel that certain teams should always play each other due to the history.

It's like saying "Well Army-Navy" won't count this year....

To be clear, Army-Navy isn't a conference game in football. Army is independent and Navy is in a conference (after being independent). They play for the Commander and Chief trophy (along with the Army-Navy Star series involving all sports, but they don't have any conference affiliation in football.

All other sports they are in the Patriot League together.

The Lycoming-Wilkes game will still count as a game, it just won't have any conference implications. When you have a rotating schedule based on strength (to help the top of the conference), it makes it far more difficult to throw in most-played rivalries. They are willing to play when it won't count for conference action... that is great.

Perhaps Army-Navy was a bad example when discussing conference play, I only meant to highlight the depth of the rivalry...and btw, I didn't realize that Lyco-Wilkes was a rivalry...

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Either did I (rivalry)... I was just playing along.

[Pat Coleman]

Either did I (rivalry)... I was just playing along.

He's saying you said Wilkes instead of Widener.

[tweisman5]

2018 MAC OOC Games

Week 1:
Alvernia vs. Gallaudet
Del Val @ Wesley
King's @ Moravian
Lycoming vs. Susquehana
Misericordia vs. Merchant Marine
Stevenson vs. Frostburg State
Widener vs. Rowan
Wilkes vs. Hartwick
FDU vs. TCNJ
Leb Val @ Franklin & Marshall
Albright @ Salisbury

Week 2:
Albright vs. UMHB
Del Val @ Mass-Dartmouth
Leb Val vs. Wilkes
Lycoming @ Widener
Stevenson @ Bridgewater
FDU @ William Paterson

Week 3:
King's vs. Hartwick

Week 5:
*Misericordia vs. Castleton*

Week 11:
Alvernia @ University of New England

My Take:
The MAC has several quality matchups. The most enticing OOC schedule is Albright. When you evaluate their first three weeks it will be very telling what Albright team we'll see this season. Del Val's matchup against Wesley has always been intriguing; however, this matchup is more compelling for unfortunate reasons as Wesley's HC passed away. That game will be filled with heavy hearts for everyone playing and watching, but the talent on the field will be eventful as well. Stevenson's game against Frostburg will be intriguing to follow as last year's final score wasn't as straightforward as one would be lead to believe. I expect my Mustang to show up much better this time! Finally, the impact of the conference scaling back to eight conference games is already producing interesting schedules as the Lycoming @ Widener matchup won't be marked as an official conference game. These games are some of the highlights I pulled from the composite OOC schedule.

*_____*: Updated schedule to include last missing OOC game.

[tweisman5]

A new tidbit I discovered recently is the MAC conference matchups in 2018 will remain for 2019 as well. This is interesting as the Lycoming vs. Widener matchup goes another year not marked as a conference game. I'm curious to see if another conference member joins before the 2020 schedule is set.

[tweisman5]

Happy August 1st! It's the day I consider the unofficial start to the football season as teams start to conduct preseason camp preparing for the start of the season. As such, I feel this is a great moment to start up the board discussion for the 2018 season. To kickstart the preseason I think a good hearty discussion would be to post an over/under for each conference team. So after scouring across the internet and compiling estimated W's for each team, I've constructed the conference 2018 season over/under. I'm excited to see how this season unfolds and would like to welcome Alvernia to their first season of MAC football!

2018 MAC Football OVER/UNDER

Albright (4.5) OVER
Alvernia (1.5) UNDER
Del Val (8.5) UNDER
FDU (3.5) OVER
King's (4.5) UNDER
Leb Val (4.5) UNDER
Lycoming (5.5) OVER
Misericordia (2.5) OVER
Stevenson (5.5) OVER
Widener (6.5) OVER
Wilkes (2.5) UNDER 

[bman]

Happy August 1st! It's the day I consider the unofficial start to the football season as teams start to conduct preseason camp preparing for the start of the season. As such, I feel this is a great moment to start up the board discussion for the 2018 season. To kickstart the preseason I think a good hearty discussion would be to post an over/under for each conference team. So after scouring across the internet and compiling estimated W's for each team, I've constructed the conference 2018 season over/under. I'm excited to see how this season unfolds and would like to welcome Alvernia to their first season of MAC football!

2018 MAC Football OVER/UNDER

Albright (4.5) OVER
Alvernia (1.5) UNDER
Del Val (8.5) UNDER
FDU (3.5) OVER
King's (4.5) UNDER
Leb Val (4.5) UNDER
Lycoming (5.5) OVER
Misericordia (2.5) OVER
Stevenson (5.5) OVER
Widener (6.5) OVER
Wilkes (2.5) UNDER

I like it!   My take:
Albright (4.5) OVER - why 4.5?  They were good last year....I would think the line would be 6
Alvernia (1.5) UNDER Misericordia finally has someone to dominate!
Del Val (8.5) OVER  The machine keeps rolling on...
FDU (3.5) OVER - but barely
King's (4.5) UNDER - I never know which Kings team will show up year to year...
Leb Val (4.5) OVER  I can't disrespect Warren!
Lycoming (5.5) UNDER
Misericordia (2.5) UNDER  Nope....
Stevenson (5.5) OVER  HAS to be over - TW is being falsely modest here... line should be 6.5
Widener (6.5) OVER
Wilkes (2.5) UNDER  Still can't figure out how this program has sunk this low...

[Pat Coleman]

Albright lost a ton.

[bman]

Albright lost a ton.

But they had a great recruiting class as well.  I'm sticking by the 6 wins...

[tweisman5]

Albright lost a ton.

But they had a great recruiting class as well.  I'm sticking by the 6 wins...

If you look at Albright's OOC schedule it's by far one of the toughest in the nation. Then throw in conference heavyweights Del Val, Stevenson, and Widener makes getting to 6 wins a good season for Albright this year.

[Pat Coleman]

Albright lost a ton.

But they had a great recruiting class as well.  I'm sticking by the 6 wins...

Counting on freshmen who have had 19 D-III practices ... hmm

[bman]

Albright lost a ton.

But they had a great recruiting class as well.  I'm sticking by the 6 wins...

Counting on freshmen who have had 19 D-III practices ... hmm

Not at all.  I just think that the program is going in the right direction now.   Given that and the taste of success recently, and 3 (pretty much automatic wins on the schedule) winning 3 additional games might not be an unanswerable call.