FB: Middle Atlantic Conference

[Pat Coleman]

They are non-scholarship.

Iona went 0-2 against Division III schools last year (Montclair State and Western Connecticut).

[pg04]

Isn't Iona FCS non-scholarship?  Does anyone know for sure?

Correct

Is it just TGP or isn't a 2 pt loss by DVC to Iona (a FCS school - basically 2 divisions up) kind of impressive? 

I didnt think of it as a negative thing when I did my East Region top 10

That's debatable. 

Is it just TGP or isn't a 2 pt loss by DVC to Iona (a FCS school - basically 2 divisions up) kind of impressive? 

No.

[labart96]

Wow - TGP needs to do his homework.

[PBR...]

MAC is WIDE OPEN this year...no one at this point imho is a front runner....teams that are starting to impress pbr are salisbury and wesley...their football programs seem to be really strong and on the upswing. gordon pbr got the second half of the broadcast on the internet sounds like they really missed sheffield. w/o a threat of a running game they just released the hounds on isgro. it twas the weekend of upsets and losses....mac took it big on the chin, rochester had a surprising loss, rowan goes down and me-cheat-again goes down in flames to app st. ....bring on the irish to happy valley!!!  psu has a little payback waiting for uncle chuck when  he pulled the classless moves and ran it up on joe last year....pbr knows several players and this date has been circled on the calendar since the game last year.

[WUDLINE]

Should'nt the teams from the MAC get credit for playing tougher schedules. They could have filled their open dates with easier opponent. I think you would be hard pressed to find a team with a tougher out of conference schedule than Widener.  Also, Gordonman, I would not bet that everyone in the MAC will be 0-3 out of conference.

[rams1102]

Should'nt the teams from the MAC get credit for playing tougher schedules. They could have filled their open dates with easier opponent. I think you would be hard pressed to find a team with a tougher out of conference schedule than Widener.  Also, Gordonman, I would not bet that everyone in the MAC will be 0-3 out of conference.

Check out Montclair, Rowan and B-Ports Schedules !!!

[Pat Coleman]

Should'nt the teams from the MAC get credit for playing tougher schedules. They could have filled their open dates with easier opponent. I think you would be hard pressed to find a team with a tougher out of conference schedule than Widener. 

Christopher Newport
Hardin-Simmons
Montclair State

... off the top of my head.

[WUDLINE]

Pat-
When scheduled Wesley and Rowan were both ranked in the top 10 and NC wesleyan was picked to finish first in their conference ahead of Christopher Newport. Also,  NC Weslyan played Wesley very tough

[Pat Coleman]

When scheduled is cool and all. When played is what counts, of course.

Did you look at the non-conference games for the teams I cited at all, by the way?

[pg04]

Have you looked at Brockport as well?  They have 3 top 10 teams (teams that will probably be top 10 when they play them, as well.)

I think toughest schedule is subjective (obviously), CNU's is obviously very hard and I think it's impossible to argue for and against it. 

[WUDLINE]

Pat -
I did look at the teams you mentioned and in my opinion Widener and Christopher Newport are equal.
- Both teams play Rowan.
- Mary Hardin @ 4 and Wesley @ 7 is a wash
- and NC Wesleyan currently ranked ahead of Salisbury.

I personally feel that Widener's three are more difficult then Wilkes, Wesley, and Springfield. By your standards Wilkes is no longer ranked.

I am not saying that Widener is the only team with a difficult non conference schedule. In my opinion their schedule is a difficult as most. I feel that they deserve credit for searching out tough opponents.

[gordonmann]

WUDLine:

I agree with you on crediting the MAC teams for scheduling tough.  Coaches Sheptock and Mannello at Wilkes and King's respectively told me they were intentionally going to schedule as tough as possible.  Wood has put together one of the hardest schedules in Division III and Del Val's isn't easy either considering they play Wes and Salisbury on the road.

I don't think all the MAC teams will go 0-3 but there aren't many "sure-things" out there.

[PBR...]

pbr gives kudos to all the teams who schedule tough ooc games....should prepare teams well for whoever makes the playoffs. plus it gives people a chance to see teams they dont normally see. the question for pbr is did lyco struggle that much or is ithaca pretty good or a combination of both.

[JQV]

pbr gives kudos to all the teams who schedule tough ooc games....should prepare teams well for whoever makes the playoffs. plus it gives people a chance to see teams they dont normally see. the question for pbr is did lyco struggle that much or is ithaca pretty good or a combination of both.

Probably a little of both PBR.  Maybe someone that was in attendance can verify this but the radio broadcast and box score made it sound like IC just dominated the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball.  Juvan was just standing in the backfield patting the ball looking for the open man while Lyco's QB/RBs were running for life on every snap.

Not sure what that says about either team.

[formerwu]

Tough opening week for the MAC.  Everyone went down in flames.

I feel these tough out of conference games will hurt the MAC in the short term, but will strengthen the conference as a whole.  I'm a big proponent of playing up to your competition.  It might not be a win this year, but down the road the MAC will get stronger.

Go WU.