FB: Conference of New England

[Blutarsky]

Curry is a good football team, but the league is catching up and they are not getting better. Despite the NCAA win last season they are not getting better and it is all about the athletes they have. They are unsound in so many things they do because they had a better athlete.

As other teams get better recruiting classes and get the same athlete Curry has, they are going to be in for a big surprise. They no longer will be able to blitz and play man on a every play. It's only a matter of time.

Prove it.

Didnt Plymouth do that?
Manhandled them.

Didn't Curry win the NEFC for the past 6 years?

Oct. 25  1:00 PM  at Plymouth State * •  L, 28-17   

Curry lost this game at PState last year and PState deserves credit for the win no doubt. Yet Curry still sits on top until Pstate or another NEFC team makes a run like Curry has the past six years and/or wins at least one NCAA playoff game (which I don't see happening anytime soon). You just can't **** with a 37-3 record in conference thats all. For that purple drank to have fought through so much doubt from all around D3 football for the past three/four years and then to be questioned as not dominating their own conference is crazy.

Ahh yes, but of course.  Don't mind LD, he is extremely hungover on this fine Monday morning.  Regardless, 1 loss in the Championship game doesn't mean the league has caught up.  From my understanding, Plymouth had a pretty good team last year, but looks to be a one-year wonder.

1 Year Wonder?  I am reading through the past few posts, and to see how many feel that Curry is historically the New England power?  I can remember a time not too long ago when Plymouth State was a dominant FFC member that needed to travel to upstate NY, and NJ for out of conference games because the NEFC squads left much to be desired. 

They did have a few down season earlier this decade, but winning the NEFC last season shouldn't be a surprise.  It was just a matter of time. 

dlippiel hears ya panther pride but no one in that division can **** with  Curry's accomplishments in the past 6-7 years. To say because PState won the title last year they are the new power in the NEFC is simply wrong (not saying you said that). Hence Pstate losing to Cortland last year and Curry beating Ithaca at Ithaca made it clear to dlippiel that Curry is on top and they have not been knocked off yet. Would dlippiel like to see some parity in the NEFC? Absolutely, dlippiel would like to see the NEFC grow in strength and provide the East with more depth. When you look at Curry's record and the fact that they are the only NEFC team to win 1 let alone 2 NCAA games the discussion of them not ruling the NEFC is moot.

Well put, Young Wiseman.....

I see what panther pride is saying though.  Although you can't argue that Plymouth is the best NE team the last 10 years, I wouldn't call them a one year wonder.  They were better than Curry last year.  They beat them and both teams got smoked by an average Cortland team.  (Ok, maybe above average, but I was not impressed with them).

Plymouth St. has the potential to be a top team in the NEFC. 

Definetly agree with you 3 guys. Definetly great to see a program like PSC correct whatever was holding them down for 4 years or whatever it was. Glad they are off the mat and making a name for themselves again. Beating Curry 1 year was a statement.....BUT they have to keep beating Curry AND beat some LL/E8/NJAC teams in OOC games/NCAAs or ECACs to be able to say that they are truly a regional power. They have been there before so it is certainly possible. But still too early to go that far......

My main point is that Plymouth State has only been in the NEFC for a few years.  If you want to talk NEFC history, look no further than the White Mountains....9 out of 10 NEFC titles in the 80's.  When Curry has a run like that we can talk a little more about history.  We are also talking about a program that carried the highest all-time D3 program winning % into 2000 and what became a low in the program to start this decade. 

They will compete year in and year out.....because of that Panther Pride.

This is a big year for Plymouth. They NEED to prove that they can lose players and still win year in and year out. That is what they did in the 80's, parts of the 90's and up until about 2001 I believe? If they can win the NEFC this year they will have gone a long way towards that. But Curry winning it 6 years in a row shows that they are a quality program because they refuel, they dont rebuild. This is the step that Plymouth has to take now.
We all understand your point pantherpride and I think you are seeing that we agree with you BUT you are putting the cart in front of the horse a little bit here. Plymouth still has a lot to prove.

The fact that this is a discussion shows that the program isnt what it once was. Remember when Don Brown was the coach there? Man, domination was the word!

I understand there is work to do.  It is hard not to take into consideration the way we were playing when I was there in the mid to late 90's.  Don Brown was the man, and now that he is Maryland's D- Coordinator, we know we had something special going on up there.  When Curry rolls into Bentley on their homecoming while Bently is the cream of the crop in The NE 10, as we did in '99 I'd be impressed.

This should be another interesting season all across D3.  It can't come soon enough.

......just wanted to extend the life of the longest quote in D3 Board history.

[Boxer7806]

NLNG,

It was not my intention to make you upset with my opinions, but you basically proved my point all along agreeing with the all the losses you have. Despite those losses, i feel Plymouth still has a chance to do some damage in the Boyd division. Even the top dog Curry has suffered some key losses at WR, QB, and the rest of the division seems to be on the down except for Salve and Endicott.

Endicott and Salve should be interesting to watch this year, both return all thier major players and performed well at the end of the year. My pick is for Endicott to sneak up on everyone because they return almost all of thier D including that D end Egen and thier QB and RB Lane who really came on late last year. I feel those specific players give Endicott the edge over Salve... but not over Curry.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say Endicott will finish second to Curry in the division and they will beat Plymouth head to head... i just feel the experience coming back for Endicott and Salve, and the losses of Plymouth, that one or both of those teams will beat Plymouth this year.

[pumkinattack]

Kickoff thinks that RPI has to worry about getting by Endicott in the early OOC. 

[Boxer7806]

Kickoff might be on to something...

As i mention before Endicott is returning a ton on both of sides of the ball and has talent at the skill positions. I think RPI will get by them but it won't be as easy as it was in the past.

[vttanker]

The coaches poll for the NEFC.  Looks like it came out on 19 August.

Curry College and Bridgewater State College have been selected as the pre-season favorites in the Boyd Division and the Bogan Division of the New England Football Conference, in a poll conducted among conference coaches. Curry was also tabbed by the coaches as the pre-season favorite to earn the Conference's automatic Bid to the 2009 NCAA Division III Championship Tournament.

Curry received six first place votes in the Boyd Division followed by Plymouth State University, the 2008 Boyd Division Champion, which had two.  In the Bogan, Bridgewater captured five first place nods, with the other three going to 2008 Division Champion Maine Maritime Academy.

13 of the 16 conference coaches put forth their selections for the eventual Conference champion with Curry receiving nine votes, Plymouth State receiving two votes, and Maine Maritime and Bridgewater State each being named on one ballot.

The NEFC will kickoff the 2009 season on Thursday, September 3 when Massachusetts Maritime Academy hosts SUNY Maritime at 7:00pm.  The Conference championship game, pitting the champions of the Bogan and Boyd Divisions, will be held on Saturday, November 13 at noon at the site of the Boyd Division Champion.


The results:

Bogan Division

1. Bridgewater State College
2. Maine Maritime Academy
3. Westfield State College
4. U.S. Coast Guard Academy
5. Fitchburg State College (tie)
5. Worcester State College (tie)
7. Framingham State College
8. Massachusetts Maritime Academy     

Boyd Division

1. Curry College
2. Plymouth State College
3. Salve Regina University
4. Endicott College
5. UMass Dartmouth
6. MIT
7. Nichols
8. Western New England College

[Boxer7806]

the polls are pretty much what i thought they would be... should be interesting year

[InTheMix]

I agree that Salve will be a team to watch out for. They have been a little up and down the past few years, but at the end of last year it looked like they were getting into a groove.

As much as I would like to back up the Endicott selections I have a hard time doing so. Lately they have been lacking leaders on the team. The Gulls always seem to be stout on defense, but if they can't score points (which seems to be the problem) they can't win games.

I look for EC to finish middle of the pack, not beating Curry, or Plymouth State, but hopefully not losing to Framingham State again

[Boxer7806]

We will see what happens this year with  Endicott, but the O is coming around and they had some late production last year

The Framingham loss must of been tough but Framingham was a .500 team who beat Coast Guard to end the year... still I'm not as high on Framingham as others from the division... losing thier QB is going to hurt them...

Not as high on Westfield as I was last year as well, they lost thier QB a good WR and some really good LB.

Its going to be Maine and Bridgwater on this Bogan side, with the edge to Maine b/c Bridgewater lost that RB Burley...

[gordonmann]

Boxer:

You asked for thoughts on the Curry-Widener game on the MAC board which I posted there. 

That is a great early test for both teams.

For Curry, it's a chance to show that its recent post season success is a product of a strong program and not soley the accomplishments of a couple strong graduating classes.  I really liked the Colonels' quarterback Van De Giesen, who will be tough to replace.  A win for Curry would emphasize that this program is legit at a regional level and deflate skepticism that Curry's success is the product of a weaker conference schedule.

For Widener, it's a chance to show that they were underrated in the conference preseason poll where they placed 5th.  I was impressed by their quarterback Al Humes and wide receiver Marcus Payton who transferred into the program last year, but they aren't listed on the 2009 roster.  Ian Decker is a nice running back and Michael Penna is a talented tight end, but they'll need some help.

[AUKaz00]

Anyone know if Mass-Dartmouth streams audio or video for their home games?  I'm gonna assume they don't since I don't see any links on the d3football scoreboard, but I was hoping it just wasn't posted yet.

[gordonmann]

AU:

Schools post their own links to our scoreboard.  So the absence of the links doesn't necessarily signal the absence of a broadcast, just that it hasn't been added to our board.

That said, I skimmed the Mass-Dartmouth website and didn't see anything specifically mentioned for Saturday.  UMD has had basketball broadcasts in the past (which I've enjoyed) and has a web page to which those broadcasts have been linked.

http://www.corsairathletics.com/multimedia/masd-multimedia.html

I encourage you to email the Sports Information Director to see what their plans are.

[PBR...]

AU:

Schools post their own links to our scoreboard.  So the absence of the links doesn't necessarily signal the absence of a broadcast, just that it hasn't been added to our board.

That said, I skimmed the Mass-Dartmouth website and didn't see anything specifically mentioned for Saturday.  UMD has had basketball broadcasts in the past (which I've enjoyed) and has a web page to which those broadcasts have been linked.

http://www.corsairathletics.com/multimedia/masd-multimedia.html

I encourage you to email the Sports Information Director to see what their plans are.

gordon will u be calling the dvc games as well as providing a link for those who may/may not be able to make the dvc game?

[gordonmann]

Yep.  I've posted the audio link off our scoreboard for all Del Val's games and will post the link on the MAC board later this week.

Looking forward to Saturday.

[Gray Fox]

 Be nice to Coast Guard.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3Z52GKONPc

[AUKaz00]

AU:

Schools post their own links to our scoreboard.  So the absence of the links doesn't necessarily signal the absence of a broadcast, just that it hasn't been added to our board.

That said, I skimmed the Mass-Dartmouth website and didn't see anything specifically mentioned for Saturday.  UMD has had basketball broadcasts in the past (which I've enjoyed) and has a web page to which those broadcasts have been linked.

http://www.corsairathletics.com/multimedia/masd-multimedia.html

I encourage you to email the Sports Information Director to see what their plans are.

Thanks for the push, Gordon.  Here's the relevant part of the response I got from UMD:

"The game will be shot for local television, so we should be able to use that for the stream as we did last season.

Keep an eye on the Corsair Live page on our website for specific details later in the week.

Thank you for your interest in the broadcast."