FB: New Jersey Athletic Conference

[Dr. xGSC]

Dan,

Any word on what type of injury Orihel suffered. JT said he hurt his throwing hand. Just curious to find out if it is serious.

[Warren Thompson]

OK but if all these people are "clearly D1 material," why are they playing D3?

[Dr. xGSC]

Warren,

Could be a variety of reasons, but mostly cuz they want to be closer to home and actually play. The same could be said for a number of stud players on a lot of D3 teams and not just those on Rowan. Actually, RU does a great job of recruiting players into their program that are getting looks from scholarship level schools. It's a great campus, great academics at a lower cost, nice facilities, a great alumni group and the opportunity to play right away.

[Jonny Utah]

Warren,

It's a great campus, great academics at a lower cost, nice facilities, a great alumni group and the opportunity to play right away.

great alumni group? 

(high school guidance meeting between student and counselor)

guidance counselor: so Billy, what schools are you looking at?

Billy: well, it was down to Rowan, Montclair, TCNJ and William Patterson, but Im going to chose Rowan.

gc: those are good schools Billy, why did you choose Rowan?

Billy: Well, I really like Rowans campus, academics, nice facilities and I might have an opportunity to play right away for a great football team.

gc: Yea Billy, those are all great reasons to go to a school.

Billy: nahh, what really made my decision was d3football.com postpatterns.  Those guys are awesome....Dr. xgsc and RUfan sealed the deal for me.

[John McGraw]

Heck of a battle today between Cortland and Rowan. Again this year's game played out to the same script as many of the last few. Rowan dominating early and ramming the ball down Cortland's throat with a combination of running by Encarnacion and Richardson along with Mike Orihel's pin point passes to Wright, Silva etc etc. I did think we'd be in for an interesting day though when Rowan couldn't punch it in after a pass interference call in the end zone against Wright then Jablonski blocked the field goal. Rowan though surged ahead 21-0 beating up Cortland in the trenches. Finally Cortland got some momentum from defensive stands and was able to get nine points on the board before the half. Ziders missed a PAT though to keep Cortland down by 12.

Second half was back and forth with neither team doing much on offense. Cortland couldn't move the ball and Rowan could, but not for any sustained type of pressure. Spahn hit a big field goal into the wind that at the time I thought would be the nail in the coffin. Credit to Cortland, the Red Dragons are tough and fought back with two big picks, one by D'Aurelio and one by Steward (set up potential game tying score). And finally Cortland got into the end zone then got the ball back with a chance to score giving them a two-point chance to tie the game. That never happened. Bond sacked Smith on the first play then Cortland couldn't gain back the 20-or-so yards for a first down. Dragons nearly got the ball back under a minute, but a fumble was ruled already down (pile moving when ball came loose, whistle blew after fumble signaling no fumble foward progress) and Rowan ran out the clock.

Rowan's a good football team. Their offense struggled in the second half after Cortland made adjustments. Wright and Silva could probably play right now at SU ('Cuse loses to Rutgers at the Dome...oy). Encarnacion's a good back but I think Richardson was the better of the two today. More so Rowan today was about defense. Their defense played a heck of a game.

And for Cortland, another tough loss to Rowan to add to the books. Dragons had their chances. You hit a 20yd field goal that was missed after a run to the hash rather than up the middle plus a missed PAT, only a one score game. Cortland defense after early struggles holds Rowan to 70-something yards in second half and played strong. Cortland offense, made big plays but not consistant enough against Rowan's defense.

Profs now have the inside track to the conference championship and right now (not to jinx anything lol) I think they're a solid lock for the top seed in the East with Ithaca's loss at Lyco. Cortland still has a solid chance to finish second with games against Willy P (always tough) and WCSU before the Jug.

[dpadavona]

Warren,

That's like saying, if a kid is truly smart why would he attend any college instead of an Ivy League school? 

There's lots of reasons why these kids might choose to play at Rowan.   Sometimes a kid doesn't have the grades to get into a D1 scholarship program, so he goes JUCO or small college. That's the jaded reason.   A lot of these kids may be D1 material, but know they are 3rd string on a D1 team, but 1st string on a national contending D3 team.  I'm sure a lot make the choice to stay close to home, and be the big fish in the proverbial small pond.  And no doubt a lot of kids simply get bypassed by the big schools since recruiting isn't exactly a perfect science. 

To take your question literally, how could we possibly explain people like Sam Mills and Chris Warren playing football at schools like Montclair and Ferrum?  Shouldn't they have been on Notre Dame and Florida State?

If you are asking me if this Rowan team is on the level of the late-90's - circa 2000 teams, the answer is clearly no.  Those teams were monstrous.  Heck they beat Mt Union on their field in the NCAA semi's.  But there is definitely some D1 talent on the field for Rowan in 2005.

[JT]

Bond. Heimerl, etc. are four year Rowan kids.  Most of the core guys came in as freshman.  Some could play at a higher level, but came to Rowan.

Each year Rowan gets transfers from higher levels.  With Accorsi it has less of a hired gun feel.... at least to me.  He will take a guy that fills a hole and fits in with the team chemistry.

[ACMob]

GOOD JOB PROFS!!! 8)

JT--what's the injury to QB??

[JT]

Heard on WGLS that Orihel left early in the 4th.  The announcers said they saw ice on Orihel's throwing hand.  We may know more in a couple of days.

[dpadavona]

Rowan-Cortland Game pictures and story up at my website

http://cortlandfootball.com

[RU Fan]

OK but if all these people are "clearly D1 material," why are they playing D3?

Warren

I'm surprised that someone who appears to know a lot of football, especially DIII football, would make such a stupid statement.  Now you can give me my negative karma.

Johny Utah

Once again, you prove what a dope you really are.

[phil]

Hmmm, the goodwill ambassador of Rowan football strikes again.

First there's the way xGSC handles the question from Warren – then there's the way our friend from the Idi Amin School of Diplomacy handles the same question.

[bman]

THe Part RU fan doesn't get...gee -3 karma...it's them...-30 karma...hmmm I must be an a**....

BTW RU fan...Warren has forgotten more about football than you know...and he is a classier person by far....

...wonder why people don't like Rowan that much?   way to represent....

[Jonny Utah]

rufan, it was a joke buddy, one that people with -30 kharma probably wont get.

[ACMob]

What is the status of Orihel's injury?  Almost afraid to ask.