FB: USA South Athletic Conference

[Bishop64]

Ouch!! that picture on the Home page hurts!

[NaturalSelection]

Averett over Methodist 38-7. The game was very embarrassing from the MU side of the ball. Offense did nothing and defense stopped nothing. AU ran the ball with ease all day long against a very small and inexperienced defense for the most part. Game looked like it was going to be a very physical game during warm-ups after each team taunted each other but it turned out that AU was the only team that came to play. Congrats on the big win!!

Congrats to AU for an impressive season.  MU struggles continue. MU was missing a large number of starters and role players due to the flu and injuries. I don't believe it would have made a difference as far as AU winning but it may have been a closer game.  No surprise AU dominated as they have dominated several teams this year.  Great athletic team.

Only advice I have for them is to act like they have done it before.  Several unsportsmanlike penalties and several times they should have been called.  When you outclass a team, be classy about it.

I dont think MU was missing any starters. Lets see on defense they were not missing a single person. On offense they are missing number 18 and 21 because of injuries. One starter and one back-up were missing. Dont think that would of made a difference in this one. Both teams were jawing quite a bit and i think that reflects the type of coaching they have.

[Bishop64]

Congratulations to the Bishops. I was happy to see they played with intensity and did not appear to be over confident after last weeks victory. I do think the  strong wind conditions affected both teams. In defense of Maryville, I do think we cought them flat footed. Our defense was awsome, and the offense got it done. I do think the travel distance plays a role in Maryville's performance. It just looked as if they were tired. Maryville, I think you have a better team than what was displayed yesterday, and that is not taking anything away from the Bishop's performance. Right now we are playing much better football than in the earlier part of the season. I don't think their should be any doubt that Bo Jordan is a leader. The guy just plays smart football. Maryville, good luck on the remainder of your season.

[Allen C]

This is info I posted sometime ago...I hope it helps.

I got the scoop from Mike Christie from the USA South Office- The playoff tie breaker rule is below. This is copied directly from Mike's email:

The football tiebreaking procedure is as follows:



                             a.  Head-to-head competition.

                             b.   Performance against higher-rated teams in Conference.

                             c.   Common opponent records.

                             d.   In the event of a three-way tie, the NCAA regional ranking following the final games will be used to break the tie between the three teams.  This will determine the Conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

                             e.   Coin toss.

[Allen C]

Their defense played amazing against the option all night.


I am not trying to be a Smart A**, but In looking at the season stats for SU, they gave up more offensive rushing yards against Ferrum than against any other opponent this year.

347 rushing yards..... 7.4 ypc.

The score would suggest a close game, and it was. but the effectiveness of stopping the ground game of Ferrum was amazing??? While Ferrum did have to come from behind in the 4th, I think the Panther O-line simply overwhelmed SU, and eventually wore them down. In my opinion, it was the SU passing game that kept them in the contest.

Either way, SU is close to being a contender. They are far better than their record indicates, and played a good game against Ferrum. They are at the cusp, and should keep improving.

[NaturalSelection]

im talking in regards to what ferrum did against methodist. SU contained them better then MU did. An option team is going to have yards regardless. The reason for running the option to have triple threats and make the defense have to defend them all. Eventually the option is going to break open and go long and in this game it didnt. only a few big plays. when you look at the ferrum vs methodist every play seemed like a first down.

[Uncle Jessie]

Another very, very disappointing loss by the score of 19 to 13.

Coach Brock's Defense was huge all night and gave the team a chance to stay in the game.  The kids played hard.  What changes need to take place for the offensive to put more points on the board?

SU was won just 10 out of the last 47 games.

2009: 1-6
2008: 3-7
2007: 2-8
2006: 2-8
2005: 2-8


Sorry folks, sorry but the woulda, shoulda, coulda stuff needs to stop being said.  The W's are not coming, something must change for the offense to get more points on the board!  Coach Brock's defense is doing ALL they can do.

I couldn't agree with you more Milby. Every week its the same thing. The fans in the stadium are restless. Every night at Shentel you can hear conversations of people that are ticked off with the play calling and are fed up with the same routine week in week out.  The cheerleaders of SU that I was sitting in front of last night even had expressions on their faces as if here we go again. One of the things last night that caught my eye was when Ferrum opened up the game with a couple of big plays and scored a touch down pretty much right away in the game, the Hornets on the side line looked like they could care less. Through out the game no emotion was being generated on the side lines. Coach Parcells in the NFL once said "You are what your record says you are" Barnes is now 30-49. We as Hornet fans have only seen a hand full of wins at home the last four years. Natural Selection wrote "SU needs an explosive threat. They are a very solid team all the way around but they lack that explosive attack." I clearly be live that explosive attack is the head coach. Its time to see what  ast. head coach Joe Jacoby can do for the team. The players are just not responding to Barnes. SU just can not continue to go down this road. I know its Div. 3 but it still cost the school a lot of money to have a football program. They need sponser's, fans in the stadium and most of all high school recruits. Why would you want to go to a program that year in year out shows the same results. Please SU. I know the head administration level read's this page from time to time. Please, Please move in another direction. Show us you really care about this program.

[NaturalSelection]

It sounds like the SU fans are complaining about the same things that the MU fans are complaining about. Poor coaching. One thing that needs to be taken into consideration is it is D3 football and the majority of the athletes are there for academic reasons and are not good enough to play D1. With this said if the coaching staff can keep getting 100 recruits a year why would the administration want to fire them, it keeps bringing in money. The skill level of the recruits just declines each year due to the fact that the team cant put together a winning season let along reach .500.

[Uncle Jessie]

The sad thing is when Nat. Selection just wrote "if the coaching staff can keep getting 100 recruits a year why would the administration want to fire them, it keeps bringing in money." its all true. SU in the past from comments from the Assistant AD/Athletic Communications Director its clear that SU only cares about the 100 plus recruits every year. He has said many times that at SU we care more about wins and losses. I've always thought then why have a athletic program? Yes, its true that in div 3 you can pretty much count on your hand the number of players that go on to play pro ball and they are at these programs to get a degree first and a championship second. But if a school thinks that winning is not important then it should save the money and have only intramural sports. Why charge the fans to get into the stadium? I know not every team can be a Mount Union but why should a team be in a re building year every year? Some programs just think different. I cant see CNU for example wanting to drive down the same road year in year out winning only 2-4 games a year. I know the fans would not put up with that as well. As a Hornet fan I hate to write anything like this about my university that I went to. I envy the fans of CNU, Bridgewater, NCWC for example of how a program could be. It even harder to know that at SU a winning program could be done. Just look at 2003 and 04 seasons. Yes Barnes was the head coach but it was all with Walter Barrs kids. I'm sorry for ram billing. Its just frustrating.

[Jeremybozz]

 I think Joe Jacoby would do an excellent job as Head Coach at SU.

[Uncle Jessie]

I just want to make a quick comment on watching the Hornet baseball team receive its 2009 NCAA World Series & South Region champion rings last night at half time. I was very proud of all of you and seeing the smiles on your faces with your rings on walking around the stadium last night. Congratulations to you and I hope you have more moments like this in the future.

[moshergc9]

Wow. Almost got em. 

  Still...Didn't but what a great effort!  Didn't see or hear any of the game but I think the Pride have a good chance to close out the year at .500 if they play that hard all the way through.  Would be nice for recruiting.

[Allen C]

I really believe that the GC coach should get STRONG consideration for coach of the year in the USA South.

[musupporter]

Averett over Methodist 38-7. The game was very embarrassing from the MU side of the ball. Offense did nothing and defense stopped nothing. AU ran the ball with ease all day long against a very small and inexperienced defense for the most part. Game looked like it was going to be a very physical game during warm-ups after each team taunted each other but it turned out that AU was the only team that came to play. Congrats on the big win!!

You are correct.  As I said, the outcome would not have changed.  AU is playing good ball.  Even though the starting line up reflected all starters present, there were some players out with injuries and illness.  You are also correct in the jawing going back and forth.  MU had nothing to jaw about based on their performance and AU could have been a little more humble about the thumping they handed out.  Coaches could be to blame for allowing it.  I think it is more the environment we live in.  The players see it on national TV everyday at the college and pro level.

I am not trying to take anything from AU.  I have a family friend that is a senior there and I am truly happy for his success as well as AU.  They have paid the price and now reap the benefits of a team that has been together for a few years now.  I am pulling for them to make a run and finish strong.  Hope to see them win conference. 

Congrats to AU for an impressive season.  MU struggles continue. MU was missing a large number of starters and role players due to the flu and injuries. I don't believe it would have made a difference as far as AU winning but it may have been a closer game.  No surprise AU dominated as they have dominated several teams this year.  Great athletic team.

Only advice I have for them is to act like they have done it before.  Several unsportsmanlike penalties and several times they should have been called.  When you outclass a team, be classy about it.

I dont think MU was missing any starters. Lets see on defense they were not missing a single person. On offense they are missing number 18 and 21 because of injuries. One starter and one back-up were missing. Dont think that would of made a difference in this one. Both teams were jawing quite a bit and i think that reflects the type of coaching they have.

[CNU Dad]

SU's coach Paul Barnes is one of the finest people you will ever meet anywhere! SU is lucky to have him, I guarantee SU's football players are learning more than x's and o's from Coach Barnes. I think that team is going to be very good soon. They have lost all 4 conference games this season, but 2 were in OT, and none by more than 6 points.

In 2006 my oldest son played at SU, and after the game had to be taken to the hospital. Coach Barnes came to the hospital when he found out a CNU player was taken there. He stayed with us till the doctor came in to give us our sons status sometime around 2am. He offered to open up his house for us to stay with him, and asked if we needed him to go pick up anything to eat.

I'll never forget what he said to us "For 60 minutes a year we fight hard against each other, but for the rest of our lives we are family! Because DIII football players share a love of the game."

You could tell those weren't just kind words to a worried family, those were words that the man believed in and lives by. Nurses told us we weren't the first family of an injured football player from a different team that Coach Barnes came to the hospital to see.

This year before the game at CNU he spoke to my younger son wished him a full recovery and asked how the rest of us was doing.