FB: USA South Athletic Conference

[Pat Coleman]

Reminds me of when Catholic joined the ODAC for football and W&L was excused from playing them for the first year.

Fair enough. The difference is that at the time W&L was coming off a 4-6, 1-4 record in the ODAC and hadn't been ODAC championship relevant since 1985. Catholic certainly was ODAC relevant in '99, but they had to play the reigning champion (E&H) and simply missed one of the lower tier teams. CNU is coming off multiple conference championships and I think most of us expect Huntingdon to challenge for the USAS championship right from the get go. So yeah, Huntingdon is playing Catholic's role, but CNU isn't playing W&L's. I can see how you could draw the parallel, but it's not exactly the same thing...

Of course that also leaves out the comparative difficulties of making the NCAA tournament in the pre-AQ age, which again makes skipping the Huntingdon-CNU matchup much more important than skipping the W&L-Catholic game in '99.

1999 is in the AQ age.

[jknezek]

Reminds me of when Catholic joined the ODAC for football and W&L was excused from playing them for the first year.

Fair enough. The difference is that at the time W&L was coming off a 4-6, 1-4 record in the ODAC and hadn't been ODAC championship relevant since 1985. Catholic certainly was ODAC relevant in '99, but they had to play the reigning champion (E&H) and simply missed one of the lower tier teams. CNU is coming off multiple conference championships and I think most of us expect Huntingdon to challenge for the USAS championship right from the get go. So yeah, Huntingdon is playing Catholic's role, but CNU isn't playing W&L's. I can see how you could draw the parallel, but it's not exactly the same thing...

Of course that also leaves out the comparative difficulties of making the NCAA tournament in the pre-AQ age, which again makes skipping the Huntingdon-CNU matchup much more important than skipping the W&L-Catholic game in '99.

1999 is in the AQ age.

Is that the first year? I don't remember E&H in '98 making the playoffs. But I do kind of remember Catholic making the playoffs in '99, seemed like a big deal in the ODAC, though I can't remember who they played or if they won the first round. I guess I could dig it out if I really cared. More curious if '99 is the first year though and I'm sure you know off the top of your head, right Pat? As a W&L guy, it didn't really matter until the Wilkes debacle in 2006. Not W&L's finest moment, but the most fun my dad and I have ever had at a football game since it was the only chance to watch our alma mater's compete. The outcome cost me hot dogs and the gas money on the way home, and that was with my dad giving me 28 points when we got to the field and saw the comparative sizes of the two teams players... W&L looked like a bunch of smurfs...

Man that's twice today I've given a +K for someone catching a lazy error on my part. Sad

And back to an actual USAS topic... I wish Huntingdon and CNU were playing this year!

[Pat Coleman]

Yes, 1999 was the first year of AQs in football. Playoffs expanded from 16 to 28.

[Scots13]

Having at least one of them ranked for a good portion of the season, or both, might help the conf overall in terms of regional and national attention.

Teams would start having to play teams other than that of the ODAC for sure or the conference represenative win a playoff game or two.

Very true. As soon as I posted I thought I should have said that.  The conf does need to get on a streak of having a better showing in the playoffs, but it's hard to start a streak when you play as a lower seed.
Maybe more teams need to play Centre or BSC?  Maryville used to play Centre but that was dropped for Tenn Tech 2yrs ago, and now E&H (a rivalry the old guys are excited to have on the schedule) and Sewanee (the only d3 school other than Maryville and Rhodes in TN and probably should be a natural rivalry) is on the schedule.  BSC and MC scrimmage every year and I'd LOVE to see that become a regular season game.
Just my thoughts.

[CNU85]

Should be another fun year for football! I can't wait to purchase season tickets and get the semester started to see who is on the roster. CNU lost 19 seniors and per the last depth chart I saw there were 9 starters (5 offense and 4 Defense) with another 4 on the depth chart. Looks like the two areas most impacted are the defensive secondary (2 LB and 2 DB starters and another LB on the depth chart) and the O-line (3 starters and a starting TE plus another O-lineman and TE on depth chart).

CNU and the coaches always seem to have players who step right into the roles and often do not miss a beat. I remember one year, we had 3 Senior LB's and the next year the LB corp was even stronger.

The QB situation should be somewhat calmer with some graduations. Coach K always makes it fun and exciting! I still remember season 1 - he called for the fumble-rooskie....and it worked!
Should be a fun year. CNU is only in the conference for a few more years. I'm only assuming so that it gives the CAC time to get enough members back in the fold and new teams added for the AQ. That will be one heck of a conference when it happens. CNU, Wesley and Salisbury.

Anyone coming to CNU games? Let's get the party started!!

[Scots13]

MC has 6 away games this year, three are within 2.5 hours from campus and two of the other road games are Huntingdon (5 hours) and CNU (about ten hours).  DEFINITELY going to the CNU and HC games.  Both have great facilities and are packed with fans.  If anyone can go to games there, I strongly encourage going. Cross it off the bucket list.

[Scots13]

What's the deal with AU hosting Media Day for the second straight year?

[Pat Coleman]

For the few conferences that still have media days, the site is generally chosen for its central location, rather than a rotation among schools.

[Scots13]

I'd like to know when they decided this...
One of the perks of media days in the past was seeing a different side of each school other than the football stadium and locker room.
Maryville, Huntingdon, and LaGrange are outside the 3hr 45min radius all the other schools are around Danville. (CNU is the only one not under 3 hours in "others".)  A third of the conference members being outside a "central" location tells me Danville isn't very central.
I'd like to see what kind of facilities HC brings to the table, personally.

[Pat Coleman]

By your definition, there's no central location. Take a look at the map of what your conference looks like these days. Ferrum is the one in green.

https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?mid=zK5qGuS5hUnk.kLDLF339eVj4

[D3MAFAN]

By your definition, there's no central location. Take a look at the map of what your conference looks like these days. Ferrum is the one in green.

https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?mid=zK5qGuS5hUnk.kLDLF339eVj4

With the addition of Huntingdon and LaGrange, I think Methodist appears to be the most central location.

[Hawks88]

By your definition, there's no central location. Take a look at the map of what your conference looks like these days. Ferrum is the one in green.

https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?mid=zK5qGuS5hUnk.kLDLF339eVj4

With the addition of Huntingdon and LaGrange, I think Methodist appears to be the most central location.

Or Greensboro.

[Scots13]

By your definition, there's no central location. Take a look at the map of what your conference looks like these days. Ferrum is the one in green.

https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?mid=zK5qGuS5hUnk.kLDLF339eVj4

With the addition of Huntingdon and LaGrange, I think Methodist appears to be the most central location.

Or Greensboro.

So am I the only one that would like to see the location rotate or do most seem to agree that it should be in a somewhat central location?  I don't want this to seem like this is an attack on AU; even if it was held at the Clayton Center for a second time around, I'd stand in the same position.

[Pat Coleman]

I think it's a little excessive to expect everyone to travel to Huntingdon, LaGrange, Christopher Newport or Maryville.

[CNU85]

I think it's a little excessive to expect everyone to travel to Huntingdon, LaGrange, Christopher Newport or Maryville.

VEGAS!!!!!!

Sorry - bad day at work and needed some self humor!