FB: USA South Athletic Conference

[tigerfanalso]

Pre Season rankings mean very little but I'll assume they are based off of the prior years performance coupled with returning players, etc. Honestly, USASAC will not get much press nor will the ODAC. The two conferences are not on the national radar for obvious reasons and honestly, I don't think either conference is deserving of any more than what each is currently receiving. If either conference gets to the point when it's champion is advancing past the first & second playoff rounds, than and only than, will either receive the respect that we think they should be getting. Maybe 2014 will be the beginning or maybe 2014 will just be more of the same.

[Pat Coleman]

guilford is coming off a 6-4 season where they lost 52-0 to hsc and gave averett their only win on the season and gets 5 votes in the top 25

It only takes one voter to do that, Narch. It's not some vast sign of national respect for Guilford. Daresay you can probably figure out which voter cast that ballot.

[narch]

guilford is coming off a 6-4 season where they lost 52-0 to hsc and gave averett their only win on the season and gets 5 votes in the top 25

It only takes one voter to do that, Narch. It's not some vast sign of national respect for Guilford. Daresay you can probably figure out which voter cast that ballot.

leave it to pc to ruin the pity party

i figured guilford got 5 one point votes....

[Scots13]

I just found 5 MC freshmen's hudl highlights. I'm impressed with them. Can't wait for September.

[abnrgr]

Narch
Big talk from a one eyed fat man

[Scots13]

MC is in the process of uploading this year's roster. First glance at it shows A LOT of freshmen with more than a couple from Texas and NC, one from Los Angeles (yes, LA), and one from Virginia. Glad to see another VA boy migrating to the Smokies.

Thursday at 2 MC is hosting BSC for a scrimmage.

[CNU85]

CNU roster is up. Impressive Fr coming in, on paper. 139 on roster. 66 FR, 29 SO, 26 Jr, 18 SR - looks like most years' rosters. What I did notice on the new guys coming (haven't looked for transfers yet) is that CNU is getting bigger with the Freshmen. 5 WR over 6'2. 2 FB 250lbs or more. All 3 TE are over 6-3 and the smallest is 218lbs. 4 QB over 5-11" with one kid at 6-2 210. nice!

As for all 139 - looks like only 2 played HS ball out of state. 8 list hometowns out of state, but 6 of those played HS ball in VA. Also looks like the recruiting hit AAA schools a little more. But I haven't done the numbers on it yet (may not ever). Just an impression.

Not sure what all this means. It's just names and numbers on a piece of paper. Don't know the talent level or speed. But maybe CNU is gearing up for the NJAC brutality in coming years??? Next year roster size per NJAC rules is 125.

[Scots13]

They have a max roster number? Did not know that.

[CNU85]

They have a max roster number? Did not know that.

My understanding it is new for next year. Somehow they think that will keep things on a more level playing field....can have 125, but at start of year have to name 100 to roster. The other 25 can practice and play JV, but if one of the 100 goes down, you are stuck with 99...can't change once the roster is set. I think I'm correct on this...NJAC and new rules, all still new to me. I think they schools were worried about Wesley and CNU and Salisbury coming in with huge rosters. Not real sure.

[jknezek]

The NJAC has had a 100 player roster limit for years. It was relaxed with next year's expansion, not tightened.

[D3MAFAN]

They have a max roster number? Did not know that.

My understanding it is new for next year. Somehow they think that will keep things on a more level playing field....can have 125, but at start of year have to name 100 to roster. The other 25 can practice and play JV, but if one of the 100 goes down, you are stuck with 99...can't change once the roster is set. I think I'm correct on this...NJAC and new rules, all still new to me. I think they schools were worried about Wesley and CNU and Salisbury coming in with huge rosters. Not real sure.

Didn't hurt Rowan or Kean over the past couple years against Wesley. Historically, the NJAC has played pretty well against the old ACFC teams and CNU. I think the roster adjustment helps the NJAC teams more than Wesley, Salisbury, and CNU.

[CNU85]

The NJAC has had a 100 player roster limit for years. It was relaxed with next year's expansion, not tightened.

Thanks for the correction. Now my thinking is all whacked out! Again!

[jknezek]

The NJAC has had a 100 player roster limit for years. It was relaxed with next year's expansion, not tightened.

Thanks for the correction. Now my thinking is all whacked out! Again!

You were just thinking about it backward. We talk a lot about how schools use football to bring in tuition revenue. But some of the traditional NJAC schools are big. Some of the biggest in D3. An extra 25-50 tuition paying bodies on the football field isn't going to matter when your undergrad enrollment is 12K+ (Rowan, Willy Pat, Montclair and Kean). But those extra 25-50 players are expensive to the athletic department. Extra coaches, facilities space, equipment, compliance and even Title IX related offsets all come in to play. The 100 player cap was for expense management, a big deal at these schools. Just to put it in perspective I think Morrisville is the smallest of the NJAC public schools at 3500 or so. TCNJ and Cortland are 6500 or so.

I'm sure Wesley pushed hard to increase the numbers before joining the NJAC. Probably was a prerequisite for them because I'd have to believe they are on the football players = positive revenue side of the coin. I'd imagine S. Va. would have been interested as well, although their specific target audience may have made it less of an issue. In addition I'd imagine all the football staffs were pretty much in support. Having JV teams, especially if you play a couple JV games a year, is nothing but helpful.

But the 100 player limit wasn't exclusive to the NJAC. The WIAC does it as well, I believe NESCAC is even tighter. Maybe 75 player rosters. That's a different logic altogether. There are probably some other conferences with limits if you sniffed around.

[ExTartanPlayer]

I believe NESCAC is even tighter. Maybe 75 player rosters.

The NESCAC roster limit is 75, as far as I know.  I will say that with only an 8-game season and zero OOC games, as long as they're all on the same playing field, they can get by with shorter rosters than I'd want to elsewhere in the Division - I wouldn't impose a cap smaller than 100 on any conference that plays a full 10-game slate, although I know that many schools do just fine with 60-70 players on the roster, including your Generals.

Good description of the rationale behind NJAC roster cap.

As a side note, the NFL agreed to expand the practice squad by 2 players per team.  I'm happy to see this but wish it would've been even more.  I think NFL teams should have much bigger rosters than they do (maybe a 50-man active roster, which allows a full 2-deep to be dressed on gameday plus a handful of specialists (K/P/LS) and a few extra WR's or DB's, and then a 15-man practice squad).  The bigger practice squad would allow for better development of young players and result in fewer situations where a team is signing a guy in the middle of a playoff run who wasn't even on the roster in September and then starting him the next Sunday because they're desperately short at Position X.

[jknezek]

As a side note, the NFL agreed to expand the practice squad by 2 players per team.  I'm happy to see this but wish it would've been even more.  I think NFL teams should have much bigger rosters than they do (maybe a 50-man active roster, which allows a full 2-deep to be dressed on gameday plus a handful of specialists (K/P/LS) and a few extra WR's or DB's, and then a 15-man practice squad).  The bigger practice squad would allow for better development of young players and result in fewer situations where a team is signing a guy in the middle of a playoff run who wasn't even on the roster in September and then starting him the next Sunday because they're desperately short at Position X.

Yeah, but this would cost the billionaire owners more money and would take away some of the story lines and intrigues that the game thrives on week to week. I think the NFL should have a complete farm system. If ever there was a sport that needed a true, if small, farm system it is football. One team per NFL team, exclusive players signed to that team. Imagine how much better the product would be if you could actually develop players for a year or two. Maybe not running backs with short lifespans, but qbs, linemen, and defenders. A drafted receiver most likely doesn't come into his own in the NFL until year 3. Gee, how much better a product would we have if you actually could take years 1 and 2 into a developmental league?

Ridiculous considering the amount of money spend. You can't tell me that if you ran a developmental league from late spring to mid fall that it wouldn't work? People would rather watch baseball? No way. Lots of cities that would kill for it and it would be perfect in 20-40,000 seat stadiums. College football might not like it, but you could stay away from a few key cities and be just fine. Especially if you did mid-week games. Tuesday and Wednesday nights or something like that. You'd have limited sports competition in the summer, MLB and MLS?, and while there is competition in the fall by then the season would be wrapping up.

Sure you couldn't have the guys in your pre-season camp, but they'd be in mid-season form when the NFL teams opened. If the minor league teams had the same philosophy as the NFL teams it would work fine. I think the NFL is stupid for not having done this years ago, but since they have a very weak, but completely free, farm system in D1, that probably trumps investing the start up costs.