FB: USA South Athletic Conference

[SU97]

I hope you all get a chance to read Ryan Tipps around the region this week. 

More and more fans and visitors are starting to be more out spoken about Barnes and his Wing T play calling. It just is not working. They were dead last in the league in points scored the last two years. 103 scored in 2005 and just 62 points all of last year. This year  they have scored 12 points of offence in 3 games. Ryan wrote it best. The Hornet fans deserve better.

Great article by Mr. Tipps, wish I had known he was coming into town, would have saved him a beer from the cooler...

But I'm not so quick to call for a regime change here...  Yes, the Hornets have fell on hard times, but what about the rest of the Athletic Department?  If the fans are so insistent that Barnes needs to be sacked... here's how SU finished as a dept. according to the conference site:

SU             2006
Football       8th
Basketball    7th 
Baseball       6th
Soccer        5th
Tennis        7th

*I cannot figure out how they rank golf, but what is golf other than an excuse to get out of the office and booze mid-week anyways...  and we don't compete in the USASAC for men's lacrosse.

But then again, let's take a look at the same information spread out since the conference crowned a FB champ:

SU          2001        2002       2003    2004    2005      2006
Football    4th        3rd       1st      1st        8th       8th
Bball        4th         5th       2nd     3rd        7th       7th 
Baseball    6th        6th       8th       6th       6th      6th
Soccer     3rd         3rd       3rd      5th        6th      5th
Tennis      8th        6th       7th      7th        6th      7th


It's only been the last two years where football has been showing poorly. The rest of the sports seem to be heading in the same direction. I'm wondering if this is just a snapshot of poor recent performance, or a long term trend?  Curious if any other posters would care to comment on SU. 

Ferrum comes to town this weekend.  Thank goodness we aren't going there, my OnStar Nav isn't working. Time to right the ship!

[moshergc9]

Greensboro College plus three in overtime

[SU97]

Ok, we need to make this board active with USASouth talk. What does everyone expect this weekend? What will be the big surprises this weekend?

I predict CNU will not lose this weekend! 

nice...

[SU97]

If there's one game this weekend I'd like to watch, it would be the NCWC - MU game at Methodist.  This should let us know what NCWC is all about.  Narch, how your boys looking down in MU?

It's only conference games here on out. Clean slate...  Now the season really starts.  Good luck to all. 

[Ryan Tipps]

Jessie, CNU85, SU97....et al...

Thanks for the compliments about this week's column. I definitely appreciate it!

It was a wild, fun weekend, and though I can't say that I'm going to do all of that again any time soon, I do hope to get back to these areas again. Good atmosphere and some great fans.

[Uncle Jessie]

SU97, When the University builds a new athletic center then I will put the same emphasis on the men's and women's basketball programs. But as we all know its pretty much impossible to recruit anyone to play at Shingleton Gymnasium. As for the other sports well, its anyone's guess on those. As for the football program it has become clear that SU has made this sport its poster child of the athletic department. They have put millions into the team, stadium and upgrades to the east side of campus. When a D3 program puts that much into a program and builds one of the best new stadiums in all of D3 ( I would include Pomoco in that category) the fans and most importantly the players deserve better. If Barnes is asked to stay on he should make a direction to lead the team in a new style of playing. Maybe he should hire a new offensive play caller that will adopt a more balance approach to calling a game. When the Hornets were down by 23 points to Albright Saturday they still ran the ball on a consistent level. How does that make any sence to any coach I don't know. Like I wrote in another post they scored a miserable 62 points all of last year. Some teams can score that in one Saturday! I'm not calling for Barnes' head just yet. But it is very clear that this approach Barnes belives in does not work. He needs to show that he is willing to change. As Ryan wrote SU deserves better.

[allsky7]

SU97, When the University builds a new athletic center then I will put the same emphasis on the men's and women's basketball programs. But as we all know its pretty much impossible to recruit anyone to play at Shingleton Gymnasium. As for the other sports well, its anyone's guess on those. As for the football program it has become clear that SU has made this sport its poster child of the athletic department. They have put millions into the team, stadium and upgrades to the east side of campus. When a D3 program puts that much into a program and builds one of the best new stadiums in all of D3 ( I would include Pomoco in that category) the fans and most importantly the players deserve better. If Barnes is asked to stay on he should make a direction to lead the team in a new style of playing. Maybe he should hire a new offensive play caller that will adopt a more balance approach to calling a game. When the Hornets were down by 23 points to Albright Saturday they still ran the ball on a consistent level. How does that make any sence to any coach I don't know. Like I wrote in another post they scored a miserable 62 points all of last year. Some teams can score that in one Saturday! I'm not calling for Barnes' head just yet. But it is very clear that this approach Barnes belives in does not work. He needs to show that he is willing to change. As Ryan wrote SU deserves better.

       I will be the first to admit that all I know of SU football is what I have read. I hope at some point to see them and their stadium. As a former coach, I have always been of the opinion that after a certain amount of time, if something isn't working, then you make some changes. At least enough to try to shake things up a little. It sure sounds like they need to do some "shaking" st SU. Question for the SU faithful and others that know more about them than I. How do the Hornets stack up talent wise compared to other USAC or ODAC schools? Most of us (including me) tend to rate "our" teams (and have expectations) a littler higher than what the reality is. I know it is difficult to speculate on something like this but do the Hornets have the personnel with a different O to be competitive?

[MU_ftbl51]

SU's wing T play calling should definitly be out. Back in the day when they had Frates and Lacey, they could get away with running the ball in this set. To run the wing T you need to have a great fullback who can block, and also is not afraid to burry his head and pick up a few yards. Looking at the stats, they dont have that compliment this year. Their runningback is pretty good, but if the fullback cannot carry the ball, its easy to key off of. I know this because we run the Double Wing here at the high school where i am at in charlotte. We have rushed for 1400 yards in 4 games and have 3 players over 300 yards right now. This happens because of the line, the Running backs, and the full back. SU needs to look at the personel they have and get to something that makes since to utilize the players they have.
       The MU NCWC game should prove to be a shootout. Parks is looking exactly the way they said he would. He has shown signs of maturity already as a sophomore. NCWC will be a tough matchup for the monarchs defensively, but i think coach sy will have the defense ready to play.

[allsky7]

Greensboro College plus three in overtime

     Now that's funny I don't care who you are!!    GO SCOTS!!

[ProudFightingScot]

Greensboro better be ready to play...   There's still alot of bad blood from Maryville from last season's game...   

[MU_ftbl51]

Here are my predictions for saturday.

NCWC VS. MU- This will be the matchup of the weekend in my eyes. We get to see 2 Offensive player of the year candidates on the field at Monarch stadium. Townsend and Hill. Hill has scored 8 times in 2 games and rushed for  316 yards. The young offensive line knows how to run the ball.

GC VS. MVC- Maryville has scored 70 pts. and rushed for 465 yards this year. They are 3-0, however, one thing about this team, they have not scored a single TD or FG in the 1st quarter yet this year. Looks like they have scored it all in the third and fourth. If greensboro could get up big at the half and keep it turned on, they can win this game. Disappointing numbers by Lowe, has only 1 TD on 51 attempts.

SU VS. FC- SU has 19 points in 3 games, WOW!! They cannot seem to find the endzone. They have 454 yards rushing, but only 1 TD. QB has thrown 4 INT'S and no TD's. Shentel was always hard to play at, btu i mean they keep this up, there won;t be anyone there to play for.

[ProudFightingScot]

Greensboro College plus three in overtime

Is that with another 196 yards in penalities again?  If you want it to be close this year Greensboro better improve on that stat.  I don't see it happening.  Plus, there is a lot of bad blood between them because of quite a few cheap shots on Greensboro's part.  Hopefully, that is cleaned up this year.  If nothing else, Greensboro gave Maryville a reason to circle this game on their schedule when they came out.  They will be ready.   Prediction 35-14 scots win (btw covering Mr. Tipps spread)!!

[PrideSportBBallGuy]

Thanks everyone for finally starting a healthy disscussion. First off Torrey Lowe is not a RB, he is an all purpose back, where he runs and catches.  I am not concerned about 1 TD in 51 attempts.  I don't think anybody else should be either.

I think both teams for saturday knows exactly whats coming from each team. I am not even going to get into that, use your imagination or look at the USASouth statistics. If Maryville gets into the position where they have to pass the ball, I am not sure if they are capable of getting into a shootout with GC.  I think GC has the best secondary in the conference and they have been like that for quite a few years now. MC QB has 2TD's-4 INTs in 3 games against opp who are a combined 2-7. I am not trying to say he is a bad QB, but I am saying I am not sure if the game becomes a shootout he will be able to torch the secondary.  GC QB has a 62.5% completion percentage, believe it or not the Gallaudet game actually brought is percentage down even though he threw for 2TD's in the game in a 48-7 rout.  I think this game will be a big challenge for both QB's, I think this game will be a challenge for both defenses.  MC may want some revenge from this game, but I think GC does too, many believe and some posters on here even said, "GC got lucky." I think they want to go out there and show it wasn't luck.  I don't know and won't even fathom the outcome, but it will not be a 3 TD game. 

[Uncle Jessie]

allsky7, I truly belive without bias the Hornets could compete against many teams in the USAC if they would mix things up. The teams they are playing against are all stacking the defenders up on the line knowing that each play is up the middle. Every first down is a run up the middle 100% of the time. Do they have the players to win the USAC? No, not by any means. But for a change they have a QB that has an arm but he hardly never gets a chance to use it. His INT's this year are hard to judge because when they do let him pass they are so far behind in the score that I feel he is forcing it at times. Its just human nature to try to carry the whole team on your shoulders. They played well against Bridgewater and we all know they are no cake walk of a team. For a short time in that BC game Barnes was all of a sudden pass happy. It caught the Eagles off guard and they moved the ball down field and eventually leading up to the only offensive touchdown of the Hornets season. BC was no longer able to put its defenders on the line having to defend the pass. For the fans at Shentel its hard to watch. The crowd at times is yelling but that is few and far between. Its really hard for any fan to get into the game when all your home team does is gain 3 yrds a carry. This style of play (Wing T) I wouldent wish on anyone to have to watch including CNU's fans. It is plain and simple an out dated system that needs to be tossed in the trash. 

[ProudFightingScot]

MC may want some revenge from this game, but I think GC does too, many believe and some posters on here even said, "GC got lucky." I think they want to go out there and show it wasn't luck.

Yeah it is me and you this week Pride  .  About the comment above, as much as Greensboro wants to prove it wasn't a fluke, Maryville wants to show it was.  I know the scots will be fired up for this game and feel like they owe some payback from last year.  That's why I think they will win by 3 TD's and they won't come in flat in the 1st half.  They have had 3 weeks to get their new play caller some game time experience and work out some of the kinks.  Even though the games have been close, they have shown they can make plays when they count.  So, even if they don't cover 3 TD's if it is close in the end it definately is in MC's favor.