FB: Empire 8

[Ralph Turner]

And let's not forget that all the E8 schools would love to increase their enrollment from Virginia/Maryland and Salisbury and Frostburg St from New York.

...which may have played enough consideration in the decision to sway a vote.

The "take" on the RIT move to the LL was as much "mission and vision" as anything else for the columnist in LaxMagazine.

http://www.laxmagazine.com/blogs/coyne/062809_empire8

Before 2002, the E8 did not declare a football champion.

http://www.empire8.com/MFootball-H-Champs.shtml

The dissolution of the Freedom Football Conference was where the E8 (and the Liberty League and NJAC) got its affiliates to earn the AQ.

[PA_wesleyfan]

So does that get Wesley and at large invite from the ODAC. The MAC seems to be a bad fit.  I find it hard to believe that Salisbury would leave Wesley on the outs but I have heard whispers somethings are up bu
t not one detail as to what is it. Everything  has been kept  on the QT. But AT THIS POINT WHO KNOWS!

I do know that it will add long long trips to and from Salisbury. It' s almost a 3 hr trip for me and Binghampton is at least that much farther from here!

[Pat Coleman]

Honestly, I don't think it's a long-term placement for Frostburg and Salisbury, PA. Ralph described it elsewhere as like a temporary patch for the E8.

I think Frostburg and Salisbury may well be required to play in the CAC once the CAC decides to offer football. Then perhaps the CAC and E8 can decide who is going to be an affiliate of whom.

[Jonny Utah]

I guess its good that they have an AQ,  and Salisbury is a good addition, but I think the whole system needs to be changed.  Not fair to have schools jump conferences back and forth just so the NCAA can make easier decisions on who does or doesn't make the playoffs.  The NCAA is basically forcing schools from Maryland and maybe Deleware to travel and spend all this money just so they can make easy decisions.  Its not fair to a school like Salisbury who takes its football program pretty serious to travel so much.  I also think the NCAA should count games against div 2, or 1-aa teams more than they do (if they really dont anyway)

That being said, I wish Mt. Ida, Tufts and MIT were the schools added.  No way Im going to be able to head way down there to see any of those games.

And now after reading that article that Ralph posted, I wonder if IC will ever make the jump to division 1 atlhetics?  The school has the size, but the facilities lack too much right now to even think about it.  But it was interesting to see that RIT was about to go d1 in everything if they didnt get the invite from the LL.

[Bombers798891]

I guess its good that they have an AQ,  and Salisbury is a good addition, but I think the whole system needs to be changed.  Not fair to have schools jump conferences back and forth just so the NCAA can make easier decisions on who does or doesn't make the playoffs.  The NCAA is basically forcing schools from Maryland and maybe Deleware to travel and spend all this money just so they can make easy decisions.  Its not fair to a school like Salisbury who takes its football program pretty serious to travel so much.  I also think the NCAA should count games against div 2, or 1-aa teams more than they do (if they really dont anyway)

That being said, I wish Mt. Ida, Tufts and MIT were the schools added.  No way Im going to be able to head way down there to see any of those games.

And now after reading that article that Ralph posted, I wonder if IC will ever make the jump to division 1 atlhetics?  The school has the size, but the facilities lack too much right now to even think about it.  But it was interesting to see that RIT was about to go d1 in everything if they didnt get the invite from the LL.

I assume you're talking about D-1AA (or whatever the NCAA calls it today) because I highly doubt they could meet the minimum attendance figures required to be a D-1A school. If you remove just Cornell students from the equation--as they're not likely to be going to an IC football game when they have their own to go--there's probably around 40,000 people in Ithaca (including IC students). I believe the minimum attendance requirement is 15,000. To expect almost 40% the town to show up every week is pretty optimistic. Ithaca doesn't report attendance--at least they didn't in 2008--but aside from Cortaca, they don't draw well at all.

Rochester, by comparison, has about 200,000 people and RIT has about 12,000 students. Much easier to get the minimum requirements.

Of course, if you are talking D-1AA, they just disregard that last statement

['gro]

Although it wouldn't help the E8, gro would like to see the SUNYAC add a few football programs so it could be a stand alone conference.  How about New Paltz, Oneonta, and Fredonia?

[AUPepBand]

So does that get Wesley and at large invite from the ODAC. The MAC seems to be a bad fit.  I find it hard to believe that Salisbury would leave Wesley on the outs but I have heard whispers somethings are up bu
t not one detail as to what is it. Everything  has been kept  on the QT. But AT THIS POINT WHO KNOWS!

I do know that it will add long long trips to and from Salisbury. It' s almost a 3 hr trip for me and Binghampton is at least that much farther from here!

Pep actually made the trip on the team bus back in 1999 when the Saxons beat Salisbury in a tight 20-13 game. The trip gave Pep a birdseye view of Coach Murray's program.

Both teams were playing their season-openers. The loss spoiled the debut of SSU's Sherman Wood, a 1983 alum who was coaching his first game at his alma mater. Wood has since done a fine job at Salisbury and Pep would welcome the Seagulls and the Frostburg Bobcats, another previous Saxon opponent, to the E8 for a season or two.

[Tags]

Although it wouldn't help the E8, gro would like to see the SUNYAC add a few football programs so it could be a stand alone conference.  How about New Paltz, Oneonta, and Fredonia?

Good idea... I'd like to see Oswego jump in the mix as well.

['gro]

I guess its good that they have an AQ,  and Salisbury is a good addition, but I think the whole system needs to be changed.  Not fair to have schools jump conferences back and forth just so the NCAA can make easier decisions on who does or doesn't make the playoffs.  The NCAA is basically forcing schools from Maryland and maybe Deleware to travel and spend all this money just so they can make easy decisions.  Its not fair to a school like Salisbury who takes its football program pretty serious to travel so much.  I also think the NCAA should count games against div 2, or 1-aa teams more than they do (if they really dont anyway)

That being said, I wish Mt. Ida, Tufts and MIT were the schools added.  No way Im going to be able to head way down there to see any of those games.

And now after reading that article that Ralph posted, I wonder if IC will ever make the jump to division 1 atlhetics?  The school has the size, but the facilities lack too much right now to even think about it.  But it was interesting to see that RIT was about to go d1 in everything if they didnt get the invite from the LL.

Since we're on the subject, RPI had planned to go DI (AA for football) if the NCAA ruled against grandfathering certain schools with sports at different levels i.e. DI Hockey. The new ECAV stadium was part of the plan (I think it was supposed to seat 7,000-8,000). RPI was allowed to stay in DIII and the ECAV was scaled back to a 5,000 seat stadium.

Re: RIT in the LL... great, now people get to confuse RPI and RIT in academics and sports.

[PBR...]

I guess its good that they have an AQ,  and Salisbury is a good addition, but I think the whole system needs to be changed.  Not fair to have schools jump conferences back and forth just so the NCAA can make easier decisions on who does or doesn't make the playoffs.  The NCAA is basically forcing schools from Maryland and maybe Deleware to travel and spend all this money just so they can make easy decisions.  Its not fair to a school like Salisbury who takes its football program pretty serious to travel so much.  I also think the NCAA should count games against div 2, or 1-aa teams more than they do (if they really dont anyway)

That being said, I wish Mt. Ida, Tufts and MIT were the schools added.  No way Im going to be able to head way down there to see any of those games.

And now after reading that article that Ralph posted, I wonder if IC will ever make the jump to division 1 atlhetics?  The school has the size, but the facilities lack too much right now to even think about it.  But it was interesting to see that RIT was about to go d1 in everything if they didnt get the invite from the LL.

Since we're on the subject, RPI had planned to go DI (AA for football) if the NCAA ruled against grandfathering certain schools with sports at different levels i.e. DI Hockey. The new ECAV stadium was part of the plan (I think it was supposed to seat 7,000-8,000). RPI was allowed to stay in DIII and the ECAV was scaled back to a 5,000 seat stadium.

Re: RIT in the LL... great, now people get to confuse RPI and RIT in academics and sports.

too many mnemonics...makes pbr's head hurt....heck throw DVC into the mix as well and make a conference of only 3 letter schools allowed....SJF, RPI, RIT, DVC, etc...

[gordonmann]

Gro:

During my Upstate NY days (2000 - 2004), I hadn't heard too many rumblings from Oswego, Oneonta, New Paltz or Fredonia about adding football.  But there are other colleges, like SUNY-Canton and SUNY-Alfred, in the state system that have football and could go Division III at some point as SUNY-Morrisville did. 

Maybe the SUNYAC could even pull in the other Division III members, something like...

Cortland State
Brockport State
Buffalo State
Morrisville State
SUNY Maritime (in the newly formed East Coast Football Conference)
SUNY Canton
SUNY Alfred

If the two-year SUNY schools aren't ready to make the jump, maybe the conference could find an affiliate or two (Western Connecticut? Springfield?) to fill out its roster.

[AUKaz00]

Gro:

During my Upstate NY days (2000 - 2004), I hadn't heard too many rumblings from Oswego, Oneonta, New Paltz or Fredonia about adding football.  But there are other colleges, like SUNY-Canton and SUNY-Alfred, in the state system that have football and could go Division III at some point as SUNY-Morrisville did. 

Maybe the SUNYAC could even pull in the other Division III members, something like...

Cortland State
Brockport State
Buffalo State
Morrisville State
SUNY Maritime (in the newly formed East Coast Football Conference)
SUNY Canton
SUNY Alfred

If the two-year SUNY schools aren't ready to make the jump, maybe the conference could find an affiliate or two (Western Connecticut? Springfield?) to fill out its roster.

Alfred State is considering to transition to DIII.  I think the current administration is favorable to the idea, but with the current mix of 2- and 4-year students I'm not sure how feasible it is.  Plus, I'm not sure how helpful moving from perennial national NJCAA ranking to the middle or bottom of the DIII pool would be for enrollment.  I would love to see an AU-ASC football game every year however...

['gro]

I just picked 3 SUNY's at random, all 3 have enrollments over 5,000 and could easily add football.  I do agree that the fastest way to SUNYAC football would probably be moving teams up to DIII like Morisville.

Is SUNY-Maritime in the Landmark conference for all sports? too lazy to check 

But come on, who wouldn't want to see New Paltz field a football team full of fisbree chucking cheeba monkeys? (Gro's grandparents live near NP and it is hippie heaven).

[gordonmann]

SUNY-Maritime is in the Skyline for basketball, lax, soccer and baseball.  It's the only full-time member of that conference with a football program, though there are other SUNY schools (SUNY Purchase, Farmingdale State, SUNY-Old Westbury) in it.

And given the New Paltz blue and very bright orange color scheme, I'm definitely up for some New Paltz football.

[SJFF82]

scoreboard update:

MUC 7
SJF 0

In his first appearance as QB, Cecil Shorts, under pressure, (of Micheli's legacy that is...) on a designed keeper, scampers 63 yds for the TD on the 1st play from scrimmage.

SJF returns kick-off to their own 28