FB: Empire 8

[Bigtoe75]

As a Salisbury fan and alumni, I am glad to be joining a conference such as the E8 for the scheduling and the AQ. Right now SU must virtually go undefeated in order to make the playoffs, or get help from other schools losing. The travel worries me as well, those are some long road trips. However, in the last few years they have been playing teams like Brockport, Buff St., and St. John Fisher from NY anyway. It will be cool to play Ithaca again, one of my greatest memories as a player was the semi-final game at Ithaca in 1986. What an incredible battle that game was back in the day. Ultimately I hope to see the Gulls form a CAC conference with Wesley, Frostburg, and Stevenson to keep things closer to home and develop regional rivalries. Looking forward to some great games in the next few years.

[jaypeter]

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

Knute Rockne used to do that with his Notre Dame teams

what predict that they were going to get Purple crushed?   

Nah, Notre Dame beat Mount Union pretty badly in the one and only time they played each other.  But, Mount Union did manage to get one touchdown.

[gordonmann]

Personally, I'm looking forward to Springfield-Salisbury - two triple-option teams who know the system well and are good at it.  Plus the game will basically be played with a running clock.

[Jonny Utah]

Personally, I'm looking forward to Springfield-Salisbury - two triple-option teams who know the system well and are good at it.  Plus the game will basically be played with a running clock.

I did not know that.  Will it be a 55-49 or 3-0 final score?

[PBR...]

Personally, I'm looking forward to Springfield-Salisbury - two triple-option teams who know the system well and are good at it.  Plus the game will basically be played with a running clock.

very true gordon....1 of the reasons salisbury is so good is how well they execute the triple option. pbr was very impressed the first time seeing them. well coached and executed offense plus the fact not many teams see a team that plays and executes the triple option. makes them very difficult to defense and make adjustments,etc. and prepare for them in 1 week

[AUKaz00]

Personally, I'm looking forward to Springfield-Salisbury - two triple-option teams who know the system well and are good at it.  Plus the game will basically be played with a running clock.

very true gordon....1 of the reasons salisbury is so good is how well they execute the triple option. pbr was very impressed the first time seeing them. well coached and executed offense plus the fact not many teams see a team that plays and executes the triple option. makes them very difficult to defense and make adjustments,etc. and prepare for them in 1 week

I was wondering whether or not having Springfield and Salisbury in the same league would actually hurt them both since the other E8 teams will have twice as much practice in defending the triple option.  Kinda like how Jamie Moyer and Gil Meche both got clobbered when they were in the Seattle rotation a few years back because they both throw junk and hitters got used to seeing the slow stuff.

[theoriginalupstate]

Personally, I'm looking forward to Springfield-Salisbury - two triple-option teams who know the system well and are good at it.  Plus the game will basically be played with a running clock.

very true gordon....1 of the reasons salisbury is so good is how well they execute the triple option. pbr was very impressed the first time seeing them. well coached and executed offense plus the fact not many teams see a team that plays and executes the triple option. makes them very difficult to defense and make adjustments,etc. and prepare for them in 1 week

I was quite impressed with Salisbury as well when they came to Pittsford last year.  They stick to their game plan despite being down 2+ scores a couple times during the game.  Their option is pretty sick and their FB last year was nasty!  Wasn't too impressed with their D overall but they made the play to win them the game when all was said and done. 

[Pat Coleman]

Can't say I agree with this one. Salisbury and FSU are way down in Maryland. Why on earth would they join a conference that is mostly New York schools? Who from MD is gonna want to drive way or fly up to NY for away games? This is about as weird as Boston College in the ACC.

A shot at an automatic bid.

[dewcrew88]

Salisbury State is about 425 miles from Mayberry....good for a 7.5 hour trip.
Frostburg State is easier, 301 miles from Saxonville....a 5 hour trip plus some change.

Both are easy trips for Pep, who just completed a 7-theme park 7-day Midwest Tour with Pep Jr. that covered 2700+ miles. 

Easy trips... sure.

I think the E8 will keep its AQ, but I'm not 100 percent sure.

[Pat Coleman]

Conferences have a two-year grace period to maintain their automatic bid with six teams. Norwich is out now, so the E8 will have six teams in 2009 and 2010. The new schools join in 2011. It works out.

[SJFF82]

Can't say I agree with this one. Salisbury and FSU are way down in Maryland. Why on earth would they join a conference that is mostly New York schools? Who from MD is gonna want to drive way or fly up to NY for away games? This is about as weird as Boston College in the ACC.

Fans!!!

when i played, we traveled to Catholic and Galludet every other year and the fans came too.  Is it any different than fans of DI schools traveling?  Fans have it the same no matter what Division...cost of travel if they want to see their team play.  The number of travelers is relative to the number of home attendees I am sure.

[Jonny Utah]

Can't say I agree with this one. Salisbury and FSU are way down in Maryland. Why on earth would they join a conference that is mostly New York schools? Who from MD is gonna want to drive way or fly up to NY for away games? This is about as weird as Boston College in the ACC.

Fans!!!

when i played, we traveled to Catholic and Galludet every other year and the fans came too.  Is it any different than fans of DI schools traveling?  Fans have it the same no matter what Division...cost of travel if they want to see their team play.  The number of travelers is relative to the number of home attendees I am sure.

Fans?  Or do you mean parents?  Or are you joking...

[SJFF82]

Can't say I agree with this one. Salisbury and FSU are way down in Maryland. Why on earth would they join a conference that is mostly New York schools? Who from MD is gonna want to drive way or fly up to NY for away games? This is about as weird as Boston College in the ACC.

Fans!!!

when i played, we traveled to Catholic and Galludet every other year and the fans came too.  Is it any different than fans of DI schools traveling?  Fans have it the same no matter what Division...cost of travel if they want to see their team play.  The number of travelers is relative to the number of home attendees I am sure.

Fans?  Or do you mean parents?  Or are you joking...

Generally parents...i guess...but I was at MUC in 2006 semi's as a FAN, and so were about 400-700 fans for SJF.  Certainly that was MUC and was playoffs, but it shows that not just parents travel in D3.  I for one travel at least once a year with other former teammates of mine and regularly see many other non-parent fans at road games...and I dont mean at UR down the street either

[Bombers798891]

Well, if nothing else, it makes the E8 even stronger. Salisbury's a solid team, even if Frostburg isn't much of an improvement over Norwich. It's a little disappointing that they won't be playing teams closer so more fans can see them play, but it's better than losing the AQ

[SJFF82]

are we not overstating this travel 'issue' a bit?  Who the hell traveled to Norwich anyway?  Who traveled to Mt. Ida when SJF played them?  Who traveled to Salve Regina back in the day?  When Rowan was here for a Regional final 3 years ago, they brought exactly 3 fans...and 2 of 'em were on parole supervision.  We do get home games too out of these match-ups.

I'd certainly rather spend my travels to Salisbury for a great match-up than travel to Norwich to see a blow-out....I  mean to see Garcon get tackled at the one for a TD