FB: Empire 8

[AUPepBand]

AlfredSaxon8 is back! Wellllll.... sort of- I will be making very brief appearances this season, its a little tougher where I'm at in AZ and my schedule doesn't always permit, but I can assure you that Saxon Pride is strong in the Southwest.

Tomorrow I'm heading to help some fellow Saxon Alum coach some high school football.  It's a great time and the kids are awesome.  It's pretty crazy that out of the roughly 2,000+ student population at Alfred, 3 Alums from the relatively same time frame ended up just an hour drive from each other... in the Southwest.

But it proves that the bound found on the football field is not something that simply ends when the shoulder pads are strapped for the last time.  

Anyways, hope all is well on the board! I dont actually "hear" anything from the Saxon camp anymore, it's mostly what I pick up online.  But I'm pumped and primed to see the Saxons defend their title.

On Saxon Warriors!!!  

Wow, long time no hear from, Saxon8. Glad to hear you've found an Alfred connection in Arizona. Pep is also pumped...it's been a long wait but "the boys are back in town!"

Pep, as always, is working on putting together a Saxon Sound Machine for the season. Always a great time introducing newcomers to AU Pep Band and what we do ... looks like AU's Class of 2015 may arrive in record numbers. Pep heard there's a freshman class of around 575!!! (Of course, more than 100 are football players.)

On Saxon Warriors!

Pep's gonna spread some +K around the boards....great to have some football chatter!

[AUSaxons]

AU released their new football roster online today! One thing that struck me is how BIG the incoming freshmen are listed at. The majority of the highest weights listed are freshmen. Obviously that does not always translate.....but Murray recruited a TON of BIG linemen! 

[Mr. Ypsi]

AU released their new football roster online today! One thing that struck me is how BIG the incoming freshmen are listed at. The majority of the highest weights listed are freshmen. Obviously that does not always translate.....but Murray recruited a TON of BIG linemen! 

"a TON of BIG linemen" is only 6 or 7 of them - hopefully he did better than that!

[AUSaxons]

We are on the eve of two a days, cant a guy be a little optimistic?! 

AU released their new football roster online today! One thing that struck me is how BIG the incoming freshmen are listed at. The majority of the highest weights listed are freshmen. Obviously that does not always translate.....but Murray recruited a TON of BIG linemen! 

"a TON of BIG linemen" is only 6 or 7 of them - hopefully he did better than that!

[Mr. Ypsi]

And after two-a-days, 'a Ton' of linemen might be 8 of them!

We are on the eve of two a days, cant a guy be a little optimistic?! 

AU released their new football roster online today! One thing that struck me is how BIG the incoming freshmen are listed at. The majority of the highest weights listed are freshmen. Obviously that does not always translate.....but Murray recruited a TON of BIG linemen! 

"a TON of BIG linemen" is only 6 or 7 of them - hopefully he did better than that!

[AUSaxons]

Oh wow, color me very dense! I now get that joke! Haha

[AlfredSaxon8]

Pre-season picks for Player of the Year?

Clark, Secky, Dwyer... ?

Offensive player or defensive?

To be honest, I haven't done my homework on other schools so I can only speak for the purple and gold...

Thoughts from the E8 faithful?

[AUKaz00]

It would only be fitting for Springfield to win the title and then bolt to the LL since Sasquatch did that to them two years ago...

[fisheralum91]

I gotta think ( in my homer way) that Kramer will have a say in Off POTY

[Bombers798891]

I gotta think ( in my homer way) that Kramer will have a say in Off POTY

I worry that he'll be hurt by uncertainty behind the line. He's got the WR's to do it with though

I'd probably pick Dwyer

[In The HuddLLe]

I gotta think ( in my homer way) that Kramer will have a say in Off POTY

What's the deal with Kramer - he's listed as a WR on the 2010 roster but I assume he played QB (i.e., backed up Bailey)?

[AlfredSaxon8]

I gotta think ( in my homer way) that Kramer will have a say in Off POTY

I worry that he'll be hurt by uncertainty behind the line. He's got the WR's to do it with though

I'd probably pick Dwyer

By no means am I trying to take a shot at the Bombers, but what is going on with there? I know every team has down years but usually their recuriting class is strong and can generally fill gaps. I'm just very suprised that they haven't pulled some freshman stud in to take the reigns and create another juggernaut... They've got a great legacy, great coaching, some of the best D3 facilities and a pretty damn good education to offer...although obviously they are no Hartwick  

[fisheralum91]

Huddle,
He was a QB in hs and Fisher utilized his foot speed while Bailey was QB.
He has great hands and quick feet.. He can be uitlized in numerous ways----All of which are why I think he would be in the hunt for POTY.

[Bombers798891]

I gotta think ( in my homer way) that Kramer will have a say in Off POTY

I worry that he'll be hurt by uncertainty behind the line. He's got the WR's to do it with though

I'd probably pick Dwyer

By no means am I trying to take a shot at the Bombers, but what is going on with there? I know every team has down years but usually their recuriting class is strong and can generally fill gaps. I'm just very suprised that they haven't pulled some freshman stud in to take the reigns and create another juggernaut... They've got a great legacy, great coaching, some of the best D3 facilities and a pretty damn good education to offer...although obviously they are no Hartwick  

Well, it isn't exactly cheap to go to Ithaca something like $50,000 a year. If kids don't get the financial aid, well, what can you do? I think that's a big part of it. The education part is relevant. Obviously, at any institution, some programs are easier to get into than others, but you are going to lose kids that way.

Interestingly, that kind of depends who you recruit against. For example, I was talking an IC coach, in a sport where the main competition in their conference comes from Cortland State. But as he told me, the academics aren't a problem because yeah, while there are kids who can't get into IC that can go to Cortland, there's also kids who can go to both, but want to go to a school that's better. But this also wasn't a sport where you need as many great players like you do in football.

Facilities-wise, until this new A&E Center went in, I don't think the Bombers had anything to write home about. As far as legacies go, I don't think 18 year old kids are getting excited to go to Ithaca because the team won a national title 20 years ago.

I think some of it is coaching. Mike's a great guy, and a very good coach, but Jim Butterfield is in the College Football Hall of Fame. There's a difference. But I think recently, the turnover at OC has hurt him.

But, something I've come to realize is, at the end of the day, it doesn't really bug me that IC isn't the national power they were before. Would it be awesome if they were? Yeah. But this blew my mind:

Career Record

Butterfield: 206-71-1 .743
Welch:       134-50-0 .728

At the end of the day, Welch is a pretty damn successful coach. When I think about it, the main difference is that Mike's teams have, in recent years, lost a game they shouldn't have that have kept his truly great teams from making a deep run. I think specifically of the 2004 and 2008 teams, (and let's not even talk about the debacle that was the 1998 NCAA Selection Committee).

Jim's teams were not these completely unstoppable juggernauts. The '79 team lost twice and the '88 team had a first round NCAA game that went into overtime. The 1991 team was two TD's better than any D-III school out there, but had back-to-back games against D-II schools, one of which they lost and one they needed a miracle comeback to win. They lose that game, they don't even qualify for the playoffs.

And let's not forget, in Butterfield's era, there were no MUC's. There were no Whitewater's. Even if Welch's teams weren't tripped up by random teams like Brockport, Curry etc. they weren't winning a Stagg anyway.

Considering the degree of difficulty involved, and the relative results, I don't know that there's anything "going on." It's just how things go

[dlippiel]

The education part is relevant. Obviously, at any institution, some programs are easier to get into than others, but you are going to lose kids that way.

dlip agrees with this statement to an extent. Yet, if he remembers correctly, this opinion has been hammered by many in the past as not being a legitimate reason why a team may lack success on the field. Maybe this will stir up the debate again; maybe not. Just something dlip noticed on a Sunday morning that's all.