FB: Empire 8

[Bombers798891]

Random question to kill some time:

Would you prefer your favorite team have a great offense and lousy defense or an elite defense but weak offense?

[Jonny Utah]

Offense.

You can control the clock, and you can at least guess and usually stop something on defense. (Unless you are completely mismatched).

[sjfcards]

Random question to kill some time:

Would you prefer your favorite team have a great offense and lousy defense or an elite defense but weak offense?

There was a time I would have emphatically said offense, however, I have been changed by the Fisher teams of the last few years. Both years I thought the Fisher offense was really weak, but somehow that defense could keep them in games and got them deep into the playoffs one year.

I'll go defense

[Cardinal Pride]

Defense here

[drt]

Always been a believer in strong D with balanced O.

[AUPepBand]

Random question to kill some time:

Would you prefer your favorite team have a great offense and lousy defense or an elite defense but weak offense?

Pep grew up watching teams coached by Alex Yunevich (a.k.a. "The Legendary") who started coaching in 1937 with the "one-platoon" system.

The one-platoon system, for those too young to remember, was the way college football used to be played until the late '50s or early '60s. If you played offense, you played defense, too. You might play halfback when your team had the ball; when the other team took over on downs, you did not go to the bench. You became a member of the defensive backfield.       --Bob Greene, Chicago Tribune, Nov. 22, 1993

With the one-platoon system, we wouldn't be having this discussion. We'd  be comparing FOOTBALL TEAMS, not units. We'd be talking about giving it the "old college try."

But to answer your question, Pep prefers a solid defense. Alex always said, "If the other team can't score, you've got a chance to win." Once the two-platoon system was enacted in the '60s, he put all of his best athletes on defense. As a result, the Saxons won some, as Lois Butterfield said in her "Wasn't That Fun?" book, "boring games."

In 1976, Alex's last year of coaching, the Saxons traveled to the North Country to face a very talented St. Lawrence team a week after Ithaca had tied the Saxons, 3-3, on a late field goal up on South Hill. It was a windy day on Weeks Field (as it most always is) and AU cashed in on an early turnover to get a field goal and take a 3-0 lead. The entire fourth quarter, Pep remembers from listening to the game on the radio, was played in Alfred's end of the field. SLU was denied several times, missing field goals, turning the ball over on downs...and AU's offense couldn't muster a first down and very late in the game gave up a safety in order to have room to get a punt off. AU won, 3-2, to the same team that lost in the semi-finals of the NCAA DIII Championships.

Yessir, Pep grew up watching a defensive genius of a coach do his thing. Murray has done a good job of maintaining Alfred's tradition of playing solid defense; his offensive coaches, however, have brought a lot of innovation on the offensive side of the ball that, to be honest, makes being a Saxon fan (and Pep thinks Lois would agree) a whole lot of fun.

Did that kill some time for all you antsy fans in the "final countdown" to the season-opening kickoff? (...while Saxon fans have another week to wait...ugh)

On Saxon Warriors! Undefeated going into Week Two!

[mattvsmith]

Almost Gameday!!!!

Due to my business travels around the world. Unfortunately, I will unable to watch about 95% of the games this weekend. 

I live in Korea. If I want to listen to a Hobart game, I have to stay up until about 2 am just for the kick off. It stinks. I wish I had a job where I could teach at Hobart in the fall semester and come back to Korea for the spring semester. No such luck.

Rev, what do they call N. Korea in Korea? (which obviously here they call South Korea)

Day to day in the south we call the north "būkhan" (the North Han). Up north they refer to themselves as the Joseon, the name of the old empire that they feel they can claim some continuity with.
I usually call them the "crazy yellow bastards up north" but I heard that would be considered politically incorrect in some circles. My students find it hysterical. I do a great imitation of the late Kim Jong-Il. If things get slow in the classroom I do my thing and that wakes them up.

[mattvsmith]

Random question to kill some time:

Would you prefer your favorite team have a great offense and lousy defense or an elite defense but weak offense?

Well as an old Hobart guy, I lived the elite defense and lousy offense situation. It was alright. It brought us over U of R 2-0 in 1993. I still giggle like a school girl when I have flashbacks to that game. I'd never seen a team win by a safety.

Elite defense/lousy offense is my sentimental favorite.

[Jonny Utah]

Random question to kill some time:

Would you prefer your favorite team have a great offense and lousy defense or an elite defense but weak offense?

Pep grew up watching teams coached by Alex Yunevich (a.k.a. "The Legendary") who started coaching in 1937 with the "one-platoon" system.

The one-platoon system, for those too young to remember, was the way college football used to be played until the late '50s or early '60s. If you played offense, you played defense, too. You might play halfback when your team had the ball; when the other team took over on downs, you did not go to the bench. You became a member of the defensive backfield.       --Bob Greene, Chicago Tribune, Nov. 22, 1993

With the one-platoon system, we wouldn't be having this discussion. We'd  be comparing FOOTBALL TEAMS, not units. We'd be talking about giving it the "old college try."

But to answer your question, Pep prefers a solid defense. Alex always said, "If the other team can't score, you've got a chance to win." Once the two-platoon system was enacted in the '60s, he put all of his best athletes on defense. As a result, the Saxons won some, as Lois Butterfield said in her "Wasn't That Fun?" book, "boring games."

In 1976, Alex's last year of coaching, the Saxons traveled to the North Country to face a very talented St. Lawrence team a week after Ithaca had tied the Saxons, 3-3, on a late field goal up on South Hill. It was a windy day on Weeks Field (as it most always is) and AU cashed in on an early turnover to get a field goal and take a 3-0 lead. The entire fourth quarter, Pep remembers from listening to the game on the radio, was played in Alfred's end of the field. SLU was denied several times, missing field goals, turning the ball over on downs...and AU's offense couldn't muster a first down and very late in the game gave up a safety in order to have room to get a punt off. AU won, 3-2, to the same team that lost in the semi-finals of the NCAA DIII Championships.

Yessir, Pep grew up watching a defensive genius of a coach do his thing. Murray has done a good job of maintaining Alfred's tradition of playing solid defense; his offensive coaches, however, have brought a lot of innovation on the offensive side of the ball that, to be honest, makes being a Saxon fan (and Pep thinks Lois would agree) a whole lot of fun.

Did that kill some time for all you antsy fans in the "final countdown" to the season-opening kickoff? (...while Saxon fans have another week to wait...ugh)

On Saxon Warriors! Undefeated going into Week Two!

I always wondered what baseball teams would look like if you ran a 2 platoon system.  It is actually an easy sport to do it with.  You would basically have 9 DHs on offense and the 9 best defensive players in the field.  I wonder how many 2 way players you would have?  I've watched some City league baseball in Boston with a lot of Dominican players who are sick in the infield.  I almost think they are probably better infielders than most major leaguers but just can't hit.

[Cardinal Pride]

Random question to kill some time:

Would you prefer your favorite team have a great offense and lousy defense or an elite defense but weak offense?

Pep grew up watching teams coached by Alex Yunevich (a.k.a. "The Legendary") who started coaching in 1937 with the "one-platoon" system.

The one-platoon system, for those too young to remember, was the way college football used to be played until the late '50s or early '60s. If you played offense, you played defense, too. You might play halfback when your team had the ball; when the other team took over on downs, you did not go to the bench. You became a member of the defensive backfield.       --Bob Greene, Chicago Tribune, Nov. 22, 1993

With the one-platoon system, we wouldn't be having this discussion. We'd  be comparing FOOTBALL TEAMS, not units. We'd be talking about giving it the "old college try."

But to answer your question, Pep prefers a solid defense. Alex always said, "If the other team can't score, you've got a chance to win." Once the two-platoon system was enacted in the '60s, he put all of his best athletes on defense. As a result, the Saxons won some, as Lois Butterfield said in her "Wasn't That Fun?" book, "boring games."

In 1976, Alex's last year of coaching, the Saxons traveled to the North Country to face a very talented St. Lawrence team a week after Ithaca had tied the Saxons, 3-3, on a late field goal up on South Hill. It was a windy day on Weeks Field (as it most always is) and AU cashed in on an early turnover to get a field goal and take a 3-0 lead. The entire fourth quarter, Pep remembers from listening to the game on the radio, was played in Alfred's end of the field. SLU was denied several times, missing field goals, turning the ball over on downs...and AU's offense couldn't muster a first down and very late in the game gave up a safety in order to have room to get a punt off. AU won, 3-2, to the same team that lost in the semi-finals of the NCAA DIII Championships.

Yessir, Pep grew up watching a defensive genius of a coach do his thing. Murray has done a good job of maintaining Alfred's tradition of playing solid defense; his offensive coaches, however, have brought a lot of innovation on the offensive side of the ball that, to be honest, makes being a Saxon fan (and Pep thinks Lois would agree) a whole lot of fun.

Did that kill some time for all you antsy fans in the "final countdown" to the season-opening kickoff? (...while Saxon fans have another week to wait...ugh)

On Saxon Warriors! Undefeated going into Week Two!

I always wondered what baseball teams would look like if you ran a 2 platoon system.  It is actually an easy sport to do it with.  You would basically have 9 DHs on offense and the 9 best defensive players in the field.  I wonder how many 2 way players you would have?  I've watched some City league baseball in Boston with a lot of Dominican players who are sick in the infield.  I almost think they are probably better infielders than most major leaguers but just can't hit.

You wouldn't need defense when every team filled the batting order with giant HR hitters that couldn't play defense. 

[Bombers798891]

In a similar vein, I really wish there was a stat for "Special Teams/Defensive FGs." As I was watching Michigan State try to move the ball, they had a drive where, following an interception, the offense lost one yard in three plays and then kicked a field goal. IMO those three points were the defense's. I realize this is probably a rare thing, and it might be too subjective in nature, (If you take over at the 35, the offense moves it to the 30 and kicks a FG, who gets the credit?) but I think it would be a way to give them the proper credit.

I'd also like to see any return/special teams TDs against you taken off a defensive ledger. If you throw a pick-six, that shouldn't hurt your defensive stats.

[dlippiel]

dlip goes with D to the Fence!

[boobyhasgameyo]

I would go with offense.  There is nothing more frustrating than seeing a great defensive effort ruined by a crappy offense.  I don't mind seeing shootouts.  Seeing your team lose 7-6 would be terrible. 

[gordonmann]

My head tells me that a great defense will keep you competitive in every game, but my heart tells me that booby is right.  Watching 7-6 ickfests shortens your sports fan life expectancy by a couple years.

[fisheralum91]

Keith is picking Otterbein to beat Fisher Saterday.
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr