FB: Empire 8

[dea]

the Union d will surprise.

[fisheralum91]

Morning boys---night shift was a little lack luster last night--

We'll take it from here.....

[JQV]

Wow,  tough weekend.  I am not even going to try and read all that was posted.  This has to be one of the low points I can remember for this program.  Consecutive losses is a rarity on South Hill.

At least the Boys beat Darth Visor Saterday...

[theicdubbz]

Morning boys,

so, just wondering what the IC records have been after the last national championship run...here's what i could find... help me out here since my research capabilities today are limited... 

1992: (return to playoffs)
1993: (loss in semi's)
1994: (?)
1995: (5-4)
1996: (7-3)
1997: (7-3)
1998: (8-2)
1999: (7-4)
2000: (7-3)
2001: (11-2)
2002: (7-3, 4-0 E8)   3rd loss playoffs
2003: (10-3, 4-0 E8) 3rd loss playoffs
2004: (9-2, 5-1 E8)
2005: (8-3, 6-0 E8) 3rd loss playoffs
2006: (7-3, 4-2 E8)

Being a Yankee fan I have the mentality that we should be in it every year, stupid i know but, hey, its what we expect. 

There is a lot to live up to in Bomber land!  I am purchasing my ticket now for our Salem run in '08. We'll be flying on the coat tails of Mr. Juvon/Grastorff...

[maxpower]

Dubbz:

1992: (9-2), Lost to Buff St. in first round (Those days are over, at least)
1993: (6-4)
1994: (10-3), Welch's first year, beat Buff St. and Plymouth St. before losing to Wash. & Jeff. in the semis.

Something I found interesting: The last time IC played Cortland in the playoffs was 1988, on the way to a national title. The Jug was our only loss that year.

[theicdubbz]

In our IND days of Bomber football it seems we played a  stronger schedule. perhaps because we needed it in order to get a bid.  current bomber football seems E8 with weaker out of conference opponents.  Lets throw Mansfield back in there.

[JQV]

In our IND days of Bomber football it seems we played a  stronger schedule. perhaps because we needed it in order to get a bid.  current bomber football seems E8 with weaker out of conference opponents.  Lets throw Mansfield back in there.

I don't know, given the quality of SC, SJF, and AU this fall, I think our schedule was every bit as hard as in the past.  When it all started I figured Brockport wouldn't be as bad as they turned out to be.  Also, Buff State basically = St. Lawrence from the Independent days.  Utica is about the same or, if you want to go back to the pre-Utica days, Utica = SJF.

I disagree about Mansfield.  Playing a non-DIII team really doesn't help you at all because the game basically doesn't count.  (See Rowan).  The same argument goes for re-adding AIC.

In the end, this team finished about where they should have. 

Looking at the big picture:

-We had to replace one of the best (maybe THE best) QB in school history.

-We only had one receiver with any serious experience to help out a rookie QB.

-Rookie QB also had to get used to a rookie OC.

-We had two backs that never were quite as good as they were two years ago.  Maybe this is how they were the whole time and two years ago just gave us unreasonable expectations.

-We had a defense attempting to bounce back from one of the worst defense seasons in school history.

-The same defense that was also trying to learn a totally new scheme.

Sure, I would have liked to have reloaded a little better but, considering where the program was after the dismantling Union gave us last winter, I think Welch & Co. did a decent job guiding this team through a brutal schedule.  At worst, they did at least a good enough job to withold judgment for 12 months.

This was kind of the sandwich year between Felicetti/Colon/Espo/Donovan/Baez and Juvan/Kulp/Kiah/Seamus-Hogan/etc.  We'll see what happens now.

[maxpower]

I thought Kiah was a senior... is he a redshirt?

[superman57]

great post Jose, +K

[fisheralum91]

http://www.uticaod.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061113/SPORTS/611130318/1030

Is this guy dilusional?
Couldnt believe it when i read it--

Sorry Budcrew....

[JQV]

I thought Kiah was a senior... is he a redshirt?

You may be right.  I have no idea.  He basically appeared on my radar this season so I never looked.

[JQV]

http://www.uticaod.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061113/SPORTS/611130318/1030

Is this guy dilusional?
Couldnt believe it when i read it--

Sorry Budcrew....

I'll at least agree with this:

"College football is by far the hardest sport to build from the ground up. It takes more than just 22 starters to make a winning team: it takes depth. And the only way to build that depth is over the course of several seasons. "

[maxpower]

FA91- Utica sucks, but the guy is right about building a football program... it is tremendously hard. You're probably the only one of these bandwagon SJF fans that remembers just how bad the Cardinals were when they started up varsity, and Utica doesn't have Mr. Ralph J. Wilson to help them out. Utica had a bad season, but I don't think they should abandon the program or anything. I doubt they'll contend for the E8 anytime soon, but beating Hartwick, Norwich, pulling a surprise on one of SC, SJF, IC, or AU and doing well out of conference isn't too much to expect within the next 5-10 years. I think that's what he was talking about with "consecutive winning seasons."

[fisheralum91]

Jose- agreed.
Max- bandwagon?
You are right- i def remember the lean days-hell does it get more lean than having a club team?

[maxpower]

Max- bandwagon?

Just pokin' fun.