FB: Old Dominion Athletic Conference

[Jeremybozz]

  The Catholic atShenandoah game on Thursday August 31 at 7:30 PM should be a close game and since it is probably one of very few games that evening will get national attention at the D 3 level.
It should set the tone for both teams seasons.

[hasanova]

The Catholic atShenandoah game on Thursday August 31 at 7:30 PM should be a close game and since it is probably one of very few games that evening will get national attention at the D 3 level.   It should set the tone for both teams seasons.

Other than some notoriety for being one of the first to start the season, why would a DIII team play on a Thursday night?  I can see it for DI or DI-AA if ESPN televises the game, but what real advantage does it give a DIII school?

[Jeremybozz]

I am not sure if it will be on radio nationally or not but it will not be a forfeit this year.

[hasanova]

I am not sure if it will be on radio nationally or not but it will not be a forfeit this year.

Yeah, I know what happened to Shenandoah last year.  I think SU only had one 2005 win after everything was said and done - with Catholic being one of the teams the Hornets beat on the field, but ended up giving a "W" through forfeit.

[hasanova]

A couple of notes on 2006 Guilford football:

If you haven't seen the new press box and stadium renovations, you should visit the webcam at http://www.guilford.edu/athletics/index.cfm?ID=a001970 and take a look.  It's starting to take shape and will be a nice addition.

At last night's Athletic Awards banquet, a former Guilford football player (and officer with the Quaker Club) told me Coach Kiesel has 35 recruits lined up for August practice.  Hopefully, this will put the 2006 Quaker roster at 75-80 versus last season's 53 or so.

[Matt Barnhart (kid)]

A couple of notes on 2006 Guilford football:

If you haven't seen the new press box and stadium renovations, you should visit the webcam at http://www.guilford.edu/athletics/index.cfm?ID=a001970 and take a look.  It's starting to take shape and will be a nice addition.

At last night's Athletic Awards banquet, a former Guilford football player (and officer with the Quaker Club) told me Coach Keisel has 35 recruits lined up for August practice.  Hopefully, this will put the 2006 Quaker roster at 75-80 versus last season's 53 or so.

I like the improvements to football field.

I keep telling people that Guilford will be our toughest competition over the next couple of years (especially in '06, since it's there).  I'm sure the improvements will only help lure kids to Greensboro.

35 recruits at this point is much more than what Bridgewater has coming in.  I guess Keisel (and all other coaches in the ODAC) are really selling the "Hey, come here, because we are only a couple of players away from beating Bridgewater."

You'd think Clark would have the easier sell of "Hey, come here, because we keeping beating everybody," but I guess the large roster numbers the Eagles have built over the past five years has been the biggest thing working against them.  Other ODAC coaches would be stupid not to use that against us when recruiting a kid.  But I wonder what those kids that made their decision based on that are thinking now after five straight championships.  The only good thing about Bridgewater graduating so seniors from the 2005 season is that now we have "only" 80 guys returning.  In years past, we always had 125+.

I know ... there's more than just selling the football program.  They need to sell the college and its surroundings.  But I bet other ODAC coaches, the past four or five years, have really sold the "Hey, come here, and you can play right away."  Like someone pointed out to me a couple weeks ago, that will start working against them a couple years down the line if you have a lot of rising sophomores and juniors that were promised (and earned) starting roles.  They won't have many depth chart spots to fill.  Then what do you tell a recruit?

[Matt Barnhart (kid)]

Ahhhhh, I can't wait until the 2006 season...

So many questions in the ODAC.  Some of them being;

• With only eight returning starters, and Colbert leaving, will Bridgewater still be a national power?
• How will (or can) Sydney replace Ricca?
• If Guilford gets anything resembling a defense, are they the favorite in '06?
• Can Catholic produce another Bublavi?
• Will Emory & Henry finally report an honest attendance figure?
• How many more positions will W&L try D3football.com All-American Sitterson at?
• Can R-MC win with Tyler Ball under center?

[hasanova]

For now, BC should still be the favorite, but ....

Guilford will still have a very potent offense - passing at least.  Vogelbach & ALL his receivers are returning.  There were some key losses on the OL, but hopefully other guys are ready to fill those slots.  The OL certainly did a great job last year.  Consider, for example, the 75 pass attempts versus CUA with no sacks.   I know Kiesel & his staff have made some serious attempts to balance the running game & 80 roster players will greatly improve the depth.  The defense will be improved due to more experienced returnees & the recruiting of lots of linemen, LBs & DBs.  All these things should put some more people in the stands next fall, but at GC you never know.  lol

The long overdue stadium & facilities improvements have & will aid recruiting.  Not just in athletics, but overall, Guilford is a school moving forward.  The campus looks better than it has in many years & there are multiple construction projects either in progress or being planned very soon.   Among other things, three new residence halls & a community center were opened last fall & three residence halls are scheduled soon.  A new classroom building is planned, the administration building will be expanded & all existing buildings on campus are undergoing facelifts & renovations.  Enrollment is up to 2700 which is 1300 traditional, 1300 continuing education & 100 Early College (gifted Guilford County HS students who are admitted for advanced study & college credits).  The 2009 plan is for 3300 students & I see no reason that won't happen.

My friends in the Admissions Office tell me there were over 3200 applications for next fall - a new record - for a freshman class of about 400, so admissions selectivity is definitely tighter.

I think Guilford owes a lot of its positive attitude & changes to President Chabotar, who came from Bowdoin in 2002.  I'm very impressed with what he's accomplished & is planning to do.  It has also helped that downtown - & Greensboro in general - has seen a revitalization - clubs, restaurants, condos, upscale shopping areas, a new minor league baseball park & so forth.   

[Outsider14]

kid, i have an answer to one of your questions: can catholic produce another bublavi? nope. that was easy. that kid was legit.

the recruiting pitch at BC isn't too hard: "we've got rings. we know how to get rings. we've proven that we can and will win. and honestly, playing early and often is fun, but you can't beat winning." the hard part is selling this on kids that have been playing their whole lives and don't know how to be patient. i've been on played and sat on both winning and losing teams. either way you're looking at the game (from the bench or the field), NOTHING beats winning... yes there is more to a college than winning football games 10+ saturdays a year, but when so much of your time is devoted to that one goal it's a hell of a lot easier to enjoy those other 40couple weeks when you get that W. of course, bear in mind that this is coming from someone that has grown up w/ the game being 85% of his life...
anyways, good luck to all.

and go us.

[pakownr97]

Ugh.  Frankfurt (4-2) defeated Berlin (2-3-1), 18-17, nailing a FG with two seconds remaining in the game.

With Berlin up 17-9 with under six minutes left in the fourth quarter, Frankfurt scored a touchdown and went for a two-point conversion to tie it.  The Frankfurt quarterback rolled to his right and Jermaine Taylor converged on him which forced him to throw it (incomplete) into the endzone.

Taylor didn't start at linebacker for the first time, so he finished with only four tackles (three solo) and one pass deflection.

He may have had only four tackles, but he also had THE hit of the game.  With about 5 minutes left in the first quarter, Jon Ritchie, the color analyst in the booth, was raving about JT and how he led the team in tackles, won the conference 100 yd/meters 3 years in a row while at Bridgewater, was fast enough for the NFL, etc.  Almost on cue, on 3rd and 22, Jermaine popped the would-be receiver right as the ball got there.  It was beautiful.

I was wondering why he didn't start.  Thanks for the info. 

[frank uible]

One of the reasons that he did not start may be that the NFLE teams have a commitment to the NFL teams to spread the NFLE playing experience around so that more players have a chance to develop.

[pakownr97]

One of the reasons that he did not start may be that the NFLE teams have a commitment to the NFL teams to spread the NFLE playing experience around so that more players have a chance to develop.

Frank,

Thanks for the info.  I've noticed that every team plays at least 2 QBs at some point during the game, and figured that there must be some kind of rule, spoken or unspoken, about playing time.

I'd bet, though, that Jermaine didn't start because of his injury.  These coached do want to win, and I don't think I'd sit my leading tackler unless I had to. 

Then again, who knows?  Not me.  I can't keep up with the differences between NFL rules and NCAA rules, much less NFL Europe rules.  As George Carlin once said, "by the time they get finished explaining the rules, the first question is 'Can you come back tomorrow?'"

[muchacho]

Regarding Shenandoah-Catholic playing on Thursday night...It makes sense to start the season on Thursday, because it will give both teams more time to get ready for their second game, and work out any issues they may have in their opener. Having those extra 2 days will give them more time to make adjustments early in the year. Shenandoah will have time to send coaches to scout Bridgewater on Saturday, and will already be done reveiwing Thursday's game film when Bridgewater is still looking at theirs from their opener.
The only other time it might make sense to play a Thursday game would be after coming off a bye week. That would shorten the bye and also allow you a few extra days for the following week.

[hasanova]

Regarding Shenandoah-Catholic playing on Thursday night...It makes sense to start the season on Thursday, because it will give both teams more time to get ready for their second game, and work out any issues they may have in their opener. Having those extra 2 days will give them more time to make adjustments early in the year. Shenandoah will have time to send coaches to scout Bridgewater on Saturday, and will already be done reveiwing Thursday's game film when Bridgewater is still looking at theirs from their opener.
The only other time it might make sense to play a Thursday game would be after coming off a bye week. That would shorten the bye and also allow you a few extra days for the following week.

You make some really good points, muchacho.   I guess one of my concerns would still be how difficult it would make it for some fans (parents especially) to make a mid-week night game.

[hasanova]

I have a strong feeling that their are going to be a lot of surprises in the ODAC this  Year. What is extremely weird is that I think Guilford might be the one to surprise a few folks. The level of competition across the ODAC has definitly increased. All teams need to look out. Many Tailgate fields are going to empty quickly after home games.

Look at this post from last August - did EHCTailgate know something?