FB: Old Dominion Athletic Conference

[allsky7]

I will have to disgree with you on one point. I think to get top 20 consideration, you must first have some post season success. Fair on not, that is kinda just the way it is. I was  a bit surprised that BC didn't make it into the top 25. Guess it doesn't really matter. It all comes down to what transpires on the field anyway.

...The only reason I bring this up is to give people perspective on just how elite the Division III top 25 is. We now number 238 teams, meaning 213 go unranked. That leaves some pretty good 7-win teams far from the top 20-25.

...Our top 25 is like the Division I-A top 12, given that they number about 120 teams, or half of what we do.

...I just wouldn't say right now anyone in the ODAC is "obviously" near the top 20 as we speak. As an ODAC guy, it pains me to say, but after seven years watching different conferences, I'm certain it's true.

... Though the competition between ODAC teams and for the title is up, the profile of the league as it compares to similar leagues is definitely down. Postseason success does factor into that, as does the performance of the league's top team(s) in high-profile games, as well as the top-to-bottom performance of the league in non-conference games.

15-14 is not the worst non-conference record. But the quality of opponent compares unfavorably to, say, the USAC, which was a conference the ODAC was ahead of just a few years ago.

...Thought you all might like to know and/or discuss.

..... The ODAC is not there right now as far as the national scene goes.

Both quotes edited- Sorry Allsky- I botched up your quote directly above maybe I'll figure out how do to it right in a few more posts.

Good points K-Mack and Allsky7- The ODAC is a weak conference in the overall scope of the DIII landscape. It means nothing in any sport if a team consistently has perfect conference record or even undefeated season if they can't make it through a one or two rounds of the playoffs.
That is the great thing about the all teams that do not play DI football. No (well very little) controversy about who the National Champion is. It is settled on the field instead of some arbitrary computer ranking, smoke and mirrors bowl selection process. It prevents teams coming from weak conferences that have perfect records getting into the National Championship game and getting their clocks cleaned.

Having said that, how do you improve a conference so it is competitive nationally? It is difficult enough to improve a team, but how do you improve every team within a conference so they can compete nationally? It would seem like it is easier to improve a program when you are state supported or large wealthy private school with a large fan base and millions of dollars in funding at your disposal, but when you examine it further that necessarily isn't easy either.  Everyone can easily name 10 programs with gigo-bucks (sic) good facilities and legions of rabid fans that never do very well.

Recently, on this board, we have discussed the need for good facilities and you can always point to the need for a superior head coach and a great staff. However, you can have the best facilities at any level and a coach that has a playbook thicker than War and Peace, but isn't it really the caliber and quality of players you get at any level that makes the teams more competitive?

If that premise is true, then how do you go about doing that in the ODAC? ...or what is preventing it from happening now? What do schools need to do and the conference need to do to push the teams to a level of national prominence? Is it even the responsibility of the Conference Commissioner to try to get the schools to reach a national level?

Certainly, overall academically the schools in the conference are all on par as any other conference in the country. How then do you get the programs to that place where they are playing in at the current "home field" Stagg Bowl at the end of the year?

[/quote]

     Not sure that I totally agree that it means nothing if a conference doesn't win consistently on the national level. Don't get me wrong, nothing would be finer than to be fellowshipping with Stone Station in Salem AND having an ODAC team (preferably the Tigers) playing for a national championship. Look at the buzz created by BC making it. Six years later and I think the Eagles are still riding the wave. It forever changed BC football as we knew it.
     Will an ODAC team return to Salem? Who knows, but there was a time not too many years ago that I wasn't sure whether an ODAC team could make a run deep into playoffs  in basketball. Look what VWC, H-S, GC, and R-M have done in the last 8-10 years. The bar has been raised.
     E&H and then BC have (to perhaps a lesser degree than hoops) done the same thing for ODAC football. Being able to maintain a program that is a threat to go deep in the playoffs over a long period of time is a very hard thing to do. How many have done it over an extended period of time? 
     Regardless, I have ODAC in my blood no matter what happens on the national level.   8)

[Outsider14]

wanted to send a good luck to my alma-mater tomorrow against mcdaniel. sounds like they're hungry! do the damn thing!

[ratlsnak]

Anyone who knows anything knows the ODAC (as a conference) has been weak for the past several years.  During BC's run to national prominence, their out-of-conference schedule was much more difficult than the ODAC games (until people decided they didn't want to play BC anymore).  

How BC lost 2 conference games last year is still a Ripley's Believe It or Not.  But at least W & L got the opportunity to prove that they were just as weak as we all knew they were.

[fmfdoc]

My quote- "It means nothing in any sport if a team consistently has perfect conference record or even undefeated season if they can't make it through a one or two rounds of the playoffs. "

Allsky- you are correct- my choice of words didn't match my thoughts.  There can only be one national champion.  I don't believe in the "unless you win it all your season was meaningless" philosophy. 

I was trying to say something along the lines of- most of the time in order to be consistently recognized as legitimate top tier team, you have to be able to beat the those other top teams and advance with some degree of success in the playoffs.  Then ideally, on conference level, the teams have to be able to beat one another and strike fear in the hearts of teams outside the confernence.

Football is a fickled sport. It is difficult to ride that wave (unless you have a program say like ..... Mt Union) of success on a year in year our basis.  I am sure everyone, well almost everyone, would enjoy seeing teams from the ODAC heavily represented in the top 25.  It raises everyone's expectations, makes the rivalries more fun, better for the spectators, better for the schools, brings in more revenue and usually makes the other programs within the conference better. 

Good luck to all the ODAC teams this w/e.  Maybe everyone will be 1-0 come Saturday night.

[TheEHC52]

ratlsnak,

BC losing two games last year was not a case that should go on Ripley's.  From somebody who had a part in one of those defeats, last year's BC team didn't know how to respond when they got punched in the mouth.  Both Guilford and EHC came out swingin' and showed no fear.  Like a school yard bully, BC had been so dominant in the conference for so long they didn't know what to do when somebody stood up to them.  Not to take anything away from the Generals, but if BC hadn't gotten their act together when they did it would have been three losses in the conference.  I'm sure this year's team is much recovered after those two lessons and, as such, will be more prepared.  The result should be great for all of us ODAC fans who get to see great games as people stand up to BC more this year.  I'm sure the Eagles have a collective chip on the shoulder after losing those two games, much like Emory has one for being picked in the middle of the conference.  Roughly sixteen hours to kickoff...

[CNU85]

Good luck to BC!! According to my watch Stone Station is now active for the 2007 season.

I wonder what color communion will be?

[TheEHC52]

Emory 35-7 at the half.  The Wasps score 28 in the 2nd quarter.

[ODACfan1]

emory and henry up 35-7 on ferrum at the half...

[Matt Barnhart (kid)]

Halftime here in Bridgewater...

Bridgewater 28
McDaniel 3

Eagles' running back Phillip Carter has all four scores, all being rushing touchdowns.

[yellow jacket]

Macon 25, Denison 9, 3rd quarter

[yellow jacket]

Macon 28, Denison 9, 4th quarter

[mizzou_mafia]

Looks like a good start for the ODAC so far.  Anyone have news from HSC?  I saw they were up 10-7 last check on the scoreboard.

[mizzou_mafia]

I saw Mount Union was beating Averett 72-0 AT THE HALF.  There's just something really sick about that.  As Mount Union's coach, what do you tell your subs to do in the 2nd half? 

[yellow jacket]

Macon 35, Denison 16

[yellow jacket]

Macon just blocked a punt.