FB: Old Dominion Athletic Conference

[Scots13]

I think some are confusing "elite team" with "elite program". Let's clarify the difference next time.

[jknezek]

You don't really have to "adjust" for non-elite seasons. I didn't in the stats I ran and including UWW and NCC's 2012 seasons, both of which were the stinkers over the 6 year period, and you still got very, very bad odds of beating one of these teams. Does it really matter if you go from essentially 1 in 20 or eliminate those seasons to go to 1 in 30? In this case bad odds are bad odds and you don't need to make them worse...

[D3MAFAN]

I Love the Conversation guys. Can not wait until the season starts, I believe its going to be a fun and exciting season.

[Swish3]

Can y'all imagine what would happen if jknezek and narch got into a serious debate?

[tigerfanalso]

I've seen UWW play, fairly certain HSC would not best them. After watching the Stagg Bowl, I do think the amount of teams that can compete with MU has increased, possibly to extent suggested by TigerFan, 20 to 30 teams. My opinion is never will there be a year when 20 to 30 teams can think of beating the best team in the country but perhaps can compete with the lower level elite teams on any given day, particularly if they can get that elite team on their home field. 

[jknezek]

Over on the NCAC boards they had a very interesting conversation about the best of each team in the D3.com era in the conference. They also went on to look for other bests. I thought it was a neat conversation. For W&L I'd go with the following for a few topics:

Best Team: 2011. 2010 and 2012 might have made the playoffs and won the conference, but the 2011 team with Westfal, Heinsohn, Murray and Vandalov all in junior or senior seasons was an unbelievable triple option offense. HSC pipped them at home and took the conference, but this W&L team was as good as I've ever seen on offense and adequate on defense. Two road losses to playoff teams by a total of 14 points.

Best Offense: 2011. See above

Best Defense: 2006. It's somewhat hard to decide on this. The 2010 team had a pretty good defense, but like most of the recent General defenses the numbers are hurt by their hurry up play. The 2010 team bent an awful lot, and gave up points, but they did a lot of good work as well. However the 2006 team had a simply nasty defense. That defense won games when the offense was nowhere near as good as the 2010 and beyond W&L teams. Bridgewater was the only ODAC offense to put more than 15 points on the Generals. That defense recorded 31 turnovers and gave up only 2800 yards on the season, including the brutal playoff game at Wilkes.

Best Game by a single player: Heinsohn vs HSC, 11/3/2012. One player willed this team to win that all or nothing championship game. Heinsohn ran for 192 yards on 35 carries, went 1-1 passing, scored 4TDs, kicked a game winning 37 yard field goal, averaged 61.5 yards on 2 kickoffs, and went 4/5 on extra points. Yeah, a running back accounted for 30 of W&L's 45 points. Just an unbelievable single player effort in key team game.

Best Season by a single player: Heinsohn was in the mix for the Gagliardi Trophy in 2012. He also won the 2011 VaSID College Division All-State team as the Offensive Player of the Year. Hard to pass that up. He did everything for the Generals that year including scoring 22 touchdowns and handling the bulk of the place kicking duties.
A close second was Westfal in 2011. He had a ton of help in that backfield, but in his 3rd year as a starter in the General's option attack he was a master orchestrator. Perfect pitch decisions time and again, at the absolutely perfect time. He also completed 60% of his passes for almost 1500 yards with 10.6 yards per attempt in an option attack. He won the 2011 VaSID College Division All-State team as the Offensive Player of the Year.

[tigerfanalso]

great conversation to have but my memory is so bad I can't do it justice. Heinsohn was a good player. My Son had the fun of playing against him in HS as well. He had lots of talent and was very determined. Fun to watch him play even though he killed us in the 4 overtime game several years back.

[jknezek]

great conversation to have but my memory is so bad I can't do it justice. Heinsohn was a good player. My Son had the fun of playing against him in HS as well. He had lots of talent and was very determined. Fun to watch him play even though he killed us in the 4 overtime game several years back.

Yep. That's the one I listed above as the best game I've seen by a W&L player. Ridiculous effort.

[HSCTiger fan]

I have not been watching HSC but since 2010.  But last season Nash Nance was the first ODAC player in history to have over 4000 yards of total offense (3504 passing, 545 rushing and 1 receiving!) and 43 combined passing and rushing TDs.  Holton Walker's 2013 was also incredible with 111 receptions 1723 yards receiving and 16 TDs. Hard for me to distinguish which season was better.

I know this was not part of your "best", but Will Ferrell OL started 44 games in his 4 year career.  No one in the ODAC could have started more in the d3.com era (2003 and forward) unless a player from Bridgewater started 45 or more of the 47 games they played from 2003 to 2007. OL guys get no glory and I just wanted to give a shout out to Will.

[tigerfanalso]

I'm a little bias with this post; best game ever played at HSC was the 1977 playoff game vs. Albany St. HSC down 38 to 3 at half, scored tied 38 end of 3rd quarter, lost 51 to 46. Last play of the game was an almost TD receiver got hands on ball in back of end zone but could not hold on.

[jknezek]

I have not been watching HSC but since 2010.  But last season Nash Nance was the first ODAC player in history to have over 4000 yards of total offense (3504 passing, 545 rushing and 1 receiving!) and 43 combined passing and rushing TDs.  Holton Walker's 2013 was also incredible with 111 receptions 1723 yards receiving and 16 TDs. Hard for me to distinguish which season was better.

I know this was not part of your "best", but Will Ferrell OL started 44 games in his 4 year career.  No one in the ODAC could have started more in the d3.com era (2003 and forward) unless a player from Bridgewater started 45 or more of the 47 games they played from 2003 to 2007. OL guys get no glory and I just wanted to give a shout out to Will.

Yep. Line guys never get enough recognition. W&L has had a couple deserving props the last few years as well. Hollenback (sp?) And the center from the 11/12 team come to mind. Nash and Walker put up silly numbers last year. I wish we had some Macon and Eagles guys to chime in as well. For better or worse the Generals and Tigers are going to point to the recent past.

[jknezek]

I'm a little bias with this post; best game ever played at HSC was the 1977 playoff game vs. Albany St. HSC down 38 to 3 at half, scored tied 38 end of 3rd quarter, lost 51 to 46. Last play of the game was an almost TD receiver got hands on ball in back of end zone but could not hold on.

Little before the D3.com era, but a cool story. Never heard about that game before.

[wabashsid]

Interesting to note the 1977 NCAA DIII football playoffs featured both Hampden-Sydney and Wabash. The Little Giants advanced to the Stagg Bowl in Phenix City, Alabama. Wabash lost 39-36 to Widener in a "last team with the ball wins" contest. Wabash and Hampden-Sydney were in opposite sides of the bracket of 16 teams, which could have set up a "Stag Bowl" Stagg Bowl. 

[tigerfanalso]

I believe it was an eight team bracket; top two teams from each region is my memory.

[wabashsid]

I believe you are correct tigerfan. Eight instead of 16 at that time.