FB: Old Dominion Athletic Conference

[jknezek]

Since Head Coaches cannot vote for their own team, I see Coach Rusiewicz gave HSC the nod at #1.  I expected GC to be on top in the preseason, but, wow, how close with BC, EHC and HSC all with 35 points.  Hope it's a great season!

Just a very even conference. But I agree with the coaches. Guilford is going to be a bear this year. I also like the tiers. I think there very much is that second BC, EHC, HSC tier, and then the W&L, Shenandoah, Catholic tier. Within those two tiers I think the teams are pretty much interchangeable, although a lot depends on how HSC responds to everything they lost. Starting with Wabash could be a big confidence booster, or something that sends a reloading season into a rebuilding one...

[regaleagle]

Since Head Coaches cannot vote for their own team, I see Coach Rusiewicz gave HSC the nod at #1.  I expected GC to be on top in the preseason, but, wow, how close with BC, EHC and HSC all with 35 points.  Hope it's a great season!

Just a very even conference. But I agree with the coaches. Guilford is going to be a bear this year. I also like the tiers. I think there very much is that second BC, EHC, HSC tier, and then the W&L, Shenandoah, Catholic tier. Within those two tiers I think the teams are pretty much interchangeable, although a lot depends on how HSC responds to everything they lost. Starting with Wabash could be a big confidence booster, or something that sends a reloading season into a rebuilding one...



Emory and Henry could be nasty this year and I believe W&L will be a tough game for most teams. They were so young last year.

[jknezek]

W&L has a prelim roster up in a mildly hidden location. 77 young men. 23 frosh, 21 sophs, 18 juniors, 15 seniors. The numbers have trended down the last few years from a few over 30 frosh per year. Mildly concerning, but it's never been one of those 100 player schools and the retention rates seem pretty good year to year. First year in a while I can't remember seeing a kid from Alabama in with the frosh listings. Only one listed QB for the frosh class. Odd, since you usually bring in a few of those and they end up playing elsewhere.

The seniors are an odd group. Only one offensive skill position player, Dillon Stanfield the RB. The guts of this team on both sides should have senior leadership, but we will have to see how they generate the yards. Junior QB Charlie Nelson and RB Marshall Hollerith are both on the roster, so that is some good returning help there. However there is only a single TE or WR listed outside the Frosh or Sophs, Junior TE Jack Taylor. Price paid for running the option I suppose. 4 junior RBs to go with the lone senior, so there should be fresh experienced legs in the busy backfield.

Looking forward to getting the season started, even if the non-conf schedule has me feeling underwhelmed. Hopefully the Generals can get off to a good start before that first conference game in Lexington versus the Mighty Quakers.

[hasanova]

I made the trip to W&L in 2013 ... a 16-7 Quaker victory.  Always a beautiful early October weekend regardless of the outcome. 

[jknezek]

Time for my annual disappointment with the ODAC OOC games. Here goes:

Legitimate:
H-SC takes on Wabash, CNU, and Ferrum. Only Ferrum laid an egg last year. Wabash is a legit playoff contender again and CNU will hang around in the NJAC.

R-MC takes on JHU, Averett and Methodist. JHU is still a playoff caliber team. Methodist took a step back last year and Averett laid an egg, but at least there is one legit name on here and Methodist is a bit of a wildcard.

Blah:
E&H takes on Ferrum, turd, Maryville, legitimate USASC contender, and ETSU, first year FCS program.

Poor:
Shenandoah trotting out Gallaudet a year of hard reality removed from their miracle season, Ferrum, turd, and NC Wesleyan, a mid pack USASC team traditionally

Guilford: Methodist the wildcard and two USASC bottom feeders in Greensboro and Averett.

Catholic: Miserable McDaniel, LL mid-pack Rochester, and Coast Guard, who I have a lot of respect for as an institution but H-SC showed how they stack up outside NE last year. Of course they didn't do real well in NE last year either...

Bridgewater: CC mid-pack Gettysburg, USASC bottom feeder Greensboro, and Apprentice.

My Eyes, They Burn!

W&L: Uggh. Averett, Sewanee (SAA bottom feeders), and Apprentice. I just can't say uggh enough. Despite W&L losing to two of these teams last year, it still is just a poor OOC schedule.


Comments
Of course all this is based on last year, and if a team like Ferrum, Averett, Greensboro or Methodist, each with multiple ODAC opponents, gets hot in the USASC this year, then someone non-confs could look better. Overall though, there are two games against legitimate playoff teams, Wabash and JHU, someone might play the USASC champion, although I think LaGrange or Huntingdon will take a run at that, and then CNU, Gettysburg, Rochester, probably no better than mid-tier in their leagues, are where we hang our hat.

There are 12 ODAC-USASC matchups. Ferrum 3x, Averett 3x, Methodist 2x, Greensboro 2x, M'Ville and NC Wes 1x each. The expected top half of the ODAC accounts for 7 of these games (Guilford 3, HSC 1, E&H 2, B'Water 1). The expected top half of the USASC plays only 3 games against the ODAC (M'ville 1, Methodist 2, Huntingdon 0, LaGrange 0). So the ODAC should do well in this matchup again. Games to watch are E&H at M'Ville and Methodist at Guilford. These are the only expected top half/top half matchups. W&L hosting Averett and Shenandoah hosting Ferrum are the bottom/bottom games to ponder (I won't advocate watching them). RMC at Methodist might be a good middle/middle.

[hasanova]

jknezek, I respect your observations and understand your frustration ... I feel your pain.  A few comments:

Methodist - Guilford actually travels to Methodist on Sept. 12 ... "Fayettenam" is also as hot as, well, Vietnam for a 1 pm early September start, so the game will be tough.  In addition, Guilford has played Methodist every season since the Monarchs started football in the late '80s, so I'm sure there's some reluctance to interrupting the series.
Greensboro - Guilford has played the Pride every season since Greensboro started football in 1997 and the "Soup Bowl" is now pretty thoroughly ensconced.  Besides, it's a five-mile road trip ... about as inexpensive as it gets.
Averett - Guilford has played the Cougars about 10 times now ... not every year, but about 70% of the time.  This week is about our only opportunity for another opponent.   It's okay, but not an exciting match-up in terms of diversity, travel experience and OOC SOS.
All three - Bottom line is travel expenses.  Outside of Ferrum and Southern Virginia, the least expensive options for travel and still play DIII.  GC's endowment doesn't currently support trips to Linfield or Wabash or Oberlin or Rhodes, as much as I'd like to see it happen. I'm sure many other ODAC schools have the same predicament with the way the ODAC and USASAC geographically overlap.  The northern tier schools in the ODAC have comparable trips to Maryland and PA, but the southern tier schools may not.

[Scots13]

What's the deal with E&H? Do they have a post season ban? If they do, that really sucks (for lack of a better term) for the kids. Seeing what they were able to accomplish last season and heading into this season, I thought they would be up there for the league title.

[jknezek]

I get it Hasa.  It's just bad almost across the board. What annoys me the most is my alma mater is the biggest offender, and it's not because of money... I almost believe they are doing it on purpose to boost the league SOS by having more non-conf  wins across the board instead of by playing better opponents. I can't really see them trying to game the system that way, but it's just so bad almost every team I'm at a loss to explain it.

[HSCTiger fan]

What's the deal with E&H? Do they have a post season ban? If they do, that really sucks (for lack of a better term) for the kids. Seeing what they were able to accomplish last season and heading into this season, I thought they would be up there for the league title.

They are eligible and they are "up there". They're picked second. 

[HSCTiger fan]

... Bottom line is travel expenses.  Outside of Ferrum and Southern Virginia, the least expensive options for travel and still play DIII.  GC's endowment doesn't currently support trips to Linfield or Wabash or Oberlin or Rhodes, as much as I'd like to see it happen. I'm sure many other ODAC schools have the same predicament with the way the ODAC and USASAC geographically overlap.  The northern tier schools in the ODAC have comparable trips to Maryland and PA, but the southern tier schools may not.

I agree Hasa.  Besides GC doesn't have huge attendance anyway. Why not play teams close by to improve the gate. There aren't that many schools near Greensboro they play D3 football.  Just an FYI endowment at HSC does not pay for their travel either. 

Even if GC or any other ODAC team decided to step up their OOC schedule they have to have an opponent willing to spend money to travel as well. HSC excluding playoffs has played at USCGA and at Wabash the last two years. I know the USCGA is not a strong OOC game, but it was a memorable experience. 3 factors played a role in getting the 2 game series scheduled 1. HSC President was an Air Force Cadet and liked the idea of playing a service academy. 2. The AD at the USCGA is an HSC alum. 3. The willingness of both schools to pay for it to happen. At HSC that meant a booster event to fund it.

The Wabash game was a great fit. Two all male schools with a long history of quality/nationally ranked football playing made sense. But there still had to be a willingness from both schools to pay for it. 

With a huge amount of respect to ALL ODAC teams no one except HSC has consistently ranked in the Top 25 in any of the last 5 seasons.  The only ODAC teams to even make the poll other than HSC in the past five years is RMC (2 weeks). If you're a Top 25 team why do you want to help build someone else's program?  in other words, the benefit of a good OOC team playing an ODAC team outside of HSC has not been there unless there's proximity.  Sure if you're an ODAC team you'd be excited about playing a perineal powerhouse. But are their alums and boosters excited about playing a team that's never ranked in a D3 poll?  Probably not.

JK no one OOC or in conference wants to play WL with their style of offense. If they want to step up or out on their schedule they should consider teams that play Salisbury.

[Pat Coleman]

All three - Bottom line is travel expenses.  Outside of Ferrum and Southern Virginia, the least expensive options for travel and still play DIII.  GC's endowment doesn't currently support trips to Linfield or Wabash or Oberlin or Rhodes, as much as I'd like to see it happen. I'm sure many other ODAC schools have the same predicament with the way the ODAC and USASAC geographically overlap.  The northern tier schools in the ODAC have comparable trips to Maryland and PA, but the southern tier schools may not.

There's a lot of Division III schools closer than Linfield, Wabash, Oberlin and Rhodes. This is not a good way to make this argument. I get that you guys are a little bit stuck in the corner in D-III but how about Salisbury or CNU or anyone else other than the same schools year after year.

If you want to be taken seriously in D-III, go take one of your two available non-conference slots and fill it with a team in the top 175. We get playing Greensboro every year, but those other two slots are currently teams that will struggle to be in the Top 200 out of 247 teams. If you want to be the best ...

[wally_wabash]

All three - Bottom line is travel expenses.  Outside of Ferrum and Southern Virginia, the least expensive options for travel and still play DIII.  GC's endowment doesn't currently support trips to Linfield or Wabash or Oberlin or Rhodes, as much as I'd like to see it happen. I'm sure many other ODAC schools have the same predicament with the way the ODAC and USASAC geographically overlap.  The northern tier schools in the ODAC have comparable trips to Maryland and PA, but the southern tier schools may not.

There's a lot of Division III schools closer than Linfield, Wabash, Oberlin and Rhodes. This is not a good way to make this argument. I get that you guys are a little bit stuck in the corner in D-III but how about Salisbury or CNU or anyone else other than the same schools year after year.

If you want to be taken seriously in D-III, go take one of your two available non-conference slots and fill it with a team in the top 175. We get playing Greensboro every year, but those other two slots are currently teams that will struggle to be in the Top 200 out of 247 teams. If you want to be the best ...

Puts a lot of extra weight on a playoff game.  Hopkins, Witt, W&J, or even Wesley are reasonable first round games for Guilford.  Perceptions can change a lot by going on the road and winning one of those games in November. 

[Pat Coleman]

All three - Bottom line is travel expenses.  Outside of Ferrum and Southern Virginia, the least expensive options for travel and still play DIII.  GC's endowment doesn't currently support trips to Linfield or Wabash or Oberlin or Rhodes, as much as I'd like to see it happen. I'm sure many other ODAC schools have the same predicament with the way the ODAC and USASAC geographically overlap.  The northern tier schools in the ODAC have comparable trips to Maryland and PA, but the southern tier schools may not.

There's a lot of Division III schools closer than Linfield, Wabash, Oberlin and Rhodes. This is not a good way to make this argument. I get that you guys are a little bit stuck in the corner in D-III but how about Salisbury or CNU or anyone else other than the same schools year after year.

If you want to be taken seriously in D-III, go take one of your two available non-conference slots and fill it with a team in the top 175. We get playing Greensboro every year, but those other two slots are currently teams that will struggle to be in the Top 200 out of 247 teams. If you want to be the best ...

Puts a lot of extra weight on a playoff game.  Hopkins, Witt, W&J, or even Wesley are reasonable first round games for Guilford.  Perceptions can change a lot by going on the road and winning one of those games in November.

Or in September.

[wally_wabash]

All three - Bottom line is travel expenses.  Outside of Ferrum and Southern Virginia, the least expensive options for travel and still play DIII.  GC's endowment doesn't currently support trips to Linfield or Wabash or Oberlin or Rhodes, as much as I'd like to see it happen. I'm sure many other ODAC schools have the same predicament with the way the ODAC and USASAC geographically overlap.  The northern tier schools in the ODAC have comparable trips to Maryland and PA, but the southern tier schools may not.

There's a lot of Division III schools closer than Linfield, Wabash, Oberlin and Rhodes. This is not a good way to make this argument. I get that you guys are a little bit stuck in the corner in D-III but how about Salisbury or CNU or anyone else other than the same schools year after year.

If you want to be taken seriously in D-III, go take one of your two available non-conference slots and fill it with a team in the top 175. We get playing Greensboro every year, but those other two slots are currently teams that will struggle to be in the Top 200 out of 247 teams. If you want to be the best ...

Puts a lot of extra weight on a playoff game.  Hopkins, Witt, W&J, or even Wesley are reasonable first round games for Guilford.  Perceptions can change a lot by going on the road and winning one of those games in November.

Or in September.

Playing one of those games in September does remove the whole having-to-win-your-wildly-unpredictable-conference variable from the equation.   

[y_jack_lok]

Isn't it also just generally a lot harder to schedule an our of conference game in November?