FB: Old Dominion Athletic Conference

[tigerFanAlso2]

What is the Commissioner's Cup ?

[jknezek]

What is the Commissioner's Cup ?

The overall athletic trophy for the conference for each academic year. Men's, Women's and Overall are awarded each year based on average points accumulated for sports participated. The points available for each sport are weighted by the number of participants. There isn't really a great description here:

http://odaconline.com/odac/2014-15/releases/051315-commcup-spring

But if you look at the annual standings in the links at the bottom you can figure it out real quick. W&L has dominated these cups in the overall and women's side and been the strongest department by a significant margin on the men's side.

[tigerFanAlso2]

HSC does not have worry about the Cup. Outside of football there are no championships, basketball is OK, baseball/soccer/tennis not so much, golf is getting better. I think that is all the sports HSC particpates in, I think.
again, good luck this weekend and safe travels to and from.

[HSCTiger fan]

Jk

Are you grading your own paper ?

I don't think your Generals have anything to worry about @ E&H IF they play their game. E&H will score but I see a 7 point General victory. It appears W&L is just better than the rest of the odac this year. That goal line stand at HSC is looming large.
Shame on us for not scoring. I refuse to watch the film of that play but obviously W&L excuted when it had to. All I can say is congrats on a job well done.

I generally agree with you tfa2 but not this week.  IMO, if there were odds on this game EH would be at least a 3 point favorite. EH knows their ODAC title goals are over if they lose. EH also should know that a win puts them in a great position to win the title. A 5 point win even better position. I think WL will see more of EH that played the first half against HSC than the EH that played the second.

In other words, EH is fighting for its ODAC title life.  WL could absorb a loss and still win the title. EH cannot.

[HSCTiger fan]

HSC does not have worry about the Cup. Outside of football there are no championships, basketball is OK, baseball/soccer/tennis not so much, golf is getting better. I think that is all the sports HSC particpates in, I think.
again, good luck this weekend and safe travels to and from.

I did not know until the other day but HSC added wrestling this year.

[tigerFanAlso2]

tigerFan

W&L wins @ HSC/HSC wins @ E&H/indicates W&L is better. I get that E&H is playing for survival/W&L is playing for a possible 1st round game at home/only way to get that done is to go 1-0 each week for the next three weeks. Thats motivation

[jknezek]

HSC does not have worry about the Cup. Outside of football there are no championships, basketball is OK, baseball/soccer/tennis not so much, golf is getting better. I think that is all the sports HSC particpates in, I think.
again, good luck this weekend and safe travels to and from.

I did not know until the other day but HSC added wrestling this year.

Interesting. The ODAC hasn't sponsored wrestling in 2 or 3 decades. W&L competes in the Centennial and it is a pain. PA and NYC area schools mostly and it's compounded by the fact we went 0-8 last year. It's just not an attractive sport at W&L. Maybe once Doremus is refitted, but I still think the conference is a problem.

Huntingdon added a few years ago as well. Usually you see schools cutting wrestling, so it's nice to see a few adding.

[HSCTiger fan]

tigerFan

W&L wins @ HSC/HSC wins @ E&H/indicates W&L is better. I get that E&H is playing for survival/W&L is playing for a possible 1st round game at home/only way to get that done is to go 1-0 each week for the next three weeks. Thats motivation

Without question WL is motivated.  But 2 fairly equal teams are playing and I think EH is favored in this one. Certainly WL can win.  Heck, WL might blow them out.  I like the home team in this one. It is also senior day for EH. Their last 2 games are on the road.

[tigerFanAlso2]

tigerFan

You know better than most how badly I want another HSC odac championship, so I hope you are correct and the home team pulls the upset.

[hscathletics]

HSC does not have worry about the Cup. Outside of football there are no championships, basketball is OK, baseball/soccer/tennis not so much, golf is getting better. I think that is all the sports HSC particpates in, I think.
again, good luck this weekend and safe travels to and from.

We have 10 sports, all of which are conveniently listed on the sports drop down menu on our website.

[jknezek]

Well I did OK lat week but, as usual, I underestimated the scoring, especially in the W&L game:

H-SC wins at home over Shenandoah   35-17   38-33  a bit closer than I thought
E&H beats Catholic on the road    31-20           44-24 was close until the last couple minutes
W&L holds off Bridgewater at home 24-17       45-23 not anywhere near as close as I thought
Guilford buries R-MC at home 42-10                 41-21 R-MC got an extra TD in the 4th

For this week I'll try to do a bit better

Guilford handles Catholic in the big city  49-35  Catholic is going to score, but they can't stop anyone else. Only R-MC has scored less than 30, and that was R-MC's biggest conference number so far.

W&L slides past E&H in Emory 45-35 Seriously hoping this is true. Want to see my boys win a big one. Can E&H stop the option? This will be Coach Newsome's test. By the time W&L played E&H last year they were so injured the offense barely functioned. This year is a different kettle of fish. E&H will score, but can they keep up?

Shenandoah overwhelms R-MC in Ashland 35-24 Shenandoah needs to stop shooting themselves in the foot. They have been competitive against H-SC and Guilford, but turnovers and penalties cost them. Oddly enough they didn't play as well against Bridgewater or Catholic, so this could be a squad playing to the opponent's level as opposed to playing their own game. That could let R-MC hang around.

Hampden-Sydney beats Bridgewater at home 42-21 I wasn't real impressed with Bridgewater last week. I think H-SC can just out talent them, especially at home. The Eagles are mired in a 3 game losing streak against the top of the ODAC and this should solidify their place in the conference right now. Tough schedule left them at E&H, home for Guilford, at W&L, at H-SC in consecutive weeks.

Lot of road chalk this week which is odd for me. Generally I put a lot of stock on home teams in the ODAC. Most people say 3 points, I think more like 7-10. Mostly because the travel isn't bad enough to cause overnights, but is bad enough to cause early morning wake ups and tedious bus trips.

Anyone know if Guilford goes the night before to Catholic? It's got to be a 6 hour bus ride, so if you want to be there 2 hours before game time you are leaving at 5a.m., that means being up at 4:15 or so. While I don't think it matters this year, I do think some of these early mornings keep the cheese in home games. Sure that's probably the worst road trip in the conference, but many are 3-4 hours. That still means being on the bus at 7 or 8 a.m. as opposed to getting a full night's sleep and leisurely wandering over to the locker room at 9:30 or 10.

It's also why I keep trying to talk myself into R-MC picking up a home win over Shenandoah this week. The Hornets make a lot of mistakes, despite their high powered offense, and R-MC is at home. I'm struggling to think of an 0-7 ODAC season for the Yellow Jackets, but chances are running out. Plus there are lots of stinging insects in the ODAC and I get tired of trying to remember who is who and just randomly pick one to win...

[HSCTiger fan]

Although the upsets can and often do happen in ODAC play last week with the top 4 playing the bottom 4 picking was easy. This week is no different except for EH and WL. Obviously, JK and all General fans are pulling for a win.  EH fans know that it's impossible to win the ODAC if they lose. HSC and GC fans should know that unless WL losses this game and 1 more their title hopes are also dashed. There's a lot of positive energy flowing EH's way.  This game is the biggest game all year for WL. I think they caught GC by surprise and a HSC team still trying to find itself early in the season. No one at GC or HSC thought at the time that WL would be 7-0. But they are and EH knows their only shot is by beating them. It's a huge game for both teams and others within the ODAC. Should be interesting.

[hasanova]

Anyone know if Guilford goes the night before to Catholic? It's got to be a 6 hour bus ride, so if you want to be there 2 hours before game time you are leaving at 5a.m., that means being up at 4:15 or so. While I don't think it matters this year, I do think some of these early mornings keep the cheese in home games. Sure that's probably the worst road trip in the conference, but many are 3-4 hours. That still means being on the bus at 7 or 8 a.m. as opposed to getting a full night's sleep and leisurely wandering over to the locker room at 9:30 or 10.

Coach Rusiewicz says the Quakers are leaving Greensboro Friday morning, so they'll spend Friday night in the DC area.  CUA game is at noon, so too early to expect a team to leave central NC on Saturday morning.  This is a big game if Guilford wants to keep pace, so I'm sure he wants a rested team on the field.

[hasanova]

Although the upsets can and often do happen in ODAC play last week with the top 4 playing the bottom 4 picking was easy. This week is no different except for EH and WL. Obviously, JK and all General fans are pulling for a win.  EH fans know that it's impossible to win the ODAC if they lose. HSC and GC fans should know that unless WL losses this game and 1 more their title hopes are also dashed. There's a lot of positive energy flowing EH's way.  This game is the biggest game all year for WL. I think they caught GC by surprise and a HSC team still trying to find itself early in the season. No one at GC or HSC thought at the time that WL would be 7-0. But they are and EH knows their only shot is by beating them. It's a huge game for both teams and others within the ODAC. Should be interesting.

I think the Generals played well in the Guilford game, but the concussion to Pawlowski looms large.

[HSCTiger fan]

Although the upsets can and often do happen in ODAC play last week with the top 4 playing the bottom 4 picking was easy. This week is no different except for EH and WL. Obviously, JK and all General fans are pulling for a win.  EH fans know that it's impossible to win the ODAC if they lose. HSC and GC fans should know that unless WL losses this game and 1 more their title hopes are also dashed. There's a lot of positive energy flowing EH's way.  This game is the biggest game all year for WL. I think they caught GC by surprise and a HSC team still trying to find itself early in the season. No one at GC or HSC thought at the time that WL would be 7-0. But they are and EH knows their only shot is by beating them. It's a huge game for both teams and others within the ODAC. Should be interesting.

I think the Generals played well in the Guilford game, but the concussion to Pawlowski looms large.

Regardless of the QB.  Pawloski is excellent. No one can disagree. But they only scored 3 points when he did play. I bet most of the GC faithful would have thought at that point in the season that GC would win over WL with or without him. GC did back him up with senior QB that did not turn the ball over. That's why I say GC was taken by surprise.

GC have been no where near as dominant as some expected since starting ODAC play.  Looking just at the 3 common opponents the scores between both WL and GC have been similar. GC and WL overwhelmed Averett.  WL beat RMC on the road in a close game while GC blew RMC out at home. Meanwhile WL crushed BC at home while GC won by 3 over BC on the road.

If WL wins the title this year they will have most certainly earned it. Every team has injuries.  It really stinks when it's at a position like QB. If it helps (I know it doesn't) HSC wishes you guys had won at WL too. But it wasn't to be.