FB: Old Dominion Athletic Conference

[SaintsFAN]

And it's going to get worse, Hasa, if we don't find a replacement for Catholic. I really hope the ODAC is looking into that. I also hope they are looking into an ODAC/USASAC or ODAC/SAA type challenge ala the CC/MAC post season games this year. Guilford/Maryville for some bragging rights this week would be a fun end to the season.

I was wondering why Maryville wasn't mentioned since they are under 5 hours from Guilford College. 

Some other trips for Guilford which are closer than the state of Florida or the two schools in GA:

Wesley College - 6 hours 42 minutes
Centre College - 6 hours 46 minutes
Salisbury University- 6 hours 28 minutes
Frostburg State - 6 hours
W&J - 6 hours
Gettysburg- 6 hours
Waynesburg - 5 hours 55 minutes
Marietta College - 5 hours

[jknezek]

To be honest, Hasa forgot about the three TN schools. Though Rhodes is probably a 650 or so mile hike. Sewanee and Maryville aren't too bad. And with Brevard transitioning to D3 that adds another in NC.

[Scots13]

To be honest, Hasa forgot about the three TN schools. Though Rhodes is probably a 650 or so mile hike. Sewanee and Maryville aren't too bad. And with Brevard transitioning to D3 that adds another in NC.

We do play in a conference with Greensboro...

[jknezek]

To be honest, Hasa forgot about the three TN schools. Though Rhodes is probably a 650 or so mile hike. Sewanee and Maryville aren't too bad. And with Brevard transitioning to D3 that adds another in NC.

We do play in a conference with Greensboro...

Sorry. Where I wrote "not too bad" I meant travel not team. I could see how that didn't come out right.

[Scots13]

To be honest, Hasa forgot about the three TN schools. Though Rhodes is probably a 650 or so mile hike. Sewanee and Maryville aren't too bad. And with Brevard transitioning to D3 that adds another in NC.

We do play in a conference with Greensboro...

Sorry. Where I wrote "not too bad" I meant travel not team. I could see how that didn't come out right.

I know. I was agreeing with you. Guilford's Greensboro and would be a Good game for both teams.

[hasanova]

I was juggling a couple of things when I was listing schools ... meant to include the two east Tennessee DIIIs, Maryville and Sewanee, both of whom Guilford's played at some point.  I know about Rhodes, but it's a haul to Memphis.  I'm also aware of Centre in Danville, KY.

We have actually played Salisbury in the past, but probably over 20 years.  In my memory, we haven't played (football) against Frostburg State, McDaniel, Wesley or any DIII schools in NJ, OH or PA.  In our NAIA and independent days, I know we played schools in NC, SC, TN, WV, VA, MD and NY (C W Post, now LIU Post).   

[hasanova]

And it's going to get worse, Hasa, if we don't find a replacement for Catholic. I really hope the ODAC is looking into that. I also hope they are looking into an ODAC/USASAC or ODAC/SAA type challenge ala the CC/MAC post season games this year. Guilford/Maryville for some bragging rights this week would be a fun end to the season.

I was wondering why Maryville wasn't mentioned since they are under 5 hours from Guilford College. 

Some other trips for Guilford which are closer than the state of Florida or the two schools in GA:

Wesley College - 6 hours 42 minutes
Centre College - 6 hours 46 minutes
Salisbury University- 6 hours 28 minutes
Frostburg State - 6 hours
W&J - 6 hours
Gettysburg- 6 hours
Waynesburg - 5 hours 55 minutes
Marietta College - 5 hours

I also tend to forget Gallaudet, which is essentially equal to a trip to Catholic.  I do not, however, think it currently offers much for SOS.

[wally_wabash]

We don't go by regions Ralph. Within 500 miles of W&L there was Albright, Cortland, Franklin and ONU. Two of those teams, with losses, are hosting. Now Cortland has a huge SOS, but several losses, a position W&L was in 2012 when they got shipped to Hobart. Albright has 96 SOS, better than W&L, but a loss. Franklin is a mess and behind W&L in SOS. And I'm not talking about a second OAC team. That just shouldn't have happened except they were on the board so long people got tired of looking at them... Either way, a decent case can be made that, especially ONU and Franklin, should have been split and sent to W&L and TMC. There is no reason, none, that Franklin is hosting over W&L and no reason to send W&L to TMC with ONU floating around.

Can ONU/Franklin be driven to TMC/W&L?

If so, then I agree that's a major goof.  I assumed neither of those teams could drive to W&L.

Per TES

Franklin to W&L, 477 miles.
ONU to W&L, 419 miles.

ONU to TMC, 151 miles
Franklin to TMC, 107 miles.

W&L to TMC? 378 miles. 

Stupid committee...

Trying to get over it, really. One more game!!!!

After some more thought on this, I tend to agree with you jk.  If there's one team in the field that can gripe, I think it's W&L. 

They definitely could have made the following pods:
Albion @ Wabash
ONU @ W&L

SSC @ UW-O
Franklin @ Thomas More

Franklin and Thomas More can both bus to Oshkosh.  ONU busses to Wabash (or Albion), W&L would have to fly to Wabash (or Albion flies to W&L).  So we haven't changed the second round flight game possibilities at all.  This probably should have happened. 

[HSCTiger fan]

All right. Trying to get over my fit of pique. W&L has an 11th game, and that is something to celebrate, regardless of how they got jobbed out of it being in Lexington.

So... TMC has been an offensive juggernaut this season. They haven't put less than 36 points on the board all season. W&L has only allowed 36 points once, that was opening week when Averett got some late points and hit exactly that number, and only one other game have the Generals allowed over 30, a late score for Catholic. So when the first team defense has been on the field, W&L has given yards but not points. They will have to keep that trend going against TMC to have a shot in this game which will be difficult as TMC ranks 4th in Red Zone offense and 5th in scoring offense.

Offensively both teams are good. TMC ranks 7th in total offense, W&L 10th. TMC ranks about 50th against the rush. W&L is the top ranked rushing team in DIII by almost 100 yards per game on average. I think W&L will need to slow this game down a bit. Neither team has been a TOP hog, with W&L ranking about 100th and TMC ranking about 170th in DIII, so both rely more on big plays and quick strikes to generate large numbers of points. W&L will need to use their offense to grind out drives and shorten the game, keeping TMC off the field and making them work a little harder for the points they will score.

If this game turns into a complete track meet, I don't like the General's chances. But if W&L can hold TMC around 35-40 points, I think the offense can be efficient enough to give the Generals a chance. As usual, W&L will need between 300 and 400 rushing yards and 50 to 150 passing yards. If they can get in the mid range of those numbers I'll be thrilled. With TMC only allowing about 300 yards per game, W&L is going to have to do something the Saints aren't capable of handling to get those numbers up.

I'll skip the obvious about penalties and turnovers, but W&L can't afford them. An option offense can't make up the gap or get behind the chains. Get out early and grind it out Generals. Make them chase. It'll be a long afternoon if W&L falls behind early.

A bit concerned Charlie Nelson hasn't played two weeks in a row. He picked up a knock late against E&H, frankly he shouldn't have been in the game at that point, so I hope he can come back for this game. Though I will say Matt Sgro has been a more than capable back up, I'd like to see Charlie running the game plan to its full potential.

I do wonder about next year. Charlie will be a senior, Matt a junior. Matt brings something a little different to the table and I could see Coach Abel trying to find a way to have them both on the field at the same time.

Nice post, jknezek.  I'll post my keys to the game tonight.  I am looking at the starters for W&L - does anyone know where I can find a recent two-deep?  It looks like the Generals have had injuries on the OL, LB and RB - judging from the Kickoff a Preview of the Gens written by Mr Turer.

I will say this collection of talent is our best and deepest team since the early to mid-90s when we had a bunch of D1 transfers.  They may even be better than those teams.  I've been following/playing for TMC since 1993, when I was a junior in HS.

Here's game notes from HSC that includes a 2 deep for WL
- http://static.psbin.com/u/8/cen2xp3drudryk/10.10.15_WLU.pdf

[SaintsFAN]

All right. Trying to get over my fit of pique. W&L has an 11th game, and that is something to celebrate, regardless of how they got jobbed out of it being in Lexington.

So... TMC has been an offensive juggernaut this season. They haven't put less than 36 points on the board all season. W&L has only allowed 36 points once, that was opening week when Averett got some late points and hit exactly that number, and only one other game have the Generals allowed over 30, a late score for Catholic. So when the first team defense has been on the field, W&L has given yards but not points. They will have to keep that trend going against TMC to have a shot in this game which will be difficult as TMC ranks 4th in Red Zone offense and 5th in scoring offense.

Offensively both teams are good. TMC ranks 7th in total offense, W&L 10th. TMC ranks about 50th against the rush. W&L is the top ranked rushing team in DIII by almost 100 yards per game on average. I think W&L will need to slow this game down a bit. Neither team has been a TOP hog, with W&L ranking about 100th and TMC ranking about 170th in DIII, so both rely more on big plays and quick strikes to generate large numbers of points. W&L will need to use their offense to grind out drives and shorten the game, keeping TMC off the field and making them work a little harder for the points they will score.

If this game turns into a complete track meet, I don't like the General's chances. But if W&L can hold TMC around 35-40 points, I think the offense can be efficient enough to give the Generals a chance. As usual, W&L will need between 300 and 400 rushing yards and 50 to 150 passing yards. If they can get in the mid range of those numbers I'll be thrilled. With TMC only allowing about 300 yards per game, W&L is going to have to do something the Saints aren't capable of handling to get those numbers up.

I'll skip the obvious about penalties and turnovers, but W&L can't afford them. An option offense can't make up the gap or get behind the chains. Get out early and grind it out Generals. Make them chase. It'll be a long afternoon if W&L falls behind early.

A bit concerned Charlie Nelson hasn't played two weeks in a row. He picked up a knock late against E&H, frankly he shouldn't have been in the game at that point, so I hope he can come back for this game. Though I will say Matt Sgro has been a more than capable back up, I'd like to see Charlie running the game plan to its full potential.

I do wonder about next year. Charlie will be a senior, Matt a junior. Matt brings something a little different to the table and I could see Coach Abel trying to find a way to have them both on the field at the same time.

Nice post, jknezek.  I'll post my keys to the game tonight.  I am looking at the starters for W&L - does anyone know where I can find a recent two-deep?  It looks like the Generals have had injuries on the OL, LB and RB - judging from the Kickoff a Preview of the Gens written by Mr Turer.

I will say this collection of talent is our best and deepest team since the early to mid-90s when we had a bunch of D1 transfers.  They may even be better than those teams.  I've been following/playing for TMC since 1993, when I was a junior in HS.

Here's game notes from HSC that includes a 2 deep for WL
- http://static.psbin.com/u/8/cen2xp3drudryk/10.10.15_WLU.pdf

Thank you, sir.  You're a gentleman and a scholar.

[jknezek]

After some more thought on this, I tend to agree with you jk.  If there's one team in the field that can gripe, I think it's W&L. 

Nice to know my temper tantrum wasn't all in my head!

[jknezek]

Game notes up for W&L at TMC:

http://generalssports.com/sports/fball/2015-16/releases/TMC_Notes

[Pat Coleman]

d3football.com says Whitworth and Guilford had nearly identical resumes and I agree, but Whitworth lost to Linfield 52-10 and Guilford lost their only game 20-17 in the rain and on the road when our star QB was knocked out with a possible concussion early in the second quarter and the W&L Generals hit a school-record 51-yard FG.  I understand LC is RR #2 and W&L is RR #5, but this is a classic case of a team that got robbed.

I'd say it's pretty clear Linfield is better than Whitworth.  I don't think that's so obvious in Guilford's case with W&L.  I also don't understand how at-large teams such as ONU got in with 2 losses and SJF got in with three!  They say life isn't fair and here's your proof.  Boo NCAA ... you blew it!  Linfield and Whitworth are paired again because of the NCAA's inane travel rules. No offense meant to Whitworth, but I'd like to see Linfield lay another beatdown on the Pirates just to prove a team that gets trounced by 42 is probably not going to fare very well in a rematch.

C'est la vie.   On to hoops for me.

Yeah, but man, Guilford didn't play anyone nearly on the level of Linfield. Congrats on not losing by 42 but good teams lose to Linfield and St. Thomas and Mount Union and UW-Firstplaceteamnamehere by 42 points. That's what the rest of D-III is like -- if you just play in the ODAC/USAC pond, you might get away with some things that you don't when playing a top seed type.

Linfeild, St Thomas, MU, UW is not a representation of "what the rest of D-III is like". If anything those teams are the direct opposite of what the rest of D-III is like.

Well, either way, comparing a result vs. W&L and someone else's result vs. Linfield solely on margin of defeat is just ridiculous.

[HSCTiger fan]

Just curious Pat, how would you compare them?  Your website said GC was a coin flip away from being in. 

[ExTartanPlayer]

Just curious Pat, how would you compare them?  Your website said GC was a coin flip away from being in.

You really can't.  It is admittedly a total judgement call.  I think the point is that it's a little asinine for hasanova to say that this is a "classic case of a team that got robbed" (direct quote) with the justification for that being that Whitworth's loss came by 42 points and Guilford's loss came by 3 points.  Since you can't compare those things with any reasonable certainty, just like Pat said...it's a coin flip.  Not a "classic case of a team that got robbed."

I mean, hasanova was also complaining about St. John Fisher getting in with three losses (they didn't), so we have to take those comments with a grain of salt.  But still.  Come on.