FB: Old Dominion Athletic Conference

[CMR]

I read the board fairly regularly and really appreciate what everyone has to say. I'm sure others who don't post often (or at all) do the same. Sadly, since I live in the Midwest I can only follow games online whenever possible. Plus, my primary interest is in R-MC basketball. But please don't give up posting. You regulars are doing a great job and it's fun to read your posts. Thanks.

Head over to the RMC football twitter account and check out the video clip on practice sessions this August!

https://twitter.com/RMCfootball

Thanks for the suggestion. I don't have a Twitter account and don't want one. I'll stick to reading this board and whatever R-MC posts on its website. That should satisfy my need for information.

  Just to throw this out there, we don't do Twitter at our house either, but my wife discovered that you can usually read the posts as long as it's not a private account; you just can't respond. Also, and this might just be me, I find that it reads more easily on the desktop than my tablet.

Correct, I have no Twitter account and I read the RMC postings all the time, so check out the video.  If you haven't been to campus, the football stadium may interest you.

[y_jack_lok]

^^^ I'd love to see the stadium. My class (1967) won the alumni giving percentage award for the March Madness campaign so we are all invited to a reception and a viewing of the game from the dorm portico(?) on 9/10 vs Averett. I have a letter from President Lindgren extending this invitation. Unfortunately, it is just too far for me to travel. I'm hoping to get back for the Dec 10th basketball game when we have other reasons to head east.

[jknezek]

I share your pain Y_Jack. I've managed to get back to W&L once since I graduated 16+ years ago. It really is miserable being so far away. Thankfully I get to a game or so a year and this year, due to another trip, I'm hoping to get to campus in the fall.

[Tiger Mic]

RIP Bill Phipps.  He was a wonderful guy and will be sorely missed in the ODAC.   

[abnrgr]

Did not know Bill but God bless him the same

[jknezek]

I see the 4 New England conferences are teaming up to put on a bowl game. Sure wish the ODAC and USASAC could get on this bandwagon. Might be a stretch to do the SAA distance wise unfortunately. Would have been nice last year for Guilford to get one more game, or W&L back in 2011. Those teams came so close and one more game would have been great.

[Scots13]

I see the 4 New England conferences are teaming up to put on a bowl game. Sure wish the ODAC and USASAC could get on this bandwagon. Might be a stretch to do the SAA distance wise unfortunately. Would have been nice last year for Guilford to get one more game, or W&L back in 2011. Those teams came so close and one more game would have been great.

I agree. For laughs, just say the USAC #2 plays the ODAC #2. That would mean Maryville and Guilford would have played last year and Huntingdon and E&H in 2014. Both games I would pay to see.
The only "problem" I see would be a second match up from an OOC game earlier in the year. It'd be more interesting to have new flavor in the game like LaGrange and Bridgewater or Maryville and Macon instead of MC/E&H, Ferrum/HSC, E&H or Guilford/Methodist.

[tigerFanAlso2]

I'm not in favor. Players are beaten up after a long season, academic pressures mount towards end of semester, I don't think players would be motivated to play a meaningless game after being disappointed over not winning conference/going to playoffs. I feel the game would be poorly attended (parents only for the most part) creating a poor game day environment, coaches lose a week of recruiting (high school playoffs) and budgets get stressed having to pay travel expenses, assistant coaches salaries and other related game day expenses (officials, security, EMT expenses, etc.). I'm certain the loser of the HSC/RMC game would not be motivated. And of course, the risk of injury for a meaningless game. Just my thoughts.

Perhaps and just maybe, playing number twos and threes to get the experience for the next season, maybe, put otherwise I see little to no benefit.

[jknezek]

I'm certain the loser of the HSC/RMC game would not be motivated. And of course, the risk of injury for a meaningless game. Just my thoughts.

Doesn't seem like HSC bothers to get up for The Game either in the last few years... just saying. 

[tigerFanAlso2]

You are correct. The Game has turned into the Annual Face Plant by the Tigers and the fan base is having issues with same. Hopefully that can be turned around this year. We'll find out second Saturday in November.

[jknezek]

It won't last unless HSC is losing relative quality. Eventually the better team will go back to winning consistently. But I think there is a bit more of a problem. HSC just isn't as dominant as they've been in the ODAC. For example, in the last 4 years they've lost as many ODAC games as they lost in the previous 8 seasons. That tells me the rest of the league is either catching up a bit, or HSC is coming back to the field a bit. Of course you need to factor there is one more conference game a year, but adding Shenandoah shouldn't have been a strain on the most consistent program in the league.

Time will tell in the next few years. How good Guilford and W&L can continue to be season in and out will have a lot to say about it. As well as anyone else who can ratchet up the level.

[hasanova]

I see the 4 New England conferences are teaming up to put on a bowl game. Sure wish the ODAC and USASAC could get on this bandwagon. Might be a stretch to do the SAA distance wise unfortunately. Would have been nice last year for Guilford to get one more game, or W&L back in 2011. Those teams came so close and one more game would have been great.

So true!

[tigerFanAlso2]

JK

I somewhat agree with your assessment. I do think HSC is going back a little bit and has been since that loss to Linfield in 2013. I don't pretend to know the reason or even if my assessment is on target but I am somewhat concerned about the 2016 season and even not confident for Saturday's game. I'm concerned but not worried. the odac has gotten better as well so the combination of a drop off at HSC and the odac getting better has lead to my concern. frankly I do not understand why HSC is picked 2nd preseason with defeats to W&L, RMC & GC in 2015. I see all three of those teams ahead of us at this point but I know enough about the game to understand a team can get better each week; wins builds fun into the game and builds confidence. So, I'll sit back, observe and hope HSC finds a way to run the OOC schedule and build upon that for the remainder of the year. If the OOC does not go our way, hopefully we will find a way to win The Game. 

[jknezek]

HSC brings back plenty to be a credible threat to win the ODAC, as they have every year since Bridgewater's reign ended. In some ways I think HSC has gotten a bit unlucky. The 2014 team had the ability to be better than they ended up, they just had too many injuries. Though the absolute blowout at Bridgewater was simply embarrassing. Last year was somewhat of a young team. Or at least a bit inexperienced as there were a lot of stars that didn't align quite right in 2014 who graduated. When your impact player is a first year, you might be staring at an up and down year. Plus Guilford was really darn good last year.

Last year was a special year for the Generals, but they don't beat that Guilford team on a neutral field 5 times in 10. Maybe 2 or 3 times in my opinion. The W&L team caught HSC napping a bit at home and it showed. The Tigers just didn't believe W&L could beat them, especially at home, and it got shoved down their throats in the end. It happens with inexperienced teams.

Who will step up for the Tigers this year? Moore strikes me as very serviceable, but not the difference maker. Without the RB coming back, someone needs to come forward and carry the load. But it's definitely not 2013 or 2014 when we all knew who it would be before the season started. I'm not even going to touch on The Game, but something isn't right there and it needs to be fixed.

HSC is a bit more of an unknown this year but probably not substantially more than they were last year, when they easily could have gone 6-1 in conference and yet limped to 4-3.

[tigerFanAlso2]

Jk

On another note how do you see the odac ooc games playing out this week ? I'm pulling for your Generals to pull the big upset.