FB: Old Dominion Athletic Conference

jknezek · July 10, 2017, 03:45:30 PM

The ODAC gets no love in the pre-season D3football.com top 25. I'm neither surprised nor think that the ODAC is being underestimated. RMC has a ton to replace. W&L has a ton to replace off a team that under-performed. Guilford is coming off a bad season. The shine is off H-SC. This year will certainly be interesting.

HSCTiger fan · July 10, 2017, 07:00:52 PM

TFA I agree HSC MUST improve on defense. They also must play better in 2nd half. My question is why do you (or anyone) feel RMC "should" be good this fall. They lose 10 starters on defense and 6 more on offense. There's been nothing in their recent past to suggest they reload. (10 years between ODAC championships). They lose 24 in their 2 deep. No one else in ODAC loDes more than 14. Call me blinded but I don't see it.

tigerFanAlso2 · July 11, 2017, 09:30:17 AM

because they always have a good OL and RB and play solid defense. Hell, we barely beat them in Ashland with the really good team we had in 2013.
RMC will be the best in the odac this year, not saying they'll win it, but they will be the favorite, preseason HSC will be picked near the bottom of the odac so lots of room for improvement. The UWP game should help us get better as HSC will not see talent like that in odac play or maybe ever again.

I think you are really under estimating RMC going into the 2017 season as compared to the rest of the odac.

HSCTiger74 · July 11, 2017, 12:36:53 PM

Quote from: tigerFanAlso2 on July 11, 2017, 09:30:17 AM
because they always have a good OL and RB and play solid defense. Hell, we barely beat them in Ashland with the really good team we had in 2013.
RMC will be the best in the odac this year, not saying they'll win it, but they will be the favorite, preseason HSC will be picked near the bottom of the odac so lots of room for improvement. The UWP game should help us get better as HSC will not see talent like that in odac play or maybe ever again.

I think you are really under estimating RMC going into the 2017 season as compared to the rest of the odac.

Was this game scheduled as a home-and-home, with us going up to Platteville in 2018, or is it just a one-off because both needed a game this season?

tigerFanAlso2 · July 11, 2017, 03:32:33 PM

one off for the reason stated

hasanova · July 11, 2017, 07:27:17 PM

Quote from: jknezek on July 10, 2017, 03:45:30 PM
The ODAC gets no love in the pre-season D3football.com top 25. I'm neither surprised nor think that the ODAC is being underestimated. RMC has a ton to replace. W&L has a ton to replace off a team that under-performed. Guilford is coming off a bad season. The shine is off H-SC. This year will certainly be interesting.

The ODAC gets no love in the Top 50 ... there are 26 more teams that got votes! lol I agree, we have to prove we belong again ... lots of question marks throughout the league.

HSCTiger fan · July 12, 2017, 08:44:55 AM

Quote from: tigerFanAlso2 on July 11, 2017, 09:30:17 AM
because they always have a good OL and RB and play solid defense. Hell, we barely beat them in Ashland with the really good team we had in 2013.
RMC will be the best in the odac this year, not saying they'll win it, but they will be the favorite, preseason HSC will be picked near the bottom of the odac so lots of room for improvement. The UWP game should help us get better as HSC will not see talent like that in odac play or maybe ever again.

I think you are really under estimating RMC going into the 2017 season as compared to the rest of the odac.

I might be underestimating them. But I feel you may be underestimating the Tigers too. I know how bad defense was last year. But it can only improve. Can't get any worse. I an optimist. Last 2 ODAC champs had losing seasons prior to winning ODAC. WL was 2-8 in 14 and RMC was 4-6 in 15.

jknezek · July 12, 2017, 09:21:40 AM

Quote from: HSCTiger fan on July 12, 2017, 08:44:55 AM
I might be underestimating them. But I feel you may be underestimating the Tigers too. I know how bad defense was last year. But it can only improve. Can't get any worse. I an optimist. Last 2 ODAC champs had losing seasons prior to winning ODAC. WL was 2-8 in 14 and RMC was 4-6 in 15.

I think this is a really good point. Without that dominant, reload every year, type team, the ODAC is particularly vulnerable to a star player or a star unit. 2015 it was W&L's offense, 2016 it was RMC's defense. 2015 also had the maturation of Coach R's outstanding rebuilding efforts at Guilford, and then 2016 showed what happens when you graduate a significant portion of 3 and 4 year starters. Something to certainly consider for RMC. So who is stepping up in 2017?

tigerFanAlso2 · July 12, 2017, 10:01:51 AM

TigerFan

I may be underestimating them and if I am, they earned it. If HSC is going to improve four things need to happen;

1) defense must get better
2) OL must get better
3) must limit turnovers
4) must stop getting the hell beat out of them in the 2nd half

I'm pulling for them to accomplish all of this. Time will tell

HSCTiger fan · July 12, 2017, 11:39:42 AM

Agreed.

jknezek · July 13, 2017, 10:59:50 AM

It's interesting. Last year I had a pretty good feel that RMC was going to be really good. The year before we all knew Guilford was going to be good. Before that, you could rely on H-SC being pretty good. This year? I'm really at a loss. I have no idea who I would pick as the favorite, the likely competitor, and the dark horse. Something is whispering Bridgewater in my ear but I don't trust that whisper. It's like whispering E&H. You are bound to be disappointed.

HansenRatings · July 13, 2017, 01:08:41 PM

Quote from: jknezek on July 13, 2017, 10:59:50 AM
It's interesting. Last year I had a pretty good feel that RMC was going to be really good. The year before we all knew Guilford was going to be good. Before that, you could rely on H-SC being pretty good. This year? I'm really at a loss. I have no idea who I would pick as the favorite, the likely competitor, and the dark horse. Something is whispering Bridgewater in my ear but I don't trust that whisper. It's like whispering E&H. You are bound to be disappointed.

Emory & Henry is returning (assuming graduating seniors are the only attrition, which may be a stretch considering what I've heard about E&H):

78% of OL starts
98% of rushing attempts
100% of passing attempts
87% of passes caught

Easy to see them (potentially) getting better next year.

jknezek · July 13, 2017, 01:15:53 PM

Quote from: HansenRatings on July 13, 2017, 01:08:41 PM
Quote from: jknezek on July 13, 2017, 10:59:50 AM
It's interesting. Last year I had a pretty good feel that RMC was going to be really good. The year before we all knew Guilford was going to be good. Before that, you could rely on H-SC being pretty good. This year? I'm really at a loss. I have no idea who I would pick as the favorite, the likely competitor, and the dark horse. Something is whispering Bridgewater in my ear but I don't trust that whisper. It's like whispering E&H. You are bound to be disappointed.

Emory & Henry is returning (assuming graduating seniors are the only attrition, which may be a stretch considering what I've heard about E&H):

78% of OL starts
98% of rushing attempts
100% of passing attempts
87% of passes caught

Easy to see them (potentially) getting better next year.

The problem with E&H is not the quality of their athletes in my experience. It's the ability to focus for a full game and not make mental mistakes and then start yelling at each other and getting chippy with each other and the opposing team. Maybe this will be the year that doesn't happen.

tigerFanAlso2 · July 14, 2017, 09:45:39 AM

Jk

I agree, the odac will be interesting this year and hard to predict. I think the bottom dwellers (SU & HSC) might pull an upset that will provide the ultimate winner the trophy, followed by a really bad post season experience for the odac champ.

jknezek · July 14, 2017, 10:48:05 AM

Quote from: tigerFanAlso2 on July 14, 2017, 09:45:39 AM
Jk

I agree, the odac will be interesting this year and hard to predict. I think the bottom dwellers (SU & HSC) might pull an upset that will provide the ultimate winner the trophy, followed by a really bad post season experience for the odac champ.

Yeah. Probably. I couldn't even tell you who I think the bottom dwellers will be. I think Shenandoah does OK this year. They lost their beast of a runner, can't remember his name, maybe Delaney? But I believe they bring back a lot and Yoder is going on year 3, so his guys should be filtering into starting positions. Early season game at Hobart will be interesting for them. The OOC schedules this year actually include some really tough teams. That is rare for the ODAC. But with Shenandoah playing Hobart, W&L playing JHU, Bridgewater taking on TMC, HSC playing UWP, and Guilford hitting up Huntingdon, the OOC doesn't look as sad as usual. Unfortunately I'm not holding out a lot of hope for any of those results. I don't think we will be favored to win any of them. That does not bode well for the eventual champion.