FB: Old Dominion Athletic Conference

[sigma one]

Years ago I noticed how often--almost always except in short yardage and goal line placements--referees place the ball exactly on the yard line.  I've never heard a complaint.  And when I mention it to someone, the general reaction is "Really?"  I have a friend, a retired head coach,  who when I mentioned it to him said "I never picked up on that."  So, I've often said football is a game played with the "illusion of precision."  They measure for first downs, place the ball in an approximate spot on most plays, and no one complains.  At  some levels they review every touchdown to determine whether the ball crossed the goal line or if the play was completed according to the rules on out of bounds.  We argue over every inch and foot and yet we accept the illusion that the refs generally spot the ball correctly.
      On officiating:  the refs are imperfect, but I've never accepted the accusation that there is home cooking.  They do the best they can and make errors, but they don't go into a game thinking that they will favor one team over another.  Does the home crowd or specific venue influence decisions?  Hard to say, but certainly the size of crowds at the DIII level would argue against this thinking.  I just don't believe that the refs decide to favor the home team.  Could something sub-consciously be happening to influence the refs?  I can't rule that out, but I don't think there's any way to prove that.
     How many times have we seen on replay a decision overturned despite the best efforts of a referee.  Yes, sometimes. We see on TV that a umpire misses a tag on a stolen base or misses on the location of a pitch. We sometimes see that a ref misses on a sideline completion.  And DIII refs are working without the advantage of replay.  There are certain plays, pass interference for one, when the ref has to make a quick judgment.  Usually, they get it right.  Sometimes they get it wrong.  Depending upon our own interests we disagree with the call; sometimes we are right, and sometimes we are wrong. 
     As fans, Many of us are biased in favor of our team.  I just don't think the refs care and do their best to be objective under the pressure of correctly making judgments, trying to interpret the rules to make the game, and each play, as fair as possible.  We accept the illusion of perfection but can't abide misjudgments or errors of interpretation.  Oh, well. 
       
     

[Air Raid]

Last play pass is into kids hands/chest and he's blasted before even one step is taken ball pops from body into air and Bryan aguilar catches it.  They call it a catch and fumble but there's no way that was a legal catch by any modern definition or standard.  Shen announcer called it INT until they changed it on the stats.   Hobart announcers were talking INT in aftergame.  My eyes saw a ball barely get into receivers body at point of jarring hit and immediately bounce out.


I was at the game and saw exactly what you did.  The last play was without a doubt an interception.  As the play started to develop I was thinking he was going to throw to the receiver running the post pattern and get him out of bounds.  The announcer was terrible, but the weather held up more than many had originally thought.  Honestly, the last drive by SU should have been very limited.  Hobart ran a qb sweep and if he stays inbounds the clock really puts SU in the bind since they had no timeouts left.  I realize it was the backup but you have to keep the clock running.
The SU defense was quite frankly horrible, and they have to use the bye week to vastly improve.  There is some very talented ODAC offenses coming up and you simply can't get into shootouts every week.  The defense or lack there of was their downfall last season.

[jknezek]

Well... the upcoming ODAC slate is... uninspiring.

Emory and Henry        Rochester        
Greensboro                Ferrum        
N.C. Wesleyan                Bridgewater

Rochester is not good. Unless the bus ride kills E&H, they should win.

Greensboro is terrible, Ferrum should win easily.

That just leaves NC Wes and Bridgewater, which could be interesting. How NC Wes beat TMC is just beyond me. They lost big at Shenandoah. But Bridgewater is hard to peg. They easily beat Gettysburg, but that's a team that just got demolished by Dickinson (who, as I thought after the W&L game, will finish around mid pack in the CC based on their defense). The Eagles were then handled pretty easily by Stevenson, but that's a team I expect to compete in the MAC. So Bridgewater might be an ok team, but so might NC Wes.

At least one of the games looks interesting. Otherwise, it is long layoffs for the ODAC teams. Thanks Florence...

H-SC -- 21 days
W&L -- 21 days (thanks Mville for backing out on tomorrow -- though I understand)
RMC -- 17 days
Guilford -- 16 days
Shenandoah -- 14 days

[tigerFanAlso2]

NC Wes vs. BC ?

assuming NCW can get out of Rocky Mount. Much flooding in Eastern NC/I95 is not passable in many parts, more flooding coming Wednesday.
Fingers crossed

[Scots13]

jk-

I'm confused. So the game was postponed, then cancelled? The only thing I've seen from MC social media is soccer highlights...

[jknezek]

jk-

I'm confused. So the game was postponed, then cancelled? The only thing I've seen from MC social media is soccer highlights...

Yes. On the W&L side, the word that went around was Maryville didn't want to do the travel on a weekday. I think the preliminary reschedule was just that, both sides trying to see if it worked. In the end, it didn't work. And, as I put in my post, I get it. A Tuesday night game requires missed classes all day Tuesday, a very late return Wednesday a.m., and probably some missed classes Wednesday. I'm not sure why it wasn't moved to Friday night or Saturday. Since I also believe this is a 1 off game, not part of a home and home, there might not be much desire to make it work. It was a game of convenience that became inconvenient.

[Generals98]

W&L-Maryville Football Game Has Been Cancelled

Sep 15, 2018 
LEXINGTON, Va. – The football game between Washington and Lee and Maryville that was rescheduled for Thursday, September 20 has now been cancelled.
The Scots are unable to secure a viable travel plan to Lexington due to resources (buses) in the area being committed to assist in the relief efforts for those affected by Hurricane Florence.
Washington and Lee (2-0) will return to action on Saturday, September 29 when it opens its home and ODAC schedule against Randolph-Macon.  Kickoff is slated for 1:00 pm.

[Jeremybozz]

W&L tied for 44th with 2 vote points in D3 Football Top 25 poll.

They've had the same couple votes since the preseason. Thinking one voter has them on the ballot at 24. The RMC game in 2 weeks will be big for the Generals. That seems to he the toughest game season in and out for the offense.

W&L had 16 vote points in the preseason and 3 vote points following week 1.

[tigerFanAlso2]

21 days without a game sux. Feels like we are staring all over again. Feel sorry for the players & fans. Lots of practice with no where to go. Beating on teammates gets old really quick and certainly does not make you better (1's scrimmaging 2's).

[hasanova]

Well... the upcoming ODAC slate is... uninspiring.

Emory and Henry        Rochester        
Greensboro                Ferrum        
N.C. Wesleyan                Bridgewater

Rochester is not good. Unless the bus ride kills E&H, they should win.

Greensboro is terrible, Ferrum should win easily.

That just leaves NC Wes and Bridgewater, which could be interesting. How NC Wes beat TMC is just beyond me. They lost big at Shenandoah. But Bridgewater is hard to peg. They easily beat Gettysburg, but that's a team that just got demolished by Dickinson (who, as I thought after the W&L game, will finish around mid pack in the CC based on their defense). The Eagles were then handled pretty easily by Stevenson, but that's a team I expect to compete in the MAC. So Bridgewater might be an ok team, but so might NC Wes.

At least one of the games looks interesting. Otherwise, it is long layoffs for the ODAC teams. Thanks Florence...

H-SC -- 21 days
W&L -- 21 days (thanks Mville for backing out on tomorrow -- though I understand)
RMC -- 17 days
Guilford -- 16 days
Shenandoah -- 14 days

We are now in the dead zone ... I hate it.  Coupled with the no contest versus Huntingdon, a very strange season.

[Air Raid]

Add another game to the list Ferrum vs Averett has been postponed.

Both these schools have petitioned to reschedule this game for 11/17, with the understanding that if either team makes the playoffs the game will be cancelled

[Jeremybozz]

NC Wesleyan at Bridgewater has now been postponed. Again.

[tigerFanAlso2]

NCW needs to cross two rivers to get into Va. Both rivers are flooded and it is an unknown at this point if/when roads will be passable.

[HSCTiger64]

Fellas we have gotta have some topic of discussion to get us through these Hurricane Florance/Bye Week Blues....too much time without football!  Topic of discussion, best ODAC game you ever watched in person?  Mine was the 2012 HSC vs. WLU game even though my guys lost, caught myself telling a kid the other day about the fact that Luke Heihnson kicked the winning field goal in 4OT after scoring 4 TD and kicking 4 extra points...close second may be the 2013 version of the Game between RMC and HSC....When it all comes down to a 2 point play and you have the ODAC DPOY stopping the ODAC OPOY from the 1.5 yard line.....in a rivalry game that was for the ODAC title....that was pretty sweet

[jknezek]

Fellas we have gotta have some topic of discussion to get us through these Hurricane Florance/Bye Week Blues....too much time without football!  Topic of discussion, best ODAC game you ever watched in person?  Mine was the 2012 HSC vs. WLU game even though my guys lost, caught myself telling a kid the other day about the fact that Luke Heihnson kicked the winning field goal in 4OT after scoring 4 TD and kicking 4 extra points...close second may be the 2013 version of the Game between RMC and HSC....When it all comes down to a 2 point play and you have the ODAC DPOY stopping the ODAC OPOY from the 1.5 yard line.....in a rivalry game that was for the ODAC title....that was pretty sweet

I'm 100% in line with that 2012 HSC-WLU game. I still have a digital copy of the game on my computer at home. That was an epic battle between evenly matched teams. Heinsohn was a monster. DIII was easily below his talent level, but he was a W&L legacy and that's where he wanted to be. I'm going to say he is the best player I've ever seen in a W&L uniform.