FB: Old Dominion Athletic Conference

[BAM-BAM29]

BU vs. eh this week surprises all(except HSC) with game of the year. this is for the crown. BU and WL will both beat RMC. thus why this is last hurdle for BU. and improbable turn around for both teams.  BU with adv. cuz plenty 1st teamers. and eexcellent line(o and s). eh balanced with senior leaders and freshman playmakers.   I don't see a weakness in BU and eh is gritty defense may be the diff.  How do the experts see it ?  on paper I see it 35 28 BU. 1 int./disciplined line few penl./vet. QB/coached well.  however as a betting man imma go with grit.

[y_jack_lok]

FWIW to HSC fans, your guys are the #1 seed in the ODAC futebol tournament.

[jknezek]

FWIW to HSC fans, your guys are the #1 seed in the ODAC futebol tournament.

Yes. But that is ridiculously tainted by the ODAC's unbalanced schedule. H-SC didn't have to play either the 2 or 3 seed in the regular season. Their best result was a HOME tie against the 4th seed and a HOME win against the 5th seed. W&L, the 2 seed, played the three, four, and five seeds.

The conference is simply too big in many sports. It sets up completely ridiculous scenarios like this.

[y_jack_lok]

^^^ Interesting. I note a similar situation in women's soccer where W&L and R-MC do not play each other in the regular season. Also, it blows my mind that W&L women are not ranked in the South Atlantic region in soccer by the NCAA.

[jknezek]

^^^ Interesting. I note a similar situation in women's soccer where W&L and R-MC do not play each other in the regular season. Also, it blows my mind that W&L women are not ranked in the South Atlantic region in soccer by the NCAA.

Pretty sure the W&L women's SOS is... not good. But yes, the lack of round robin is infuriating to me. I get it. If you do a full round robin there is almost no room for OOC games. This is a problem across the ODAC that was made worse by the football necessary addition of Ferrum. The ODAC and the USASAC will eventually need to sort themselves out creating a third conference. Not much more growth can be done by just these two.

[hasanova]

FWIW to HSC fans, your guys are the #1 seed in the ODAC futebol tournament.

Yes. But that is ridiculously tainted by the ODAC's unbalanced schedule. H-SC didn't have to play either the 2 or 3 seed in the regular season. Their best result was a HOME tie against the 4th seed and a HOME win against the 5th seed. W&L, the 2 seed, played the three, four, and five seeds.

The conference is simply too big in many sports. It sets up completely ridiculous scenarios like this.

I agree!

[y_jack_lok]

^^^ Interesting. I note a similar situation in women's soccer where W&L and R-MC do not play each other in the regular season. Also, it blows my mind that W&L women are not ranked in the South Atlantic region in soccer by the NCAA.

Pretty sure the W&L women's SOS is... not good. But yes, the lack of round robin is infuriating to me. I get it. If you do a full round robin there is almost no room for OOC games. This is a problem across the ODAC that was made worse by the football necessary addition of Ferrum. The ODAC and the USASAC will eventually need to sort themselves out creating a third conference. Not much more growth can be done by just these two.

The USA South has 18 members with eight playing football. The ODAC has 15 members, also with eight playing football, plus SVU as football only. It's an interesting and complex problem to try to solve -- arranging the schools into three conferences where those schools have common sports that would allow scheduling in each sport to insure all schools play each other the same number of times.

[jknezek]

^^^ Interesting. I note a similar situation in women's soccer where W&L and R-MC do not play each other in the regular season. Also, it blows my mind that W&L women are not ranked in the South Atlantic region in soccer by the NCAA.

Pretty sure the W&L women's SOS is... not good. But yes, the lack of round robin is infuriating to me. I get it. If you do a full round robin there is almost no room for OOC games. This is a problem across the ODAC that was made worse by the football necessary addition of Ferrum. The ODAC and the USASAC will eventually need to sort themselves out creating a third conference. Not much more growth can be done by just these two.

The USA South has 18 members with eight playing football. The ODAC has 15 members, also with eight playing football, plus SVU as football only. It's an interesting and complex problem to try to solve -- arranging the schools into three conferences where those schools have common sports that would allow scheduling in each sport to insure all schools play each other the same number of times.

Oh I very much doubt the bolded part would be the overriding concern. I think geographics would still rule. If the DIII footprint in the southeast continues its slow but steady expansion, I think you'd see them reorganize into an even tighter geographic pattern. The ODAC would probably lose some southern and the most northern members, possibly gaining a mid-footprint Averett. You'd get some overlap north to south with a northern USASAC grouping plus possibly the two public CAC schools, and then a southern USASAC grouping, which is where the growth will most likely come from with TN, GA, and maybe some AL/Carolina schools coming from NAIA. I figure the football, lax, wrestling, riding and other sports that need combined efforts to get AQs could shrink to one or two of the 3 conferences in a cooperative arrangement.

You'll probably get quite a bit of push back from various areas. I can't imagine Shenandoah or Guilford wanting to lose the ODAC affiliation but it might eventually make sense as they are what passes for geographic outliers in the ODAC. Though I'd imagine they would be unhappy being tossed into a conference with Salisbury and CNU. Mary Washington and Southern Virginia would need to be accomodated. The ODAC isn't going to let in the public schools, so that would fall on the USASAC or whatever the new conference is named. A lot depends on where the growth appears and who can be persuaded that lower travel costs are worth shifting, providing you can actually make better travel arrangements.

It will be complex, but it's somewhat inevitable given the size of the two conferences and the likely continued erosion of NAIA. To say nothing of the future of DII. Critical mass is what the southeast has always lacked for DIII. But the tipping point is coming. GA, FL, and TN are still bastions for NAIA. I expect FL will always remain stubborn unless they all switch at once. But I could see an eventual repeat of what happened to the NAIA in the northeast.

[y_jack_lok]

Fascinating. Thanks for those insights. The effect is much more far reaching and complicated than I imagined.

[Ralph Turner]

I have a hard time imaging a school leaving the prestigious ODAC.

[hasanova]

I have e a hard time imaging a school leaving the prestigious ODAC.

Guilford is often mentioned in this conversation simply because it's in NC.  In my opinion, GC has little to gain by leaving the ODAC and joining the USASAC.  Much of Guilford's student and alumni footprint is farther north, not south, and I like to think we are a better academic, financial, philosophical and institutional longevity fit with the ODAC.  It isn't all about sports and bus ride times.

[jknezek]

I have e a hard time imaging a school leaving the prestigious ODAC.

Guilford is often mentioned in this conversation simply because it's in NC.  In my opinion, GC has little to gain by leaving the ODAC and joining the USASAC.  Much of Guilford's student and alumni footprint is farther north, not south, and I like to think we are a better academic, financial, philosophical and institutional longevity fit with the ODAC.  It isn't all about sports and bus ride times.

No it's not. That's why I pointed out you'd get pushback. But a lot depends on who and where as well. Too many variables, but geographically Guilford and Shenandoah are as much an outlier as the ODAC gets. Though neither are particularly onerous trips. But I do think a shuffle at some point is inevitable. The conference is just overstuffed and its becoming detrimental. If you can't play a round robin, you should break into divisions. This attempt to make sure that the teams that need higher SOS for C bid purposes play each other in the overstuffed sports and the teams unlikely to need it play each other, is garbage.

[HSCTiger74]

I have e a hard time imaging a school leaving the prestigious ODAC.

Guilford is often mentioned in this conversation simply because it's in NC.  In my opinion, GC has little to gain by leaving the ODAC and joining the USASAC.  Much of Guilford's student and alumni footprint is farther north, not south, and I like to think we are a better academic, financial, philosophical and institutional longevity fit with the ODAC.  It isn't all about sports and bus ride times.

No it's not. That's why I pointed out you'd get pushback. But a lot depends on who and where as well. Too many variables, but geographically Guilford and Shenandoah are as much an outlier as the ODAC gets. Though neither are particularly onerous trips. But I do think a shuffle at some point is inevitable. The conference is just overstuffed and its becoming detrimental. If you can't play a round robin, you should break into divisions. This attempt to make sure that the teams that need higher SOS for C bid purposes play each other in the overstuffed sports and the teams unlikely to need it play each other, is garbage.

   I think you could probably include Emory & Henry and Virginia Wesleyan in that category as well.

[jknezek]

I have e a hard time imaging a school leaving the prestigious ODAC.

Guilford is often mentioned in this conversation simply because it's in NC.  In my opinion, GC has little to gain by leaving the ODAC and joining the USASAC.  Much of Guilford's student and alumni footprint is farther north, not south, and I like to think we are a better academic, financial, philosophical and institutional longevity fit with the ODAC.  It isn't all about sports and bus ride times.

No it's not. That's why I pointed out you'd get pushback. But a lot depends on who and where as well. Too many variables, but geographically Guilford and Shenandoah are as much an outlier as the ODAC gets. Though neither are particularly onerous trips. But I do think a shuffle at some point is inevitable. The conference is just overstuffed and its becoming detrimental. If you can't play a round robin, you should break into divisions. This attempt to make sure that the teams that need higher SOS for C bid purposes play each other in the overstuffed sports and the teams unlikely to need it play each other, is garbage.

   I think you could probably include Emory & Henry and Virginia Wesleyan in that category as well.

True enough. Though Ferrum makes E&H less of an outlier. But VWU counts. The possibilities are almost limitless. So much depends on what happens with NAIA schools. Who knows? Maybe this likeness ownership issue will shift schools back to the NAIA? I doubt it, I think the NAIA is in a very slow death spiral that will accelerate region by region like what happened in the northeast, but there are some big changes coming to the NCAA soon. Some even bigger ones coming to higher education in general.

[tigerFanAlso2]

Jk

What changes do you see coming to NCAA and higher education ?

Good luck to your Generals this weekend. Nice article in Richmond paper today about 5 local guys playing for W&L
and them coming back to the Richmond area to play RMC tomorrow.