FB: Old Dominion Athletic Conference

[y_jack_lok]

Obviously, Pedro was not impressed by Roanoke.

I haven't read the article due to the paywall. Is there something in it that leads you to make that statement? From what rmc1982 posted from the article, it sounds much more like he wasn't impressed with his own team.

[rmc1982]

Thats EXACTLY what it meant! Pedro never, that I saw in the interview, EVER said anything bad about the Maroons. As I saw it he was upset with the way HIS KIDS played. Now- whether or not it was us executing badly( which I think he thought) or it was Roanoke's just plain good play remains to be seen......but- like my coach always said in HS...."The eye in the sky DON'T LIE!" I'm sure when they reviewed the tape they figured that out but it was obvious to those of who follow RMC Football closely that Pedro was indeed PISSED and it was unusual for him to publicly make statements like this about his team unless hes really upset with them! When  this happens I wouldn't want to be those guys in that locker room this week because I'm quite sure he has made it known to them that hes not happy with their performance!

[y_jack_lok]

If they didn't last week, Roanoke puts to rest any doubts that they are a legitimately competitive team in the ODAC with a 24-14 win at Bridgewater. The still have tough games ahead vs SU, and at H-SC & W&L, in addition to Guilford & Averett.

None of the other three games was competitive:

RMC 77, Averett 20 in Ashland. The RMC announcers thought that every Yellow Jacket in uniform saw action.
Shenandoah 45, Guilford 7 in Greensboro.
W&L wins at home 45-0 over Gallaudet.

H-SC was idle

[y_jack_lok]

Starting to think about the NPI thing as it relates to the ODAC and the potential for two teams to make the playoffs. Right now RMC is #33 and H-SC is #37. Both are solid spots at the moment but, except for playing each other, the rest of their schedules is not going to improve it for either team. The next ODAC team in NPI is Shenandoah at #63. H-SC has already played SU while RMC faces them at home on 11/1. I don't know how home/away affects NPI in football. My guess is that the ODAC is in a tenuous spot when it comes to getting two teams in the playoffs, given the weakness of the remaining schedules for the Tigers and Yellow Jackets.

[y_jack_lok]

The most interesting game tomorrow is Shenandoah at Roanoke. They have a common opponent in Bridgewater, SU winning 24-21 and Roanoke winning 24-14. Should be a good one.

The other games are:

RMC at Guilford
Gallaudet at Bridgewater
H-SC at Averett

W&L is idle.

[y_jack_lok]

The most interesting game tomorrow is Shenandoah at Roanoke. They have a common opponent in Bridgewater, SU winning 24-21 and Roanoke winning 24-14. Should be a good one.

It was, indeed, a good one. Down 26-20 Roanoke was driving, but with 2:38 left threw an int that was returned 80 yards for a TD to ice it for Shenandoah. Final was 33-20. Near the end of the game one of the Roanoke announcers said of Shenandoah: "I'm not so sure they're not better than Randolph-Macon." Just want to put that out there for the Yellow Jackets to chew on for two weeks when the play Shenandoah on Nov 1st.

In the other games:

RMC 47 - Guilford 0
Bridgewater 73 - Gallaudet 13
H-SC 67 - Averett 7

[moir]

Yeah, I disagree with our radio personnel. (Even though they are fantastic). Shenandoah is talented and solid on both sides of the ball. Well coached with some timely play calls in crucial situations. BUT Macon has all that, and a consistency and poise that is just next level. Proud of our Maroons, obviously not getting any easier as we go down 460 to Farmville next week.

[thescottharris]

The bottom three in the ODAC this year are embarrassingly bad. This has to be the worst it's been ever since I started following in 2010.

And then Bridgewater is sputtering around on life support, on pace to have their worst record since 1998, a year in which they went winless. They better thank their lucky stars the bottom three are so bad or it would be really ugly for them.

Roanoke sure did have awfully good timing to start up their program then, didn't they? First year in the league and they should pick up no less than 4 ODAC wins and 6 total wins to secure a winning overall record, firmly placing them in the mid tier of the league, which should theoretically give them some momentum on the recruiting trail. All things considered, what a tremendous way to kick off the first year as an official D3 program.

I don't know if that's quite ODAC Coach of the Year material, maybe if they can spring an upset over H-SC and/or W&L, but it should certainly get Stinespring some consideration.

[rmc1982]

The bottom three in the ODAC this year are embarrassingly bad. This has to be the worst it's been ever since I started following in 2010.

And then Bridgewater is sputtering around on life support, on pace to have their worst record since 1998, a year in which they went winless. They better thank their lucky stars the bottom three are so bad or it would be really ugly for them.

At the risk of sounding condescending I'm gonna say this. Admitting Galludet and Averett into the ODAC- for Football at the very least- has NOT been a good thing for us if we're trying to be an "up and coming" conference!! The starting of a Football program ( or REBIRTH shall I say) at Roanoke I think is an overwhelmingly POSITIVE THING FOR OUR CONFERENCE!! It does NONE OF US any good to beat the bottom 3 teams-and I'm adding Guilford in now because of how bad they are this year also-by the scores we have been. Pedro has even tried to be lenient- he empties his bench and gives all of his kids playing time, as Im sure some of the other coaches do too-but it does LITTLE for us Nationally as a conference and as individual schools to pad our schedules with teams like these! Indeed A LOT of our HIGH SCHOOL teams could beat these guys!!I realize we have trouble because of the rules of admittance for the ODAC and our options are limited  but as long as we have this type of competition we will continue to get overlooked Nationally AND RIGHTLY SO! I cant blame pollsters that rate us lower than teams with a much better SOS because ,unless we schedule out of conference teams that have a much better SOS than us with higher rankings BEFORE we start conference play ( and playing those teams early can be a disadvantage sometimes, especially with a younger team)they really have NOTHING to compare us to! This year it seems there is a TOP TIER- RMC, HSC,W&L, and Shenandoah,and an up and coming Roanoke program and a BOTTOM tier, with Bridgewater( at least this year) Guilford, Averett, and Galludet.I don't know what the answer is, but I do know that as long as we, as a conference, continue to do this we risk being overlooked Nationally as a conference and our ratings will continue to be low, which will hurt us when post season ratings ( and Home games in the playoffs for instance) come out! WE HAVE CREATED THIS MONSTER!!! Whether or not we can eventually fix it will be another matter!

[Ron Boerger]

Welcome to Division III.

[jknezek]

At the risk of sounding condescending I'm gonna say this. Admitting Galludet and Averett into the ODAC- for Football at the very least- has NOT been a good thing for us if we're trying to be an "up and coming" conference!! The starting of a Football program ( or REBIRTH shall I say) at Roanoke I think is an overwhelmingly POSITIVE THING FOR OUR CONFERENCE!! It does NONE OF US any good to beat the bottom 3 teams-and I'm adding Guilford in now because of how bad they are this year also-by the scores we have been. Pedro has even tried to be lenient- he empties his bench and gives all of his kids playing time, as Im sure some of the other coaches do too-but it does LITTLE for us Nationally as a conference and as individual schools to pad our schedules with teams like these! Indeed A LOT of our HIGH SCHOOL teams could beat these guys!!I realize we have trouble because of the rules of admittance for the ODAC and our options are limited  but as long as we have this type of competition we will continue to get overlooked Nationally AND RIGHTLY SO! I cant blame pollsters that rate us lower than teams with a much better SOS because ,unless we schedule out of conference teams that have a much better SOS than us with higher rankings BEFORE we start conference play ( and playing those teams early can be a disadvantage sometimes, especially with a younger team)they really have NOTHING to compare us to! This year it seems there is a TOP TIER- RMC, HSC,W&L, and Shenandoah,and an up and coming Roanoke program and a BOTTOM tier, with Bridgewater( at least this year) Guilford, Averett, and Galludet.I don't know what the answer is, but I do know that as long as we, as a conference, continue to do this we risk being overlooked Nationally as a conference and our ratings will continue to be low, which will hurt us when post season ratings ( and Home games in the playoffs for instance) come out! WE HAVE CREATED THIS MONSTER!!! Whether or not we can eventually fix it will be another matter!

You have to have enough teams to make scheduling feasible. Guilford, Roanoke, Bridgewater, and Averett are all full members of the ODAC. They aren't just there for football. 2 of them are founding members, and Guilford has been part of the ODAC for more than 3 decades. Averett was a necessary addition when the AQ was higher and the ODAC lost E&H, and E&H had quite a few down years since their dominance 20+ years ago. Galludet helped make up for losing Ferrum, who also sucked more years than they didn't since joining. Galludet also helps us if Averett closes it's doors, not a completely unfounded thought as the school has some significant problems.

I don't want to go back to playing Apprentice, but there just aren't enough schools around in conferences with free dates mid-season for the ODAC to have 6 or 7 football schools. I get the frustration, but I don't know of many conferences that are strong top to bottom. They all have tiers. The bottom tier of the ODAC seems particularly bad this year, and Galludet was not a great pickup for SoS, but better than playing a game that simply wouldn't count at all.

We need at least 8 schools, or finding opponents is a problem. We have 9 this year. Would I prefer Lynchburg start football and kick out Galludet? Sure. For all the good things Galludet does, sports, at least football, is not one of them.

Maryville, a former founding member of the ODAC and a currently solid athletic program, went to the SAA, we can't and shouldn't have public schools, Catholic seems happy to be where they are, and they weren't very good in the ODAC for most of their tenure, and I doubt luring Southern Virginia would make you much happier than our current new addition. It's easy to complain, and I know you said you don't have a solution, but neither does anyone else. We have lured Ferrum, Averett, and Shenandoah away from the USASAC, and it has taken years for Shenandoah to become a solid member of the conference. Ferrum left before they ever did, finishing 12th almost every year in the Commissioner's Cup, and Averett consistently has finished 8th, 9th, or 10th in the Commissioner's Cup.

Adding more full members has other problems, namely sports like women's soccer and basketball are already enormous. How many associate football members, with quality programs, do you think we could find? The answer is probably we found the only one we could.

[rmc1982]

I realize all of this guys....and I know the challenges we face! I've been a fan since I was 5 or 6 and I'm 65 now- I remember when we were in the Mason-Dixon Conference!I also realize that these schools are in for ALL SPORTS......I GET IT! I'm just a little frustrated.....Maryville  used to be in- if we could get them back in that would be GREAT- CNU would be PERFECT.....so would Salisbury and especially Johns Hopkins! But CNU and Salisbury( I think- I KNOW CNU is) are  STATE schools so that wouldn't work for the by laws of the ODAC. IF we could change that those two would be a perfect fit and so would JHU( I don't think theyre State supported) If we don't and we stay where we are we will ALWAYS be an "also ran" Nationally in Football- THAT was my point! I have griped and I know others have here too that our conference never gets any respect in Football- and RIGHTFULLY SO! If we stay where we are that will always be the case....and you cant blame the prognosticators for that ! I know we would have to TOTALLY change the bylaws to let in CNU , Salisbury, or perhaps JHU and they would also have to WANT TO come in so I guess Jknezek is right- we're STUCK in the situation we're in- doesen't make it any easier....and NO I don't have a solution.... but I wish there was!

[jknezek]

I realize all of this guys....and I know the challenges we face! I've been a fan since I was 5 or 6 and I'm 65 now- I remember when we were in the Mason-Dixon Conference!I also realize that these schools are in for ALL SPORTS......I GET IT! I'm just a little frustrated.....Maryville  used to be in- if we could get them back in that would be GREAT- CNU would be PERFECT.....so would Salisbury and especially Johns Hopkins! But CNU and Salisbury( I think- I KNOW CNU is) are  STATE schools so that wouldn't work for the by laws of the ODAC. IF we could change that those two would be a perfect fit and so would JHU( I don't think theyre State supported) If we don't and we stay where we are we will ALWAYS be an "also ran" Nationally in Football- THAT was my point! I have griped and I know others have here too that our conference never gets any respect in Football- and RIGHTFULLY SO! If we stay where we are that will always be the case....and you cant blame the prognosticators for that ! I know we would have to TOTALLY change the bylaws to let in CNU , Salisbury, or perhaps JHU and they would also have to WANT TO come in so I guess Jknezek is right- we're STUCK in the situation we're in- doesen't make it any easier....and NO I don't have a solution.... but I wish there was!

Salisbury and CNU are state schools. Changing the by-laws isn't going to happen, especially not just for football. JHU has 0 reason to leave a much more compact and competitive conference to travel all across Virginia and into NC. If anything, I suspect JHU would move to the UAA and like-minded schools.

Maryville left the ODAC for a reason. While I suspect they weren't thrilled with the USASAC, the SAA allows them to affiliate with some bigger academic name brand schools. The travel sucks, one reason I never wanted W&L to move to the SAA since I still believe that students belong on campus in D3, but for Maryville? Being associated with Rhodes and Berry and Trinity and Sewanee is a lot better than a road game in basketball to Eastern Mennonite or Randolph College.

You can draw up a short-list of desires, but Santa isn't bringing that bag in December.

[rmc1982]

I realize all of this guys....and I know the challenges we face! I've been a fan since I was 5 or 6 and I'm 65 now- I remember when we were in the Mason-Dixon Conference!I also realize that these schools are in for ALL SPORTS......I GET IT! I'm just a little frustrated.....Maryville  used to be in- if we could get them back in that would be GREAT- CNU would be PERFECT.....so would Salisbury and especially Johns Hopkins! But CNU and Salisbury( I think- I KNOW CNU is) are  STATE schools so that wouldn't work for the by laws of the ODAC. IF we could change that those two would be a perfect fit and so would JHU( I don't think theyre State supported) If we don't and we stay where we are we will ALWAYS be an "also ran" Nationally in Football- THAT was my point! I have griped and I know others have here too that our conference never gets any respect in Football- and RIGHTFULLY SO! If we stay where we are that will always be the case....and you cant blame the prognosticators for that ! I know we would have to TOTALLY change the bylaws to let in CNU , Salisbury, or perhaps JHU and they would also have to WANT TO come in so I guess Jknezek is right- we're STUCK in the situation we're in- doesen't make it any easier....and NO I don't have a solution.... but I wish there was!

Salisbury and CNU are state schools. Changing the by-laws isn't going to happen, especially not just for football. JHU has 0 reason to leave a much more compact and competitive conference to travel all across Virginia and into NC. If anything, I suspect JHU would move to the UAA and like-minded schools.

Maryville left the ODAC for a reason. While I suspect they weren't thrilled with the USASAC, the SAA allows them to affiliate with some bigger academic name brand schools. The travel sucks, one reason I never wanted W&L to move to the SAA since I still believe that students belong on campus in D3, but for Maryville? Being associated with Rhodes and Berry and Trinity and Sewanee is a lot better than a road game in basketball to Eastern Mennonite or Randolph College.

You can draw up a short-list of desires, but Santa isn't bringing that bag in December.

EXACTLY why I said you were right. We USED TO play JHU every year first or 2nd game and it stopped when the ODAC made those arrangements with the conference Berry is in for non conference games....then that fell through. W&L always plays Salisbury or  some other better teams early.HSC played W&J and Delaware Valley this year and we went to Iowa to play Central. Getting better teams seems like it can be a challenge - thats really the only way to bring up SOS for our teams. We don't seem to have problems in Basketball- Mens or womens - but the ODAC is one of the better conferences for that. PLUS there are so many more games . Hopefully better competition at the Top Tier of our conference will help. HSC and Roanoke look like theyre trending upward and so does Shenandoah. W&L is already there along with RMC for being competitive Nationally. Hopefully that trend keeps going.

[jknezek]

I realize all of this guys....and I know the challenges we face! I've been a fan since I was 5 or 6 and I'm 65 now- I remember when we were in the Mason-Dixon Conference!I also realize that these schools are in for ALL SPORTS......I GET IT! I'm just a little frustrated.....Maryville  used to be in- if we could get them back in that would be GREAT- CNU would be PERFECT.....so would Salisbury and especially Johns Hopkins! But CNU and Salisbury( I think- I KNOW CNU is) are  STATE schools so that wouldn't work for the by laws of the ODAC. IF we could change that those two would be a perfect fit and so would JHU( I don't think theyre State supported) If we don't and we stay where we are we will ALWAYS be an "also ran" Nationally in Football- THAT was my point! I have griped and I know others have here too that our conference never gets any respect in Football- and RIGHTFULLY SO! If we stay where we are that will always be the case....and you cant blame the prognosticators for that ! I know we would have to TOTALLY change the bylaws to let in CNU , Salisbury, or perhaps JHU and they would also have to WANT TO come in so I guess Jknezek is right- we're STUCK in the situation we're in- doesen't make it any easier....and NO I don't have a solution.... but I wish there was!

Salisbury and CNU are state schools. Changing the by-laws isn't going to happen, especially not just for football. JHU has 0 reason to leave a much more compact and competitive conference to travel all across Virginia and into NC. If anything, I suspect JHU would move to the UAA and like-minded schools.

Maryville left the ODAC for a reason. While I suspect they weren't thrilled with the USASAC, the SAA allows them to affiliate with some bigger academic name brand schools. The travel sucks, one reason I never wanted W&L to move to the SAA since I still believe that students belong on campus in D3, but for Maryville? Being associated with Rhodes and Berry and Trinity and Sewanee is a lot better than a road game in basketball to Eastern Mennonite or Randolph College.

You can draw up a short-list of desires, but Santa isn't bringing that bag in December.

EXACTLY why I said you were right. We USED TO play JHU every year first or 2nd game and it stopped when the ODAC made those arrangements with the conference Berry is in for non conference games....then that fell through. W&L always plays Salisbury or  some other better teams early.HSC played W&J and Delaware Valley this year and we went to Iowa to play Central. Getting better teams seems like it can be a challenge - thats really the only way to bring up SOS for our teams. We don't seem to have problems in Basketball- Mens or womens - but the ODAC is one of the better conferences for that. PLUS there are so many more games . Hopefully better competition at the Top Tier of our conference will help. HSC and Roanoke look like theyre trending upward and so does Shenandoah. W&L is already there along with RMC for being competitive Nationally. Hopefully that trend keeps going.

The agreement with the SAA was a one year agreement that helped out both conferences, the ODAC because we were struggling to find enough games as Ferrum left, and the SAA as B-SC went bankrupt and closed doors. It was never, as far as I know, a scheduling agreement past one year.

As for JHU and RMC, I'm sure that was a series of home and homes. W&L had one with Centennial teams for a while as well. But like all those contracts, they tend to wear out eventually and teams want to play other places. W&L has played Salisbury the last 3 years and has one to go. Frankly I hope we are done with it after that, as I hate playing another option team, especially the first week of the season. It defeats the whole purpose of being an option team when you play someone else who knows and practices against what's coming.

Since the 90s, W&L has played 7 sets of home and homes with Johns Hopkins, 2 sets with Salisbury, a set with Dickinson, and 4 sets with F&M. Those are just some of the Centennial teams. With 9 conference members you only need 2 non-conference games. That should make for easier scheduling, but everyone else needs fewer non-conference games as well. So you are less likely to always have your preferred opponent. I think JHU is wise to branch out geographically and play Ithaca and John Carroll. As a national university, it can only help their recruiting. They just don't need to stick to the mid-atlantic. I wish W&L would go back to NY and I'm glad they ventured out to Ohio.

Frankly I still mourn the end of long-standing series with Centre and Sewanee more than I do anything else. Those went for more than 50 years before realigning conferences got in the way. Salisbury and Wittenberg just don't have the same interest for me. Plus, in the days before the ODAC had to get so big, W&L played Centre to the west, Sewanee to the south, usually a team in PA or NY to the north, etc. They did this and made it easy for parents to come to at least 2 games over a 4 year career almost regardless of where you were recruited from east of the Mississippi.

So yes, I do miss that. But when you needed bigger conferences, it became too hard to schedule all those OOC games.