FB: Old Dominion Athletic Conference

[jknezek]

Dickinson beat JHU today 35-21 That bodes well for us i guess.... That conference is turned upside down right now! We looked a little sloppy today but it's hard to gripe when you win 46-6....lol...Pedro has them where they need to be...they will only get better from here. Mental mistakes, like  the INT thrown in the first half that led to Bilgewater's only score, clouded the water a bit.... We need to clean some more stuff up  and we have to go on the road for the next two games....W&L in Lexington is TOUGH!! Gotta face an option team and EVERYBODY on defense has to do their job to defense that option!! It's a bit hard to learn but we've played them for so long that Pedro has his sh*T together enough to prepare them but they still have to stop it!! Setting up a great game next weekend vs Jknezek's Gennies!

I think RMC will be ok this weekend. It's going to be a hard game, especially in Lexington, but I don't think this W&L team is special. They are solid in the way they have been for most of the decade under Coach LeRose. I expect they will finish second or third in the ODAC, but I just don't think they have the horses to knock off RMC.

[jknezek]

Big win for the Generals today. First one in five years over RMC. Holding the Jackets under 300 yards of offense and going 11-17 on 3rd downs and 3-4 on 4th made the difference. No turnovers for either team and a massive W&L TOP advantage kept RMC's offense on the bench.

[thescottharris]

Well another 200+ day on the ground for Terry Hicks. His game log for this year is 156, 55, 316, 227, and 217 lol. 971 yards thru 5 games for an average of 194.2. 

He's only 49 yards shy of his previous career high of 1,020. 

He'll need to average 98 over the last five games to break the school record for yards in a game, which is currently 1460. 

Assuming the Guilford game is a blowout next week, his 200-yard streak might come to an end if H-SC starts going to the bench early.

[y_jack_lok]

A good game in Lexington today. Congrats to the Generals. Seems that Ty Collins made all the right decisions on option plays -- whether to keep the ball himself, hand it off, or pitch it. Jackets defense wasn't up to the task. RMC had an efficient drive with under a minute left in the first half to come away with a field goal and a 10-6 halftime lead. Then, trailing 20-17 with over three minutes left they had a chance to do the same thing and get a TD to take the lead or FG to tie, but it was not to be.

I thought jknezek's pessimism about W&L's chances might have been off. I felt similarly about RMC leading up to the game. It's no consolation that my pessimism was more accurate.

I caught the second half of H-SC at Roanoke. Both offenses looked good. But what does that say about their defenses? Tigers prevailed 39-33.

Bridgewater came from behind to beat Guilford 19-14. I get the feeling that BC's offense is still struggling.

Shenandoah beat Averett 38-20.

[jknezek]

I also said this was a good year if anyone was going to knock off RMC. I still don't think W&L is better than they have been the last few years. Which is fine. They've been good and competitive and finishing in the top 2 or 3 of the ODAC.

I don't think RMC is as good as they've been the last few years. That's no knock on RMC, they've been consistently excellent. This year? A step or two below. Enough for W&L and H-SC and maybe Shenandoah to join the conversation.

[y_jack_lok]

I also said this was a good year if anyone was going to knock off RMC. I still don't think W&L is better than they have been the last few years. Which is fine. They've been good and competitive and finishing in the top 2 or 3 of the ODAC.

I don't think RMC is as good as they've been the last few years. That's no knock on RMC, they've been consistently excellent. This year? A step or two below. Enough for W&L and H-SC and maybe Shenandoah to join the conversation.

Agree about RMC and the other teams mentioned. I thought, going into this season, that RMC had a lot more question marks than the past four or five. Not that the answers couldn't be found, but so far there are still some unanswered questions.

[HSCTiger74]

A good game in Lexington today. Congrats to the Generals. Seems that Ty Collins made all the right decisions on option plays -- whether to keep the ball himself, hand it off, or pitch it. Jackets defense wasn't up to the task. RMC had an efficient drive with under a minute left in the first half to come away with a field goal and a 10-6 halftime lead. Then, trailing 20-17 with over three minutes left they had a chance to do the same thing and get a TD to take the lead or FG to tie, but it was not to be.

I thought jknezek's pessimism about W&L's chances might have been off. I felt similarly about RMC leading up to the game. It's no consolation that my pessimism was more accurate.

I caught the second half of H-SC at Roanoke. Both offenses looked good. But what does that say about their defenses? Tigers prevailed 39-33.

Bridgewater came from behind to beat Guilford 19-14. I get the feeling that BC's offense is still struggling.

Shenandoah beat Averett 38-20.

Work in progress?
I can't speak knowledgeably about Roanoke, although I'm impressed at what they've achieved in only two years, but coach Luvara seems to be rebuilding the Tigers to the point where they have to be taken seriously every week. I'm hopeful that we will see more games like Monmouth and Shenandoah and fewer like Roanoke and UNE, but at least it appears that they are trying to put the Martyball era behind them.

[rmc1982]

 I didn't see much except the first quarter and we went right down the field and scored.I had to attend a funeral at 2pm so I missed most of the game but I can't say I was surprised that we lost. As others have pointed out, we are a step or two below where we have been the last few years and it showed. The rest of the season should be extremely interesting, but I think at this point W&L and HSC have the upper hand on whom will make the playoffs. Lots of football left to be played, however. We still have a shot but we must win out and depend on someone else to knock off the Gennies and we MUST beat HSC in Farmville- no easy task either. We have a road game at Shenandoah on Halloween and we have a home game with Roanoke, then we have to go to HSC. Thats a tough gauntlet for the last three weeks! We could sneak through and win the conference, but I wouldn't count on it at this point. W&L has HSC on Oct 24, and the last two weeks they have Shenandoah in Lexington and travel to Roanoke the last week. HSC has W&L on the 24th in Lexington the Averett and Bridgewater before ending with us at home. If the Tigers can beat W&L on the 24th they will be in the drivers seat for the title. W&L also controls their fate but they have a bit tougher road. Like I said-this last month will be interesting-its not much fun depending on someone else to lose, but we've made our bed and have to hope that will happen in order to sneak into the playoffs.

[jknezek]

At this point I like W&L's chances since they have H-SC at home. Traditionally the Generals struggle at Bridgewater, but I don't think the Eagles are all that good this year. W&L absolutely need to avoid looking past them this weekend with H-SC looming.

Lot of football to play and, as always, W&L is probably the smallest roster in the ODAC. All it takes is a few injuries here and there and the whole season changes. Fingers crossed that doesn't happen.

[y_jack_lok]

Assuming no other losses for RMC, H-SC, and W&L, what happens if H-SC beats W&L next weekend and then RMC beats H-SC on 11/14? They will be tied at 6-1 in the ODAC standings.

[y_jack_lok]

Assuming no other losses for RMC, H-SC, and W&L, what happens if H-SC beats W&L next weekend and then RMC beats H-SC on 11/14? They will be tied at 6-1 in the ODAC standings.

So much for that assumption. With two seconds left and 4th and 14 on the W&L 21, Bridgewater scores a TD and succeeds on a two-point conversion to win 22-21.

[y_jack_lok]

RMC with a solid 42-7 win at Averett. The Cougars did some good things, but hurt themselves with turnovers and untimely penalties.

Shenandoah holds on to down Roanoke 30-24. It was 30-17, then RC drove for a TD and subsequently got SU's offense off the field. The Maroons were putting together what looked like another TD drive but a holding penalty at around the 10 yard line with less than a minute left on second down put a damper on things and they were unable to get a 1st down or TD on the next three downs, giving SU the ball with 26 seconds left.

H-SC easily handles Guilford 64-3.

With BC's win over W&L the ODAC race just got more interesting. RMC should be okay against Guilford next week, but finishes with three tough games: at Shenandoah, home vs Roanoke, then The Game in Farmville.

[The Third Division]

I thought bridgewater sucked. what happened?

[jknezek]

I thought bridgewater sucked. what happened?

Have to play the game in front of you, not the one the next week. Penalties and turnovers....

With a big win over RMC and HSC looming, it was a classic trap and W&L faceplanted into it

[y_jack_lok]

I thought bridgewater sucked. what happened?

Have to play the game in front of you, not the one the next week. Penalties and turnovers....

With a big win over RMC and HSC looming, it was a classic trap and W&L faceplanted into it

This is sort of a twist on the conversation we were having about Averett a few weeks ago and taking every opponent seriously.