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Post by JRGNYR on Nov 20, 2022 13:31:14 GMT -5
Hoping that penalties and/or a missed FG/XP don't loom large in any postseason games.
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Post by JRGNYR on Nov 20, 2022 13:28:36 GMT -5
In reality, there's very little operational difference between a #6 seed and an #8 seed. Should HC advance to the quarters, there isn't much difference between having to go play at the 3, 2 or 1. They're all great teams at that point.
Count me in as wanting to see more CAA teams on the schedule. I think Harvard and Yale have their places on the schedule, but would love to see more UNH, Villanova and W&M as well. Just my .02.
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Post by JRGNYR on Nov 14, 2022 19:20:40 GMT -5
It's not surprising that many of you are looking at this through extremely purple-tinted glasses. But let's not start calling FCS writers a "jerk" because you don't like his opinion. That's crazy. He literally writes about FCS as his job. If you disagree... fine. A jerk? Come on. OK, I'll use your terminology. His comment putting that much stress on SoS is (as you might say) "crazy." PS: In my work as a counselor, I do not use the word "crazy"...ever. IMHO, the term "jerk" is a milder opinion. Or is his opinion allowed, but my opinion not allowed? Do I wear purple-tinted glasses...certainly. I would not argue that point. Crazy, as in temporarily unbalanced, as with great excitement or rage. Be that as it may, SOS is one component of the selection criteria whether you like it or not, and SOS is not in HCs favor. It’s not HCs fault. We all thought (hoped) Harvard and Yale would be better than they are. The Buffalo win still has value but doesn’t look quite as rosy as a few weeks ago. The PL overall is unimpressive this year. These all weigh against HCs profile. It’s a fact. If you take out the Lehigh game, HCs average margin of victory since the bye is a little more than 4 points per game. That will stick out to the committee as well and make them ask, is HC as good as their record says? That’s part of what the committee has to do when seeding teams - weigh relative strength. Sure, one of those wins was top-25 in Fordham, but if we’re already concerned the committee isn’t going to give Fordham its just due, then that just makes the 1-pt win look even less impressive. All the hand wringing here will have zero impact. I think HC is in kind of a no-win situation now with the committee. They’re expected to (and almost have to) win big at Georgetown - if they do, I don’t think it augments their profile at this point but maybe confirms they’re deserving of a seed. If they win but it’s close, it reinforces the trend of the last few weeks that maybe HC has come back to earth or has benefitted from playing a softer than desired schedule. Just my .02 as someone who has sat on two regional advisory committees and has gone through the exercise of ranking teams in regions using the list of criteria in a given sport.
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Post by JRGNYR on Nov 14, 2022 17:10:53 GMT -5
It's not surprising that many of you are looking at this through extremely purple-tinted glasses. But let's not start calling FCS writers a "jerk" because you don't like his opinion. That's crazy. He literally writes about FCS as his job. If you disagree... fine. A jerk? Come on.
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Post by JRGNYR on Nov 14, 2022 10:11:52 GMT -5
I agree that the announcing team at Fitton did a much better job yesterday than their compatriots at other PL venues this year. (Anybody remember that jerk at Colgate who spent most of the third quarter doing a lengthy and fawning "interview" of a former star Red Raider player back in Hamilton for homecoming, virtually ignoring what was happening on the gridiron for long stretches?) Whether or not the announcers were "total homers" depends on what you mean by "total" in my view. I personally thought they overdid by several orders of magnitude their praise of Chesney and the entire HC football program...especially as Bryant started chewing us up in the second half. If I had been a Bryant fan, I might have been tempted to throw a shoe at the screen at several points. But, when all was said and done, they were preaching to the choir as far as this ardent Crusader was concerned! I felt the same as you did as Bryant was making it very interesting. The announcers spent way too much time extolling the virtues of Coach Ches and his staff. I like Kevin a lot but being a football color analyst is not in his wheelhouse.
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Post by JRGNYR on Nov 1, 2022 12:53:42 GMT -5
New Hampshire is good, but I do not want to play Fordham again Was just thinking this. No way do I want to see Fordham again until 2023.
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Post by JRGNYR on Nov 1, 2022 11:13:25 GMT -5
Fordham absolutely made the right call on enforcing the penalty on the try. Push them back. It nullifies HC going for two and forces them into a much harder situation for just one point.
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Post by JRGNYR on Oct 30, 2022 15:20:00 GMT -5
Now that I am slowly getting back to reality after the thrill of yesterday’s dramatic win, we need to talk about the penalties. With our 11 penalties for 118 yards yesterday, there are now 9 teams of the 123 in FCS who average more penalty yards per game than our 77.5 per game. I know we can probably keep averaging 8+ penalties every game, including lots of 15 yarders, and keep winning against Lehigh, Bryant and Georgetown. After that, when we’re playing one of the top 16 teams in the country, it might start to matter. Should we start making this a point of emphasis for the next few games or should I stop worrying about it and accept that that’s the way we play? I mentioned this very thing during and after the Lafayette game. There is a difference between playing confidently and arrogantly, and the separation between the two can be a very fine line. Had HC lost the game yesterday, we'd be talking a lot more about the two unsportsmanlike penalties today that took place at key times. Regardless of whether you think the calls were right or wrong, the officials know how HC plays and will throw those flags if they think it's gone over the line. And the other team will be in the ear of the officials stating the same. The further into the season, the less the team can afford to go backwards with penalties. They'll have to clean it up.
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Post by JRGNYR on Oct 27, 2022 10:23:49 GMT -5
I said earlier this is the biggest game since Lafayette in 2009 but I'm getting 1991 vs. Lehigh vibes. This will be a monumental game. I don't think it would've drawn 15K plus but HC-Lafayette in '09 easily should have been the biggest November attendance figure of the last 20 years. Problem was game was played in a cold, driving rain. Didn't let up even one hair for about a 12 hour period before, during and after the game. I think about 6,000 brave souls stuck it out. Pretty much the entire HC student body watched in the dorms. I remember the weather was absolutely awful.
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Post by JRGNYR on Oct 26, 2022 18:47:39 GMT -5
I said earlier this is the biggest game since Lafayette in 2009 but I'm getting 1991 vs. Lehigh vibes. This will be a monumental game.
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Post by JRGNYR on Oct 25, 2022 15:34:23 GMT -5
The one thing I worry about is the penalties. Emotions will be off the charts - can they refrain from the committing the ones they had last week? The last thing you want to do is to give the Rams a second chance any time they have the ball. Special teams should be huge as well; they need to make Fordham go at least 70 yards plus on every drive. Was wondering about Tyler Purdy; heard him mentioned on special teams last week, but is he 100%? I immediately thought of him when that tackle eligible pass to Newman went awry. Purdy is so good coming out of the backfield; would be great to have him as another weapon. Can't agree with this more. Fordham is very good - HC can't do anything to beat themselves.
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Post by JRGNYR on Oct 25, 2022 15:28:53 GMT -5
Last year's league championship game in the Bronx. Or better, last year's second round game at Villanova. Biggest home game since..... Well, technically since Senior Day in 2019 when we needed to beat Georgetown to clinch the Patriot League title and NCAA auto-bid. Since Lafayette in 2009?
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Post by JRGNYR on Oct 24, 2022 17:38:36 GMT -5
If we want to be competitive with all of the Dakota schools, etc, in FCS, don’t we also need to increase the number of football scholarships (and a corresponding number on the women’s side)? Managing a roster with 5th years becomes a little easier with the extra 3 scholarships. And increase the roster cap. I think it’s 90 now. The league really hamstrings its depth with the cap and not going to 63 scholarships.
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Post by JRGNYR on Oct 23, 2022 9:23:16 GMT -5
I went to the game yesterday. Four years ago, I tailgated in the multi-level garage next to the football stadium. This year the tailgate was a block away on Bushkill street. My first time going to a Holy Cross game that parking was free. Weather was great, great people, great food, great music - just a fun time. On to the game: We had a great crowd on the visitor's side. Poor crowd on the Lafayette side for homecoming. Mid way 1Q, I'm thinking the team is a little rusty from the bye week and that they just need to turn on a switch and go. Score late in the 1Q, everything good. After 3Qs, I'm worried. We only had one sustained TD drive. In my head I'm thinking 2018 - Bucknell, 2019 - Lafayette, 2021 - Merrimack. All games we should have won, but we simply did not play well. The difference with this team is they are good enough to have a bad game and still win. Everyone knows we can't afford another game like this. I'm sure the coaches will make the proper adjustments. Lafayette had great line play on both sides of the ball, even though they came in at 2-4 (2-5 now), they have played a tough schedule. This was not the easy game that I was expecting. They have played 3 out of the 5 remaining undefeated teams left in FCS. I'm going out on a limb, but they may be the second best team in the Patriot League.Sacred Heart W - SH, even though they lost to Merrimack, can still win the NEC and go to the NCAA playoffs. Merrimack is ineligible for the conference championship Temple L FBS William and Mary L Ranked #12 Penn L undefeated Bucknell W Princeton L undefeated Holy Cross L undefeated I don't think you're that far off. If their defense continues putting that much pressure on the QB the rest of the way, they're going to get wins. If they play at Fordham like they played yesterday, Lafayette's defense will have a chance to make things very, very tough on Fordham on the 12th. At worst, they should be favored in 3 of their last 4 games.
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Post by JRGNYR on Oct 23, 2022 9:16:22 GMT -5
I will be very happy if they clean up the taunting. Have absolutely no problem with playing with an edge and with confidence. Being arrogant and taunting is unwarranted at this point and I hope that’s already been addressed on the ride home.
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Post by JRGNYR on Oct 22, 2022 18:00:23 GMT -5
I can’t think of a win feeling so much like a loss like it does today. Luckiest win in years. I hope the team got the s**t scared out of them.
They lost the week and still managed to win… somehow. But they did not deserve it.
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Post by JRGNYR on Oct 22, 2022 17:18:54 GMT -5
Gotta hang this on the coaches. Play like this coming out of the bye? Shameful. Credit Lafayette, they came ready. HC didn’t. Just brutally disappointing.
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Post by JRGNYR on Oct 22, 2022 17:08:23 GMT -5
HC totally deserves to lose this game. Too much mouthing off and strutting and they haven’t won anything yet. And some pretty awful offensive playcalling and execution.
Would be sad to see them piss it away because they completely overlooked this game.
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Post by JRGNYR on Oct 20, 2022 13:57:30 GMT -5
Human polls mean nothing for any NCAA Tournament seeding. Not considered. No. What does the Selection Committee look at in its process?
For information on selecting, seeding, and bracketing teams, the committee may consider comparative data of individual teams, including but not limited to:
Overall record Record against Division I opponents (an institution with fewer than six Division I wins may place that team in jeopardy of not being selected) Record against opponents from other AQ conferences Record against Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) opponents Head-to-head record Record against common opponents NCAA Simple Rating System (NCAA SRS) Data FCS Coaches Poll Input from regional advisory committeeswww.ncaa.com/news/football/article/2020-01-11/fcs-championship-everything-you-need-know?ampFWIW, we are 8th in the FCS Coaches Poll at this point: www.ncaa.com/rankings/football/fcs/fcs-coaches-pollI stand corrected. The info I was looking at in the NCAA FCS manual didn't include all of the above. Good news in that regard. I still think strength of schedule is going to be an issue, but it only plays into the discussion at 11-0. At 10-1 or worse, we can forget about a Top-8 seed. Win the week.
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Post by JRGNYR on Oct 10, 2022 18:40:50 GMT -5
Polls don’t mean diddley squat. Winning in the playoffs counts. They don’t help for seeding? Human polls mean nothing for any NCAA Tournament seeding. Not considered. One of the selection criteria for the committee is strength of schedule, which will be the one piece of HC's resume, should HC be in the mix, that will hamper their profile unfortunately. Nothing the HC coaches or players can do about how their opponents perform the rest of the season, so their job is to go out and beat the team in front of them. But if one looks at this objectively, the only team HC can afford to lose to the rest of the way is Fordham and not have it significantly hurt where they'll ultimately be seeded if and when that time comes. I don't recall where HC was predicted in the playoff bracket in 2009 after clinching the league title vs. Lafayette but before going and having a dud at Bucknell the following week, but that loss was a killer. HC had already lost earlier in the year to an under-.500 Brown team which I do recall being discussed as a "bad" loss.
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Post by JRGNYR on Oct 10, 2022 12:59:03 GMT -5
Demorat gets the Demorat OPoW Conway gets the Fordham DPoW Sluka, Bolden and Haskins get the HM crumbs from the Fordham table You can't argue the #s DeMorat is putting up. That said, there's still too much attention paid by some to weekly awards. Weekly awards aren't going to win or lose the game on the 29th.
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Post by JRGNYR on Oct 4, 2022 14:10:45 GMT -5
Who says they are heading home instead of some place warm for a week vacation? I find it nuts that Holy Cross gives a week off in October to the students. They just came back in late August. Do they really need a week off? No it has something to do with reducing the amount of time that students occupy the dorms, which I guess brings some costs down? It's not about them not being there that week, but something about how that week off then pushes winter break back a week or something. And second semester now starts super late, after MLK Day. They started this right after I left. When I was there, I loved normal Columbus Break -- we got a 4 day weekend whereas most schools only got 3. For whatever reason they gave us the Monday AND the Tuesday off. Holy Cross also never observed Labor Day, which would've normally been either the first or second Monday of classes. It's funny, even when it was only a 4 day weekend, EVERYONE left campus except for fall athletes (+hockey) and people who lived on the West Coast. I worked for the football team so I was there every year (we played Brown all four years and all four were shootouts) -- campus was dead but it was super relaxing and you got to spend time with people you normally wouldn't hang out with. Meanwhile, MLK Weekend, which was a 3-day weekend a couple weeks after our return from winter break back then, everyone stayed and partied. When I was a student, I remember classes ending typically on a Monday, Tue-Thu serving as study days and then finals running Friday to Friday (no Sunday exams). Seemed to be that way both in the fall and spring. I remember getting home maybe two weeks-ish prior to Christmas and returning right before MLK Day. We would then have about two weeks between the end of spring finals and graduation, which allowed ample time to take advantage of Cape Week if one preferred.
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Post by JRGNYR on Oct 4, 2022 13:54:57 GMT -5
Way too much bellyaching here about Player of the Week awards. Inconsequential at the end of the day. Good content for a press release and the history section of a media guide, but nobody looks at a conference trophy and wonders how many Player of the Week honors were handed out that season.
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Post by JRGNYR on Oct 3, 2022 8:12:56 GMT -5
Total Defense (through 10/1) 33. HC 333.2 37. Lafayette 344 54. Bucknell 374.2 55. Harvard 374.3 61. Yale 390 65. Colgate 394.2 78. Gtown 413.6 85. Bryant 420.6 89. Lehigh 427.8 122. Fordham 541 Checked 3 times and could not find Merrimack listed. www.ncaa.com/stats/football/fcsIf I had to guess, transitioning programs aren't listed in the stats until they're fully reclassified, which in Merrimack's case will be next fall.
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Post by JRGNYR on Oct 1, 2022 16:18:22 GMT -5
Fabulous, fabulous win.
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