Iona upsets Duquesne!!

[Salty Dog]

Congratulation Iona on your upset of Duquesne. The biggest Mid-Major upset of the year. This win is very health for smaller Mid-Major schools to survive. If Iona wins the MAAC, it is also good for Saint Peter's, LaSalle, Wagner, Marist, Sacred Heart and St. Francis. It can show these schools President's to invest in football. Maybe there can be a merger with NEC or MAAC. It would be a much stronger conference. All of these schools could use some help with recruiting and funding. I do not want to see any more Mid-Majors dropping football.

[Dane96]

Biggest mid-major upset of the year? Ummm...yeah, that would go either to CCSU (beating Georgia Southern) or Albany (Lehigh and Delaware)....all away.

Now, amongst the mid-major ranks...this IONA win would be most likely!!

Also, Wagner, SHU, St. Francis...all NEC teams...not MAAC!

St. Peter's...say buh bye (sadly).

Further, how would merging the NEC with the MAAC be good for the NEC. For one thing, both Duquense and Marist have said...NO (STUPIDLY!!!!) Second, only Marist and Duquense have shown they would be capable of investing and playing in the NEC week in and week out.

I agree though....I dont want any more mids dropping football...unfortunately it is most likely to happen.

[DFW HOYA]

St. Peter's is no more or less likely to drop football now than any other year. The sheer fact it has lasted this long with only three winning seasons since 1965 speaks to the commitment of its players against some tough odds. And if you've been to its campus, that's a tough place to recruit.

[Dane96]

Player commitment is not an issue. Admin commitment...another.

Word I am hearing...St. Peter's is done. Sad....and who knows if it is true...but that is the scuttlebutt.

Shame...those kids work their asses off!

[Go...gate]

Player commitment is not an issue. Admin commitment...another.

Word I am hearing...St. Peter's is done. Sad....and who knows if it is true...but that is the scuttlebutt.

Shame...those kids work their asses off!

Problem at St. Peter's (which is a very old Jesuit school in Jersey City, NJ) is simple. They have financial issues and football is expensive. They may have to do what St. John's, Fairfield, and Canisus did.

[DFW HOYA]

Problem at St. Peter's (which is a very old Jesuit school in Jersey City, NJ) is simple. They have financial issues and football is expensive. They may have to do what St. John's, Fairfield, and Canisus did.

They're not that old--SPC was founded in 1873, which is younger than only about half the other Jesuit schools. The only Jesuit school founded in the last 75 years or so was Fairfield in 1942. SPC is located in a gritty city, an 18 acre urban campus, and no athletic facilities beyond a gym.

Each of the schools you cite above dropped FB for widely different reasons. St. John's pulled the rug out of its men's sports program when it cut six men's sports, and it probably didn't help when St. John's upgraded to the NEC and couldn't get the scholarships in place. Fairfield had no good reason to drop football and was on its way to be a legitimate candidate for all-sports PL membership, but their male/female ratio went out of whack and football was a casualty. Canisius never gave football much support, nor did Siena.

Anotehr contributing factor has to be the MAAC conference itself. By establishign strict financial aid rules to protect the Sienas and St. Peter's of the league, it led other I-AA's to look elsewhere. The conference gave up on selling football instead of promoting it among MAAC schools who had teams in years past and could have revived football under the MAAC cost formula (Manhattan and Niagara come to mind, perhaps Rider). A conference with Iona, Siena, LaSalle, Manhattan, Rider, Fairfield, St. Peter's, Niagara, Canisius, and Marist might not get a playoff bid in this millenium, but it would have provided a chance for the teams to compete among each other.

The MAAC has been asleep for years. In the early 1990's, it was a legitimate basketball rival to the A-10. Today, the A-10 and Colonial have passed it by, with America East and the Patriot not far behind. Maybe the MAAC leadership fancies itself as an New York-centric version of the WCC, except there's no Gonzaga in its midst.

[Dane96]

LOL....unless you are a Siena fan; they believe they are a step away from being the next Gonzaga....whoa K!!!

[Go...gate]

They're not that old--SPC was founded in 1873, which is younger than only about half the other Jesuit schools. The only Jesuit school founded in the last 75 years or so was Fairfield in 1942. SPC is located in a gritty city, an 18 acre urban campus, and no athletic facilities beyond a gym.

Each of the schools you cite above dropped FB for widely different reasons. St. John's pulled the rug out of its men's sports program when it cut six men's sports, and it probably didn't help when St. John's upgraded to the NEC and couldn't get the scholarships in place. Fairfield had no good reason to drop football and was on its way to be a legitimate candidate for all-sports PL membership, but their male/female ratio went out of whack and football was a casualty. Canisius never gave football much support, nor did Siena.

Anotehr contributing factor has to be the MAAC conference itself. By establishign strict financial aid rules to protect the Sienas and St. Peter's of the league, it led other I-AA's to look elsewhere. The conference gave up on selling football instead of promoting it among MAAC schools who had teams in years past and could have revived football under the MAAC cost formula (Manhattan and Niagara come to mind, perhaps Rider). A conference with Iona, Siena, LaSalle, Manhattan, Rider, Fairfield, St. Peter's, Niagara, Canisius, and Marist might not get a playoff bid in this millenium, but it would have provided a chance for the teams to compete among each other.

The MAAC has been asleep for years. In the early 1990's, it was a legitimate basketball rival to the A-10. Today, the A-10 and Colonial have passed it by, with America East and the Patriot not far behind. Maybe the MAAC leadership fancies itself as an New York-centric version of the WCC, except there's no Gonzaga in its midst.

St. Peter's is definitely a younger school than most of the Jesuits - I have always believed it to have a special mission because for 130 years, it literally has given thousands and thousands of first and second generation male and female immigrants in the NYC area - Irish, German, African-American, Hispanic, Carribbean, Eastern European, you name it - a good, solid Jesuit education in numerous disciplines. You hit the problem on the head and then some - they are in a conference that is struggling and the school wants to stay solvent. It will be a shame if they have to drop FB, however. They need somebody like Walter Annenberg to drop a couple hundred million on the place.

[DFW HOYA]

They need somebody like Walter Annenberg to drop a couple hundred million on the place.

No, Georgetown needs that! xlolx

[Lehigh Football Nation]

Getting somewhat back on topic, I'm pretty certain that Iona's shocking upset of Duquesne thwarted their attempt at the record books? Duquense had won something like 20-25 straight conference games until this past Saturday, and were approaching I-A Nebraska's record.

Getting back off topic, you start to wonder if the MAAC could regain some juice by the America East conference becoming a reality and the NEC pawning off Albany, CCSU and Monmouth to the AE. Then the schools that would appear to be more comfortable as non-schollies (Robert Morris, Wagner, St. Francis and Sacred Heart) could either take the MAAC schools as associate NEC members and go back to non-scholarship, or form a "Pioneer East" with the MAAC schools as a non-scholly conference and play San Diego every year in the Gridiron classic. :p

[aceinthehole]

Getting somewhat back on topic, I'm pretty certain that Iona's shocking upset of Duquesne thwarted their attempt at the record books? Duquense had won something like 20-25 straight conference games until this past Saturday, and were approaching I-A Nebraska's record.

Getting back off topic, you start to wonder if the MAAC could regain some juice by the America East conference becoming a reality and the NEC pawning off Albany, CCSU and Monmouth to the AE. Then the schools that would appear to be more comfortable as non-schollies (Robert Morris, Wagner, St. Francis and Sacred Heart) could either take the MAAC schools as associate NEC members and go back to non-scholarship, or form a "Pioneer East" with the MAAC schools as a non-scholly conference and play San Diego every year in the Gridiron classic. :p

I think you're right. AE football could save the MAAC.

We know SBU has left the NEC for Indy status. Albany and CCSU, as the only 2 reamaining public schools are probably they next to follow, but IMO they will both wait for a conference invite. UA is already a member of the AE in all sports, so they will be likely be a founder and charter member of this new AE football conference. CCSU will likely come aboard with a full-sports invite to the AE. Monmouth is a very likely canidate for this new conference too as they have the support and success, but would need an all-sports invite to the AE also.

This would allow the samller private NEC schools to bring over the remaining MAAC teams for "mid-major" conference. I think these remaining schools are very happy with a "limited aid" program. They will play 1 or 2 "up" games each year and the remainder would be vs. PFL teams.

Here's what I have been saying I think (and hope) will happen in the future:

America East
Albany
Central Connecticut
Maine
Massachusetts*
Monmouth
New Hampshire
Rhode Island*
Stony Brook

* Football-only affiliates

IMO - With the former NEC schools at fully scholly level, this is a very nice conference. I know the reservations of the "old guard" would be AQ status, and I think they would get this assurance from the NCAA before this became reality.

I'm sure many would rather see Hofstra nad Northeastern in place of CCSU and Monmouth, but with full membership in the CAA, I think that is just a pipe dream. Yes, HU/NU has a better name recognition, but its very possible CCSU will have a better facility than NU, and Monmouth really opens the I-AA footprint into New Jersey (where Princeton is the only major I-AA program and Rutgers is the only I-A program in the Garden State)!

There would even be a nice rivalry weekend for each team: UA/SBU, CCSU/Monmouth, Maine/UNH, and UMass/URI.

[UNH_Alum_In_CT]

No secret that I'm not a fan of AE Football with the scenario you presented. But I'm not the one making the decisions. And I don't really know how likely AE Football is to occur. FWIW, if UMass doesn't come on board, then I think you can forget about UNH support. And nobody in the UMass camp has provided any indication that they're onboard for AE Football.

But one thing I'm pretty sure of, CCSU getting an offer to become an all sports member of America East will not happen if they make a habit of providing official visits to two time offenders from UConn within days of their dismissal. The official visit by the football player involved in the "pellet gun posse" and credit card usage offenses was reported by the Hartford Courant along with the unofficial visits by a couple of the five players thrown off the football team by UConn due to breaking of team rules (the beer purchase the night before the South Florida game).

It even resulted in a letter to the editor of the Courant. Basically, the person said it was bad enough that it happened at UConn, but what in the world does it say about Central Connecticut for welcoming them so quickly?

JMHO, but this is not the behavior CCSU should be demonstrating to win over the AE Presidents especially when they've already been denied once for academic reasons.

[aceinthehole]

No secret that I'm not a fan of AE Football with the scenario you presented. But I'm not the one making the decisions. And I don't really know how likely AE Football is to occur. FWIW, if UMass doesn't come on board, then I think you can forget about UNH support. And nobody in the UMass camp has provided any indication that they're onboard for AE Football.

But one thing I'm pretty sure of, CCSU getting an offer to become an all sports member of America East will not happen if they make a habit of providing official visits to two time offenders from UConn within days of their dismissal. The official visit by the football player involved in the "pellet gun posse" and credit card usage offenses was reported by the Hartford Courant along with the unofficial visits by a couple of the five players thrown off the football team by UConn due to breaking of team rules (the beer purchase the night before the South Florida game).

It even resulted in a letter to the editor of the Courant. Basically, the person said it was bad enough that it happened at UConn, but what in the world does it say about Central Connecticut for welcoming them so quickly?

JMHO, but this is not the behavior CCSU should be demonstrating to win over the AE Presidents especially when they've already been denied once for academic reasons.

UNH -- I highly respect your opinions and you're on the mark on one, but way off on the other.

First, if UMass and URI and not aboard a new to-be-named New England/New York based football conference (AE/ New Yankee Conf), then I agree with you my secenario is a no go. Without the full support of the 4 NE flagships universities, the AQ is not possible and I agree you don't invite CCSU/MU or the SUNYs for that matter.

As for the CCSU recruitment of the UConn players. I am not so happy about 1 of those players (The safety involved in the pellet gun icident) taking a vist at Central, but there were many articles in the Courant about Edsall's suspension of 5 players following the USF game. I don't pretend to know all the answers, but to even suggest that CCSU must steer away from certain recruits to maintain the dignity of the AE is absurb. The incidents of the Maine football and UVM hockey teams are well documented. Let's not go down that road!

Second, UMass who as you say is the keystone to any UNH move has for years taken Prop 48 students and "questionable" characters! How about Hartford's own Marcus Camby and I'm sure FB has had its share. Now I'm not trying to say anything bad about UMass - I think its a very good program - but let's not talk about CCSU's recuits or vists. And for the record, UMass currently has at least 2 players who "left" the UConn FB team this year. Kids transfer for many reasons and if CCSU is an option for some I-A transfers then I think it speaks highly of the potential for our program. I understand your concern (I share it), but our recuiting efforts so far have been great are not a concern for any AE presidents!