Pioneer Statement on Spring Schedule

[Baron Sardonicus]

Here's the unofficial, plain English version.

PFL member schools and the league office have been bombarded by emails, phone calls, and letters demanding a spring 2021 football season. We hear you, Mom and Dad. And we want your tuition money. Accordingly, we are announcing our intention to sponsor a six-game schedule in March-April. Intentions won't necessarily get you diddly squat, but we're acknowledging your incessant harassment with a press release we hope is as warm and comforting as the holiday season.

We won't get into details about the schedule. Frankly, the only way this will actually happen is if infection rates get so bad that we reach herd immunity by March. Don't get your hopes up.

BTW, if you buy that we're having a spring season, you'll love the Easter Egg: Presbyterian has been granted early membership.

Want to read the league's official statement? Click here (http://www.pioneer-football.org/news/archives/2020/1580/pfl-presidents-council-endorses-intent-to-play-spring-2021-pfl-only-schedule/).

[FUBeAR]

Here's the unofficial, plain English version.

PFL member schools and the league office have been bombarded by emails, phone calls, and letters demanding a spring 2021 football season. We hear you, Mom and Dad. And we want your tuition money. Accordingly, we are announcing our intention to sponsor a six-game schedule in March-April. Intentions won't necessarily get you diddly squat, but we're acknowledging your incessant harassment with a press release we hope is as warm and comforting as the holiday season.

We won't get into details about the schedule. Frankly, the only way this will actually happen is if infection rates get so bad that we reach herd immunity by March. Don't get your hopes up.

BTW, if you buy that we're having a spring season, you'll love the Easter Egg: Presbyterian has been granted early membership.

Want to read the league's official statement? Click here (http://www.pioneer-football.org/news/archives/2020/1580/pfl-presidents-council-endorses-intent-to-play-spring-2021-pfl-only-schedule/).your version is better

[OhioHen]

your version is better

Much

[Laker]

I'll assume that St Thomas can't play in the Pioneer until the fall- but it would be interesting if they could start in the spring. I suppose that they may not want to, but I'd like to see them do it.

[bonarae]

Better late than never, at least they have a plan to play. The PL and the NEC are the only ones left to formally decide on spring... xrulesx

[Baron Sardonicus]

I'll assume that St Thomas can't play in the Pioneer until the fall- but it would be interesting if they could start in the spring. I suppose that they may not want to, but I'd like to see them do it.

Since St. Thomas won't join D-I until July, they won't be part of a spring schedule. I think the PFL bylaws only allow D-I schools to be members. So, if they're playing for the league title...

[Laker]

Since St. Thomas won't join D-I until July, they won't be part of a spring schedule. I think the PFL bylaws only allow D-I schools to be members. So, if they're playing for the league title...

I think that they are ineligible for the league title until 2025.

[Mocs123]

The Patriot League will do whatever they think the Ivy wants them to do. I'm surprised they haven't shut the spring season down already.

I am cautiously optimistic we will have a spring season, but who knows. I just want to have a normal Fall 2021 season and if we get to play a few in the spring - great, but it if not I'll just add it to the COVID disappointments!

[Go Green]

The Patriot League will do whatever they think the Ivy wants them to do.



While I agree that the PL generally tracks the Ivy, I can assure you that many Ivies were unhappy when the PL opted to give out scholarships for football. Some Ivy teams began looking elsewhere for OOC opponents after that. (In hindsight, we shouldn't have done so...).

[DFW HOYA]

While I agree that the PL generally tracks the Ivy, I can assure you that many Ivies were unhappy when the PL opted to give out scholarships for football. Some Ivy teams began looking elsewhere for OOC opponents after that. (In hindsight, we shouldn't have done so...).

They certainly weren't looking to set up schedules with the one PL team that doesn't give out scholarships, did they?

[Baron Sardonicus]

... the one PL team that doesn't give out scholarships, did they?

Georgetown? Surely, you mean "the team that gives fewest scholarships in the PL."

[Baron Sardonicus]

Georgetown? Surely, you mean "the team that gives fewest scholarships in the PL."

While we're correcting misinformation about Georgetown, who put the following into Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgetown_Hoyas_football)? " The team was invited to play in the 1997 Sports Network Cup, where they defeated the Dayton Flyers." That never happened.

[OhioHen]

While we're correcting misinformation about Georgetown, who put the following into Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgetown_Hoyas_football)? " The team was invited to play in the 1997 Sports Network Cup, where they defeated the Dayton Flyers." That never happened.

Wasn't the Sports Network Cup a postseason poll for "mid-majors" during the early 2000s?

[Baron Sardonicus]

I believe you are correct. It was a website thing, not a game. Georgetown's only game against the Flyers was in 2014 (https://www.espn.com/college-football/game/_/gameId/400559265).

[DFW HOYA]

There was no Sports Network Cup during this time in fact, the Sports Network wasn't even around in 1997. They later sponsored a NEC-Pioneer game after 2001.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NCAA_Division_I_FCS_Consensus_Mid-Major_Football_National_Championship

However, in 1997, Georgetown played Robert Morris in something called the ECAC-Intercollegiate Football Conference Bowl, drawing less than 1,000 to the woebegone site that was Kehoe Field. Anyone who complains about Cooper Field as being insufficient for college football probably never watched a game at Kehoe Field.

[Go Green]

They certainly weren't looking to set up schedules with the one PL team that doesn't give out scholarships, did they?

I'm virtually certain that every Ivy team has played Georgetown in this century, and most have done so in the past decade.

It's not like any of us set up ten-year deals with Stetson...

[Baron Sardonicus]

It's not like any of us set up ten-year deals with Stetson...

Speaking of Stetson, didn't Dartmouth sue Roger Hughes for ripping off the Big Green's helmet design? I read that on Wikipedia. :D

[DFW HOYA]

I'm virtually certain that every Ivy team has played Georgetown in this century, and most have done so in the past decade.


Here's my point: Brown is the only Ivy team with an active contract with Georgetown after 2021.

Columbia's series ends this year, not renewed.
Cornell had one home and home and two games without a return. No further series.
Dartmouth had one home and home (2015,18). No further series.
Harvard had a four year deal from 2014-17, not renewed.
Penn had a two game series picked up from Towson in 2007-08, not renewed.
Princeton had a four year deal from 2012-17, not renewed.
Yale had a six year deal from 2007-12, not renewed.

These schools aren't interested in Georgetown going forward, despite a lopsided record in favor of the Ivies. Georgetown is a combined 1-14 against H-Y-P since 2007.

The first three weeks of the schedule are a mess. Ivies aren't playing. NEC schools want I-A guarantee games. CAA teams aren't interested, period. HBCU's want guarantee games. Outside of Marist, Pioneer teams aren't in range. Georgetown scheduled a Division III team to fill a gap in 2022 and 2023. Games with the PSAC probably aren't out of the question if they can't fill those weeks.

[Go Green]

Speaking of Stetson, didn't Dartmouth sue Roger Hughes for ripping off the Big Green's helmet design? I read that on Wikipedia. :D

You should have seen what Buddy Teevens did at Tulane when he got there in 1992. :)

[Go Green]

Here's my point: Brown is the only Ivy team with an active contract with Georgetown after 2021.

Columbia's series ends this year, not renewed.
Cornell had one home and home and two games without a return. No further series.
Dartmouth had one home and home (2015,18). No further series.
Harvard had a four year deal from 2014-17, not renewed.
Penn had a two game series picked up from Towson in 2007-08, not renewed.
Princeton had a four year deal from 2012-17, not renewed.
Yale had a six year deal from 2007-12, not renewed.

These schools aren't interested in Georgetown going forward, despite a lopsided record in favor of the Ivies. Georgetown is a combined 1-14 against H-Y-P since 2007.

The first three weeks of the schedule are a mess. Ivies aren't playing. NEC schools want I-A guarantee games. CAA teams aren't interested, period. HBCU's want guarantee games. Outside of Marist, Pioneer teams aren't in range. Georgetown scheduled a Division III team to fill a gap in 2022 and 2023. Games with the PSAC probably aren't out of the question if they can't fill those weeks.

I can't speak for the other Ivies. But Dartmouth's brass has been getting a lot of grief from the faithful for not scheduling competitive nonconference opponents. Dartmouth currently has something like a 16-game OOC winning streak and most wins were by several touchdowns. I think Coach Teevens got tired of hearing it and agreed to put some tougher games on the schedule. We have four games against UNH coming up and a game against Army. I think the only nonscholarship team that's still on the future schedules is Valpo.

I think Princeton is in the same boat as Dartmouth. It appears that the Tigers' fans are sick of beating nonconference teams 51-6 as well. Yale also has turned up the proverbial dial on nonconference scheduling.

As for the rest of the Ivies... your guess is as good as mine why they aren't returning Georgetown's calls.

[Baron Sardonicus]

Here's my point: Brown is the only Ivy team with an active contract with Georgetown after 2021.

I see some other PL teams playing Ivies in '22. Also on Ivy League 2022 schedules: Marist, VMI, Valparaiso, Sacred Heart, and New Hampshire. Who else? Are there unfilled dates?