CSN's NEC Preview Littered With Errors

[rmutv]

I usually like the College Sporting News preview book, and the fact that it was made available online in a PDF format is tremendous.

But just looking at the NEC preview makes me want to cringe. Dates are wrong in the "Important Games" column (there are no games on 11/11 or 11/18); the first conference game is RMU and Monmouth in New Jersey on 9/8 not RMU hosting St. Francis on 9/15, in fact, they still have RMU meeting Monmouth on October 20th after earlier mentioning the RMU vs Duquesne game in the MAAC preview being on the 20th.

For Robert Morris specifically, they list DB Mike Niklos as leaving the team but he is still with them. They list RB Brian Harden as returning but he left the team back in February. They say that RMU was D-3 from 1994-1996. That is incorrect. RMU has always been a I-AA/FCS team since playing their first game in 1994. 1996 was the first year for Robert Morris in the NEC because it was the first year of the NEC in general.

It's just strange that everyone gripes about the media not getting things right about FCS football when those who cover FCS football can't even get things right.

[Lehigh Football Nation]

This piece was written before St. Peter's dropped football,and well before RMU rescheduled the game. As a result, you're right the 9/15 game is no longer the first NEC game. 11/11 and 11/18, though, have games (Albany/Monmouth and Albany/CCSU).

The piece was also written before the RMU Media guide came out, which is the first time these discrepancies would have been brought to light. At this moment the RMU website still lists the 2006 roster when most FCS schools update their rosters in the spring. Many times, we are beholden to the athletics departments of the schools we cover, and if they don't have accurate information it trickles down into the magazine.

The information I had was that in 1994 RMU competed as a D-III independent.

I think the term "littered with errors" is blowing things massively out of proportion. The errors you bring up about RMU will be fixed, and they have a good explanation.

[Seahawks Fan]

This piece was written before St. Francis dropped football....

You mean before St. Peters dropped football.

I just took a look at the Wagner preview and it looks pretty accurate to me.

[travelinman67]

In fairness to CSN, many school's websites are horrible about posting news, updates and have outdated rosters and media guides. Unless the writers have a staff contact or scan boards, etc...it's virtually impossible to get everything right.

It took me 3+ months to gather all the "signed" recruit lists from all the FCS programs this year (...and this was better than normal), and then, I ended up getting many of them from CSN since the schools had never posted them.

I would like to see the AD's do a better job maintaining the athletic's websites. When I see a school playing their cards too close to the vest, I have to wonder if it's being done to conceal deficiencies (or administrative problems). Not speaking for others, but I place a lot of weight on depth. Injuries are becoming more common, ergo teams have to be able to cover the loss of starters...and the only way to determine that is to evaluate ALL the players/units, not just the playmakers. CSN is one of the few places you can go to get the entire story.

The CSN guys bust their butts, and I am very grateful for what they do.

(Chuck, my acct. # is...)

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