SoCon to finals..best conference..No 3peat

[ravens]

A-10's bragging rights end :) :argue:

SoCon resumes as I-AA best conference :hurray: :hurray: :hurray:

[bandl]

A-10's bragging rights end :) :argue:

SoCon resumes as A-II best conference :hurray: :hurray: :hurray:
What the **** is A-II????

And I have no qualms with saying the SoCon is the best conference standing...hats off to 'em. All 4 schools left are very deserving.

[FlyYtown]

Gateway is the best... Though I doubt our rep will win it all.

[HiHiYikas]

There's one reason the SoCon tends not to be recognized as the best I-AA conference. The SoCon has 3 good teams. They're the same 3 teams that were good 10 years ago. The remaining teams are not good.

Wofford might get something together once in a while. WCU had some decent hype surrounding them after beating Furman by 20 points. But no SoCon team outside the big 3 has gone to the postseason since. . .well, I'm not looking that up.

If you get rid of all but 3 teams in every I-AA conference in the country, the SoCon is absolutely the best. They might just be the best anyway.

I'd take back the "might" if Georgia Southern were still in it.

[ASU Kep]

Woffy went in '03. Made it to the semi's too if I remember correctly.

[ASU Kep]

and UTC is on the rise, mark my words. With the kind of talent they have there, it can't be long before they start clammering to make it the "big 4" :eek:

[dungeonjoe]

There's one reason the SoCon tends not to be recognized as the best I-AA conference. The SoCon has 3 good teams. They're the same 3 teams that were good 10 years ago. The remaining teams are not good.

Wofford might get something together once in a while. WCU had some decent hype surrounding them after beating Furman by 20 points. But no SoCon team outside the big 3 has gone to the postseason since. . .well, I'm not looking that up.
If you get rid of all but 3 teams in every I-AA conference in the country, the SoCon is absolutely the best. They might just be the best anyway.

I'd take back the "might" if Georgia Southern were still in it.

since 2003 when Wofford went as the Southern Conference Champions.

[89Hen]

Woffy went in '03. Made it to the semi's too if I remember correctly.
Same year Colgate went to the finals.

[ASU Kep]

Same year Colgate went to the finals.

...and got slaughtered by the team that beat Woffy in the semi's.

[ravens]

Woffy went in '03. Made it to the semi's too if I remember correctly.


and didn't WCU once go to the NC?

[Appstate03]

and didn't WCU once go to the NC?

They did the year Southern Illinois won it.

[ravens]

What the **** is A-II????

And I have no qualms with saying the SoCon is the best conference.


Pity the poor dyslexic agnostic insomniac who tosses and turns all night wondering if there really is a dog? :rolleyes:

[HiHiYikas]

OK, missing Wofford's '03 appearance is a ridiculous oversight on my part. You guys are exactly right. I didn't feel like looking it up and I knew I'd be corrected immediately if I was wrong.

WCU's 1983 appearance in the finals was 22 years ago - that was a great season for a SoCon team (and for Furman, too, who WCU beat in the semis), but I'm working within a 10-year timeline.

[ASU Kep]

Furman beat WCU in the semi's the year that WCU played in the NC? Doesn't quite fit, unless I misunderstood what you were saying.

[Appstate03]

Furman beat WCU in the semi's the year that WCU played in the NC? Doesn't quite fit, unless I misunderstood what you were saying.

You did misunderstand. He said who Wcu beat in the semi's. Not who beat WCU

[ASU Kep]

xlolx xlolx xlolx xlolx xlolx

I'm retarded. Forgive me.

[Appstate03]

Its understandable. Its much better to be retarded than a Furman fan

[ravens]

You did misunderstand. He said who Wcu beat in the semi's. Not who beat WCU


God I love to hear you Boone graduates read...lol..jk...best of luck Saturday.

[ASU Kep]

God I love to hear you Boone graduates read...lol..jk...best of luck Saturday.

I'm actually sit being edumacated up here. In my defense though, I'm coming off of a LOT of alcohol today and am not quite in tip-top shape. :doh:

[HiHiYikas]

and for Furman, too, who WCU beat in the semis

Furman, who WCU BEAT. . .

The syntax is a little confusing - not the best way to compose a phrase, I'll admit.

OK, I looked it up.

Playoff appearances by GASO, Furman, and APP: 37 (14 GASO, 12 ASU, 11 FU)

Playoff appearances by all other SoCon teams combined (excepting Marshall): 5

That's 1 each for Wofford (2003), Western (1983), and Chattanooga (1984).

And 2 for the Citadel - Before Wofford's championship run in 2003, you have to go all the way back to 1990 and 1992 - when the Citadel got into the playoffs - to find a non "big 3" SoCon rep in the postseason.

So my original post had some factual discrepancies (with apologies to Terrier fans), but I think the point stands.

[HiHiYikas]

Playoff appearances by GASO, Furman, and APP: 37

Go ahead and make it 40 - I forgot to count 2005.

[FURMANFAN]

Counting this year Furman has been to the playofs 14 times beginning in 1983.

[HiHiYikas]

Counting this year Furman has been to the playofs 14 times beginning in 1983.

You're right - I miscounted:

82, 83, 85, 86, 88, 89, 90, 96, 99, 00, 01, 02, 04, 05

So what's that, 42 appearances for big-3 teams?

[thirdgendin]

Furman, who WCU BEAT. . .

The syntax is a little confusing - not the best way to compose a phrase, I'll admit.

OK, I looked it up.

Playoff appearances by GASO, Furman, and APP: 37 (14 GASO, 12 ASU, 11 FU)

Playoff appearances by all other SoCon teams combined (excepting Marshall): 5

That's 1 each for Wofford (2003), Western (1983), and Chattanooga (1984).

And 2 for the Citadel - Before Wofford's championship run in 2003, you have to go all the way back to 1990 and 1992 - when the Citadel got into the playoffs - to find a non "big 3" SoCon rep in the postseason.

So my original post had some factual discrepancies (with apologies to Terrier fans), but I think the point stands.

I think it was 1996 when ETSU made the playoffs. They beat Villanova in round one and got destroyed at Montana the next week. Maybe it was 1997.

[catamount man]

If WCU could ever get a dang consistent offense, we'd be back in the postseason. Our defense almost always plays great (this year's App.game being an exception), but they have to bail out our porous offense so much that they eventually break down. 2005 may have been the start of something good. If we had beaten ASU, we would've tied for the conference crown and MAYBE had gotten an at-large spot, but I think that El Cid loss, plus only playing 9 games, would've kept us out. We're close though. GO CATAMOUNTS!!!

[ravens]

that is MY right arm patting #99 Rico Reese, 11/13/04)


Hey Cat, I always wondered why you are patting Reese while everyone else is patting the jug? :eyebrow:

[HiHiYikas]

Whattya know, I missed another, I think I forgot ETSU had ever played football! 12/7/96 - Montana, 44, ETSU 14 in the quarters.

So 6 playoff appearances for non-Marshall "Big 3" SoCon teams, 42 for GASO, Furman, and App. I am going to have to hire a fact checker.

[bandl]

Pity the poor dyslexic agnostic insomniac who tosses and turns all night wondering if there really is a dog? :rolleyes:

No pity necessary....just say you were a bit drunk when you wrote that man!!! xlolx

[FCS_pwns_FBS]

There's one reason the SoCon tends not to be recognized as the best I-AA conference. The SoCon has 3 good teams. They're the same 3 teams that were good 10 years ago. The remaining teams are not good.

Wofford might get something together once in a while. WCU had some decent hype surrounding them after beating Furman by 20 points. But no SoCon team outside the big 3 has gone to the postseason since. . .well, I'm not looking that up.

If you get rid of all but 3 teams in every I-AA conference in the country, the SoCon is absolutely the best. They might just be the best anyway.

I'd take back the "might" if Georgia Southern were still in it.

If you name the top 5 winningest traditions in IAA, three of them are probably in the Socon "big three". A lot of the better teams in the A10 and Gateway are up-and-down and inconsistant teams. The only thing that the Gateway and A10 have that we do not is name recognition from teams that enter the playoffs. I think the lower tier of the Socon would match up quite nicely with the lower tier of the A10 and maybe even the gateway.

By the way, the Socon have had 6 different teams in the playoffs (not including Marshall). Citadel made it a few times, Western Carolina made it once, and so did Wofford.

[catamount man]

that is MY right arm patting #99 Rico Reese, 11/13/04)


Hey Cat, I always wondered why you are patting Reese while everyone else is patting the jug? :eyebrow:

I didn't know where the jug was at the time and after I talked to Rico, I turned around and Geoff Collins, our DC who is being handed the trophy in the photo, was hoisting it up in the air. I think I may have gotten a couple of fingers on it after that. That was a great night and I absolutely HATE that we gave it back after only 1 year. Someday man, someday! GO CATAMOUNTS!!!

[JohnStOnge]

I don't think one can really judge who's the best conference by just looking at the playoffs. That's part of the picture but you have to look at all the teams...not just the playoff teams...and all the games that occur over the season.

[ravens]

I didn't know where the jug was at the time and after I talked to Rico, I turned around and Geoff Collins, our DC who is being handed the trophy in the photo, was hoisting it up in the air. I think I may have gotten a couple of fingers on it after that. That was a great night and I absolutely HATE that we gave it back after only 1 year. Someday man, someday! GO CATAMOUNTS!!!


Don't worry..we will get it back soon. But you can bet those boone boys will have drunk it dry !! :)

[JohnStOnge]

What the **** is A-II????

And I have no qualms with saying the SoCon is the best conference standing...hats off to 'em. All 4 schools left are very deserving.

I do not think the Southern is the strongest top to bottom conference. Right now I think the Gateway is. You all know that I take power ratings seriously. They consider every team and every game over the season. Right now Sagarin's ratings have App State rated higher than anyone in the Gateway. They also have both App State and Furman rated higher than SIU.

However, right now, Sagarin would predict that if every team in the Gateway played every team in the Southern at neutral sites the Gateway would win the series 37-27.

I think there is more difference between the best and worst teams in the Southern than there is in the other autobid leagues. If you use Sagarin to try to gauge it, the difference between the top and bottom teams in the Southern is 30.10. No other auto bid league has a difference bigger than 25.33. The top to bottom differences in the A10, Big Sky, and Southland are all less than 20. I don't think you have the kind of balance in the Southern to allow, for example, having a team that finished 3-5 in conference beat the conference champ 42-10 (as happened this year in the A-10) or having the last place team beat the conference champ (as happened this year in the Southland).

[bandl]

I do not think the Southern is the strongest top to bottom conference. Right now I think the Gateway is. You all know that I take power ratings seriously. They consider every team and every game over the season. Right now Sagarin's ratings have App State rated higher than anyone in the Gateway. They also have both App State and Furman rated higher than SIU.

However, right now, Sagarin would predict that if every team in the Gateway played every team in the Southern at neutral sites the Gateway would win the series 37-27.

I think there is more difference between the best and worst teams in the Southern than there is in the other autobid leagues. If you use Sagarin to try to gauge it, the difference between the top and bottom teams in the Southern is 30.10. No other auto bid league has a difference bigger than 25.33. The top to bottom differences in the A10, Big Sky, and Southland are all less than 20. I don't think you have the kind of balance in the Southern to allow, for example, having a team that finished 3-5 in conference beat the conference champ 42-10 (as happened this year in the A-10) or having the last place team beat the conference champ (as happened this year in the Southland).

You misunderstood my comment. Best conference standing = Of the 4 teams remaining, 2 are from the SoCon...50% of the teams that are still in the playoffs. IMO, they are the best conference standing. I don't care about the rest of the teams NOT in the playoffs right now. Nor about the Sagarin or Pete's PowerPoo Poll or anything else. Just the teams still in it at this point.

[youwouldno]

The SoCon was fairly dominant against I-AA teams in OOC play this year. The playoffs is just a continuation.

I don't agree with just looking at Sagarin, because while the SoCon is perhaps worse at the bottom than the Gateway, the goal of I-AA is to win championships, and the SoCon fielded 3 teams with a chance to do that, and another 3 that had winning records (6 out of 8 had more wins than losses).

[HiHiYikas]

You misunderstood my comment. Best conference standing = Of the 4 teams remaining, 2 are from the SoCon...50% of the teams that are still in the playoffs. IMO, they are the best conference standing.

I pretty much agree with this. We did put 2 teams in the final 4, and that says good things for the SoCon.

I'm in no position to argue one conference over the other, though. If you posted the names of 10 non-Socon teams, I probably couldn't tell you what conferences any of them play in (without looking it up - I am somewhat familiar with the A-10).

My initial reply reflects what I've read about why the SoCon tends not to be recognized as the best I-AA conference. I have heard only that it's lack of depth that hurts us - and I think the 42-6 playoff appearance edge the big 3 has on everybody else is a good illustration.

[crunifan]

The Gateway has 5 teams that are play-off caliber teams (they would have beaten Hampton, Colgate, Lafayette, and Eastern Illinois) and they are UNI, SIU, WKU, Illinois State, and YSU. Then, we have two other teams that have the ability to play well with anyone Missouri State and Western Illinois (which has a pretty darn good offense). Then there is Indiana State...

[Purple Knight]

Its understandable. Its much better to be retarded than a Furman fan

How could a retard know that?

[Purple Knight]

I do not think the Southern is the strongest top to bottom conference. Right now I think the Gateway is. You all know that I take power ratings seriously. They consider every team and every game over the season. Right now Sagarin's ratings have App State rated higher than anyone in the Gateway. They also have both App State and Furman rated higher than SIU.

However, right now, Sagarin would predict that if every team in the Gateway played every team in the Southern at neutral sites the Gateway would win the series 37-27.

I think there is more difference between the best and worst teams in the Southern than there is in the other autobid leagues. If you use Sagarin to try to gauge it, the difference between the top and bottom teams in the Southern is 30.10. No other auto bid league has a difference bigger than 25.33. The top to bottom differences in the A10, Big Sky, and Southland are all less than 20. I don't think you have the kind of balance in the Southern to allow, for example, having a team that finished 3-5 in conference beat the conference champ 42-10 (as happened this year in the A-10) or having the last place team beat the conference champ (as happened this year in the Southland).

Sagarin sucks. ASU is the only SoCon he has ever rated in the top 10. Most of the year, GSU and FU were in his 20s to 30s.