Villanova-Towson-Monmouth etc.

[MUHAWKS]

Sorry if this touches on stuff already posted, but here is what I want to ask:

I knew Nova came into this year a bit over-rated. Temple - 6 was free $$ for the bettors and not just in hindsight. However, as a Monmouth fan, I was rotting heavily for Nova against Towson this past week as now Monmouth is in a bad spot. If they lose, they lose to a team that apparantly sucks and might be only as good as a middle of the road Patriot league team. If they win, they are beating an 0-2 team who got blown out at Towson. So hear is my question for ya'll: How good is Towson? I heard from multiple informed sources (FCS coaches etc etc) that Towson is BAD. Not ok, not average, but BAD. Now I do not buy that as that would eman Vova flat out sucks, which I have trouble believing. Now Monmouth has to go to Nova against a team against the ropes who if they lose their season is over. Its a bad spot to be in. I am NOT making excuses or anything, but I am a big believer in psychology and "spots" etc and if Monmouth essentially ended Nova's season in week3, it would be very bad for Nova. Anyway, that is off the point. My question is: How bad is Nova? How good is Townson. Thanks..

[Grizzaholic]

Nova is not good.

Towson..the verdict is out until next week, I believe. They could be a surprise this year and end up with 7 wins but....time will tell. They are in my top 25.

[Jackman]

Towson has been BAD for a long time. They are not BAD this year. It remains to be seen whether they are good, but they are definitely not all-caps bad. Their first two wins were not flukes.

Villanova might be lowercase bad, by CAA standards. I'm still picking them to beat Monmouth, but not to blow them out. So far, Towson and Old Dominion are the only CAA teams to blow out anyone this season. Could be a very strange year.

[Anovafan]

Towson is better, middle of the road CAA team in my opinion. 6-5 or 5-6 kind of team capable of beating anyone in the CAA this year. Nova's teams of the last 3 years would have beat Towson's team this year by 30-40 points. But certainly not this year. Nova's team is just terrible and could go winless. I was hoping they were young and talented, but they are just young with not a lot of talent. Poor o-line, poor QB play, terrible defense, bad special teams, and suspect coaching so far. I have no hope for this season whatsoever. The cupboard is bare.

[HailSzczur]

Towson is better, middle of the road CAA team in my opinion. 6-5 or 5-6 kind of team capable of beating anyone in the CAA this year. Nova's teams of the last 3 years would have beat Towson's team this year by 30-40 points. But certainly not this year. Nova's team is just terrible and could go winless. I was hoping they were young and talented, but they are just young with not a lot of talent. Poor o-line, poor QB play, terrible defense, bad special teams, and suspect coaching so far. I have no hope for this season whatsoever. The cupboard is bare.

I don't really think that is a fair statement just yet. Give them another week or too before you question the talent level. They are starting a hell of alot of freshmen, and alot of the the other guys haven't really played much behind the very talented last two classes we graduated. Hope is pretty much lost for this season, but its not quite that bad

[andy7171]

Since joining the CAA and adding scholarships over a 4 year period Towson has gone...
2004 - 3-8
2005 - 6-5
2006 - 7-4
2007 - 3-8 (first year at the full 63)
2008 - 3-9 (HC Combs fired)
2009 - 2-9 (Rob Ambrose Era)
2010 - 1-10
Our initial success was an over achieving PL team of 3-4 year starting seniors. In 2009, Ambrose totally clean house running the poor attitudes off in Spring and summer camps of 09. What has been playing in the past two miserable seasons were true and redshirt freshman and sophomores, much like ODU starting up. They got creamed in the CAA. Those kids are now 2-3 year old CAA veteran starters. And they are tired of being disrepected. 2009, we were totally destroyed. While last years record looks worse, the margins of victory was dramatically reduced. Anyone who predicted Towson to be terrible was just looking at W/L records or have only been aware of FCS football since 2008.

The difference between Towson and ODU, we've played a considerable harder schedule in building up a program.

[Go...gate]

Towson is better, middle of the road CAA team in my opinion. 6-5 or 5-6 kind of team capable of beating anyone in the CAA this year. Nova's teams of the last 3 years would have beat Towson's team this year by 30-40 points. But certainly not this year. Nova's team is just terrible and could go winless. I was hoping they were young and talented, but they are just young with not a lot of talent. Poor o-line, poor QB play, terrible defense, bad special teams, and suspect coaching so far. I have no hope for this season whatsoever. The cupboard is bare.

What happened? Did recruiting not work out?

[andy7171]

What happened? Did recruiting not work out?

I think alot of the back up talent the last two years got sick being #2 on the depth chart behind Szczszczur at RB, WR, QB, KR, PR ect...
:)

[HailSzczur]

I think alot of the back up talent the last two years got sick being #2 on the depth chart behind Szczszczur at RB, WR, QB, KR, PR ect...
:)

We did lose some that way, including most notably a QB and OL who weren't too content sitting behind Whitney/Young and Ijalana. Recuirting was supposedly very good this year. 2 games is alittle early to evaluate the class as year. The guys coming in are all very highly touted. I chalk it up to
1.) some of these guys due to redshirts, injuries, or riding the bench behind guys like Szczur haven't played week in week out at a highly competitive level in a year or 2 and just haven't readjusted.
2.) Many freshmen, many newly starting upperclassmen, the team just hasn't had a chance gel and really come together as a team.
Look at the class that just graduated, they were firing on all cylinders because they had all played together for awhile. Whitney took over at QB his freshmen year. Sczcur was getting good playing time freshmen year and running the wildcat over 5 times a game by sophomore year. Ijalana started every game at OL and Klouser was a 4 year starter as well. Ball and Barabaro shared a backfield for 4 years. You just can't get that kind of chemistry over night

[Go...gate]

It is early yet. It may yet straighten out. We are also hoping this up at Colgate.

[bluehenbillk]

Villanova is apparently getting hit with a couple years of bad recruiting. You can't tell how good a recruiting class is for a couple years. There has been a lot of talk on how good VU's classes have been the past 2 years, but apparently before that they s#@t the bed. Where are the juniors & seniors on this current squad? VU looks to be on a bad stretch of the roller coaster right now. Apparently their starting QB is now done & they just got blown out by Towson. It doesn't get any easier for them the rest of the way. Honestly, I look at Monmouth as their only shot at a win this year. 0-11 or 1-10, things are going to get mighty ugly on the Main Line.

[MUHAWKS]

Holy Crap..Thanks for the responses. Had no clue things were this dire at Nova. They are still one of the top teams receiving votes in the polls! Wow, guess we play them at a good time... but until I see it I just cant believe they are that bad..

[VUCats02]

It is pretty much a bust year, but let's not get too crazy with the assumptions. Nova has still yet to play a home game, where they have a lot of success. Nova plays 6 away games and 5 home games this year, so even with the rebuilding year, the schedule is not very kind. I expect Nova to at least find a little bit of success at home. I have no expectations for the Monmouth game if we're talking about football. I do expect Nova's basketball team to obliterate Monmouth in the opening game of the basketball season :P

[GannonFan]

It is pretty much a bust year, but let's not get too crazy with the assumptions. Nova has still yet to play a home game, where they have a lot of success. Nova plays 6 away games and 5 home games this year, so even with the rebuilding year, the schedule is not very kind. I expect Nova to at least find a little bit of success at home. I have no expectations for the Monmouth game if we're talking about football. I do expect Nova's basketball team to obliterate Monmouth in the opening game of the basketball season :P

Odd though, with all the losses even on the basketball team (Fisher, Stokes and Pena) they'll crush Monmouth in b-ball, but they'll struggle just to be .500 in the Big East this year. It's looking like a forgotten sports year at nova.

[HailSzczur]

Odd though, with all the losses even on the basketball team (Fisher, Stokes and Pena) they'll crush Monmouth in b-ball, but they'll struggle just to be .500 in the Big East this year. It's looking like a forgotten sports year at nova.

Thank God for womens XC.......