http://saturdayblitz.com/2014/07/29/amer...-favorite/

I guess he thinks that if ECU doesn't win the Nat'l championship then it's not a successful season because with our schedule there would have to be 4 really good teams to keep us out of the 4 team playoff if we really did run the table (@USC, @VT, UNC, @UC, UCF, etc).

I like the determination but going undefeated against that level of competition would be a tall task for any team in the country to accomplish. They say that self-confidence is the key to success. I certainly hope that rings true.

(07-29-2014 11:05 PM)Indiana Bones Wrote:  http://saturdayblitz.com/2014/07/29/amer...-favorite/

I guess he thinks that if ECU doesn't win the Nat'l championship then it's not a successful season because with our schedule there would have to be 4 really good teams to keep us out of the 4 team playoff if we really did run the table (@USC, @VT, UNC, @UC, UCF, etc).

I like the determination but going undefeated against that level of competition would be a tall task for any team in the country to accomplish. They say that self-confidence is the key to success. I certainly hope that rings true.

Hardy is a baller. I wouldn't expect him to say any less. We have a great team and anything is possible. I wouldn't be shocked if we beat any of the 5 teams you mentioned, I think we will have a great shot in all of them

He's done everything else, that is all that is left for him.

Team and players set basically the same goals ever year
1 BCS Bowl run
2 Conference Championship
If 1-2 not accomplished
3 Win enough games to get best Bowl invite possible
4 Win Bowl game

Next year.......Repeat

Obviously some years 1-2 are completely off table. I am guessing the players know they have the talent in place to compete for the AAC Championship. The only OOC game that is a stretch to win is South Carolina. If we came out of OOC at 3-1 we would control our destiny at achieving goals 1 and 2.

Hey more power to him. There's no game on the schedule that I think we can't win, but at the same time we could lose to pretty much anyone other than NCCU. South Carolina is obviously going to be the hardest to win, but they do fall at a perfect time in the schedule. They open with A&M and then the week after us play Georgia so we are in a very good spot to be overlooked.

Yeah, I actually think we have a better chance of beating South Carolina (we'll be a trap game for them) than North Carolina, who has an extra week to prepare for us and is out for revenge.

I've got us at 3-1 OOC (losing to UNC) and 6-2 in American play for a 9-3 season, though I'm hoping for a magical run like UCF had last year. We could easily go 7-5 with a couple of bad bounces though.

He shouldn't be saying anything else at this point.

I think ECU will be a good team but no way do I foresee an undefeated season or even winning the AAC just yet. ECU has to deal with South Carolina, who I can attest from first hand experience has a tremendous team, and VT/UNC who are very mediocre teams but could be problems.

Then ECU catches the 2 best teams in UC/UCF, despite having a fairly easy AAC schedule otherwise.

(07-30-2014 07:03 AM)Chappy Wrote:  Yeah, I actually think we have a better chance of beating South Carolina (we'll be a trap game for them) than North Carolina, who has an extra week to prepare for us and is out for revenge.

I'm not going quite that far. I will say I think we have a better chance of beating VT than North Carolina. I think we are ready to get over that hurdle. North Carolina is going to be tough this year for us. First of all they have a good bit of talent, and no matter how much their fans want to say this game shouldn't be played and all that other crap their players are going to be fired up after what we did to them last year. However, I still think their defense is going to kinda suck and I suspect that game ends up being a shootout unless our secondary gels.

(07-30-2014 07:06 AM)The Knight Time Wrote:  He shouldn't be saying anything else at this point.

I think ECU will be a good team but no way do I foresee an undefeated season or even winning the AAC just yet. ECU has to deal with South Carolina, who I can attest from first hand experience has a tremendous team, and VT/UNC who are very mediocre teams but could be problems.

Then ECU catches the 2 best teams in UC/UCF, despite having a fairly easy AAC schedule otherwise.

This.

I get the fact that the kid should think they are not beatable, but keep it to yourself. You are going to only create bulletin board material for the opposing teams and on the road the opposing fans are going to let him have it. This isn't C-USA anymore, there are no 0-12 Southern Miss's or bad UAB teams in this conference. You better be ready to bring it each and every week.

(07-30-2014 07:18 AM)CliftonAve Wrote:  

(07-30-2014 07:06 AM)The Knight Time Wrote:  He shouldn't be saying anything else at this point.

I think ECU will be a good team but no way do I foresee an undefeated season or even winning the AAC just yet. ECU has to deal with South Carolina, who I can attest from first hand experience has a tremendous team, and VT/UNC who are very mediocre teams but could be problems.

Then ECU catches the 2 best teams in UC/UCF, despite having a fairly easy AAC schedule otherwise.

This.

I get the fact that the kid should think they are not beatable, but keep it to yourself. You are going to only create bulletin board material for the opposing teams and on the road the opposing fans are going to let him have it. This isn't C-USA anymore, there are no 0-12 Southern Miss's or bad UAB teams in this conference. You better be ready to bring it each and every week.

I don't want to be rude or insulting, but looking at the records of some of the teams in this league last year the bottom doesn't look all that much different. I hope each of those teams are a lot better this year, but looking at our schedule aside from Temple, UCONN, and you guys it looks like pretty much every other schedule we've played for the last decade.

(07-30-2014 07:06 AM)The Knight Time Wrote:  He shouldn't be saying anything else at this point.

I think ECU will be a good team but no way do I foresee an undefeated season or even winning the AAC just yet. ECU has to deal with South Carolina, who I can attest from first hand experience has a tremendous team, and VT/UNC who are very mediocre teams but could be problems.

Then ECU catches the 2 best teams in UC/UCF, despite having a fairly easy AAC schedule otherwise.

We play these teams all the time, man. All ECU fans realistically know what they're in for.

(07-30-2014 07:32 AM)b0ndsj0ns Wrote:  

(07-30-2014 07:18 AM)CliftonAve Wrote:  

(07-30-2014 07:06 AM)The Knight Time Wrote:  He shouldn't be saying anything else at this point.

I think ECU will be a good team but no way do I foresee an undefeated season or even winning the AAC just yet. ECU has to deal with South Carolina, who I can attest from first hand experience has a tremendous team, and VT/UNC who are very mediocre teams but could be problems.

Then ECU catches the 2 best teams in UC/UCF, despite having a fairly easy AAC schedule otherwise.

This.

I get the fact that the kid should think they are not beatable, but keep it to yourself. You are going to only create bulletin board material for the opposing teams and on the road the opposing fans are going to let him have it. This isn't C-USA anymore, there are no 0-12 Southern Miss's or bad UAB teams in this conference. You better be ready to bring it each and every week.

I don't want to be rude or insulting, but looking at the records of some of the teams in this league last year the bottom doesn't look all that much different. I hope each of those teams are a lot better this year, but looking at our schedule aside from Temple, UCONN, and you guys it looks like pretty much every other schedule we've played for the last decade.

im not getting in the discussion nor do i care if players talk big (i actually like it, its like wrestling trash talking or talking big, gives us more incentive to watch)

with that said one argument that bothers me is this (MWC fans use it too).."look at the record they are about he same" "the league are basically the same look at the wins and loss records" etc...that argument bothers me and is so skewed...3-10 in the SEC isnt the same as a 3-10 in the MAC...we play each other someone has to lose..by default their will always be bad records in the league... and we are at a point were we arent good enough to beat the big dogs in ooc, so our records will be similar (because we get the same L in ooc, no matter how close the game) but we are still better than those other leagues..using wins and losses as the meter for conferences is skewed....Stanford losing to oregon and being 0-1 doesn't mean 1-0 kent state is better ..id put money 10 of our 11 teams would be bowl teams in c-usa 3.0 (tulsa is my exception and thats because i dont know what they'll look like, but theyd still have a 70% shot IMO)

Hardy was asked what it would take for this to be a successful season. He didn't pull it out of his back side on his own. Who wouldn't answer that question the same.

They won 10 games last year, what would make this season better? Well, win the conference, go undefeated (win 2 more games), and get in a great bowl.

He's not guaranteeing, he's not going Joe Namath. He's answering a question. Of course ECU isn't going undefeated in the reg season or in conference play. Like I said, we play these OOC teams ALL THE TIME. ECU fans know what this season is going to be like. It's going to be a lot - in my opinion - like the 2008 season. There will be ups as high as possible upsets, there will be downs as low as some heartbreaking losses.

(07-30-2014 10:00 AM)pesik Wrote:  im not getting in the discussion nor do i care if players talk big (i actually like it, its like wrestling trash talking or talking big, gives us more incentive to watch)

with that said one argument that bothers me is this (MWC fans use it too).."look at the record they are about he same" "the league are basically the same look at the wins and loss records" etc...that argument bothers me and is so skewed...3-10 in the SEC isnt the same as a 3-10 in the MAC...we play each other someone has to lose..by default their will always be bad records in the league... and we are at a point were we arent good enough to beat the big dogs in ooc, so our records will be similar (because we get the same L in ooc, no matter how close the game) but we are still better than those other leagues..using wins and losses as the meter for conferences is skewed....Stanford losing to oregon and being 0-1 doesn't mean 1-0 kent state is better ..id put money 10 of our 11 teams would be bowl teams in c-usa 3.0 (tulsa is my exception and thats because i dont know what they'll look like, but theyd still have a 70% shot IMO)

I don't disagree with what you are saying here.... and I'm going to tread carefully so as not to offend or put words in bonds' mouth... but I think what he is alluding to is to the fact that the AAC bottom feeders lost to FCS schools (in some cases blown out by FCS schools) and near-FCS schools like Idaho. I, too, hope these schools will be improved this year (I said in the 'surprise' thread that I would not be surprised to see USF come out of nowhere to contend). That said, the bottom of the American was pretty bad last year.

[ducks before objects get thrown this way]

(07-30-2014 10:50 AM)Chappy Wrote:  

(07-30-2014 10:00 AM)pesik Wrote:  im not getting in the discussion nor do i care if players talk big (i actually like it, its like wrestling trash talking or talking big, gives us more incentive to watch)

with that said one argument that bothers me is this (MWC fans use it too).."look at the record they are about he same" "the league are basically the same look at the wins and loss records" etc...that argument bothers me and is so skewed...3-10 in the SEC isnt the same as a 3-10 in the MAC...we play each other someone has to lose..by default their will always be bad records in the league... and we are at a point were we arent good enough to beat the big dogs in ooc, so our records will be similar (because we get the same L in ooc, no matter how close the game) but we are still better than those other leagues..using wins and losses as the meter for conferences is skewed....Stanford losing to oregon and being 0-1 doesn't mean 1-0 kent state is better ..id put money 10 of our 11 teams would be bowl teams in c-usa 3.0 (tulsa is my exception and thats because i dont know what they'll look like, but theyd still have a 70% shot IMO)

I don't disagree with what you are saying here.... and I'm going to tread carefully so as not to offend or put words in bonds' mouth... but I think what he is alluding to is to the fact that the AAC bottom feeders lost to FCS schools (in some cases blown out by FCS schools) and near-FCS schools like Idaho. I, too, hope these schools will be improved this year (I said in the 'surprise' thread that I would not be surprised to see USF come out of nowhere to contend). That said, the bottom of the American was pretty bad last year.

[ducks before objects get thrown this way]

your acting like everyone in the bottom half lost to an fcs, it was 3 fcs loses, all of which finished top 10 in the fcs (not an excuse) but those 3 fcs would have beaten half the teams in c-usa last year (and idaho was also by one of those teams)...

ill give you mcnesse st (that was unacceptable and inexcusable from USF no matter the situation, losing by that much to fcs is shameful ) ... but what made temple a threat last year was pj walker so not unless connor rielly becomes their qb again i dont see how their games vs idaho or fordham can be used as your gauge on how you will do against them... for uconn the coach and qb in the towson game isnt what youll be playing.. Casey Cochran's 4 starts with interim coach weist, they went 3-1 (and towson was the #2 ranked fcs and was no joke, they'd have been a bowl team in the mac/c-usa/sunbelt).. and ill throw a bone to USF, that was taggart's first game in his new system, they were popped in the mouth and didnt know how to respond, they played better as a team as the season went on, they wont be anywhere as bad......

and sidenote: that wont even be the case next year, we only play 1 not completely horrific fcs (not even decent)...and that Sle vs Tulane and i dont know what they return but if they were as good as last year, they are the only fcs game that's even in jeopardy this year

I will interject only this:

There are many teams in the so called P5 conferences that are happy that they do not play this conference this year. While they may snicker and point at our teams, when our representatives knock on their doors to ask for a game with us, they grow silent and act as if no one is home.

I differ from many of you in this way. I wish that my school (USF), were in a Power Conference. That's the same as the rest of you however, I do not want my USF in any of the existing Power Conferences. I wish the Big 12 would fold already (It will), and that the American can quietly and quickly take their place.

While the rest of the Power Conferences feast upon the leftovers from the Big 12, I'd have the American take AFA, BYU, SDSU and Fresno St. and call it a day.

This conference needs only to win it's OOC games regularly. The rest will sort it's self out in the wash.

P.S. Sorry for going a little off topic.

If B12 collapse they wont replace with a conference with AFA they'll do 4 16 team conferences and call it a day.

(07-30-2014 11:55 AM)ECBrad Wrote:  If B12 collapse they wont replace with a conference with AFA they'll do 4 16 team conferences and call it a day.

Nah, I believe ESPN would want to get the American up for the coverage. We do have some states not covered by the power Conferences.

Never forget that "Growth Potential" is they key fraise at the moment.

Back to topic. I expect the conference will have an over all winning record this year and it won't even be close.

Here we go again telling us how good Temple, USF, UConn and Memphis really were last year and how bad the bottom of CUSA really was by comparison but, but they were really good when they played their 2nd stringers, ate their veggies, and slept well the night before.

Come on. Like was said our schedule looks the same as it has most of the last decade. Teams didn't transform into world beaters in one year on one Big East recruiting class that was redshirted last year. Yet we are supposed to be scared of the new crew like UConn, USF, Temple who all sucked and couldn't beat FCS schools, or Cincy who had multiple bad losses themselves. You can say there are no bottoms in this conference but there were plenty last year and mostly these new schools we are supposed to fear who you want to pretend actually did something respectable last year of a couple moral losses that didn't even make up a tenth for the horrible losses they had.

(07-30-2014 12:03 PM)StillJonesing Wrote:  Here we go again telling us how good Temple, USF, UConn and Memphis really were last year and how bad the bottom of CUSA really was by comparison but, but they were really good when they played their 2nd stringers, ate their veggies, and slept well the night before.

Come on. Like was said our schedule looks the same as it has most of the last decade. Teams didn't transform into world beaters in one year on one Big East recruiting class that was redshirted last year. Yet we are supposed to be scared of the new crew like UConn, USF, Temple who all sucked and couldn't beat FCS schools, or Cincy who had multiple bad losses themselves.

Hey we don't want you to be frightened or have nightmares, just don't off yourself when you lose. Mmkay...