After three road games, two vs. P5 conference teams*, and coming home with a 2 - 1 record, things are looking sweet.
EMU enters the sweet (or "A" sweet) spot in it's 2019 schedule: CCSU, bye week, @CMU and homecoming vs. BSU.
I doubt we'll see a line for Saturday's game but based on Sagarins, I would guess we would be an overwhelming favorite, maybe in the range of 24 - 28 points.
A win Saturday would make up 3 - 1 and half way home toward bowl qualifying. EDIT: Maybe not see post below...
"Sunshine Steve" is double checking the calendar to see when the MAC championship game at Ford Field is.
Hard to believe but EMU now has gained the reputation as a football school...
* We do not have a B1G team on our schedule for 2020, in case you were wondering...
Addendum thought:
I question if a win over CCSU would count toward the required six wins? I really wonder if they meet the requirements of giving enough football scholarships.
(09-15-2019 04:04 AM)emu steve Wrote: [ -> ]After three road games, two vs. P5 conference teams*, and coming home with a 2 - 1 record, things are looking sweet.
EMU enters the sweet (or "A" sweet) spot in it's 2019 schedule: CCSU, bye week, @CMU and homecoming vs. BSU.
I doubt we'll see a line for Saturday's game but based on Sagarins, I would guess we would be an overwhelming favorite, maybe in the range of 24 - 28 points.
A win Saturday would make up 3 - 1 and half way home toward bowl qualifying. EDIT: Maybe not see post below...
"Sunshine Steve" is double checking the calendar to see when the MAC championship game at Ford Field is.
Hard to believe but EMU now has gained the reputation as a football school...
* We do not have a B1G team on our schedule for 2020, in case you were wondering...
Next years non conference is a beast Kentucky Coastal Carolina Missouri and Army
(09-15-2019 07:49 AM)emu79 Wrote: [ -> ] (09-15-2019 04:04 AM)emu steve Wrote: [ -> ]After three road games, two vs. P5 conference teams*, and coming home with a 2 - 1 record, things are looking sweet.
EMU enters the sweet (or "A" sweet) spot in it's 2019 schedule: CCSU, bye week, @CMU and homecoming vs. BSU.
I doubt we'll see a line for Saturday's game but based on Sagarins, I would guess we would be an overwhelming favorite, maybe in the range of 24 - 28 points.
A win Saturday would make up 3 - 1 and half way home toward bowl qualifying. EDIT: Maybe not see post below...
"Sunshine Steve" is double checking the calendar to see when the MAC championship game at Ford Field is.
Hard to believe but EMU now has gained the reputation as a football school...
* We do not have a B1G team on our schedule for 2020, in case you were wondering...
Next years non conference is a beast Kentucky Coastal Carolina Missouri and Army
Yep, and our QB play almost certainly will be less effective (Unless Hutchinson is an Elway clone and we just didn't realize it).
Indeed, this season's OOC, despite not having a home game until the 2nd half of September, was a good one. Well balanced with only KY a near top 25 team, good money games, two very, very winnable games (C.C. and CCSU), and one upset possibility (IL).
I would liked to had a MAC home game say Sat. 9/21, but a bye isn't bad. Amazing but next Saturday the season will be 1/3 over. Amazing...
Dear Friends,
Central Connecticut has some big dudes on their offensive line, and good size overall. Their defensive line may be a tad small, but as I said overall they have good size.
They are 3-0 coming into Rynearson, with a convincing win over Valpariso in their last win.
I hope we don't overlook them, and come out on all cylinders firing.
lets hope for a nice size crowd
(09-15-2019 04:26 AM)emu steve Wrote: [ -> ]Addendum thought:
I question if a win over CCSU would count toward the required six wins? I really wonder if they meet the requirements of giving enough football scholarships.
Use to be you could count 1 FCS win towards bowl eligibility. Not sure if rules have changed in recent years or not.
You still can, but the program must offer enough athletic scholarships to qualify.
(09-15-2019 11:19 AM)masttg Wrote: [ -> ]You still can, but the program must offer enough athletic scholarships to qualify.
Correct.
Most of the bigger FCS conference teams do but CCSU is in a small-time conference. Some other FCS conferences are non-scholarship (e.g., Patriot, Pioneer, Ivy, etc).
FCS FB varies from FBS caliber to walk-on, non-scholarship caliber. Lot of variability from top to bottom.
CCSU should count toward bowl eligibility.
They regularly play FBS opponents, and I'm sure FBS ADs wouldn't schedule them unless they knew CCSU couldn't for eligibility.
(09-15-2019 12:27 PM)FrankAnderson Wrote: [ -> ]CCSU should count toward bowl eligibility.
They regularly play FBS opponents, and I'm sure FBS ADs wouldn't schedule them unless they knew CCSU couldn't for eligibility.
The NEC (CCSU's conference) had an automatic bid to the FCS playoffs last season. That means it is a scholarship league.
https://www.ncaa.com/news/football/artic...c-bids-fcs
(09-15-2019 12:30 PM)FrankAnderson Wrote: [ -> ] (09-15-2019 12:27 PM)FrankAnderson Wrote: [ -> ]CCSU should count toward bowl eligibility.
They regularly play FBS opponents, and I'm sure FBS ADs wouldn't schedule them unless they knew CCSU couldn't for eligibility.
The NEC (CCSU's conference) had an automatic bid to the FCS playoffs last season. That means it is a scholarship league.
https://www.ncaa.com/news/football/artic...c-bids-fcs
Frank, it is a scholarship conference.
However the team must give out I believe around 90% of the FCS max for that game to count for bowl eligibility.
The fact that CCSU plays FBS teams strongly suggests that they meet the requirements to count toward the six win requirement.
Looks like CCSU can score some points...but I'm thinking our defense will keep them in check. On the flipside, I think we'll put up at least 40. EMU really needs to get a second QB and other back-ups some meaningful PT. With the bye week after this one it's a chance to get healthy before the MAC season. EMU absolutely can not sustain any serious injuries in this game.
In a perfect world the score will be 35-7 at the half and the 2nd string get the entire 2nd half.
I, like others here, hope we do get a lot of our depth in the game.
As we know, there is the NCAA rule that a player can play 4 games without burning his redshirt season. Hope we utilize the rule Saturday.
What a great start to the season. Quite frankly better than I expected.
just think: It is mid-Sept and we are 2 - 1, played 3 games on the road, beat a B1G team, earned a 2020 home game (Coastal Car), picked up 1.8M bucks, and now have a FCS home game to give the scout team players some PT at home. All of this before a bye and the start of the MAC season.
And we get a soft start to the MAC season. We could come home to Homecoming 4 - 1.
(09-15-2019 10:07 AM)Ken Barna Wrote: [ -> ]Dear Friends,
Central Connecticut has some big dudes on their offensive line, and good size overall. Their defensive line may be a tad small, but as I said overall they have good size.
They are 3-0 coming into Rynearson, with a convincing win over Valpariso in their last win.
I hope we don't overlook them, and come out on all cylinders firing.
Remember guys, quality of the opposition.
Valpo is in a non-scholarship FB conference (Pioneer). It is a crazy thing. The schools play scholarship sports in other sports but come together as a FB conference and do NOT give FB scholarships.
"Unlike most other Division I FCS conferences, the Pioneer League consists of institutions that choose not to award athletic scholarships ("grants-in-aid") to football players."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_Football_League
BTW, this is the conference that CC (Drake U.) came.
CCSU also played Fordham and Merrimack. CCSU also beat Fordham, a member of the non-scholarship Patriot League.
EDIT: Pioneer would be a good conference if Oakland U. wanted to start non-scholarship FB. All other sports could remain in the Horizon League.
OU could play other FCS schools but they most likely would be unable (and should be unwilling) to schedule FBS. Who would want to see TOL, e.g., put up 60 points at half time on a non-scholarship school.
Also, Merrimack is in it's first year transitioning from D2 to D1-FCS, so while they do have some scholarships it was a glorified D2 team that nearly beat CCSU.
Statistical projections (SP+) puts CCSU right around the middle of the FCS at 60th or so.
Just get out of this one with a win and without any injuries. To echo what others have said, it would be nice to give some of the young guys and backups some PT if we can get out to a big lead.
Maybe this belongs under the Illinois game thread? Or a miscellaneous FB thread. (Monday Musings, if we had one today).
The BTN crew actually did a nice job of discussing EMU. The most salient point I remember was comparing C.C. and Neathery.
C.C. was portrayed as a manager, builder, etc. Someone who can build and manage a program. Neathery was portrayed as a film geek, a real coordinator.
Hence the difference. One was destined to be a HC; the other, destined to be a DC.
When C.C. gets tired of coaching he'd be a very good AD, I think.
Neathery's future lies climbing the DC ladder up bigger and bigger programs.
(09-16-2019 07:59 AM)FrankAnderson Wrote: [ -> ]Also, Merrimack is in it's first year transitioning from D2 to D1-FCS, so while they do have some scholarships it was a glorified D2 team that nearly beat CCSU.
Statistical projections (SP+) puts CCSU right around the middle of the FCS at 60th or so.
Here are the Sagarins... According to their rating, we'd be say 30 - 35 point favorite if there is a betting line out there.
https://www.usatoday.com/sports/ncaaf/sa...onference/
(09-16-2019 08:16 AM)emu steve Wrote: [ -> ]Maybe this belongs under the Illinois game thread? Or a miscellaneous FB thread. (Monday Musings, if we had one today).
The BTN crew actually did a nice job of discussing EMU. The most salient point I remember was comparing C.C. and Neathery.
C.C. was portrayed as a manager, builder, etc. Someone who can build and manage a program. Neathery was portrayed as a film geek, a real coordinator.
Hence the difference. One was destined to be a HC; the other, destined to be a DC.
When C.C. gets tired of coaching he'd be a very good AD, I think.
Neathery's future lies climbing the DC ladder up bigger and bigger programs.
And Keen?