Guys, please wait until the week of the game before we start throwing arrows.

I know it was a cheap shot, so I apologize to everyone else about the EMU football comment.

(08-01-2013 12:03 PM)Ken Barna Wrote:  Dear timxlydon,
I see you let others try and cover for you, and don't respond to my statement that you never said Eastern would be improved.

Dear NIU007,
You're making a lot of assumptions on the part of timxlydon. Sure, ten different people could read something and come to different conclusions, but nowhere does timxlydon say Eastern will be improved. Central and Western have situations that merit possible bad seasons. Central, a new quarterback for one, Western, a new coach and new system. All three teams from Michigan have certain lettermen returning, certain loses of personnel, etc.
Eastern has beaten Western two years in a row and could make it three. With Central the last fourteen years are 7-7, so anything could happen. Now, throwing all those things out there, I just don't think Western or Central should necessarily be ranked ahead of Eastern.

No, he didn't say whether or not EMU will be improved. He just said that if they improved, they might still end up in last place in the West.

It's also possible that CMU and WMU get worse. But that's hard to predict.

Dear NIU007,
Looking at the roster of Northern Illinois, I noticed that half of your offensive linemen are freshmen, and the other half are made up of three seniors, five juniors, and two sophomores. Now, I have no idea as to who were/are starters, or who have playing experience. My point is that if the upperclassmen are the basis for your offensive line, there isn't too much to fall back on if injuries take place. Further, is this something prognosticators take into account? This goes back to my point of what determines where a team stands before the season begins. Some people are going to look at certain things, and others not. I hope this helps to clarify what my position was in this discussion.

(08-02-2013 04:49 PM)Ken Barna Wrote:  Dear NIU007,
Looking at the roster of Northern Illinois, I noticed that half of your offensive linemen are freshmen, and the other half are made up of three seniors, five juniors, and two sophomores. Now, I have no idea as to who were/are starters, or who have playing experience. My point is that if the upperclassmen are the basis for your offensive line, there isn't too much to fall back on if injuries take place. Further, is this something prognosticators take into account? This goes back to my point of what determines where a team stands before the season begins. Some people are going to look at certain things, and others not. I hope this helps to clarify what my position was in this discussion.

Ken,

I believe NIU had to rebuild their OL last year.

That said, 3 seniors, 5 juniors and 2 sophs is a very experienced and deep OL.

Ten players who return at OL is pretty good. That is 2 at each position.

Dear steve,
Eastern, by comparison to Northern Illinois has one senior, five juniors, two sophomores as offensive linemen. They also have six freshmen in those positions.
Now, Eastern is two seniors shy of having the same numbers as Northern with linemen returning from the previous season. The same applies as with my earlier statement about Northern's linemen. So, is Eastern's linemen at face value better or worse than Northern's? To follow your lead steve, Eastern almost has the same numbers for experience and depth. So, again to my point of what do prognosticators look at when determining pre-season selections?

(08-02-2013 08:20 PM)Ken Barna Wrote:  Dear steve,
Eastern, by comparison to Northern Illinois has one senior, five juniors, two sophomores as offensive linemen. They also have six freshmen in those positions.
Now, Eastern is two seniors shy of having the same numbers as Northern with linemen returning from the previous season. The same applies as with my earlier statement about Northern's linemen. So, is Eastern's linemen at face value better or worse than Northern's? To follow your lead steve, Eastern almost has the same numbers for experience and depth. So, again to my point of what do prognosticators look at when determining pre-season selections?

Ken, "More is better". NIU has more experienced linemen.

Ignore frosh OL. They seldom play. They are on the team waiting to become redshirt frosh. Frosh (edit) REDSHIRT OL are assumed to be 'game ready'.

NIU has 8 experienced linemen, which is basically enough.

EMU has 6 which really isn't.

Dear steve,
I guess I have not been making myself very clear. When you say someone is experienced, what does that mean? You could be a senior, with very little actual playing time. For example, you played in three games, in the three years leading up to your senior season. Does that really put you in the position to be an experienced lineman, who will be at the top of his game? That is what I have been trying to say about looking at a roster, and looking at a player with so many years on the team automatically means good player. To me, maybe, and maybe not.

I found this picture of Ken Barna.

(08-03-2013 10:12 AM)Ken Barna Wrote:  Dear steve,
I guess I have not been making myself very clear. When you say someone is experienced, what does that mean? You could be a senior, with very little actual playing time. For example, you played in three games, in the three years leading up to your senior season. Does that really put you in the position to be an experienced lineman, who will be at the top of his game? That is what I have been trying to say about looking at a roster, and looking at a player with so many years on the team automatically means good player. To me, maybe, and maybe not.

I'd guess the best way to answer your question is look at the NIU game notes for the Orange Bowl.

Game Notes will show the 2-deeps at each position.

One can see if the offensive linemen who made the trip to Miami were scheduled to be back for 2013.

P.S. This is what I'd do for EMU. Start with the game notes for the NIU game and then see who has used up his eligibility and adding newcomers (e.g., JUCO transfers, such as Collins, and redhsirted frosh).

Dear timxlydon,
I guess having an adult discussion or argument is beyond your ken. When someone has to resort to childlike behavior, one knows who is the adult.

Dear Friends,
I find it strange that since football practice has officially started, there has been no announcement of it on Eastern's Athletic site. Now that was at approximately 9:00 a.m. today, Monday. Something may have shown up since, but I find it odd that there is no promotion of it.

(08-05-2013 09:02 AM)Ken Barna Wrote:  Dear Friends,
I find it strange that since football practice has officially started, there has been no announcement of it on Eastern's Athletic site. Now that was at approximately 9:00 a.m. today, Monday. Something may have shown up since, but I find it odd that there is no promotion of it.

I wish that some of the many who are doing EMU (unofficial) athletics websites would spend some of that time attending practices, etc.

IF someone wants to know what is happening, then they could watch a few practices and look at the numbers of the starting OL, the 2nd team OL, first team DL, etc.

Or, at QB, who is running with the 2nd team and who with the scout team? (e.g., Iannotti with 2nd team and Roback and Brossard with the scout teams?).

Ditto LBs or DBs, etc. etc.

Take a good smart phone and click a few shots from behind and look up the numbers later to see what are the first and second teams.

Seeing which newcomers are breaking the 2-deeps is always a key story of fall practice.