I’ve been following the Southland conference a little season. Despite Sam Houston and Central Arkansas having down years, top to bottom, the conference is much better than in years past. IW, Lamar, ACU, McNese and Nichols St have actually been playing pretty solid football.

(11-12-2018 10:26 PM)JMaddy Wrote:  

(11-12-2018 04:25 PM)Purple Wrote:  

(11-12-2018 12:30 PM)Longhorn Wrote:  

(11-12-2018 10:09 AM)JMURocks Wrote:  

(11-12-2018 10:03 AM)JMUNation Wrote:  How about Georgia State, Arkansas State, Middle Tennessee or University of Texas San Antonio? Are these better names than Incarnate Word?

Actually, yes they are!

Competition wise, if IWU makes the playoffs, that’s almost the same as inviting a 6-5 Georgia St team to a NY6 bowl ... both are ludicrous.

So you prefer public schools with generic names. Okay.

IWU is a private Catholic school and has a one of a kind name. Big deal.

Not at all. Notre Dame and Villanova are private Catholic schools. TCU and SMU are private schools of other denominations. They are national brands. Playing any of those schools is nothing to be ashamed of.

Incarnate Friggin Word? It sounds like a damned joke! Really. Like SNL made it up.

Funny though, if Notre Dame was instead named Incarnate Word and UIW was instead named Notre Dame you'd probably be saying the same thing about Notre Dame being a ridiculous name while Incarnate Word would be an 'established national brand'.

Incarnate Word is no more ridiculous than Notre Dame ("Our Lady"), Sacred Heart, Holy Cross, Seton Hall, Marist, [Aloysius] Gonzaga or from the HS ranks such respected programs as Mater Dei or Good Counsel. They're just a new program so it doesn't have that cache the other schools do.

Regardless of the name, UIW
- has a 92% acceptance rate
- is ranked the #39 Western Regional school

They are not in the same universe as a Notre Dame or Villanova, either academically or athletically. And their SLC wins are not enough to merit an at large bid. If they get in, it's simply due to committee politics, and the perceived need to be "fair" to the lesser conferences.

(11-12-2018 11:46 PM)JMURocks Wrote:  

(11-12-2018 10:26 PM)JMaddy Wrote:  

(11-12-2018 04:25 PM)Purple Wrote:  

(11-12-2018 12:30 PM)Longhorn Wrote:  

(11-12-2018 10:09 AM)JMURocks Wrote:  Actually, yes they are!

Competition wise, if IWU makes the playoffs, that’s almost the same as inviting a 6-5 Georgia St team to a NY6 bowl ... both are ludicrous.

So you prefer public schools with generic names. Okay.

IWU is a private Catholic school and has a one of a kind name. Big deal.

Not at all. Notre Dame and Villanova are private Catholic schools. TCU and SMU are private schools of other denominations. They are national brands. Playing any of those schools is nothing to be ashamed of.

Incarnate Friggin Word? It sounds like a damned joke! Really. Like SNL made it up.

Funny though, if Notre Dame was instead named Incarnate Word and UIW was instead named Notre Dame you'd probably be saying the same thing about Notre Dame being a ridiculous name while Incarnate Word would be an 'established national brand'.

Incarnate Word is no more ridiculous than Notre Dame ("Our Lady"), Sacred Heart, Holy Cross, Seton Hall, Marist, [Aloysius] Gonzaga or from the HS ranks such respected programs as Mater Dei or Good Counsel. They're just a new program so it doesn't have that cache the other schools do.

Regardless of the name, UIW
- has a 92% acceptance rate
- is ranked the #39 Western Regional school

They are not in the same universe as a Notre Dame or Villanova, either academically or athletically. And their SLC wins are not enough to merit an at large bid. If they get in, it's simply due to committee politics, and the perceived need to be "fair" to the lesser conferences.

Make sure you look at the newer version of this article, but if UIW gets in, it will be as the AQ. That will happen if Nicholls loses this week. Otherwise, no, they will not get in.

(11-13-2018 12:14 AM)NH/JMU Saxkow Wrote:  

(11-12-2018 11:46 PM)JMURocks Wrote:  

(11-12-2018 10:26 PM)JMaddy Wrote:  

(11-12-2018 04:25 PM)Purple Wrote:  

(11-12-2018 12:30 PM)Longhorn Wrote:  So you prefer public schools with generic names. Okay.

IWU is a private Catholic school and has a one of a kind name. Big deal.

Not at all. Notre Dame and Villanova are private Catholic schools. TCU and SMU are private schools of other denominations. They are national brands. Playing any of those schools is nothing to be ashamed of.

Incarnate Friggin Word? It sounds like a damned joke! Really. Like SNL made it up.

Funny though, if Notre Dame was instead named Incarnate Word and UIW was instead named Notre Dame you'd probably be saying the same thing about Notre Dame being a ridiculous name while Incarnate Word would be an 'established national brand'.

Incarnate Word is no more ridiculous than Notre Dame ("Our Lady"), Sacred Heart, Holy Cross, Seton Hall, Marist, [Aloysius] Gonzaga or from the HS ranks such respected programs as Mater Dei or Good Counsel. They're just a new program so it doesn't have that cache the other schools do.

Regardless of the name, UIW
- has a 92% acceptance rate
- is ranked the #39 Western Regional school

They are not in the same universe as a Notre Dame or Villanova, either academically or athletically. And their SLC wins are not enough to merit an at large bid. If they get in, it's simply due to committee politics, and the perceived need to be "fair" to the lesser conferences.

Make sure you look at the newer version of this article, but if UIW gets in, it will be as the AQ. That will happen if Nicholls loses this week. Otherwise, no, they will not get in.

Sorry, this was not meant as a critique of your overall (excellent) analysis.
Some folks have predicted as many as 3 SLC teams with playoff bids.

I've been assuming Nicholls wins the AQ, they deserve a bid ... but noone else from the SLC does.

Here is how bad the SLC is if you break it down:

UIW has 6 SLC wins, no OOC wins.
The SLC teams UIW defeated have a D1 aggregate record of 26-31
Those 6 teams have exactly 3 total OOC victories:
- UCA over Murray St (5-5 OVC)
- SH over PV A&M (3-6 SWAC)
- McNeese ovee Northern Co (2-9 Big Sky)

Short of winning the AQ, I don't believe any SLC team other than Nicholls should be included in the playoffs.

(11-12-2018 04:25 PM)Purple Wrote:  

(11-12-2018 12:30 PM)Longhorn Wrote:  

(11-12-2018 10:09 AM)JMURocks Wrote:  

(11-12-2018 10:03 AM)JMUNation Wrote:  

(11-12-2018 09:13 AM)Longhorn Wrote:  I agree the name is unusual as a football playing school, however, that said if you know San Antonio (or have visited recently) IWU has been making large investments in facilities. It’s every bit the equal to Soft Houston as a campus, if not better. I’m sure Notre Dame sounded funny to the ear at one time too.

How about Georgia State, Arkansas State, Middle Tennessee or University of Texas San Antonio? Are these better names than Incarnate Word?

Actually, yes they are!

Competition wise, if IWU makes the playoffs, that’s almost the same as inviting a 6-5 Georgia St team to a NY6 bowl ... both are ludicrous.

So you prefer public schools with generic names. Okay.

IWU is a private Catholic school and has a one of a kind name. Big deal.

Not at all. Notre Dame and Villanova are private Catholic schools. TCU and SMU are private schools of other denominations. They are national brands. Playing any of those schools is nothing to be ashamed of.

Incarnate Friggin Word? It sounds like a damned joke! Really. Like SNL made it up.

Every college sports program with aspirations has to start building their rep somewhere. What’s a Notre Dame or a Villanova (namewise) without their established reps? What was a “Boise” State 12-15 years ago?

It makes me chuckle that some fans (even at the FCS level) are so smitten with the branding of school names in athletics that they feel uncomfortable and empowered to diss some “new” program that strikes them as unworthy of serious consideration simply because of the school’s name.

By way of comparison I recall JMU fans (still) bemoaning FBS fans when they diss the Dukes with comments like “little Jimmie Madison”...only to turn around and in the same breath diss “Elon” or “Stony Brook” because their names (and programs) are an unknown.

Incarnate Word is (at present) a funny and unusual sounding name for a university. Especially for a school that plays D1 athletics. Perhaps that will change if and when IWU hangs a few sports pelts on its belt. In the interim I suppose you could chalk-up this discussion as representative of the fact Americans are conditioned to associate quality with only the well-known “names” we’ve become accustomed to hearing or reading about. You can tell that one to Honda, Toyota and Hyundai.

(11-13-2018 05:58 AM)Longhorn Wrote:  

(11-12-2018 04:25 PM)Purple Wrote:  

(11-12-2018 12:30 PM)Longhorn Wrote:  

(11-12-2018 10:09 AM)JMURocks Wrote:  

(11-12-2018 10:03 AM)JMUNation Wrote:  How about Georgia State, Arkansas State, Middle Tennessee or University of Texas San Antonio? Are these better names than Incarnate Word?

Actually, yes they are!

Competition wise, if IWU makes the playoffs, that’s almost the same as inviting a 6-5 Georgia St team to a NY6 bowl ... both are ludicrous.

So you prefer public schools with generic names. Okay.

IWU is a private Catholic school and has a one of a kind name. Big deal.

Not at all. Notre Dame and Villanova are private Catholic schools. TCU and SMU are private schools of other denominations. They are national brands. Playing any of those schools is nothing to be ashamed of.

Incarnate Friggin Word? It sounds like a damned joke! Really. Like SNL made it up.

Every college sports program with aspirations has to start building their rep somewhere. What’s a Notre Dame or a Villanova (namewise) without their established reps? What was a “Boise” State 12-15 years ago?

It makes me chuckle that some fans (even at the FCS level) are so smitten with the branding of school names in athletics that they feel uncomfortable and empowered to diss some “new” program that strikes them as unworthy of serious consideration simply because of the school’s name.

By way of comparison I recall JMU fans (still) bemoaning FBS fans when they diss the Dukes with comments like “little Jimmie Madison”...only to turn around and in the same breath diss “Elon” or “Stony Brook” because their names (and programs) are an unknown.

Incarnate Word is (at present) a funny and unusual sounding name for a university. Especially for a school that plays D1 athletics. Perhaps that will change if and when IWU hangs a few sports pelts on its belt. In the interim I suppose you could chalk-up this discussion as representative of the fact Americans are conditioned to associate quality with only the well-known “names” we’ve become accustomed to hearing or reading about. You can tell that one to Honda, Toyota and Hyundai.

I wish leagues and general fans were bigger picture- it's really about a University's growth and their commitment to athletics as part of that growth that will drive future success at the mid major level. You're right- folks bashed Stony Brook and Elon and others because they weren't informed and didn't realize the potential of these schools.

(11-12-2018 12:30 PM)Longhorn Wrote:  

(11-12-2018 10:09 AM)JMURocks Wrote:  

(11-12-2018 10:03 AM)JMUNation Wrote:  

(11-12-2018 09:13 AM)Longhorn Wrote:  

(11-12-2018 08:28 AM)Purple Wrote:  I don't know about everyone else, but I think it sucks to be playing in a division where a juggernaut has a name like Incarnate Word. I feel like we are playing in D IV.

I agree the name is unusual as a football playing school, however, that said if you know San Antonio (or have visited recently) IWU has been making large investments in facilities. It’s every bit the equal to Soft Houston as a campus, if not better. I’m sure Notre Dame sounded funny to the ear at one time too.

How about Georgia State, Arkansas State, Middle Tennessee or University of Texas San Antonio? Are these better names than Incarnate Word?

Actually, yes they are!

Competition wise, if IWU makes the playoffs, that’s almost the same as inviting a 6-5 Georgia St team to a NY6 bowl ... both are ludicrous.

So you prefer public schools with generic names. Okay.

IWU is a private Catholic school and has a one of a kind name. Big deal.

^this


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