College Football had Awesome Weekend

bruno

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Although my eyes and guts are both rolling -tell me that Texas/Texas A&M; Alabama/Auburn; Stanford/ Notre Dame (sorry Charlie!); Hawaii/Navy; weren't the perfect complement to a cold rainy New England weekend fortified with about 25 Turkey, Stuffing and Cranberry sandwiches?:thumb:
Would like to have seen A&M; Auburn and Navy win but still - what a great college football weekend! BTW- regardless if whether you are a football fan or more into crocheting or leaf raking- I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and kept in mind and were thankful for the things that are truly important in life- family; friends; home; health; love and freedom.
 
Bruno, I agree with you. This was a great weekend of college football.

But you know what would be even better? A college football BCS playoff. SEVERAL weekends of great college football! But don't get me started. :thumbdown:
 
Bruno, I agree with you. This was a great weekend of college football.

But you know what would be even better? A college football BCS playoff. SEVERAL weekends of great college football! But don't get me started. :thumbdown:

D3 football playoffs alive and well, 8 teams left (go Johns Hopkins!), quarter finals next week. http://www.d3boards.com/playoffs/footballbracket2009.pdf

Winning their way to the XXXVII Stagg Bowl, :thumb: not getting there by someone's vote or some computer ranking system. :thumbdown:
 
Unfortunately recently, there isn't much of a difference between Army football and high school football. Yes, I've been to both.

But, if it makes you feel any better, my high school didn't have a football team.
 
JAM:
does the Army team still use that trick play where they punt on second down to save the quarterback.:yllol:
 
Not quite sure how this turned into the "bash Army Football" thread -
LITS your comment makes me wonder when and how many games you actually attended and what constitutes "fun". Win or lose I am at a loss to see how a US Military member could attend an Army Football game and not have fun - couldn't you find a tailgate to crash?
Army Football is now 5-6 on the season. One loss was by one point (Tulane) and two other losses were close games until the 4th quarter - Duke and Temple. In the Duke game, Army was behind by one point going into the 4th quarter, in the Temple game the game was tied going into the 4th quarter. A win over Navy will earn the Black Knights a trip to the EagleBank Bowl.
For 50 years Notre Dame beat Navy - but the Navy fans still attended in droves. They must have thought it was fun.

If you want to talk about a bad football team - look at VMI. (sorry Bruno) They got beat by first year Old Dominion and Army. Must have been a tad humilating but their fans still went and probably had fun.
 
Not quite sure how this turned into the "bash Army Football" thread -

Must have been a tad humilating .

JAM:
I consider it fun to "bash Army football". What is a tad.

When Army beats Navy (hahaha) pigs will fly, in a tight formation dropping one hundred dollar bills.:thumb:
 
I've been to two Army v. Navy games, once in Philly and once in Baltimore. Both times, I had fun, and both times I cheered for Army. Army, sadly, let me down. The last Army v. Navy game I went to was embarrassing for anyone cheering for Army.

You'll have to remember, I'm neither Army nor Navy, so I am an disinterested third party.

The events surrounding the game were great, including sitting in President Bush's section for the first half, however, the game was anything but good.

My girlfriend's uncle and cousin were both West Point graduates. Thus, I cheer for Army, they provide the tickets. Because of the "quality" of the games, they almost got rid of their tickets this year.

I would love to see a better West Point team....but I'm still waiting. I have a team to cheer for anyway....a little D3 school in New London, CT.....

and a little "Army/Navy" game against Kings Point.
 
Somehow what was supposed to be a lighthearted thread is now a bash Army football in particular with overtones of spillover from other postings about the purity of D3 ball vs D1 ball. Way to go folks in keeping it upbeat.

It is true VMI has not had a particularly successful football program and has been that way for the last 20+ years. They are the smallest Division 1 school in the country and VMI certainly has more than its share of recruiting challenges. They do what they can and every year is the year that things will get turned around. If it doesn't- what kind of a fan would you be if you can't root for them anyway?? Any twit can root for the team that wins the National Championship or the SuperBowl- you're a fan when you root for them when they don't.
Army has had a bad decade- which follows Navy's equally bad decade before that (apparently Gunner doesn't remember Ryan Bucchianeri - the verb "to Booch" or any Army- Navy Game in the late 80s to mid 90s). Navy got Paul Johnson- he put in a reasonable offense that he could recruit for and Navy is a turned around program as a result. The Army program will get turned around as well.

The Service Academies that play D-1 football do it in large part because it is a tremendous amount of national exposure . Who could argue that it doesn't provide that? Army- Navy is a primetime National presentation- and Navy - Air Force and Army -AFA games were on national TV as was Navy/Notre Dame and several other games. D1 schools don't necessarily compromise their standards to play reaonably good ball- (I haven't heard too many folks saying the Ivy League (D1 FCS) is suffering from academic slump as a result of football; Holy Cross (D1 FCS) certainly seems to be able to play good ball and keep their standards up; and Stanford and Notre Dame to mention two teams that played this weekend (D1 FBS) & the Service Academies (D1-FBS) do too regardless of the occasional blasts to the contrary on this forum).

By contrast in terms of exposure who has even heard of the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl and that is the D3 National Championship? Outside of the "New London Day" does anyone cover USCGA football? The "Worcester Telegram" (much less the "Boston Globe") basically doesn't cover NEFC ball and 2 of the schools in the NEFC are located in Worcester and several more are within 20 miles of the city. D3 programs play for the sport of it but they surely don't generate much if any exposure for their schools doing so even if they are the most successful program in the country.
Comparing D1 ball to D3 ball is comparing two different sports. The size, speed and depth of the players for even the most mediocre D1 FCS programs is light years away from the players at any Div 3 program (and certainly the New England Football conference isn't the cream of the football world RE: LITS October 11th post:)
They dropped down a level in DIII football a few years back....amounting for their first winning season in...awhile.

Most real USNA fans and certainly the alumni and former players who I've run into are saddened to see Army football in its current condition just as USMA and USAFA fans are glad to see Navy doing well (except when they play each other). I've gone down to see several USCGA games in New London- it's cheap to get into- it's a nice place when the weather is good and I'm happy to support the Cadets despite several years of losing records in the NEFC Bogan division (2007-2009 anyway)- however, I'm under no illusion about the level of their football.
 
Shame on all of those (especially bruno and Just_A_Mom) who think D1 football is the only pure form of college football being played, and that any other level is not worthy of pride, respect, or recognition outside of their home area.

:thumbdown:
 
Shame on all of those (especially bruno and Just_A_Mom) who think D1 football is the only pure form of college football being played, and that any other level is not worthy of pride, respect, or recognition outside of their home area.

:thumbdown:
Shame on Luigi for making this assumption. :thumbdown: Explain to me how you arrived at that conclusion, please!
You appear to be a Johns Hopkins fan - if true then good luck to your team!
I am cheering for Albright college - if they end up playing each other then we can have fun trash talking. I am, however, not delusional in thinking they can compete with Alabama.

gunner1zeus said:
JAM:
I consider it fun to "bash Army football". What is a tad.
I am not surprised you consider "to bash" anything is fun. I can't fault you for being consistent. Someday, you might find that it is more fun to "cheer for" the win.
"tad" is indeed a word. It means "somewhat" or "small". My apologies for causing you confusion by using a three letter word. Don't they teach vocabulary in the Navy? :confused:

bruno - excellent and well thought out post. :thumb: My apologies for opening the wounds of VMI football.
 
Shame on all of those (especially bruno and Just_A_Mom) who think D1 football is the only pure form of college football being played, and that any other level is not worthy of pride, respect, or recognition outside of their home area.

:thumbdown:

Luigi -Do you actually read these posts or just comment on them? I said nothing of the kind. I believe, and said D3 football is lots of fun to watch and support. The average student at a D3 school is far more likely to show up and be able to walk on and actually play- and they put plenty of time into their teams. They ought to be as proud or prouder of their teams as any program out there and I didn't and don't wish to imply that they are anything other than hardworking athletes who deserve the support they get.
I merely commented on the reasons why D1 ball is played at the other service academies in contrast to the D3 ball played at USMMA and USCGA and I did so because Luigi- you have been riding a kind of "D1 football at the Service Academies is somehow less pure than the D3 football at the CGA" hobby horse for a while in another thread(http://www.serviceacademyforums.com/showthread.php?t=9122). My comments about why D1 ball is played at the other SAs was because it sounded based on your posts that this was the direction you had gone again in this thread. If you didn't intend to go down that path with your post then I misread and I am sorry for doing so.

"The Service Academies that play D-1 football do it in large part because it is a tremendous amount of national exposure . Who could argue that it doesn't provide that? Army- Navy is a primetime National presentation- and Navy - Air Force and Army -AFA games were on national TV as was Navy/Notre Dame and several other games"....
"By contrast in terms of exposure"...."D3 programs play for the sport of it but they surely don't generate much if any exposure for their schools doing so even if they are the most successful program in the country
."

Whether it's fair or not -it just doesn't happen. Is there someone somewhere who would disagree with that?

Now - how about we stop bashing football programs? If you weren't interested in any football games- ok don't post. If you have other better ones to share- ok please-post. If you think that some play or call in the games you watched (at any level) was phenomenal or horrible- ok-please post. If you are looking forward to more rivalries or bowl games (at any level)- ok please post . If you agree with Bullet that there ought to be a national playoff- ok let's hear your reasoning (I agree but it'll never happen- too much money involved in those bowl games IMO). If you want to specualte on the future of some coaches based on performance of their teams- ok although there doesn't seem to be much doubt about at least one coaches future at this point. If you want to be aggrieved - just skip it as the idea in this thread was to be fun and that doesn't seem to meet the description.
 
My comments about why D1 ball is played at the other SAs was because it sounded based on your posts that this was the direction you had gone again in this thread. If you didn't intend to go down that path with your post then I misread and I am sorry for doing so.

Bullet mentioned the need for a playoff system in college football, and my post (go ahead, go back and re-read it again in case you missed it the first time) stated that such a playoff system exists today at the D3 level. A playoff system where teams advance in a bracket by winning rather than a place held for them by some voting system.

Reading anything else into my post is pure speculation.

bruno said:
I'm happy to support the Cadets despite several years of losing records in the NEFC Bogan division (2007-2009 anyway)

Several years? :confused: Sorry to burst your illusion, but not one knowledgable football fan I know considers 4-3 as a "losing" record.

As a matter of fact, in the 4 years they have been a member of the NEFC, they have a combined conference record of 21-7: 7-0 in 2006, 7-0 in 2007, 3-4 in 2008, and 4-3 in 2009.

:cool:
 
I have to agree, the BCS format is BS.

As for D3 v. D1 football; I would go see a certain D3 school play football over D1 football any day of the week.

Doesn't mean I don't enjoy D1 football, I just know where my loyalties are.


JAM, you may want to "tune in" to cadets and midshipmen, "bashing" other academies is a fact of life. In general, it's light hearted and in good spirit (and doesn't end when they get their commissions). Just a little FYI from service academy reality.
 
Bullet mentioned the need for a playoff system in college football, and my post (go ahead, go back and re-read it again in case you missed it the first time) stated that such a playoff system exists today at the D3 level. A playoff system where teams advance in a bracket by winning rather than a place held for them by some voting system.

Reading anything else into my post is pure speculation.



Several years? :confused: Sorry to burst your illusion, but not one knowledgable football fan I know considers 4-3 as a "losing" record.

As a matter of fact, in the 4 years they have been a member of the NEFC, they have a combined conference record of 21-7: 7-0 in 2006, 7-0 in 2007, 3-4 in 2008, and 4-3 in 2009.

:cool:
huh? Most fans I've ever talked with not to mention teams that I've played on usually quote the overall record as opposed to conference record- which for USCGA football looks sort of like (you can find this on the USCGA football site under archives- note they quote the overall record first and then the NEFC stats which is pretty much what every team does):
2009= 4-5
2008= 3-6
2007= 8-2
2006= 8-3
Anyway you slice it 2006 and 2007 were pretty good football years for USCGA. Hopefully they too are on the comeback trail next year.

LITS I agree with you- the BCS formula is ridiculous- but I think that there is so much money tied up in the BCS bowl games that it'll literally be an act of congress to change it. Of course these days congress is changing a lot so who knows- maybe you will see a change?
 
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I still think the Bears have a shot against West Point. That's a D3 team playing at a D1 school.
 
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