From the well duh department: "As a football conference, the Colonial Athletic Association will look different in the coming years."
Rich Radford makes the case for Charlotte (which would be good for us in the short term and likely keep us in the South) to join the CAA as a football only member.
Virginian-Pilot Link
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Montgomery Advertiser: Coach Curry didn't fire Steve Spurrier
If you follow history, you realize that Georgia Tech blew out the entire staff including Spurrier.
Pretty good read as CBC was in Montgomery last night for the QB Club Meeting.
Montgomery Advertiser LINK
Pretty good read as CBC was in Montgomery last night for the QB Club Meeting.
Montgomery Advertiser LINK
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Today was an important day for GSU Football
We've basically put the cabash on FBS talk on PantherTalk.com message boards recently and for good reason. It was getting just plain nuts. Many of those (including your humble blogger) who know how we are building and the potential is there.
So the title of this post indicates that today is especially important. I'll tell you why in a second.
I recently said the next 12-24 months will be extremely fascinating for those who follow our program. We are building and preparing for the CAA in 2012. There is some debate whether there will be a conference to join because of the expected pending move of Rhode Island to the NEC and Villanova to the Big East.
Speaking of the Big East (see I told you I'd get to the point): Today the conference presidents voted to go forward with an expansion plan that would increase the football playing membership from eight to 10 teams. From ESPN.com: "The cheers you heard were from athletic directors and coaches at the football schools, who long had wanted to add teams to help with scheduling. The Big East has survived as an eight-team league since 2005, but as the Big Ten and Pac-10 have expanded and more possible conference re-alignment in the future looms, the conference knew it had to get bigger or face extinction."
Read more via the ESPN.com Link
So you ask yourself, self what could this mean? Is Georgia State headed to the Big East? Not so fast, my friend (as the Sunshine Scooter Lee Corso would say).
First in line is likely the aforementioned Villanova. They have the plan in place and are the only non-football members of the Big East that is prepared to dive in head first. The next spot would be for the most attractive. There are rumors about TCU making a bid (leaving the WAC), Houston or Central Florida (leaving Conference USA) or even Temple (leaving the MAC). I believe it will likely be Temple as they are a hot team right now and have locked up another winning season after taking over a greasefire.
So then what? CAA football loses a member (likely 2 with URI moving on) and so does the MAC (which is not an attractive landing spot). What happens in 2014 when the current BCS agreement expires? I believe the Plus One game (1 vs. 4, 2 vs. 3 and the winner in the BCS Title game the following week) is all but a formality. Again, what does that has to do with us?
The Big East will absolutely want to expand either to 12 or 16 teams by the time the BCS agreement is up. Whether that want develops into a plan, is another question but this is only the first step. If they look into emerging programs from Conference USA or the Sun Belt to fill those spots, guess what just opened up? Yep. Spots on the board. You do the math but I believe once again, patience is our best friend.
So the title of this post indicates that today is especially important. I'll tell you why in a second.
I recently said the next 12-24 months will be extremely fascinating for those who follow our program. We are building and preparing for the CAA in 2012. There is some debate whether there will be a conference to join because of the expected pending move of Rhode Island to the NEC and Villanova to the Big East.
Speaking of the Big East (see I told you I'd get to the point): Today the conference presidents voted to go forward with an expansion plan that would increase the football playing membership from eight to 10 teams. From ESPN.com: "The cheers you heard were from athletic directors and coaches at the football schools, who long had wanted to add teams to help with scheduling. The Big East has survived as an eight-team league since 2005, but as the Big Ten and Pac-10 have expanded and more possible conference re-alignment in the future looms, the conference knew it had to get bigger or face extinction."
Read more via the ESPN.com Link
So you ask yourself, self what could this mean? Is Georgia State headed to the Big East? Not so fast, my friend (as the Sunshine Scooter Lee Corso would say).
First in line is likely the aforementioned Villanova. They have the plan in place and are the only non-football members of the Big East that is prepared to dive in head first. The next spot would be for the most attractive. There are rumors about TCU making a bid (leaving the WAC), Houston or Central Florida (leaving Conference USA) or even Temple (leaving the MAC). I believe it will likely be Temple as they are a hot team right now and have locked up another winning season after taking over a greasefire.
So then what? CAA football loses a member (likely 2 with URI moving on) and so does the MAC (which is not an attractive landing spot). What happens in 2014 when the current BCS agreement expires? I believe the Plus One game (1 vs. 4, 2 vs. 3 and the winner in the BCS Title game the following week) is all but a formality. Again, what does that has to do with us?
The Big East will absolutely want to expand either to 12 or 16 teams by the time the BCS agreement is up. Whether that want develops into a plan, is another question but this is only the first step. If they look into emerging programs from Conference USA or the Sun Belt to fill those spots, guess what just opened up? Yep. Spots on the board. You do the math but I believe once again, patience is our best friend.
Tuesday Quick Hitters - 11.2.10
Good Morning and Happy Tuesday Panther Nation! The football team is not practicing today and giving the players a chance to rest their bodies as we came out of the South Alabama pretty beat up.
I wanted to hit a few topics of discussion that we've seen on the boards and in conversations:
1) Moving to FBS - Talk is premature right now. Let's put a moratorium on it for a bit. It's great to have dreams but enjoy the next 2 games as the 1st year is winding down.
2) This Saturday is our last home game. Help us honor the 5 seniors on this team and let's send them out with a huge crowd. Try to bring at least one person who hasn't been to a game yet this year. I'm going to bring two of my friends (one is a GSU grad who hasn't been to a game yet) and will be hanging out at the PantherTalk.com tailgate in the Orange lot. Come by and say hello.
3) Being critical of coaches. I've been a fan of a major BCS conference program with 50 years of playing history behind it. Before you go on a board or in public and critique what any of our coaching staff is doing take a breath, count to 10 and realize that you have no body of work to judge. Coach Curry and his staff evaluate every play, every practice and every player. I'm confident that they put our players in the best position to succeed. Support them and support our teams.
On to the links...
Ken S from the AJC previews Lamar: AJC Link
South Alabama's Joey Jones recaps our game:
On Saturday’s win over Georgia State: Boxscore News Link
“I’m real excited about the win Saturday. I thought we played well. I didn’t think we came to play the second half like we normally do. We talked to our players about it at halftime. It’s happened so many times where we’re up at halftime, and we tell them to play their best in the second half and play like it was the very first play of the game. I don’t know that we did that, and that’s my responsibility to make sure they do so. But there have been so many times where a team would just fold, and they [Georgia State] didn’t fold. I think we learned a big lesson there. I never felt like we were going to lose the game, but we had to make first downs on that last drive.
"They were so hot on offense that last quarter, that I didn’t want to give them the ball back and give them the chance to win it. But we called timeout and brought the offense over, and the offensive line and Kendall Houston took over. He broke tackles and just did a great job. That’s a good feeling to close a game out like that and not give the other team a chance. That says a lot about the guts of our players.”
My take: Give credit where credit is due but I had the prevailing feeling at halftime that our offense would roar back and told my wife as much. Our offense is really only being stopped by its own mistakes (fumbles & INTs). As Coach Bond said yesterday, he's very comfortable with our passing game right now that he almost has to catch himself from calling pass heavy game plans.
Updated Sagarin Ratings: South Alabama drops to #111 with the wins vs. us. We sit at #185 and our opponent this week, Lamar, is currently ranked #204. AL.com Link
Checking In With Our Opponents with Bob R from the Examiner: Our opponents have a cumulative win-loss record of 47-42 (.528 Winning %) after a 5-3 week. Examiner Link
I look forward to seeing you Saturday at the Dome. Beat Lamar!
I wanted to hit a few topics of discussion that we've seen on the boards and in conversations:
1) Moving to FBS - Talk is premature right now. Let's put a moratorium on it for a bit. It's great to have dreams but enjoy the next 2 games as the 1st year is winding down.
2) This Saturday is our last home game. Help us honor the 5 seniors on this team and let's send them out with a huge crowd. Try to bring at least one person who hasn't been to a game yet this year. I'm going to bring two of my friends (one is a GSU grad who hasn't been to a game yet) and will be hanging out at the PantherTalk.com tailgate in the Orange lot. Come by and say hello.
3) Being critical of coaches. I've been a fan of a major BCS conference program with 50 years of playing history behind it. Before you go on a board or in public and critique what any of our coaching staff is doing take a breath, count to 10 and realize that you have no body of work to judge. Coach Curry and his staff evaluate every play, every practice and every player. I'm confident that they put our players in the best position to succeed. Support them and support our teams.
On to the links...
Ken S from the AJC previews Lamar: AJC Link
South Alabama's Joey Jones recaps our game:
On Saturday’s win over Georgia State: Boxscore News Link
“I’m real excited about the win Saturday. I thought we played well. I didn’t think we came to play the second half like we normally do. We talked to our players about it at halftime. It’s happened so many times where we’re up at halftime, and we tell them to play their best in the second half and play like it was the very first play of the game. I don’t know that we did that, and that’s my responsibility to make sure they do so. But there have been so many times where a team would just fold, and they [Georgia State] didn’t fold. I think we learned a big lesson there. I never felt like we were going to lose the game, but we had to make first downs on that last drive.
"They were so hot on offense that last quarter, that I didn’t want to give them the ball back and give them the chance to win it. But we called timeout and brought the offense over, and the offensive line and Kendall Houston took over. He broke tackles and just did a great job. That’s a good feeling to close a game out like that and not give the other team a chance. That says a lot about the guts of our players.”
My take: Give credit where credit is due but I had the prevailing feeling at halftime that our offense would roar back and told my wife as much. Our offense is really only being stopped by its own mistakes (fumbles & INTs). As Coach Bond said yesterday, he's very comfortable with our passing game right now that he almost has to catch himself from calling pass heavy game plans.
Updated Sagarin Ratings: South Alabama drops to #111 with the wins vs. us. We sit at #185 and our opponent this week, Lamar, is currently ranked #204. AL.com Link
Checking In With Our Opponents with Bob R from the Examiner: Our opponents have a cumulative win-loss record of 47-42 (.528 Winning %) after a 5-3 week. Examiner Link
I look forward to seeing you Saturday at the Dome. Beat Lamar!
AJC: Coach Rod Barnes Q&A
Oh yeah, Basketball Season is Here: More good work by our guy Ken at the AJC: AJC Link
Who are two teams that will compete for the national championship?
Barnes: I think Duke is one team and I think Michigan State.
Complete this sentence. College basketball would be a better game if…
Barnes: I think maybe if the season were shorter (in terms of games). I think our season is so long now that I think even some of the best teams run out of gas.
Who's the most improved player on your team?
Barnes: Jihad Ali. Last year he had some games where he scored over 20 a game and I think this year he will have the opportunity to be our leading scorer. I think he would be the guy who would be the surprise, the guy that'll be talked about.
What's a fair criticism of you?
Barnes: A fair criticism is I'm a coach who probably puts more time in and works more time on his defense and sometimes his offense struggles.
What's the best book you've read recently?
Barnes: I would say probably a book I read called "The Rules of Engagement -- The Eight Principles of Leadership."
Who are two teams that will compete for the national championship?
Barnes: I think Duke is one team and I think Michigan State.
Complete this sentence. College basketball would be a better game if…
Barnes: I think maybe if the season were shorter (in terms of games). I think our season is so long now that I think even some of the best teams run out of gas.
Who's the most improved player on your team?
Barnes: Jihad Ali. Last year he had some games where he scored over 20 a game and I think this year he will have the opportunity to be our leading scorer. I think he would be the guy who would be the surprise, the guy that'll be talked about.
What's a fair criticism of you?
Barnes: A fair criticism is I'm a coach who probably puts more time in and works more time on his defense and sometimes his offense struggles.
What's the best book you've read recently?
Barnes: I would say probably a book I read called "The Rules of Engagement -- The Eight Principles of Leadership."
Monday, November 1, 2010
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