Congratulations to Dayton and Jacksonville

[CoachL]

This is what you originally wrote:

"The people that play at those schools weren't good enough to get a walk on spot at the other schools and went to where they could go to school and play, nothing wrong with that."

I know the difference in overall depth. I've been saying that exact thing on this board and on AGS for years. Your original post did not say that, however. Read it again...

Ok...I'll add three words and change another and my post will be correct and not single your son out. Man, there is nothing like a athletes parents when they feel their son/daughter got attacked.

"The greater majority of people that play at those schools weren't good enough to get a scholly spot at the other schools and went to where they could go to school and play, nothing wrong with that."

It's not just my son. I used him as an example that I know intimately. As you well know and have (reluctantly) stated, there are many players on PFL (and other non-"power" conference) teams that could easily play for teams in the CAA, SoCon, Big Sky, etc.

As a high school coach, I am well aware of the talent that it takes to make it onto the roster of even a non-scholarship FCS team. Tens of thousands of high school players would love to have that opportunity, but simply are not good enough. To say that the only reason anyone plays for a PFL team is because they weren't good enough to play for a "power conference" team is pure, unadulterated bullshit. Please forgive me for calling you on that point.

If I had written...

"The people that play at FCS schools weren't good enough to get a walk on spot at FBS/BCS schools and went to where they could go to school and play, nothing wrong with that."

... I would have been raked over the coals by everyone on this board. And rightfully so.

While I took personal offense at your statement, this was not about me or my son. (And the crack about "athletes' parents" was unnecessary, by the way.)

Are PFL teams as good as CAA teams? No. Are CAA teams as good as SEC teams? No.

Are there PFL players as good as CAA players? Yes. Are there CAA players as good as SEC players? Yes.

Now, do Dayton and/or Jacksonville have the resume to be at-large teams in the playoffs? Debate away!

[Ursus A. Horribilis]

Clenz, you made a misstep in wording, no big deal. CoachL was correct and you have admitted that so why carry on with the semantics?

Not a big deal but I can see why he took exception to it.

[CoachL]

Clenz and I are cool.

I realize that my (over?)reaction was primarily as a coach and not as a parent. I just used my older son as an example.

We just wrapped up our season. I can't tell you how much I admire and appreciate how hard our guys work all year long, and how hard it is to even be considered for a roster position on any Division I football team.

One of our guys may be going to the Ivy League, but another will have to pass on an Ivy League offer because of nagging chronic injuries.

Individual teams may not be very good for a wide variety of reasons including the coaching staff, administration support, or academic restrictions (read: Georgetown), but I cannot help but admire all the players that step out onto that field each and every day to bust their asses for this game that we all love.

[softball1]

The best part of the Dayton loss was when Valentino threw the TD pass to ice thegame (he thought) and looked towards the Duquesne bench and did a little cocky dance. Only to see Patterson/Dixon/Williams/Bunevich say goodnight to the playoffs!!!!! No offense but their league is a glorified d3 league. When you play in a scholarship league week in and week out and go 10-1 against thosetype of athletes (not that some of those teams dont have them) from to to bottom you will then deserve to go. Right now its apples to oranges. It is the overall body of work...........if MAYBE they DOMINATED that league a possiblility but slight wins and a loss to a school only 3 years into their schollies and a 3rd place team in a league thatjust got their auto bid..........dosent get it for me.

[Ursus A. Horribilis]

The best part of the Dayton loss was when Valentino threw the TD pass to ice thegame (he thought) and looked towards the Duquesne bench and did a little cocky dance. Only to see Patterson/Dixon/Williams/Bunevich say goodnight to the playoffs!!!!! No offense but their league is a glorified d3 league. When you play in a scholarship league week in and week out and go 10-1 against thosetype of athletes (not that some of those teams dont have them) from to to bottom you will then deserve to go. Right now its apples to oranges. It is the overall body of work...........if MAYBE they DOMINATED that league a possiblility but slight wins and a loss to a school only 3 years into their schollies and a 3rd place team in a league thatjust got their auto bid..........dosent get it for me.

Welcome to the board.

[DetroitFlyer]

The best part of the Dayton loss was when Valentino threw the TD pass to ice thegame (he thought) and looked towards the Duquesne bench and did a little cocky dance. Only to see Patterson/Dixon/Williams/Bunevich say goodnight to the playoffs!!!!! No offense but their league is a glorified d3 league. When you play in a scholarship league week in and week out and go 10-1 against thosetype of athletes (not that some of those teams dont have them) from to to bottom you will then deserve to go. Right now its apples to oranges. It is the overall body of work...........if MAYBE they DOMINATED that league a possiblility but slight wins and a loss to a school only 3 years into their schollies and a 3rd place team in a league thatjust got their auto bid..........dosent get it for me.

Welcome to the board.

Yeah.... EXACTLY how did your team do against your league champion Robert Morris? The best PFL team has beaten the best NEC team 4 out of the last 5 years. My Flyers have done it twice! Yeah, playing in that powerful NEC scholarship really produces some great champions.... Champions so good they cannot even beat the champion of a league you identify as glorified Division III. So my Flyers had one bad game and lost to a team that had no business losing to in Pittsburgh. We still finished 10-1, 9-1 FCS, 8-0 PFL. If Robert Morris deserves to be in the playoffs, then so do my Flyers.

[Original_RMC]

Welcome to the board.

Yeah.... EXACTLY how did your team do against your league champion Robert Morris? The best PFL team has beaten the best NEC team 4 out of the last 5 years. My Flyers have done it twice! Yeah, playing in that powerful NEC scholarship really produces some great champions.... Champions so good they cannot even beat the champion of a league you identify as glorified Division III. So my Flyers had one bad game and lost to a team that had no business losing to in Pittsburgh. We still finished 10-1, 9-1 FCS, 8-0 PFL. If Robert Morris deserves to be in the playoffs, then so do my Flyers.

Dayton victory playing against an injured Myles Russ. But Dayton still won the game but I believe if they choose a team from the PFL then it will be Jacksonville. Dayton is a great program and has been since I played against them in 96 & 97. I just think the individuals who make the selection for those at-large bids will have a tough time. Do you take a 7-3 or 8-3 team in a tough conference or a 10-1 team from a conference that folks consider weaker?

So while both JU & Dayton both had great seasons, I think if a PFL team happens to get an at-large bid...IMO it would be JU. But still it is a long shot that JU gets that chance to show what they can do.

[CoachL]

Yeah.... EXACTLY how did your team do against your league champion Robert Morris? The best PFL team has beaten the best NEC team 4 out of the last 5 years. My Flyers have done it twice! Yeah, playing in that powerful NEC scholarship really produces some great champions.... Champions so good they cannot even beat the champion of a league you identify as glorified Division III. So my Flyers had one bad game and lost to a team that had no business losing to in Pittsburgh. We still finished 10-1, 9-1 FCS, 8-0 PFL. If Robert Morris deserves to be in the playoffs, then so do my Flyers.

<sigh>

Look, DF... You know that I'm a supporter of the PFL. Cracks like "glorified Division III" are uncalled for from anybody, but especially from a supposed Duquesne supporter - Duquesne, a new NEC member who until recently competed in the MAAC that was even lower on the totem pole than the PFL!

Dayton is an outstanding program and has accomplished a great deal over the years. The Flyers deserve any-and-all accolades they receive, and have earned every championship ring they wear. Dayton has also put some truly outstanding players out on the field who would have been stars on any FCS team.

I watched as the "lowly" Butler Bulldogs defeated the NEC Champions last year in the final Gridiron Classic. I believe that the Gridiron Classic had a decent chance of being 4-0 in the PFL's favor if the Albany-Jacksonville game had not been played on a green-brown skating rink in weather that many of the Florida boys had never experienced in their lives. (Note: Albany won fair-and-square. It was cold and frozen for both teams, and the Danes were prepared.)

However, all that being said...

1.) Let me fix one statement for you: "So the Colonials had one bad game with their star running back injured and lost to a team they had no business losing to in Pittsburgh."

2.) Or we could fix it in this manner: "So my Flyers lost to a team in Pittsburgh with FBS-transfer talent (which my Flyers rarely, if ever get) that even Delaware had a hard time stopping. We were lucky to have kept the game so close."

The "one bad game" stuff gets old. But if you're going to use that tired old line, realize that it cuts both ways! Robert Morris had one bad game (well, two actually, when you count Bryant last week) with their major offensive threat hobbled by injury. What would the Flyer faithful say if Dayton were to lose with Tino hurt? And many Duquesne faithful say that the Dukes had a horrible game against the Flyers and only showed their true colors when their backs were against the wall.

Re: Playoff consideration...

Sagarin Ratings:

Jacksonville #133
Dayton #158

GPI:

Jacksonville #36
Dayton #57

Dayton - 1 "bad loss", 0 "signature wins"
Jacksonville - 0 "bad losses", 0 "signature wins"

I suspect that the Dayton fans were the biggest fans of RMU down the stretch. However, with the Colonials losing to Bryant (a 3rd or 4th place team in the NEC), Dayton's "signature win" is over an unranked, limited scholarship team.

Just sayin'

[DetroitFlyer]

Sounds like a good argument for BOTH Dayton and JU to be invited to the playoffs. Heck, I just read from one yahoo FCS writer that a 7-4 Duquesne team deserves a playoff bid over a 10-1 Flyer team. So, I guess that loss to Duquesne was not so bad.... When you win 10 games and defeat the champion of an AQ conference, it should not even be a question.... Only in FCS where the powers that be just cannot reward a team that does not follow the traditional atheltic scholarship model. Dayton also finished the 1996 and 1997 seasons ranked in the top 25 and was snubbed for the playoffs.... Only 16 teams back then, with 20 today, the Flyers should be in.

[jd of de]

Sounds like a good argument for BOTH Dayton and JU to be invited to the playoffs. Heck, I just read from one yahoo FCS writer that a 7-4 Duquesne team deserves a playoff bid over a 10-1 Flyer team. So, I guess that loss to Duquesne was not so bad.... When you win 10 games and defeat the champion of an AQ conference, it should not even be a question.... Only in FCS where the powers that be just cannot reward a team that does not follow the traditional atheltic scholarship model. Dayton also finished the 1996 and 1997 seasons ranked in the top 25 and was snubbed for the playoffs.... Only 16 teams back then, with 20 today, the Flyers should be in.

[Trapped in CA]

Please send Dayton to Cedar Falls. That is all.

[DetroitFlyer]

Please send Dayton to Cedar Falls. That is all.

Bring em on.... It would be so sweet to spank you in your sissy dome....

[pantherrob82]

Please send Dayton to Cedar Falls. That is all.

Bring em on.... It would be so sweet to spank you in your sissy dome....

UNH said the same thing about the dome as the #1 seed in 2005. Didn't go to well.

[jd of de]

Please send Dayton to Cedar Falls. That is all.

Bring em on.... It would be so sweet to spank you in your sissy dome....

What no demand for a home and home?

[clenz]

Northern Iowa(2010) wins 25 of 25 matchups against Dayton(2010)

Projected Score: Northern Iowa 36 Dayton 13


Margin of Victory: 23 Points

According to http://nationalsportsrankings.com/jooml ... m_oneonone" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[softball1]

My point is the PCL has some great players but from top to bottom week in and week out your notplaying against scholarship athletes...........which takes its toll. I know and respect alot of the dayton players and they are playing against teams where 90% of the players didnt get a offer and their otherchoices were dIII. Sugarcoat it how you want and take offense but it is what it is. I thought this was a opinion board?????????? Again there are about 4 teams in the NEC alone that would of been 10-1 against that competition..........if Dayton again DOMINATED that league but they didnt. There is a big difference in quality of depth in a scholarship conferene that takes its toll on these teams that dayton dosent have to deal with.