The Mighty Penn Quakers

[finpxz1]

And the hits keep coming...One of the "best teams we will play all year" is now 2 and 3 overall and 0 and 2 and tied for last place in the Ivy. Too funny...

[finpxz1]

Now 0 and 3 and all alone in last place in the conference!!!

[77HEN]

Yeah, we were fooled by that. Have they had injuries? On another note, we are reminded there are a lot of good players in the Ivy. UD should brand itself as a good grad school to attend after Ivy education and do its best to attract top Ivy grads as xfers. This could be good source for players as we compete in CUSA. I know we already have some Ivies (Labory, Herring for example). This is just one way to get good experienced players.

[finpxz1]

Yeah, we were fooled by that. Have they had injuries? On another note, we are reminded there are a lot of good players in the Ivy. UD should brand itself as a good grad school to attend after Ivy education and do its best to attract top Ivy grads as xfers. This could be good source for players as we compete in CUSA. I know we already have some Ivies (Labory, Herring for example). This is just one way to get good experienced players.

Interesting perspective, 77. I personally would rather focus on the CAA for transfers given our history and familiarity with the conference and stronger overall level of competition, but the Ivy does put out a few good players, as well. Maybe throw the Patriot in the mix when looking for quality FCS transfers moving forward, as well??? Bottom line is UD will need to get creative if we want to compete for championships in Conference USA, and we should leave no stone unturned when looking for good players.

[Info Hound]

Bottom line is UD will need to remain creative if we want to compete for championships in Conference USA, and we should continue to leave no stone unturned when looking for good players.

Sorry. I made an edit to reveal my thoughts. Thinking of what we are already doing. "D-3 Lutz", "D-2 Taylor", "Ivy -Herring", "JC - Marker", "FBS -Thaw", "Towson - Cupitt", "Rutgers - Patterson", "D-2 Reed", are a few that I am thinking of that are making a major contributions.

In my view, we will continue to do what you are suggesting. We have learned from players that have transferred in, that being contacted FIRST by UD after entering the portal was important. We have a very aggressive football "back office" group that are doing a heck of a job.

[Caribbean Hen]

Yeah, we were fooled by that. Have they had injuries? On another note, we are reminded there are a lot of good players in the Ivy. UD should brand itself as a good grad school to attend after Ivy education and do its best to attract top Ivy grads as xfers. This could be good source for players as we compete in CUSA. I know we already have some Ivies (Labory, Herring for example). This is just one way to get good experienced players.

Good points 77, Wimberly came from Harvard as well and it appears that Carty and Company have targeted the Ivy League for the grad student transfers and that’s a good thing.

We weren’t the only ones fooled on Penn, saw some Ivy League guys that thought Penn would be in the mix and fighting for the Ivy league title this year. They lost some close games and now they’re saying they’re head coach is on the hot seat.

Undefeated Dartmouth is ranked #22 in the coaches poll and Penn lost a heartbreaker to them by 3 points. Lost to an improved Columbia by 6. Yesterday got thumped by Yale. Have they given up? We will see

[finpxz1]

Yeah, we were fooled by that. Have they had injuries? On another note, we are reminded there are a lot of good players in the Ivy. UD should brand itself as a good grad school to attend after Ivy education and do its best to attract top Ivy grads as xfers. This could be good source for players as we compete in CUSA. I know we already have some Ivies (Labory, Herring for example). This is just one way to get good experienced players.

Good points 77, Wimberly came from Harvard as well and it appears that Carty and Company have targeted the Ivy League for the grad student transfers and that’s a good thing.

We weren’t the only ones fooled on Penn, saw some Ivy League guys that thought Penn would be in the mix and fighting for the Ivy league title this year. They lost some close games and now they’re saying they’re head coach is on the hot seat.

Undefeated Dartmouth is ranked #22 in the coaches poll and Penn lost a heartbreaker to them by 3 points. Lost to an improved Columbia by 6. Yesterday got thumped by Yale. Have they given up? We will see

Please don't double down on the ridiculous statement that "Penn is one of the best teams we will play all year". You, 77, Cluck, and others have already proven how absurd that thinking was. Let's not keep this crazy narrative going...Penn is a decent FCS program, but would never withstand the rigors of the CAA week after week.

[finpxz1]

Bottom line is UD will need to remain creative if we want to compete for championships in Conference USA, and we should continue to leave no stone unturned when looking for good players.

Sorry. I made an edit to reveal my thoughts. Thinking of what we are already doing. "D-3 Lutz", "D-2 Taylor", "Ivy -Herring", "JC - Marker", "FBS -Thaw", "Towson - Cupitt", "Rutgers - Patterson", "D-2 Reed", are a few that I am thinking of that are making a major contributions.

In my view, we will continue to do what you are suggesting. We have learned from players that have transferred in, that being contacted FIRST by UD after entering the portal was important. We have a very aggressive football "back office" group that are doing a heck of a job.

Good edit…didn’t mean to suggest they haven’t been creative. This will be a critical offseason as we look to bring in more quality transfers who are ready to compete at the FBS level…especially on the offensive and defensive lines.

[tenn hen]

to become a truly FBS non P4 program, we all agree( ad nauseum) it's the D line that must be addressed for next season. The players we see who sign up with us for next season will determine our basic foundation for the upcoming season. The proof will be in the pudding. So patience is a virtue.

[Cluck U]

Penn lost their starting QB and they have been plagued by some bad luck/bounces in their other close losses. Football happens. Are they a really good team? Nope. But, as fin acknowledges, they are a solid FCS team.

Just so people remember, we only beat Penn 29-22, and Penn was leading late in the 4th quarter. Game yardage was 393-375 in our Hens favor.

As to the Ivies never being able to compete in the…uh…big, bad CAA…

Ask UNH about the Ivy League.

Heck, our best CAA teams have historically had trouble with Patriot teams (Monmouth lost to Laffy, UNH squeaked by Holy Cross 20-17, Rhody nipped Holy Cross 21-20)…and the Ivies usually handle the Patriot teams (as they are doing, once again, this year).

Not sure why some people don’t take the Ivies seriously. Guess they don’t know much about football.

In the meantime, we have a bye, then we face (undefeated in FCS) Rhode Island (that team that nipped Holy Cross by 1 point). Cupcake Campbell is after that. Then, nova…the team that struggled with Colgate before they pulled away late…and a team that struggled against UNH.

10-1 is within our reach.

Our schedule is nicely aligned for a strong finish.

Frankly, with this past weekend’s home game against Albany, the bye week, the home game against Rhody and home against Campbell, that is a month at home before nova. No lost practice days for travel…no schedule interruptions at all with any travel. And nova is a short bus ride up the Blue Rt.

Let’s go out with a bang!

[finpxz1]

Way to change the narrative, Cluck. No one said the Ivy League shouldn’t be taken seriously. This was specifically about Penn, and you and others making the ridiculous statement that Penn would be “one of the best teams we play all season”. And when I called folks out initially after the Penn game, you all kept spouting the same nonsense. My point being Penn is a nice FCS team, but they would not be a serious contender in the “big bad” CAA…even this watered down version. Would they be the worst team in the CAA..no. Would they be an upper echelon team in the conference…certainly not. And certainly not one of the best teams we play this year.

[Cluck U]

Teams better than Penn when we played them:

Bryant - nope.
A&T - nope
Sacred Heart - nope
Monmouth - not a clear choice. Monmy got beat by a weak Laffy team, Penn got beat by a weak Columbia team.
Maine - nope (Penn beat Colgate by a larger score than Maine and had a much better stat line)
Richmond.- yup
Albany - nope
Rhody - maybe
Campbell - nope
nova - probably

Hmmm…that is 6 nopes out of 11 games, with one maybe. So far, Richmond is better. URI and nova remain to be seen.

[finpxz1]

Holy cow, Batman. Now you are just embarrassing yourself. Okay, okay. You’re right and I’m wrong. Penn is definitely one of the better teams we will face all year.

[Cluck U]

Holy cow, Batman. Now you are just embarrassing yourself. Okay, okay. You’re right and I’m wrong. Penn is definitely one of the better teams we will face all year.

Now you are just in denial.

Who is better?

No one can say Bryant. No one.
No one can say A&T.
No one can say Sacred Heart.

3 down, 8 to go.

Maine? Maine totaled 229 yards against us. 29-22 versus 44-21. And, Maine has been destroyed several times this year. Straight up…Penn comes out ahead. Furthermore, Penn had a better game against their other common opponent. Two games against a common opponent…Penn takes both of those.

4 down, 7 to go.

Richmond? Sure, we can agree that Richmond is better.

5 down, Penn is better than 4 of those teams.

Albany? 29-22 vs 28-14. Heck, Penn had the lead in the 4th Q. I am trying to figure out when Albany had the lead in the 4th and had the ball down at the freaking 17-yard line with just over a minute left in the game. Penn also outgained us and ran for 165 yards at 4.7 YPC. Albany? No way. Go ahead and try to make a case for that.

6 down, Penn better than 5 of those teams.

You are left with Monmouth. No D Monmouth. The same Monmouth that just lost to Towson 26-14. Same Monmouth that lost to…ahem…Lafayette (you know, from the Patriot League). Same Monmouth that got absolutely spanked by a weak (2-6, now) Eastern Washington team (you probably didn’t watch that game either). Who did Monmouth beat? Oh yeah…Fordham, Bryant, Maine and that god-awful FIU team. Quite the resume.

Hey, let’s give you Monmouth.

7 down. Penn is better than 5 of the 7 teams we’ve played.

Campbell. Are you going to try to make a case for Campbell? I think we can safely put Campbell in the bad team category.

8 down…Penn is better than 6 of the 8 teams on the list, so far.

Now, I am going to mention that UD’s schedule is ridiculously easy. No one has said it is a hard schedule. In fact, someone with an internet connection figured out that we have played, and defeated, 4 of the bottom teams in the CAA standings.

Right now, these are, in order, the bottom 6 CAA teams in the standings.

Maine
Elon
Campbell
Albany
Bryant
A&T

Campbell is on that list. So…on our Hens schedule, we have 5 of the lowest 6 CAA teams…plus Sacred Heart.

I’m just going to interrupt with a math problem. 11 games. That means there are 10 teams on our schedule that we can compare with Penn.

Having just mapped out 8 of those teams, with 6 of them not being better than Penn (giving you Monmouth). Is 6 of 9 more than 50%? Asking for a friend.

How about this list, ranking our opponents?

Richmond
Monmouth
Penn
Maine
Albany
Campbell
Bryant
Sacred Heart
A&T

Yup. It sure looks as though Penn is one of the better opponents on that list.

Let’s have more fun: add nova and Rhody to that list…even put them above Penn. Gosh, that means that Penn is still better than 6 teams…with only 4 teams better than Penn. That would still leave Penn as one of the better teams we face this year. And…nova got pummeled by Maine. Any given Saturday.

Simple math.

We have a bad schedule. Penn was one of the better teams on our schedule. If you think that isn’t the case, feel free to toss in some sort of stats or facts that would make your case. Or, you can continue to simply bark at the moon and repeat your opinion without any facts or information with which to back up your statement. There is a lot of that around here.

[finpxz1]

How about this for data...most updated Sagarin College Football ratings...

http://sagarin.com/sports/cfsend.htm?bc ... AAAAa1AAA=

Bryant 245
NC A&T 249
Penn 200
Sacred Heart 242
Monmouth 162
Maine 180
Richmond 133
Albany 193
Rhode Island 148
Campbell 206
Nova 141

My original point about Penn back when we played them is we had no business letting them hang around in that game. They are at best an average FCS program and would struggle with a week-to-week CAA schedule. I didn't mention that William & Mary (163), Stony Brook (169), Towson (171), New Hampshire (177), and Elon (187) are all rated ahead of the Quakers, as well. Some of you guys were making Penn out to be Penn State...