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CAA Champions

spiderjpo

Assistant Coach
Mar 11, 2004
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Great day to be a Spider. Physical domination of our state rival and finishing undefeated in the CAA. Great crowd and great performance by our team today. Tomorrow will speak volumes of what the national scene thinks of the CAA. Hoping for a bye and top 8 seed. This team deserves it. 10 game winning streak and beating whoever we play should be enough but we will see. Physical domination today by both lines and a shutout of the team that wants to be like us but just can’t get it done!
 
So they're taking two 10-2 teams from one-bid leagues and seeding them but not seeding the 10-2 champion of a 4-bid league? Make it make sense.
The CAA is seen as a bit of a paper tiger conference, with teams able to rack up gaudy records without necessarily having to face many other good teams because there’s so many schools.

Good enough to earn a decent number of bids, but nobody able to really stand out by running a gauntlet of quality teams.

But no, I’m certainly not sold on UIW or Mercer either.

Our Wofford loss hurt us badly.
 
I get that, but we still beat a team in Delaware that would have been ranked in the top 15 all year, a 7-5 Towson team and a W&M team that had a shot at the playoffs with a win today. Half of our conference wins are against teams in the top half of the league (if you exclude us). And hopefully we have made it abundantly clear to the committee that we changed QBs after the first two games and then proceeded to win 10 straight.
 
The CAA is seen as a bit of a paper tiger conference, with teams able to rack up gaudy records without necessarily having to face many other good teams because there’s so many schools.

Good enough to earn a decent number of bids, but nobody able to really stand out by running a gauntlet of quality teams.

But no, I’m certainly not sold on UIW or Mercer either.

Our Wofford loss hurt us badly.
Mercer has a good defense and did beat the next three best teams in SoCon. Incarnate Word and Spiders might well be 8 & 9
I want to think a 10-game win streak carries some weight with the committee.
 
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I get that, but we still beat a team in Delaware that would have been ranked in the top 15 all year, a 7-5 Towson team and a W&M team that had a shot at the playoffs with a win today. Half of our conference wins are against teams in the top half of the league (if you exclude us). And hopefully we have made it abundantly clear to the committee that we changed QBs after the first two games and then proceeded to win 10 straight.
I want a top 8 seed as bad as anyone. I think Spiders get the nod over UIW, but haven't made it easy with that loss to Wofford and 3 point wins over 3 bad teams.
 
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SIU was top 10 at the time of their game, but obviously didn’t live up to that early billing. MVFC is obviously really tough sledding, so I don’t know that Wofford would be considered a better loss.
 
Hopefully they're not getting credit for what a team was ranked at the time. SIU stunk. They should have never been ranked eighth.
 
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The bottom half of the MVFC have losing records, just like the bottom half of the CAA. Their top teams have a built in fringe benefits with home field advantage throughout the playoffs.

 
Doesn't matter. If the conference has four playoff teams, the teams we played faced some of them. It speaks to the overall caliber of play in the league. Some of the teams we beat are probably in the playoffs themselves if not for losing to those other playoff teams and us.
 
So when they give out awards it's co-champs, but when they hawk merc it's champions.
If I was a URI fan, I personally wouldn’t buy any of these merchandise. I would have some pride in myself understanding it’s ridiculous to have a 1 loss team claim a championship when another team went undefeated and beat the same team you lost too.
 
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The fact that a team went undefeated in what the metrics consider the 2nd best conference and didn’t get a top 8 seed just reinforces the idea that CAA is very diluted. We can only play who was on our schedule, and apparently that wasn’t good enough.
 
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How the seeding turned out today is a very strong indication of how the rest of the FCS views the CAA and what it’s become. I don’t think there’s ever been an outright (URI situation is a joke), undefeated CAA champ left out of the top 8. Total indictment on what was once a prideful conference.
 
Villanova and RI got the better seeds IMO considering the travel.

100%. Personally I’d trade spots w either. Idaho probably harder draw if we advance even without considering tougher travel. Idk all factors w committee but I think Idaho should be below both UIW & Mercer. It looks like they went out of their way to hurt us. No bye & Idaho at 8 us 9 plus facing team from Patriot. But not surprised either. I predicted we would be hurt by the CAA & Hardt stuff. Was more surprised the few bracketologists and UR posters had us overcoming that, tho there was an argument.
 
Until a RH coached team breaks through that top 8 glass ceiling that seems to be made of brick, its hard to be optimistic for a deep run. I'm so tired of missing the top 8 because we don't take care of business at the beginning of the season against bad teams. Good lord stop scheduling home and home with MEAC schools and play some MVFC to start the season FFS. Go 10-2 next year against that schedule and well be ranked lower than 9th sadly, that's just the reality the FCS selection committee laid out for us. All the good schools on the east coast need to start doing it, its easier to win in North/South Dakota/Montana/Idaho in September than it is in the winter. And those boys will melt in the August heat when they come south.

Hopefully our guys play angry and with a chip on their shoulder.
 
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A welcome to the Pat League!
So we get bypassed for top 8 and a bye. That’s a load of bs. We deserved a bye. Now just need to play like yesterday, and we’ll be fine. So CAA gets 4 in and several seeds. Our future home gets one and not a seed. That speaks volumes about future expectations as the way CAA is viewed relative to PL. Not to say down the road PL might not be a decent intermediate and long term landing spot. But my guess is over the next few years we probably need to win that league to get bid. No doubt that FCS football runs through MVC and Big Sky.
 
#9 seed vs. Lehigh, winner travels to Idaho.
If we win, Moscow is a fun little college town and the campus is pretty (much nicer than Cheney, for those of you who made the trip to EWU). As far as indoor playing fields go, the Kibbiedome is pretty nice. It's bright, opposed to a lot of dark indoor facilities, seats about 15K.

It can be cold this time of year up on the Palouse so pack your winter clothes. Plenty of decent restaurants in Moscow/Pullman and lots of lodging. The University Inn and the La Quinta are decent properties and less than five minutes from campus.

Closet airport is Pullman/Moscow, about five miles from campus, service primarily from Seattle. Probably easier to fly into Spokane, about 90 miles away via pretty two-lane road.
 
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I'm no expert on circadian rhythms, but I've flown to the West Coast enough times to know that the team could really benefit from an extra day of recuperation before the game. That might have made a difference with the Sacramento State game a couple of years ago. So far the Spiders are 0 for 2 out West. Get some extra rest this time! (This unsolicited advice, of course, assumes a win over Lehigh, a team that shouldn't be taken lightly based on our playoff history with them.)
 
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