Spider football to the Patriot League in 2025
- Thread starter SFspidur
- Start date
As are many others! We miss you.
LOL. All because he doesn't get to see us play NC A&T, Campbell, Hampton, Monmouth, Towson, Stony Brook, and Maine anymore?
It’s deeper than that buddy. Dropping to the patriot league is a tell tale sign that this administration doesn’t care about football and that they’re all in on the cult of mooney. Can’t do support an athletic department that doesn’t actually care about trying to win anything. And don’t you dare say “but we won the A10 regular season this year”. Yes we did but then the team quit as usual and now we celebrate a nit bid instead and act like that’s a successful season. The people running this place just aren’t serious.
You've been here for two months, you didn't even attend UR, you're almost certainly not a donor, and your name-calling is alienating.
Hope the board, and the athletic department, can survive without you.
I’ve had other accounts that were banned on here. Been here for almost a decade actually.
tbf u have quit the board half a dozen times
I share your passion. The decision has already been made. I am surprised that the Spider fans on this board have drunk the kool-aid fed to them by this administration. Ultimately, the school President decided to cut the knees out from under the football program.
Big difference. I have never left this board for a good amount of time because of our school, our teams, our players, our coaches, or our administration. I have left at times because of how the many obnoxious posters on here have acted. When the board is no fun, why bother? But, hey, congrats go to you because you caused me to leave for awhile one time because of your creepiness in trying to dig up past stuff about me. That was beyond strange, especially when we don't know each other.
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u were done too...then u were not. no difference.
what did I dig up....all has come up directly from u, I've just repeated it b4....u posted only on VA Tech rivals board b4 u had any interest whatsoever on this board. Now reversed. And u r a self proclaimed UVA fan. little strange but that's ok & all that info came from u.....think u might be confusing me with someone else.
When Villanova and W&M leave the CAA for the Patriot League, which has an excellent chance of happening, we'll be in the better league competitively, partnered with outstanding academic schools. I look forward to your observations when that happens.
Villanova I expect. I'm not sure about W&M. I would have thought they'd be in Patriot by now and they're not. They have all sports affiliation to consider not just football. They seem to be deliberate with all sports considerations. The Southern might be more appealing. If they left CAA I think it's 50/50 Patriot vs. Southern. I leaning Southern even though W&M is high academics.
Ah yes that's what I call our former AD and the Sun Belt commish. Common mistake.
OK, smart reasoning. But with us and Villanova, the Patriot League is better than a CAA minus us, Villanova, Delaware, ODU and JMU, which is the CAA a lot of people here keep using as a comparison point. That CAA is history.
A 9 (or 10, with W&M) team PL is perfect. Play every conference team (4 home, 4 away), Play W&M, play an FBS body-bag game and play a Furman/Elon/The Citadel/NE Conference team. That's a great schedule.
And with us and Villanova, the PL isn't the "one-bid league" some here keep harping on. It's a 2 or 3-bid league, just like the CAA will be when we and the Wildcats are gone.
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W&M AD Brian Mann, on UR shift to Patriot League, Tribe's CAA allegiance
"As the CAA has grown and changed over the last several years, we plan on having a big role in how that new identity comes to be.”
WM stays on UR schedule just not as regular season finale beginning 2025W&M AD Brian Mann, on UR shift to Patriot League, Tribe's CAA allegiance
"As the CAA has grown and changed over the last several years, we plan on having a big role in how that new identity comes to be.”richmond.com
I never really expected W&M. Villanova is a must, but the 10th PL team is key in my mind.
Don't add a 10th team = bad, not real set on expansion
Get someone like Sacred Heart = bad, b/c they're bad
Find a way to steal someone like UNH = great. They've got a weird BBall setup as well, crazier things have happened
Don't add a 10th team = bad, not real set on expansion
Get someone like Sacred Heart = bad, b/c they're bad
Find a way to steal someone like UNH = great. They've got a weird BBall setup as well, crazier things have happened
Ah, the CAA vote of confidence. Which means they're planning to bail.W&M AD Brian Mann, on UR shift to Patriot League, Tribe's CAA allegiance
"As the CAA has grown and changed over the last several years, we plan on having a big role in how that new identity comes to be.”
I mean, he didn't even really give a full vote of confidence. He admitted they're keeping their options open.
W&M knows what our administration doesn’t. That the CAA is one of the best FCS leagues in the country. This is the single dumbest decision made by our school administrators ever.
“We’re proud to be in the CAA. It remains one of the strongest (FCS) conferences in the country. We’ve had some great success over the last couple of years in that conference and we’re going to continue to do everything we can to build strength in it, and use it as a springboard into the (FCS) playoffs and make a deep run, as we did a couple of years ago,” said Mann.
richmond.com
“We’re proud to be in the CAA. It remains one of the strongest (FCS) conferences in the country. We’ve had some great success over the last couple of years in that conference and we’re going to continue to do everything we can to build strength in it, and use it as a springboard into the (FCS) playoffs and make a deep run, as we did a couple of years ago,” said Mann.
W&M AD Brian Mann, on UR shift to Patriot League, Tribe's CAA allegiance
"As the CAA has grown and changed over the last several years, we plan on having a big role in how that new identity comes to be.”
Probably has more to do with the fact we have whipped their a$$ in 15 out of the last 20 meetings
Yeah, because W&M's athletic department has been much more successful than ours recently. NCAA men's BB berths, NIT berths, NCAA WBB berths, FCS playoff wins, NCAA lacrosse berths ... the Tribe has done it all!W&M knows what our administration doesn’t. That the CAA is one of the best FCS leagues in the country. This is the single dumbest decision made by our school administrators ever.
“We’re proud to be in the CAA. It remains one of the strongest (FCS) conferences in the country. We’ve had some great success over the last couple of years in that conference and we’re going to continue to do everything we can to build strength in it, and use it as a springboard into the (FCS) playoffs and make a deep run, as we did a couple of years ago,” said Mann.
W&M AD Brian Mann, on UR shift to Patriot League, Tribe's CAA allegiance
"As the CAA has grown and changed over the last several years, we plan on having a big role in how that new identity comes to be.”
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I've sat back and gone through the 5 stages of grief, maybe twice, and have come to the conclusion that the CAA from 15-20 years ago is no longer what we remember it to be. Instead of the SEC of FCS, we're now more like Conference USA. We played nobodies last year (including a terrible MSU team) and snuck into the playoffs on conference reputation alone before we were exposed by Albany who subsequently was curb-stomped by SDSU...basically Liberty vs. Oregon only more lopsided. Perhaps this is a a fun spot for us to hang out while the dust settles on college football alignment.
One thing we haven't discussed is the Patriot League Academic Index (AI) and how that will effect us. I assume that eventually we will have to comply, but I haven't been able to find anything concrete on how that works.
What I've been able to ascertain is they look at certain admission metrics and come up with an index for the entire incoming class based on SAT scores, GPAs and class rank. The incoming recruits would then have to fall within one standard deviation of the rest of the class. I coasted through Lewis Literal's business statistics class and took QA in play term, so I'm not sure what exactly that means. This is stolen from the Holy Cross forum, so credit to them for doing a deep dive and having a more robust discussion of our move (and less shit-posting) than we do here, but not sure of the accuracy:
A couple of takeaways:
1) Our SATs are through the roof. We used to and presumably still do offer generous scholarships to National Merit Scholars to juice that stat.
2) Our class rank is really low considering our SAT scores...maybe the schools we draw from?
3) Are we at a disadvantage because we're only Patriot for football and other sports don't fall under the AI regime? Or maybe an advantage because they will presumably lower our overall incoming class AI
One thing we haven't discussed is the Patriot League Academic Index (AI) and how that will effect us. I assume that eventually we will have to comply, but I haven't been able to find anything concrete on how that works.
What I've been able to ascertain is they look at certain admission metrics and come up with an index for the entire incoming class based on SAT scores, GPAs and class rank. The incoming recruits would then have to fall within one standard deviation of the rest of the class. I coasted through Lewis Literal's business statistics class and took QA in play term, so I'm not sure what exactly that means. This is stolen from the Holy Cross forum, so credit to them for doing a deep dive and having a more robust discussion of our move (and less shit-posting) than we do here, but not sure of the accuracy:
| Value | Colgate | Richmond | Georgetown | Lehigh | Lafayette | Holy Cross | Bucknell | Fordham | Cornell |
| SAT Composite 1400-1600 - % | 81 | 86 | 78 | 65 | 53 | 29 | 17 | 52 | 95 |
| SAT Composite 1200-1399 -% | 17 | 13 | 16 | 33 | 47 | 59 | 52 | 45 | 5 |
| SAT Composite 1000-1199 - % | 2 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 29 | 2 | |
| Top quarter of the H. S. class - % | 94 | 83 | 95 | 85 | 78 | 69 | 86 | 75 | 94.5 |
A couple of takeaways:
1) Our SATs are through the roof. We used to and presumably still do offer generous scholarships to National Merit Scholars to juice that stat.
2) Our class rank is really low considering our SAT scores...maybe the schools we draw from?
3) Are we at a disadvantage because we're only Patriot for football and other sports don't fall under the AI regime? Or maybe an advantage because they will presumably lower our overall incoming class AI
Thanks for sharing. One thing I wonder what the impact will be with athletics, is that UR has gone test optional with the SAT/ACT the past several years that was initially due to COVID. So I believe our standardize test scores may be more inflated than normal as only students who had really good scores likely shared them. What that means in terms of recruiting or this academic index, I have no idea. If other students don’t have to report scores I don’t think they’ll mandate the student athletes to do so. Also, I can’t imagine UR has been playing with the same deck of cards, so to speak, as every other CAA football team in terms of recruiting. I imagine we had our own self-imposed restrictions when it came to recruiting student athletes that other programs did not. Whether it’s as rigorous as the Patriot League AI, I’m not sure.
Almost every school has gone test optional, so we shouldn’t be unique in that regard. Most will probably return to requiring scores by 2026.
I’m going through the college search process with my eldest now and many of the admissions sessions note that current score data should basically be ignored and some put up the lower pre-COVID scores on the screen as a more accurate indicator.
Obviously our admin is comfortable with whatever AI requirements there are for us, but whether that’s a change from our existing policies, I too am curious.
I’m going through the college search process with my eldest now and many of the admissions sessions note that current score data should basically be ignored and some put up the lower pre-COVID scores on the screen as a more accurate indicator.
Obviously our admin is comfortable with whatever AI requirements there are for us, but whether that’s a change from our existing policies, I too am curious.
What do u expect him to say? "CAA is done..it's watered down, were going to look elsewhere". Cmon, they're gonna toe the line while considering their options in secret.W&M knows what our administration doesn’t. That the CAA is one of the best FCS leagues in the country. This is the single dumbest decision made by our school administrators ever.
“We’re proud to be in the CAA. It remains one of the strongest (FCS) conferences in the country. We’ve had some great success over the last couple of years in that conference and we’re going to continue to do everything we can to build strength in it, and use it as a springboard into the (FCS) playoffs and make a deep run, as we did a couple of years ago,” said Mann.
W&M AD Brian Mann, on UR shift to Patriot League, Tribe's CAA allegiance
"As the CAA has grown and changed over the last several years, we plan on having a big role in how that new identity comes to be.”
I agree with Wood Hall (who just had a heart attack because I’m agreeing with him) . W & M just spent a lot of money fixing up their
Stadium . They aren’t going to want to play Stony Brook or Campbell for
long. The name Colgate, Georgetown, Bucknell, now Richmond have far
better cachet
People on the Spider messageboard would be way more bent out of shape if this were basketball. We already play at a level of football that may as well be Div IV. No recognition no matter how well we do. Does anyone care about playing Monmouth or even powerful Elon for that matter. In other sports at least we play real teams.
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