We have a very good football program

[Wood Hall]

We are 27-10 (.730) overall since the midway point of the 2021 season, when Mancuso returned from injury. Take away the body-bag money games at Virginia and Michigan State and we are 27-7 (.794).

We've been to the playoffs the last two years and won a game each time. We would have been a playoff team in 2021 had Mancuso stayed healthy the entire season.

I wish we drew more fans. And yes, I know the CAA isn't what it used to be, with JMU moving up to FBS, which we are UR have absolutely no control over. But the bottom line is, our football program is pretty darn good, something which isn't often acknowledged here.

 

[SpiderLaw]

When I saw the subject - header - title of your post I immediately thought of the lack of fans. I see you addressed that. One of my pet peeves is/was the elimination of the volunteer segment of the Spider club at least decades ago. We rely on employees of an athletic department to generate ticket fans. Avid fans and local alumni could do a lot to penetrate the community to garner more support from the general population of the Richmond area. I realize the world has changed from the time there were not tons of games available on cable tv and the internet. Maybe we can’t expect to routinely draw over 10000 fans like often occurred at city stadium. But may we could sell out Robins Stadium once a year and never have attendance drop below 50 percent of the seats. I would be willing to volunteer if others would do the same. If we don’t I fear economics will require we drop significantly below FCS.

 

[Wood Hall]

Unfortunately athletic departments and ADs are all about control anymore; controlling the personnel and controlling the message. They want to control all aspects of anything related to athletics and have little or no desire for volunteer participation.

 

[spiderjpo]

This program is indeed strong. The staff has done an excellent job of recruiting local and nationwide talent but with a definite focus on the local high school talent that we are able to sign. We are a competing for conference championships again on a regular basis and and have been a playoff participant the last couple of years. Tickets and parking are a bargain. The talent level is great and we are winning. All we can do is keep supporting this team and try to bring friends and family out for a fun Saturday afternoon and hope they continue to come back. Times have changed since our City Stadium Days with television and streaming of games. We also have somewhat split up our fan base with the stadium structure with two sides and three parking lots but that was the sacrifice to move on campus. Hopefully we can win out and the WM game can pack the stadium. This team deserves it. What a great display of depth and talent to beat a team moving to FBS relatively easy with all of our injuries yesterday.

 

[32counter]

Seriously,where are the students?

 

[urfan1]

I recall stories of DT going to dorms and cafeteria to encourage students to attend, what are we doing now?

 

[Ferrum Spider]

Seriously,where are the students?

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They just cant get up for our final game vs. our 2nd longest rival who was also undefeated. They definitely will show for when were playing those tradition rich powerhouses from the patriot league. At least that's what were being sold.

 

[Gallipoli]

I can't wait until we play the mighty Leopards of Lafayette. That will be a barn burner. Katy bar the door.

 

[Ferrum Spider]

I can't wait until we play the mighty Leopards of Lafayette. That will be a barn burner. Katy bar the door.

There are SOME pros to this move. No more Flosports....and Georgetown ought to be a fun trip. Other than that though its atrocious and I cant hide my disgust with the lack of forward thinking here.

Shoulda re-started A10 football if we really wanted out. Hopefully when we realize the Patriot League wasn't what we thought it was, will restart A10 football. It happened with Lax, one can dream, because the reality is too sobering.

UR, UNH, Rhode Island, Maine, Nova, Fordham, Duquense would of been an excellent starting point. Maybe even convince Davidson and Dayton to go scholarship. It wouldn't be nearly as big of a downgrade were about to experience.

 

[spiderstudent17]

There are SOME pros to this move. No more Flosports....and Georgetown ought to be a fun trip. Other than that though its atrocious and I cant hide my disgust with the lack of forward thinking here.

Shoulda re-started A10 football if we really wanted out. Hopefully when we realize the Patriot League wasn't what we thought it was, will restart A10 football. It happened with Lax, one can dream, because the reality is too sobering.

UR, UNH, Rhode Island, Maine, Nova, Fordham, Duquense would have been an excellent starting point. Maybe even convince Davidson and Dayton to go scholarship. It wouldn't be nearly as big of a downgrade were about to experience.

I wonder if restarting A10 football was a consideration, and if so what was/is the barrier from it happening again? We have us, URI, Fordham, Duquesne as members and Dayton and Davidson if we include pioneer league. We would need to get only a few more associate members like you mention. Even if it’s a downgrade in competition from CAA, I’m sure there would’ve been less frustration from fans because we would be going back to our home league.

 

[whampas]

I can't wait until we play the mighty Leopards of Lafayette. That will be a barn burner. Katy bar the door.

Our all time record against Lafayette is 0 and 3. Perhaps you should hope we open with someone else given our slow starts.

 

[GKiller]

Student attendance at football has been bad for at least 30-40 years with a few exceptions. Delaware box score indicates lower overall attendance than some other games. Was the crowd worse, is that accurate?

Also re: very good program. I guess it depends on how you define it. We were under Clawson, London and Rocco. Elite even. I'd call us good but you can't just look at JMU leaving and CAA, it's FCS in general. Changed dramatically. Weakened. Have to define us within that new dynamic. We should be doing better imo and we're worse in a weaker field. When was last time we won a playoff game beyond the prelim first round game? Some semantics but a very good program should be doing that imo.

A great win over Delaware tho and that's a step but margin for playoffs is still relatively small. Can't afford a hiccup. Let's see how it plays out.

 

[Gallipoli]

Can UR compete for the Ram-Crusader cup? If Holy Cross and Fordham can compete for a Patriot League participation trophy, why not the Spiders?

Holy Cross 19-16 Fordham (Oct 12, 2024) Game Recap - ESPN

Expert recap and game analysis of the Holy Cross Crusaders vs. Fordham Rams NCAAF game from October 12, 2024 on ESPN.

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[Wood Hall]

I can't wait until we play the mighty Leopards of Lafayette. That will be a barn burner. Katy bar the door.

Yeah, definitely not as sexy as Delaware State, NC A&T, St. Francis, Hampton, Morgan State, Stony Brook, Campbell, Bryant or some of the other big hitters from the CAA/MEAC we regularly play.

 

[SpiderLaw]

This program is indeed strong. The staff has done an excellent job of recruiting local and nationwide talent but with a definite focus on the local high school talent that we are able to sign. We are a competing for conference championships again on a regular basis and and have been a playoff participant the last couple of years. Tickets and parking are a bargain. The talent level is great and we are winning. All we can do is keep supporting this team and try to bring friends and family out for a fun Saturday afternoon and hope they continue to come back. Times have changed since our City Stadium Days with television and streaming of games. We also have somewhat split up our fan base with the stadium structure with two sides and three parking lots but that was the sacrifice to move on campus. Hopefully we can win out and the WM game can pack the stadium. This team deserves it. What a great display of depth and talent to beat a team moving to FBS relatively easy with all of our injuries yesterday.

“hope they continue to come back” . Of course we want fans to become regular fans. That being said, hope is not a strategy. Lots of good things about our program but the weakness is the lack of fans who regularly attend. If we are to continue to be successful we need to be intentional about building an active fan base, students, alumni and community at large.

 

[Ferrum Spider]

I wonder if restarting A10 football was a consideration, and if so what was/is the barrier from it happening again? We have us, URI, Fordham, Duquesne as members and Dayton and Davidson if we include pioneer league. We would need to get only a few more associate members like you mention. Even if it’s a downgrade in competition from CAA, I’m sure there would’ve been less frustration from fans because we would be going back to our home league.

You only need 7 for an auto-bid and no doubt all those schools would of jumped as they had 0 ties or say in CAA football matters when it came to voting/expansion IIRC. The only downside would be travel, but that's something that could be fixed easily. Id even say let Davidson/Dayton join with no scholarships and use those as easy games while we schedule big time games like ND St, and some other MVFC/Big Sky teams.

At the end of the day, the SOCON probably was the best fit if we REALLY wanted out, though I would argue it would of made just as much sense to stay in the CAA. Whether or not it was even brought up, the fact we opted for the Patriot, without overtures/assurances from Nova/WM that they would join (Which appears to not be the case), it will go down as one of the dumbest decisions UR has ever made with regards to athletics. Remember a president lost his job for even entertaining this idea less than 20 years ago. Now we have people in the same positions telling us this is a great move.

 

[whampas]

You only need 7 for an auto-bid and no doubt all those schools would of jumped as they had 0 ties or say in CAA football matters when it came to voting/expansion IIRC. The only downside would be travel, but that's something that could be fixed easily. Id even say let Davidson/Dayton join with no scholarships and use those as easy games while we schedule big time games like ND St, and some other MVFC/Big Sky teams.

At the end of the day, the SOCON probably was the best fit if we REALLY wanted out, though I would argue it would of made just as much sense to stay in the CAA. Whether or not it was even brought up, the fact we opted for the Patriot, without overtures/assurances from Nova/WM that they would join (Which appears to not be the case), it will go down as one of the dumbest decisions UR has ever made with regards to athletics. Remember a president lost his job for even entertaining this idea less than 20 years ago. Now we have people in the same positions telling us this is a great move.

With only 8 teams in the PL that leaves either 4 or 5 OOC games each year. Plenty of games to schedule up. I don't see how that's radically different than what you propose. Since the Cooper days scholarships and redshirts have been added by the PL. I suspect this may not be the last move we see in the next few years. The CAA will likely break up in the future. The northern schools may exit and form their own conference. Maine to Buis Creek, NC makes little sense.

 

[Wood Hall]

I think Cooper wanted to move the entire athletic department to the Patriot League, not just a football program that is an affiliated member of another conference. Big, big difference.

 

[SFspidur]

I don't know if he had an ultimate goal for all sports, but no, the only thing under discussion at the time was football. A-10 as our primary home was not in question.

Even so, the circumstances are pretty different than 20 years ago...the CAA is not what it was and the Patriot has improved with scholarships now being offered.

Is it the right move? The jury's is still out for me, but the Patriot isn't doing anything to convince me so this year. The CAA has become so watered down, I understand the desire to make a move, and the hope was that Patriot would continue an upward trajectory, but at least this year it's just ugly. I agree with many that SoCon seemed like a better fit for football quality, but for whatever reason it didn't happen.

Rather than a Patriot move now, I would have been more inclined to wait it out a few more years until a potential CAA breakup or coordinate a group move with W&M and Villanova. There was no need to hurry and get ahead of things...can't do too much about FBS move-ups, but we would have been in a strong position for any FCS-oriented changes with the CAA.

 

[Captain Anderson]

Student attendance at football has been bad for at least 30-40 years with a few exceptions. Delaware box score indicates lower overall attendance than some other games. Was the crowd worse, is that accurate?

Also re: very good program. I guess it depends on how you define it. We were under Clawson, London and Rocco. Elite even. I'd call us good but you can't just look at JMU leaving and CAA, it's FCS in general. Changed dramatically. Weakened. Have to define us within that new dynamic. We should be doing better imo and we're worse in a weaker field. When was last time we won a playoff game beyond the prelim first round game? Some semantics but a very good program should be doing that imo.

A great win over Delaware tho and that's a step but margin for playoffs is still relatively small. Can't afford a hiccup. Let's see how it plays out.

In regards to Saturday's crowd it seemed very similar to the last several seasons of home games (very small crowd) which is not really surprising but a little sad considering that the opponent was an undefeated old rival. Delaware did bring a solid group (I sat next to some Hen's fans...nice, knowledgeable folks). At this point I wouldn't be surprised if the stadium was completely empty at kickoff (It's felt that way for a few years honestly). From the Athletic Department's standpoint I'm not sure you could have asked for a better day from the amazing weather and even VA Tech having played on Thursday night and UVA on the road earlier at noon in terms of non-competing local football interest.

 

[Ferrum Spider]

I don't know if he had an ultimate goal for all sports, but no, the only thing under discussion at the time was football. A-10 as our primary home was not in question.

Even so, the circumstances are pretty different than 20 years ago...the CAA is not what it was and the Patriot has improved with scholarships now being offered.

Is it the right move? The jury's is still out for me, but the Patriot isn't doing anything to convince me so this year. The CAA has become so watered down, I understand the desire to make a move, and the hope was that Patriot would continue an upward trajectory, but at least this year it's just ugly. I agree with many that SoCon seemed like a better fit for football quality, but for whatever reason it didn't happen.

Rather than a Patriot move now, I would have been more inclined to wait it out a few more years until a potential CAA breakup or coordinate a group move with W&M and Villanova. There was no need to hurry and get ahead of things...can't do too much about FBS move-ups, but we would have been in a strong position for any FCS-oriented changes with the CAA.

Never interrupt your enemy when their in the middle of making a mistake.

 

[Gallipoli]

The topic of this thread should be "We have a very good football program, this year."
Next year, the topic will be "We had a very good football program, last year."