2018 Football Non-Game Thread

[JD24]

Truman State will be far from a walk over based on their history.  For 100 years they played in the Missouri Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, which almost annually had a team in contention for the DII championship, most notably Northwest Missouri State.  In 2013-14 they switched to the GLVC, mostly due to geographic/travel considerations they say, but also because they were consistently near the bottom of the MIAA in football.  They've never had less than a .500 record in the GLVC and were co-champs as recently as 2016.  Playing on the road against a team closer to our level than Youngstown, this will be another good test along with Duquesne to see how much we're progressing.

I agree with the competition comments but are all three OOC games on the road this upcoming season?

[valpofb16]

No idea if they are on road, off top of head don't remember ever going strictly away for non conference, doesn't seem smart financially,


That being said I think we will handle Truman, they are a better version of Saint Joe and William Jewel, however Carlson went toe to toe with that conference and Cecchini is undefeated.

We also went toe to toe with Montana and Duquesne , Drake beat us due to maturity on the front line and Campbell due to a dual threat qb on offense and speed on outside, Jacksonville we should have won

I don't think this team is the same caliber as the aforementioned

[valpofb16]

2018
09/01 Bye
09/08 @Duquesne
09/15 @Youngstown
09/22 Truman State
09/29 Davidson
10/06 @Dayton
10/13 Butler
10/20 @Morehead St
10/27 Drake
11/03 @Marist
11/10 Jacksonville
11/17 @Stetson

No San Diego

About 95% sure that is right 

[JD24]

No idea if they are on road, off top of head don't remember ever going strictly away for non conference, doesn't seem smart financially, That being said I think we will handle Truman, they are a better version of Saint Joe and William Jewel, however Carlson went toe to toe with that conference and Cecchini is undefeated. We also went toe to toe with Montana and Duquesne , Drake beat us due to maturity on the front line and Campbell due to a dual threat qb on offense and speed on outside, Jacksonville we should have won I don't think this team is the same caliber as the aforementioned

Dave is actually 1-1 vs St. Joe's and William Jewell. Lost in year one of his staff taking over to St. Joe's

[valpofb16]

Spaced St Joe's in 2014

[IndyValpo]

No idea if they are on road, off top of head don't remember ever going strictly away for non conference, doesn't seem smart financially,

Looking at Truman's schedule they list Valpo as TBA.  They play 4 non conference games and 2 of the other 3 are home games so this one better be a home game for us.

[78crusader]

Since it will be difficult to win @Duquesne and a loss @YSU is aforegone conclusion, the opener against Truman State (which will not be an easy game by any stretch) all of a sudden looms as a key game for the entire season.  Lose that game, and an 0-3 start is a real possibility. 

Paul

[JD24]

No idea if they are on road, off top of head don't remember ever going strictly away for non conference, doesn't seem smart financially,

Looking at Truman's schedule they list Valpo as TBA.  They play 4 non conference games and 2 of the other 3 are home games so this one better be a home game for us.

The Truman State game, according to the TSU Football site, is scheduled for 9-22 at Valpo. So it's a Home Game, it's on 9-22 and not the opener and Valpo has a bye week 1(apparently).

[valpofb16]

I wonder if Davidson and Valpo are pulling for an opener against each other, both schedules have not dropped and they are last in PFL to do so. I know Indiana and Ohio State did this but I am wondering whether the PFL would allow this. I personally do not remember this ever happening but would be a huge help on our end

[valpofb16]

Davidson schedule posted on fan board

Sept 1 Brevard - 7pm
Sept 8 Chowan - 7pm
Sept 15 Guilford - 7pm
Sept 22 at Dayton
Sept 29 at Valpo
Oct 6 Jacksonville - 1pm
Oct 13 Morehead State
Oct 20 at Marist
Oct 27 Stetson
Nov 3 Bye week
Nov 10 at San Diego
Nov 17 Butler

looks like our bye week is week 1

[JD24]

Brandon's spring write up. Some interesting off season surgery's.

http://www.valpoathletics.com/football/news/2017-18/18102/valpo-football-set-to-begin-spring-season/

As an aside. What is the deal with not releasing the schedule to this point? Seems to me it has been published weeks earlier than this in the recent past.

[valpofb16]

Lane and Campbell back are huge , Campbell completely negates scargle loss, let's hope he comes back with another year of eligibility

Also Studyvin applying and receiving a medical means we have a big body on the dline for another two years

[talksalot]

and Drake posted their schedule:

9/1 William Jewell
9/8 @ Montana
9/15 Missouri S&T
9/22 bye
9/29 @jacksonville
10/6 Butler
10/13  Stetson
10/20 @ Dayton
10/27 @ Valpo
11/3 San Diego
11/10 Marist
11/17 @ Morehead State

so... I'm hoping fb16 isn't right about starting the year with a Bye...but... 5 home games, 3 against the Bulldogs.... I'd make a pooper scooper comment here, but I won't.

2018
09/01 Bye
09/08 @Duquesne
09/15 @Youngstown
09/22 Truman State BULLDOGS
09/29 Davidson
10/06 @Dayton
10/13 Butler BULLDOGS
10/20 @Morehead St
10/27 Drake BULLDOGS
11/03 @Marist
11/10 Jacksonville
11/17 @Stetson

[talksalot]

Truman State does have the Valpo game on 9/22... only the time is TBA...

[JD24]

Unless a number of other schedules are incorrect, the bye has to be week 1.

[IndyValpo]

Is there a spring roster floating around somewhere?

Given the size of the roster will there be an actual game at the end?

[JD24]

Is there a spring roster floating around somewhere? Given the size of the roster will there be an actual game at the end?

In the recent past, the spring roster was only distributed at the spring game/scrimmage. Except for one spring, there have been enough players on the roster to play an actual game but, IIRC, this staff has stuck to offense/defense scrimmages.

[talksalot]

On the schedule for 11am April 21

[VULB#62]

The big takeaway even before the finale is that Jimmy was announced as not participating due to surgery.  The QB job, then, this spring hopefully will be a good battle.

[JD24]

On the schedule for 11am April 21

Is it a true game in terms of a Brown vs Gold game or is it the Offense/Defense scrimmage which has been played the last few years (I think from year 2 of the current staff)?

To clarify...here is the writeup from last year's game which was run in a similar fashion to the spring contests under Dave other than his first year. Last year's contest was also on the spring schedule as a game:

http://www.valpoathletics.com/football/news/2016-17/17341/countdown-to-2017-begins-after-successful-spring-game/

One footnote to that article which was pretty striking. Don't get your name in the writeup because you may not be around very long.

[valpofb16]

Cool tidbit rsjr Jake Simpson returning for 5th year, was 2016 kicker, team went 1/1 for returning possible fifth years this year

[VULB#62]

I scraped this link from the PFL board.  Decent synopses of what PFL teams are concentrating on in spring ball.

http://www.fcs.football/cfb/story.asp?i=20180301102333018361804&ref=rec&tm=&src=FCS

[crusader05]

The Football Team has a new crowdfunding project up on the  Valpo website!

https://crowdfunding.valpo.edu/s/1347/17/cf-home.aspx

[VULB#62]

I checked it out and although the FB team is pictured, it appears it is a universal training room need. Support it!  I spoke to Rod before he retired and the thing that disappointed him most was that his department always seemed to be at the end of the food chain for funds.

At one point VU instituted a sports trainer (for lack of a better term) curriculum that would have brought in a sizable enrollment, but it was never properly funded and eventually was abandoned (I gathered from Rod that there was some political infighting).  As a result the current training /therapy capability is beyond maxed out. They are handling DOUBLE the number of athletes that they handled when the ARC was built. Any expansion of the ARC phyisical facility needs to include a strategic component that elevates athetic training/ exercise physiology/kinesiology to a degree program. It would boost enrrolment generally but would also offer athletes something other than sports management as something to shoot for. And BTW, that degree is not basketweaving — heavy bio, anatomy and science. It's like "nursing school" for athletes and makes the same heavy demands.

[valpofb16]

RSFR QB Ryan Markoff moving to WR, looks to be in the mix