2004 Schedule

[Ruler]

Does anyone have any info as to why we have put together a schedule that has Hofstra, Brown, Fordham, and Lehigh on it? The only thing I can think of is full scholly is right around the corner. I have not heard anything.

 

I know some of these games are contracted for like 5 years. I imagine we will be at that level by then. I would think they are gonna need to make the move after 2004 season. I can't see us gettting or asses kicked for 5 years by Lehigh! We can hang with Brown, but Hofstra and Lehigh w/o full scholly players is a tall order.

 

Just an off season thought.

 

 

Go Hoops and LAX

[DaneFan2k3]

You also have to remember though that football is generally scheduled 2-5 years in advance. So maybe at that time they thought we could be closer to full scholarship than we actually are ... or those teams were nearly as good at that time as they are now. Someone want to look up how they were, collectively, 2, 3, 4, and 5 years ago?

[Dane96]

The only team that was not Top 25 caliber was Brown and they still finished off well with a very young team. The contracts were signed last year for Hofstra, Brown, and Fordham. Lehigh was last month. This is a progressive move forward.

 

As for the contracts, Ruler you are way off. Lehigh is a one and done for now. Brown ends this season. Fordham I am not sure of, and Hofstra is for two years. Northeastern returns to the schedule in '05 I think.

 

As for Brown...think again....our best shot is Fordham. Brown will be preseason top 3 in the IVY with Harvard and Penn. Probably tied with Yale.

[Dane Pound]

Ruler didn't mention it in his post but I am assuming those are all away games.

[UAalum72]

Over on the Don Hansen forum, "danefan" said Fordham is a home game this year in week 2. I don't know his source.

 

Hofstra will be here in 2005 in what I heard was at least a five-year deal (possibly three-for-two)

[Dane Pound]

Wow, that's a pretty good home game.

[UAalum72]

Wow, that's a pretty good home game.

Since Fordham seats 7,000 and they averaged less than 5K last year, they're in no position to offer money for home games or demand 2-for-1 deals.

[Dane Pound]

Still it's a decent A-10 team coming to town though.

It's funny how fans perceptions are about scheduling. I was talking to some very casual college basketball fans who had gone to the $iena-Toledo game. They were talking about how bad $iena was to have gotten beaten that badly, etc, etc. While I admit $iena has had it's problems this year (except against us) they aren't that bad of a team. I think to the casual fan Toledo doesn't really mean anything. They aren't Duke or Syracuse so they probably haven't heard of them or imagine they're a very good team when they really are. I think it plays that way in 1AA football also. We could schedule $iena, Iona, St. Peters and some other cupcakes, beat the tar out of them and the perception by casual local fans would be that we have a powerhouse team. If we lose at home to a very good 1AA team at home local fans would be saying we stink. Knowing that, I have to credit Ford for coming up with this schedule. It gutsy or crazy, but probably gutsy.

[Ruler]

He has been scheduling an impossible schedule forever. I am still not sure if this is a good idea or not. I understand we need to move up, but are we ready to play this schedule?

 

When I played back in the Dark Ages (83-87) We played on an annual basis Ithaca(National power Back then), Springfield(True DII scholarship Program), Southern Conn(DII Scholly), New Haven(DII power...don't know how we beat them), Hofstra,Buffalo, Alfred so on and so forth. We had a winnng record each year(86 I think we were 5-5). Anyways we could not breathe because every week someone else was coming to town...Its a good and bad idea to schedule like this. If injuries occur, your screwed. Mike Milano our star option QB went down on opening day in a 10-3 win over Ithaca and we finished 6-4 when we could of been un beaten.

 

This season we took a beating from Northeastern 51-0...I don't think it was that close, we got pounded by Montana 45-7. Are we really ready to schedule like this? The chances of beating Lehigh thios season are ZERO. Unless we are getting 10 JUCO transfers that are going to start in September. As great as our line is and as great as Jones was we could not hang with these teams. We will need to substantially upgrade from here.

 

The question I post to the board is what is the real reason for this schedule? Is it money, exposure, I am not sure? We could be 5-6 or 6-5 next season if we are not careful. Its one thing to schedule like this and lose when you are trying to move up with scholly players but another to play this schedule when we are 2 or 3 years away.

[GreatDanes06]

what is the unofficial sched for us next year??? Like the teams we know we are playing anmd possible which week order???

[UAalum72]

what is the unofficial sched for us next year??? Like the teams we know we are playing anmd possible which week order???

We open at Hofstra on a Thursday night (Sept. 2 before Labor Day?)

The Fordham schedule says they are at Albany Sept. 11 at 6 pm

We are at Brown on Sept. 18

A post on the I-AA board confirms we play @Lehigh on October 2

 

The return game at Fordham is Nov. 19, 2005

 

Only once do I remember a preliminary schedule being released earlier than April. Albany doesn't like to release schedules until the signed contract is in hand (the holdup last year). And the Northeast Conference doesn't release the league schedule until Memorial Day. All you can do is check expected opponents and piece the schedule together yourself.

Edited January 14, 2004 by UAalum72