football conference media day 7/22

[ISUCC]

today is media day for the Gateway (or whatever you want to call it now) football conference. I think there is no doubt ISU will be a unanimous pick to finish in 9th place, BUT that doesn't mean they have to finish in 9th place, so go out there and prove to the rest of the teams that ISU isn't the worst team in the conference anymore, they've been last for far too long now!

 

[ISUCC]

ISU 9th

no surprise here, now just go out and prove the pundits wrong

http://www.gosycamores.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=15200&ATCLID=1522514

http://www.thesouthern.com/dawgblog/?p=258

the voting:
ISU only one vote away from a unanimous 9th place pick, someone must have voted for ISU to be 8th

Preseason poll

Team 1st Pts.

North Dakota State 13 289

Northern Iowa 15 275

Youngstown State 1 209

Western Illinois 4 202

Southern Illinois 2 201

South Dakota State 0 149

Missouri State 0 105

Illinois State 0 104

Indiana State 0 41

Preseason all-MVC

OFFENSE

QB -- Cody Kirby, so., Missouri St.

RB -- Herb Donaldson, sr., Western Illinois; Tyler Roehl, sr., North Dakota St.

FB -- Javid Milton, sr., Western Illinois

WR -- Johnny Gray, sr., Northern Iowa; Ferlando Williams, sr., Youngstown St.

TE -- Clay Harbor, jr., Missouri St.

OL -- David Arkin, so., Missouri St.; Keith Buckman, jr., North Dakota St.; Aaron Lockwood, sr., Southern Illinois; Brad Samsa, sr., Youngstown St.; Kevin Robling, sr., South Dakota St.

PK -- Taylor Rowan, sr., Western Illinois

DEFENSE

DL -- James Cloud, sr., Southern Illinois; Mark Huygens, sr., Northern Iowa; Josh Galloway, sr., Western Illinois; Joe Lardinois, sr., North Dakota St.; James Ruffin, jr., Northern Iowa; Mychal Savage, sr., Youngstown St.

LB -- De'Veon Harris, sr., Northern Iowa; Ramon Humber, sr., North Dakota St.; Brandin Jordan, jr., Southern Illinois; Jason Williams, sr., Western Illinois.

DB -- Darrell Lloyd, sr., Northern Iowa; Tom Nelson, sr., Illinois St.; Nick Schommer, sr., North Dakota St.; Patrick Stoudamire, jr., Western Illinois.

PT -- Scott Ravanesi, jr., Southern Illinois.

RS -- Johnny Gray, sr., Northern Iowa.

 

[ISUCC]

question??

ya know, looking at the schedule and at the preseason predictions, ISU plays the #'s 6, 7, and 8 teams at home. Do any of you think it's possible that ISU could win these 3 games and maybe win at WIU and go 4-4 in the conference, or is ISU just that much worse than those 3 teams and won't have a shot at winning any conf. games until 2009?

They play Ill. St. 1st at home, then S. Dakta. St., then Missery St. last. The other home game is UNI, which ISU will have no shot at winning I'd guess.

What do you all think?

 

[country123a]

I don't know but a young, enthusiastic team with plenty to proof to their new coach (and themselves) could be very dangerous. I think Dedrick will find ways to score on opponents. If the defense can bend but not break it could get interesting.

 

[ISUCC]

defense will be a huge key I'd say, but hopefully the offense will allow the defense to stay off the field for longer periods of time this season.

A couple good articles in the trib star from media day:

about team camaraderie:
http://www.tribstar.com/sports_columns/local_story_204230658.html

about media day in general:
http://www.tribstar.com/sports/local_story_204140248.html?keyword=topstory

 

[bent20]

I really hate it that we don't have more home games. There should be at least one non-conference cupcake opponent on the schedule every year at home, even if the last time we played one they blew us out. It's going to be challenging enough getting fans to come out to the games (it has been for years) but it doesn't help when your first home game isn't until the end of September. Schedule your big school road games (one is preferable, but you need two when its Eastern Michigan and Northern Illinois) to help fund the program, keep the rivalry with Eastern alive and use the fourth game on a Div. 2 opponent early in the year.

 

[country123a]

I wonder how much a AA team like ISU makes when they play big name BCS schools.

 

[TJames]

i-a payouts

payouts to i-aa schools from i-a schools varies widely. some i-aa schools will sell their souls to play a major school and will get less. i was always told that if you are gonna play a major school, make sure that you get the best offer that you can. many i-a schools try to lowball i-aa schools. but if you are bound and determined to play i-a schools, get the most money that you can.

payouts can be anywhere from $100,000 to $350,000. the problem is that some schools, isu being one of them in the past, the football program doesn't get the money. it goes into a general athletics fund. you've got football players getting the heck beat out of them in order to make money for the school and the program doesn't even see much of that money in return. it often goes to sports like women's soccer.

schools needs to get as much money as possible from i-a schools if they want to play money games. and schools need to make sure that the football program sees most of that money.

 

[TJames]

one more thing....

it would be interesting to do a survey of all the i-a schools that indiana state has played since the mid-1980s and add up all the money that isu got for playing those games. and then see how much, or what percentage, of that money stayed in the football program. i think if the truth were to be known, we'd all be shocked. but then again, maybe we wouldn't.

 

[country123a]

That would be interesting to know... I would hope the football team would keep at least 50% of the take.

 

[treefromafar]

I don't know but a young, enthusiastic team with plenty to proof to their new coach (and themselves) could be very dangerous. I think Dedrick will find ways to score on opponents. If the defense can bend but not break it could get interesting.

Good point, but alas, not likely. Look at Notre Dame last year. When you play too many young kids with veteran players that are less talented, chaos ensues. You add that with a first year, first time head coach, and trying to teach these newcomers a new system as well, and I think that is a recipe for a long year. I stick to an original statement, 3 - 9 would be considered a good year, but that may be hard to achieve. As long as they are more competitive, and show improvement each and every week, I will be happy. As for Dedrick, I hope he does better with disecting FCS defenses ISU plays against, than he did at Stanford and Notre Dame. He was awful there.

 

[ISUCC]

that would sure beat 0-12!

it'll just be interesting to see if the gap (talent-wise) between ISU and the rest of the teams in the conference is as wide as the voting difference was between the 6 thru 8 teams and ISU. It was pretty significant. I really hope ISU gets at least one win in the conference.

Good point, but alas, not likely. Look at Notre Dame last year. When you play too many young kids with veteran players that are less talented, chaos ensues. You add that with a first year, first time head coach, and trying to teach these newcomers a new system as well, and I think that is a recipe for a long year. I stick to an original statement, 3 - 9 would be considered a good year, but that may be hard to achieve. As long as they are more competitive, and show improvement each and every week, I will be happy. As for Dedrick, I hope he does better with disecting FCS defenses ISU plays against, than he did at Stanford and Notre Dame. He was awful there.

 

[country123a]

Good point, but alas, not likely. Look at Notre Dame last year. When you play too many young kids with veteran players that are less talented, chaos ensues. You add that with a first year, first time head coach, and trying to teach these newcomers a new system as well, and I think that is a recipe for a long year. I stick to an original statement, 3 - 9 would be considered a good year, but that may be hard to achieve. As long as they are more competitive, and show improvement each and every week, I will be happy. As for Dedrick, I hope he does better with disecting FCS defenses ISU plays against, than he did at Stanford and Notre Dame. He was awful there.

True. I'm getting very anxious to see how it goes. Can't believe the season is just around the corner.