Future opponents

[MrMac]

If "Me and My Arrow" is their fight song, I'm coming for sure.

[CountryCat]

One is tempted to ask, "What is the Point?"

To rack up stats so Abell can like, tweet and retweet SportsSource Analytics on how this offense “dominates” college football. Does he have an NIL with this group?

[85Wildcatsky]

One is tempted to ask, "What is the Point?"

To rack up stats so Abell can like, tweet and retweet SportsSource Analytics on how this offense “dominates” college football. Does he have an NIL with this group?

I doubt this is Abell's is call. It is disappointing that 6 years into his tenure the schedule has not gotten any better than the first season he started. Davidson also scheduled a horrible Out of Conference home basketball schedule this year as well. It almost feels like we take "left overs" in filling out the schedule.


Georgetown sounds good but the team will play at a horrible stadium not bigger than most high school stadiums. The Carolinas have so many SoConn, Big South, MEAC, and CAA teams it would seem we would have some better choices and the chance to maybe even get a paycheck. No name opponents do little to help recruiting as well.

Most of our other PFL opponents are playing at least 2 FCS teams.

Valpo has Northern Iowa and Youngstown State.
Morehead has Montana and Eastern KT
Marist plays Georgetown, Bucknell, and Lafayette.
Drake plays Eastern Washington and South Dakota
Stetson plays Furman and Harvard.
Dayton plays St Frances and Indiana State
St Thomas plays Northern Iowa and Lindenwood

Still in the works

Presby plays Mercer
Butler plays Murray State
San Diego plays North Dakota

[BigKahuna]

Agree completely as to the quality of the non-conference opponents. It doesn't make sense that we can't schedule Ivy League schools (especially if other schools in our conference are able to schedule them). We should seek to schedule more other mid-tier FCS schools (like Georgetown). Elon in future years will be a great non-conference game (and it would be great to get other CAA schools, and also SoCon schools, on our schedule in the future).

Random Aside - Georgetown renovated their stadium in 2020. It's fantastic now (as are their other football facilities, many of which are shared with the basketball program). That will be a fun game to go to if you are able to do so. Interestingly, Davidson - in large part because of the football parents and some other strong alumni - travels really well. I've been to away games at Jacksonville State, San Diego, Presbyterian, VMI and Stetson over the past two years and our crowds were fantastic (and in many cases as loud as the home team).

[85Wildcatsky]

Agree completely as to the quality of the non-conference opponents. It doesn't make sense that we can't schedule Ivy League schools (especially if other schools in our conference are able to schedule them). We should seek to schedule more other mid-tier FCS schools (like Georgetown). Elon in future years will be a great non-conference game (and it would be great to get other CAA schools, and also SoCon schools, on our schedule in the future).

Random Aside - Georgetown renovated their stadium in 2020. It's fantastic now (as are their other football facilities, many of which are shared with the basketball program). That will be a fun game to go to if you are able to do so. Interestingly, Davidson - in large part because of the football parents and some other strong alumni - travels really well. I've been to away games at Jacksonville State, San Diego, Presbyterian, VMI and Stetson over the past two years and our crowds were fantastic (and in many cases as loud as the home team).

I would love the Ivies but the travel costs could be a problem. I would like a rotation of the Citadel, Wofford, Elon, VMI, Furman, etc. So much better if we could wheel and deal and get a home & away series. Many of those teams were past opponents and it would be great to get them back on the schedule. You are not going to fill up a new stadium playing Point.

I heard good things about Georgetown but the capacity is still about 300 people. I would rather put our players in front of some bigger crowds so we will not be shell shocked when we qualify for playoff games.

[stevelee]

The opinion that I’ve seen is that the Ivies won’t schedule Davidson because we are competing for the same players. That is less so for some other PFL schools, presumably.

A loss to Davidson would look bad to prospective players, perhaps.

[citycat]

Our first priority should be winnable home and home series against nearby FCS opponents. Wofford, Gardner Webb, VMI, and Charleston Southern are candidates. I had a brother and sister graduate from Furman and it is a long drive from Davidson and they're pretty good.

One problem with scheduling Ivy League schools is they will only play on the road if the opponent is in a place they can recruit athletes and students from. That's why Ivy League schools pop up on San Diego's and Stetson's schedules. Another issue is Cornell, Columbia, Dartmouth, and Brown aren't exciting opponents or may be long distances from population centers.

We were supposed to have 2-3 Ivy League opponents on our schedule in the 1980s as part of our Patriot League membership. It never happened and we couldn't schedule Harvard and Yale. We secured a series with Princeton by paying them to come play us in Memorial Stadium.

I understand why we scheduled a school like Point. We want a home game where we can empty the bench. There are some NC/SC/VA DIII teams that might not want to play us after the Guilford game in 2018. No one wants to be in the national media because your opponent has set NCAA offensive records. (The 1975 Davidson v. Lenoir Rhyne game made the NBC Nightly News with John Chancellor reading the Bears' statistics to a national audience.)

[85Wildcatsky]

The opinion that I’ve seen is that the Ivies won’t schedule Davidson because we are competing for the same players. That is less so for some other PFL schools, presumably.

A loss to Davidson would look bad to prospective players, perhaps.

I have heard that line before and that makes very little sense to me. The Ivies play the Patriot teams all the time and I would think they would be a bigger threat with their scholarships but yet they still play.

[85Wildcatsky]

Our first priority should be winnable home and home series against nearby FCS opponents. Wofford, Gardner Webb, VMI, and Charleston Southern are candidates. I had a brother and sister graduate from Furman and it is a long drive from Davidson and they're pretty good.

One problem with scheduling Ivy League schools is they will only play on the road if the opponent is in a place they can recruit athletes and students from. That's why Ivy League schools pop up on San Diego's and Stetson's schedules. Another issue is Cornell, Columbia, Dartmouth, and Brown aren't exciting opponents or may be long distances from population centers.

We were supposed to have 2-3 Ivy League opponents on our schedule in the 1980s as part of our Patriot League membership. It never happened and we couldn't schedule Harvard and Yale. We secured a series with Princeton by paying them to come play us in Memorial Stadium.

I understand why we scheduled a school like Point. We want a home game where we can empty the bench. There are some NC/SC/VA DIII teams that might not want to play us after the Guilford game in 2018. No one wants to be in the national media because your opponent has set NCAA offensive records. (The 1975 Davidson v. Lenoir Rhyne game made the NBC Nightly News with John Chancellor reading the Bears' statistics to a national audience.)

I hope they are not playing Point to "empty the bench". If that is the misguidied case the starters may not play much against Point, the next week is a bye and is followed by cross state rival Presby. Starters need a lot more reps in that point of the schedule.

I think putting Campbell back on the schedule would also be a good series. You could toss in SC State as well. We have beaten Georgetown before and I think progress can be best judge if Coach finally gets to knock off a scholly program.

[BigKahuna]

Ultimately, given where the FCS conferences would likely be ranked against one another (and the likelihood that the Pioneer League would be at/near the bottom), wins against anyone in the Patriot League, SoCon or CAA (which are the conferences with schools we would most likely have the opportunity to play) would be great. We were competitive against a very good Jacksonville State team in the opener 2 years ago (even with numerous turnovers in the first quarter), and we should have beaten VMI in the opener last year (and, though I think a lot of people had high expectations with Rocco coming in, they ultimately had a better season than expected). The playoff games in 2021 and 2022 were really tough. I think we had a shot at making it somewhat competitive, but we didn't have the depth yet to handle the extent of injuries we had at the end of both seasons to do so. That being said, I think we are getting better every year (and I have been told directly by multiple kids on the team that they think our talent level has increased every single year since Abell has been the HC).

As to crowd sizes, Georgetown seats 4400 people. Having been to numerous FCS games in the past 4/5 seasons (including Pioneer League, Ivy League, CAA and SoCon games), 4400 people at a game - especially if it was a packed house - would be amazing (and, from my perspective, would be much better than 5000 fans in a stadium that seats 10,000). I went to Harvard/Penn at Harvard in 2020 and it was awful - about 2000 people (if that) in a stadium that seats 30,000. In that respect, I love the size of our new stadium and hope that we'll get good attendance (especially from students).

[Bill Cobb]

Better Georgetown than no D1, but I really don't get excited at all about playing the Hoyas.

BTW, the Georgetown athletics website gives the capacity of their stadium as 3,000. Lawn seating, if necessary, adds another 750 spots.

I will not drive from New Bern to see us play Point. Will try to make all the other home games.

[i77cat]

Point? Well, I guess they are a level or two removed from College of Faith and perhaps St Andrews.

I will not be at that one.

I wouldn't say they are a level or two removed from St Andrews. Maybe a fraction of a level. They played last year. Point won at home 0-14.

https://pointskyhawks.com/sports/fball/2023-24/schedule

They shouldn't be on our schedule. We should pay a dollar to any fan willing to come and drop the season ticket price. Shame on us.

[85Wildcatsky]

FWIW

I would think many of these teams would enjoy to have the Cats on their schedule.

Does anyone know who does the scheduling?

[collegecoach8502]

I think the point is to have a schedule that enables our team to have a successful season, win the conference and go to the NCAA championship.

Man, I wish Abell would schedule so we could have that kind of success. Oh wait.....

I'll trust his scheduling if we continue to have the PFL success we have had.

[85Wildcatsky]

I think the point is to have a schedule that enables our team to have a successful season, win the conference and go to the NCAA championship.

Man, I wish Abell would schedule so we could have that kind of success. Oh wait.....

I'll trust his scheduling if we continue to have the PFL success we have had.

Respectfully I disagree. You schedule for success when you are coming out of the disastrous Coach Nichols losing era. Now that we have turned the tide, you schedule for new challenges, opponents that may help recruiting, opponents that may be more attractive to your fans, and teams that may better prepare you for the season and a potential play off win.

IMO losing to a Furman or Citadel in the pre season is much better than losing to a Barton. If you eventually knock off one of these teams you gain confidence and solid PR. App States' win against Michigan was a solid boost to their program. I am told we are now competing for Ivy athletes. Do we really think the Points, Barton, Virginia Lynchburgs are going to attract better players?