[HarrisburgFlame]

I wish someone would make me go to convo three times a week. I think as you move through the various stages in life you begin to realize that to be successful with all the pressures you face you need to see things from God's point of view. I find now I have to constantly seek wisdom through resources other than a "convo" like setting. That said...

I'm not so sure CSU is ahead of us in terms of football. We went down there last year and gave them all they wanted with a 1-10 team. I like our chances at home. We have lost some close ball games this year but I fully expect us to win Saturday. I don't mean that as a negative to the Bucs but you have to think our schedule has prepared us better, it's senior day, and our team is much better at this point this year than last. Kind of reminds me of Clemson coming to Blacksburg a few weeks ago with a high scoring offense - an offense that got their stats laying 60 on the Temple's and FAU's of the world.

It will be a close game - both teams will score in the 20's. I like our chances at home to win a close one.

[SuperJon]

I meant that by atmosphere on campus. The only part of LU's campus that feels like a college is back by the quads. Everything else just feels a little high schoolish to me in a lot of cases. It may be because everything is pretty much one building and you don't walk through a quad or something like that to get to class. Also because you have to worry about power hungry RAs wanting to write as many people up as possible which reminds you of the teachers in high school that would get you in trouble for the smallest thing. It may just me be. I like it here, you know that.

[HarrisburgFlame]

I would agree it is kind of odd having all your classes in basically one area. Nice thing about that is not having to make long treks across campus in bad weather. That makes it awfully tempting to take a detour to the dorm room for a long nap!

[bigsmooth]

I like it that way actually. and with demoss remodeled, it looks like an "actual college"

[TDDance234]

/rant on

Some RA's are power hungry, yes, but part of discipleship (which is one of the main goals of this school) is discipline. The rules aren't hidden and you should be well aware of them. If not, that's your own business and you will face the consequences.

I feel like I am very leinient in my discipline but continuous abuse will cause those privlages to be revoked. As big of a sports fan as I am, this schools number one priority isn't gameday atmosphere. It's producing young men and women of character who will take the Word of God into every aspect of their profession.

/rant off.

[Chris Lang]

Just an FYI ... I'll have a feature on Manny Rojas running in tomorrow's fishwrap, along with a notebook leading with an item on CSU quarterback Collin Drafts.

Now back to your regularly scheduled conversation.

[Sly Fox]

Nobody thought you were loafing because the Chucktown scribe put out his noites a day earlier than you, Chris. But its about time Manny gets some feature love.

[Chris Lang]

Oh I was loafing. Monday is my day off. I waited to write a Manny piece on purpose, since it's the last home game this week.

[SuperJon]

High of 70 with a 40% chance of rain.

[Sly Fox]

Here are the fishwrap note from Chris as promised:

LU Notebook: Flames defense will have its hands full

By Chris Lang
Lynchburg News & Advance
November 7, 2006

There is no easy way to defend Charleston Southern quarterback Collin Drafts, as Liberty coach Danny Rocco is finding out this week.

The Flames host the undefeated Buccaneers Saturday at 1 p.m., and if Liberty wants to end Charleston Southern's 14-game win streak, it will need to at least slow down Drafts.

Easier said than done, Gardner-Webb coach Steve Patton said.

Drafts amassed 452 total yards (409 passing) in a 28-14 victory against Gardner-Webb last week.

Two weeks prior in a game against VMI, Drafts uncharacteristically threw four interceptions. Against GWU, Drafts completed 31 of 41 passes and threw four TD passes.

"He did not throw the ball unless the plays were there," Patton said. "He went ahead and took some sacks (instead of throwing into coverage), which was smart on his part."

Liberty is allowing a conference-worst 275 yards per game in two Big South contests. In both games, a lack of a pass rush and LU's soft zone coverage has been the problem.

Rocco won't deviate from his 3-4 scheme, but he said he will install some wrinkles "so that he's not always seeing the same things or reading the defense the same way."

"You've got to try to get him impatient," Patton said.

Charleston Southern coach Jay Mills said opponents have tried to play Drafts in a variety of ways. Some have played a bend-but-don't break approach to prevent big plays. Others have played tight man coverage on CSU's receivers.

Mills combats that uncertainty by making sure Drafts sees different defensive looks in practice.

"We have a little bit of everything in our defense," Mills said. "From day one, Collin has had a chance to see a little bit of everything. Hopefully, from week to week, there's a carryover."

Drafts numbers - 2,287 passing yards, 21 touchdowns and a 72.7 competition percentage -point to that being true.

Horn back?

LU defensive end Jason Horn, who has been out since early October with a hairline fracture in his left leg, said he will try to play Saturday.

Horn won't fully participate in practice until today at the earliest, but he's done some work with a one-man sled trying to test his leg's strength.

"It won't be a game where he's out there 50 plays and has 11 tackles," Rocco said. "But if he plays 15 plays and we have a sack, a pressure and another tackle, I think we'll have a pretty good day out of him."

Horn leads Liberty with five sacks.

Extra points

Hargrave forward Nathan Campbell has given a verbal commitment to Liberty's men's basketball team, Hargrave coach Kevin Keatts said. Campbell, a native of Cary, N.C., is 6-foot-6 and can play either forward position. He also considered Longwood and Monmouth. The early national signing period begins today. * Rocco said WR Dominic Bolden (hamstring) is questionable for Saturday's game and if he plays, it will be in limited capacity.

http://newsadvance.com/servlet/Satellit ... th=!sports

[Sly Fox]

From Wedbesday's Chucktown fishwrap:

Big South coaches campaign for Buccaneers
Wednesday, November 08, 2006

BY JEFF HARTSELL


Charleston Southern's magical football season hit a couple more milestones this week.

At 9-0 and winners of 14 straight games, the Buccaneers cracked the widely respected The Sports Network Top 25 poll for the first time, sliding in at No. 24 this week. With Coastal Carolina ranked at No. 16, it marks the first time the Big South Conference has had two teams ranked by The Sports Network in the same week.

And in another sign of respect, Big South coaches began to lobby for a playoff bid for the Bucs, should they finish the season with road wins at Liberty and Coastal Carolina for an 11-0 record.

The Big South does not own one of the eight automatic bids to the 16-team Division I-AA playoffs. But in the eyes of Liberty coach Danny Rocco, an 11-0 CSU team would merit an at-large bid.

"My initial reaction is that they should be in if they win out," Rocco said Tuesday. "I feel this conference is just moving forward. Look at how well we've done outside the conference, look at the talented teams in this league, and I can't fathom how Charleston Southern at 11-0 would not make it.

"I'd be very disappointed if they won out and didn't make it."

Gardner-Webb coach Steve Patton, whose team lost to CSU by 28-14 last week, said it would be a "close call."

"It's hard to say," he said. "Some of those games they've played are going to hurt them. I remember we went 9-1 one year and lost only to Georgia Southern, and we didn't make it. But I think we get a little more respect now.

"I hope they do get it. We need somebody to get in the playoffs out of this league, and I hope this year the winner of Coastal Carolina-Charleston Southern can get in."

Patton's "some of those games" reference was to the Bucs' schedule, which includes four non-Division I teams, plus lower-rung I-AA teams Savannah State and Georgetown. CSU's best wins are over The Citadel (3-6) and Gardner-Webb (6-3). Of course, the 11-0 scenario would include a win over a ranked Coastal Carolina squad.

CSU also needs to root for at-large contenders such as Furman, Towson, Maine, Montana State and Northern Iowa to suffer their fourth losses, presumably knocking them out of the playoff picture and opening up some at-large bids.

The Big South is 21-12 outside the conference this year, including a 4-3 mark against the Southern Conference, the Big South's most wins ever against the SoCon. The Big South's best non-conference wins are over Furman, Wofford and South Carolina State.

For his part, CSU coach Jay Mills said he feels no need to campaign for a playoff bid.

"Not at all," he said. "I'm proud of this team and what we've accomplished. Our basis for the evaluation of how far we've come in the program is the line of questions we get now. We've gone from questions about scholarships to winning to playoff bids.

"If honored as such, we'd be happy to represent the conference. If not selected, that will not dictate what we feel about what's been a marvelous season and a quality team."

Extra points

--Newberry (10-0) already has locked up the South Atlantic Conference title, so Saturday's showdown at rival Presbyterian will be mostly about nostalgia. It looks like the game could be the 60th and final Bronze Derby game.

Presbyterian begins its move to Division I and the Big South next year, and already has seven road games slated for 2007.

PC wanted Newberry to return to Clinton next season for the second year in a row, but an agreement could not be reached, leaving the future of the series in doubt.

"Right now, every game I have on the schedule is an away game," PC athletic director Bee Carlton told the Laurens Advertiser.

"In the normal rotation of things, it would be our turn to go to Newberry (next year) ... We really needed them to come up and play here next year."

The Blue Hose have games with Furman, Western Carolina and future Big South foes set for 2007.

"We are going Division I, and that's what I'm concerned with," PC coach Tommy Spangler said. "We have to do what's best in the long run for PC football."

The 1:30 p.m. game will be televised by SCETV. But Carlton said the series could resume in the future.

"We plan to take a break and try to put it back together in a year or two, or maybe later," he said.

http://www.charleston.net/assets/webPag ... =11/8/2006

[A.G.]

So, for the good of the league, I suppose we need to take a dive this week.

[CSU BUCS]

Charleston Southern's D-Line coach, Micky Mays, was at Liberty for 3 season prior to this year.

[Sly Fox]

I was thinking the same thing the way the story was written. Of course other Big South coaches are going to say that if CSU rolls through these final two games without a blemish then they deserve to go to the playoffs. But I guarantee you that not one of the the four coaches outside of Mills actually believes it will happen. I agree that if they win out they deserve a bid.

[Sly Fox]

Charleston Southern's D-Line coach, Micky Mays, was at Liberty for 3 season prior to this year.

I hadn't realized that.he was down there. Karcher's staff is spread all over the place.

[A.G.]

I was thinking the same thing the way the story was written. Of course other Big South coaches are going to say that if CSU rolls through these final two games without a blemish then they deserve to go to the playoffs. But I guarantee you that not one of the the four coaches outside of Mills actually believes it will happen. I agree that if they win out they deserve a bid.

Just like Rutgers deserves a big to the BCS Title game if they run the table.

[Sly Fox]

Actually there haven't been that many great I-AA teams this year as usual. As a result, CSU would be up against a bunch of 3- and possibly 4-loss teams for an at large. Even though CSU's schedule is beyond ridiculous, if they run the table in our league they deserve to be in the playoffs as much as the champs of lower-rated leagues like the OVC & MEAC.

As for the Big East, my feelings on that subject are very well known.

[jcmanson]

Well, we should put to bed these thoughts after Saturday.

[bigsmooth]

agreed. we are not laying down for anyone.

[A.G.]

agreed. we are not laying down for anyone.

That's right. Who do they think we are, a bunch of Radford co-eds??

[SuperJon]

The big sign is halfway done and let me say, it's almost life size...

[bigsmooth]

C. Lang's notebook form the fishwrap

LU Notebook: Flames defense will have its hands full
By Chris Lang
Lynchburg News & Advance
November 7, 2006

There is no easy way to defend Charleston Southern quarterback Collin Drafts, as Liberty coach Danny Rocco is finding out this week.
The Flames host the undefeated Buccaneers Saturday at 1 p.m., and if Liberty wants to end Charleston Southern's 14-game win streak, it will need to at least slow down Drafts.

Easier said than done, Gardner-Webb coach Steve Patton said.

Drafts amassed 452 total yards (409 passing) in a 28-14 victory against Gardner-Webb last week.

Two weeks prior in a game against VMI, Drafts uncharacteristically threw four interceptions. Against GWU, Drafts completed 31 of 41 passes and threw four TD passes.

"He did not throw the ball unless the plays were there," Patton said. "He went ahead and took some sacks (instead of throwing into coverage), which was smart on his part."

Liberty is allowing a conference-worst 275 yards per game in two Big South contests. In both games, a lack of a pass rush and LU's soft zone coverage has been the problem.

Rocco won't deviate from his 3-4 scheme, but he said he will install some wrinkles "so that he's not always seeing the same things or reading the defense the same way."

"You've got to try to get him impatient," Patton said.

Charleston Southern coach Jay Mills said opponents have tried to play Drafts in a variety of ways. Some have played a bend-but-don't break approach to prevent big plays. Others have played tight man coverage on CSU's receivers.

Mills combats that uncertainty by making sure Drafts sees different defensive looks in practice.

"We have a little bit of everything in our defense," Mills said. "From day one, Collin has had a chance to see a little bit of everything. Hopefully, from week to week, there's a carryover."

Drafts numbers - 2,287 passing yards, 21 touchdowns and a 72.7 competition percentage -point to that being true.

Horn back?

LU defensive end Jason Horn, who has been out since early October with a hairline fracture in his left leg, said he will try to play Saturday.

Horn won't fully participate in practice until today at the earliest, but he's done some work with a one-man sled trying to test his leg's strength.

"It won't be a game where he's out there 50 plays and has 11 tackles," Rocco said. "But if he plays 15 plays and we have a sack, a pressure and another tackle, I think we'll have a pretty good day out of him."

Horn leads Liberty with five sacks.