[Sly Fox]

I realize we are just under two months away from the season, but I'd still like to get things rolling nonetheless. Since this year's first game is against a relatively unknown much like last year's Concord College. But here's the lowdown:


St. Paul's College
Lawrenceville, Virginia
Nickname: Tigers
Enrollment: 650
Religious Affiliation: Protestant Episcopal
NCAA Affiliation: Division II
Conference: CIAA

St. Paul's Athletics Site
Onnidan ... the primary HBCU Message Board

LUconn & I are going to love seeing thes eguys on our field in Bengals gear.


Head Coach - Willard Bailey

They have a rather interesting schedule after opening against us. The next week they head up to Fairfax to play GMU's club team. Then they host traditional Division II powerhouse Tusculum in their home opener before playing their CIAA schedule.

I've gone on some boards frequented by CIAA folks and invited some St. Paul's posters to come by. Hopefully they can add some more details to where their program is now and where they are headed.

[LUconn]

Holy cow! Their helmet... it's... it's fantastic. I'll shed a tear for them after they get plastered.

[BigE]

A program going 1-A should not have any problem at all with lil ole SPC. Just have mercy - its bad enough looking like the Bungals w/o getting beat like them too

[Sly Fox]

Welcome to the board, BigE. I'm confused, are you a Virginia Union guy or a St. Pauls backer (or a combination of the two)?

As for the "Bungles" comments, they've done all right lately under Marvin. If Carson hadn't gone down, who knows what they could've done?

[SuperJon]

Yes sir, I'm making a sign that says Where's Chad Johnson

[Sly Fox]

For the record, I L O V E those helmets. If it weren't for my job and the 1k+ mileage, Id' be there for this opener for the helmets alone.

[A.G.]

St. Paul's may be one of the WORST D-II programs (in overall sports) there is. LU should put up at least 50, if not 70, on these guys. OK, I'll predict it, 67-13, FLAMES.

[SuperJon]

My high school has more students than that school.

[LUconn]

I'm sorry BigE but you possibly have today confused with 1990-2003. The Bengals are actually Super Bowl contenders. But I gather from your comments you're either a Steelers fan or a time traveler from the past.

[SPC Fighting Tiger]

"Worst D2 teams in history, huh? " Well, perhaps you should focus your attention on our FOOTBALL record from our first season in the CIAA:

Aug. 27 @ Western New Mexico University
Silver City, NM 1:00 PM 6-48 L

Sept. 4 @ Central State University
Dayton City Classic
Dayton, OH 5:00 PM 20-6 W

Sept. 10 @ Cheyney St. University
Wade Wilson Classic
Cheyney, PA 1:00 PM 10-13 L

Sept. 17 FAYETTEVILLE STATE
Clyde Williams Classic
Martinsville, VA 1:00 PM 13-23 L

Sept. 24 @ Johnson C. Smith
Charlotte, NC 6:00 PM 27-7 W

Oct. 1 VIRGINIA UNION
Homecoming Lawrenceville, VA 1:00 PM 41-35 W

Oct. 8 @ Virginia State University Petersburg, VA 1:30 PM 20-26 L
(3 OT)

Oct. 15 @ Bowie State University Bowie, MD 1:00 PM 7-21 L *Division Champ*

Oct. 22 @ Elizabeth City State University Elizabeth City, NC 2:00 PM 6-8 L

Oct. 29 SHAW
Western Virginia Education Classic Roanoke, VA 1:00 PM 21-14 W


4-6 with 4 losses by 10 points or less.

In 2004, we went 5-0
9/4/04 Southern Virginia 7 St. Paul's 16 Buena Vista, VA

9/18/04 Maryville College 10 St. Paul's 23 Maryville, TN

10/2/04 St. Paul's 55 Washington Military Academy 0 Martinsville, VA

10/9/04 St. Paul's 34 Fork Union 13 Lawrenceville, VA Homecoming

10/30/04 George Mason 33 St. Paul's 46 Fairfax, VA

Our inagural season as a club squad (2003) , it was more of the same.


Now, should Liberty win? Of course, you all are I-AA.

Will you win?



Well, that's why they play the game, right?


I will say this much. I sincerely hope that your players don't underestimate us like quite a few of our opponets did, or this game will be a LOT closer than you all are fantasizing about......

[SuperJon]

ECSU is D2? Holy crap, I thought that were at least D3.

[Sly Fox]

Thanks for finding the board, SPC Fighting Tiger. Please register and stick around. I know I for one would love to learn more about your squad.

Who do you have coming back and what are the strengths of the Tigers?

[SPC Fighting Tiger]

The team was 50% Freshmen last year with no seniors. Our Coach Bailey is formerly of Virgnia Union where his sucess was pretty well known. I beelive the only signifigant roster change was our QB....

[SPC Fighting Tiger]

Thanks for finding the board, SPC Fighting Tiger. Please register and stick around. I know I for one would love to learn more about your squad.

Who do you have coming back and what are the strengths of the Tigers?

The team's club season in 2003 was actually a resumation of the last team that we fielded in 1985. In 1983, we finished second in the CIAA.
As far as strengths, well, I can assure you that the running game, secondary and linebackers are in that category. Liberty is actually a replacement team for us, since contract talks feel through with North Carolina Central University, reigning CIAA champ that is I-AA bound next year.
I guess that Liberty was chosen as a replacement because of your loss to Norfolk State last year, who lost to Virginia State, who we loss to in 3OT. Contrived , I know, but I'm glad we got a I-AA replacement to step in at the last minute.
Many of our Alumni are looking forward to Liberty and Tusculum as yardsticks of our progress. A split here would do wonders if we contended for postseason play.

[LUconn]

Well this is fun. Based on who we have posting here, you guys have more support than a few 1AA teams we have.

http://www.saintpauls.edu/spctigers/Foo ... 0Team2.jpg


Check out #62!

Also #18. kicker? Punter? I bet he gets that joke all the time.


edited to change the picture to a link so reading wasn't so annoying.

[bigsmooth]

welcome SPC! i can certainly appreciate the CIAA schools, seeing some shaw and st.aug games in my years in raleigh, as well as the CIAA hoops tourney which is just an awesome experience. coach bailey has a knack of turning around programs and im sure you guys will contending very soon. we welcome to to LU, and hope you enjoy your experience, except for the game

LUConn, i had a buddy of mine who went to WSSU who was white and a punter, and all the players called him "snowflake". he said during his freshman yr. his first home game, he looked around and saw nothing but black people in the stands and he got nervous!...hello, you are at an HBCU!!! and while practicing his punting on the sidelines missed the net and the ball went into the stands! he eventually got comfortable and had a good game. Yes indeed the white player on an HBCU squad is usually a kicker/punter.

[SPC Fighting Tiger]

Actually, in 2004 we had a White starting QB. His Dad was a bigshot QB back in the day at one of those WAC schools.
I lie to you not, the Black coach at the time had to constantly remind him to stop scrambling and stay in the pocket.

His nickname was "The White Tiger"

We have come a long way as a nation....

[Libertine]

Good to see SPC represented.

Guys, the Tiger is right on all counts and it would be a serious mistake to underestimate these guys just because it's their second year on the field. Aside from some quality juco transfers, the team they fielded last year was very young and they should make a lot of noise in their conference. We have more athletes at more positions so we should win the game and win it handily but I'll be shocked if it's an absolute blowout.

[Sly Fox]

Thanks for registering, SPC. And like LUconn mentioned, it is cool to have you guys come by here and post.

And I agree with Libertine that while we should win this one handily if for no other reeason than we have many more scholarships to give, you should never underestimate an unknown opponent. CIAA teams are known for having tons of talent and a knack for creativity. And I remember Coach Bailey from back in the day at VUU. His teams were always well prepared for everyone.

And as I often tell my friends on other boards from the MEAC, if any PWC has understanding for HBCUs it is Liberty. Baszed on our religious stand and Jerry's high profile, we battle many stereotypes and we are often ostracized by the big mainstream schools as well. So consider LU to be friendly territory when you come on campus.

And spread the word to any of your other SPC friends to drop by here and chat. This is actually a cool experience for us.

[Stevev]

I am looking at LU's first 2 games (vs St Pauls and glenville state) as tuneups games for the Towson game to let Coach Rocco and his new system to get some confidence as well as work out some of the bugs that are in the system. Even though Towson would be considered the first legitimate team on our schedule and the first true "measuring stick" to the progress of LU's program lets not overlook the first 2 teams. Hopefully Coach Rocco's will come prepared to compete and win. We should win big (at least by 30 points) but we will have to come prepared for war in every single game no matter who our opponent is.

[bigsmooth]

i do not think anyone on this board is overlooking SPC. was it concord that we barely beat last year?? it is a new attiitude and some new impact players and we should win, but im sure rocco will have our guys focused.

[Tiger Claw]

Wow are you guys going to be in for a surprise on opening day. SPC is loaded. They started 18 freshman last season and were 11 points from a conference title game showing. Coach Bailey is the 2nd winningest active coach in DII and 2nd all-time for HBCU's behind Eddie Robinson of Grambling. His biggest strenght is recruiting. This season will be a breakout season for SPC. By 2007 the Tigers will have the CIAA by the neck. I enjoyed Liberty several years ago when the Flames hosted Va Union. The folks there are friendly and I have friends who went to school there who loved the experience. I plan to be there.

[Sly Fox]

Thanks for coming on the board, Tiger Claw. Why not register while you are here and stick around awhile.

Other than Coach Bailey's rep, we don't have much to go on regarding SPC. Which of the freshmen stood out for the Tigers last fall?

[LU'sbestmanger]

Wow are you guys going to be in for a surprise on opening day. SPC is loaded. They started 18 freshman last season and were 11 points from a conference title game showing. Coach Bailey is the 2nd winningest active coach in DII and 2nd all-time for HBCU's behind Eddie Robinson of Grambling. His biggest strenght is recruiting. This season will be a breakout season for SPC. By 2007 the Tigers will have the CIAA by the neck. I enjoyed Liberty several years ago when the Flames hosted Va Union. The folks there are friendly and I have friends who went to school there who loved the experience. I plan to be there.

no. its you guys who are in for a surprise. 44 players on our team were freshmen! out of 60!!!!! and one of them was the VIRGINIA STATE FRESHMEN OF THE YEAR! uhhh, we also got a 250 pound beast from the university of pitt., our leading tackler and receiver is returning. should i go on?? i think you guys are the ones in for a surprise

[bigsmooth]

easy manger! you do not need to list the flames qualifications. yes we have more talent, and yes we should win. yes we have a new coach and new attitude, but let's be optimistic and less cocky, we are in no position to be gloating.