[drdoctormd]

You guys look really good this year...and you seem to have a pretty favorable schedule as well. Could be a great year for the Flames! Will you guys, as fans, be disappointed with anything less than the playoffs? Do the Big South proud, hear?! Can somebody remind me, is Toledo I-A I mean BS I mean aw....shoot. You know what I mean. Wish you guys were playing Appy or FU this year--I think you'd stand a good chance of knocking 'em in the mouth. As it stands, Elon looks like a good opportunity for the Flames, but watch out, they have snuck up on some people in recent years.

Looking forward to following you guys (except when y'all come down here) and maybe I can get you some good shots.

Here's my unofficial photo blog : www.CSUBucs.com

[El Scorcho]

an somebody remind me, is Toledo I-A I mean BS I mean aw....shoot. You know what I mean.

Yes, they are whatever it is you call that these days.

Thanks for stopping by! I think we'd all agree we're definitely hoping to do the Big South proud...as we smack around the rest of the conference. Hopefully.

[LUconn]

Will you guys, as fans, be disappointed with anything less than the playoffs? Do the Big South proud, hear?!

I will be. This is a playoff team. We just didn't make it easy on ourselves with our OOC schedule. Or acutally I guess we made it too easy on ourselves. So I'd place the odds of us getting to the playoffs as low, I'll be very disappointed if we don't.

[Stevev]

I will be sort of disappointed (considering all of the hype that has been placed on this team) if we don't make the playoffs this year. Even with the lack of recent success in the past 10 years, a lot of us feel we could turn the corner this year with the current coaching staff, improvements to the facilities, and all of the 1A transfers, not to mention the potential for setting attendence records with a big increase in season ticket sales. The schedule has me worried though, as weak as it is if we slip up one time we are screwed.

[drdoctormd]

Yeah, I know what you mean....all you can do is play the games and just win.....there was a lot of "talk" about CSU and the playoffs last year, but that schedule.... please. And oh, yeah, you have to win your conference games, too.

And don't forget Coastal 2 years ago, when they came to Chucktown for the last game of the season just knowing they were "in" (and they probably would have been), but managed to get knocked off in double OT--a game which turned in the last 10 seconds of regulation......

(bracing for the inevitable flaming from Coastal fans....)

And I know I'll catch it for this too, but Tusculum was tough when they came down here a couple years ago--very good high-flying speedy offense from what I remember...coached by the only Furman QB to ever win a Nat'l Championship: Frankie DeBusk (1988)--master of the option!....I am a Furman grad after all.

[LUconn]

this thread just got me looking at CSU's media guide. CSU's uniforms used to be so sweet. Please go back to them.



I guess they aren't really your colors anymore though.

[drdoctormd]

I cringe more at the photo quality and the sans-a-belts.

I think that was about 1 year out of club football, when the players had to bring their own pads and helmets......and flags....

BTW, I think there's only one or two of my shots in the current media guide, to its detriment. Not sure why the SID isn't really interested, not that I'm Joe-Daddy Photog, but I could do a better job with that media guide in my spare time.

[bigsmooth]

welcome dr. stop by anytime. what is the buc prognosis this year??

[drdoctormd]

Mmmmmm....you guys prolly know more about that than I do. As for me, I have concerns about the following positions: QB (big shoes, little experience, etc), RB, WR; somewhat concerned with the offensive line, although we do have some returning starters. Defense is ok--Ross and Justiani are back, and Hirschman, Mitchell, and Warrior. Some others on the D-line are gone. I would consider it a "rebuilding" year, whatever that is. Yeah, and with Citadel on the rise, Woffy, Hawaii, LU...and everyone else out to prove that '05 Co-Champ season and 9-2 was a fluke, I'm under no illusions. But they did surprise me by playing very well at CCU last year. And hey, we did catch el Cid (no sneaking up on them this year).

I would say a 5-6 season would be a decent year, given all the variables. 6-5 would be a nice accomplishment. It's hard when you build in 4-5 losses from the get-go.

[Stevev]

Good luck to you guys from Charleston! I hope that you have a great year and continue to improve just as in the past 2 years have shown. No matter what the schedule is like it's the performance on the field that counts. Scheduling is very important but not more important than performance. I think that line of reasoning would apply to the both of us.

[Chris Lang]

I don't think the 9-2 was a fluke for the Bucs ... it's pretty much what I expected considering the weakness of the schedule and the strength of CSU's offense last season. I do think CSU comes back to earth this year. Way too many questions, and that defense isn't nearly as strong as your coaching staff likes the rest of us to believe.

[drdoctormd]

Who believes anything a coach would want you to.....? Know what I mean? And I've always felt Coach Mills was from the Holtz camp of "we're not very good...." Maybe I missed some comments somewhere.

[JK37]

We only give ourselves a chance at the playoffs if we beat Toledo. Even 10-1 isn't going to get us in this year. The win over Coastal isn't going to have the punch it would have had the past two seasons, and we've got two D-II's. The year we went 9-2 and beat App in the final game remains our only legit argument for a playoff berth, and that year we were still ousted by Hofstra, which was the non-con we HAD to beat to get in, and we didn't. Until we upgrade our SOS (which isn't entirely our fault, bc no one wants to play us right now), this is going to be the story for us.

Bottom line: Unless we go 11-0, we ain't getting in.

But its still going to be a fun season!!!

[RagingTireFire]

In 1997, we played 3 D2 schools and no I-A schools. Everybody likes to talk about 1997 as the "Year We Had A Chance" but our wins over D2 Virginia Union and D2 Norfolk State were less than convincing and we choked away the Hampton game in OT. I submit that we were already a long shot at best and losing at home to Hofstra only sealed the deal.

[SuperJon]

I will be sort of disappointed (considering all of the hype that has been placed on this team) if we don't make the playoffs this year. Even with the lack of recent success in the past 10 years, a lot of us feel we could turn the corner this year with the current coaching staff, improvements to the facilities, and all of the 1A transfers, not to mention the potential for setting attendence records with a big increase in season ticket sales. The schedule has me worried though, as weak as it is if we slip up one time we are screwed.

I don't see why you're so caught up on these transfers. Yes, the ones on the offensive line are going to be huge for us, but there are at least 3, maybe even 4 who transferred from I-A schools who aren't better than the person who was here in the first place.

[SumItUp]

I don't see why you're so caught up on these transfers. Yes, the ones on the offensive line are going to be huge for us, but there are at least 3, maybe even 4 who transferred from I-A schools who aren't better than the person who was here in the first place.

SJ, people have been hung up on D1 transfers since I moved to Lynchburg in the late 80's. I'm sure it started the day that the first person transferred to Liberty, even if the first D1 transfer was a baton twirler in the marching band. I guess some thought it would give the school "legitimacy" when they talked about the improvements of the athletic program. If the conversation was about football, after the 1A mention, the statement was usually made that JF said, someday the Flame are going to play Notre Dame in football.

We will always be looking for high quality players that are a good fit for Liberty, but someday it will be based on the quality of the student/athlete and not the fact that the previous school was D1.

[/quote]

[Stevev]

There is definately some truth to some of the above statements concerning 1A transfers.

I am basing my opinion on the effect of quality 1A transfers on a select few 1AA programs who have benefited from an influx of them in the past and not just LU. Here are some examples:

1. Delaware won a national championship with 2 key transfers (Andy Hall (GA Tech) and Shawn Johnson (Duke) with descent returning players. Minus those 2 guys Delaware doesn't even have a winning season.
2. JMU won a national championship with a QB transfer Justin Rascati (Louisville) and a few others.
3. JMU turned the corner many years ago with Curtis Keaton (WV), Chris Morant (UVA), Charles Berry (NC State), and Robert Pack (NCST) after some terrible years to get to the playoffs and stay competitive for years .
4. Marshall U went from runner ups the following year to the greatest 1AA team of all time with the addition of Randy Moss (FL State) and Eric Kresser (FLA).

Just a few examples without getting too carried away with things and I don't really know if LU should be compared with the above teams or not but just trying to justify LU rising up from the mess we were in a fews years ago.

[jimflamesfan]

Just an FYI...in 97 we were ranked 15th heading into the Hofstra game...and we did win the last game away game agaisnt Appy State, which would qualify as a pretty good win that year...

[Stevev]

If we would have beaten Hofstra we would have gotten in no matter what happened in the Appy State game. It would have been the process of elimination. We would have eliminated Hofstra since they were independent at the time and we would have been the 2nd independent along with Western Kentucky that year to get in to the playoffs.

[drdoctormd]

The Bucs had Darius Rucker (WR transfer from Purdue) last year, don't know his stats, but he helped us some....I know he scored a TD against the Citadel.

Furman had Ingle Martin (QB transfer U of FL) for 2 years and almost (!) beat Pitt at their place (but for a OT FG....), came within a hair of the beating Appy deep in the playoffs a couple years ago. 'Course it was Ingle who fumbled....

The Citadel's had a couple transfer QB's, one guy from Oklahoma I think a couple years ago--didn't ultimately help them much--and they had Woody Dantzler (QB), who had graduated Clemson, but had a year left and entered the Citadel as a graduate student, if memory serves.

Interesting how it seems most of the time it's all offensive transfers and mostly QBs and other guys who have to vying for playing time and dare I say it, the spotlight for career aspirations or whatever.

(Not sure if any of that adds to the discussion or not, but it IS a "Hello from Chuck South" thread after all....)

[Stevev]

Yes, this definately fits in here. Transfer QB's definately get the most attention due to the higher profile of the position. Rhett Bomar (Okl) is getting all kinds of attention at Sam Houston and Joe Flacco of Delaware (Pitt) is highly rated and his team is expected to win the South division of the Colonial. For running backs Youngstown had a few of them last year , Mason I think led them to a second round playoff finish.

[Sly Fox]

(Not sure if any of that adds to the discussion or not, but it IS a "Hello from Chuck South" thread after all....)

You'll learn fairly quickly that we have a penchant for getting off track here.

[drdoctormd]

I sent these to Sly already, here's a couple from 2 years ago. I'd like to think 2 years later, I'm a better photog, and I definitely have better gear, so.......maybe this year I'll get you some better pics.

These could be sharper; and not trying to dig the knife here, just thought you'd be interested. #13 had a rough day. Mo Price (#1) is in KC camp right now unless he's been cut. That's gonna hurt us, him leaving early.

[Sly Fox]

I think I speak for most all Flame Fans when I say that we are glad Mr. Price has moved onto greener pastures.

And if you haven't been to csubucs.com, you need to check out the high quality pics. I know I'm really looking forward to seeing the Good Doctor's work this season as well now that we are headed to south this fall.

[RagingTireFire]

I think I speak for most all Flame Fans when I say that we are glad Mr. Price has moved onto greener pastures.

And #13.