[LUconn]

[LUconn]

I think it's cute that you come here and talk a bunch of DII smack. It's not like Rutgers wouldn't stomp you as well.

[SPC Fighting Tiger]

Well, I guess we will have to keep an eye on him., then.

But He's only 6'1"", and Pitt went 5-6 last year in a weak football conference.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/player/pr ... rId=163205

[SPC Fighting Tiger]

I think it's cute that you come here and talk a bunch of DII smack. It's not like Rutgers wouldn't stomp you as well.

It's all fun, dude. What makes this even a contest is all the teams that LU didn't beat last year.

Like I said before, LU SHOULD win. As a Christian, a SMALL part of me is hoping. But after going 1-10 last year you guys have a lot of mouths to shut up.

[A.G.]

SPC--great stuff. Thanks for joining in the fun.

[SPC Fighting Tiger]

SPC--great stuff. Thanks for joining in the fun.

No Problem. I'll even log on next weekend to take the abuse.
But if you don't beat us by at least 2 touchdowns, I'll be yapping until your next game.

[A.G.]

If we don't put half a C-note on you then you should be yapping!

[SPC Fighting Tiger]

If we don't put half a C-note on you then you should be yapping!

DEAL!!!!!!!!!!!!

[A.G.]

Here, kitty kitty kitty!

[SuperJon]

Well, I guess we will have to keep an eye on him., then.

But He's only 6'1"", and Pitt went 5-6 last year in a weak football conference.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/player/pr ... rId=163205

I've stood next to the kid, on more than one occasion. He's bigger than listed.

[Sly Fox]

Thanks for coming by, SPC. Its too bad you couldn't make it to the game. I too wish I was there if for no other reason to see a team in Bengals gear on our field.

[PAmedic]

fear not- I'll have pix for you

[SuperJon]

I know it'll take longer for you to get there because your legs are shorter than normal humans, but you hafta make a trek over to the student side.

[SPC Fighting Tiger]

Thanks for coming by, SPC. Its too bad you couldn't make it to the game. I too wish I was there if for no other reason to see a team in Bengals gear on our field.

Actually, in our first season in 2002, the helmets were orange on black (Bengals are black on orange) . With the black uniforms, the sight was impressive.

[GulfTX]

Thanks for coming by, SPC. Its too bad you couldn't make it to the game. I too wish I was there if for no other reason to see a team in Bengals gear on our field.

Is there an URL for streaming video to see the game in the small box???

Guess it wouldn't help me for the 31st, as I've got four club seat tickets on the 50-yard-line to take my grandkids to see the Texans play the Buccaneers at Reliant Stadium that night. But .. there will be another 10 games .. and Galveston County on the coast of Texas is too far to take in an game, even with my father living in Lynchburg.

...GulfTX
__

[Sly Fox]

Unfortunately we are limited to audio streaming this fall for football unless somebody can set up a webcam with a view of the field for us.

[A.G.]

http://www.newsadvance.com/servlet/Sate ... th=!sports

Liberty first opponent in midst of a football revival

By Chris Lang
Lynchburg News & Advance
August 30, 2006

LAWRENCEVILLE - Tiffani Sykes pulls her SUV off the pavement and onto a half-grass, half-dirt hill marked with doubletracks that seemingly lead to nowhere.

The passenger is in for a surprise. As the vehicle reaches the hilltop, Sykes - who doubles as the sports information director and senior woman administrator at Saint Paul's College - begins to speak.

"It's hard to imagine we're going to play a football game here this year," she says.

No doubt.

Look around. Two goalposts sheathed by orange "Tigers" padding. More dirt. A tiny shed that serves as the Tigers' locker room. A fence. No scoreboard. No seats. This is the home of the Tigers, who will travel to Lynchburg for Thursday's season opener with Liberty.

The Tigers hosted one game last year, beating coach Willard Bailey's old employer - Virginia Union - on homecoming. With rented bleachers, the school reported an official attendance of 3,017, though Sykes said closer to 5,000 showed up.

Thus, the school got an indication of just how hungry the small campus was for football. SPC will rent bleachers for all five home games this season.

St. Paul's played 61 mostly unsuccessful years of football before disbanding the program in 1987. The school's best record came in the program's first year (6-3-1 in 1923) and the Tigers had only three other winning seasons (1929, 1963 and 1965). From 1946-1953, the school went 0-46-1.

So why revive football? And why would someone as accomplished as Bailey, whose 215 wins puts him sixth on the all-time list of HBCU (historically black colleges and universities) victories come to tiny St. Paul's? With a shade under 700 students, St. Paul's has the lowest enrollment by far of any CIAA school.

"The reason I'm here is that I was really looking forward to this challenge," said Bailey, who is the winningest active HBCU coach. "We have young men who don't mind working hard. Since we work so hard, I have confidence we can achieve some of the things we want to achieve, even though we are a neophyte program.

"I can take the energy from these young people, and it gives me a little extra fire."

SPC restarted football as a club program in 2002 and dominated, going 7-0 in 2004 before moving back to the varsity ranks.

The school gives out the full Division II implement of 28 scholarships now, though very few players remain from the club days. The Tigers went 4-6 last year, and after getting blown out in their opener at Western New Mexico, played well down the stretch. SPC's worst loss in CIAA play a 21-7 defeat at East Division champion Bowie State. The Tigers ranked 15th in Division II in total defense.

"It's been a long process getting to where we're at now," said safety Jerome Mann, a William Byrd grad who played on the club and varsity teams.

Bailey, who had two stints at VUU and one at Norfolk State when the Spartans competed in the CIAA, saw other positives in the St. Paul's job, one being the opportunity to use football as a vehicle to educate youth in the Lawrenceville community on a number of issues.

Bailey founded SPC's "Win-Win Program for Youth Enrichment," a program tied into the building of a new athletic center at the school. The goal is to first educate the football players, who will then spread that message in seminars throughout the state, which will focus on topics like AIDS education, homicide prevention and suicide.

Once the college's enrichment and athletic center is built (groundbreaking is scheduled for the second week of November), the football team will have a home base, as will the youth enrichment program.

"These areas are just as important as a football season," Bailey said. "These are the areas that are taking the lives of our young people."

While all of that is going on behind the scenes, Bailey still has a football team to work with. The Tigers were picked to finish third in the CIAA East this season, but the players, buoyed by a mildly successful return to NCAA football in 2005, have bigger plans.

"Championship," said cornerback Greg Toler, a Washington, D.C., native who intercepted six passes and broke up 13 more last year. "Ain't no need to be in it if you ain't going to take it all."

Despite the school's small enrollment, the Tigers will send 70 players to Lynchburg Thursday. Players have bought into the beliefs of Bailey, who used his own money to outfit the team's weight room.

Sykes drives back to the main part of campus, the SUV slithering on narrow roads between ancient brick buildings. She recounts a story told to her by St. Augustine's College track and field coach Pup Williams.

St. Augustine's, an HBCU in Raleigh, has won 28 NCAA team championships and more than 100 CIAA titles. Finally, in 2005, the school held a groundbreaking ceremony for a track and field facility bearing Williams' name.

That's right. All those championships; no home facility. Sykes shared the story with some Tigers players.

As St. Paul's gets ready for the 2006 season, it's a story the football team took to heart.

[SuperJon]

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

I posted that on June 28th. I find out tonight they don't have a #85. This makes it even better.

[SuperJon]

We have a new PA system that sounds really nice. It's about twice as good as the one last year.

[LUconn]

Question: Do I wear my Carson Palmer jersey?

[bigsmooth]

no way! do you want to be " jersey guy"? meaning you go to a sporting event, say a steelers/ravens game and you see some hack walking around with a carson palmer jersey?

[Stevev]

Any changes to the starting lineup or injuries to report anyone? How about a depth chart

[LUconn]

I know all about that guy. I went to a UNC/Uconn game in Chapel Hill a couple years ago with a Duke fan and he wore all of his Duke stuff. He got a warm reception.

[bigsmooth]

that dude should have been shot

[bigsmooth]

are you ready for some football???

LU opens football season tonight
By Chris Lang
Lynchburg News & Advance
August 30, 2006

E.L. Estes hopes this is the last time he has to answer a question about last year.
Unfortunately for him, the subject is still pertinent, at least for one more day.

Division II St. Paul's visits Williams Stadium tonight for (finally) the first game of the Danny Rocco era, and everyone knows what happened the last time a DII team battled the Flames in Lynchburg.

Concord College, a middling WVIAC team that finished 4-7, led Liberty 6-0 late in the third quarter before LU mounted a 17-point rally to win.

LU would not score for a month.

For the last time, Estes says, last year was last year.

New team. New coach. New era.

"We're a totally different team," said Estes, a senior defensive back. "With coach Rocco and the whole coaching staff, it's been a total 180-degree turn in terms of getting us prepared for this game.

"We're going to be at our best for this game, and it'll be a totally different outcome this year than last year, at least in our performance."

The Flames will showcase their new look tonight at 7 on the spanking new FieldTurf at Williams Stadium in what may be one of the most anticipated openers in LU history.

After eight months of talking about how much different things will be under a new coach, the Flames finally get a chance to put their words into action.

"We had a team meeting the other day, and coach Rocco told us it was like we were in the starting blocks for running the 100-meter dash and just waiting for that gun to go off," LU quarterback Brock Smith said. "I guarantee you everybody on this team is feeling the same way."

St. Paul's is a bit of an unknown commodity. In just its second year of NCAA competition after an 18-year hiatus, the Tigers are picked to finish third in the CIAA East and aren't short on confidence.

In fact, some St. Paul's players were on Facebook, a popular online message board for college students, talking smack with Smith.

One thing that stands out about the Tigers is their team speed, a hallmark of HBCU football. SPC ranked 15th in Division II total defense last year and returns All-CIAA cornerback Greg Toler (six interceptions) and safeties Jerome Manns and Marcus Wagstaff.

Still, St. Paul's is young. The Tigers only have three seniors. The experience comes from the sideline, where head coach Willard Bailey is in his 32nd season and second at SPC.

"Coach Bailey has won 215 football games and I've yet to win one," Rocco said.

"When you're in that situation, you have to give some credence to that."

St. Paul's biggest issues last year were on offense. The Tigers averaged just 17.1 points per game and must replace quarterback Walter Virgil, who had some academic issues.

Demetrius Brown, who is listed as the starter, completed just 21 passes in eight games last year.

"They're young and still trying to find their identity," Rocco said. "Hopefully, we can use our talent and depth and maybe wear them down a little."