[SuperJon]

I will simply state in response to your comments bluejacket about whether JB wants to play the big boys or not that unless youre in his office or TGs office, you really cant say with 100% certainty that they don't want to play or try to play the big boys or not.

What if I said that there was, at one point, the possibility of playing three DII's last year until Barber stepped in and said no?

[BJWilliams]

Well I would say that if that's true, Barber is the man. With him saying in his piece with lang that he does not want to schedule D2s anymore, you'll see at the very least see decent FCS competition in Williams Stadium in 2015 and forward

[JakeP50]

You have to play at least one laugher(preferably one), like a Morgan St or Bryant, if we're playing teams from the upper levels of FCS every year.

[PAmedic]

I will simply state in response to your comments bluejacket about whether JB wants to play the big boys or not that unless youre in his office or TGs office, you really cant say with 100% certainty that they don't want to play or try to play the big boys or not.

In other words water is wet, the sky is blue and grass is green.

Thanks for the insight.

Again.

[BJWilliams]

Look midget...or rather...little person...there are maybe 1 or 2 people on here who can speak to being closely connected to the football program (or athletics in general). regardless, bluejacket does not know the mindset of the athletic director or whoever the h*** is behind scheduling the games

[SuperJon]

Why do you censor yourself by putting strikethroughs and asterisks? Why not just censor yourself by just not saying it?

And, for the record, you have no clue who bluejacket is. For all you know, he could have complete access to Jeff. Stop being a tool.

[bluejacket]

What if I said that there was, at one point, the possibility of playing three DII's last year until Barber stepped in and said no?

And it was a great thing that he did, but also shows how much our scheduling has slipped because of head coaches' interference.

[thepostman]

why does BJ do anything he does?

For my entertainment of course!

[R i]

Richmond , App State and UNC. We need to get one of these games, and if we win 2 of them, Id consider that a wild success.

But the more important thing is what we do in conference. We cannot miss the dance again this year.

[Cider Jim]

Look midget...or rather...little person...there are maybe 1 or 2 people on here who can speak to being closely connected to the football program (or athletics in general). regardless, bluejacket does not know the mindset of the athletic director or whoever the h*** is behind scheduling the games

BJ, have you considered a career in the US Postal Service?

[BJWilliams]

While I get the veiled meaning behind the question...I have considered that. I havent pursued it because my sense of direction has a tendency to fail me at inopportune moments and keeping track of all those routes would be a bit overwhelming

[thepostman]

I'm sure they would help you out with that.

[BJWilliams]

bluejacket, that I can agree with...anyway, we have two spots to fill on the 2015 schedule, and I'd reckon JB will want both of them as home games. I think our first target ought to be the CAA (outside of Richmond...I think they want to get as far away from us as possible after this year, especially after losing to us) so maybe a Villanova or Delaware or even Elon or Stony Brook, maybe even 2014 national runner up Towson. then I would target VMI, Furman or UTC from the SoCon (there is a certain poster on AGS who I would love to see try to smack talk on here if we got UTC to come to our house). From the Southland I would gun for Abilene Christian (who I mentioned before), Sam Houston, Central Arkansas or Southeastern Louisiana. I'd love to also see Cal Poly on a future schedule and make some inroads in CA. Maybe get a Morgan State, Savannah State, South Carolina State or NC A&T from the MEAC as well and that would be a good list of teams mixing both quality opponents and potentially easy winners the next few years

[JakeP50]

I think we would have to go for the middle of the pack in the CAA, the SoCon and Southland would be easier to get a home game from.

[bluejacket]

bluejacket, that I can agree with...anyway, we have two spots to fill on the 2015 schedule, and I'd reckon JB will want both of them as home games. I think our first target ought to be the CAA (outside of Richmond...I think they want to get as far away from us as possible after this year, especially after losing to us) so maybe a Villanova or Delaware or even Elon or Stony Brook, maybe even 2014 national runner up Towson. then I would target VMI, Furman or UTC from the SoCon (there is a certain poster on AGS who I would love to see try to smack talk on here if we got UTC to come to our house). From the Southland I would gun for Abilene Christian (who I mentioned before), Sam Houston, Central Arkansas or Southeastern Louisiana. I'd love to also see Cal Poly on a future schedule and make some inroads in CA. Maybe get a Morgan State, Savannah State, South Carolina State or NC A&T from the MEAC as well and that would be a good list of teams mixing both quality opponents and potentially easy winners the next few years

I don't really care who we play as long as they are fielding full scholarship (60+ athletic scholarships), nationally competitive teams. Our goal is build a nationally recognized program that's ready to consistently make the playoffs and win national championships. As long as we are in the Big South, excellent OOC scheduling is a critical part of reaching that goal.

I would rather that we play Patriot League teams (maximum of 60 scholarships, 15 per year; Georgetown still has only 45) than MEAC (minimum of 54 scholarships, but most use full 63), but doesn't really matter as long as they are competitive. Patriot League teams are traditionally much more competitive in the playoffs. MEAC teams are not historically competitive in the playoffs.

2015 looks to be a good schedule, but they need to finish strong.

[bluejacket]

I think we would have to go for the middle of the pack in the CAA, the SoCon and Southland would be easier to get a home game from.

We don't have to sell ourselves short.

To use some recent games as examples, the JMU, Lehigh, and Montana series (our most notable OOC FCS opponents over the past few years) were scheduled when they were making runs in the playoffs. Norfolk State came after a top 20 final national ranking. Richmond was only three years removed from a national championship and two from a 2010 quarterfinals appearance when that one was completed.

We got home games from all of them. We had to travel first in three of them, but we got return games.

[JakeP50]

To use some recent games as examples, the JMU, Lehigh, and Montana series (our most notable OOC FCS opponents over the past few years) were scheduled when they were making runs in the playoffs. Norfolk State came after a top 20 final national ranking. Richmond was only three years removed from a national championship and two from a 2010 quarterfinals appearance when that one was completed.

We got home games from all of them. We had to travel first in three of them, but we got return games.

I do think we could get games from the upper level of the CAA (Towson, UD, NOVA). I should have clarified that that was what we should do to get home games for 2015, playing the top third of the CAA or even MVC is what I think we should do 2016 and beyond. I definitely think we could hang with UD and Towson with the team we have right now maybe even beat them.

[BJWilliams]

bluejacket, that I can agree with...anyway, we have two spots to fill on the 2015 schedule, and I'd reckon JB will want both of them as home games. I think our first target ought to be the CAA (outside of Richmond...I think they want to get as far away from us as possible after this year, especially after losing to us) so maybe a Villanova or Delaware or even Elon or Stony Brook, maybe even 2014 national runner up Towson. then I would target VMI, Furman or UTC from the SoCon (there is a certain poster on AGS who I would love to see try to smack talk on here if we got UTC to come to our house). From the Southland I would gun for Abilene Christian (who I mentioned before), Sam Houston, Central Arkansas or Southeastern Louisiana. I'd love to also see Cal Poly on a future schedule and make some inroads in CA. Maybe get a Morgan State, Savannah State, South Carolina State or NC A&T from the MEAC as well and that would be a good list of teams mixing both quality opponents and potentially easy winners the next few years

I don't really care who we play as long as they are fielding full scholarship (60+ athletic scholarships), nationally competitive teams. Our goal is build a nationally recognized program that's ready to consistently make the playoffs and win national championships. As long as we are in the Big South, excellent OOC scheduling is a critical part of reaching that goal.

I would rather that we play Patriot League teams (maximum of 60 scholarships, 15 per year; Georgetown still has only 45) than MEAC (minimum of 54 scholarships, but most use full 63), but doesn't really matter as long as they are competitive. Patriot League teams are traditionally much more competitive in the playoffs. MEAC teams are not historically competitive in the playoffs.

2015 looks to be a good schedule, but they need to finish strong.

I do agree we need to try to get "needle movers", but if we can get one of those and a fairly easy opponent to round things out, that will make for a fairly good schedule. Lehigh would be a good target from the PL, or even Fordham or another visit from Lafayette. OVC is in alot of our recruiting target areas so maybe Tennessee Tech, Eastern Kentucky or the team bandied about as a possible Sun Belt candidate, Jacksonville State

[JakeP50]

I agree, we don't need to make a killer schedule loaded down with the best of FCS every year, there's really no need to play another highly ranked team if were playing good teams like Towson, Montana or Southern Louisiana.

[bluejacket]

I agree, we don't need to make a killer schedule loaded down with the best of FCS every year, there's really no need to play another highly ranked team if were playing good teams like Towson, Montana or Southern Louisiana.

We got a taste of the playoffs in 2012 and got completely exposed (0-3). In fact, it was the perfect benchmark test for the program. We had to face injuries that teams in the playoffs do, but responded poorly. A team like Norfolk State is likely what we will face at home in the first round of the playoffs. Then, we will have to go on the road to a national power like Montana (Coastal had to do it last year). If we win that, we get another good team (maybe a team like Lehigh, but most likely a team like NDSU). I don't care that it was the first time that this staff was coaching FCS football. The coaches get paid a lot of money to win games, especially ones like those. They need toughness just as much as the players do.

We have had more than enough talent to make runs in the playoffs and win signature victories, but blow our chances. It has happened with the last two staffs. Sometimes, it has been because of injuries. But, many times, we set the autopilot and choke away a winnable game because we're not consistently playing good teams. Then, later in the season, we play another good team (Coastal or Stony Brook) with the playoffs on the line and can't handle the pressure. We can't change the teams in-conference, but we can control the OOC and use it to our advantage to instill toughness, increase depth, and help build the program.

[Chris Lang]

One game left to fill in '15, not two. It's an 11-game schedule.

[BJWilliams]

If ISUb is in 2017 like you said, wouldn't that give us 9 games for 2015? (5 away with the west Virginia date pending, 4 confirmed home games)

[Chris Lang]

Conference: Kennesaw, Coastal, Presby, at CSU, at GWU, at Monmouth
Non-conference: at WVU, at GaSt., at JMU, Montana
That's 10.

[BJWilliams]

Ok the JMU game was not put in the future schedules thread (I hope Sly or a mod has fixed that). that does give a lot less margin for error for that final game

[thepostman]

Yeah I hope those mods stop being so lazy and update it. It really shouldn't take BJ pointing this out!!