"Steveo's Salvos" - March 2009 Edition

"Salvos" is presented as the editorial content of CollegeFootballFan.com focusing on current issues surrounding college football and news about some of the teams on the CFF schedule this year.  Originally from a newsletter, this web site, CollegeFootballFan.com, has evolved. 

We did it!!! - October 27, 2007.  CollegeFootballFan.com is #1!!!  Aside from any media types, no one can say that they've seen more College Bowl Subdivision teams than we have.  It's impossible.  There are 119 teams and now we've seen 'em all!  Great time with some big Nevada Wolfpack fans for the Grand Finale against Idaho in Reno.  Now we move on to more great football games season after season!  Western Kentucky becomes #120 in 2009.  We hope to be at their opener, but a certain Guest Game Analyst (GGA) we've had with us over the years will probably start playing Freshman football in HS this season.  We'll have to work around that.

Great schedule coming up! - This year's slate of games looks great.  It consists of a combination of some competitive games and traditional conference rivalries.   We'll see the defending FCS national champ as well as the longest played series in all of college football.  We plan to attend a memorial service on the 39th anniversary of the Marshall airplane crash before we attend our first game in Huntington, WV.  We get back to one of our favorite venues at NC State where we'll get to root against Steve Spurrier, and we'll get to visit three new, must-see stadiums.  We'll add the 120th team to join FBS football.  We plan a couple of big tailgates at West Point.  We already have the second Eagle Bank Bowl in our sights to kickoff Bowl season once again.  Look for more details in April's Salvos!

1869-2009- This year is the 140th anniversary of the official start of college football.  We won't see Princeton play Rutgers this year, but we plan to see both play during this anniversary season.  We'll watch PU host The Citadel on September 19, and we plan to see RU against three Big East foes -Pitt, South Florida, and WVU at the Birthplace of College Football this season.    November 6, 1869 is the date it all started. 

Pre-preseason polls  -  The "experts", the same guys who selected 14 of the final Top 25 teams in last season's pre-season poll ( Georgia at No. 1 and Ohio State at No. 2) , look for perennials like Florida, USC, Texas and Oklahoma to challenge for the national championship in 2009.  Who knows?  So much can happen between now and then.  Nobody's picking Utah, TCU, or Boise in their top five.  Of course, none of them were selected to even finish in the Top 25 last year.  Respectively, that trio finished No. 2, No. 7, and No. 11. If none of these move up, possibly some other team from that mid-major range could surprise.

New opener - We found an earlier date to kick off our season. Our 1A opener is still slated in  Raleigh on Thursday night, September 3, to see South Carolina visit NC State to get things started.  We know who we'll be rooting for.  Can't stand sniveling Spurrier and love those spirited Wolf Pack games at Carter-Finley.  Can't wait to get back there!  From there, we'll  travel on Friday to see our first game at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville on Saturday.  Two firsts - Neyland and our 120th team, Western Kentucky.  Hope to check out the Tennessee Navy.  However,  our first collegiate football game of the season will be the evening of August 27 in a D-2 slugfest when the Bloomsburg Huskies of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference host the Ashland Eagles of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. Last season when the two opened at Ashland, the Huskies overcame a 21-point deficit to win 49-42.  Both made it to the D-2 playoffs.  The Huskies finished 11-2 before succumbing to conference foe California State in the semis, and the Eagles fell to their conference foe Grand Valley State in the quarterfinals to finish at 9-4.  We expect this will be a good one as well.  We're also still expecting to see some action to be announce for Saturday, August 29, once TV steps in to schedule some games.  We hope something local will come up.

Tales 'round the Tailgate - The manuscript about our adventure to see 'em all is basically finished. 

2009 schedules - The Big East and several Patriot League teams we're interested in released their 2009 schedules last Friday. We're interested in at least three Rutgers games.  The first might interfere with a high school game on a Friday night when Pitt visits RU in Friday Oct 16.  We will be in the clear for the next two though when RU hosts South Florida on Thursday, November 12 and on Saturday, December 5 when the TV schedulers are hoping for a championship bid when West Virginia visits the Birthplace of college football.  The great schedule maker is covering all his big East options as USF at UConn and Cincinnati at Pitt are all slated to play on ESPN that day.   Rutgers still needs  a fifth non-conference game and keeps Oct. 10 open.   Guess they're still looking for another patsy in addition to Howard, Florida International, and Army.  Maryland's the other, but generally, remaining pickings look slim. We were  hoping to see Bucknell play a home game for the first time as we have a friend whose son will be playing in his senior year for the Bison, but we'll settle for the chance on Halloween to see them visit Lafayette's beautifully renovated Fischer Stadium.  Marshall hosts Southern Miss in what will be our own personal "Nostalgia Bowl".

Add this one to the list - Now that we've seen every team, we are targeting specific stadiums we'd like to see games played at, but with Tim Tebow now deciding to stay for his senior season, it might be a good idea to try to get to see him so we can say we've seen one of the greatest college QBs, if not the toughest, before his collegiate career is over. Two Heismans?  He could be the second.  We might have to get to the Swamp.  Andy?  Arkansas at the Swamp or the game at Kentucky might work for us.

Florida State surprise - No, the Gators' intrastate rival didn't surprise us about their academic violations to get slapped with probation and possible game forfeitures.  What surprised us was the year before when FSU was rated highly for its team's academic performance.  Now we've heard all the reports regarding Myron Rolles' academic prowess.  He's the FSU Junior Safety from Galloway, NJ whose captured many academic awards including being named a Rhodes Scholar - the most prestigious award in collegiate academics.  Not all Seminole football players are like Myron.  We like Bobby Bowden, but it's a shame his record will be tarnished by a cheating scandal that was widespread throughout the FSU athletic program.

"Nostalgia Bowl" -   We want to get to a Marshall home game.  This year's scenario is everything I waited for.  As a kid with my late father, I used to watch Marshall QB Ted Shoebridge, who died in the  plane crash, play American Legion and semi-pro baseball.  The 39th anniversary of that tragedy is Saturday, November 14th this year.  The Herd hosts Southern Mississippi that day, and I've etched it in stone.  They have a Memorial every year on that date where they lay a wreath and turn off the water of the Memorial fountain.  From the Southern Miss perspective, my grammar school gym teacher, basketball, and baseball coach, Bob Exum, was a Southern Miss grad who played baseball there.  We always heard how many ground balls he and Don Kessinger, later of the Chicago Cubs, took together to work on their double play combination!  Mr. Exum was responsible for arranging a Saturday bus trip back in October 1966 that took me to my first college football game ever.  A bus load of kids saw Colgate defeat Princeton that day, 7-0.  Don't laugh! It was Princeton's last loss of the season as they finished up at 7-2 to tie Dartmouth for the Ivy League championship. Colgate went on to an 8-1-1 season.  Fullback Marv Hubbard later played for the Oakland Raiders in the second NFL-AFL championship game.

More Condolences - To Will Bleakley's family. The former South Florida tight end lost at sea last weekend for whom  a Memorial Service was held in his hometown of Crystal Lake, Florida.  We saw the USF Bulls play for the first time at Connecticut in November 2005 on a cold night, especially for players just up from Tampa.  UConn prevailed with a 15-10 win.  I don't remember anything about Will who was a junior at the time, but I read that he was a walk-on who eventually earned a scholarship and became captain his senior year.  That says quite a bit about the young man right there.  To Corey Smith's Family - the Detroit Lion played for NC State whom we saw play back in 2004 in a win over Texas Tech.  And to Marquis Cooper's Family - who continued to search long after the Coast Guard did.  The Oakland Raider played for the University of Washington.  May they all enjoy fishing together again in a better place.

1AA attendance - Among eastern 1AA schools, Delaware and Harvard led in attendance last season averaging 21,609 and 17,360 respectively.  We attended games at both schools last season.  UD consistently fills out 22,000 seats Delaware Stadium.  We saw the Hens fall to the Maine Black Bears last fall with VP candidate Joe Biden in attendance.  We also got to Harvard Stadium for the first time where the Crimson defeated rival Yale in The Game, 10-0. The 31,398 at the game is always the biggest draw every other year in the 38,000-seat stadium.  It helps inflate the average.  The same can be said of Lafayette College's Fisher Stadium where we saw LC host Harvard in front of 7,789. The Leopards led the Patriot League in attendance averaging 9,766.  Of course this is bolstered when they fill the stadium to capacity in college football's longest-played rivalry against Lehigh. In their 144th meeting last year, 15,908 showed up to increase their average.  We also attended Zable Stadium at the College of William and Mary who averaged 9,732.  The Tribe hosted a like amount when we saw them play VMI.  We plan to see games at Delaware, Princeton, Lehigh, and Lafayette this season.  Who knows? Maybe in this economy, the low prices of their tickets may increase attendence as a low cost option to other forms of sports entertainment.

Two-timers - We're adding Western Kentucky, the latest edition to FBS football, as our 120th team.  Preliminary developments indicate that we may possibly see three teams play for only the second time.  These include South Carolina who we saw last in 1995 and Minnesota who we watched in Penn State's inaugural Big Ten game in 1993.  The other is Clemson who last graced our schedule way back in 1980!  Tigers, it's been too long.  We hope to see them host TCU or Virginia.  Of course, Clemson's Memorial Stadium visit would be the first for us.  I saw them lose at Maryland before they reeled off 13 consecutive wins to take the 1981 National Championship.

Mountain West proposal - The intentions of the Commissioner and Presidents of the Mountain West Conference all have good intentions to come up with a more equal representation of all the conferences in the messed up BCS system.  We agree, but their approach is wrong and is already doomed by the BCS commission.  The playoff proposal is the right direction, but if they would read our Proposal that we came up with years ago, they'd have a much better chance.  Why? The major bowls aren't going to give up their significance nor their money.  They propose an eight-team playoff starting with the four bowls paring down to two semi-finals and then a championship game - not going to happen.  Use our proposal and it's got a lot better chance.  Eight teams play at the home field of the higher seeds.  Two semi-finals are played on New Year's Day at two of the majors bowls.  A third gets to host the national championship the week after.  The fourth gets a game between #9 and #10 also to be played on New Year's Day.  Rotate the sites of the four major bowls every year. It will make New Year's Day a great Bowl Day once again for TV as well as for the host cities.

RU kidding? - New Rutgers Athletic Director Tim Pernetti has close ties to the football program.  He played TE for the Scarlet Knights from 1990-93.  Some RU administrators have concerns because of the conflict that's been created since big time football has terminated the existence of several so-called Olympic sports in New Brunswick.  Pernetti has been VP with CBS College Sports Network most recently.  We checked out our history of watching Pernetti's teams play in the early 90's.  We saw RU play at least once each year during his career. They went 1-5 in games CFF attended.  The one win at the Meadowlands where all the games were played back then was an exciting 39-38 triumph over Duke.  Michigan State, West Virginia, Penn State, Syracuse and BC all foiled the Scarlet Knights.  Good luck to Tim.  Adding new seats while the economy is in a downfall leads us to believe it will be easy to find RU tickets this year.

Throw down the welcome mat - To three universities about to enter 1AA college football.  The Old Dominion Monarchs out of Norfolk, VA start their first season of play in 2009.  Head Coach Bobby Wilder came from the University of Maine and will lead the first ODU team against the likes of Fordham, Georgetown, and VMI in their first season.  They are destined to join the powerful Colonial Athletic Association.  Also joining the CAA but a year behind the Monarchs will be the Georgia State Panthers down in Atlanta.  Former Alabama Head Coach Bill Curry will build the program there.  Games will be played in teh Georgia Dome, a stadium looking for a college football team.  The University of Texas - San Antonio just hired former Miami (F) HC Larry Coker who led the 'Canes to a 60-15 record during his tenure.  The Roadrunners (cool name) are currently in the Southland Conference and will start play in the fall of 2010 with home games in the Alamo Dome. a stadium looking for any football team.  We'll keep our eyes on UTSA.  They plan to start in the FCS with eyes focused to join the FBS.  Number 121?  We love the River Walk in San Antonio!

Good book - Picked up Lars Anderson's  Carlisle vs. Army.  I enjoyed it because it focuses  on American history as well as college football history.  "On the fields of friendly strife," as General MacArthur once said, "were sewn the seeds of victory."  Dwight Eisenhower and Omar Bradley, great generals of WWII, played on that Army team.  It also depicts the greatness of the Indian athletes, Jim Thorpe among them, who played for Carlisle.  The story depicts extra incentives that the Indians brought to the game of football, but especially this particular contest.  It also tells of the respect gained by American Indians by the general population through their exploits on the gridiron. And Glenn "Pop" Warner who coached Carlisle, certainly used it to his team's advantage.  Fun and interesting read about all the traveling Carlisle did and how Warner influenced the game of football today.

Glory days gone by - In 2002 on a cold, rainy day at West Point, we watched Army close the gap on TCU with the help of the elements until Horned Frog Lonta Hobbs' second of two TDs on the day sealed the fate of Army with his 65-yard touchdown jaunt. He finished the scoring in TCU's 46-27 victory.  Lonta Hobbs now faces 10 years in prison on a drug conviction.

Navy 2010 - After 2009, our challenge will be balancing our college schedule with the Lenape Valley High School schedule as long as Eric continues to play.  In New Jersey, some games are still played on Saturday afternoons, not all are on Friday nights, so we'll have to schedule accordingly.  In the meantime though, the Navy home schedule that year looks not only convenient, but enticing.  The Mids open in Baltimore against Maryland the Saturday before high school football opens in NJ.  In Annapolis, they play SMU.  I did join the Pony Club on The Boulevard a few years ago.  The Notre Dame game is back conveniently in The Meadowlands.  Most likely Delaware visits Annapolis after the regular high school season is over. Of course, the revised date against Army in Philly is now December 11.  We can make that.  The date against Georgia Southern, Paul Johnson's other former team, has yet to be announced.  Throw in the Eagle Bank Bowl bid and it could be a big Navy year for CFF.

Alma mater dear - Juniata College announced the hiring of Carmen Felus as its new Head Coach to replace Darrel Ault who resigned last November.  Felus's last assignment was as offensive coordinator at UT-Chattanooga where the Moccasins struggled to a 6-28 record in the Southern Conference over three years, but his previous experience as coach at Indiana U of PA looks to be the strength on which JC hired him.  From 2000-2005 the Crimson Hawks won or tied for five PSAC division championships and went to the D-2 playoffs three times.  His ties to central Pennsylvania will be help turn JC's football fortunes around in the near future.  We wish him well to get it done in Huntingdon. Maybe we can attend a JC home game this year if we attend a PSU night game. We'll see how that works out.

Big Tailgate - It looks like the local LVRHS game to be played on Friday October 2 will open things up for our Big Tailgate the following day when Army hosts Tulane at West Point. We couldn't have asked for a more competitive game at Michie Stadium and we truly mean that.  Since we last saw these two teams square off in 1996 in an Army victory on their way to a 10-2 season, the Cadets and Green Wave have eac won six games against one another.  How many busses will we need?

Civil War - Great TV scheduling!  The annual end of the season math-up between Oregon and Oregon State is schedule for Thursday, December 9  pm EST.  That's a great rivalry to be televising at prime time.  We look forward to watching that one on the tube.  How cold will it be in Oregon?