@usc4valpo we didn’t have Mansaray. And I said last years Valpo. Rowan is considerably less dynamic than Caron. No Coulson, Jernegan, or Givens. This years offense is an abomination.
How come Mansaray didn't play?
I was also questioning why Keefe was still at QB after his first 2 picks, then he had that nice drive to get the TD. Way too greedy at the end, when all you need to do is get into better FG range. Very disappointing loss...
To think that for any season that Valpo is vastly superior to D3 schools is bad assumption an a a little pompous. There have been many D3 schools that can at least compete and beat Valpo. It’s non scholarship football, and Valpo has always been at the bottom of D1.
Again with all due respect you are wrong. Valparaiso best NAIA #3 Indiana Wesleyan , scholarship, that did not lose a regular season game outside of Valpo/plYoffs for two seasons
however you are right in a sense that the competition is not THAT far off. We lost to a D3 team in 2010&11 for the absolute most part our closest conference games in the PFL were 3 score deficits. Fox and Cecchini took a decade to get the level of play up towards the PFL and away from that era. A lot of which could have been out done tonight.
Their QB was in the D3 national championship and could do nothing against the defense for 59 minutes. The offense is another story. Which is where you are correct , Outside of Mike Mansaray , we may have a sub .500 level division 3 offense.
The PFL has lost 4 division 3 games in 25 years. So to say that it’s pompous is a little out there. Unfortunately, Valpo owns 3/4 now. The other being 2013 first year back Stetson.
Quite frankly if you hold a team to 2 YPC and no touchdowns for 59 minutes that should be a route. Offense was a complete disaster.
All this to say, we are absolutely in trouble this season from now to Week 11
Their are some really good football teams in DIII. The OAC'S top 2 or 3 teams would have no issues in the PFL. Mt. Union of course, Ohio Northern, John Carroll. Adrian is in the top 1/3 of all D3 teams. Waddell made Marietta a respectable team in that conference, at a school that was pretty bad for years. Not a huge drop off at all if any from the PFL to the upper tier DIII teams. Unfortunately, Valpo plays a step up in competition the next few weeks and this could be ugly. I guess lets judge Valpo at the end of the season, but yes, the turnovers and offense were atrocious. Not having Mansaray prolly cost them the game without your best player and a guy capable of some game breakers.
@burnee77 I would disagree. PFL as a whole is better than that conference. 4 different PFL schools best scholarship FCS schools last week. Drake handled Upper Iowa 41-9. I think our conference record and results will show we are on the very low end of that spectrum this season
First off, do I get a Missed the Boat award for predicting a 42-6 Valpo win? Does it get me some leftover crust from an old Greek's pizza?
As Paul put it well in The Victory Bell, it's hard to overcome 5 turnovers.
Rowan has struggled mightily since showing so much promise 2 seasons ago. Going 15 for 19 passing can't overcome 3 picks.
Noah Beaudrie's performance taught me something about how top D3 quarterbacks stack up against D1 non-scholarship schools. He was good enough to start for Mount Union, which occasionally sends players to the NFL (most notably WRs Pierre Garcon and Cecil Shorts). Adrian was lucky to snag him.
Still, Beaudrie didn't carve up Valpo and put huge points on the board. Take away the VU turnovers and a modest win could've been the result.
I would argue that the PFL is more comparable to NAIA than anything else. But its still hard to judge. Its only one of two conferences of its type and the other conference doesn't really play colleges outside of its own conference (IVY)
NAIA could be better or worse than a D3 conference in any given year, and the top half of a conference could be much better performers than the bottom half by exorbitant margins at that level. PFL schools can beat D3 schools and punch up to FCS schools, but at the same time, loose to D3 and NAIA schools.
In my opinion, the PFL is too much of a fluid conference in terms of who is good and when that it is simply hard to put them in a rank.
The correct answer, in my opinion, is that the PFL is "not a true D1" conference and that they are both D3 and NAIA at the same time depending on any given Saturday.
As for the game itself. I think it is more correct to say that Valpo "lost the game" than it is to say that Adrian "won the game" The defense was bound to lapse given their time on the field and the inability for the offense to handle the ball until it was too late and the defense was already running on fumes.
I think it is more correct to say that Valpo "lost the game" than it is to say that Adrian "won the game" The defense was bound to lapse given their time on the field and the inability for the offense to handle the ball until it was too late and the defense was already running on fumes.
Agree. with our top two running backs essentially out as well as three starters on defense, this young team was put into a real hole and then keep digging with five turnovers and you get a loss to a team we should have beaten by a couple of scores. Hopefully this very thin team doesn't keep losing key guys to injury.
I think the boat is being missed. Valpo should have won this game to where Cecchini and Fox worked to get the program. NAIA IWU beat Marian by 56 points last year. We beat them.
Valpo quite frankly has two significant problems. First is talent coming in is not equal to talent coming out. We got used to Fox patching graduating players with immediately ready transfers. No freshman played extensively for Fox. Game winning throw was on a freshman DB. This also hurts us depth wise with the above injuries. We are used to FBS/FCS bounce backs. What we got instead was D3/NAIA call ups.
Second. We got outcoached. Plain and simple. Adrian got the lead and started burning clock immediately. They knew we have no big play threat outside of Mansaray. The QB situation is dire to the point where Florence obviously wants a QB that can throw. Rowan went 2/9 against VU Lynchburg with a pick six and was named the starter. If that’s the case, we have a couple of FR QBs from big name schools. Let’s see what they have.
Fox had built this up where a D3 program would be a win. We beat 2 scholarship teams last year Davidson / Marist (who has a scholarship win this seasons already).
NAIA is not similar to the PFL on the high end. Myles Cox two time all conference on #3 IWU xfered to Western Illinois and got two straight DNP in 50 point blowouts. PFL teams are beating teams better than Western
The income is not matching what’s graduated talent wise. The Coaches aren’t wanting to depend on the portal. And the OC is coaching to his scheme not the roster.
We are in for a long rebuild and some large losses this season
...The income is not matching what’s graduated talent wise. The Coaches aren’t wanting to depend on the portal. And the OC is coaching to his scheme not the roster.
We are in for a long rebuild and some large losses this season
I wrote in one of these threads that the portal can be a boon to football in sharp contrast to how it is a curse for basketball, at least for Valpo.
Isn't it possible for VU to put together a conference contending team -- at least as a one-season wonder -- through the portal? You get talented players somehow overlooked at scholarship schools, give them a chance to play, and some will become standouts. Isn't that how we got Washington and Dawson?
You may be right but I think having a complete system—head coach, defensive coordinator and offensive coordinator, all who have worked together before. In the long run will work to our benefit. Fox was constantly patching and it was very hard on the players. Give him a few years . Valpo will be in much better hands
I’m normally quite pessimistic, and I’ve certainly expressed my frustration to those around me ever since the game ended, but I think we can’t get as negative as we are right now. Yeah it’s probably the worst loss in a decade or so, I’m not disagreeing with that. But it’s Week 2 of a 12 game season. If we get absolutely blown out this week then yeah maybe we can start to call it quits on the season hopes, but even then the speculation of how Adrian etc. matches up against the PFL won’t be answered fully until the conference season starts for us in October. I completely agree that this is an unacceptable loss and it kills most of my hopes for the season, but even the 1997-98 Sweet Sixteen team lost the season opener at home to NAIA Bethel. Not to mention that we had multiple starters out injured (Markley was hurt too) and I’m told McNeely wasn’t gonna play until Mansaray got hurt since he went the entire summer without a live rep. It’s one game. Let’s hope they come back stronger Saturday.
sentiment is great. Fox held San Diego and Saint Thomas to 14 points into the 4th when our offense was punting every three and out series.
top 3 RBs injured, 2 WRs injured , young OL , QB play. As stated earlier I’ll be surprised if we pass the 50 this week outside of garbage time
