Breaking News at Lock Haven

[Dirty Harry]

Yea whatever dude!

Looks like a lot more PSAC teams than MEC/WVIAC. The Depth of the PSAC is better. And has been.

[Dirty Harry]

Depth-wise, it's not even close. There is no denying the MEC has routinely had one very strong team per year as the results show. It's the age-old argument ... the one big MEC team steam-rolled everybody else in the regular season. Case in point the years the MEC got two teams in to the playoffs. IUP went to Charleston and Fairmont State in the playoffs and curb-stomped both of those 'second place' teams in their stadiums. Freaking East Stroudsburg went down and won at a second-place MEC team's stadium two years ago prior to finishing near the East cellar. It's been an extremely top-heavy league. I buy the fact their top team is very strong. The rest ... not buying it.

Exactly!

[IUP412]

Two D3 head coaches, two D2 assistants.

Heard HC from WU down the road is a lock.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Yea whatever dude!

Remember ... Shepherd and Minnesota State-Mankato have never, ever seen athletes the quality of the PSAC. LOL

[Ram040506]

That's some nice work. Only thing I'd suggest is that Shepherd put up big records in some years against slightly fewer week-to-week tests than the PSAC powers. And even then, I guess Millersville/Cheyney/Lock Haven were "breathers" for those clubs, too.

Yea whatever dude!

[shipfbfan1]

It would be interesting to see how everyone in the forum voted for best teams within the region this past decade. I'm going to go out on a limb and say Shepherd & IUP are 1-2 and pretty interchangeable after that Rock/WCU/KU/Cal and Ship would fill out within the top 10 along with New Haven, Notre Dame and Bloomsburg.

[jrshooter]

Slow day at work...

I did a quick tally on essentially round participated in for the playoffs, thinking that is ultimately what the consideration is for a successful season. How far did you go? Each round of participation earns a tally. Came out like this:

1. Shepherd- 20 pts
2. IUP- 14 pts
3. Rock- 12 pts
4. West Chester- 10 pts
5. Bloomsburg- 8 pts
6. California- 7 pts
6. Kutztown- 7 pts
6. New Haven- 7 pts
6. Notre Dame- 7 pts
10. Assumption- 6 pts
11. Concord- 5 pts
12. Mercyhurst- 3 pts
12. Shippensburg- 3 pts
14. Findlay- 2 pts
14. Hillsdale- 2 pts
16. American International- 1 pt
16. Charleston- 1 pt
16. Fairmont St- 1 pt
16. Tiffin- 1 pt

Didn't include teams not presently in the region such as Winston Salem (12 pts) or CW Post (4 pts), etc. Think this rings pretty accurate for how the decade went.

That's some nice work. Only thing I'd suggest is that Shepherd put up big records in some years against slightly fewer week-to-week tests than the PSAC powers. And even then, I guess Millersville/Cheyney/Lock Haven were "breathers" for those clubs, too.

[Ram040506]

I don't know if this muddies the picture or what, but my take on the whole "which league was better in the 2010s" is this ...

If I were to subjectively rank all 44 teams in the region, based on my perception of overall strength from 2010 to 2019, it would be something like this:

1 -- Shepherd
2-10-ish -- A bunch of PSAC teams
11-15ish -- The steady winners: Assumption, Findlay, New Haven, etc.
16-20ish -- Those brief glimpses like Notre Dame, Tiffin, Concord, Fairmont, Charleston, etc.
20-23ish -- the rest of the PSAC, minus Cheyney, Lock Haven and Millersville
24-35ish -- The also rans: Glenville, West Liberty, AIC, SCSU, etc.
36-44 -- Millersville, Lock Haven, Pace, Kentucky Wesleyan, Seton Hill, Cheyney, etc.

Slow day at work...

I did a quick tally on essentially round participated in for the playoffs, thinking that is ultimately what the consideration is for a successful season. How far did you go? Each round of participation earns a tally. Came out like this:

1. Shepherd- 20 pts
2. IUP- 14 pts
3. Rock- 12 pts
4. West Chester- 10 pts
5. Bloomsburg- 8 pts
6. California- 7 pts
6. Kutztown- 7 pts
6. New Haven- 7 pts
6. Notre Dame- 7 pts
10. Assumption- 6 pts
11. Concord- 5 pts
12. Mercyhurst- 3 pts
12. Shippensburg- 3 pts
14. Findlay- 2 pts
14. Hillsdale- 2 pts
16. American International- 1 pt
16. Charleston- 1 pt
16. Fairmont St- 1 pt
16. Tiffin- 1 pt

Didn't include teams not presently in the region such as Winston Salem (12 pts) or CW Post (4 pts), etc. Think this rings pretty accurate for how the decade went.

[jrshooter]

[Matt Burglund]

I don't know if this muddies the picture or what, but my take on the whole "which league was better in the 2010s" is this ...

If I were to subjectively rank all 44 teams in the region, based on my perception of overall strength from 2010 to 2019, it would be something like this:

1 -- Shepherd
2-10-ish -- A bunch of PSAC teams
11-15ish -- The steady winners: Assumption, Findlay, New Haven, etc.
16-20ish -- Those brief glimpses like Notre Dame, Tiffin, Concord, Fairmont, Charleston, etc.
20-23ish -- the rest of the PSAC, minus Cheyney, Lock Haven and Millersville
24-35ish -- The also rans: Glenville, West Liberty, AIC, SCSU, etc.
36-44 -- Millersville, Lock Haven, Pace, Kentucky Wesleyan, Seton Hill, Cheyney, etc.

[Ram040506]

Obviously take some comments with a grain of salt. That's why the PSAC snatched up Shepherd. Keep in mind, too, many on this board think the PSAC is a national football powerhouse and the equivalent to the D1 SEC. Those in the know ... know that's not the case. There's a reason SR1, national view, is seen as the bye week in the Final Four. SRU losing by about 500 points this year just added fuel to it.

Agreed, the ones who've been around the block know who we are in the pecking order as a conference.

I feel its coming though, I think were going to get a breakthrough from one of our teams on the national stage here soon enough.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Yep, a lot of those teams also were just getting their feet wet as well with the playoff season, so a veteran program used to the playoff atmosphere like IUP comes and they are better prepared. It usually took a quarter or so of "hanging on for dear life" and hoping it hadn't got out of hand even for Shepherd sometimes, because the physicality was much different then the regular season schedule. Obviously it got out of hand quickly. That year that IUP smack Fairmont down there, Fairmont took Shepherd all the way to the wire @ shepherd too. Shepherd won the region that year.

I'm not buying the consistent superiority complex of some of our PSAC supporters. Calling a conference that has performed on the playoff field with their representative(s) better than our own conference has for the last decade, a JV league is just something that drives me nuts to read.

Obviously take some comments with a grain of salt. That's why the PSAC snatched up Shepherd. Keep in mind, too, many on this board think the PSAC is a national football powerhouse and the equivalent to the D1 SEC. Those in the know ... know that's not the case. There's a reason SR1, national view, is seen as the bye week in the Final Four. SRU losing by about 500 points this year just added fuel to it.

[Ram040506]

Depth-wise, it's not even close. There is no denying the MEC has routinely had one very strong team per year as the results show. It's the age-old argument ... the one big MEC team steam-rolled everybody else in the regular season. Case in point the years the MEC got two teams in to the playoffs. IUP went to Charleston and Fairmont State in the playoffs and curb-stomped both of those 'second place' teams in their stadiums. Freaking East Stroudsburg went down and won at a second-place MEC team's stadium two years ago prior to finishing near the East cellar. It's been an extremely top-heavy league. I buy the fact their top team is very strong. The rest ... not buying it.

Yep, a lot of those teams also were just getting their feet wet as well with the playoff season, so a veteran program used to the playoff atmosphere like IUP comes and they are better prepared. It usually took a quarter or so of "hanging on for dear life" and hoping it hadn't got out of hand even for Shepherd sometimes, because the physicality was much different then the regular season schedule. Obviously it got out of hand quickly. That year that IUP smack Fairmont down there, Fairmont took Shepherd all the way to the wire @ shepherd too. Shepherd won the region that year.

I'm not buying the consistent superiority complex of some of our PSAC supporters. Calling a conference that has performed on the playoff field with their representative(s) better than our own conference has for the last decade, a JV league is just something that drives me nuts to read.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

2010, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018. Go look at those playoff years results. The PSAC had a very weak decade, if were being honest.

Depth-wise, it's not even close. There is no denying the MEC has routinely had one very strong team per year as the results show. It's the age-old argument ... the one big MEC team steam-rolled everybody else in the regular season. Case in point the years the MEC got two teams in to the playoffs. IUP went to Charleston and Fairmont State in the playoffs and curb-stomped both of those 'second place' teams in their stadiums. Freaking East Stroudsburg went down and won at a second-place MEC team's stadium two years ago prior to finishing near the East cellar. It's been an extremely top-heavy league. I buy the fact their top team is very strong. The rest ... not buying it.

[Ram040506]

Perhaps. But, many times the PSAC has been in the Semi's. #WhereistheMEC

2010, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018. Go look at those playoff years results. The PSAC had a very weak decade, if were being honest.