THE IUP Football Thread

[Ram040506]

So, it's then absolutely about population. You can't or shouldn't have one without the other. I proved with information and math that per person there are less D2 opportunities in SR3 than there is in SR1 and its not even close.

Now go lick your wounds and enjoy your Sunday.

You'd have to live in the area to understand. Football is not nearly as important in the NE as it is in other areas of the country. The talent pool in general, coupled with the sheer # of football playing universities dilutes the pool of recruitable players. Universities in this area typically offer more sports in their athletic department than schools in other areas of the country. Helps with enrollment, hurts the quality of product by spreading the scholarships thin amongst too many sports.

There might be 2 or 3 schools in the entire region that are fully funded or even at 30 total equivalencies for football. Kid's generally are taking the best financial package regardless if its D2 or D3, as they should.

[iupgroundhog]

So, it's then absolutely about population. You can't or shouldn't have one without the other. I proved with information and math that per person there are less D2 opportunities in SR3 than there is in SR1 and its not even close.

Now go lick your wounds and enjoy your Sunday.

Ok, whatever you think. I don't think anybody cares about this argument. But you didn't win it because of the neighboring states issue and the D3/D1 schools issue. However, the biggest difference is related to resources and emphasis. The number of sports fielded by the schools has been discussed. The biggest factor, though, is that while the PSAC is the dominant conference in SR1, the schools are forced by the state to rely solely on private donations for athletics scholarships. Frankly, I don't disagree with that policy.

[Wallst]

It's not about population. It's about opportunities for college students, and the competition of the schools going after those students.

So, it's then absolutely about population. You can't or shouldn't have one without the other. I proved with information and math that per person there are less D2 opportunities in SR3 than there is in SR1 and its not even close.

Now go lick your wounds and enjoy your Sunday.

[WarriorVoice]

Valid point on more sports but I'll balance that against facilities.

Warrior Voice, someone else made the same observation about SR1 being more than the PSAC, please respond to my updated posts and numbers. As far as total population goes to my knowledge there should be very little difference between the % difference of 18-22 year olds in SR1 and SR3 as a % of total population.

It's not about population. It's about opportunities for college students, and the competition of the schools going after those students.

[Fightingscot82]

What surprises me most about that map is the far west only has 2 d2 schools. I can’t believe that as huge as California is they don’t have any d2 schools.no surprise that Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho have no d2 schools.

There used to be a bunch more D2 schools out west. Azusa Pacific, Humboldt State, and Western Washington all dropped football in the last decade. A bunch of schools moved up: Northern Colorado, all the Dakota schools, UC Davis. Hell, Cal Poly was D2 but they never got over graduating Stef Georgavic.

[Tdobson]

What surprises me most about that map is the far west only has 2 d2 schools. I can’t believe that as huge as California is they don’t have any d2 schools.no surprise that Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho have no d2 schools.

[IUPNation]

Valid point on more sports but I'll balance that against facilities.

Warrior Voice, someone else made the same observation about SR1 being more than the PSAC, please respond to my updated posts and numbers. As far as total population goes to my knowledge there should be very little difference between the % difference of 18-22 year olds in SR1 and SR3 as a % of total population.

West Chester probably sponsors double the amount of sports than Pittsburg Without The H State.

[Wallst]

If you took the two best players at every position in the Pee Sack and made a team out of them they’d be competitive vs Region 3.

Also what Wallst doesn’t get is Pee Sack schools sponsor more sports than MIAA schools do athletic dollars have to go further here.

Valid point on more sports but I'll balance that against facilities.

Warrior Voice, someone else made the same observation about SR1 being more than the PSAC, please respond to my updated posts and numbers. As far as total population goes to my knowledge there should be very little difference between the % difference of 18-22 year olds in SR1 and SR3 as a % of total population.

[IUPNation]

And BINGO was his name ...

Our best teams all lack depth. It's real simple. Our first 25-30 players can stack up. By November, several of them are gone. What remains is a gigantic drop-off in talent.

If you took the two best players at every position in the Pee Sack and made a team out of them they’d be competitive vs Region 3.

Also what Wallst doesn’t get is Pee Sack schools sponsor more sports than MIAA schools do athletic dollars have to go further here.

[WarriorVoice]

https://images.app.goo.gl/XPkvpadrYWoU5jXU7

This illustrates my point to a degree. Look at the congestion of programs in the Northeast US. I'll try to find an overlay of all 3 divisions...

[Ship69]

Upset with something someone is posting? Ignore or don't respond. If you respond, don't be surprised when something comes back at you. And I've found a lot of people on the Interweb to be ones who invariably must have the final post. So I usually set myself a limit in a thread — usually a three-post maximum on a given topic and I've done. Having a cow about what someone posts on a largely anonymous D2 sports site is really rather foolish anyway.

[IUPalum]

No, what comes through is that people with IUP degrees are incapable of reading comprehension or any memory. You say “a lot of stuff comes and goes.” Nation has been doing this for ages. He’s been calling people “trumpanzees” for well over two years with no meaningful consequences. He’s been instigating about Trump and republicans in general for years. [State]-Stan this, etc.. It is not “coming and going.” It is a repeated pattern that the mods claim to be against with mealy-mouthed warnings about taking things to the off-topic thread but don’t follow up on.

If you don't live vicariously through your Alma Mater, then why are you even engaging? According to you, you don't post on here because of that. Obviously, you do since you've responded for days on the topic and also took a personal attack on the fine gentleman that runs the site. Do yourself a favor and LEAVE this site if you don't like what's going on here!!!

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Sheesh! A lot has happened in the last 24 hours here. Must be July with not much else to talk about.

SR 1 is, for the most part, not very competitive once the representative makes the semi-finals. That’s no secret and the numbers speak for themselves. There are a lot of reasons for it ranging from money, allowable scholarships (PSAC), recruiting range (see money), competition for athletes, etc. It is what it is. The best D2 football is played in other places in the country. There have been some near misses out of SR 1, but they’ve been few and far between. Heck, those Ferris State teams from 2-3 years ago could have beaten some lower level D1 teams. The 2021 team may have been the best D2 team I ever saw.

It is what it is. You get what you pay for and SR 1 schools aren’t paying what the others are, or in some cases are only allowed to invest so much. Interestingly, the portal might level the playing field a little as some of the better players in the dominant programs make the jump to D1, but we’ll see over the next few years if there’s much impact.

And BINGO was his name ...

Our best teams all lack depth. It's real simple. Our first 25-30 players can stack up. By November, several of them are gone. What remains is a gigantic drop-off in talent.

[WarriorVoice]

Ohhh its information you want.
First lets agree population causes congestion, whether its on the roads, airports or # of schools.
So now the information:
Per Google in 2022 these states had the following populations.
PA: 12.97
KS 2.94
MO 6.18
OK 4.02
NE 1.97 That gives the bottom 4 states a combined total population of 15.11.

Now assuming birth rates are static across the country and the number of 18 year olds in these states is equally proportioned between all states then it becomes a matter of division. How many D2 football schools are in PA and how many are in the bottom 4. Well since you asked, Per Google and Field Level there are 17 D2 Football schools in PA. And in the other 4 combined there are 24. KS 4, MO 9 OK 8, NE 3

So now when you divide the population of the states by the number of D2 schools in those states you get the following.
12.97/ 17 = 762,941 people per college
15.11/ 24 = 629,583 people per college

So the congestion per college is actually greater here.

I await your reply backing up your position. Now if you want to talk about more scholly's, SR3 being mostly fully funded, or the fact that a good part of the SR3 region is willing to go coast to coast to find the right kid or get their foot in the door at a couple of high schools then yea we can chat about that. But to just put a post with no stats behind it and a blanket statement just because you think the world ends at the PA/OH line is well ...now you have some information.

Great job of providing some stats. Whether they are relevant is open to debate. For starters, you should be measuring college age students instead of total population...Secondly, SR1 is more than just PA, so your numbers are not complete. You should also consider all divisions of athletics. Nice try though.

[EyeoftheHawk]

Sheesh! A lot has happened in the last 24 hours here. Must be July with not much else to talk about.

SR 1 is, for the most part, not very competitive once the representative makes the semi-finals. That’s no secret and the numbers speak for themselves. There are a lot of reasons for it ranging from money, allowable scholarships (PSAC), recruiting range (see money), competition for athletes, etc. It is what it is. The best D2 football is played in other places in the country. There have been some near misses out of SR 1, but they’ve been few and far between. Heck, those Ferris State teams from 2-3 years ago could have beaten some lower level D1 teams. The 2021 team may have been the best D2 team I ever saw.

It is what it is. You get what you pay for and SR 1 schools aren’t paying what the others are, or in some cases are only allowed to invest so much. Interestingly, the portal might level the playing field a little as some of the better players in the dominant programs make the jump to D1, but we’ll see over the next few years if there’s much impact.