THE IUP Football Thread

[ironmaniup]

Armenti promised Lucky "spots." Basically, if the player was given a spot on the team, he was admitted. That's it right there. I imagine its the allowance Luckhardt had at W&J.

I think the worst one was when Cal took Joe Slappy after he was kicked out of IUP. It was crazy the year he came back to IUP, and won.

[IUPalum]

I remember going down there in 2005 and being STUNNED. I believe that was Antoine Bagwell - a castoff of the Nebraska fake JV team era - and Ruggerio at QB.

Bagwell and Ruggerio were both really good players and were the start of the Cal turn around.

[Fightingscot82]

For those of us who remember when Cal was a guaranteed easy win, isn't it weird to think that IUP is 5-11 vs. the Vulcans since Frank Cignetti retired?

I remember going down there in 2005 and being STUNNED. I believe that was Antoine Bagwell - a castoff of the Nebraska fake JV team era - and Ruggerio at QB.

[Fightingscot82]

Easy…The Godfather used funny money to beef up the program…and they managed to stay above water all these years. I mean their best years were well over a decade ago but enough seems to be left in place to keep them from going back to being a bottom feeder..for now. I still think the merger will hurt them athletically. I can’t see the admin of it letting Mon Valley have more money than Clarion.

Oh it was real money. He used funds to prop up football that should have been spent on better purposes. Technically within the rules but he did it in spite of what Harrisburg was telling him. Eventually they called him on it, canned him, and he whined and whined for a couple years until he realized nobody wanted to hear.

[Fightingscot82]

The stories of their admissions standards in that era are legendary. I'm not just talking about poor academic admissions. You want to talk about criminal backgrounds. Good Lord. They pulled it off for a long time. Amazingly.

Armenti promised Lucky "spots." Basically, if the player was given a spot on the team, he was admitted. That's it right there. I imagine its the allowance Luckhardt had at W&J.

[Ship69]

I remember we were trying to beat big bad Shippensburg back in the day!

Gotta tip my hat to how your folks turned the program around down there. When I was a freshman at Ship back in the '60s, we beat Shepherd 33-10 in our opener, and that was a bad Shippenburg team (2-6 if I remember correctly). We're the ones trying to play catchup now.

[IUPNation]

It's a nice stadium. Ample, close parking. I don't love the visiting side. You no longer feel like you'll fall off the cliff, but there are some sight-line issues, etc. For our older fans, it's a haul to hit the restrooms and concessions.

I'm a little surprised Cal scheduled this for 12 p.m. This has been a later timeslot game down there for the last several visits and certainly one of their biggest gates / tailgate atmospheres. Tort did say the team is going down Friday night (which, they don't normally do). Perhaps he's trying to break the curse. IUP hasn't played there since 2018. There's a handful of players on the team who played in that game but not many. I remember Q. Carter had a kickoff house call in that last visit.

Tort said last night the Vulcans are the most talented team they'll have faced this year.

Also, they are trying to get the band to the game. I can't even remember the last time the IUP band hit the road. They are having busing issues, however.

Are there a shortage of buses in Indiana County?

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Easy…The Godfather used funny money to beef up the program…and they managed to stay above water all these years. I mean their best years were well over a decade ago but enough seems to be left in place to keep them from going back to being a bottom feeder..for now. I still think the merger will hurt them athletically. I can’t see the admin of it letting Mon Valley have more money than Clarion.

The stories of their admissions standards in that era are legendary. I'm not just talking about poor academic admissions. You want to talk about criminal backgrounds. Good Lord. They pulled it off for a long time. Amazingly.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

I still remember going down there for a game on the old grass field and standing on the rickety bleachers on the away side thinking what a joke the Cal football program was. IUP destroyed them before halftime and there were more IUP fans there than Cal fans. We can go back and forth about how the turnaround ultimately came to be, but for those of us who saw what it was compared to how it is now, it’s pretty remarkable. Despite the awful outcomes recently, I actually enjoy going to games there. They do a nice job.

It's a nice stadium. Ample, close parking. I don't love the visiting side. You no longer feel like you'll fall off the cliff, but there are some sight-line issues, etc. For our older fans, it's a haul to hit the restrooms and concessions.

I'm a little surprised Cal scheduled this for 12 p.m. This has been a later timeslot game down there for the last several visits and certainly one of their biggest gates / tailgate atmospheres. Tort did say the team is going down Friday night (which, they don't normally do). Perhaps he's trying to break the curse. IUP hasn't played there since 2018. There's a handful of players on the team who played in that game but not many. I remember Q. Carter had a kickoff house call in that last visit.

Tort said last night the Vulcans are the most talented team they'll have faced this year.

Also, they are trying to get the band to the game. I can't even remember the last time the IUP band hit the road. They are having busing issues, however.

[IUPNation]

I still remember going down there for a game on the old grass field and standing on the rickety bleachers on the away side thinking what a joke the Cal football program was. IUP destroyed them before halftime and there were more IUP fans there than Cal fans. We can go back and forth about how the turnaround ultimately came to be, but for those of us who saw what it was compared to how it is now, it’s pretty remarkable. Despite the awful outcomes recently, I actually enjoy going to games there. They do a nice job.

Easy…The Godfather used funny money to beef up the program…and they managed to stay above water all these years. I mean their best years were well over a decade ago but enough seems to be left in place to keep them from going back to being a bottom feeder..for now. I still think the merger will hurt them athletically. I can’t see the admin of it letting Mon Valley have more money than Clarion.

[EyeoftheHawk]

For those of us who remember when Cal was a guaranteed easy win, isn't it weird to think that IUP is 5-11 vs. the Vulcans since Frank Cignetti retired?

I still remember going down there for a game on the old grass field and standing on the rickety bleachers on the away side thinking what a joke the Cal football program was. IUP destroyed them before halftime and there were more IUP fans there than Cal fans. We can go back and forth about how the turnaround ultimately came to be, but for those of us who saw what it was compared to how it is now, it’s pretty remarkable. Despite the awful outcomes recently, I actually enjoy going to games there. They do a nice job.

[EyeoftheHawk]

I mentioned it the other day but when IUP had to punt with 1:32 left in the fourth quarter (after throwing incomplete and giving SRU basically a free timeout) ... in a freaking windy monsoon with a freshman punter and a freshman long-snapper ...

You talk about a tense moment. If that snap goes high or they block it ... SRU was in prime real estate. That clean punt won't show up in any game stories or anything ... but that was one of the defining moments of this season -- especially after the shock trauma of a year ago with that unit.

So much could have gone wrong at that moment. You couldn't really tell on the screen but it was the oddest weather the whole second half. The wind was changing directions about every 30 seconds and it was pouring when they snapped that punt. Big congrats to those boys.

I may have lined up Sexton in the gun and then had him drop back a few yards and pooch punt it just to make sure they got it off.

If you want to have your heart skip a beat, go back and watch that punt again. For whatever reason, Cole Laney lets the outside rusher blow by him without putting a hand on him and he almost got home. Credit the punter for getting it out of there but geez! I’ll yield that the formation they’re now using on punt protection is designed to stop middle penetration and the calculation is the snap is back and kick is away before an outside rusher can get there. This is similar to an extra point. HOWEVER, when you don’t get inside pressure you have to look to the outside and at least get a shove on the end rusher. That was a whisker away from a repeat of the Cal debacle.

[EyeoftheHawk]

What's not to like about Harry?

128-219-4-1,904 with 25 TDs in only 8 games (7th in the nation in passing efficiency), like you said, speaks for itself.

I can't think of any reason to blame him for any of IUP's three losses last season.

If you want to complain about anything, it's that he got COVID and missed the first two games.

It was a tongue-in-cheek comment. I liked Harry, but for some reason I had a bias where I expected something bad to happen. That’s the point I was trying to make. IUPAlum, for whatever reason, has a bias against Sexton and I was trying to draw a comparison. I should have elaborated.

Woodberry was a very good quarterback and it would have been nice to have him around for more than a year.

[Iupgh]

What's not to like about Harry?

128-219-4-1,904 with 25 TDs in only 8 games (7th in the nation in passing efficiency), like you said, speaks for itself.

I can't think of any reason to blame him for any of IUP's three losses last season.

If you want to complain about anything, it's that he got COVID and missed the first two games.

Actually Harry only present for 2 losses. In addition he lit up SRU and Cal likeca christmas tree.

[IUPNation]

For those of us who remember when Cal was a guaranteed easy win, isn't it weird to think that IUP is 5-11 vs. the Vulcans since Frank Cignetti retired?

There was a long time the whole Pee Sack West was an easy win for IUP. The Home Office took care of that…