Truth Serum

[IUPbigINDIANS]

By now, we've all read hundreds of preseason hype/cheerleader pieces written about high school and college teams.

They've all recruited great. They've all worked hard. This is going to be the year. Blah. Blah. Blah.

Fact is, they haven't all recruited great. They haven't all worked hard. This isn't going to be the year for most of them. Reality, for many, is coming knocking in a few days.

So, if we could get the PSAC coaches to tell us how they really feel on Aug. 22 ... what would they say?

Even on this board (at this time of year), we tend to all only talk about the good things surrounding our teams.

What is being hidden out there (aside from the IUP roster)?

[Ship69]

The ability of some coaches to say a whole lot of nothing for 10 minutes straight has always been a source of amazement and amusement for me.

[TheBigCat2192]

I imagine that quite a few of them would say “why are we adding Lackawanna?” and there’s probably a portion saying “I wish we hadn’t hung onto the COVID year guys” with the downstream effect on playing/development time for young guys and HS recruiting. The schools who won a lot with their COVID guys probably won’t be in this group because recruiting and quality transfers to fill those spots tend to follow success but the teams who had a lot of old dudes the last year or two and still scuffled could be in for a longer than usual rebuild.

[Iupgh]

A IUP roster will not be populated until the school academic year begins which is 8/25/25. This is not Shepherd you actually have to have a schedule and gain credits…just sayin.

[Fightingscot82]

Coaches and teams love to announce mottos and themes for the season. Edinboro's should be a giant question mark. There are so many new faces and so many unknowns due to turnover and departures. Do I like what I'm seeing so far? Absolutely. Am I confident that Edinboro will finish higher than 6th in the West? Heck no. That's not a criticism of anyone - its the nature of a lot of new starters and an entirely new coaching staff. Obviously Coach Matt Scott can't say this but its clear nobody knows what's going to happen until they start playing.

I believe they have a decent OL. Gotta figure out the QB situation and hopefully they can recover from losing most of their top WRs the last two off seasons to the portal. Defense is similar - I'm concerned about their ability to stifle opponents after losing Diaz. Lastly, I think the most under appreciated contributor the last couple years was all purpose player Reed Martin, who was a hell of a punter. If he were a baseball player, he'd have a pretty strong WAR for how many big time punts he had.

[CUlater]

Coaches and teams love to announce mottos and themes for the season. Edinboro's should be a giant question mark. There are so many new faces and so many unknowns due to turnover and departures. Do I like what I'm seeing so far? Absolutely. Am I confident that Edinboro will finish higher than 6th in the West? Heck no. That's not a criticism of anyone - its the nature of a lot of new starters and an entirely new coaching staff. Obviously Coach Matt Scott can't say this but its clear nobody knows what's going to happen until they start playing.

I believe they have a decent OL. Gotta figure out the QB situation and hopefully they can recover from losing most of their top WRs the last two off seasons to the portal. Defense is similar - I'm concerned about their ability to stifle opponents after losing Diaz. Lastly, I think the most under appreciated contributor the last couple years was all purpose player Reed Martin, who was a hell of a punter. If he were a baseball player, he'd have a pretty strong WAR for how many big time punts he had.

I think there is a lot to be excited about for Boro. The variable is certainly the amount of moving parts but i'd expect them to get better as the season goes along. They brought in a lot of players and have a few impact guys. The RB from Buffalo is going to be a stud and the WR they brought in from D3 can play. interested to see what happens at QB as they brought in a few transfers there as well. I like what Scott is doing up there and they've assembled a solid roster quickly. Will just depend on how quick they take to the new systems.

I think the best part of this is that there doesn't appear to be a clear-cut doormat. GU will be really interesting as i think they have a mostly new staff and something like 6-8 total returning players from 24 but they brought in some quality talent. Top to bottom the league really seems to have improved significantly over the last couple of years which is better for everybody.

[Fightingscot82]

I think there is a lot to be excited about for Boro. The variable is certainly the amount of moving parts but i'd expect them to get better as the season goes along. They brought in a lot of players and have a few impact guys. The RB from Buffalo is going to be a stud and the WR they brought in from D3 can play. interested to see what happens at QB as they brought in a few transfers there as well. I like what Scott is doing up there and they've assembled a solid roster quickly. Will just depend on how quick they take to the new systems.

I think the best part of this is that there doesn't appear to be a clear-cut doormat. GU will be really interesting as i think they have a mostly new staff and something like 6-8 total returning players from 24 but they brought in some quality talent. Top to bottom the league really seems to have improved significantly over the last couple of years which is better for everybody.

Great points. I too like the transfers they've brought in and Edinboro is the king of mining overlooked gems in Western NY. As you said, time will tell if they gel together and with the system the coaches believe is best.

The lack of a doormat in the West is something relatively new. Could one out itself by week 3 or 4 - absolutely. But the dog fight for first place and the dog fight for 4th place is something that makes this conference and the west division special. I recognize that its also a bit unnerving because in those days of a perennial loser meant that at least you weren't likely to be last.

Can't wait for the season to kick off next Thursday. ESU is a great team but they too have their kinks and rust to overcome. First game of the year is tough: try to get things working correctly, minimize damage to the score and injuries, and if possible try for the win.

[ClarionNoob]

I don’t know how a D2 coach can build a program with a motto and a Vision while turning over 1/3 or more of the roster every season.

Players you develop and get where you want them reward you by leaving.

Transfer portal players from bigger programs are commonly rejected by the rest of FCS / D1 so if they are coming down to play they don’t want to stay. So many view D2 as a one and done stop to another place.

Any consistency that can be generated at all from this programs is mind blowing to me.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

I don’t know how a D2 coach can build a program with a motto and a Vision while turning over 1/3 or more of the roster every season.

Players you develop and get where you want them reward you by leaving.

Transfer portal players from bigger programs are commonly rejected by the rest of FCS / D1 so if they are coming down to play they don’t want to stay. So many view D2 as a one and done stop to another place.

Any consistency that can be generated at all from this programs is mind blowing to me.

That is one very intriguing aspect of the Ashland at IUP game.

Both programs had incredible retention off-seasons.

As for the imports coming down to D2 ... yeah, they pretty much all have baggage at this point. The exception would probably be the D1 walk-ons. Most of them probably should have been here all along.

A unicorn may appear every once in awhile but now the key seems to be raiding the Portal for other D2 players. Millersville, for example, has become a feeder for IUP. Slippery Rock has made bank signing D2 transfers.

What we're seeing is the poor teams are simply developing for the wealthy. The PSAC is basically MLB.

[WarriorVoice]

A IUP roster will not be populated until the school academic year begins which is 8/25/25. This is not Shepherd you actually have to have a schedule and gain credits…just sayin.

Wow, where's THAT hate coming from? Did you get rejected by Shepherd?

[Ship69]

Wow, where's THAT hate coming from? Did you get rejected by Shepherd?

I have no problem with Shepherd, but if you're a warm body you have about an 80 percent chance of being accepted at a state school these days, and I say that as someone who went to a state school.

[Fightingscot82]

I have no problem with Shepherd, but if you're a warm body you have about an 80 percent chance of being accepted at a state school these days, and I say that as someone who went to a state school.

State schools naturally have to provide a higher level of accessibility than private schools, so acceptance rates should be a little higher. But they also don't operate on a model of only taking so many students like elite schools, so instead of a time tested formula that tells the school how many they have to recruit & accept to hit their yield target, state schools accept and enroll as many accepted students as possible. That means a higher acceptance rate. Another big factor is that we're now two generations into a lifetime of standardized testing and a focus on letter grades instead of learning, so 75% of every high school graduating class has a 3.0 GPA and 1,100 SAT. This means that a higher percentage of students are acceptance worthy, also bringing up acceptance rates.

But acceptance rate doesn't have anything to do with academic quality or really much anything of substance. If 15 Victoria's Secret models asked me out and I said yes to all of them, I'm not an easy date, but all 15 met my standard. That's also possible for the state schools. I could have said I'm only going to accept dates with 3 of the 15 then bragged that I'm tough to get a date with, which is what the old rich elite schools do. There's nothing stopping Bucknell from taking 1,500 freshmen, but they like creating an artificial cap because it lowers their admission rate. PASSHE schools are enrolling kids the day classes begin (today).

The things that kill our reputations are a) an inability to sell the quality of education and b) the number of students who don't finish because they transfer or more likely run out of money.

[IUPNation]

State schools naturally have to provide a higher level of accessibility than private schools, so acceptance rates should be a little higher. But they also don't operate on a model of only taking so many students like elite schools, so instead of a time tested formula that tells the school how many they have to recruit & accept to hit their yield target, state schools accept and enroll as many accepted students as possible. That means a higher acceptance rate. Another big factor is that we're now two generations into a lifetime of standardized testing and a focus on letter grades instead of learning, so 75% of every high school graduating class has a 3.0 GPA and 1,100 SAT. This means that a higher percentage of students are acceptance worthy, also bringing up acceptance rates.

But acceptance rate doesn't have anything to do with academic quality or really much anything of substance. If 15 Victoria's Secret models asked me out and I said yes to all of them, I'm not an easy date, but all 15 met my standard. That's also possible for the state schools. I could have said I'm only going to accept dates with 3 of the 15 then bragged that I'm tough to get a date with, which is what the old rich elite schools do. There's nothing stopping Bucknell from taking 1,500 freshmen, but they like creating an artificial cap because it lowers their admission rate. PASSHE schools are enrolling kids the day classes begin (today).

The things that kill our reputations are a) an inability to sell the quality of education and b) the number of students who don't finish because they transfer or more likely run out of money.

In theory they should have to accept everyone who applies. If you admit students with lesser resumes from high school they are placed in a program for a year to fix their deficiencies or weed out those who are not going to be able to complete a degree..but hey they tried. That is what Punxsy and Kitty U were for…

[Ship69]

State schools naturally have to provide a higher level of accessibility than private schools, so acceptance rates should be a little higher. But they also don't operate on a model of only taking so many students like elite schools, so instead of a time tested formula that tells the school how many they have to recruit & accept to hit their yield target, state schools accept and enroll as many accepted students as possible. That means a higher acceptance rate. Another big factor is that we're now two generations into a lifetime of standardized testing and a focus on letter grades instead of learning, so 75% of every high school graduating class has a 3.0 GPA and 1,100 SAT. This means that a higher percentage of students are acceptance worthy, also bringing up acceptance rates.

But acceptance rate doesn't have anything to do with academic quality or really much anything of substance. If 15 Victoria's Secret models asked me out and I said yes to all of them, I'm not an easy date, but all 15 met my standard. That's also possible for the state schools. I could have said I'm only going to accept dates with 3 of the 15 then bragged that I'm tough to get a date with, which is what the old rich elite schools do. There's nothing stopping Bucknell from taking 1,500 freshmen, but they like creating an artificial cap because it lowers their admission rate. PASSHE schools are enrolling kids the day classes begin (today).

The things that kill our reputations are a) an inability to sell the quality of education and b) the number of students who don't finish because they transfer or more likely run out of money.

I'm obviously not saying state schools shouldn't provide a higher level of accessibility. Just reacting to the crack about the guy "must have been rejected by Shepherd." And while there are a lot of GPA averages of 3.0 in high schools these days, 75 percent of every high school class is not getting 1,100 on the SAT. The average score is about 1050, but that's only because fewer than half the kids even take the test in most states.

[Fightingscot82]

In theory they should have to accept everyone who applies. If you admit students with lesser resumes from high school they are placed in a program for a year to fix their deficiencies or weed out those who are not going to be able to complete a degree..but hey they tried. That is what Punxsy and Kitty U were for…

There are documented examples of schools having very high acceptance rates - as you say, those students are often farmed out to branches or remedial programs: Arizona State, Colorado State, Kentucky, Ole Miss, etc. WVU has a high acceptance rate, too. But its all relative - and in most of those states even though they're national research intensive schools, there is a state directive to provide extra access. State College doesn't allow that and would rather fill campus with rich strong applicants from Long Island, New Jersey, and the DMV than provide PA students access, which is why they created the Outlet Store campus system.

I worked at a school with conditional acceptance for students who showed potential but either their GPA or their scores were off. They moved in a few weeks early and did all the remedial math & english classes together, got study skills & time management help, did freshman seminar class together, etc. They had a good success rate with it, too.