Can history repeat itself for West Florida?

[Wide_Right]

[QUOTE=West Florida;n454910]
I don't think that Valdosta State is what The University of West Florida is trying to become because in many ways they have already blown Valdosta State out of the water (sorry for the ocean reference) in many many ways.QUOTE]



And how many N.C. rings does West Florida have ?

[West Florida]

[QUOTE=Wide_Right;n454996]

I don't think that Valdosta State is what The University of West Florida is trying to become because in many ways they have already blown Valdosta State out of the water (sorry for the ocean reference) in many many ways.QUOTE]



And how many N.C. rings does West Florida have ?

Yeah, maybe read it again.

A University is more than just how many football National Championship rings it has after 4 years of having football.

The University of West Florida has been far more successful in athletics than a school like Valdosta State. While their football teams are currently 5 points apart, the 2 schools are not very comparable.

West Florida does not want to be Valdosta State.

Valdosta State is only West Florida in its dreams.

This year is basically the first year we have had a senior class. It's fun now to go back and forth with you guys like we are rivals, but I think in the next 2-5 years things are going to separate pretty quickly and everyone is going to get pretty sick of West Florida winning everything. In 2-5 years you'll get on the GSC message board and all you'll see is schools like Valdosta complaining that "West Florida has all the advantages" and "How are we supposed to be able to compete with them."

So I'm just saying, enjoy it while you can.

Enjoy saying things like, "yeah, uh yeah, but how many N.C. rings does your football team that's been around for 4 years have?"

In the first year of us having football the Blazers big bad football program could only beat us by 12.

It doesn't feel like dominating the GSC and Valdosta is really going to be that big of a challenge, it just feels like kind of a matter of time.

Again, that's just talking the football side of things. When it would come to everything else it's pretty clear: West Florida > Valdosta

[boyblue]

I don't know what talking about invincible white jerseys has to do with disrespecting "mighty" Valdosta State or their fans. It seems a lot of Valdosta fans are looking for a made-up enemy or whining about other fans from teams in the GSC. Every single non-Valdosta person recognizes the Blazers won it all last year and that the Blazers are unbeaten and #1 this year. I haven't seen a lot of disrespect to be honest. It also seems Valdosta fans compare West Florida a lot to former "up and comers" from the GSC, but only the ones that are still in the GSC. I think that's the thing. I don't have the sense that Valdosta is the standard for West Florida the way Valdosta people or alumni would like to think. I don't think that Valdosta State is what The University of West Florida is trying to become because in many ways they have already blown Valdosta State out of the water (sorry for the ocean reference) in many many ways.

Yes, the football team that was started in 1982 is currently good. The thing I've noticed is Valdosta fans compare their school and success to other schools such as West Georgia, Florida Institute of Technology, Delta State, currently West Florida, etc. The mistake being made by Valdosta fans is comparing West Florida to the list of "up and comers" that you refer to...the West Georgia's and FIT's of the world. There are other school's that were once in GSC. Troy State would beat the pants off you guys because they have evolved and grown as a school/athletic program. UT-Martin moved on to bigger and better. Same for North Alabama. Same for Central Arkansas. Same for Jacksonville State. These athletic programs have grown and evolved since 1982.

I never hear the fans of those school's mentioned though by Valdosta fans. Were those fan bases wrong when they thought they could become better athletic programs than Valdosta State??? No, they were 100% correct. Valdosta Fans seems to only talk about the schools that weren't able to do it and ignore ALL of the programs that went on to blow the Blazers out of the water (again, I'm sorry). West Florida doesn't want to be Valdosta State. West Florida wants to be like all those other schools that used Valdosta State as a never moving and never evolving stepping stone on the way to much bigger and better things just as many other school's have already done. When that happens Valdosta fans will then decide West Florida doesn't count either amongst the fan bases that knew they would eventually surpass the Blazers and Valdosta fans will go pick on Shorter and Spring Hill College and pretend they are still the king of their made-up mountain. Troy State isn't still trying to win D2 football championships. Maybe that is important to remember. Congrats to your program on having a very very good football team. That is respect. I think you probably have the most talented team in D2 this year. I also don't think anyone on Pensacola Beach today is wishing they were in Valdosta, GA eating pecans in their 1982 Valdosta High t-shirt and reading the signatures in their yearbook that say, "stay cool, never change." Valdosta's football team may be better this year, heck, who knows...maybe way better. Everyone knows that isn't going to last. Eventually, our all-white jerseys will move on and your fan base will move on to picking on Montevallo when they get football and you can act tough to them for a while. We aren't the kind of "up and comer" that you like to refer to. We are the school with a beautiful beach, growing enrollment, new state-of-the-art buildings sprouting up, that just got football and you soon won't be able to compete with us. Our biggest problem in a few years won't be if we can beat little Valdosta State, but the decision on if we want to build the biggest and best D2 football stadium on our own campus or keep playing downtown on the water. We aren't who you wished we were. #whitejerseysrule

So are you saying you would like to be reclassified from, up & comer to passer by.

As long as you compete in Division 2 and in the GSC you are the competition, until you move can we agree that our world is D2. Schools that have chosen to move up are no longer a part of the conversation because they have moved on. As long as your school is a part of lowly D2 we'll engage you in competition on the field and on this forum, once you leave you won't matter and vice versa.

We are a D2 school and we're proud of our classification. Unlike you, we don't see D2 as a sub class but as the level of competition appropriate for our institution. There may come a time when we choose to reclassify but in doing so we will maintain our respect for smaller schools that choose to remain in D2. We respect Troy and the other former GSC schools that reclassified but their accomplishments post D2 has no bearing on D2 so there is no reason to mention them, remember this is the "D2" forum. In terms of measuring our success against those schools, if you see reclassification in and of itself as success then you and I have divergent points of view and your opinion from my perspective would be farcical, and disrespectful to this forum. Long Live D2!

[West Florida]

I love D2 football and think it's fantastic. What isn't fantastic is you changing the subject to divert what the topic is about. The simple point is that West Florida keeps getting compared to the GSC teams you feel superior too and some Valdosta fans are acting as if there have never been schools that come along and kick their butt. If you think West Florida is Delta State or West Alabama or West Georgia or FIT you are naive. Honestly, if you think Valdosta State is going to have the future that West Florida will have you are naive. If you guys love being the big dogs in the GSC then West Florida is going to be a big-time problem for you in the near future.

UWF is set up much more like one of the schools that did move on from D2 and some of those schools (Troy since you mentioned them) would currently beat you guys pretty bad. Now, if UWF stays in D2 for the next 30 years I'll be perfectly happy with that. I don't know that they will, but I honestly hope that they do, because I love what D2 athletics are about. That will be a decision to be made when the time comes. I love D2 football and D2 sports in general, my point isn't that D2 isn't great.

My point is that if a football program like Troy was currently in D2 or in the GSC that they would be a major problem for other teams. Valdosta State would just be another Delta State compared to Troy. That is the success I see West Florida having. I think that is the success a lot of people see them having, I guess unless you are a Valdosta fan. If you're a Valdosta fan, I guess every team sucks until they are better than you and then you don't count them once they are better than you. I hope a lot of you Valdosta fans stick around in the coming years, but my guess is it will probably just be a lot of West Florida people on here celebrating all the time. Love Live D2!

[boyblue]

I love D2 football and think it's fantastic. What isn't fantastic is you changing the subject to divert what the topic is about. The simple point is that West Florida keeps getting compared to the GSC teams you feel superior too and some Valdosta fans are acting as if there have never been schools that come along and kick their butt. If you think West Florida is Delta State or West Alabama or West Georgia or FIT you are naive. Honestly, if you think Valdosta State is going to have the future that West Florida will have you are naive. If you guys love being the big dogs in the GSC then West Florida is going to be a big-time problem for you in the near future.

UWF is set up much more like one of the schools that did move on from D2 and some of those schools (Troy since you mentioned them) would currently beat you guys pretty bad. Now, if UWF stays in D2 for the next 30 years I'll be perfectly happy with that. I don't know that they will, but I honestly hope that they do, because I love what D2 athletics are about. That will be a decision to be made when the time comes. I love D2 football and D2 sports in general, my point isn't that D2 isn't great.

My point is that if a football program like Troy was currently in D2 or in the GSC that they would be a major problem for other teams. Valdosta State would just be another Delta State compared to Troy. That is the success I see West Florida having. I think that is the success a lot of people see them having, I guess unless you are a Valdosta fan. If you're a Valdosta fan, I guess every team sucks until they are better than you and then you don't count them once they are better than you. I hope a lot of you Valdosta fans stick around in the coming years, but my guess is it will probably just be a lot of West Florida people on here celebrating all the time. Love Live D2!

I got your point and I address it, Troy is not D2 team so there's nothing current to discuss. If you want to compare them with us that's on you.

You want to discuss history? Troy started playing Football in 1946 and in 1982 when VSU started playing football our first win was against Troy. They then proceeded to beat us every year for the next 5 years. After that VSU was better than .500 against them until they graduated to the big leagues.

[Fan_the_Flame]

Not sure why all the talk about Troy or other D1 programs. They have twice the scholarships we do. Not reasonable to think a D2 school would consistently win in FCS play (though we did beat Central Florida years ago).

I don't have a crystal ball to see how things are going to go for VSU or West Florida this year or further in the future, but I know that for recruits that want to be a champion our program has generated a football NC every 3 years 9 months on average for the past 15 years. Not a one time fluke NC that we stumbled into, but 4 championships under 3 different head coaches over a 15 year time frame. That's pretty consistent play.

In fact if you walk into our football office you'll notice last year's NC trophies (AFCA and NCAA) aren't in the trophy case. There's no room left (I'm dead serious about that).

For the sandbox we play in we've done pretty decent. I'd love it to continue.

I've spent some time looking at both Wingate and W Florida. I'd prefer to play West Florida in our game, but believe Wingate is probably the stronger team. We'll know late Saturday afternoon.

Regardless, whoever it is we'll line it up and give it our all. And if it's UWF and you come here and beat us I'll be pulling for you the rest of the way (I have a lot of respect for Shinnick and think the world of Kaleb Nobles).

[Buckwheat191]

@ West Florida - I thought UWF already had a plan in place for an on campus stadium?

[Argonut]

According to recent newspaper interview with UWF A d Dave Scott, the Argos will play at Blue Wahoo for next 4-5 years because there are no current plans in motion to have something built on campus in that time frame. It is my impression that everyone (school, stadium, downtown businesses, fans, students and players) involved is happy with games at Blue Wahoo, so there is no one pushing issue of stadium construction on campus. Of course, not building stadium now allows funds to be used for current athletic program building for all sports. There is a master plan artist rendition of long term campus facilities including football stadium on Argo website, but no contracts are being or attempted to be bid as far as I have heard.