G-W

[Sly Fox]

I'm actually looking forward to this Saturday's game. We have shown that we can be competitive in the Big South this year even when we can't be against anybody else. Perhaps we can change our fortunes enough to finally get a I-AA victory this fall.



Gardner-Webb University
Boiling Springs, North Carolina
Southern Baptist Affiliation

Football Conference Affiliation: Big South
Conference Affiliation for Everything Else: Atlantic Sun

Mascot: Bulldogs

Enrollment: 3750

GWU Official Site

A guy named Adrian is trying to get a fan bard starting up:
www.ncaabbs.com/forums/asun/invision/index.php?s=812d4e4c0643487382e11ca12f493901&act=SF&f=7

[PAmedic]

No knock on this team in particular- I've been looking at ALL of our opponents- but how are we getting beat on by schools w/ less than HALF the student enrollment that LU has?

[eddantes]

Well, Gardner-Webb has one thing that we don't, and that's a win against a Division-I opponent (picking up the W against VMI 55-52 last week). They've never scored less than 21 points; we've never scored more than 21.

GW ranks fourth in total offense.
LU ranks 107th in total defense.

The defense though has swiss-cheese like holes in it...

GW ranks 101 in total defense.
LU ranks 99th in total offense.

Should be a real barn-burner though, I say. I'm going to come out and say...

Liberty... 31 (yes, I said "31")...
Gardner-Webb... 28.

[Sly Fox]

I'm with Ed in this one. I see us finally breaking through in a shootout.

[eddantes]

Sly, I did some research, and what you said about agreeing with me might be a little scary:

Before the season:

eddantes said:

Just so it's on the record, I say we're going 7-4 on the season - with losses to UConn, Y'Town State, Bill & Mary, and Coastal (who just beat JMU, the nat'l champion last year). And we'll place second in the Big South.

Before W&M

eddantes said:

William & Mary -- 27
Liberty -- 24

Before Youngstown State...

eddantes said:

Youngstown State is competent, so I'm going to have to pencil a fat "L" in our column... Score... let's see... 35-17.

Before VMI...

eddantes said:

Prediction:

LU 21
VMI 17

Before Chattanooga...

eddantes said:

Last year, Chattanooga had three wins. They've already matched that total so far this year, and they're receiving top 25 votes (although they are not in the top 25).

Prediction: Well, we ain't scoring 43 again. I say 84-2, Chattanooga.

Before Towson...

eddantes said:

I think it's going to be as true a test of Liberty's ability as any non-conference game we have scheduled, and I think that LU will pull it out on Saturday. Of course, I also said that I thought the Red Sox and the Yankees would be playing in the ALCS (although I was more than pleasantly surprised when the latter was eliminated).

(And I didn't find predictions for Coastal, UConn or that D-II school we played).

So with the exception of the Chattanooga game, I've been horribly optimistic. But hey, maybe we'll turn things around.

Of course, all this is thrown out the window if Karcher announces that he's playing only freshman (and for the record, if those freshman were going to be redshirted until that proclamation, Karcher should be fired on the spot).

[WinthropEagleFan]

pamedic said:

No knock on this team in particular- I've been looking at ALL of our opponents- but how are we getting beat on by schools w/ less than HALF the student enrollment that LU has?

I'm not really sure I see the connection...It isn't as if the team is recruited from the student-body at-large. If both teams have the same amount of scholarships, I'd think that enrollment size isn't much of a factor as to who should be good and who shouldn't (though I guess a bigger school has a bigger pool of walk-ons to work with). But then again, I hadn't given the idea of school enrollment and team success much thought...

[eddantes]

I don't see the connection between enrollment and football ability, either. Notre Dame has fewer students than LU (by about 300), but their football team crushes ours.

[PAmedic]

let me attempt to explain my admittedly wacky train of thought on that one. I was inferring that recruiting strength was directly proportional to school size and notoriety. The link is that bigger is better, therefore you get better by being bigger. It may well be a falacious argument- I was just throwing it out there: our performance on the field surely does NOT bear it out.

In summation: Liberty U w/ 9000+ students SHOULD out-recruit a "XXX" Community College w/ 1200 kids and then realize success on the field.

[Sly Fox]

Rice has about 3-grand and yet they are a baseball powerhouse & recent national champion. And you'd be shocked at the enrollment of many basketball powerhouses.

Actually, Notre Dame has seen a boom in attendance over the past decade very similar to Liberty. Obviously they have a football warchest that is only topped by a couple of schools including our Longhorns down here in Texas.

[WinthropEagleFan]

The one big link I see between enrollment and success is that in the long-term, a greater enrollment yields more alumni, which turns into greater possible financial support, which can lead to nicer facilities and a bigger recruiting budget and things like that. But when it comes to 50-something football scholarships, or 13 basketball scholarships, I don't think the size of the school has much of a bearing on who should be good or not.

[Stevev]

Based on the above comments and staying within the 1AA scheme of things I can see that bigger schools seem to do better over a longer period of time than smaller schools. Good examples of that are Delaware, Georgia Southern, Youngstown State, Montana, Appalachian State, Western Kentucky, and Hofstra have better than average enrollments and have been more successful over the long haul than most. Big enrollments lead to a better fan base, more financial support which in turn leads to a bigger recruiting and operating budget. Simply put bigger schools have more to offer than small ones and it puts them in a recruiting advantage. But, of course their are exeptions to the rule. An example of this would be Furman with an enrollment of 2K and to a certain extent Richmond with about the same enrollment. Both are private Southern baptist affiliated schools that consistently play great competition in great conferences and have a decent fan base but public and private schools seem to differ in how things are run operationally. I am also sure that schools such as Central Florida, South Florida, Middle Tennessee, Boise State, Marshall, Florida Atlantic, and Buffalo used enrollment as one of the excuses to move up to 1A. Please correct me if I am wrong with I disagreeumptions.

[adrianb]

I've been meaning to post here all week but I gave been really busy here as of late. Anyway I hope you have a safe trip if you decide to come on down. I hope we don't have to live through another overtime.

[Sly Fox]

Thanks for dropping by Adrian. I'm not making the roadie, but for those who do can you fill us in on the exact location of these Boiling Springs the town was named after? Just curious. I'm all about geothermal anomalies.

[Chris Lang]

I think you can get to Boiling Springs from here. I'll find out in the morning, I'm sure.

[bigsmooth]

boiling springs is beautiful in western NC, but im not making the roadie. i think this will be a good game for a half.....45-21 GWU