Dan Steenkamer

^ Oh, and I meant to say that this is why I brought up the MEAC media day. If one or both of (you have to think they'd work together) Hampton and North Carolina A&T make a (football-only? probably?) move out of the CAA, that would represent a turnaround from the possibility of Howard entering the CAA several years ago.

Now, they might be expecting more of a media draw because of DJax and Michael Vick at Delaware State and Norfolk State respectively, but here we have an in-person media day at the same location that CAA Football enjoyed not that long ago. I kept hoping that in some x years to follow the football season of 2020-21, we'd be able to get back to M&T for the CAAFB event each July, but now you've got the MEAC occupying the territory. Good deal for them and nice look for my Flock to play host to at least one FCS conference. But man, I know media days aren't the biggest deal, but I really liked covering the NEC's at MetLife, for instance. That's a lot of effort they do for the student-athletes' sake.

(1) Thanks, Mat, as I got it (embedding ^) right now 😀 and (2) this unsurprisingly came up on the JMU board.

Elon was in the Southern Conference (2003–13); I have this mental association with the bridges there being purportedly shaky or some such, but the specifics of all that predate me. I think I just remember seeing it rumored multiple times. What I'm trying to say (but ineloquently) is that it's possible Elon isn't a roadblock on the Towson/SoCon subject or hypothetical. I'd honestly be more worried about what the current SoCon folks are saying/thinking. I feel like I recall Richmond football coming up for SoCon, but it wasn't ultimately the FB-only path. Campbell is in SoCon wrestling FWIW, which is likely not that much but worth noting. One thing not thrown at the wall for Towson football is ASUN (United Athletic Conference football). That, however, feels DOA right as I say it because you're looking at an FBS-like stretch of geography without the FBS TV/$ support to back it.

I was just about to say, home football attendance is not the kicker for FBS positioning. Sure, the optics of having a good FB atmosphere matter in some sense for curb appeal/they play on Twitter and for the pride of the conference, but my view is it'd certainly matter more how the institution views G5/G6 ball in the year 2025+. Not everyone buys that Group of 5/6 action is necessarily a great path for DI mid-majors in the House world, but this Villanova thing is about to force everyone to think about CAA Football (or think about it again, depending on who you are). I'll be very surprised if Nova/Patriot FB doesn't get rolled out on Friday at noon. I guess you can make the alternative argument that we should circle the PL spring meeting scheduled for Tuesday, June 10 (per the Holy Cross board's citing of the W&M board 😅). Villanova probably is thinking it can trade nonconference football games vs. Lehigh and Colgate for noncon matchups vs. Rhody and Monmouth. The question with the Wildcats (outside of the Patriot rules specifics) seemed to be whether they would bother enough with football to go through the effort of moving it (just with the basketball competition distraction). This is just intriguing to follow at this point with Delaware on the outside looking in because Villanova football moving doesn't set off direct chain reaction for full members Hampton and NC A&T, but every so often I'll hear it brought up speculatively that a U-turn of some fashion by that pair (or one?) isn't out of the question. Maybe they'd pivot from CAAFB but stick with the CAA. I don't pretend to know exactly what the Pirates, say, are trying to accomplish. Sorry / getting on Towson again, the Venn diagram between Delaware and Towson has geography in the middle, to state the obvious in the service of the point that the CAA probably will remain centered on the heart of the mid-Atlantic here. William & Mary threaded the needle into all-sports CAA coupled with a different football home. I wonder if Towson will find or first desire a similar route, but the SoCon destination brought up might well want more than just football in a new member. It seems like the SoCon membership hasn't been on the same page in expansion scuttlebutt.

https://x.com/MattBrownEP/status/1930296409804169392 I am still trying to learn how to embed a tweet on here 🤔

Not that Delaware is exceptionally relevant going forward in this thread, but I'm checking on the carousel RE: Ingelsby for Denver [HC] and Villanova [AHC on Willard staff]. Spending a lot of time refreshing right now. Blue Hens are in an interim AD window right now as well.

Also, I feel good about nonconference games occurring between the sides. It is a little interesting whether Delaware will get both Drexel and Towson on the same docket most years OOC. As a Hen guy, I'd wave a wand if you could get alternating Towson in the Bob one year and Drexel the next, with whoever of the 2 isn't coming to Newark being a road game for DEL that season. CAA bylaws are different now than when James Madison was leaving. That CAA tournament for which Delaware is eligible this March will be hard to navigate for the Blue Hens if they don't show something tonight. Like I said, need a lil life on halting this skid.

https://twitter.com/DelawareMBB/status/1884388901629866453 Looks as though Pasha is participating in these clips from recent. Delaware needs to shake off road losses in Hempstead and Philadelphia. This is the Blue Hens' test of the season in trying to stabilize things during a challenging CAA stretch. Towson's usual M.O. is a good matchup for the Tigers against UD's team weaknesses when the shot isn't falling.

Stony Brook has a lot to figure out because it's such a different team than last season's. Delaware pulled away from the Seawolves last night as Joe Octave was SBU's top scorer (23 on 18 FG attempts, including 1-6 3FG). Blue Hens W 84-74 ft. 45 DEL 2H pts and 20 by Niels Lane, 19 by John Camden. CJ Luster is another guard to know on SBU; he was at 5 pts at halftime last night but was 3-3 3FG in the second half to help him hit 20 pts total. I expect Towson to hold Stony Brook below 70 tomorrow. Physicality will emerge favoring TU, I presume. Talk about vast differences in returners and program continuity right now.

Wow, that's a grind out of the gates. at FBS Cincinnati vs. Morgan State at Villanova at North Dakota State Nova/NDSU in back-to-back weeks is something else. Good to have the open date after NDSU, but then it's William & Mary, which could be a good one if W&M is serious about payback. The very end of the Tigers' schedule eases up noticeably; I just hope for their sake it will matter for playoff contention by then. Let's see what the TU roster looks like in Pete's year 2.

Trying to place this in the most appropriate existing thread: Richmond Times-Dispatch: W&M holds tight to CAA affiliation as league continues to evolve Interesting story, to be sure. William & Mary being the only all-sports CAA member out of the W&M/Richmond/Villanova perpetual-Patriot League-football-rumor trifecta is also (even more) interesting. The Tribe seems to be characterized in this story as more wedded to the CAA/F than UR/Nova are, but it's also hard to see W&M sticking with CAAFB in an era devoid of not just JMU and UD but hypothetically lacking UR and Nova.

Jake is among the CAA's finest! My guy. And on those lines, I sorta doubt it was "given" to the Towerlight. Probably nitpicking your statement but as a practical matter, more credit goes to Jake for obtaining the record, which takes hoops to jump etc. TU definitely did not want it out and wasn't handing the TL any favors. Apples and oranges scenario in all likelihood, but it reminded me to compare with Delaware's Ingelsby extension announcement: Ingelsby Extended Through 2028-29 Season

With game at Penn State looming, potential Delaware move to FBS gains momentum Tresolini with a report here, the most notable portion IMO is: Delaware's athletic dept has received approval from trustees "to more closely examine a move up to FBS and entertain possible conference destinations." I've talked a bit about DEL generally having a much different approach than JMU RE: the politics of realignment--JMU had for a while a strategic plan published that was unabashed about ambitions, regardless of CAA ruffled feathers. That intensified upon the COVID conflicts in CAAFB. UD has historically been so much more close to the vest, setting aside/let alone the on-field strides that James Madison took that helped it jump while Hens regressed on field to relative mediocrity. It's turned around for Delaware lately competitively. The short of it is that any UD Board of Trustees activity on athletics getting out/being public as far as openness to exiting CAA/CAAFB...that's striking to me

Have to say that I didn't get the chance to watch TU/Terps, so this thread is helpful in gleaning the takeaways. Just browsing the team stats for the game, 4.4 yards per rush by Towson isn't something I'm sneezing at vs. B1G. Having double-digit penalties for 90 yards isn't ideal, although adjusting for it being Week 1 takes some edge off that. Not that the expectation per se was to walk away with the win, but late 1Q looked like the killer--7-0 until two Taulia TD passes of over 20 yds. Probably being unhelpfully obvious there, just getting a sense of the game flow scanning these #s in real time. With the observation about the lack of chances taken on offense, you figure a (or really the primary) goal was to stay in it through half 1. Deflating to be out of it 15 min prior. Don't mean to get off-topic, but regionally appropriate and conference-related: How about Morgan State upsetting Richmond 17-10? Morgan got it done with only 99 yds passing. Richmond lost three fumbles (each by a different player) and new starting QB Kyle Wickersham had 0 TD/1 INT for the Spiders. UR was 3-12 on 3rd down. "The Ticks" have to go to Michigan State this Saturday. Other than the Battle for Greater Baltimore, Morgan St. has CAAFB foes in UAlbany (Sep 23) and Stony Brook (Oct 7).