Non-PL opponents....

[thebin]

i think its always good to see this thread opened up every off season...

Who would you like to see us play?


i still like the idea of playing Howard every year in a sort of DC IAA classic- with a big a$$ party before and after the game- would grab a ton of Wash Post attention. Plus, I think we beat Howard- and gain some respect doing it in certain DC corners who think of Howard as IAA and GU as fake-IAA.

Ivies, Ivies, Ivies. The best players we are going to get without schollies are going to be Ivy school candidates- who might be blowing off full scholarships at lesser academic schools. This is our competitive edge in the PL- and since we have a massive disadvantage with the stadium issue (that might not even go away when the new "stands" are thrown up and are still miles from a Goodman) lets use it. I know these are hard to schedule- but I am glad to see Benson has loaded up with some good ones in years to come.

navy? Not this year, not next year.....but someday soon. same reasons as Howard but multiplied by 3.

Villanova? somewhere between Howard and Navy- closer to navy. Not this year, but one day soon.

Duquesne- a worthy MAAC rival, wouldn't mind still playing them.

NEC teams over MAAC.

Pioneer teams over NEC.

[TrueHoyaBlue]

Definitely Ivies.

I also like the idea of Howard. Hey, while we're at it, maybe we can borrow our hoops team's OOC schedule -- I think Grambling, Morgan State, Bethune-Cookman could be be great games, from an "other school's band" perspective.

Villanova is probably still a few years away, but I think we're only a couple years away from being able to compete with some of the lower-tier, but geographically closer, A-10 teams. I could see us competing with James Madison, Richmond, or William & Mary in the not-too-dostant future...

In the PFL, NEC, and MAAC, I like Monmouth (because they seem to be developing a solid program), Davidson, and Duquesne, but nobody else really appeals to me...

[FtblOpinions]

I think that the 2006 schedule should be reconsidered as to the location of the Lafayette game. As it stands, we are scheduled for 3 away games at seasons end. In addition, that is the year where we are looking for 3 games. By swapping home and away with Lafayette in 2005 and 2006, we get one home game at the end of that 2006 season. It also positions us to accept an away game with someone we might consider as a marquis opponent. Generally, an upgrade as mentioned above generally demands a 2-1 (home-away) agreement. 2006 only shows 3 home games to date and that Lafayette game seems to be a possibility.

[LBPop]

The Ivy League teams are the obvious competition. During recruiting, the Patriot teams reluctantly compare themselves to the Ivys...particulary Georgetown who can easily stand up to them academically and is often competing with them for players. The Ivys are only willing to compare themselves to each other with a couple of exceptions--Harvard and Yale reluctantly acknowledge that the other exists and Princeton believes that they have discovered the secret to eternal happiness and it is located in Princeton, NJ.

[thebin]

You have to look past the Ivies though and ask "who else" since they ivies are booked solid for many years. We are quite lucky that benson was able to schedule so many. A10 games are very likely losses for now and the medium futre if we are realistic- so I would not do more than one a year. So you basically have to go to the Pioneer, MAAC, and NEC and you have to be flexible in doing it. Maybe in 3 to 4 years we could look at 2 plus A10s on the schedule...W&M seems like a natural rivalry to me- if they wouldn't mind the hit to their schedule strength.

[Lurking Dog]

Play Drake.

I'll dress up like John Kerry and pretend to be a
Yale Bulldog if that helps.

Boola Boola

[biggmomma]

As an advid football fan from Miami, Fl. and a parent of a Hoya, I would like to see the team schedule some more games against some of the teams from Florida. FAMU and Florida Atlantic are some teams to think about. It will also help with the recruiting from the fertile football grounds of So. Fla. I'm positive that the coaches can find SMART players that know how, and love to play SMASHMOUTH FOOTBALL.

[DFW HOYA]

The Ivies are a given. Here are 10 more, in order of interest:

1. Army-Holy Cross defeated them in 2002.
2. Navy.
3. Villanova-instant rivalry.
4. Richmond.
5. Howard-instant local attention.
6. W&M.
7. Davidson--a good non-conf. game every year.
8. Another Pioneer team (Drake or Dayton)
9. A revived program at either St. John's or Seton Hall.
10. SMU

[Lurking Dog]

DFW said:

8. Another Pioneer team (Drake or Dayton)

Your cash is in the mail.

[Lurking Dog]

Has GU considered a one-time game in Chicago? Drake would be a good match.

A few years ago, Soldier Field was the site of a game between Yale and Valparaiso:
www.yale.edu/aya/blueprint/winter98/chicagofootball.htm

I believe Drake has more alumni in the area than Valparaiso, so surpassing the Yale-Valpo crowd of 7,500 wouldn't be difficult.

Drake played Notre Dame and Oregon at Soldier Field many years ago. Chicago provided college teams some great exposure in an era before TV. Considering Drake and GU are both obscure (I-AA) programs, maybe Soldier Field is once again a good idea.

[TrueHoyaBlue]

I like your suggestions DFW. Anyone know if Benson has expressed plans on any of these fronts? It seems like once we hit our first winning PL season (this year?), he might be more willing to step up the OOC schedule, as pretty much any of those opponents would be an upgrade.

I'm particularly interested in the Howard scenario, as I think our guys had a series of 7-on-7 scrimmages with them last summer.

[LBPop]

Howard would work for a number of reasons. If you scan the unofficial list of recruits, you'll see a lot of local kids. A game vs. Howard would only enhance visibility and improve recruiting in the DC/Baltimore area. There are still some casual fans in the area who don't know that Georgetown plays football. A nice feature article in the Post about a local rivalry would sure help end that.

[DFW HOYA]

One of the things that works against a game with howard is that HU can make more money off of "classic" games with HBCU's than with non-HBCU's. Their only non-HBCU game is Charleston Southern (Big South), while its biggest home game is a game with Grambling in Landover.

Whatever way you look at it, a game with Grambling puts more dollars in the HU budget than Georgetown would. But the Hoyas would still do better for Howard than Charleston Southern, any day of the week.

[SFHoya99]

DFW said:

One of the things that works against a game with howard is that HU can make more money off of "classic" games with HBCU's than with non-HBCU's. Their only non-HBCU game is Charleston Southern (Big South), while its biggest home game is a game with Grambling in Landover.

Whatever way you look at it, a game with Grambling puts more dollars in the HU budget than Georgetown would. But the Hoyas would still do better for Howard than Charleston Southern, any day of the week.

If the game is really desirable, I wonder if you couldn't link the bball and football game together. Offer them continued placement on the bball schedule (as our last creampuff) in return for the football game.

Don't know if anyone wants this game badly enough to do that, though.

[thebin]

I would bet whatever monies Howard forgoes for ONE game at Greene Stadium would be offset by the chance (as they would likely see it) to beat up on the biggest academic name in the DC area. Further, I second the notion that we hold the basketball game future over their heads on this if they balk.... I also think that Gtown would be a decent draw as I suspect many Howard alums and fans are old time Hoya hoops fans as well. I could see this game drawing 7 or 8k.

[DFW HOYA]

Each Georgetown coach sets his/her own schedule, so it's impractical to tie games between sports.

And 7 or 8K would be, in my opinion, a huge disappointment, seeing as Howard draws an average of 7,000 a game at Greene Stadium.

In the short run, it's not likely to happen because it would have to be a home and home series, and as stated earlier, Howard cannot afford to give up a road game for a guaranteed payday in on the of the traveling "classic" games.

[thebin]

Why would it have to be home and home? Given that we don't have a stadium, I would think we would be glad to have the series indefinately at Howard, just call it a neutral site or something. Who cares? They would both be in DC. Why in hell would we want to have it at a middle school-quality facility in front of 1500 when we could do it in the district in front of 7k every year at Howard. So we don't give up our awesome home field advantage? We would be losing money to insist on home and home, wouldn't we? Just schedule it at Greene, which is no further than MCI really, every year. And when we have a stadium to speak of....we cross that bridge after it is constructed....

[Springyblow]

How bout a west coast trip for change?
Sacramento State
UC Davis
UNR
Stanford (okay we would get killed but it would be a good road trip)
CSU Northridge

[DFW HOYA]

The Hoyas visited San Diego three years ago, but unless the schools you mentioned (excepting Northridge, which dropped football in 2001) offered a hefty guarantee, it would not make economic sense for any I-AA team to travel out west.

Competition-wise, I don't think Stanford, UNR, or even Sac State are looking at Patriot League teams right now.

[TigerHoya]

Coastal Carolina just started football this past season and is in Conway right at Myrtle Beach.

Other suggestions (I know these are all in S.C. but I'd like to see a game down here at some point):
Furman, Wofford, The Citadel, S.C. State