Those summer predictions

[Flyer Gramps]

So our Flyers posted a 9-3 record in 2008. Disappointing of course for most of us because there was so much promise when two weeks remained.

Nobody predicted less than 9-3 but Florida Flyer & Gramps did call 9-3 as a possibilty.

UDBrian, San Diego Flyer & Detroit Flyer had it 10-2 so the team came up short of their view by one loss.

Most disappointed has to be Smitch with her 12-0 wish and the Come back kid sure didn't see those past two weeks coming in his 11-1 summer prediction. (Actually none of us saw these last two)

It was fun albeit quiet at times on this football forum. Grandma asked me why do so many come to road games (we attended Davidson & Jacksonville) but so few enter these conversations? I don't know why, but it is one of the disappointments with UD after learning the history, success and stable coaching staff. Posting here must not be so much the thing to do as in basketball, but I don't regret the choice of University. I do wonder what it would have been like with an internet 50 years ago!!!

[FLORIDAFLYER]

After a winning season in 57 we emarked on a long series of losing seasons, resulting in a move to Div. III We would only win a couple of games a year. Just couldn't compete. However unlike X and Detroit we kept football and I'm glad we did,

[UDBrian]

I was off by one game because I didn't think that UD would let Morehead come onto their home field and beat them after last season. We all wanted what Smitch predicted :) The injuries and the stretch of tough games in a row took their toll.

[Flyer Gramps]

After a winning season in 57 we emarked on a long series of losing seasons, resulting in a move to Div. III We would only win a couple of games a year. Just couldn't compete. However unlike X and Detroit we kept football and I'm glad we did,


So the question posed to you Mr. Sebring now is, "Would you have been a regular poster on your college football forum 50 years ago"?

I didn't go to UD, but Baldwin-Wallace in the mid-fifties was not much of a winner. Then Lee Tressel came and things changed. I think I would have been an active poster. Because this forum stuff is mostly chatter by unknown posters, you can pretty much say anything. That's something I don't like about it. I try to meet as many posters as I can because you tend to write different if you know people. I did the same with the high school forum in Ohio. I got Yappi's together at Christmas time when we were north to see the family. Funny how an out-of-towner can arrange that when the locals can't. Funny how a grandfather from a Div.III is posting with you FCS guys!!! Actually my only fear is spelling everything correctly here; I don't know how to do a spell check and changing from computer glasses to bifocals to read the dictionary is a pain. I remember how brutal some were about that a few years ago. Maybe that guy gave up on us by now.

[DetroitFlyer]

No doubt that I would have been an active poster. I also like to meet message board posters. I have met many PFL fans through various message boards. Many are very different in person then they are on the board....

As for spell checking, I do not know if this board has that feature. If I am really worried about it, I type my message in Word, spell check, and then copy and paste into UDPRIDE.

Since I arrived here a few years ago, I have been very disappointed at the lack of participation. We get many readers, but few posters.

Of course on the basketball boards, some of the posts and posters do not really contribute anything of value.

Still, as a message board veteran and frequent user, I welcome any and all posts, except for personal attacks. I am far more tolerant than many folks here at UDPRIDE. I have never used the ignore feature, and I have only been tempted one time.

[The Chef]

It was fun albeit quiet at times on this football forum. Grandma asked me why do so many come to road games (we attended Davidson & Jacksonville) but so few enter these conversations? I don't know why, but it is one of the disappointments with UD after learning the history, success and stable coaching staff. Posting here must not be so much the thing to do as in basketball, but I don't regret the choice of University. I do wonder what it would have been like with an internet 50 years ago!!!

Chris Rieman, Founder and Editor in Chief of UDPride.com, holds the belief that greater than 80% of fans that attend UD basketball games don't even know that UDPride.com exists. Now, that's in the neighborhood of 8,500 people that have no idea about UDPride.com, but they religiously go to the UD basketball contests. That doesn't even count the people who watch the team on TV. People from out of state who follow the team online probably know about the site in greater numbers.

Now, scale that down to the number of people who attend UD football road games, and all of a sudden, the numbers begin to make sense. The percentage of those folks who attend those games that know that UDPride has a football message board is probably closer to 95%.

If you're talking to yourself or only a few people in the forum, it's my judgement that (using a metaphor) the free market doesn't know about your product (i.e., people don't know about the board) and/or the free market responding to the product as it is offered (i.e., what's being said here is uninteresting.) I think it's hard to believe the latter. So my response is this: it's important to make sure that we leave the echo chamber that this board can create and advocate the value of this outside of here to others who might have the interest. That's not only Chris's job. If it's in our interest to be able to talk to other Flyer football fans, it would be our responsibility as well.

[Avid Flyer]

Every where I go and meet flyer fans, players, and families I bring up the question if they ever go to UDPRIDE.COM Sadly so many don't even know about it. But the families for the most part do know but prefer to just read and not post, especially when a poster writes something against the team or a player. They for the most part don't want to get into a ****ing contest with a know it all that for the most part don't even attend the games or have a grudge against a coach, player, or the program. I imagine it would be hard not to respond but most claim they don't.

Now having said that, when I introduce myself as Avid Flyer I am greatly surprised at how many know about avid and announce to others in attendance "Hey here's Avid Flyer". So from that I do know they read the boards. Also I have received many pm's regarding certain posters from time to time, which of course I keep to myself and do not repost on UDPRIDE.

Some of the vball and womens bball players know of UDPRIDE and visit from time to time but I'd have to say the percentage is small. The vball team is now fully aware of UDPRIDE as UDPRIDERS sent letters of support for the A-10 tournement using our posting names so we are getting the word out slowy.

On another note, while down in Houston I went up to Austin to see the UD women play Texas and ODU in the tournement wearing my red Dayton Flyers shirt and Dayton Football cap. Some have suggested that Dayton is not know outside the midwest but I can assure you that is not the case. Lost count of the number of times I was stopped by a longhorn who wanted to chat about the Dayton Flyers. Some went to school there and have transplanted to Texas, some lived in the Dayton area growing up, but many are just aware of the Flyers for their various achievements.

We may not be the household word like Duke but we are certainly known and respected down in longhorn land.

Young lady in blue Dayton sweatshirt sat behind me, she lives in Texas and graduated from UD in 2001. A couple girls wearing SMU sweatshirts came up to me and said they almost went to UD. Loved the school and campus but was too far from home. Another family wearing Texas orange came up and said their daughter played soccer for Dayton her freshman year before transfering to North Texas U to be closer to home.

And certainly considering the recruits we are getting in all sports from California we are well known out there as well. But then we do have more of a history with southern Caifornia with UCLA, San Diego, Pepperdine etc.

So lets get with it UDPRIDERS, lets get the word out, you'd be surprised who you'll meet.

[FLORIDAFLYER]

I think the tone of the board would have been much different. Now we have one of the bests teams in our level of football. then we couldn't compete at all. I believe the posts would have been along the lines of
"we deserve a good team", and" fire the coach". All you have to do is look at the BBall sites, this one and others, after a loss. All the idiots are on calling for the coach's head. imagine years and years of 1-9 and 2-8, interest would be hard to maintain.

[ClevelandFlyer05]

If I were around and a Flyer fan at the time, I think the '80s would have been a fun time to post about UD football. And I know some will disagree, but I still wish we were able to compete in the DIII playoffs and I think we'd have a nice rivalry with Mount Union, John Carroll, and a few other Ohio schools.

[chriscage]

Actually Florida Flyer, UD played .500 ball in the last few years of D-1.

In my senior year 1970, under John McVay, the Flyers went 5-4-1 beating Louisville, Xavier, Northern Illinois and Buffalo while tieing Bowling Green. In 1971 we were 5-6 with wins over Cincinnati, Marshall, Youngstown, Xavier and BG.

The records were similar from 1972 to 1977 with wins over schools like Villanova, Toledo, Akron, Marshall and Louisville. In fact, in our final year of D1 ball (1977) Coach Rick Carter led UD to an 8-3 season.

Given the financial realities of college football in a post title-9 world, we are fortunate to continue our UD football tradition. I pity Egg savior and Marquette but I don't pine for the UD D3 "glory" days. There was something hollow about UD beating up on the likes of Wittenberg and Urbana.:rolleyes:

FCS, with or without scholarships is an ideal place for us.

Yes, there are problems. Attendance suffers when your best rivals are in California and Florida.

The PFL is not well promoted or understood.

But UD gets exposure in large markets like San Diego, Jacksonville, Indianapolis, Chicago (Valpo) and soon in the Big Apple (Marist),

Add to the mix a "play up" game against a scholly FCS school like Youngstown or an Ivy like Yale and play down with up and coming fan friendly D2 rival Central State and we'll have a worthy schedule to be proud of.

Congratulations Flyer football faithful on another winning football season. We truly have a crown jewel in our football tradition of winning and great academics too.:singer:

[FLORIDAFLYER]

in the 70's we had better teams. however the question was 50 years ago and having graduated in 62 we were not competitive while I was there and were not for a period of years. I do recall that in our first year as D-III we played Iowa State and lost 17-14 on a late FG. The move to D=III was a good one, it was interesting every year with the possibility of a playoff each year. I used to live in Michigan and would come down, and travel to. the playoffs. Especially liked the trips to Allegeny college in Meadville Pa. We went 1-1 as I recall.
Most exciting was the defeat of Augustana , when they had a long winning streak. Have to give hats off to Mount Union. We couldn't beat then (0-2). the comeback at Widner would rank second in the excitement derby. I can see why they put in the "Dayton Rule" making all D-1 a requirement to play D-1 BBall. We did have an advantage. We thought we outfoxed them with a D-IAAA plan but it was not to be. As I recall the D-II schools voted it down but I'm not really sure. At least now we are on equal footing with other schools we play and as we schedule more partial scholly teams we could be considered at a slight disadvantage. Not to worry, we are a quality program and will continue to be.

[San Diego Flyer]

As a kid I ran in neighborhood circles in and around the ghetto and the old stadium. While we were not a power, those games were very competitive and the on-campus atmosphere for a football stadium was really cool each fall home game. Also, most of the away games were accessible in an hour or two and also had a great atmosphere. That whole environment, and playing the foes listed before, exceeded what we have today, but I understand the economic issues that spelled an end to that era.

[ClevelandFlyer05]

Actually Florida Flyer, UD played .500 ball in the last few years of D-1.

In my senior year 1970, under John McVay, the Flyers went 5-4-1 beating Louisville, Xavier, Northern Illinois and Buffalo while tieing Bowling Green. In 1971 we were 5-6 with wins over Cincinnati, Marshall, Youngstown, Xavier and BG.

The records were similar from 1972 to 1977 with wins over schools like Villanova, Toledo, Akron, Marshall and Louisville. In fact, in our final year of D1 ball (1977) Coach Rick Carter led UD to an 8-3 season.

Given the financial realities of college football in a post title-9 world, we are fortunate to continue our UD football tradition. I pity Egg savior and Marquette but I don't pine for the UD D3 "glory" days. There was something hollow about UD beating up on the likes of Wittenberg and Urbana.:rolleyes:

FCS, with or without scholarships is an ideal place for us.

Yes, there are problems. Attendance suffers when your best rivals are in California and Florida.

The PFL is not well promoted or understood.

But UD gets exposure in large markets like San Diego, Jacksonville, Indianapolis, Chicago (Valpo) and soon in the Big Apple (Marist),

Add to the mix a "play up" game against a scholly FCS school like Youngstown or an Ivy like Yale and play down with up and coming fan friendly D2 rival Central State and we'll have a worthy schedule to be proud of.

Congratulations Flyer football faithful on another winning football season. We truly have a crown jewel in our football tradition of winning and great academics too.:singer:

I don't have much first-hand knowledge about the D-III days, but based simply on the fact that we had the opportunity to play geographic rivals and qualify for the playoffs, I think we were in a better position then than we are now. Just my opinion. In a perfect world, we'd have a Division I-AAA that had about 40 schools (including Xavier and Marquette) and an 8 team playoff system. I'll hold out hope that such a day will come about soon and that Dayton will once again have the chance to play meaningful games in December for a real national championship!