FOOTBALL: SC Independent's URI Football Preview

[Hal Kopp]

http://www.independentri.com/independen ... 2ac4a.html

On paper,the schedule is easier.
Maybe a winning record?

[ATPTourFan]

Even with the easier schedule, a winning record would surprise me.

[Rhodymob05]

I wonder who the other D1 transfers are besides the QB from south Alabama

[EasyEdBrown]

Looking at the roster...
Justin Semmes RB GR 6-2 230 Clarkston, Mich. / Miami (OH)
Jawaun Wynn WR JR 6-3 215 Piscataway, N.J. / Rutgers University
Kolt Peavey QB JR 6-0 190 Bolivar, Mo. / South Alabama
Anthony DiPaula P JR 6-1 215 Manalapan, N.J. / Rutgers
Blake Jones DE JR 6-0 225 Mechanicsville, Va. / Ohio University

[Ram99]

Easy Ed,

Justin Semmes (Miami (OH), Jawaun Wynn (Rutgers), Kolt Peavey (South Alabama), Anthony DiPaula (Rutgers) and Blake Jones (Ohio) are the FBS transfers this year. Andrew Siden (Tulane) came in last year.

Joe Parent and Theo Russell are walk-ons who attended high schools with similar names to college programs.

[EasyEdBrown]

Ok, thanks...

Embarrassingly, I don't follow the team that closely on an individual player level, I just looked for college names that would play D1. Doubly embarrassingly...Canisuis doesn't have a program anymore.

I edited my post.

[Hal Kopp]

D-1 transfers don't mean a thing.
Siden never played on a 0-12 team.

[rhodyfan3]

So the schedule is:
@ Fordham
Vs. Stony Brook
@ Albany
@ William and Mary
Vs. Central CT
@ Brown
@ UNH
Vs. Richmond
Vs. Delaware
@ Old Dominion
Vs. Villanova
@ Maine

I still don't see a winning season in their future. The team has shown absolutely no reason that they will improve that much. It will be an interesting year, I'm hoping for them to be competitive.

[Rhody74]

Four wins at most .....

[EasyEdBrown]

Which might be enough to win CAA coach of the year again.

[Hal Kopp]

after the Brown game,I have them 4-2,then 3-3 the rest of the way. 7-5 total.
Need to go 2-2 or 3-1 in the first four games or it will be disaster.

[STC]

I've got 'em at 3-9 and I have Peavey winning QB competition.

[Rhodymob05]

I think if the transfers play important positions like a QB or DE then it makes a bigger impact towards winning.

[rhodyrudder]

Can they stay within 50 points of ANY team on the schedule?

Will they score any points...at all...this year?

Can they get a first down?

Winning record ?!? They haven't had a winning record since 1985!

Forgive me for exaggerating, they've had 2 winning years since then
in the YanCon/A-10/CAA, but a winning record shouldn't be the goal.

Being competitive in ONE GAME should be the goal.
If that happens in the Fordham game, then it becomes the goal the next week.
The Rams haven't been competitive in a long time.
Last year was sickening.
I hope things are better this year, but I'm not holding my breath.
Look at the scores from last year.
There wasn't much there to build on, so I'll be happy if six of their
games are decided by less than 14 points, and they win 1 game.

If Rhody football can get to .500 ever again it will be a miracle.
The earliest anyone could possibly hope for is 2015.

By the way, they are "back up to the CAA scholarship limit,"
according to Koch. I was under the impression that they were
NEVER at the same level as the other teams in the Atlantic 10.
Can anyone verify that they are actually giving the same number
of rides as Delaware and the rest of the league, or are they simply
back to the inferior position that they held before they announced
the drop to the NEC?

[Hal Kopp]

Runner-the scholarship issue is an excuse.
But,you need to expect more. Maine,UNH and New Haven are winning.
Do they have more inherent resources than Rhody?

[rhodyrudder]

I'm tired of the excuses too.
But when your closest game was a 10-pt
home loss to Brown, AND you don't have
the same number of rides as your opponents,
AND you're in the best league in the country...
you get your brains beat in every week and you
know before kickoff that it's going to be the same
this week because they're better than you 1 through
11 on both sides of the ball.

Don't get me wrong. I'll be in the Bronx on the 29th.
I can't wait. I WANT Rhody to win. But they would lose
to lots of D-3 teams, and until they level the field it won't
change. I am glad they are staying in the CAA, but they
HAVE to fund the sport at the maximum levels to compete.
Lots of folks around URI athletics (not employees, mind you...
I'm talking strictly about fans) want the team to be dropped.
Lots of people on this board do. But anyone who can remember
as far back as 1985 will tell you that a winning football team
is possible in Kingston, and the rewards are beyond description.
I chose to attend URI partly because of the AWESOME football
team it had, and while I have always loved MBB and acknowledge
it as the rightful marquee team, there is nothing like the atmosphere
of a college campus in late fall on the day of a homecoming game
or any other game that has playoff implications. Put together a
few consecutive winning seasons and THEN tell me you can do without
football. If you don't believe me, watch (or better yet, go to) a
game at any school that made a bowl game last year and has
a winning record in October. Substitute any FCS playoff team
from last year that has a winning record in October if you want,
since you can't compare Meade Stadium and URI to places like
Nebraska, Michigan, Texas, Florida, or Auburn. Note however
that Connecticut and Massachusetts are "thinking big," and both
schools were conference opponents the last time Rhody had
consecutive winning seasons.

At the very least, a winning team brings thousands of people
to your campus to have a good time, for the better part of an
entire day (not just 2 hours) 5 or 6 times a year, tailgating,
walking around campus, catching up with friends, with many
bringing potential future URI students along. If you don't have
football, you're not in the same class as the top schools in the
country, the ones you're competing with for students.

Now that that's off my chest, back to the point - winning season?
Not happening. Improvement? Hopefully. But the program last year
was a disgrace, so there is a long way to go. It absolutely MUST start
with full funding of scholarships, then fixing up the infrastructure.
It will be worth it, and I hope to see it happen soon. If you don't
remember the playoff games in '84 and '85, and the crowds of 10,000
to 13,000 people jamming into campus, and talking about the games all
week long the way people talk about the Patriots now, you'll have to
take my word for it.

[Rhodymob05]

Rhodyrudder is right, football has to stay. I agree completely with him saying a football game in the fall on campus is fantastic. Beautiful outdoor weather to watch a great sport and cheer for rhody along with thousands of other fans. Even last season saw filled bleachers on occasions.

[rhodyrudder]

"First off, most schools competing in the CAA hand out the maximum 63 scholarships for the sport of football where URI does not. In anticipation of their move to the NEC, the program was in the process of reducing scholarships for the sport of football to that league’s maximum number of 40.

"Heading into this season URI football was down to 47 scholarships, a number Bjorn now hopes to elevate in the near future. 'We’d like to get the number up to 55 but we’ll have to do some fundraising to do it,' he said."


I may be posting to myself, but that is from golocalprov 8-29-12.

The article goes on to say that Rhody can raise $ by playing guarantee games, but I am not convinced all the $ the team has made from those games over the last 10 or so years has gone back to FB. This year they go to Old Dominion.

8 scholarships times 30K is part of what is holding the program back, at least as far as I see it.

[EasyEdBrown]

"First off, most schools competing in the CAA hand out the maximum 63 scholarships for the sport of football where URI does not. In anticipation of their move to the NEC, the program was in the process of reducing scholarships for the sport of football to that league’s maximum number of 40.

"Heading into this season URI football was down to 47 scholarships, a number Bjorn now hopes to elevate in the near future. 'We’d like to get the number up to 55 but we’ll have to do some fundraising to do it,' he said."


I may be posting to myself, but that is from golocalprov 8-29-12.

The article goes on to say that Rhody can raise $ by playing guarantee games, but I am not convinced all the $ the team has made from those games over the last 10 or so years has gone back to FB. This year they go to Old Dominion.

8 scholarships times 30K is part of what is holding the program back, at least as far as I see it.

From the article in the OP...

The Rams are also back up to the CAA scholarship limit, completing the U-turn the program performed after shaving down in anticipation of a move to the Northeast Conference that never came to pass.

So the fundraising/guarantees might have been successful to fund them.

[rhodyfan3]

Rhodyrudder is right. Being competitive should be the goal. Last season was abysmal, we were outscored 432-105! This schedule might seem "easier", but there are still some really tough teams on there. Remember, last year we played Monmouth which is a team from the NEC and they smoked us. If your offense runs the same 10 plays every single Saturday it's tough to win. Lets hope the offense can move the ball consistently and hope with our two best linebackers returning on defense we can stay competitive and pull off some wins.

P.s
Does anyone know why Zocco didn't play last season? Maybe it's been discussed and I missed it?