Jabbering JAG 133.1 (OOC Midpoint Check-in)

Fellas (and ladies) I apologize for my late entry into this season's media content. Things have been a bit crazy for me as I settle in here in Dover.... J/K but things have been a bit crazy in real life and with the holiday I was out of town last week and this past weekend. I plan on getting back into the full swing of things this week.

I saw huskerfan26's Maze about why he went to the MEAC and I thought I could tell my story as well.

I went into the offseason knowing I needed a change, my interest in GD has dwindled these past couple of months. I needed to try something to not feel "stagnant" with my GD teams. I started looking for a team that I thought would have a decent base to start with and a solid recruiting area (which compared to Portland State is pretty much every team). I compiled a list of 12 teams that I liked just looking at them and not having done any research. I then sent a few sitemails to some coaches that I respect and value their opinion. From there that helped me at least knock 2 teams off of my list. I then compiled my own spreadsheet that took into account several different things... things from conference strength to human teams. I looked at recruiting area and current roster. I took into account how much of a rebuild the teams would be and how many coaches had been at the programs during their history. I then got the assistance of gt_deuce who sent me the information for those 10 teams on his own spreadsheet.

I now was down to 8 teams. The reason for the long drawn out process for me was, I have a hard time staying at a program I have no "emotional attachment" to so I was trying to put myself into a very good situation. The final conferences in consideration were the IVY, A10, SWAC and MEAC. The teams consisted of Delaware State, Arkansas Pine-Bluff, Rhode Island, Dartmouth and Morgan State. It was a difficult decision as I couldn't decide whether to try to build a conference or go to an established, stronger conference. I eventually ended up deciding on a team where I could rebuild the team but it still had a decent foundation to start, the recruiting area was also fantastic.

I had talked to several coaches who I knew were looking to move or move up from DII. I tried to convince coaches to come help me build a strong conference in the MEAC. A conference spread across a large geographical region with good recruiting areas and an opportunity to be successful right away. As it turns out, the ones who joined... all joined the same side lol.

Now that the part that no one cares about is over... let's get to some predictions!

Villanova vs Youngstown State - NOVA 33-31

William & Mary vs Savannah State - WM 30-26

Texas Southern vs Texas State - TSU :P TEXST 33-28

Montana State vs Charleston Southern - CSU 27-3

Gardner-Webb vs Stephen F. Austin - SFA 35-20

Marist vs Cal Poly - MAR 30-21

Dayton vs Northern Iowa - DU 35-24

Yale vs Furman - YALE 30-26

Tennessee-Martin vs Cornell - UTM 34-17

Albany vs Delaware State - ALB 28-23

Duquesne vs Robert Morris - UD 30-28