Bison137
Professor
Posts: 16147
Reg: 01-23-06
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11-06-19 10:30 PM - Post#290172
In response to Doktore K
Not sure how many years away from .500, but I think next year should be significantly better. To begin, the players have had to learn an entirely different offense and an entirely different defense - which means there has been a big learning curve. Offense now uses fewer TE's, more WR's, and normally employs the read option. All very different from Susan's approach. Also the defense now has three LB's, who are employed differently than Susan's two LB approach, and has two safeties playing fairly traditional roles.
Another change is that for various reasons, some experienced players who were a fit in Susan's offense have been replaced by less experienced players who fit what Cecchini wants to do. That is most noticeable in the OL, where three very big players who started in 2018 have been replaced by smaller, younger players.
Further, recent starting lineups have had only one senior among the starting 22. That bodes well for next year, although it has made this year harder. Also, as you probably know, Bucknell is the only PL school that doesn't have a number of 5th year players in any given year. While others make it as easy to return for a 5th year as it is to cross the street, Bucknell makes it virtually impossible. Thus Bucknell has had one 5th year player in 15+ years while all the other PL members have had 40+ 5th year players. I hope Cecchini got the Bucknell Administration to loosen up their ultra-restrictive standards, but I doubt that happened.
As for future schedules, I don't think next year will be quite as hard but it still figures to be difficult. Three OOC games I know about are Cornell, Princeton, and Army (the season opener I believe). I have also heard rumors about another VMI series but I don't know if that starts in 2020. There is also a possibility that the Sacred Heart series has one more year left.
As for recruiting, I think it is going fairly well, especially considering it is a new staff and the team's record is underwhelming. Holy Cross right now has pulled away from the rest of the league in recruiting but the Bison are at least holding their own with everyone else. One huge need, however, is to find a talented RB, with Freshnock graduating and opening day starter Marquis Carter having left the team.
Finally, here is a list of the top PL recruits, based on offers. Bucknell has two of the top three, but only one other.
https://herosports.com/fcs/football-2019-pat riot-l...
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