Small College Gridiron Notes

Including the game at Wise (see previous post), Emory &Henry's junior varsity football team will play six games this season. Coach Don Montgomery started the junior squad last year when he took over as head coach of the Wasps. There is no schedule or mention yet of a j.v. squad on the UVa-Wise athletics Web site, but sources close to the team (I can't write that without laughing) say the E&H game is the only game on the slate thus far. This will be the first season for the Cavs' j.v. squad. …According to ehcsports.com, the unofficial/official Web site for E&H athletics, the Wasps had 144 players report to practice, a record number. …The following is old news, but I thought I'd include it for no other reason than to fill out space: EA Sports "NCAA '07 Football" features the Emory & Henry shift plays made popular by Steve Spurrier when he coached at Florida. You may remember Spurrier used the plays a few years back to help the Gators win an SEC title game. The spread formation plays are accessible in the video game via the South Carolina playbook. Spurrier, who now coaches the Gamecocks, claims he saw the Wasps run the plays at a game during his youth in Johnson City, Tenn. You can see a demonstration of one of the plays at the EA SportsWeb site. …Brian Saunders nearly signed to play football and baseball at E&H this season, according to an article today in The (Lynchburg) News & Advance. However, Virginia Tech snatched him away to walk on as a kicker. Now Saunders, from Nelson County, is quarterbacking the Hokies' scout team. …In case you missed it, the Wasps are picked to tie for sixth with Catholic this season in the ODAC race. …You know how we like cheerleaders. They are a fundamental part of the game. Well, that might be stretching things a bit. Anyway, most small college cheerleaders Web sites contain little more than a team photo. However, the cheerleaders at UVa-Wise do an excellent job of maintaining their site with updated information, team bios, photos and even video clips. Here's the link.

Wasps and Cavs to meet on the gridiron -- sort of

For more than 10 years now, small college football fans in Southwest Virginia have been clamoring for two area teams to hunker down against each other on the gridiron. You know what I'm talking about. Emory & Henry and UVa-Wise are separated by a little more than an hour drive, but haven’t hooked up on the field since a couple of meetings in the mid-90s, both of which the Wasps won over a Cavaliers' program that was still in its infancy. However, for the first time since 1995, the teams are scheduled to meet on the football field, but it's not exactly what fans want. The Wasps and Cavaliers will do battle in Wise, Nov. 6 in, uh, a junior varsity game at Carl Smith Stadium. That's right, j.v. Well, maybe that's a start to something bigger, right? Maybe. Maybe not. Folks in Wise want to play E&H, my alma mater, so bad it makes their toes hurt. Conversely, the Waspers want no part of playing the Cavs since playing an NAIA school somehow creates a negative in the Division III rankings for the Blue and Gold club and could potentially damage any playoff hopes for the Wasps. That was the way it was explained to me, anyway. If that's the case, who can blame E&H for not scheduling UVa-Wise? This j.v. game, I hope, is a positive step toward establishing a great football rivalry that would create a huge buzz and bragging rights among fans and alumni of the two schools. And let's face it. Both schools need each other on their respective schedules. E&H and UVa-Wise are in tough conferences that have them playing against teams that regularly compete for the national title. But how many fans actually go to Fullerton Field on a Saturday afternoon to see the Wasps play Bridgewater? I'm betting not too many. If you were to quiz fans entering Carl Smith Stadium on a fall Saturday, I'm sure many of those couldn't tell you and wouldn't care who the Cavs were playing that day. However, if the opponent were Emory & Henry, everybody would care.

Notes
Oh, Celina
Naked Bootleg's favorite cheerleader, Celina of the Houston Texans, is back for her third season with the dance squad. Check out this photo on the Texans Web site of Celina wearing shoulder pads.

Mangini letting down the curtain a bit?
I'm a Jets fan, and I'm really starting to like new coach Eric Mangini. He's taken a lot of heat from reporters about the level of secrecy at the team's training camp so far. He has refused to name a starting quarterback and he hasn't released a depth chart. That's a lesson he learned under mentor Bill Belichick in New England. But, according to Tom Rock's Jets Blog on Newsday.com, the 35-year-old coach is becoming a bit more comfortable and personal with the tough New York media. Thursday, Rock wrote:

Mangini had one of his most engaging press meetings today. He wasn’t spilling the playbook (or even the depth chart), but he seems to be getting more and more comfortable with the daily briefings. He spoke about some personal things besides football today, such as his pregame routine of talking with his kids and his thoughts on being “the young guy.” He even cracked a few jokes on his way out of the room. He’s no Johnny Carson, but then again, neither is Jay Leno.