I'm not in Pittsburgh but I understand local support is good. Team almost beat William & Mary in a wild shootout in the playoffs. Two Dukes had extended time in NFL camps.

Some of the local fans are likely to chime in.

I usually go to a game or two a year.   I watched some of the second half vs Dayton.   Rough with the extra points on Saturday. 

Missed two.  Two were blocked and a failed 2 point conversion.  Rare to leave that many points off the board and win.

Last edited by duqkurt (9/19/2016 4:21 pm)

General thoughts, and alluding to other post:

"What is the vibe in Pittsburg on Duquesne football?"

I am a Pitt fan first, primarily because of FBS Hometown School status. When not playing Pitt I actually am a WVU fan also, for the same reasons. If you don't know Pittsburgh  (btw with an H at the end )  if your a faster driver WVU is no more than 70 minutes from from the city core. Essentially it is the Greater Pittsburgh MSA. Imho, Pitt is the city school fans are College alum and educated folk, & to a lesser extent some  City folks that were Steel mills people in and around city root for them because they are "Pittsburgh". WVU co joined to some of of the counties directly south and have more fans than Pitt because they are Appalachia and the Coal Miner region. I say all that to say I am a Duquesne fan because they are also the City, I have taken more interest in the past few years since the NEC stepped its game up and can actually make it to the FCS playoffs. I honestly would like them to step up more. Meaning, give more Schollies and a serious college home venue. In Todays economy may not be realistic but again either build up the stadium that currently is a small high school level, or fix up a close high school field they used to utilize within walking distance that could seat up to 12,000 I believe. Also what has intrigued, and saddens me, they are battling for and bringing in kids that are getting legitimate looks or offers from lower tier FBS teams and YSU, and they pretty much get all the local kid FBS transfers. The part that hurts is it has taken some away from my D2 alma mater that used to get some of these kids, now even with somewhat similar scholarship parameters it is more attractive to play for a school in a higher profile division. 

Also saying all that , I did not realize up until recently how bad our media is. Frankly I love the Steelers, but not the NFL over the college product. because the Steelers are popular and the are more in tune to the  blue collar, non collegiate person they get any and all resources. No college from FBS, let alone FCS gets coverage. These forums are here but I think an averaged Duquesne fan would not put forth the effort to even find this forum. While growing and a pretty good fan base the Dukes not being a "full tilt" FCS team will never get them to a greater status or following, even from their current student body. " ...


Saw the program listed in the top 100 and wondered how active the fanbase is or even how much support it receives on campus".

...Again I think it is limited. Students will show up but again imho, probably walking around campus, knowing there is no press coverage, you see a 1000 seat field, it does not look big time. IUP was dominant in D2 for years, I attended maybe 1 game a year...was more interested in watching the big boys on TV. 14,000 students, we were sized big time, Campus felt big time, But D2 Football and again a smaller high school level stadium? It did not appeal to me...I would suspect that is the deal with Duquesne."

"Looking at the YSU score, is YSU really that good?"

It has really hit me this year that FCS Duquesne and FCS are still totally different animals. In reality a top tier FCS team is absolutely the equivalent as a mid tier, non Top 15 FBS school (actually that statement is iffy with Iowa and North Dakota State results). The starting 22 for YSU can challenge any FBS school besides the Bama's. In an early season game before injuries, experience of players etc. there is no reason to be shocked if you lose, and get beat pretty good (another I.E. Pitt YSU a few years ago). they actually have an advantage of getting transfers that suite their deficiencies. FBS cant even do that.  YSU is an FBS school essentially, Duquesne now may be a step above D2, but as of maybe 7 - 10 years ago they would scrimmage local D2 teams that the D2 would put a licking on them, Still not sure they would beat the top 3 D2 PSAC teams (even though a WV state team, Alderson Broadus shut down Dukes rival RMU this year). Some of those teams would stay in a game for a little while against an YSU , but there is still a depth issue where they would pull away. Duquesne is getting there, and can achieve that every few years with the right transfers and experience but not consistent enough yet. all that said YSU is that good in that they are the equivalent of a Kent State or Akron 2 other "local" FBS teams.


 

Last edited by Big Ike (9/21/2016 6:23 pm)

hammertime wrote:

Thanks for the reply.

I agree the home venue is 'unique'.  YSU stadium is used by Cardinal Mooney high school, does Duquesne share their field with anyone?

Pittsburgh Central Catholic used to play some games there, but now they use Carnegie mellon's field, which is just a few blocks from their school building.

There is another message board that is more active for the football program. Run by our friend Coffee. Link is below.