by Alex Benepe | September 21st, 2011
This weekend, clash of the titans gets redefined when the fourth-ranked team in the world, Texas A&M, will compete against the third-ranked team, Louisiana State University.
The Facebook page for the event maintains that this is a “friendly” game, and both teams have elected not to have the game impact rankings, but nonetheless, we can expect some intense play from these veteran squads.
The game is going down this Sat. Sept. 24, at Bear Creek Pioneers Park in Houston, Tex, from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.
University of New Orleans and Sam Houston State University quidditch teams will also be in attendance. SHSU has recently joined the IQA as an official member and has registered for World Cup.
LSU captain Jason Winn, when asked for about A&M, had nothing but good things to say.
“They play a very similar style to us, with a strong emphasis on strategy,” he said. “I see so many teams walk into a tournament believing just because they have chasers that could punch out a marine in a bar, that that will ensure victory. I love playing them and have more respect for their team than any other team in the country.”
And his own team?
“We’re more unified than we’ve ever been. The thing, I think, that separates LSU from any other school is our will to win,” Winn said. “I see a lot of teams that come out to the World Cup to just have fun and play which is fine for them, but we go to win.”
Check out a past match between Texas A&M and LSU:
Trey Price
September 21, 2011
11:11 am
Geux Tigers!!!
LSUs Banshee
September 21, 2011
11:27 am
Its actually University of New Orleans not omaha and the video was from 2010s TA&M Classic
Sean Alexander Pagoada
September 21, 2011
12:16 pm
LSU!!!
Matt
September 23, 2011
10:21 am
How do they both elect to not have the game affect rankings? They both must be afraid of losing.
chaseher33
Southwestern Regional Director
September 23, 2011
3:27 pm
No, no one is afraid of losing. This isn’t about winning. It’s about giving our new members some real gameplay experience before world cup. Also, if it doesn’t affect rankings and stays a friendlier tournament then we’re hoping that will decrease the likelihood that someone will get injured.
Matt
September 23, 2011
3:48 pm
If a team plays a game then their record is affected. You can’t just pick and choose when you win games and when you lose games. Can you imagine if that happened in college football? In that case every team in the top 25 would be undefeated every year.
Juan
September 23, 2011
4:41 pm
Its more along the lines of international soccer friendlies.
chaseher33
Southwestern Regional Director
September 23, 2011
5:59 pm
NFL has preseason games that don’t affect their standings. We can’t count games against non official teams either. Also this isn’t our official world cup team. It’s a deciding factor in who goes to World Cup. This isn’t college football, it’s quidditch. We’re both splitting up our teams anyways for most of the games. That’s not an accurate representation of the whole team. This is something we arranged between ourselves to give us some scrimmages against other teams. When it comes down to official IQA tournaments all our games will count.
jwinn2
Captain, Louisiana State University
September 23, 2011
6:45 pm
Because we care about getting better, not rankings. THATS why we’re #3 and #4 in the nation. What team do you represent?
Matt
September 24, 2011
4:33 am
I love how you instantly assume my team sucks. This is why LSU has the biggest target on their back of any team. You guys run your mouth too much. I’ll look forward to either beating you or watching you be humbled at the world cup.
Dan Panzarella
Admin
September 23, 2011
7:10 pm
This is kosher only on the grounds that they are (from what I understand) playing their “B” teams. Call it a JV matchup if you will.
JV matches don’t usually affect the standing of the varsity team.
If their typical front line players were playing this, however, they really shouldn’t choose not to count it. If this were to happen, I’d add it anyway.
chaseher33
Southwestern Regional Director
September 23, 2011
7:18 pm
If we decide to have friendlies it’s our decision to count them towards rankings or not. There’s no real structure of what games can and cannot count so you can’t force any team to count matches. Rankings are already skewed because some teams have only played 1 match while others have played over 20. Once a structured schedule for quidditch games comes out then you can talk about counting any match a team plays.
jwinn2
Captain, Louisiana State University
September 23, 2011
7:42 pm
Count it anyways? Seriously? Both our teams decided to play a series of friendly games, not tournament matches. Who are you to try and take that away from us?
Dan Panzarella
Admin
September 24, 2011
1:33 am
I’m pretty sure I misunderstood this entire page.
my bad, fellas.
(thanks for clearing things up, brad, and chaseher from.. before i said anything)
Brad Armentor
September 23, 2011
7:35 pm
There are no “JV teams” Dan. Each of our schools’ teams have split up the talent and skill evenly so as to make for interesting games. We don’t believe in that whole JV thing. We’re one team, when it counts. But whenever it’s something like this, to get people experience then we can choose to split up. We made this on our own terms. Otherwise we wouldn’t be playing anyone until November.
Alex Benepe
Commissioner
September 23, 2011
8:11 pm
Starting in the 2012-2013 academic year teams will have a required number of scheduled games in their region that will impact rankings. They can play more games that they schedule on their own of course, in which rankings are optional.
Until then, besides regionals, teams can pick and choose and should decide before the game whether it will affect rankings, like these folks have.
FYI, while ranking will be used to set up pools, each pool will be set up very equally. More information on how these are being arranged will be released soon.
jwinn2
Captain, Louisiana State University
September 23, 2011
8:38 pm
I’m glad you’re CEO.
Will Hack
Captain, Jetpack Ninja Dinosaurs; Captain, Michigan State University
September 24, 2011
3:49 am
Aww man I didn’t realize this was going to be friendly. I wanted to see LSU and A&M rip each other to shreds (World Cup self-interest MAY be involved here).
Brad Armentor
September 24, 2011
5:37 pm
Matt, i’m pretty sure he just wanted to know what team you play for. We don’t assume anything. We just want to know what team you play for. And if we do play each other, I look forward to it, like i look forward to every game.
Matt
September 25, 2011
2:27 am
I don’t think so. Look at the comments by LSU’s captain in the article, “The thing, I think, that separates LSU from any other school is our will to win.” Or his comment, “Because we care about getting better, not rankings. THATS why we’re #3 and #4 in the nation. What team do you represent?” Does he really think other teams don’t want to win? or that other teams don’t practice and scrimmage to get better? Their team is on their high horse of being ranked #3. We’ll see how they really match up at the cup.
jwinn2
Captain, Louisiana State University
September 25, 2011
11:01 am
Please stop. First off, I was asking what team you’re from, because when I go to a tournament I go out of my way to introduce myself to everyone I’ve ‘met’ through the internet.
Second, a lot of teams don’t care about winning. They go out and play quidditch to have fun. Winning or losing is a byproduct of that for them. Winning is the goal of my team, but it’s not the goal of EVERY team. I’m sorry if that offends you so much, but I’m not apologizing for our drive to achieve excellence.
Third, you came into this thread talking down to both LSU and A&M without identifying yourself beyond “matt from the land of trolls on the internet”. If you hate LSU or want to “target” us, that’s your prerogative. Since I doubt you’ll man up and say who you are, all I ask is when you play quidditch (us or anyone else),you play a clean and fair game. Good luck in New York, I wish you the best.
-Jason
Matt
September 25, 2011
6:15 pm
I think you are reading between the lines. I have never made any inference that I would cheat or play dirty. Also, I have two reasons for not stating what team I am from. One, I am not speaking on behalf of my team. Two, I do not want other teams gunning for us. I was not trying to talk either team down, but what I meant to do was point out that your arrogance on this site has given my team a strong desire to beat LSU. We have been reviewing games you’ve played that are posted on the internet, and you can bet my team will have a game plan prepared for if we face you.
jwinn2
Captain, Louisiana State University
September 25, 2011
7:54 pm
I must say I disagree with your mentality, but it warms my heart to know that our arrogance has given your team an opportunity to better yourselves. Once again, good luck at the world cup. I wish you the best.
JackthePhan
September 25, 2011
7:17 pm
Who won the LSU A&M game? It would be nice if the IQA could post game results sooner. They announce the games but you have to wait until the next edition of the Monthly Seer to find out who won.
Dan Panzarella
Admin
September 26, 2011
12:41 am
Well it would be up if the game were added to the site, but there was some game-adding ranked-games based confusion.
And now nobody adds non-ranked games. Even though you can.
I’ll have to clarify that, then hopefully people will add games like this, and people can see the scores ASAP (and the IQA can get a better idea of how active some teams are).
jwinn2
Captain, Louisiana State University
September 26, 2011
1:52 am
Thanks for clearing up the confusion. I honestly don’t know the scores for the games, but I’m sure someone will post them soon.
Chad Estep
Captain, Philadelphia Honey Badgers
September 25, 2011
7:41 pm
Quidditch smack talk. I’m loving it.
Brooks
September 25, 2011
11:24 pm
Hey Matt, if you are not speaking on behalf of your “team,” why do you say that your “team has a strong desire to beat LSU.” That seems to me that you are speaking on behalf of your “team.” Also, the reason why you are not saying what “team” you play for is because, “I do not want other teams gunning for us.” That sounds to me that you are “afraid of losing.” Hope your “team” does well at the World Cup and good luck on your future endeavors.
Alex Clark
Captain, Texas Tech University; Alabama State Director
September 26, 2011
2:01 am
Just chiming in that the rankings do factor in how many games you’ve played kthnx. The better team should be better on and of the pitch/court/field. All I’m saying.
Dan Panzarella
Admin
September 26, 2011
11:52 am
I’m not counting exhibition games for that. We’ll talk.