Dunn, Barry take part in ODAC Media Day

WASHINGTON – The 2010 football season is fast approaching and on Friday, August 6 the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) got things started with its annual Media Day, which was held via teleconference.  CUA head coach Dave Dunn, who is entering his fifth season at the helm of the Cardinals program, was joined by senior running back Rich Barry on the call.

Dunn offered his thoughts on the 2010 edition of the Cardinals on Friday’s teleconference.  “We return the majority of our team this year and also have a good number of guys coming back after missing time last season with injury.  On offense we lost only three starters and on the other side of the ball we feel we should have a strong defense.”

After a tough 2009 campaign that saw CUA use a large number of young players, Dunn is hoping to get the Cardinals offense back to where it was in 2008 when they averaged nearly 33 points per game.  “Last year we geared our offense too much around the run,” Dunn said.  “We want to get back to throwing it more and playing offense the way we want to this year.”

Barry rushed for a team-high 840 yards and nine touchdowns in 2009.  During the conference call he spoke about CUA’s offensive line, which will feature several new faces this season.  “We have some young guys who saw playing time last year and the more experience they get, the better they’re going to be.” 

Dunn echoed Barry’s thoughts.  “We had a very small senior class last year which forced us to play a lot of young guys.  We lost too many close games and that is something we’re looking to correct this year.  We had a great offseason and our guys are very excited to get things started.”

Also on Friday the ODAC released its preseason poll, which is voted on by the league’s seven head coaches.  CUA received 12 points and was voted seventh in the poll, while defending league champion Hampden-Sydney received three first place votes and 44 overall as the Tigers were selected first.

CUA will kick off its 2010 season on Saturday, September 4 when the Cardinals head to Shenandoah for a game underneath the lights.  Kick-off is set for 7:00.