FB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[Pat Coleman]

He cares about what the future in-laws think!  Don't worry Wally, this too shall pass.

+K

I've been married for 10 years......I'm bringing my iPad to my in-laws on Saturday, so I can hide in the corner and watch the game.

Almost 20 - trust me, 10 years from now, you will doing the exact same thing.

Been married 25, by then you'll be going to the game.

Even when they don't have one.

+1

[formerd3db]

He cares about what the future in-laws think!  Don't worry Wally, this too shall pass.

+K

I've been married for 10 years......I'm bringing my iPad to my in-laws on Saturday, so I can hide in the corner and watch the game.

Almost 20 - trust me, 10 years from now, you will doing the exact same thing.

Been married 25, by then you'll be going to the game.

You young guys have nothing to worry about.  My wife and I have been happily married 32 years and by then it doesn't matter.   She is fine with the football and always has been.  Both my in-laws and my parents are now gone/passed on (early), so that doesn't enter in the equation, however, it never did anyway since they were all fine with the football always. 

Anyway, have a safe and blessed Thanksgiving holiday all of you with your families and enjoy the football, including our DIII playoffs.
   

[formerd3db]

BTW Pat and colleagues here, although this is not football related, did you see where our Hope women's volleyball team won the NCAA Div. III National Championship Monday night against Emory?  A great accomplishment for them, especially after being highly ranked last year and bowing out early.  Although it is only the 3rd NCAA national championship for Hope teams (2 women's BB titles and this one-not to forget mentioning 2 runner-up finishes for Hope's men's BB teams), it still is a fun and great thing to celebrate for our Hope alums and fans.

[emma17]

BTW Pat and colleagues here, although this is not football related, did you see where our Hope women's volleyball team won the NCAA Div. III National Championship Monday night against Emory?  A great accomplishment for them, especially after being highly ranked last year and bowing out early.  Although it is only the 3rd NCAA national championship for Hope teams (2 women's BB titles and this one-not to forget mentioning 2 runner-up finishes for Hope's men's BB teams), it still is a fun and great thing to celebrate for our Hope alums and fans.

Congrats to Hope on a great accomplishment.
I'm a big fan of the sport.

[BoBo]

Twenty-eight years...but you know all about that...my wife is really cool about my football habit...in fact I am a couple hours from flying out to Hawaii (get there before I leave here  ) for Thanksgiving with my sisters...than fly out to Green Bay on Fri with my brother-in-law for the Packers/Patriots game on Sunday. Probably watching UWW/Wabash from Appleton if all goes well. Then back to Maui. Such is life.

[formerd3db]

BTW Pat and colleagues here, although this is not football related, did you see where our Hope women's volleyball team won the NCAA Div. III National Championship Monday night against Emory?  A great accomplishment for them, especially after being highly ranked last year and bowing out early.  Although it is only the 3rd NCAA national championship for Hope teams (2 women's BB titles and this one-not to forget mentioning 2 runner-up finishes for Hope's men's BB teams), it still is a fun and great thing to celebrate for our Hope alums and fans.

Congrats to Hope on a great accomplishment.
I'm a big fan of the sport.

Thanks.  It is an exciting sport to watch.  I am continually amazed at the fantastic plays that women volleyball players execute.  I, too, am very happy for them.

[formerd3db]

Twenty-eight years...but you know all about that...my wife is really cool about my football habit...in fact I am a couple hours from flying out to Hawaii (get there before I leave here  ) for Thanksgiving with my sisters...than fly out to Green Bay on Fri with my brother-in-law for the Packers/Patriots game on Sunday. Probably watching UWW/Wabash from Appleton if all goes well. Then back to Maui. Such is life.

Awesome!  Your wife is a wonderful lady and saint!  We'll pray for safe trips for you-I hope you have wonderful times.

[bashbrother]

19 years here and my wife has literally given up on trying to rehabilitate me... We were at a food and wine festival last Saturday in Miami and I was watching Bash on my tablet at a table of 10 people.. Got a little awkward when we scored..

Happy Thanksgiving to All.. Safe travels and enjoy!

[ExTartanPlayer]

Twenty-eight years...but you know all about that...my wife is really cool about my football habit...in fact I am a couple hours from flying out to Hawaii (get there before I leave here  ) for Thanksgiving with my sisters...than fly out to Green Bay on Fri with my brother-in-law for the Packers/Patriots game on Sunday. Probably watching UWW/Wabash from Appleton if all goes well. Then back to Maui. Such is life.

You're flying from the mainland to Hawaii, then back to Wisconsin, and then BACK to Hawaii in the space of a week?

That's a lot of flying.

[Li'l Giant]

Twenty-eight years...but you know all about that...my wife is really cool about my football habit...in fact I am a couple hours from flying out to Hawaii (get there before I leave here  ) for Thanksgiving with my sisters...than fly out to Green Bay on Fri with my brother-in-law for the Packers/Patriots game on Sunday. Probably watching UWW/Wabash from Appleton if all goes well. Then back to Maui. Such is life.

You're flying from the mainland to Hawaii, then back to Wisconsin, and then BACK to Hawaii in the space of a week?

That's a lot of flying.

Hope you have a good chiropractor.

[formerd3db]

Twenty-eight years...but you know all about that...my wife is really cool about my football habit...in fact I am a couple hours from flying out to Hawaii (get there before I leave here  ) for Thanksgiving with my sisters...than fly out to Green Bay on Fri with my brother-in-law for the Packers/Patriots game on Sunday. Probably watching UWW/Wabash from Appleton if all goes well. Then back to Maui. Such is life.

Great quote, Bobo!  I love it!

[bleedpurple]

Twenty-eight years...but you know all about that...my wife is really cool about my football habit...in fact I am a couple hours from flying out to Hawaii (get there before I leave here  ) for Thanksgiving with my sisters...than fly out to Green Bay on Fri with my brother-in-law for the Packers/Patriots game on Sunday. Probably watching UWW/Wabash from Appleton if all goes well. Then back to Maui. Such is life.

You're flying from the mainland to Hawaii, then back to Wisconsin, and then BACK to Hawaii in the space of a week?

That's a lot of flying.

Actually Bobo lives in South Korea. So while still a lot of flying, it isn't the back and forth trip it would appear. He's our international UW-W fan!

[aueagle]

Thanksgiving...what a great time of the year...
Thanks Pat & crew, for all the work that you do for
D3...to the NCAC posters; you guys (miss Scotlass)
are great...agree or not on what we say, I read all the
posts and I'm gratefull there are others that have the
same passion for Division Football.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING

[Li'l Giant]

Happy Thanksgiving and safe travels to all. I'm thankful that we have a forum for our passion and other passionate people to share it with. Everyone eat their fill and get ready for some great games this weekend.

[BashDad]

THE WATER RUNS RED


Okay.

This is a big week. The biggest week, for Wabash, since weeks 13 and 14 of 2011 and, before that, week 12 of 2009, week 13 of 2008, week 13 of 2005, and before that, week 4 of 2002.

The scores of those games:

2002 - Wabash 46 Wittenberg 43 - W
2005 - Capital 13 Wabash 10 - L
2008 - Wheaton 52 Wabash 28 - L
2009 - Illinois Wesleyan 41 Wabash 35 - L
2011 - Wabash 29 North Central 28 - W
2011 - Wabash 8 Mount Union 20 - L

These games, to me, describe the march of the program over the last 14 seasons from a conference contender to a regional contender to—as will be tested on Saturday—a maybe, could-be, I-think-we-done-did-it national contender. The above list ignores a handful of playoff games and, more relevant to this week, The Thrashings: the 2002 MUC game and the 2007 UWW game. Those were most definitely "big games" as far as we were all concerned, but they were also most definitely going to be losses. Those games were like opening a Christmas present on Christmas Eve, ("look at what we got — a game against a team that plays on ESPN!"), and were treated as a kind of circumstantial novelty. Wabash wasn't—though they were hoping otherwise—ready. In 2002, MUC wasn't the "what's next" for the program, neither was UWW five years later.

The win against North Central in 2011 was the first time since the Wittenberg win in 2002 that the ceiling of the Wabash program was pushed upward — this, it seemed, was the what's next. This was an arrival on par with the arrival that happened in Springfield, Ohio almost a decade prior, in no less dramatic fashion. The program proved what we'd all been yelling about, despite any real evidence — they had, before our eyes, built something. Were building something. They were getting better. When Wabash headed for Alliance the following week, it didn't feel, as it had previously, like a walk to the gallows. We all thought this could be different. And though Wabash lost, we weren't wrong. The 20 points UMU scored are the fewest points they've scored against a non-National-Champion not just since that game, but since 2005. Unlike in 2002 or 2007, Wabash put up a fight. A real fight. And then they went away.

While Wabash has been absent in the playoffs for two years, my feeling—the feeling, I think, of anyone following Wabash closely—is that those interim teams were not, as the duration of their season might indicate, regressions. Some weird stuff happened in 2012, the Pool C field was prohibitively competitive in 2013, and so—oops—Wabash stayed home.

But make no mistake — the team that held UMU to 20 points (a Wabash team that included many of the current team's best players), didn't just go away. This year's Wabash team isn't just not-the-2007 version, they're also not-the-2011 version. Statistically, this year's group is better—against a tougher schedule, by the way—in every major category: total offense, total defense, scoring offense, scoring defense, rushing yards, and passing—yes—passing yards. Check, check, check, check, check, and check.

If I'm a Whitewater fan, the no-big-surprises version of this game ends—I think—in a 23-6 victory. But I'm not a Whitewater fan. I'm a Wabash fan. So here's how we win:


PART I.    THE UNPRECEDENTED BEGETS THE UNPRECEDENTED

1. Whitewater has never given up more than two sacks in a single game.
2. Whitewater has never turned the ball over more than one time in a single game.
3. Whitewater has never lost.

These are related.

Wabash has had five or more sacks eight times this year. They've had less than four only once. Disrupt #1, disrupt #3.


PART II.    THE RIVER FALLS SOLUTION


I get it. If my team almost got beat by a 3-7 team, I'd say it didn't matter either. It was an aberration. Evidence of nothing. But there is something definitive that the River Falls game revealed, and that's what a box score might look like following Whitewater's defeat.

River Falls is the only team all year who a.) held the Warhawks under 150 yards on the ground, b.) rushed themselves for over 150 yards, and c.) also threw for over 150 yards. This is the secret code of that game. Those three categories.

When combing through Whitewater's season-to-date, you come across teams who had success through the air, but couldn't run (Franklin, Platteville, Stevens Point) or teams that could run, but not pass (Osh Kosh), but the only team to do both even kinda-okay is the only team that almost won. Why? Because they also stuffed the run.

I don't care about why Whitewater had a tough game, be it indifference or injury, but I do care about how they had a tough game, particularly because how they had a tough game matches up very nicely—if you're a Wabash fan—to the Little Giant's strengths: Wabash stops the run and employs a balanced, run-first offense.

(Osh-Kosh confirms this how-to-win cocktail, even though they lost 24-7, a margin attributable to four turnovers and a passing game that couldn't accumulate a hundred yards.)

So.

a. Can Wabash rush for 150 yards on Saturday? I don't know. River Falls did. Osh Kosh did. Macalaster almost did. And neither of those teams have these guys:



b. Can Wabash hold UWW to 150 yards rushing? I don't know. River Falls and Osh Kosh did. Our rushing defense is not third best of that bunch. And we have these guys:



c. Can Wabash pass for 150 yards on Saturday? I don't know. But—holy schmoly—nearly everyone the Warhawks faced did:  Franklin, Stout, Eau-Claire, Plattville, Osh Kosh, Stevens Point, River Falls, Macalaster. And we have this guy:



And these guys:



Wabash, I would say, has a better-than-average shot at reaching each of these three milestones and the only time—the only time—that happened all-at-once to the Warhawks this year, they had to cross their fingers in the final minutes of a game.

So yay.


PART III.   GOD'S HONEST TRUTH

Wabash wins 17-14.

Fear the flock.

WAF.