Menlo has their 2010 schedule, noting the fact that they are transitioning to the NAIA. I also saw on a couple of NWC websites the notation that Menlo is now a non-conference game.

OxyBob -

I would gve your stance more credence if -

(Just a note - before I go any further - I am of mixed ethnicity, with three quarters of my bloodlines being a combination of Native American and Scottish.)

You stopped referiing to "Indian " Nicknames - that in itself is politically incorrect - Indians are from India, the proper term is native american if you are refering to the inhabitants of the western hemisphere.

My personal opinion in regard to many of the nicknames is get over it -  Unless the name used is a derogatory slur, it isn't worth the effort in most cases. Stanford was the Indians - that was not generally used in the negative, unlike redmen or redskins, which are slurs.

I guess my biggest problem within this topic (and some others) is that no matter what is said and done, someone is going to be offended - if our goal is to not offend anyone at all, then we need to all become hermits and avoid all other human interaction.  A lot of times, it is human nature to take things personally whether they are intended that way or not. If the goal is not to offend intentionally, but to voice one's opinions (which may cause offense somewhere) then that is free speech.

Since we all agree to disagree, let's get back to football -  .....

Quote from: Foss on September 28, 2006, 06:13:02 PMthey play another tough team in Azusa Pacific this weekend. APU is 1-3, but get this: their 3 losses are against UW-Whitewater (#2 in D3), UW-La Crosse (top 10 in D3), and San Diego (#1 in 1-AA Mid-Majors). Talk about an insane schedule.

They make up for it with the rest of their schedule - I posted this a while ago....

"Their focus, as usual, is to play some D2's (Dixie, Humboldt), NAIA, and D1AA (San Diego). It is interesting though that among their games they have picked up a number of "young" programs.

Malone has had football since 1993 and has a new coach.
Dixie State is in its first year of "4-year" football after having been a 2 yr college.
Webber International started football in 2003.
Southern Nazerene has had football for 6 years.

But from their perspective, they are NAIA schools (except Dixie) and that factors into the rankings which factors into making the playoffs."

As an independent, APU has to finish (I believe) in the top 12 of the NAIA to get into the playoffs. They do this mostly by beating NAIA teams. If they beat an occasional NCAA school (any level) that can only help.

Hatchetman75-

I will be the dissenting opinion - I hope that PLU's chances to pick up a win are not as good as you and others may think - playing on grass for Menlo's homecoming -

Menlo is still a young team, but I think that they will have a good shot at staying with anybody in the NWC with the exceptions of Linfield and Whitworth - the rest of the games should be competitive. (depending on injuries, etc....)

DiehardFan -

I would disagree when you say Native Californians - more like Native Southern Californians -

Northern Californians play in rain, mud, sleet, sometimes even snow and love it!

The first college game I played in was against College of the Siskiyous in Weed (Mt Shasta) - It was sunny the day before when we travelled so we didn't bring rain gear - overnight a storm hit with heavy rain and sleet - we played on a field with at least two inches of standing water in places and sleet and freezing rain throughout the game - and we were in our lightweight mesh jersies!  Other than losing the mudfest 7-6, it was one of the most fun games I had been in!

Whitworth is an exception to my previous comment - I admit it -
but look at APU's schedule -

Malone has had football since 1993 and has a new coach.
Dixie State is in its first year of "4-year" football after having been a 2 yr college.
Webber International started football in 2003.
Southern Nazerene has had football for 6 years.

A lot of football history, right?

Quote from: CalCat on September 20, 2006, 10:44:19 PM
Wonder where AP would be ranked if they were a DIII program ?

Well, first take away those athletes that are on athletic scholarships (NAIA).

Then compare them.

More interesting to compare USD (who blew out APU) - they are D-1AA NON-SCHOLARSHIP.

APU is usually pretty good, but this year, other than USD and the two UW's, they do play a bunch of weaker teams.

That's all Mid Major 1-AA is - glorified D3 - with an exception - Some of those programs came about because of the NCAA saying you couldn't be D1 in the majority of sports and maintain a D3 football program.  Some of the schools that had been doing this (USD was, I know) were recruiting two sport athletes for sports like baseball and track and giving them athletic scholarships and then "letting" them play football. Since they weren't getting a football athletic scholarship, they felt it was no harm - nice recruiting tool.

When the NCAA changed the rules, some of the schools like USD continued to do what they always did  - same system, different level, no overt football scholarships.........

USD plays schools like Butler, Dayton, Valparaiso, Jacksonville, and seems to do a pretty good job of beating them up - 11-1 last year - not bad.

Pat -

I don't want to start a BCS type controversy - which poll did you see that had them 7th? The only one I have seen was Don Hansen's Preseason and it did have a team that finished last year at .500 as number 12. It also had a team that had a losing record (5-6) as number 2.

Per USD, they finished #1 in the final The Sports Network 1-AA Mid Major poll. They also had 4 1st Teamers on that All-American team.

I think that WW will be able to beat APU handily. Not only with a lot of travel, but that is APU's third game - The first is against U-San Diego who was one of the top 1-AA teams last year. APU is playing them at SD, on Sept 1 and USD looks to have a pretty good team - APU will probably get beat up (last year they lost at home 30-6) - then more travel and not much time to recover - The only way I see APU playing a tight game against WW is if they get a good lead against Malone and are able to rest their starters and play the backups - otherwise the first part of the season is a long haul!

I don't know if they would stay in the midwest after the Malone game - classes start September 6th for undergrads - could make it tough to do that.

Cut City -
Just to clarify - I am assuming that Your reference to Pool B (NWC, Menlo) is talking about non AQ conferences and independents. Menlo is now NWC as of 2006. So as a made-up example - would that be something like (NWC, Macalester)?

Sorry - what I should have said was that they were trying to upgrade and change their schedule - the only D3 teams that they are playing are Whitworth (probably because Coach Tully, like Willamette's Coach Speckman, is an alum), and UW-LAX and UW-WW (a tougher opponent among D3's).

Their focus, as usual, is to play some D2's (Dixie, Humboldt), NAIA, and D1AA (San Diego). It is interesting though that among their games they have picked up a number of "young" programs.

Malone has had football since 1993 and has a new coach.
Dixie State is in its first year of "4-year" football after having been a 2 yr college.
Webber International started football in 2003.
Southern Nazeren has had football for 6 years.

But from their perspective, they are NAIA schools (except Dixie) and that factors into the rankings which factors into making the playoffs.

This year, Azusa is trying to upgrade their schedule with more NAIA schools - Willamette, instead of playing APU, is scheduled to play Cal Lu of the SCIAC instead.

Browneagle64 -

Coach Carlson left - now the LB coach for the LA Avengers AFL team -

Coach Hammer is now the head coach

Linfield is a member of the North West Conference, and they are located in McMinnville Oregon