It looks as though the SLIAC and UMAC conference football teams are going to form a new football alliance under the SLIAC name starting in 2008.  By 2010 the league will have an AQ.

A meeting was held in St. Louis on Monday and the presidents and athletic directors from the UMAC and SLIAC colleges have tentatively agreed on a 10-team 2-divison league.

The league will add MacMurray, Greenville, and Eureka, and lose Rockford and Marantha to the Lake Michigan.

The NCCAA does not fund the Victory Bowl beyond awards.  The host school (which Northwestern declined to Olivet so they could travel to the college football hall of fame and Olivet traveled to Northwestern last year) picks up the game costs, a banquet, and all the basics that go with having a home game.

The game used to be held in Canton, at the Pro Football Hall of Fame, when Malone College would host.  They decided to let the contract run out and now the top seeded NCCAA teams that do not advance to either the NAIA or NCAA playoffs get to participate.

The Upper Midwest Conference football family was shocked and saddened to hear about the tragedy at Morris.  Mr. Rose deomonstrated what small college sports and life are about - have fun playing collegiate athletics, but more importantly, earn a degree that will carry you through life.

There is no time to point fingers or blame, this could happen at any campus.  If Division I schools with hundreds of security gaurds can't stop the goal posts from coming down, we certainly at the DIII are not prepared for this.

Our conference is not made up of superstars, a few exceptional athletes on each team each year, but it is made up of hard working students that, according to PLU's Frosty W., "make the big time where you are."  What little I know about him, it sounds like Mr. Rose was an example of this philosophy.

We mourn for his family, friends, campus, and the concerned and supportive athletes at Crown, who also witnessed the tragedy and immediately went to prayer for the situation.

Life does not have a clock that we can look at, it can be here for 50 more years or gone today.  We need to value life, value how we treat each other, and make a difference in this world. 

God bless the community of Minnesota Morris and the family of Mr. Rose. 

The dome day is set for October 28th:

8am the #3 seeds Maranatha and UM-Morris

11am  #5 seeds Trinity and Principia

2pm #4 seeds Crown and Blackburn

5pm #2 seeds Rockford and Martin Luther

8pm #1 seeds Northwestern and Westminster

Dome Day website is    http://nwc.nwc.edu/index.php?id=2744

Good to see the interest in the UMAC beginning to pick up.  I would assume that more people will chime in once they know where this is located and the season gets started.

This year's dome day championships (Oct. 28th, MPLS Metrodome) will once again feature good match-ups.

The UMAC will be undergoing some changes beginning in 2008 - Rockford and Maranatha will join as members of the Lake Michigan which will sponsor football.  Plans are in the works for adding independent members of the Illini Badger conference which will fold after the 2007 season.

There are also other colleges interested in joining the UMAC north division (some of which are exploring adding football at this time).

The conference is in discussions with the NCAA about the AQ - the jury is still out on the interpretation of an affiliated conference in reference to the UMAC - six of the ten members are already DIII with the rest in the process of membership.  Adding current DIII members could potentially speed up the process.

Matt - UMAC Commissioner for Football