Quote from: AUPepBand on September 04, 2006, 02:42:20 PM
ThielFan:

At Thorn Field, in addition to the Wing-T Festival (will the tailgaters be serving up wings?), you'll see a great marching band, to boot.

LOL about the wings tailgating!  Which band are you referring to?  I saw the Kiltie Band down at CMU last year and I was quite impressed.  They are quite proficient as well as having plenty of spirit for their team.  Grove City traditionally has had a strong marching band as well.

Quote from: OldPhart on September 04, 2006, 04:42:34 PM

Quote from: oldtimer4774 on September 04, 2006, 03:43:59 PM
So I see Thiel drops out of the top 25 after posting a win over Geneva who was ranked #20 in D2 NAIA.......interesting.

UW-LAX had to move into the top 25 after defeating D1-AA SD State.  Somebody had to make way for them.  Both W&J & Concordia-Moorhead conveniently lost to make room for UW-LAX as well as one other.  Trinity's 41-0 destruction of East Texas Baptist who had a winning 2005 season was enough to grant the second open spot to Trinity.

Apparently, Thiel's 7-0 thriller against Geneva didn't compare with Whitworth's brilliant performance of sitting on their hands this past weekend    and so Whitworth has the 25 spot instead of Thiel.  Seriously though, Whitworth is a respectable program.  There is no dishonor in being lumped into the same general category as a Whitworth.

I noticed that Thiel dropped out of the Top 25 as well.  I'm not really surprised that they did so.  While they did beat a top NAIA team, this is a Division III poll, and so those games don't count so much.  There were other teams that were impressive this past weekend and perhaps deserved to be in the Top 25 more than Thiel does.

That being said, I am completely mystified by an idle Whitworth program moving ahead of the Tomcats.  They may very well be a respectable program, but if they are getting in on the basis of reputation, why were they not in the Top 25 in the preseason poll?  It's hard for me to make a case for any idle team moving ahead of a winner.  I chalk it up to the fact that the Top 25 is a composite of many voters.  Some who voted for Thiel in the preseason may have been unimpressed by the 7-0 win and did not vote for them after Week 1, while still voting for Whitworth.  Still strange to see.

Quote from: AUPepBand on September 04, 2006, 08:57:53 AM
Any Tomcat fans making the trip to Alfred this Saturday?

Let's hope for a dry day in Saxonville. A scrimmage scheduled for Brockport's natural grass turf was moved to Merrill Field's astroturf thanks to Ernesto, and, according to a Brockport fan, was a waste of time.

Nice to see both the Tomcat and Saxon programs having good success of late...I remember AU's few years in the PAC and the dog fights with the Tomcats!

GO SAXONS!!

I had considered making the trip to Alfred, but I think that I will be going to the Carnegie Mellon @ Grove City game instead.  I'm looking forward to seeing those two Wing-T offenses go at it and I'm also interested in seeing the improvements that GCC has made to Thorn Field.

I don't really recall any "dog fights" between Alfred and Thiel.  I remember being a freshman in '96 and watching the Saxons whip us.

Quote from: PittTBCW on September 03, 2006, 01:09:50 AM
How bout those Tomcats!!!

Congrats on a 7-0 win!!!

Way to start the season with a great win over Geneva a ranked NAIA Team!!!

Also congrats to the Darkside on a shutout and the O on controling the ball and dominating the rushing game!!!

A bit on the ugly side, but we'll take it.  Both teams had opportunities to put more points on the scoreboard, with Geneva's fumble of the snap down near the Thiel goal line on 4th down in the early going really being a critical point in this game.  The Darkside D settled down after that and wasn't really tested again until Geneva's final possession of the game.  They bent, but did not break, allowing Geneva to move all of the way down the field with about 3 minutes left, allowing Geneva to convert two 4th downs along the way, until finally getting a 4th down stop on the 4-yard-line in the dying moments of the game.

Blankenship's first INT was bad, but really the only gut-wrenching moment provided by the offense.  The second INT came on 4th down in the Geneva end and was not nearly as critical.  Dane Jones and Tim Van Horn both made good catches throughout the game to keep the sticks moving for Thiel's offense.  It would have been nice to see Blankenship complete one of those deep balls that he overthrew, had Van Horn caught one early, possibly a 98-yard touchdown completion!  (school record, also, perhaps?)  Shoulda, woulda, coulda!

All in all, a good win versus a quality opponent on a slippery field.  More polish will be needed to keep the W's coming, but a good way to get the season underway.  Two consecutive heart-stopping finishes in regular season games for the Cardiac Cats! (3OT vs. CMU)

Safe travels to all driving to Greenville this week.  Win or lose, I'd love to see a great game today.  I'm incredibly proud of the 'Cats and everything they've accomplished this season.  That being said...

May the best team win, and let's make it one more football weekend for Thiel!!

Quote from: K-Mack on November 21, 2005, 10:57:53 PM
Not a bad bunch of B representatives though. Thiel could win next week ... or Bridgewater could eliminate the PAC entirely.

Yes... Thiel must fight hard to keep Bridgewater from single-handedly eliminating the PAC!!!

Quote from: PA_wesleyfan on November 21, 2005, 05:22:12 PM
  Wesley also had the no reentry rule. But those fans were told it was the NCAA that mandated it.  You would think they could come up with a stamping system to let people out at half time
   BUT I also noticed that there has been a crackdown on students and fans who seemed to be under the influence. I guess that comes with the bigger crowds unfotunatly

The same thing was present at Thiel-Hopkins.  A sign at the gate which indicated no re-entry.  We all assumed that it was an NCAA mandate since we know that the NCAA has strict rules about their playoff games, and why else would there be a change from all of the rest of the home games?

They're calling for rain/snow for most of the week in NW PA, which means it could be one of those sloppy, slushy, slippery type games.

I would agree that Thiel probably has the toughest game this week of the top seeds remaining for each region.  That being said, if somebody was to give me 14.5 points to take Thiel, that would be the easiest pick I ever made.

Quote from: Dutch12 on November 16, 2005, 02:16:18 PM
Not to mention for a couple years Alfred was in the PAC.  That put a team from New York in the South Region!

I remember that, Dutch.  Alfred was a long way from all of the other PAC teams.

The toughest thing to defend about Thiel's defense is their multifaceted attack, which is what makes Chambers & company so dangerous.  You can't concentrate solely on the passing attack, or the backs will chew you up on the ground, and vice versa.  If you attack the ground game, and the ball gets thrown deep to Chambers, you might as well put the points on the board while the ball is still in the air, because he will catch it, and he will score.  I absolutely can't believe some of the catches he's made, in double coverage or otherwise.

Guess I managed to quote myself in that last post.  Oops.

Quote from: wsx27yrs on November 17, 2005, 09:47:08 AM
history-elem. level
since 1999
BW-TRIN-UMHB-W&J combined playoff record is 26-18.
that's 44 POST SEASON GAMES with 3 Stagg bowl appearances.
FERRUM-WESLEY-JHU-THIEL combined playoff record is 0-1. that's ONE POST SEASON GAME.
WHO SHOLD BE SEEDED 1-4 WITH HOME GAMES?
D-III doesn't work that way.  2 teams getting to the 2nd round should be grateful.
just for thought--HSU should be 5 seed.(4-4 since 99 in post season)
let's earn some whiskers b-4 we grow our beards!!!!
   
History?  The last time I looked at the NCAA criteria, history wasn't included there.  Thiel deserves to be one of the top seeds.  They proved that on the field THIS YEAR.  I don't have any problem with the seedings being the way they are in the South, but the matchups ARE a joke.  HSU lost two games and choked at the end, they don't even belong in the field.

Quote from: OldPhart on November 15, 2005, 08:19:20 PM

Quote from: badbadman on November 15, 2005, 07:36:36 PM
I think Pat and Keith from D3football.com will be there too.

Seriously?  With 16 games to cover I would have thought that the most we could hope for is only one of the d3football royalty - if that much.   Pat and/or K-Mack care to comment as to your Saturday plans 

If you go to the Around the Nation board, at the end of page 10, K-Mack mentions Hopkins-Thiel as one of the games he and Pat are considering... I would have quoted it but I don't know how if it's possible.

Quote from: OldPhart on November 15, 2005, 06:42:39 PM
I notice that, based on donations,  some of the Thiel faculty kind of look at the tailgate as part of their compensation package   

That is too funny, are you serious?!    Of course, that makes me go down a mental list of some of my old Thiel professors and also the ones that I've seen at Alumni Stadium... hmmm.... which one(s) would be too cheap to kick in a buck or two?