I think the most likely periods to check would be 2003-2004 when Wabash, Wittenberg, and Wooster were all very good- though Wabash was between playoff seasons right there and might not have been in the top 25.  2018-ish is another moment where we had Wabash + Witt in and around the top 25 and Denison was very good, but I'm not sure Denison cracked the top 25.  Probably, the best we've seen in the NCAC with respect to the top 25 is two ranked and one more in the ORV crowd. 

Quote from: that guy 31 on October 27, 2025, 05:07:05 PMI think playing so many repeat games is bad for the conference. It's been quite a while since I was a player but if I was being recruited and some schools were playing regular schedules and the others were playing 3 repeat games I feel like that would impact my decision. Just makes it seem small time. Just my opinion

I don't think anybody loves it, but the SCIAC has probably made the best of a terrible situation.  Divisions go away next year, so hopefully that's the end of that. 

It's hard to beat the Runner right at dusk. Palm trees, mountains, that perfect orange/pink afterglow in the sky, impeccable natural grass surface. Words don't really do it justice.

I probably don't have a good excuse for not having gone to La Verne yet.  I'll try to take care of that next season.  We'll see if coverage lets me get to Whittier next season or not, but I'll definitely go to the Whittier at APU game. 

Quote from: FCGrizzliesGrad on October 16, 2025, 05:44:09 PMWorking on it now. Had a very late submission this week.

My bad- sorry team.  I'm already in this week, though! 

Quote from: Dr. Acula on October 15, 2025, 01:18:56 PMHas Witt's roster size gone down dramatically from year to year of the Collins era?  I don't know the answer to that, but that would tell me more than their record in terms of the effectiveness of the facilities in drawing players.

Like a lot of institutions that are in Wittenberg's peer bucket, they've faced significantly decreased enrollment (down something like 25% or so in the last 10 years) and were recently given the "financially distressed" label by their accreditor.  Not insurmountable, but also not just a football problem there.  They're working through an enrollment slide across the board. 

Quote from: Crawford on October 10, 2025, 11:56:37 AM

Quote from: JCUStreaks70 on October 10, 2025, 11:47:31 AM

Quote from: Crawford on October 09, 2025, 07:11:38 PMSpeaking of student athletes.  It was nice seeing the love the NCAC got in the new article: Ranking the conferences for 2025.  The NCAC jumped all the way to #12.  With WashU joining next year, the conference will not only have more quality football teams but strong academic possibilities too. Congratulations NCAC.

You're welcome 

👍. I heard Wabash joined the NCAC primarily because they were an excellent basketball conference. How has JCU been in men's basketball?

Excellent.

2024-25 (22-6, 15-3 OAC)
2023-24 (26-3, 17-1 OAC)
2022-23 (23-5, 16-2 OAC)

Quote from: Machiavelli on October 09, 2025, 12:15:14 PM

Quote from: UfanBill on October 09, 2025, 11:57:36 AMD3football's Greg Thomas has come out with his yearly Ranking of Conferences column and as we have been discussing the Liberty League has taken a nosedive. After ranking 6-8 the last few years and 8th last year guru Thomas now has the LL in 14th place.   This is understandable because league members have just not fared well in non conference games so far going 9-13. Thing is they're playing tougher foes...The E8 is ranked 6th.     

Without knowing the criteria, I'd go on a limb to say the Hilbert add contributes to this dip quite a bit.

All of the above. The bottom got heavier, and it's been a minute since the LL scored a big win.  They play a lot of higher profile games (I hope they don't stop doing this), those games just haven't gone the way of the LL recently. 

Quote from: JCUStreaks70 on October 08, 2025, 02:07:23 PM

Quote from: wally_wabash on October 08, 2025, 01:39:49 PM

Quote from: JCUStreaks70 on October 08, 2025, 12:16:57 PMWho's column A? I owe you a beer! lol

It's me.

Negated by you're mentioning of Spotted Cow. Overrated beer! 

It was appropriate for the question! 

Quote from: D3fanboy on October 08, 2025, 02:33:58 PM

Quote from: wally_wabash on October 08, 2025, 01:38:39 PM

Quote from: Pat Coleman on October 07, 2025, 09:27:26 PMI doubt either John Carroll or Mount Union will play in the first round. They will both get a bye.

Yeah, Mount Union will definitely get paired with one of the pigtail winners and JCU (if 9-1) probably isn't in one of the pigtail games.  It's always possible that they could play early, but Mount Union and JCU are both within 500 miles of a ton of teams so it's easy to avoid- like there wouldn't be a reason to mis-seed JCU to make that happen just because they're close. 

but...can they send JCU to Alliance anyways?

They can, and they might.  It'll just most likely be a round of 16 or later game if it happens. 

Quote from: JCUStreaks70 on October 08, 2025, 12:16:57 PMWho's column A? I owe you a beer! lol

It's me.

Quote from: Pat Coleman on October 07, 2025, 09:27:26 PMI doubt either John Carroll or Mount Union will play in the first round. They will both get a bye.

Yeah, Mount Union will definitely get paired with one of the pigtail winners and JCU (if 9-1) probably isn't in one of the pigtail games.  It's always possible that they could play early, but Mount Union and JCU are both within 500 miles of a ton of teams so it's easy to avoid- like there wouldn't be a reason to mis-seed JCU to make that happen just because they're close. 

Quote from: WabashBob on October 07, 2025, 08:31:18 AMThis is getting ahead of ourselves quite a bit, but I found myself thinking about this in the wake of the Wabash/JCU result.  It is not unfathomable that the top three in the conference each end up with one loss and a tie (DePauw beats JCU, Wabash beats DePauw): if that happens, I assume the NCAC tie break rule is still "tie goes the team that hasn't been to the playoffs most recently," so would that be automatically JCU even though they are a new member?  Or has the tie-break rule changed to something a little more practical? This also rules out the possibility of the NCAC getting two teams in, which hasn't happened in some time.

In the 40-team tournament, nearly all 9-1 teams are essentially locks for the playoffs so two teams from the NCAC looks incredibly likely right now. John Carroll needs to beat DePauw to be totally safe, but if a three-way tiebreak falls in favor of JCU, three teams is possible (barring any upsets of course). 

Quote from: maripp2002 on September 29, 2025, 03:29:16 PMWhile not the D3football poll, Wabash is ranked at 25 in the AFCA poll. Which makes Wabash vs. JCU a ranked match-up. I'm really excited to see how both teams play. I got to watch JCU earlier in the season at JHU, where they looked a bit out gunned, more in depth than in talent - JHU is for real, but that means so is JCU.

They have an excellent wide receiver who is a FCS graduate transfer, and an excellent graduate student tight end who was an FCS transfer as well. I'm not sure if those are leftovers from the COVID years, or just a boon to having one of the few graduate schools in the conference, but both guys caught my eye in the JHU game - both can play.

Win, lose or draw, I'm excited to see the top of the conference get a few more tough games. That should help anyone who makes it come playoff/bowl game time.

Welcome JCU to a new NCAC rivalry!

Good synopsis and this is a huge game in the league.  JCU might be ok if they end with two losses, but they definitely don't want that loss to happen before they play DePauw.  Wabash looks great for the postseason if they can (at least) split the JCU/DPU games.  I think more importantly for Wabash this week is the chance to measure themselves halfway through Gilbert's first season against a bona fide playoff caliber team.  We'll get an idea of where the LGs are now and where they need to get to before Week 11. 

Semptimphelter and Montgomery are about as good as it gets at QB/WR in the Division, so this is a big challenge for a defense that has been playing really well.  I think if Wabash can stop putting the ball on the ground (really about the only sticking point for them through the first month), we've got a 4 quarter game here. 

I'm positively giddy about this, btw.  It's been a decade (or so) since we could look around the NCAC and say "there's a couple of teams here that could win some rounds in the tournament".  We've got that again and it's very, very cool. 

Quote from: KnightSlappy on September 21, 2025, 02:23:49 PM

Quote from: Grutte Dirk on September 20, 2025, 11:13:39 PM

Quote from: ADAWGISADAWG4LIFE on September 13, 2025, 08:00:08 PMAlso, big shout out to calvin. Looks like big improvement, knocking off Concordia.

And now Hieldburg. Now, when can we get close to the Flying Dutchpersons? I'm sure some Knight alums will see this 3-0 start as an indication of a close game this fall.

I think the step-up in competition level has been good for Calvin -- they sure appear to be ahead of schedule in year 2 of the program. But Hope is a Top 25 program and I'm still expecting the Knights to be a multi-score underdog on the road in November.

Hogan and Michmerhuizen are serious #dudes.  Calvin has done a great job of getting really good (like All-Region caliber) players into the program from the jump. You see the youth and inexperience at times (like getting surprised by an onside kick in the 4th Q), but there's a bunch of talent there.  Hope might be a bridge too far this year, but if these SOs hang around through their SR year and Calvin has a pile of 3 and 4-year starters in 2027, it's not crazy to think they could be real challengers for an MIAA title. 

This week's Around The Nation is talking Tigers which might be interesting to this group!