So, here is a little food for thought: How might Hendrix College's entry into the SCAC football mix affect things?

As a Hendrix grad, I think it's a good idea. However, I know my school doesn't have much of an athletic reputation, so I'm not expecting many conference titles. I think it is interesting that the SCAC is trying to recruit Hendrix as the 10th school to play the sport. Seven schools played last year, and Colorado College and Birmingham Southern will both schlep their programs into the league next season. Based on talks I've had with some friends at Hendrix, neither Oglethorpe or Southwestern want anything to do with football.

I think having 10 teams in a conference will make competition more fun. I'm guessing the league will split into two divisions, which will allow for a title game of some sort, hopefully. I just wanted to see what others had to say. I also like the idea of spending Saturdays watching the Hendrix football team. The school has made a lot of improvements to the campus, and the most noticeable improvements are to athletic facilities. The football team will play on a year-old field turf field that backs up to the nearly-complete Wellness and Activity Center. It's a really nice set up and should lend itself to spectator sports. The field's only downside is the track surrounding it. Tracks are always a bummer because they push spectators away from the action. But oh well, not everything can be perfect.

here's a link to some material Hendrix has posted on its Web site:

http://www.hendrix.edu/eventsnews/eventsnews.aspx?id=10644

The administration is trying to calm Hendrix's notoriously fickle student body. Many of my friends say the students hate the idea of our school returning to the gridiron.

Okay, here comes my prediction for the SCAC tournament: Centre beats DePauw in the final.

Now, here is my reasoning. And my reasoning is based mainly on statistics, because I attended only one game this year and therefore cannot handicap the match-ups based on emperical knowledge. Plus, my experience as a Hendrix grad and fan has taught me never to trust my bias.

The SCAC schedule included 70 intra-league games and only 12 times did the team with a lower rank (based on the year-end rankings) defeat a higher-ranked opponent. That means the higher-ranked team won 83-percent of the time. That's a pretty good clip. What's more, only three times did a team ranked fourth or lower knock off one of the SCAC's three top-ranked teams. And we can attribute two of those wins to Trinity's season sweep against Millsaps.

That is why I don't see any team ranked lower than Millsaps advancing to the title game. The SCAC has three strong teams at the top of its rankings this year, and I just can't believe any team that did not manage to win more than 11 SCAC games could top one, much less two, of the teams that did. True, Trinity has tradition, Hendrix has its hot streaks, and Oglethorpe's offense opens things up, but overcoming two top-ranked teams is asking two much (three much in Hendrix's case) of any one team.

Now, keep in mind, I acknowledge that one of the top three teams might fall. But not two. And I also don't believe that Millsaps can top Centre in the semi-finals. But I will admit that this assumption is based on my personal bias.

So, if I put so much stock in the rankings, why have I chosen no. 2 Centre over no.1 DePauw? That answer stems Centre's consistency. Consistency because even when Centre has lost, it has kept the score close. I think Centre's consistency makes them much tougher to topple than DePauw. As frank_ezelle has pointed out in a couple of his posts, the DU Tigers suffer from let downs — like dropping a game to no. 8 Sewanee or letting Centre beat them mercilessly. DePauw did top Centre early in the year, but thanks to its 32-point drubbing of the Tigers on Feb. 3, Centre outscored DePauw by 26 points this year. And a 26-point spread is one number everyone can trust.

I do not believe Centre does the webcast or livestat thing. To my knowledge, the only broadcasts of SCAC games can be found at www.scac-online.org. Sorry, I guess you'll have to make due with the Trinity at DePauw game, which DePauw will webcast. DePauw does a great job of this.

As some of you might remember, I said I would write the SCAC about Birmingham-Southern's eligability status. The school will join the SCAC next year, but it is competing in the D1's Great South Conference this year. Pat Coleman posted on the issue and clarified that Southern will not be eligable until its provisional period is complete, and Mr. Coleman is right.

But here is what D. Dwayne Hanberry wrote me:

"Mark,
Yes, Birmingham-Southern will not be eligible for NCAA championships for the next four seasons as they go thru the provisional process. The first year they will be eligible for NCAA championships will be 2011-12.

As for SCAC championships (in any sport), that matter will be decided definitively at our next President's meeting (next month).

thanks,"

That means no NCAA for Southern until the Chinese celebrate their next year of the rabbit, but I am anxious to know what the SCAC will do. It is interesting that the SCAC is thinking about allowing Southern to compete although the NCAA is not. And I would love to hear the Presidents' arguments for and against the proposition.

Myself, I believe the SCAC should allow Southern to compete asap. But that is just my gut reaction, and a good arguement could easily alter my stance. I look forward to hearing what happens during the President's meeting, though.

I just wrote an e-mail to the SCAC SID about Frank's original question. Hopefully the man in charge in Atlanta will inform us about Birmingham-Southern's membership in the SCAC. It is an interesting question, and I look forward to some clarification.

I do not qualify as a NCAA expert, and cannot answer Frank's question with any certainty. However, I did catch Frank DeFord's column on NPR's Morning Edition this Wednesday. It discussed Birmingham-Southern's switch to D3. Here is the link if you want to listen:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6777819

It's titled Scholars and Athletes without Scholarships.

So, will we see some teams begin to pull away this weekend, or does everyone think the SCAC will stay tight all season?

Sorry Frank. Hopefully you can forgive my opinions.

And, Ralph, I would have no problems with Hendrix adding the football program. It did add a new turf infield on as part of its track and field complex. The turf is meant for the lacrosse and field hockey programs that will begin playing next year, but it would fit a football team perfectly.

Ralph-

Here are the Yahoo! and Peterson's searches:

1) http://education.yahoo.com/college/facts/6620.html
2) http://www.petersons.com/ugchannel/code/instvc.asp?inunid=6620

I can tell you that Hendrix has been undefeated in football since 1963, when it ended the program, and it has no plans of spoiling its perfect record.

Hendrix has a decent Male:Female ratio (56-percent women, 44-percent men), but it has a small student body (1,063 according to Peterson's). I can say that the college hopes to grow the numbers over the next few years though. And it increased enrollment by 37% last year, according to a New York Times article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/12/education/12tuition.html?ex=1168664400&en=0c498a3271a83059&ei=5070
--The article looks at how many liberal arts schools have increased their price in order to increase enrollment. It uses Hendrix as one of many examples. Neat story.

From what I've heard, Hendrix hopes its student body will one day reach 1,500. But I have heard that second hand and cannot varify the number. Why do you want to know about football and the school's statistics? I am glad to offer the info, I just can't help but ask.

Hendrix is still getting everything in order. Their Website is lackluster and does not take advantage of its capabilities.

But I am impressed at the progress the department is making. The new Wellness and Activities Center is moving along on schedule, and the soccer field and track — both completed last year — are top of the line. And while the facilities are moving along, Hendrix has finally pushed to fully staff its athletic department. Most every sport now has a head and assistant coach for the men's and women's teams. That is a huge improvement from the days of assistants staffing only the basketball teams and the men's and women's soccer programs sharing one head coach. The department still has a way to go, but the AD, Danny Powell, has an idea of how a D3 college athletic department should function. I think once the WAC is completed, the delapidated Grove building — the SCAC's worst gym— is razed, and Hendrix builds new facilities for the baseball, softball and tennis programs, Hendrix will begin moving up the all-sports trophy standings. Hendrix will never compete for the top spot, but it should become a school that can consistently place in the middle of the pack instead of jockeying with Oglethorpe and Millsaps for last place.

Check out the new WAC at:

http://www.hendrix.edu/construction/?ns1_mtid=1085&ns1_mtt=5&ns1_mid=190

mark.

The Hendrix SID e-mailed me back today. He posted the live stat tracker, but it is still hidden. To find it, click on "Sports Information" — listed underneath the "Athletics Info" subhead on the left-hand side.

Here is the link:

http://www.hendrix.edu/EventsNews/athletics.aspx?id=2694

the livestat link is on the top of the page.

I wrote a my former coach at Hendrix and told him the livestat feature is impossible to find on their Web site. Hopefully he will pass this news on to the Hendrix SID, Parker Griffin, who can remedy the situation. I am not sure whether the feature will go on the road, though. I am guessing it will only be up for home games. And I know that there is not a link for a webcast. Although the college radio station, KHDX, broadcasted a few games last year. I'll check into whether they still do. Sadly, not all schools can broadcast like Depauw does. I listened to their webcast of the Oglethorpe games. It was quality. I can't wait to here their biased play-by-play — in a good way if you are a Depauw fan, which I'm not — of the Hendrix game Friday.

The livestate is cool, though. On Sunday, I kept up with both Hendrix games against Southwestern and can report that I had no problems and that it refreshed regularly.