Quote from: Ralph Turner on October 23, 2012, 10:31:13 AM

Quote from: crufootball on October 23, 2012, 09:29:42 AM
According to the Temple Daily Telegram, the 2013 schedule is now complete for UMHB as they filled the gap of TLU with Huntington where they will open the season on the road. After that they will go to New Jersey to play Kean and then then 3 weeks into the season they will finally get to open their stadium against Wesley. Their schedule will feature an open week for the first time in quite some time.

I strongly encourage the team to visit the Civil Rights Museum in Montgomery. It is a moving experience.

You will drive into Montgomery from Selma.  I encourage the players to read the history of the 1965 march.

second

Quote from: Josh Bowerman on October 12, 2012, 01:35:22 PM
Kyle, I think the model you describe is more the rule than the exception in DII.  It's also used a lot in DI-FCS (the Patriot League, where I used to work, for example).

Isn't that why I said there are "many, many" ?
I spelled it out because most people you talk to who haven't worked in collegiate athletics believe it's one big money fund.

Quote from: awadelewis on October 11, 2012, 04:40:58 PM

Quote from: Ron Boerger on October 11, 2012, 03:43:18 PM
Interesting link from the "What we're reading" section on the front page looks at the recent ASC changes from LC's perspective.  Talks about D2, inviting teams to the conference, other ASC schools looking at FB ...

http://www.theadvertiser.com/article/DK/20121011/SPORTS/210110310/ASC-explores-options-after-announced-departure

The most shocking point about this article is that the Lafayette paper even published an article about LC. It's tough enough at times to get them to acknowledge the D-I program that has their stadium across the street from The Advertiser's offices, let alone admit that a D3 program in the area is worth covering.

That said, there doesn't seem to be a lot of options open to LC beyond staying in the ASC.   I would think that a move to D2 would be tough for them because of the need to fund scholarships beyond just football.    And I'd agree with Ralph about who you would add new... only SWAG sounds like a good candidate to jump ship out of the NAIA ranks

Note that there are many, many Division II schools that don't raise the money to have a "physical" scholarship fund for athletics. This is often off-set by a combination of "physical" athletic scholarship funds and tuition discounts that serve as scholarships. Two unique things about D2 are 1) If an athlete walks on without an athletic scholarship - the amount of financial aid that student can receive is significantly reduced than that of a student in the gen pop; thus making them a more "full-paying" customer - enough of these types of walkons can offset the costs of scholarships or discounts 2) Of course D2 can split their 36 scholly's - you can entice bubble kids with something as little as $500 a semester in scholarship (reasons to do this - keep them from going to non-scholarship school in case they develop into more formidable players; and two obviously make the 36 scholly's stretch for the needs of a 60-80 man roster)

I left McMurry recently - and they took an almost exclusive tuition discount approach to their scholarship model in transition to D2.
Institutions have to consider the pressure on coaches to produce walk-ons and admissions departments must maintain or better their numbers. Best-case scenario, it can actually generate more revenue for your school or it could be quite the opposite.

One more note - those walkons won't stay forever if they don't receive a scholarship or get on the field - they'll find some place else to play, which means a constant battle for coaches to produce walkons, not only every year, but every semester.

Quote from: d3Kyle on October 11, 2012, 01:53:44 PM

Quote from: umhb2001 on October 11, 2012, 01:05:10 PM

Quote from: McM Blue Devil on October 11, 2012, 12:21:23 PM
49-21 UMHB.  The final score will make it seem closer than it really will be.

How are things this season for McMurry?

3-2

Lost to Top 10 D2 School Abilene Christian
Lost to D1 FCS McNeese State
Beat Wayland Baptist (first year football program)
Beat Okla. Panhandle State (the other IND D2 FB school from Heartland)
Beat Southern Nazarene (first year in D2 as well)

Has D1 FCS Lamar, D2 Incarnate Word, NAIA Langston (NAIA Playoffs 09-11), NAIA Texas College, NAIA Bacone, and an international game with the University of Mexico

... *left to play

Quote from: umhb2001 on October 11, 2012, 01:05:10 PM

Quote from: McM Blue Devil on October 11, 2012, 12:21:23 PM
49-21 UMHB.  The final score will make it seem closer than it really will be.

How are things this season for McMurry?

3-2

Lost to Top 10 D2 School Abilene Christian
Lost to D1 FCS McNeese State
Beat Wayland Baptist (first year football program)
Beat Okla. Panhandle State (the other IND D2 FB school from Heartland)
Beat Southern Nazarene (first year in D2 as well)

Has D1 FCS Lamar, D2 Incarnate Word, NAIA Langston (NAIA Playoffs 09-11), NAIA Texas College, NAIA Bacone, and an international game with the University of Mexico

Quote from: K-Mack on September 27, 2012, 03:14:53 PM

Quote from: Pat Coleman on September 27, 2012, 02:56:00 PM
Good job getting that for us five hours early!

No doubt. Breaking news is one of the things that's hard for us to do a lot of since all the writers and staffers have other jobs or business. It usually takes connections, time and work to break stuff. Good one here.

I see I'm not the first to suggest it, and unless I'm forgetting what Trinity and Austin's plans are, seems like affiliate football membership with the ASC is automatic if they want it and the ASC wants to keep its AQ. The two schools regain playoff AQ access, and conference awards, etc. and the ASC gets an eighth school to protect from another defector costing the AQ. The ASC has enough core members that adding affilates for football only would mean the ASC wouldn't have to lose its bid and wait two years to gain it back (hope I'm wording that correctly).

Only roadblock I see to that is if the schools don't want it. Austin left the ASC once already, but we'll see if they would rather be in a football conference and swallow their pride, or try to get eight random games a year. Trinity I'm guessing would welcome it since it scheduled UMHB, TLU and HPU this year ... fear of associating with not-like institutions or competitive disadvantages wouldn't seem to factor in. Games against teams in Texas make sense. Trinity and Austin would actually probably have some non-con dates open up if they went ASC.

100% speculation on my part. Makes too much sense.

If this were D-I, Wesley would join the ASC as an affiliate member for football. Geography, schmeography.

In my experience with the ASC, the perceived reason for the departure of Austin, Schreiner and TLU were for academic reasons. Those three schools had more similar admission standards to each other than that of the remaining ASC schools. Obviously, these types of decisions SHOULD trump what schools do with their athletic programs. With the SAA and USA South growing it will be interesting to see if the SCAC and ASC and possibly Trinity do to keep an AQ. However, I think (personal opinion) that several ASC schools will be looking to see if McMurry and MC can pull of their respective D2 moves well. Don't know how the Choctaws will structure their D2 move, but McMurry's model is a tuition discount / walk-on dependent model which has been successful for several existing D2's. There are rules as to how much financial aid an athlete through the NCAA Clearing House at the D2 level if they are a walk on. Thus creates more of a full-paying customer than general students who can tap in to federal, state and institutional aid. If you can create a program that attracts 50-100 walk-ons a year, revenue is generated to offset the athletic scholarships aka tuition discounts ... all this depends on each institution of course.

The other line of thought everyone needs to consider is that this is now the culture of college athletics. All this D1 conference jumping is trickling down in the "what have you done for me lately" society. I think we'll see more conference swaps, and institutional exits from various divisions and athletic conferences in the very near future.

confirmed by MC web site - http://www.mc.edu/news/mississippi-college-takes-steps-to-rejoin-ncaa-division-ii/

Quote from: hickory_cornhusker on September 27, 2012, 11:23:54 AM

Quote from: jknezek on September 27, 2012, 10:47:35 AM
Time for the ASC and the SCAC to have football combination talks? I don't think I'd want to be the SCAC teams facing that kind of competition, but its getting hard to see what other options exist. There just isn't a density of D3 teams in the area at this time.

I know the travel wouldn't be ideal but if the SCAC doesn't want to work together Huntingdon could use a home. Even just as an associate for football. It would maintain the AQ for the ASC.

Huntingdon headed to USA South next year

Sources tell me that Mississippi College will leave Division III and head back to Division II beginning the 2014-15 school year ... Like McMurry, they have requested to remain a part of the ASC for 13-14; the ASC accepted that request from McMurry last go-around, but the Choctaws might meet more opposition this time; as the perception around the conference was that McMurry had a leg up immediately with JUCO transfers and incoming freshmen.

MC is set to join the Gulf South Conference, which I am told has extended the invitation to the school, and the school accepted.

You can follow me on Twitter - don't know how much more info I'll have on it http://twitter.com/kylerobarts

Quote from: tigerguy on September 15, 2012, 11:27:44 PM
Except McMurry had one of the top offenses in the nation and Trinity limited them to 25 points. Trinity is obviously hurting from the loss of Tyler Barrett and Antonio Debouse but other than that they aren't missing too much more. I guess I'm still just in shock. How does a team go from 2-8 to upsetting the #11 Team in the Nation? Did their transfers make that big of a difference? Sul Ross has a stellar offense but I think they will have to step up majorly on defense if they want to come away with another big win at UMHB.

Tiger guy, all due respect if Jake Mullin was playing last year during the playoff game that 25 points would have likely been a much higher number.

Quote from: roocru on September 16, 2012, 01:28:38 PM
Not sure what to make of Sul Ross spanking Trinity. Sully has played  Eatern NM for the past three years and have lost by 11, 3 and 7 so their is no history that shows this past week's result. So I guess the questions boil down to
1)   Is Sully that much improved?
2)   Is Trinity not as good as we thought?
3)   Was this game a fluke result of the alignments of the stars and planets? :-)

I guess we will know more after this week but this was a huge surprise for me!

I would point out that Trinity's defense had some holes last year - at least based on the playoff game ... the SCAC may have had some solid teams, but remember McMurry defeated Trinity without their all-American QB last year. The drop off from starter to second string for McMurry's quarterback was considerable, and they were still able to move the ball fairly well.

Thought I would share this on the ASC board where it might have more pull - originally posted on the SCAC Board:

Quote---
Quote from: Ron Boerger on Today at 10:58:18 am

    So an interesting trip to Alpine for Trinity this week.  Normally you' could say "no biggie, it's Sul Ross" but they've got some transfers that are helping them put serious points on the board against D2 competition.   Combine that with the what, ten hour bus trip plus a 1pm start and you suddenly have a much more interesting game than could have been expected when the schedule was filled out.

    Sul Ross is 0-2 against that D2 competition (Eastern/Western New Mexico State Univ) but have put 79 points on the board.  They've allowed 92 points and nearly 300 yards rushing per game.   Sully has a running back (Dominique Carson) averaging 150+ on the ground and QB AJ Springer, a senior transfer from D2 Lincoln, is averaging 240 through the air with 8 TDs and 3 interceptions.   Carson had 369 all-purpose yards in the first game so the TU defense will definitely have to pay a lot of attention to him.   Could be an interesting game!

    Massey (whose site has all kinds of nice features now like historical head-to-head results and season simulations in addition to all-division ratings) has Trinity a very solid favorite on Saturday.
---

Sul Ross is intriguing this year - while following the ASC pretty closely for 6+ years now the struggles of getting kids to Alpine, TX are tremendous despite being a state school - they always seem to have really good skill position players. Depth is always the issue - but the offensive trio of Carson & Carothers with Hardy could be lethal. Also following the Lone Star Conference closely for more then a decade, which ENMU recently left, I know that they have not been a strong program and a long while. However, with scholarship money - there seems to bring better depth of players (especially in comparison to D3); if SRS is holding up its end against two Division II schools this well, I think they could move to that middle tier of the ASC. I'm not so sure about this weekend against Trinity, but I think if they can hold it together and keep that offensive trio healthy - they could be a 4-5 win team this season.

Quote from: Ron Boerger on September 14, 2012, 10:58:18 AM
So an interesting trip to Alpine for Trinity this week.  Normally you' could say "no biggie, it's Sul Ross" but they've got some transfers that are helping them put serious points on the board against D2 competition.   Combine that with the what, ten hour bus trip plus a 1pm start and you suddenly have a much more interesting game than could have been expected when the schedule was filled out.

Sul Ross is 0-2 against that D2 competition (Eastern/Western New Mexico State Univ) but have put 79 points on the board.  They've allowed 92 points and nearly 300 yards rushing per game.   Sully has a running back (Dominique Carson) averaging 150+ on the ground and QB AJ Springer, a senior transfer from D2 Lincoln, is averaging 240 through the air with 8 TDs and 3 interceptions.   Carson had 369 all-purpose yards in the first game so the TU defense will definitely have to pay a lot of attention to him.   Could be an interesting game!

Massey (whose site has all kinds of nice features now like historical head-to-head results and season simulations in addition to all-division ratings) has Trinity a very solid favorite on Saturday.

Sul Ross is intriguing this year - while following the ASC pretty closely for 6+ years now the struggles of getting kids to Alpine, TX are tremendous despite being a state school - they always seem to have really good skill position players. Depth is always the issue - but the offensive trio of Carson & Carothers with Hardy could be lethal. Also following the Lone Star Conference closely for more then a decade, which ENMU recently left, I know that they have not been a strong program and a long while. However, with scholarship money - there seems to bring better depth of players (especially in comparison to D3); if SRS is holding up its end against two Division II schools this well, I think they could move to that middle tier of the ASC. I'm not so sure about this weekend against Trinity, but I think if they can hold it together and keep that offensive trio healthy - they could be a 4-5 win team this season.

Quote from: awadelewis on September 01, 2012, 07:50:33 PM
Other results from around the SAA...

B-SC 41 - LaGrange 14: Stainback 2 TDs passing, 1 running TD; 89 yds on 17 carries.

Centre 42 - Bethany 21: Haden and Scotton combine for all 6 Centre TDs.

Millsaps 23 - Mississippi Co 17:  Majors win this year's edition of the Backyard Brawl.

Be sure to read more on the BackYard Brawl tonight on Around the Region ... big week for both schools trying to dodge Isaac!

Quote from: Ron Boerger on August 29, 2012, 11:07:17 AM
Welcome to Kyle Robarts who is the new South Region columnist and whose coverage area includes the SCAC.  Any thought of heading to San Antonio for the upcoming UMHB visit to Trinity, Kyle? 

There's always that travel budget to consider But I bet it will be a hard-fought game - and by the way, SCAC fans, please follow me on Twitter throughout the season and help me gain insight on AC and Trinity! http://twitter.com/kylerobarts