Quote from: SPECIAL TEAMS STARTER on April 21, 2024, 04:35:23 PMLet's face it. Bluffton University will be turned into a satelite campus of Findlay University within 5 years. With the departure of Defiance this is another blow to the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference. They desperately need to coax a transfer from one or more of the NCAC schools if they are going to make it. IMHO

I think your scenario(s) are probably likely. Thanks for tour opinion.

Somehow, I missed this. Thoughts anyone on the announcement earlier this year that Bluffton and University of Findlay will merge? Are Bluffton's athletic programs, including football going to be discontinued and/or what hapoens to the campus? the Or with Defiance returning to the NAIA, would Bluffton do the sane if athletics remain there? I haven't found any additional info after just learning about the announcement.

Quote from: PauldingLightUP on April 01, 2024, 03:32:45 PM

Quote from: PauldingLightUP on February 27, 2024, 12:35:49 PMOshkosh getting Michigan Tech at home at after Wheaton and Linfield games. Just stinks to have to take Division II games.

Oshkosh full schedule. https://www.uwoshkoshtitans.com/sports/fball/2024-25/schedule

Respectfully disagree with you on that.

Quote from: Captain_Joe08 on February 24, 2024, 02:41:14 AMWhat killed Finlandia was being basically being in Michigan Tech's back yard and being on an island in the D3 landscape along with offering limited majors.

Iowa Wesleyan tried to make do in D3 but struggled to be even
remotely competitive in football before dropping back down to NAIA.


Stritch was a shocker....They had strong athletic programs when I was at WLC over a decade ago but the decline and then the pandemic finished it off.

Never got a good read on Silver Lake but again the Pandemic basically took that school out. They tried to make the jump back into the NAIA after being in the USCAA for years (former Lake Michigan Conference member btw).

Two other major factors that hurt Finlandia were:

 a) they did not make recruting the Upper Peninsula high schools a priority. Concentrating on recruitment of players from Detroit and even out-of-state southern states was not helpful. Too much attrition occured each year due to difficulty in adjusting to the weather and culture if being so far north.  Even though a great number of U.P. high schools are 8- man foitball programs, and although Finlandia would obviously never have been a power, they would have aleast been competitive inbtheir last league eventually, IMO and,

b) Recruiting coaching staff from Div I former players and, again, especially those from southern states such as Florida, etc, wasn't helpful. Why woukd guys who were used to larger programs and warm weather want to go to a northern state with snow and cold and stay fir an extended time? They didn't and that turnover was difficult as well.

Very concerning news today and earlier this week. Concordia-Ann Arbor (NAIA) and it's sister school Concordia-Wis (NCAA Div.III) are in financial trouble. Faculty and staff layoffs expected and the Ann Arbor school is looking at possibly selling off buildings ir might even close, according to the media article today. The fb program at Ann Arbor may be in jepordy and I assume the same might be possible at Wis. Very sad if this occurs, but, again, it is a sign of the times. See my post over on the NCAC board for additional info reported in the media today.

Apparently, Concordia-Wis and its sister school here in Michigan, Concordia-Ann Arbor are in financial trouble. According to media reports today, faculty and staff layoffs are planned soon, and some Ann Arbor campus buildimgs might be sold or the school might even close permanently.

The situation is somewhat confusing because both campuses have had record increased enrollment since 2022, and the Ann Arbor campus has made a financial profit every year since 2013 according to the article. Unfortunately, two Town Hall meetings at the Ann Arbor school earlier this week (one with students, the other with the public and parents) did not go well as answers were lacking, again, according to the article. It was also reported that the Athletic Director at the Ann Arbor school (former head fb coach there and at Concordia-Chicago, Lonnie Pries) is putting a group together to offer to buy the Ann Arbor university and operate it  independently.

Although the Ann Arbor school is NAIA football, while the Mequon school is, of course, NCAA, this is sad, but unfortunately, a sign of the times. Do any of you think Concirdia-Wis will drop fb or some other sports? I think the fb program at the Ann Arbor school may be in trouble.

Congratulations to Coach Jason Couch and QB Carter St. John for their selections as Region 4  Coach of the Year and Offensive Player of the Year by Pat and  his staff at d3fb.com.

Quote from: HOPEful on December 04, 2023, 09:31:15 AM

Quote from: Ice Bear on December 03, 2023, 08:47:59 AM
I also want to compliment the commentators. To me, they were fantastic and my absolute favorite commentators I have heard at the D3 level. They were objective yet supportive of their team, they were incredibly positive and complimentary of the student athletes in both teams, and they were quite knowledgeable as well. I was so impressed as it was an absolute pleasure listening to them call the game. Great season Alma!

As a Hope fan, I admittedly have watch/listened to surprisingly few Alma live streams. I took was very impressed with the quality of their stream and the commentators.

Congrats to Alma on a great season!

I'll ditto that. Alma has not only had a history of fine commentators for that, but also football gameday announcers for the past three+ decades. Hope has as well.

Obviously, both teams did not play exceotionally well today.on defemse.  It was an offensive slugfest, but, yes, a wild and exciting playoff game to watch. Congratulations to Alma for a fantastic season this year.  Did the MIAA proud.

Quote from: Whitecarrera on December 02, 2023, 03:03:05 PM
Trust me, I get your point, but it was really only four teams 

Quote from: Crawford on December 02, 2023, 01:31:53 PM
Not one of the Elite 8 teams fair caught their opening kick-off.

I'm assuming Alma did that (actually, they did all day today) because their kickoff returner had taken several (three, per the broadcasters) to the house this season and were hoping for that to happen. Unfortunately, it didn't.

Quote from: Desertraider on December 02, 2023, 03:27:31 PM

Quote from: BillyRayJimBob on December 02, 2023, 03:10:57 PM

Quote from: BillyRayJimBob on December 02, 2023, 02:56:40 PM

Quote from: D3fanboy on December 02, 2023, 02:40:09 PM
Cortland State must be loaded with AA/NFL talent on offense.

Something must be the reason that Cortland is 38 points (so far) better than Mount Union against Alma's defense.  (Yeah ... I know ... It is not that easily "defined.")

The Randy-Mac-Johnny Hop game was fun to watch amongst the six I followed this afternoon (the only one final, besides Oklahoma State-Texas which still has a quarter to play).

Tough season when you lose to the team who lost to the team, who will then lose to the team, that will then go on to lose to the winner of the Stagg Bowl. No winners, it appears, in the lineage this year.

So, to sum up... Humperdinck marry Buttercup in little less than half an hour. No wait . So Mount lost to the team (Alma), that lost to the team (Cortland), that will lose to the team (Hopkins), that will lose to NCC. So, using my Hiram math...#2 in the polls is still a possibility!!

You mean R-M, not Hopkins.

Quote from: D3fanboy on November 30, 2023, 05:15:53 PM

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Quote from: D3fanboy on November 30, 2023, 04:09:46 PM

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Quote from: WRMUalum13 on November 30, 2023, 03:17:12 PM

Quote from: hsbsballcoach7 on November 28, 2023, 06:19:12 PM

Quote from: D3fanboy on November 28, 2023, 05:38:22 PM

Quote from: wally_wabash on November 28, 2023, 05:34:07 PM
Interesting nugget that I just found from Coach Dartt's bio:

QuoteIn five years as offensive coordinator, his unit has led the nation in nine different statistical categories including leading the nation in scoring three times.

I'm sure that was an accident though.   Hey, even a broken clock is right three times in five years or something like that.

was he also the head coach at the time? maybe being the CEO and calling plays is a little too much for the son-in-law?

maybe he's a better OC than HC?

I felt like one of the best offenses I saw in 30 years of following Mount was when Dartt was the OC with Taurice Scott at QB, BJ Mitchell/Logan Nemeth at RB, Namdar/Kennedy at WR. They were unpredictable and put defenses on the heels all game long. Of course that defense was nasty too. Many of the same coaches are in the program still and I believe they can get back to that. It just takes some reflection sometimes.

Dartt was a really good offesnive coordinator. He talked a lot about creating "conflicts of assignment" on defense, and ran some really interesting schemes. He was the coordinator from 2013-2016, and those offenses were awesome. The 2014 team ran an extremely up tempo zone read style offense that set a bunch of season records and put up 70+ on Wesley and then the 2015 team had similar impact.

Event Dart's playcalling in the second half of the stagg bowl was pretty good, he switched Mount Up into a jumbo two TE package and tried running the ball on NCC (which they looked totally unprepared for. 

He definitely has the talent to put together creative offensive schemes but it's frustrating that we haven't really seen that creativity much lately

I'm still at a loss how we could bring back a Gagliardi finalist, his top receiver and the team's starting running back and somehow regress on offense. I'm wondering if we lost key O line players from last year that I don't remember

Mount did not.  Brought back a T, G and C on the OL.  Carson Barrett was a preseason AA at OG, but he was replaced by Kennedy, who was fantastic all year and first team all OAC.  Mount made the Stagg Bowl with a TE playing RT for the second half of last season.  The OL should have been much, much better in '23 than '22.  OT Cange was a starter early on in '22 before injury. 

80% of OL returning (other 20% was 1st team OAC) and all americans at QB, WR, RB....I wonder what could have been the issue?

Yeah... that's pretty wild. I would have felt different if Alma came into the game with a highly ranked defense that exposed Mount's Offensive shortfall, but the fact they were #36 in scoring D, 35th rushing D, Out of the top 50 in total D and 44th in Passing D is just so strange. They certainly looked like an elite D on Saturday. I'm verrry curious to see how they play against Cortland, maybe their D is just peaking at the right time.

Elite is not the word that I would use.  Mount attempting 3 FG in a non-blowout game is not very common.  Mount having 270 yards at the half and only 10 points is something, 99 plays and 20 points is wild.  The other team is supposed to play scared in Alliance, not the Purple Raiders

I'm saying despite their non elite stats coming into the game, the way Mount's offense was unable to score made Alma's defense look elite. 20 is the fewest amount of points Mount has scored in a game since the 2021 semis.

I hope that Alma shuts out mighty Cortland St and JHU/RMC on their way to the Stagg, but I think that it was more likely predictable play calling, poor preparation and arrogance that led to Alma's "elite" defense day

You forgot the real.main reason...I'll say it on e again (and no disrespect ro Mount's team) the players simply did not get the job done that day. Alma did, plain and simple.

Quote from: Flying Dutch Fan on November 27, 2023, 01:21:11 PM

Quote from: HOPEful on November 27, 2023, 12:54:56 PM
Recipe for the best MIAA win in almost 30 years...

Quote from: HOPEful on November 20, 2023, 01:58:28 PM
Here are my own personal, incremental barometers...

1. Alma finds some success on offense. (The most points Mount Union has allowed in a game this year is 17. I'd love to see Alma eclipse 20+ but double digits would still be much more palatable than getting skunked)

2. Alma takes care of the ball. (JCU felt still in the game against Mount up to the pick six that brought the score from 21-7 to 28-7...)

3. Mount is forced to punt. (Mount doesn't have to punt all that often, finding success on defense would be  amazing... but I'm just not sure Alma's defense can keep up.)

4. The game is still within reach the longer it goes on (Baldwin Wallace lost to Mount 41-17 but the 24-10 halftime score feels like a small victory.)

1. The first three quarters was a whole lot of punting and four three-and-outs. Everything changed in the fourth quarter obviously. The last two TDs were the 76-yard big play and a 10-play drive for 96 yards.

2. Alma intercepted Mount twice and returned the favor with a fumble once. Winning the turnover margin was a huge victory but when those INTs happened were equally huge. Mounts first possession had gone 11 plays and 53 yards when Kretzschmar caught the ball in the endzone. Huge momentum swing and boost to the defenses psyche to get the TO vs. going down 7-0 right away. The second INT was at their own 10 and was the catalyst for the fourth quarter scoring spree.

3. Alma forced Mount to punt 5 times and turned them over twice. I honestly didn't give Alma much of a chance to have this kind of performance. Absolutely outstanding.

4. 100%! The first drive ends in a TD and not an INT and the rest of the game plays out the same, Mount wins 27-24. The fact that they kept the game to 10-0 going into the fourth gave them a shot. And they shot their shot.

Honestly could have easily been 20-0 at the half, but the blocked FG at the end of Q1 along with that interception on the 1st drive were HUGE.  Kept Alma in it long enough for the offense to come to life in the 4th.

Perfect example of a talented team rising to the occasion.

Quote from: D3fanboy on November 27, 2023, 01:03:32 PM

Quote from: FIGHTINGSCOT on November 27, 2023, 12:57:36 PM
"a team like that" had a wonderful trip to Alliance.  Thank you for your hospitality.

congrats on the W, literally meant no disrespect. I'll be rooting for Alma to make a Stagg Bowl run.  It was a shot at the powers that be at Mount that allowed such a loss to even be a possibility.

Even the top tier teams have their down years at all levels. There are so many examples it's not worth listing here. I recall a few years ago when Mount was killing everyone with their string of national championships. They talented teams that lost to Mount was not a result of bad coaching. It was due to extremely talented players making the plays. Good coaching, for sure, but the coaching staff did not do the execution of plays. In response to the so called "complaints" by others that Mount was winning all the time, I recall that many Mount supporters responded that Mount would someday reach that point where it wouldn't be automatic each year. Mount has reached that current segment in recent years.

JMO, but to put that all on the behalf of administrators of your college and coaching staff is a little misplaced. Certainly, there are times that a coaching change might need to be made. However, as I said before, how about accountability being held to the players? Certainly, Mounts talent pool of their team is extremely high, but even those talent levels have bad days and it is not always the fault of "poor coaching." I could share with you many stories over the years of high talented college players not responding at certain times, which certainly was not the result of poor coaching. Your Mount coaches did not get beat on long pass plays, or failure to cover a tight end in the seam and at the goal line in this recent Alma game.

Obviously, you know more about the inside workings at Mount than I. But your last statement is disrespectful to the Alma team. They are very talented and rose to the occasion. Mounts players just didn't do it on Saturday. We all know it happens every year to some team at all the NCAA divisions and another example is the Michigan/Ohio State game on the same day. Both of those teams are extremely talented-one just made more mistakes than the other and it was not due to coaching. But,...Mount losing that game due to the coaches-I respectfully disagree. Dealing with this loss is disappointing-believe me, I know. But, I do not doubt that Mount will be back in the run for national championships. Anyway, we will, of course, be rooting for our fellow MIAA team to, hopefully, win this next round game.

Quote from: Pat Coleman on November 27, 2023, 08:38:55 AM
Test. Please be gentle with the board as we look for coding help.

Pat,
Iam sorry that you have had to deal with this temporary malfunction/shutdown of the boards. As frustrating as that has been to the posters, I'm sure it has been even worse fir you and your staff. We all appreciate your service and I'm sure all of us will be patient as you work to restore this privilege.  (P.S. I posted this here rather than on the Great Lakes board since you posted your message on this board. Also, it looks like all the the posts on all the boards from this past Saturday are gone, but you know that, of course.