Quote from: hazzben on November 17, 2024, 06:02:51 PMCorrect me if I'm wrong, but I think this is the first time Bethel and Coe have ever played. Now I gotta convince my wife she really wants to visit Cedar Rapids next weekend!

What can I sell her on to convince her it's more than a football road trip? Any recs?

If she's a scrapbooker, C.R. has one of the Midwest's best stores. Scrapmania My wife is a professional scrapper.

As an NAIA'er, I was surprised at 2 things. I did not expect a W by Bethel, just a tight game. And, how fast the fall from annual contender for a D3 title to not making the playoffs for UMHB. Since they lost to Linfield in the title game about 20 years ago, the Crusaders have been a Top 5 or 10 team ever since.

But coaching at this level is everything.

Coming to Northland's situation a bit late. Did the Accreditation Group place the school on probation? I did not find a mention of it.

Quote from: hazzben on November 13, 2023, 11:58:21 AM

Quote from: BLynn on November 12, 2023, 09:22:00 PM

Quote from: DriftlessDuhawk on November 12, 2023, 08:26:34 PM
Certainly getting two teams out of the conference is great for the league, but I have no idea how Coe was selected for an at-large bid...

My guess is that Coe had the 'best loss' of any of the at-large schools.

Wheaton's loss to NCC gets the 'best loss' at-large ribbon for sure.

Not so fast my friend, Wheaton played NC at home and was down 35-7 at half. Coe went on the road and went toe-to-toe with WU, losing 28-21 I believe.  Yes, playing #1 would make you think it was a better loss, but Wheaton was literally never 'in it' as Coe was.

Quote from: DriftlessDuhawk on November 12, 2023, 08:26:34 PM
Certainly getting two teams out of the conference is great for the league, but I have no idea how Coe was selected for an at-large bid...

My guess is that Coe had the 'best loss' of any of the at-large schools.

Happy for Coach Keller at NWU. 4-1 with a few winnable games left on the schedule.

Quote from: Schipper Strong on September 02, 2023, 08:57:48 PM

Quote from: sjujohnnie on September 02, 2023, 10:17:04 AM
Are the GPAC (NAIA conference) teams like Morningside & Northwestern better than any of the teams in Iowa representing Division III? Last season Wartburg was the strongest in Division III, but Northwestern won the NAIA national championship & Morningside had been largely uncontested for years until Northwestern improved. I would love to see the top NAIA teams join Division III so we could see the matchups. Opinions on outcomes of those hypothetical matchups?

It is hard to say how those schools compare as none of the ARC schools tend to schedule NAIA non conference opponents. For the top teams it hurts playoff chances and I don't think the lower tier teams schedule them either. Decades ago Central and Northwestern played each other the first game of the season for several years. We are RCA sister schools. I am not sure if we have played them since 1974. Northwestern won the NAIA championship in 1973 and we beat them 27-0 at home in the 1974 opener. We went on to win the NCAA title that year. We quit playing each other after that as it would knock one or the other of us out of contention for the playoffs.
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I found that Northwestern leads the series with Central by 8-5-1, the last game played was 1983, won by NWC 45-27 as the Red Raiders went undefeated and won their 2nd NAIA (division II) title. They beat St Thomas (now FCS), William Jewell (now D2) and then Pacific Lutheran for the Championship. NAIA was something back then.

Thanks T-Dome21: I didn't think ONU would hang with Wheaton but also didn't expect them to embarrass themselves. Sounds about what I expected. Glad there is some inter-classification action.

I heard Olivet Nazarene (NAIA) and Wheaton were scrimmaging today or tonight. Did anyone watch? Would like to know how ONU, as a mid-level NAIA team matched up with a Top 10'ish D3 program.

This is directed mainly to Doolittledog, but anyone may respond; Loras has not won more than 5 games in the past 20 years, (per this site's info), so they aren't pointing to a post season run normally. Why not schedule Clarke which is literally next door. I'd suggest the same for Dubuque U, but they have had some good seasons in the past decade so I know they would be concerned about points.

Dolittledog, do you think that there is something to the fact that the 'schools to watch' list is almost entirely NAIA colleges? I mean in the vein that being NCAA creates more donations, better endowments etc?

My oldest daughter went to NWU and I try to keep track: Saw Kevin Crume, NWU D.C. left for Concordia of the NAIA's GPAC. More changes coming?
When I started watching the GPAC back in 2002, NWU was top-3 team, then started to slowly drop, but rarely under .500 in the league. I really thought they'd be more competitive in the ARC.

Have we got enough for a Catholics-Protestants Conference? Loras, Briar Cliff, St Ambrose, Clarke, Mount Mercy. Are any others Catholic? Maybe make a separate division for Lutherans?

Didn't realize the Ohio recruiting angle, but now it makes sense.
That would be one fun conference for the fans, but brutal for the players. Let's go!

Doolittledog, not trying to insinuate anything, but since the Spartans are not always on the cusp of the playoffs, why not play a St Ambrose or other Iowa NAIA?
I think a Central-Dordt game would be cool since the Defenders have several Pella areas athletes on the roster.