Quote from: Voice of the Titans on March 03, 2025, 08:27:46 AMI hear Texas is nice this time of year. But D3H projections have Osh, WW, and Stout in same quadrant. Of course, we'd like to see that broken up a bit.

With 5 teams and a minimal travel budget for flights, I think the best we can hope for is keeping them all apart the first weekend.

Quote from: emma17 on January 27, 2025, 11:30:51 AM

Quote from: D3fanboy on January 23, 2025, 01:45:06 PMUWW asst HC/DC Marcus McLin off to SDSU in FCS.  Looks like the Warhawks will be looking to fill both coordinator positions

That's great for Marcus- he will be coaching against the Mt Union of the FCS.

HC Rindahl sure has his work cut out for him this offseason. I'm assuming long time D assistant Cortez will interview for DC. Other than him, I'm guessing all other candidates will be from outside the program.

Maybe Brian Borland would come out of retirement for another run at UWW...

It's a good point. The defense will always be in good hands. Jace obviously can coach that side of the ball. Given that both Pesik and Shields are no longer with the team (at least assuming so given their Twitter bio edits), I have to assume Jace let them both go. Unless we get some insider info (and maybe we will at some point), we won't know for sure.

Quote from: emma17 on January 14, 2025, 12:03:52 PMInteresting, thanks for sharing their current status.

UWW won six national championships with three different OC's.

Z (outsider) coached 2007-w, 08-L, 09-W. Two QB's.

Dinkel (was UWW O Line coach) coached 2010-W, 2011-W, 2012- the wheels fell off. Two QB's and then Behrendt came in late 2012.

Kotelnicki (outsider) coached 2013-W, 2014-W. One QB.
Not sure what all this says, except LL was there.

Interesting, though. Bullis didn't have what it took to get them there. Or maybe just didn't have the right radar when it comes to hiring. His track record for hiring offensive coaches wasn't great.

Does Rindahl have the ability to hire the right guys? LL brought in Z, so he didn't win one without an OC that he handpicked, so I'll give Jace a chance to do the same. (I am well aware that Jace is not Lance, and probably will not be, but Lance had 6-7 years more coaching experience before he took over UWW, so maybe with some growth, he can get UWW back to prominence).

It's going to take getting the right people around him, though. It's very clear that Zebrowski is a heck of a QB coach (look what he did with Jason Bean), and that Kotelnecki is a heck of an OC, so while Lance has won everywhere, he also knows how to hire the right coaches around him.

Does Jace know how to do the same? At least he had the wherewithal to make a change when it was needed.

Quote from: emma17 on January 11, 2025, 09:15:43 PMWow- big news day for UWW.
I wonder if Matt Behrendt is coaching. He or Danny Jones might make a great OC for UWW.

How about Quinn Meinerz- NFL All Pro!!!!

I'm not sure if anything has changed, but I talked to Danny shortly after Jace took over about whether he'd be joining the staff, and while interested, I think moving his family away from CA was too big an ask at that point. But for OC, maybe not. He did just take his HS team to the state championship in CA.

Matt Behrendt is the OC for the Green Bay Blizzard, and has been for the last few years.

I don't know if either have a masters degree, but either would be a good choice. Both played under Leipold, and good coordinators, and I imagine have held onto a lot of what they learned winning those titles with those coaches.

Part of me wants to see an outside hire without UWW ties, but if you're going to hire someone with ties, a QB from the Leipold era who played under Zebrowski or Kotelnecki has to be better than what we've had the last few years. Those two guys knew how to get the most out of what they had.

Granted, Zebrowski had Justin Beaver, so...

Quote from: 02 Warhawk on October 31, 2024, 01:03:05 PMLast two HC were both in-house hires too. Lance was (technically) not.

Not saying anything is wrong with Bullis and Jace, but it seemed to me those two were shoe-ins for the position. Bringing in outside candidates was more of a formality and not really seriously considered. Unfortunately.

I am okay having a defensive minded head coach with serious ties to the program as long as they hire people who offset their expertise. The current OC is a holdover from the Bullis era, who had ties to the program and was previously on staff under Jennings, who also couldn't seem to coach big games...an outside hire at that position could make all the difference.

There's gotta be someone out there who wants to Pound the Rock, but also maybe, I don't know, put someone in motion before the snap and scheme someone open?

Quote from: The Third Division on October 26, 2024, 05:55:27 PMIt will now have been over 10 years since Whitewater's last stagg bowl.

Here's to hoping they get a bowl game now. If they even miss that, then Jace Rindahl has some serious soul searching to do.

Regardless, the question needs to be about the OC. UWW clearly has talent. Play-calling is underutilizing that talent and wasting it. 

Quote from: 02 Warhawk on October 12, 2024, 06:08:11 PMBecoming less and less shocked on these losses. The revenge tour on UWW continues.

UWP in the driver's seat to win conference. With any luck UWW will win out......not betting on it though. Need to lower expectations on Jace and gang. Would love to give Chryst a shot. Not sure Ceniti is him.

Curious if just 1 WIAC team will get in. We're just beating up on each other.

I was annoyed three years ago when UWW didn't recruit Moen (Stout QB) and now that he's getting a chance to see the field, I am even more annoyed.

We missed a huge opportunity when we replaced PeteyBananas with the OC from Stout...rather than someone new and fresh and with a real idea of how to call plays.

Either way, the WIAC parity is real, and it's going to be a crazy second half of the season.

Quote from: Mitch Hall on September 04, 2024, 07:10:14 PMThe UWL Eagles kick off the season tomorrow at 4:00 Central Time against RPI. Expectations are high, and I am excited to see how they look after the long bus ride. I predict a 14 point victory.

Any insight into their QB room and how it's looking to replace Keiser? The difficulty in stopping him was huge for them the last few years.

Quote from: fredfalcon on August 24, 2024, 02:50:16 PMWas anybody else surprised that WW was not  picked to win the league? When was the last time that happened?

These coaches polls are usually heavily influenced by last year's standings. The D3Football.com poll has UWW ranked higher than UWL, and given everything UWL has to replace, that's probably more appropriate, but the league poll is done by SIDs and coaches; both people who are far too busy right now to spend time really trying to figure out if Oshkosh is going to continue their march to the *******, or if UWL can replace Helterbrand and win the league a third year in a row.

Quote from: hazzben on November 13, 2023, 10:17:31 AM
Alright U Dub posters. I've been following y'all from afar all season. You've got things humming and at first glance look a lot like the Stagg teams of yore ... gulp. I know the Bethel boys will fight.

Our D is really good. Finished 1st in the Conference in Every Major Defensive Statistic. 2nd in D3 in Red Zone Defense. 3rd in D3 in Turnovers Created. Jung and Williams in the secondary are exceptional and AA caliber IMO. The former is a ball hawk and tied for the national lead in picks. Latter is super physical (knocked Linfield RB out of the game last year). The real question is how do we stack up against your rushing attack. We've been salty against the run all year, but haven't faced one like you since maybe Wart.

On O, we've got some great pieces. Kidder at WR is an AA and Niewald is right on his heels. Since Geebli went down vs Wart we've developed a solid 1-2 punch with Ellingson and Gritz. Oline is good. Question mark is QB. Bolt struggled early, and improved as the year went on. He's been a bit banged up, which resulted in Kidder playing some wildcat at QB. Million dollar question is can we get enough out of QB and through the air to open things up for the run game. I'm not naive enough to think we can lean as heavily on the run as we did the last few games and beat UWW.

So Bleed, 02, Emma, et al ... what ya got for me??

UWWs secondary seems improved this year, to the point where they've been able to shut down high octane passing attacks, while still shutting down the run without packing the box, leaving out the difficulty they had with UWL (though, I feel like they learned from that very quickly and bottled up Blaha).

I'm curious what the loss to SJU says about Bethel, TBH. But I don't think that UWW is going to have a misstep in round 1 again. I think Rindahl is bent on proving he's the right guy, and has been preparing his team well top to bottom.

Quote from: 02 Warhawk on November 12, 2023, 10:24:16 PM

Quote from: timmyturtle on November 12, 2023, 09:45:55 PM

Quote from: cubs on November 12, 2023, 08:21:07 PM

Quote from: 02 Warhawk on November 12, 2023, 05:27:36 PM
So it begins with Bethel. Fully expected UWW to be in a bracket with NCC or UWL.

Looks like 4/5 teams will be fighting to play Mount. Once again they can sleep walk to the finals

It sure gets old after awhile.... Literally five of the top six teams on one side while #2 MUC is all by themself...

Agreed, but not sure how they can fix it when over half of the D3 teams are east of Mt Union

It can't be fixed. It is what it is, as they say. Geographically, it makes sense having Mount play those teams. Saves the NCAA $$$$ on traveling expenses.

From a competitive standpoint, yeah it sucks.

Agreed. I think the problem is that people just assume that the NCAA favors UMU and gives them a cakewalk. But travel costs money. It's not Mount Union's fault that no one geographically close to them can compete. And it's not their fault that the vast majority of top 10 teams other than them and Trinity are in WI/MN/IL/IA.

I do think that UMU has been hindered by the easy road to the Stagg Bowl in the past. Walking through cupcakes definitely left them unprepared for some of the UWW teams of the past who were battle tested through the gauntlet.

But, UWL winning makes all of this easier and UWW is the first team off the board in Pool C.

A quarterfinal rematch might be fun.

Quote from: timmyturtle on October 31, 2023, 04:42:44 PM

Quote from: emma17 on October 31, 2023, 12:16:59 PM

Quote from: timmyturtle on October 30, 2023, 08:37:58 PM
90% is low...100% is more accurate...if you can rank a two loss team ahead of a one loss team because they gave that team their loss then you should be able to rank a 3 loss team ahead of a 1 loss if they beat them...you would start down such a rabbit hole you'd be hard pressed to claw your way back to common sense. 
And you would have to believe that media panel at D3 would have WW ahead of LaCrosse if they lose and the coaches poll would have UWW ahead but the ranking committee would flip them?  No chance...here's my prediction, the loser of LaCrosse River Falls doesn't make the tournament, they aren't taking 3 WIAC teams is my guess

Wow- 100%. That's like... well, that's like something very certain. I can't go there when you're dealing with human beings.
I admit I'm likely more worried about the head to head viewpoint I believe many hold. If I put myself in the head to head camp, I can easily justify picking a 2- loss team over a 1- loss team if the -2 beat the -1. I think the next logical step for a head to head person is to ask- did both teams play the same schedule? UWW did not play HSU, but both played UMHB. Would a head to head voter consider the HSU margin of victory over UMHB as support for UWL?
Currently the D3 poll has UWL ahead of UWW, with equal records. This at least tells me 100% and 90% and even 70% are a bit over confident.

It's entirely possible I'm wrong, certainly wouldn't be the first time, but IF UWL loses to UWRF I just don't see how they could be ranked ahead of UWW in the regional rankings using the criteria set forth by the committee.  The committee chair is on record saying he basically wants all criteria to be given significant consideration (not the exact words I'm sure, but close enough to the spirit of the process). SOS (favors UWW), wins over regionally ranked teams UWW 3-1, UWL 1-2, head to head favors UWL, total record UWW 9-1 UWL 8-2 but as far as the committees concerned 6-2...all this assumes UWL loses to UWRF and UWW wins out.  That's 4 criteria....3 for UWW and 1 for UWL.  I just don't believe you can have a weaker SOS, lose more games, have a losing record against ranked opponents but beat someone head to head and argue head to head trumps ALL that other stuff.  We will see soon enough:)

I agree on this. In a vacuum, the H2H matters and UWL gets the nod over UWW for that, but in every other category, I just don't see how UWW is ranked below UWL in the regional rankings. If they were tied with overall record, sure, but a 2 loss UWL team still gets slotted below UWW.

Quote from: bleedpurple on October 30, 2023, 12:45:29 PM

Quote from: The Third Division on October 30, 2023, 10:52:19 AM
I think it's safe to say that whitewater wants River Falls to beat La Crosse. Here's why.

If River Falls beat's La Crosse, 3 teams, including whitewater, will be 6-1.

Because La Crosse scheduled 2 non d3 opponents, the selection committee will only see La Crosse as 6-2 and Whitewater & River Falls as 9-1, therefore, Whitewater & River Falls get the benefit of the doubt.

Since head to head matchups are considered in playoff selections, whitewater becomes the team from the WIAC who gets in by default since they beat River Falls, and river falls becomes the very likely pool C bid.

But if La Crosse wins, whitewater becomes an outright pool C bid, and River Falls plays in the Isthmus bowl for the 3rd straight year.

Agree we want River Falls to beat La Crosse. Three reasons:
1. It will give us an opportunity to be Co-WIAC Champion and put the 40 on the scoreboard.
2. We hate La Crosse.
3. We hate La Crosse.

As far as the NCAA playoffs, however, the bolded above is not correct.  The Pool A bids are determined by the conference, not by the NCAA. In the case of a three way tie, the first tiebreaker is head to head records. All three are 1-1, so we go to the second tie-breaker. The second tie-breaker is:

"Tied teams are to be eliminated in reverse order of their last playoff appearance beginning with the 1991 season."

UW-W and UW-L were both in the playoffs last year, so they are the two teams eliminated in the tie breaker.  UW-RF will therefore be the WIAC Pool A representative.

The only scenario I can see UW-W NOT making the playoffs is if the RAC for Region 6 decides to put La Crosse ahead of UW-W (because of the head to head result) , the National Committee allows it to stay that way, and La Crosse blocks UW-W because they are only 6-2 and teams from other regions are chosen over them.

If UW-W is ranked ahead of UW-L in this scenario, then it seems like it would be virtually impossible to keep us out because our Pool C criteria is probably among the strongest EVER in the history of the Pool C era.

I assume H2H would be used as a tie-breaker between UWW and UWL when coming off the board, but if UWL ends the season 8-2, they're likely slotted in behind UWW in the regional rankings on the rest of the criteria.

The easiest solution to this issue is to let all three teams in, and it may happen, but we'll see.