Quote from: cciwman on January 06, 2025, 09:46:28 AMThere is a lot of talk that losing the QB and OL will be huge challenges to continuing this amazing run, BUT what happens if a coach leaves?  The last time when Thorne left, Spencer was in the pipeline and ready to take over having been a major player in the rise of the program.  A seldom mentioned "key" figure in this program has been Defensive Coordinator Shane Dierking.  He has been the DC through the 7 year of rising to dominance. 

Last night Mount had a dominant rushing advantage early, but by halftime adjustments had been made and the Cards began to force longer third down yardage.  While the secondary still struggled a bit, the defense is what made this victory happen as they held down Mount.

If Dierking were to leave for a new gig, that is not Spencer's expertise and from what I heard Dierking is a heck of a recruiter too...  At somepoint you would think he would want to be in charge of his own program.

An interesting question, as looking forward to next year the Defense appears to be primed to be VERY good (better than this year), and based on what the offense is losing (Lehnen, majority of O-line) it will need to be VERY good to try and repeat.

Congratulations to North Central.

My pregame checklist and report card for a Mt Union win:

-100 yd rusher-after starting strong the running game faded and Echeverry finished with 87 yds
-Zero Turnovers--check. They were in it because of this
-Move the defensive front and create TFL--UMU had just 2 TFL and Rossy Moore had only 5 tackles for the game. He really wasn't a factor
-Take advantage of opportunities--after getting the early (and only) turnover and taking a 7-0 lead, Mt Union ended up 1-4 in the redzone.
-Tackle well-I though the Raiders did a great job tackling for the most part.
-Stay close through 3 quarters--1st team since last year's Stagg to do this but they couldn't finish.

The two biggest reasons Mt Union didn't complete the upset was their failure to capitalize on the opportunities they created in the redzone and their inability to disrupt NCC's offense with their athleticism on defense.

I understand the criticism of the coaching for the first failure (clock management, play calling, etc) but the second was definitively due to NCC being the better team and executing their plan. 

And my pregame focus for NCC to win:
-Run for 200 yds and Lehnen to throw for 200 on less than 20 attempts rushed for 197, Lehnen threw for 298 on 26 attempts
-Win turnover battle after the early fumble, NCC got 2 turnovers on downs as well as the end of half debacle, all of which ended Mt Union opportunities
-Get off the field on 3rd down The Cardinals held Mt Union to 5-13 on 3rd down, well below their season average
-Limit Raider run game After calling 11 runs in their first two drives and gaining 73 yds (6.6 ypc) NCC held UMU to just 34 more yds rushing on 17 more attempts (2.0 ypc). Mt called less than 10 runs in the 2H
-Keep their composure NCC was called for 6 penalties for 75 yds, most of them of the 15 yd variety including an ejection of Paradee for 2 taunting penalties. Mt Union couldn't capitalize.

NCC stuck with their plan. Mt Union stacked the box early to take away the run and Lehnen punished them through the air as the Raiders couldn't pressure him. Overall the NCC OL dominated the LOS with their pass protection and 2nd half running game. That and their defense limiting Echeverry is a big reason why they won.

Quote from: USee on January 06, 2025, 10:34:53 AMCongratulations to North Central.

My pregame checklist and report card for a Mt Union win:

-100 yd rusher-after starting strong the running game faded and Echeverry finished with 87 yds
-Zero Turnovers--check. They were in it because of this
-Move the defensive front and create TFL--UMU had just 2 TFL and Rossy Moore had only 5 tackles for the game. He really wasn't a factor
-Take advantage of opportunities--after getting the early (and only) turnover and taking a 7-0 lead, Mt Union ended up 1-4 in the redzone.
-Tackle well-I though the Raiders did a great job tackling for the most part.
-Stay close through 3 quarters--1st team since last year's Stagg to do this but they couldn't finish.

The two biggest reasons Mt Union didn't complete the upset was their failure to capitalize on the opportunities they created in the redzone and their inability to disrupt NCC's offense with their athleticism on defense.

I understand the criticism of the coaching for the first failure (clock management, play calling, etc) but the second was definitively due to NCC being the better team and executing their plan.

And my pregame focus for NCC to win:
-Run for 200 yds and Lehnen to throw for 200 on less than 20 attempts rushed for 197, Lehnen threw for 298 on 26 attempts
-Win turnover battle after the early fumble, NCC got 2 turnovers on downs as well as the end of half debacle, all of which ended Mt Union opportunities
-Get off the field on 3rd down The Cardinals held Mt Union to 5-13 on 3rd down, well below their season average
-Limit Raider run game After calling 11 runs in their first two drives and gaining 73 yds (6.6 ypc) NCC held UMU to just 34 more yds rushing on 17 more attempts (2.0 ypc). Mt called less than 10 runs in the 2H
-Keep their composure NCC was called for 6 penalties for 75 yds, most of them of the 15 yd variety including an ejection of Paradee for 2 taunting penalties. Mt Union couldn't capitalize.

NCC stuck with their plan. Mt Union stacked the box early to take away the run and Lehnen punished them through the air as the Raiders couldn't pressure him. Overall the NCC OL dominated the LOS with their pass protection and 2nd half running game. That and their defense limiting Echeverry is a big reason why they won.

I believe you also called out how 2 NCC OL were starting in their first Stagg Bowl.  One of which was the center, who by my count had 3 errant snaps on the first drive, one of which Mount ended up recovering. Clearly were some nerves for him but glad he was able to settle down. 

D3FB Huddle got a good pic of the snap that was fumbled, it went almost directly to the RB.  Have to zoom in to see it

https://x.com/D3FBHuddle/status/1876073137051455557

He was just trying to get it to the RB in the quickest possible way. Live and learn!

There was a good conversation about Stagg Bowl attendance going on over in the OAC board.  I wish the NCAA would just schedule this game on a Saturday, for crying out loud!  The Friday and Sunday night games make it really hard for a lot of people to make it out there.  As a teacher I can tell you it's not a good look to have a substitute in your classroom for the last day before the winter break or the first day back from it.  Ok.  That's just me complaining, but...

One thing that got me wondering a little was this: Wheaton.  If Wheaton were to make it to the championship game and the game was on a Sunday, would they have played? DIII has a few schools that have policies prohibiting athletic competition on Sundays, right?  WWWD?

Another attendance booster idea [that will never happen because of $$$] would be to have a 3rd place game in the afternoon.  Two games, one ticket, more fans.

Last year's Stagg Bowl attendance was 3,381.
This year according to ESPN app attendance 1,938.
I believe last year it was on a Friday night.

Congrats to NCC. A dominant playoff run capping off a dominant Lehnen era. The cupboard looks awfully full, with some key elite pieces to replace.

I don't think attendance factors much into location/date for the Stagg. Most college bowl games are sparsely attended and are in neutral sites.

Frank and J.B. discuss having the game Sunday night, at the very beginning of their preview show. One thing they call out is from a viewership standpoint your competing with a NFL game.

https://www.facebook.com/D3Huddle/

Quote from: USee on January 06, 2025, 01:33:55 PMI don't think attendance factors much into location/date for the Stagg. Most college bowl games are sparsely attended and are in neutral sites.

yep. If you have a couple of schools with home stadiums of 100K each go somewhere "nice" and pull in 40-50K, it stands to reason that if you send 2 schools with 4-5K attendance each somewhere not nice they're only going to pull 2-3K.

As I mentioned earlier, I liked the optics the soccer specific stadium provided as a viewer. It LOOKED less empty just because the hard camera side lower bowl area appeared to only be 10-15 rows deep before you get to the club level. You only really noticed how empty it was when it was an endzone shot.

Quote from: CarollFan on January 06, 2025, 01:53:50 PMFrank and J.B. discuss having the game Sunday night, at the very beginning of their preview show. One thing they call out is from a viewership standpoint your competing with a NFL game.

https://www.facebook.com/D3Huddle/

Pulled a Pat post in the MIAC board:

Sure -- on Dec. 30 (or anytime between Christmas and New Year's) the committee found that its hosts would not be able to staff the games because of the number of volunteers required to actually put this game on. To have the game on Jan. 2, they would have had to travel teams here on Dec. 30 and have them here over the holidays, and the same with Jan. 3. In fact, if Jan. 3 fell on a Saturday, they would instead host the game the following weekend because the committee does not want to travel teams over the New Year's holiday.

Quote from: USee on January 06, 2025, 01:33:55 PMI don't think attendance factors much into location/date for the Stagg. Most college bowl games are sparsely attended and are in neutral sites.

the NCAA could not care less about the attendance of the Stagg Bowl, nor do they really care about the TV ratings.  The D3 championship is just part of an overall NCAA package.  However, the attendance matters a bit more to the host city.  Salem just does a much, much, much better job of attracting locals than Texas, Annapolis or Canton (I live there and never heard a peep marketing the Stagg Bowl here) and marketing the game/weekend.  Canton is the near perfect location for D3FB, but Salem is the much better spot for a Stagg Bowl experience imo.

Quote from: D3fanboy on January 06, 2025, 02:03:58 PM

Quote from: USee on January 06, 2025, 01:33:55 PMI don't think attendance factors much into location/date for the Stagg. Most college bowl games are sparsely attended and are in neutral sites.

the NCAA could not care less about the attendance of the Stagg Bowl, nor do they really care about the TV ratings.  The D3 championship is just part of an overall NCAA package.  However, the attendance matters a bit more to the host city.  Salem just does a much, much, much better job of attracting locals than Texas, Annapolis or Canton (I live there and never heard a peep marketing the Stagg Bowl here) and marketing the game/weekend.  Canton is the near perfect location for D3FB, but Salem is the much better spot for a Stagg Bowl experience imo.

Actually found myself wondering last night how many locals go to these things..or how much the NCAA markets it.

At the same time, if you're NCC or Mt Union (or hell the NCAA) wouldn't it be worth your time/$ to reach out to some local high school football teams and get them group discounts or comps to come to the game? you'd think you could gain an enrollment or two doing something like that.

Quote from: robertgoulet on January 06, 2025, 02:08:30 PM

Quote from: D3fanboy on January 06, 2025, 02:03:58 PM

Quote from: USee on January 06, 2025, 01:33:55 PMI don't think attendance factors much into location/date for the Stagg. Most college bowl games are sparsely attended and are in neutral sites.

the NCAA could not care less about the attendance of the Stagg Bowl, nor do they really care about the TV ratings.  The D3 championship is just part of an overall NCAA package.  However, the attendance matters a bit more to the host city.  Salem just does a much, much, much better job of attracting locals than Texas, Annapolis or Canton (I live there and never heard a peep marketing the Stagg Bowl here) and marketing the game/weekend.  Canton is the near perfect location for D3FB, but Salem is the much better spot for a Stagg Bowl experience imo.

Actually found myself wondering last night how many locals go to these things..or how much the NCAA markets it.

At the same time, if you're NCC or Mt Union (or hell the NCAA) wouldn't it be worth your time/$ to reach out to some local high school football teams and get them group discounts or comps to come to the game? you'd think you could gain an enrollment or two doing something like that.

I'd think that'd be a local thing...tourism bureau, chamber of commerce, etc.  But I agree, toss a couple thousand free seats to high/middle school football teams, YMCA's or peewee football leagues.  Worst case scenario is you get better optics on TV and you sell a few hot chocolates/hot dogs.