FB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[smedindy]

Wait -

Mt. Union doesn't take all comers? Have you SEEN the Mt. Union roster? There are FOUR of some numbers on the roster. I think I counted 69 freshmen on the roster. And this was the late November roster, which probably had some melt. From the looks at the roster, it didn't seem they had a lot of transfers, either.

For Mt. Union, the successful football program is a way to build male enrollment in a tough environment. There are a lot of private colleges in Ohio to choose from.

I think it's safe to say that anyone who thought they could play at Mt. Union was given a chance. Knowing that Kehres is a class act, I don't think he turns anyone away.

If I recall discussions correctly elsewhere, the WIAC has roster limits, which makes sense as they're all competing for the same student athlete for the most part. Most of the Whitewater team seem to be homegrown. So if they turn anyone away, it's due to conference rules.

(An aside - a lot of the linemen for the Warhawks listed their hobbies as 'lifting'. Makes sense...)

[skunks_sidekick]

WOW.....every time I think you NCAC guys finally have the idiots reigned in......another one pops up. 

HEY GOGETIT WHATEVER.......Mount turns NO ONE away if they can qualify academically.  That is why they have a roster of 200 kids.  LK would prefer to have less, but he has always said if a kid is willing to bust his arse in practice (you can do no less in an LK practice), who is he to tell the kid he can't play. 

Take your academic, loser, whining card and shove it where to sun doesn't shine.  It's old, tired, and a joke.

[wally_wabash]

Back from the game, warm and with something to eat.  The roads were nasty and I assume that the Indiana-based Wabash faithful will have a long trip home.  

You got that right...about 8 hours after departure from Whitewater, I've finally made it back to Lafayette.  It was a looong trip, but everybody in my travel party is safe and sound and hopefully thawing out.  

There really isn't much to say about today's game...turnovers kill and there's no way you can throw four INTs in one half against a team of Whitewater's caliber and expect anything other than exactly what happened.  It's definitely a bittersweet end to this awesome season, but Wabash will be back and get another shot at one of the big dogs sooner rather than later.  

I've got to give some props to the UW-W tailgaters that were around Little Giant HQ this morning...fun people and very respectful.  They were genuinely impressed with the LG fans up there today.  Maybe one of these days we can host them for a big December and return the hospitality.  

[reality check]

Where did you come up with this theory on MUC slotting?  They don't selectively recruit any more than any other school does.  Sure they have targets but they don't cut, they don't limit the number of players they bring in, etc.  You don't get to triplicate jerseys by selectively recruiting.  

I guess my problem is that as little as I know about UWW's practices, it appears you know even less about Mount Union's.  Where did you get your information?  Being familiar with Dayton and Mount Union, I know their recruiting processes are completely different.  Firstly, MUC being an OAC school, is not even allowed to recruit in person off-campus.  They can reach out via phone, mail, etc. but they can't visit recruits.  That is an OAC rule for all programs.  UD can give loads of grant and scholarship money to get around the non-scholarship athletic status.  I know guys that went their on track scholarships, leadership/community service scholarship programs, etc. that were deserving of their funding.

If I'm wrong about MUC, then I stand corrected but I'd implore you to take your argument to the OAC board for clarification because I really believe your thoughts on their recruiting process to be completely off-base.  I could imaging UWW is a different story because it's a state school with as many as 9000 students.  But I don't claim to be aware of their processes.

[dallas]

Reality Check-

Take Mt. Union & UWW for example....there are hundreds of "non-scholarship" players who would like to go to these schools and play for National Championships but these programs do not take all comers....which is a great deal different than 90% of the other DIII schools.

These schools have built programs that allow them to selectively recruit their incoming classes, some people call it slotting...they offer kids a spot on their team based on need/talent so on and so forth.  And no other players are invited to pre-season camp.  I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the Manchester's, Bluffton's & Sewanee's can't recruit like this or they'll end up with 30-man rosters (some of them aren't that far off right now ((K-Zoo)).

Hope this clears up my previous statement

Their teams tend to have more transfer/JC/Prep school players on the roster, which is an advantage b/c academic standards may not be as high.

Ok.  This is a PERFECT EXAMPLE of someone saying/posting something, acting like they are far superior with their knowledge regarding a particular subject, and being completely wrong.  Careful who you listen to out there folks!

I actually played for UWW.  The WIAC has roster limits of 100 kids.  I cannot speak on behalf of the other teams in the WIAC, but at UWW, pretty much anyone can show up the first day of practice.  The coaches do what they need to do to trim the roster throughout two-a-days, kids quit, get hurt, etc.  By the time the season starts, there are only 100 kids.  The travel roster is much smaller, and the number of kids allowed to suit up for the playoffs is lower as well.

Gogetit, based on the last few posts, it appears you picked a bad subject to ACT like you knew something about.  Oops.  

[dallas]

Wish I could have been at the Perk to meet some Wabash fans.  Heard great things about your fans, and I'm very impressed by those that made the trip in the nasty conditions.  Glad to hear you all are making it home ok.

[Li'l Giant]

WOW.....every time I think you NCAC guys finally have the idiots reigned in......another one pops up. 

I don't think gogetit9 is an NCAC guy. I think he's a Depauw guy.

[gobash]

Congrats on a fine season, Wabash fans.  I was impressed with your turn out at the Perk today, and the spirit that they maintained through virtually the whole game.

Hope all the travelers get where they are going safely.  Man, the roads are UGGGG-LY out there.

Just now got home to Indianapolis.  Roads weren't the only thing that got ugly today.  Congrats to UWW...I'm fairly certain you'll meet Mount and give them some trouble.

As for all the Wallies who made the trip this weekend, it was a great time, and nice to meet you all.

[ScheckDiesel]

Congrats to Wabash on a great season, its just too bad it had to end like that...
I was very impressed with the Wabash turnout.... and the noise too!!! Honestly, in my three years at UWW, probably the loudest crowd I have ever heard.

[BashBacker#16]

Drive home from Whitewater (to Indy) was absolutely brutal...7+ hours.  Ice, rain, sleet, dead locked traffic, you name it...ugh! 

Even though the game did not turn out as we had hoped, it was an absolute blast today (may have been one of the best tailgate spreads I have seen!) and we got to see one of the Elite D3 programs.  Very impressive facility and team.  They won the line of scrimmage today on the both sides of the ball and that was huge.  It just wasn't in the cards today for Wabash.  UW-W was dominant.  The weather had to have been brutal for the Wabash passing game.  I also think early injuries to Chad Peterman & Bubba Lange really hurt us - those 2 guys are pretty big to our D unit.  Peterman had been playing the best ball he has played all season.  Then add the flu bug that ripped through this week and it was just too much.

Congrats to UW-W and I hope we can see them get a shot at Mount.

Congrats to the Little Giants on a great run & a great season.  We lose some huge guys (Adi, Russell, Hilts, etc.) but we also return a lot of key contributors and should be very solid next season.

[WAF78]

I totally agree with Bash#16...the game was brutal, but the experience was great. Great seeing so many Wabash fans. When you consider that the total number of living alumni from Wabash equals UWW's current student population...it was a great showing from the Little Giant fans.
The drive home was hideous...and I can only hope that everyone made it home safely.
Wabash had a great year and has a great team full of guys with fight, character, and right priorities. Just one example is Adi Pynenberg declining to be on the Aztec Bowl roster because of his desire to excel academically.
I would have loved to have seen the game played on a good field with decent weather conditions. I'm not so sure that the game wouldn't have ended up with a similar score...but it would have been nice to have seen it under better conditions. UWW has great athletes and is very well coached. Good luck to them in the next couple of weeks.

[BillyRayJimBob]

Someone decided that, for today's Tampa Tribune, that there was only room to print 15 college football scores from ALL of yesterday's action (Div I-A, Div I-AA ... yeah, I know they are called something else now ... Div II, Div III, & NAIA).  There was only one Div III score printed, and it appeared as follows:

Wis.Whitewater 47 Washburn 7

I guess that accuracy and attention to detail just doesn't matter any more, particularly in the media!

Hey...  Congrats on a nice season, LGs!

[Li'l Giant]

Someone decided that, for today's Tampa Tribune, that there was only room to print 15 college football scores from ALL of yesterday's action (Div I-A, Div I-AA ... yeah, I know they are called something else now ... Div II, Div III, & NAIA).  There was only one Div III score printed, and it appeared as follows:

Wis.Whitewater 47 Washburn 7

I guess that accuracy and attention to detail just doesn't matter any more, particularly in the media!

Hey...  Congrats on a nice season, LGs!

Thanks. I'm not so sure that anonymity is a bad thing. 

[Mr. Ypsi]

Perhaps that explains the 40-point margin - Washburn snuck in in LG unis!

[smedindy]

The Washburn Ichabods are D-2, and lost in the first round of the playoffs to West Texas A & M, so I bet they probably could have given Whitewater a game.

But I'd still rather be a Little Giant. I've been to Topeka, and, well...