FB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[Li'l Giant]

We waxed an unranked team that needed 2 OTs to beat Kenyon. Whereas we got passed by a Linfield team that went on the road and beat a ranked Oxy team. I think it makes sense.

[wally_wabash]

Wabash also gained 26 points in the poll...basically up one spot on every ballot on average.  In reality, Wabash didn't drop at all...they gained. 

My guess is that the pollsters weren't paying much attention to the goings on in Chicago on Saturday.  Wabash wins big, fine...they were supposed to.  That game against Chicago only matters if the score is close or if Wabash had lost.  And all things told, I think Wabash played a better game against Denison in the first game than they did against Chicago on Saturday.  It's probably for the best that a lot of eyes weren't on our game. 

There probably won't be much attention paid to the LGs until Wittenberg comes to town.  Maybe some attention will be paid to the Washington game as it will provide a common opponent comparison heading into the Wittenberg game.  But really, we're all just kind of patiently (or not) waiting for 10/17. 

[wabco]

First:  great fan support and great tailgate at Chicago.  It was basically a home game for Wabash if you looked at the stands.  Only thing missing was Sphinx Club Cheerleaders and the pep ban which has been MIA for a couple of years  (one wonders what ever happened to trumpets, drums, trombone, and perhaps a base horn).

Second:  it appeared Wabash played down to Chicago rather than with the crisp execution of the Denison game.  I thought both O and D were a bit casual.  Center position improved.  Snaps were crisp and blocking was good.  The first few games will serve to remedy the newness of that position. 

Third:  the Chicago playing field was very fine ... I believe that is of the type Wabash has on order ... sure hope the school fathers pass the go ahead to start real soon.

[DPU3619]

Some schools get the benefit of the doubt. Wabash will get some benefit, but not a lot thanks to the cream-puff nature of the NCAC. DePauw won't get any benefit unless they finally beat Trinity and make the playoffs.

Exactly.  We're all still waiting for that high quality win against a team other than Wabash.  Once that comes, I'm sure that will bring some legitimacy to the program. 

Until then, they won't beat any good SCAC teams and they'll beat Wabash about half the time.  Those are the facts, unfortunately.  I hate to draw that conclusion, but what else is there?

[Pat Coleman]

So how is it that Wabash waxes its opponent on the road and then drops in the d3 poll?

Two hundred other teams besides Wabash played this weekend and their results all factored in. Sometimes you get passed by teams that deserve to pass you. This isn't a single-file line or something.

[BashBacker#16]

Here is a pretty cool blog entry from Wabash QB Matt Hudson:  http://www2.wabash.edu/blog/matthudson2010/2009/09/back_from_chitown.html

[LGHistorian]

Pat & others-

     I hope the day will come soon when my Wabash brethen will come to the realization that the weekly poll is merely the opinion of where teams are, in this case September 21, 2009, according to what I would say is a pretty good selection of people who follow D3 football in some manner or another.

     The bottom line, gentlemen, is and always has been...win your regular season games, get to the playoffs and win there, too.  Piling on points on lesser opponents does not compare to good to great teams beating other good to great teams.

     And yes, I did wonder why Wabash dropped a spot.  But, I took the time to look at ALL the scores and saw Linfield's win against another ranked opponent and was satisfied that I had learned the reason without the need to cry foul.

[Bash-Dad #84]

I could care less that we got passed in the polls. Last year was living proof that often times the polls are so wrong. That is why D3 is so beautiful, we get to settle it on the field. Wabash did not play very well and we still won 48-10. I am sure there are teams that played better, also won and should have passed us in the polls.

Let's just hope that we start playing up to our potential (which is ridiculous!) and the polls will fall right in line.

[wabashcpa]

I think the fact we're ranked at all shows a lot of respect for the program, considering the thumping we took at the hands of DePauw and Wheaton last year.  Let's face it, beating up on Denison and Chicago is great, but not exactly attention grabbing victories. 

I saw in Wittenberg's drubbing of Washington they allowed only 99 yards - 106 passing yards, and -7 rushing yards.  That's a team that is flying under the national radar that has the hairs on my neck standing up.  Assuming both teams take care of their business, October 17 is shaping up to be a classic.

[wabash dk #11]

I agree with the camp who don't pay attention to the polls.  First, it's wayyyy too early to even know how anything is going to shake out.  Second, as long as we take care of things on the field, it doesn't matter where we're ranked.  We gotta worry about winning each game and not how we're ranked that week.  If we go undefeated we will be rewarded.  And if we lay an egg against the Dannies, Witt or Wooster then we won't.  It's as simple as that.  We don't have the BCS to ruin our hopes of a National Championship.  It is squarely on the shoulders of the men on the field.  (Who by the way have put in sooo much work to get ready for this season.) I think any team we play needs to be ready for some hard hitting type football

[old scot]

dk#11,
       Good point! Win it on the field. No voters, No media, take care of business and play your way into the Stagg Bowl!

Best thing about DIII & DII football. It is won between the lines.

[smedindy]

The poll is meaningless, really, in the big scheme of things. Fun, but meaningless.

The rankings that matter are the Regional Rankings. And if Wabash doesn't take care of business, those are meaningless.

Fact is, Wabash had two huge chances recently to become regarded as a top-tier elite team.

In '05, if they could have beaten Capital - they would have hosted Mt. Union. While the Purple Raiders won the title in 2005, they didn't steamroll over their last three opponents and had lost earlier in the year. They were ripe for the taking on a road playoff game, I think.

Then lest we forget '07, where all of the speculation was if Wabash could be a #1 if Mt. Union were moved East and Whitewater stayed West. It could have happened, but we'll never know thanks to the 4th quarter at DePauw. It could have been interesting. Certainly, Whitewater's waxing of the LG's up there meant they weren't in the Warhawks' area code that season, but a final 4 instead of elite 8 appearance would have been nice.

It comes down to this for Wabash:

To get seeding, beat Wittenberg, Wooster, DePauw, and the NCAC upstart dujour. Then make a deep run (final 8 or better) year over year, with the occasional final 4 or even Stagg if teams get moved around.

If you can't do the first statement, the polls really don't matter, and neither do the regional rankings. If you can't do the second statement, then seeding doesn't matter because you won't protect home field anyway.

I don't mean to sound negative, but Wabash has plenty of respect out there in D-3 land. We can't play that card anymore. Now, the NCAC doesn't have much cred, but Wabash can't help that. The denizens of D-3 know Wabash, and have expectations of at least 8 wins a year. Wabash has to continually beat those expectations.

And I think they can...

[Mr. Ypsi]

Well said, Smed.

Wabash has reached the level of respect that they are almost automatically placed somewhere between 5 and 15 until evidence shows otherwise.

If you wanna go higher, you just have to provide the evidence (which isn't easy with an NCAC schedule, but playoffs make that a moot point anyway).

[wab64]

     Excellent posts on the ranking flap, if is is one. Besides the folks that say it don't mean nothing, Wally's analysis on why Linfield jumped, and Wabash increased their votes from 287 to 313 makes a lot of sense.
    Doing the research, I am still shocked at the disappearance of DePauw. Li'l Giant writes that if Chicago had won, Bash would have bottomed out as well. Maybeso, but DePauw's progress in the young season goes like this:
                   
                       Pre-season- #25    98 votes

[wab64]

   something happened to my computer-to continue my train of thought:
                                          Preseason  #25  98 votes
                                          Week #1     #23  110 votes
                                          Week #2     #20  153 votes
                                          Week #3     ZILCH!
     
     I think that Centre was a respectable opponent- that many people writing on the SCAC site think should be a challenge. They certainly were in Greencastle. Maybe people have read so much questionable stuff about the coaching situation that they were looking for the first opportunity to lower the boom!    I think Wabash deserves to be where they are, if the poll means anything and Depauw deserves thye 2nd 25 somewhere. I just hope the difficulty of winning at home continues to Monon time!