FB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[Mr. Ypsi]

Also remember that only one of 'bashes losses was in-region.  No one thought Wheaton would get in in 2008, and they went on to win the North.  While I think the LG's chances are slim, I wouldn't think you need to abandon hope completely.

[Backer25]

It's certainly much more interesting than the 06 season where we lost to Franklin and Witt.  DePauw being 9-0 helps an awful lot.  I think Coach will watch the selection at home and then call up the guys if there's good news.

[Li'l Giant]

Congratulations to the Wabash team, especially these seniors, on this dominating win. That wasn't a football game, that was a scene from "Oz". Bring in a 9-0, conference champion, senior laden team and when Wabash Always Fights, 47-0 is the result. The shot of the day on the HDNet broadcast was the Depauw fans leaving before the 3rd quarter ended.

Also, congratulations to Wittenberg on their conference championship, one well earned. Tough break for Wooster. Thought they were gonna pull it out.

Once again to Wabash's seniors: Thanks for 4 years of hard work. Enjoy the sweet ringing of the Bell tonight. Y'all truly deserve it.

[DadofBashWarrior..]

Wow...........every phase.........Wow.....and a shutout!!!

[smedindy]

Illinois Wesleyan and Baldwin-Wallace both lost today.  They were the two 2-loss teams ahead of Wabash in the Regional Rankings this week.  Wabash should get to the table for consideration after Wheaton and Ohio Northern get picked. 

Also, Chicago should move in to the final Regional Rankings with their win over WashUStL today.  Wabash will have two wins against Regionally Ranked opponents and a strong SoS --- so they have certainly made it interesting today!

Well, that definitely upsets the apple cart!

[smedindy]

Shall we play the game. Let's look at the last regional rankings:

1. Delaware Valley
2. Rowan
3. Montclair State
4. Cortland State
5. SUNY-Maritime
6. Maine Maritime
7. Alfred
8. Springfield
9. St. John Fisher
10. Endicott


North Region
1. Mount Union
2. North Central (Ill.)
3. Wheaton (Ill.)
4. Ohio Northern
5. Wittenberg
6. Trine
7. Franklin
8. Illinois Wesleyan
9. Baldwin-Wallace
10. Wabash


South Region
1. Wesley
2. Mary Hardin-Baylor
3. DePauw
4. Thomas More
5. Hardin-Simmons
6. Washington and Lee
7. Hampden-Sydney
8. Salisbury
9. Muhlenberg
10. Ursinus

West Region
1. St. Thomas
2. UW-Whitewater
3. Wartburg
4. Cal Lutheran
5. Coe
6. Bethel
7. Linfield
8. Pacific Lutheran
9. Redlands
10. Central

So the "C" candidates from this list are:

Rowan
Montclair
Maine Maritime
Springfield
St. John Fisher (SUNY Maritime is a B)

Wheaton
Ohio Northern
Illinois Wesleyan
Baldwin Wallace
Wabash

Hardin-Simmons
Hampden - Sydney
Ursinus (Wesley and Salisbury would be B's)

Coe
Bethel
PLU
Redlands
Central

The teams in SOS ranking are:

Illinois Wesleyan (7-3) - 12
Wabash (8-1) - 15
Wheaton (9-1) - 16
St. John Fisher (7-2) - 23
Hampden Sydney (9-1) - 34
Springfield (8-2) - 59
Hardin - Simmons (8-2) - 66
Redlands (8-1) - 69
Baldwin Wallace (7-3) - 82
Ohio Northern (8-1) - 91
Bethel (9-1) - 107
Central (8-2) - 111
Rowan (9-1) - 115
Ursinus (8-2) - 116
Coe (7-1) - 135
Montclair (9-1) - 136
PLU (7-1) - 144
Maine Maritime (8-2) - 171

IWU and B-W are out as three loss teams. Maine Maritime, Ursinus, Central out as two loss teams with low SOS.

So that leaves 13 teams for six spots:

One loss teams:

Wabash
Wheaton
Hampden Sydney
Redlands
Ohio Northern
Montclair State
Bethel
Rowan
Coe
PLU

Two loss high SOS teams:

St. John Fisher
Springfield
Hardin Simmons

If going by the Top 25 and regional rankings all season and not the SOS, it may be a no brainer:

Ohio Northern, Bethel, Wheaton, Hampden Sydney, Hardin Simmons, and either Montclair State or Rowan.

But Wabash's SOS snuck up there with Wooster, Allegheny, Wittenberg, Chicago and DPU's successes.

Wabash has a legitimate chance. I know there will be someone crying tomorrow. Well, a few, because there is a big ol' C logjam.

[Li'l Giant]

If Wabash's season ended today I doubt there will be all too much crying in Crawfordsville.

The WashU loss, even though out of region, has to hurt us bad.

And, seeing what we saw in annihilating, obliterating, and embarrassing Depauw today, who knows what kind of great game could have happened last week had we played Witt like we played today.

What I'm getting at is as great as it would be get into the playoffs there's not a major injustice involved if we don't because those games we lost were in our hands and we didn't get it done. In fact, there would be a pretty good case we were jobbing someone else out there. We'll just have to see. I'm not expecting to get good news in the selection show tomorrow.

[bashbrother]

We may never see a Bell Game like the one we saw today again in our lifetime.  That is pretty cool.  How fun would that have been to have played in that one.

Congrats to Coach House - 15-11 in his career in Bell Games.  Some Little Giant!

Game Balls -  How many can be given out?

How nice was it to have a kicking game we could count on this year.  Whitehead was amazing.  I truly hope his effort earns him post-season recognition.

[Schwami]

Did the LG's eat their Wheaties this morning or what?!!!

First Monon Bell shutout in 43 years --- WOW!!!

Congratulations to Witt --- they just keep winning, and they don't beat themselves.  Solid.  They should get a home game in the first round.

[smedindy]

Depending on who gets moved and what happens, I look for a 2 or 3 for Wittenberg.

[seinfeld]

Some comments from the Wooster-Witt game. I never thought this was possible, but Schmitz and company outcoached Wittenberg. In fact, this was probably the best coached game by this Wooster staff since beating Wabash in 2003. In big games, Wooster's coaching, in my opinion, has been average to below average. But today, it was near perfect. I think they could have blitzed a little bit more, especially on third down in the second half, but otherwise the defense was outstanding. The run defense was the best I've seen it in a while, and whatever coverages they had, especially in the first half, had Zoeller completely confused. I think at one point he was only 4-of-14 passing.

Offensively, Schmitz called the best game I've seen him call in a long time. Wooster somehow managed to keep Witt defense off balance in the passing game despite throwing almost exclusively patterns within 10 yards. My only complaint would be to have established the run a little more, but the Witt defensive line dictated most of this. The 3rd down pass late in the game where Barnes got picked off I think they would have been better off either running the ball, or if they were going to throw it, throw it short or outside. The last thing you wanted to happen there was a turnover, and Barnes had trouble throwing the ball over the middle most of the game. His three interceptions all came over the middle, and he nearly had a couple of other passes picked off over the middle. And the way Obery was punting the ball, Witt likely would have started around their own 20 yard line with under three minutes to play, a big difference than starting at midfield.

The difference in the game was the Wittenberg defensive line dominating the Scots' offensive line. Wittenberg was in the backfield the entire game. Barnes really took a beating, but showed a lot of toughness for a freshman. The Scots had absolutely no answer for this. Of course, running the spread offense with no extra protection only exacerbates this problem.

Wooster maximized everything they could out of their players. Daniels wasn't anywhere near 100%, and they contributions at WR from a converted running back and quarterback. Defensively, the starting defensive line was out there for basically the entire game, since they have no backups at this position. If Wooster wants to take the next step, they really need a big freshman class. They will likely enter spring ball with only around 50 players.

Ogletree-Crawford has to be one of the best corners in the league. Not only is a great cover guy, but he makes every tackle, no matter the size of the player.

[wab64]

[quote author=seinfeld link=topic=3546.msg1257986#msg1257986 date=12897.
...Ogletree-Crawford has to be one of the best corners in the league. Not only is a great cover guy, but he makes every tackle, no matter the size of the player.
[/quote]

      He may be, but we have film of him being dragged 10 yards into the end zone by Jonathan Horn of Wabash. #3, right?
kudos to the Scots for a gallant effort-you gave everything you had,and it was a shining example to the whole league.  I think if Rickey Barnes doesn't get broken in half, he will be a force in the league for the next 3 years-a slippery, skittery force, but a force nonetheless

[Li'l Giant]

And we're in according to Pat and Gordon's final projection. Interesting possible second round rematch between us and Depauw in that projected bracket. That would just be insane.

[Backer25]

I'm hopeful.

[wabashcpa]

Fingers crossed - hope our friends' projected bracket pans out.