FB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[bashbrother]

Illinois College will come to play... whether or not they have the horses, is a different story.   

Interesting note from Illinois College....

Looks like we will be playing Depauw I mean DeFauw two weeks in a row.

Jake DeFauw  - Leads IC in tackles

Dylan DeFauw - Is second on the team in INT's

[WABCOL86]

Thanks, USee.  I guess that is why we play the games, eh?!

[USee]

definitely! If there is another "Redlands" game out there for NCC, it could easily be in Crawfordsville as that is a tough place to play with the most rabid of D3 fans. And you would have to like the fact that NCC may be overlooking Bash a bit toward a potential 1st time visit to Alliance. If there is such a thing as a "trap" game in the playoffs, that would be it.

Either way, I am confident both teams will win this week, setting up an epic battle at Hollett.

[nike]

Am I correct in thinking that Wabash game will be streamed on-line by Wabash?

[smedindy]

Yes, it will, nike.

[wally_wabash]

Tossed a poll up...it'll run for seven days, so vote quickly! 

As far as any NCC/Wabash chatter...I'd like to save it for when both teams are in Round 2.  But I would like to brace  Wabash fans reading here....please please please don't lose your brain when the guys at D3football put up their playoff capsules and will predict North Central to advance to the regional final.  It's not a slap in the face...Wabash will be an underdog if that matchup takes place.  The LGs are going to need to win a game like that before the guys with a national scope start picking Wabash to win games like that. 

[GRIZ_BACKER]

Tossed a poll up...it'll run for seven days, so vote quickly! 

As far as any NCC/Wabash chatter...I'd like to save it for when both teams are in Round 2.  But I would like to brace  Wabash fans reading here....please please please don't lose your brain when the guys at D3football put up their playoff capsules and will predict North Central to advance to the regional final.  It's not a slap in the face...Wabash will be an underdog if that matchup takes place.  The LGs are going to need to win a game like that before the guys with a national scope start picking Wabash to win games like that.

That said in 2008, NCC got handled pretty good by a 6 seed at home.  Other than the UWW UMU spreads, playoff games are pretty hard to predict at this level do to limited interconference play and resistance to scheduling top teams out of conference.  I still think Wally and USee are correct.  Bash would be +10 to +14 home dog if lines were available for D3 IMO. But I would bet on Bash to cover.

[Ralph Lee Wilson]

After re-analyzing this bracket, I'm really liking the (however slight) possibility that the manliest football game ever could be played in the third round between Wabash and Hampden-Sydney.  Given, the Mount and North Central would have to go down (not to mention Centre and the Blueboys), but I would love to see the testosterone flow like beer at such a game.

[Li'l Giant]

Per the NCAC website Ted Stanley has resigned at Kenyon. I am filled with a sense of dread of the future of football at Kenyon. Just a gut feeling.

After re-analyzing this bracket, I'm really liking the (however slight) possibility that the manliest football game ever could be played in the third round between Wabash and Hampden-Sydney.  Given, the Mount and North Central would have to go down (not to mention Centre and the Blueboys), but I would love to see the testosterone flow like beer at such a game.

+k for that. That would be awesome.

[wally_wabash]

After re-analyzing this bracket, I'm really liking the (however slight) possibility that the manliest football game ever could be played in the third round between Wabash and Hampden-Sydney.  Given, the Mount and North Central would have to go down (not to mention Centre and the Blueboys), but I would love to see the testosterone flow like beer at such a game.

That's a big ask for HSC to advance through Alliance, but maybe not as crazy as it has been in years past.  One thing, aside from the region-jumbling that they did with the bracket this year (again...applause for the committee and the higher ups that approved this), both UWW and UMU got tested a couple of times this year instead of just whaling on people for 10 weeks.  They did their share of whaling for sure, but the glimmer of hope for the rest of us might be just a few watts brighter this year.  Anyway, as was noted in the podcast, the Tigers losing their rivalry game on Saturday put them in a bad spot, even if they do have a winnable first rounder at Centre. 

I think most people looking at the UMU quadrant, most people will be excited about a UMU vs. NCC game or a UMU vs. Wabash game thanks to the Mount Union/Wabash cross pollination.  That's a win/win regional final scenario for story writers.

[smedindy]

Per the NCAC website Ted Stanley has resigned at Kenyon. I am filled with a sense of dread of the future of football at Kenyon. Just a gut feeling.

Maybe they'll grab a coach from the NESCAC! If you can't beat 'em....

[wally_wabash]

Per the NCAC website Ted Stanley has resigned at Kenyon. I am filled with a sense of dread of the future of football at Kenyon. Just a gut feeling.

I get a bad feeling as well...but couldn't you kind of smell this coming after the article/interview from earlier this year? 

[KC44]

The school is launching a nationwide search and is coordinating with football alumni according to an e-mail that we received from the school's administration.  There is going to be a meeting with the school and interested football alumni in the coming months is the word and they hope to have a new coach by early sprint semester.  There are people who care quite a bit about this program and do not want to see it disappear.  Also, Ted Stanley is a great person who certainly gave his all to the program and I have a tremendous amount of respect for him, regardless of the outcome of his tenure there.

Just thought you'd all want to hear from a Kenyon perspective.

[smedindy]

Thanks KC44. We need you on the boards more often! If they are coordinating with the football alumni then all shouldn't be lost. Hopefully you all can emulate what Oberlin is doing (or better yet Denison) and have numbers up as well.

[ExTartanPlayer]

...both UWW and UMU got tested a couple of times this year instead of just whaling on people for 10 weeks.  They did their share of whaling for sure, but the glimmer of hope for the rest of us might be just a few watts brighter this year.

Trying to figure out whether this is really true or not; I think it is.

Mount Union played two truly competitive OAC games this year (14-6 vs. ONU, 25-20 vs. Baldwin-Wallace*), plus a third sort-of-competitive game with a 27-7 win over Capital.  That certainly IS unprecedented - looking back through the last couple years, it's hard to find a season in which they played more than ONE competitive OAC game.  It's worth noting that Capital really pushed them in the playoffs in 2005 and 2006, but those were both a "rematch" after a regular season blowout.  They have not actually LOST an OAC game since 2005 (ironically, a year in which they WON the national title).  So I think one could well argue that Mount was pushed more in the OAC this year than any year since 2005.

*Side note: I think it's a real shame that Baldwin-Wallace dropped that early season game vs. Capital.  I believe that a 9-1 team from Baldwin-Wallace would have grabbed a Pool C and been a real threat to almost anyone.

UW-Whitewater played a bunch of games that ride the line between "competitive game" and "blowout" - for instance, UW-Stout pulled within 28-21 after three quarters before UWW pulled away and won 42-21, UW-Eau Claire pulled within 21-14 in the third before UWW pulled away to win 37-22, and both games with UW-La Crosse finished with modest final scores - and was REALLY tested by UW-Oshkosh.

As I flipped back through WIAC results from the last couple years, I was surprised to see how consistently UWW has blown out some very good opponents - although they were tested several times in 2008 (16-14 vs. UW-Eau Claire, loss to UW-Stevens Point, 17-10 win over UW-Stout).  It's hard to say that UWW was really tested much this year in WIAC play other than the Oshkosh game, but certainly they were pushed harder than in 2009-10.  In most games it looks like the starters at least had to go into the fourth quarter.

So, wally, I think you may be right.  The Purple Powers, while undoubtedly still kings of the hill, may not be as far ahead as they used to be.