FB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[bashgiant]

Just arrived home from the Butler Bowl.  Not the bowl of old; now a pretty good place to watch a game.  I left with about 10 minutes remaining and Witt trailing 49-10.  They must have scored two late TDs to make it look a little better.  Butler much superior in a phases:  speed, skill, rushing, passing.  They scored in three plays at the beginning, the first a long run, and generally had their way all half.  Witt was successful at times in the middle of the field, but shot themselves in the foot on several occasions.  A couple of INTs, one returned for a TD, and a fumble after a good gain.  Anyway, 42-3 by halftime.  The Butler QB did not play in the second half:  he's really good.  Witt started the second half with a nice long drive, leading to a TD. 
     One note of interest.  Dehnke did not start, and played briefly in the first half.  He had just come back into the game for the second time as I was leaving.  He was injured at the end of last year, so could they be being careful with him?  That doesn't seem like the Tiger style (?)  Could the other back have the edge right now as Dehnke continues to recover.  The other guy ran hard, but the Butler front was stingy.  Butler rotated in its front four on almost every snap, sometimes the entire four at the same time. 
       Lastly, a dustup before the game even began, and not between the teams.  The stands behind the visiting team's bench are, well, modest.  Witt travels well.  When I arrived, I decided to sit with the Tiger fans:  NCAC loyalty.  Well about one quarter of the stands had been reserved for the Butler Band!  Some Witt fans had to go to the other side of the field.  Several Witt male, and one or two female, supporters were engaged in a heated exchange with Butler security, who were guarding the Band's seating.  I sat next to where the band would sit after their pre-game playing on the field.  And had a nice conversation with a Witt fan; his sons had played for the Tigers.  Eventually, a uniformed officer showed up, but the tension didn't lessen much.  The band entered the stands--about 100 members.  And the Tuba players were placed right next to the Witt crowd!   
      At that point, Witt fans packed in, and the Tubas too near, I departed for the shade of the other side of the field.  I don't know what happened as the game progressed.   At first, I thought it was a tempest in a teapot, but I quicly changed my mind.  At the least Butler was being inconsiderate.  (In their league, I'm guessing, not many visiting fans show up, given the spread of the conference, so saving home seats might make sense.  Even that's lousy.)  The band was playing between every snap.  I can't begin to imagine--well, I can; it's not pretty--how the Wabash fans would have reacted.  Congrats to the Witt fans for finally tolerating (it didn't appear they had much choice), and #%**#@ to the Butler folks for not thinking through the situation.  One of the Butler band directors (I think that's who he was; he was certainly not a college-age student, and he was with the band) even got into it briefly.   At the least Butler was being inconsiderate.  Will two national title games do that to you?  Their responses and behavior during the tense moments smacked of way tooo much arrogance. 
   As I go, Witt will wipe the Bulldog's paw marks off their face.  The sting will lesssen.  And this type of beating just might even make them more determined to show their stuff.                 

Thank you for the report.

[smedindy]

Glad to see the reports of the games. Working stats at CWU, I can safely say that a D2 game is very similar to D3. Texas A&M - Kingsville has some good players that may be at lower D-1 level, and CWU's offense looked, well, like DPU's offense last year. You can't win when your QB throws for under 100 yards and fumbles the snap at the 2 with seconds to go while you're driving for a tying score. Ulp.

Anyway, congats to Hiram for a huge win. Big congrats to Kenyon as well. Looks like a l-o-n-g year for the Gators unless they fix it fast. OWU seems to not have missed a step, which is great for the league.

I can't really tell about Denison. It IS Earlham after all.

Why, Wittenberg, why?

[ExTartanPlayer]

Partridge was 15/28 for 292 including a 48 yd TD. Also had a 30 yd TD run.  At least he may give them a puncher's chance against a couple more teams.

I don't want to overreact to one win, but my time-tested "a really good QB can be worth a game or two" might come into play here for the Terriers.  As you said, just having one big playmaker on offense might give them a puncher's chance against the league's bottom half if their defense can keep it close.

[sigma one]

Reflecting on what I wrote last night about the Wittenberg v. Butler game, I in no way am suggesting that Witt is not a very good football team.  Butler is just quite a bit better.  Witt did some quality things, and Cunningham, to point to just one player, had a quality game.  Curiously, neither team threw a home run ball the entire game.  All the passes were short to intermediate.  I know that's the modern game, but. . .   For Witt, this might have been because they could not protect Florence long enough from the Butler rush--or because they could not get behind the Butler DBs.  Those DBs. seemed to lay of fall night and allow the short stuff.   Still, Florence was accurate, and his receivers made the catches.  So, one of Witt's recent trademarks was absent.
      I am thinking that one point of camparison would be a top Division III team playing a team well down in the pack.  The results would probably be similar.  Or even Wittenbeg, as we have seen for a long time, playing a number of teams in the NCAC.  Or until now Mt. Union playing almost anyone.
     Another way of looking at it:  Butler lost last week to South Dakota State  (55-14), which made the 1-AA playoffs last season.  South Dakota State beat North Dakota yesterday.  And,  jeez, they play Nebraska (next I believe).
     So, for the Witt fans--I hope there are some and that we we hear from them from time to time--and others who read here, yesterday was just one of those "playing up" games.   Maybe Witt wanted to test the team against a new opponent, maybe that's the only game they could find.  Maybe they legitimately thought they could win (Witt would always think this, and rightfully so, given their status), but Butler now is not Butler of even three years ago.  Franklin and Butler play this coming Saturday.  Won't that be interesting.

[DanTHEman67]

When you schedule in advance, there isn't always knowledge of what quality the football team will be by the time you actually play. And why would you think Witt fans wouldn't show up?

[wally_wabash]

When you schedule in advance, there isn't always knowledge of what quality the football team will be by the time you actually play. And why would you think Witt fans wouldn't show up?

How far out was that game scheduled?  The sense I get is that the game wasn't one of those that was agreed to years ago. Or even 18 months prior.

[sigma one]

Wittenberg probably what they were getting into.  Butler has been good under Coach Voris.  Back as far as 2009 or so, they were 11-1.  They have not always been this good, but they purposefully upgraded in recent years.  Is it possible that Ohio teams are not wanting to schedule Wittenberg?  The OAC teams have only one non-conference game, and playing Witt would be a tough way to start.   It's also possible that, if they couldn't get a game in Ohio, Indianapois was a close drive instead of going farther (I can't imagine most DIII Indiana schools wanting to open their season with the Tigers).  Wittenberg has recently featured some good players from the central Indiana area.  Can't imagine that last night could be much good for recruiting, except that a pitch might be we play the best, like Butler, close to your home.  Maybe they just want to test themselves against an opponent from a highr classification.
     I have not checked:  Is this a two-year commitment, home and home or otherwise?  I will check to see if I can find out.

[sigma one]

Found a recent article in the Springfield newspaper that says that  Fincham scheduled two-game series v. Butlr four years ago

[bashgiant]

This may be an ignorant question but could Franklin move up in the top 25 because they played Mount Union close?

[wally_wabash]

This may be an ignorant question but could Franklin move up in the top 25 because they played Mount Union close?

Yes. I'd not be surprised to see Franklin gain a few spots today.

[ohiofan1954]

how important now is the game between owu and Kenyon on the 21rst? Does Hiram at Denison have anymore importance now? Probably not and Hiram will most likely come back to earth but the Terriers are still a nice story right out of the blocks.

[bashgiant]

This may be an ignorant question but could Franklin move up in the top 25 because they played Mount Union close?

Yes. I'd not be surprised to see Franklin gain a few spots today.

So The Bash did not play yesterday and some top 25 teams lost, will The Bash move up or will they move teams that won sitting just outside the top 25 that played? Are the rankings picked by coaches and a computer or just the coaches? I'm new to the D3 scene.

[ExTartanPlayer]

how important now is the game between owu and Kenyon on the 21rst? Does Hiram at Denison have anymore importance now? Probably not and Hiram will most likely come back to earth but the Terriers are still a nice story right out of the blocks.

It depends what you mean by importance. If you mean "relevance to the conference championship" - probably the OWU-Kenyon game is a good early-season elimination game of sorts, and Hiram-Denison is not at all. However, in terms of importance to the respective teams, I think the Hiram-Denison game is now "important" because Hiram may be plucky enough to pick off one of the NCAC's non-power teams this year.

[Dr. Acula]

So The Bash did not play yesterday and some top 25 teams lost, will The Bash move up or will they move teams that won sitting just outside the top 25 that played? Are the rankings picked by coaches and a computer or just the coaches? I'm new to the D3 scene.

I doubt they move up. No one directly above them lost. Closest is #20 Widener, but they played Wesley tough so they likely won't fall much. 

The poll is no computers only coaches, SIDs and media votes. That's the D3.com poll which most folks reference. AFCA poll is obviously just the coaches.

[wally_wabash]

This may be an ignorant question but could Franklin move up in the top 25 because they played Mount Union close?

Yes. I'd not be surprised to see Franklin gain a few spots today.

So The Bash did not play yesterday and some top 25 teams lost, will The Bash move up or will they move teams that won sitting just outside the top 25 that played? Are the rankings picked by coaches and a computer or just the coaches? I'm new to the D3 scene.

The poll conducted here is done by SIDs, coaches, and media types...25 in total.  This group tends not go just move people around based on strict winning and losing.  The other poll done by coaches only tends to be context free and sometimes borderline laughable. Should be a new poll here sometime tonight.

My guess for Wabash is that will stay where they are give of take one or two spots.