FB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[jknezek]

This year's roster lists 60 players, 24 freshmen among them.  This is Oberlin and Kenyon territory. 

Ouch.  If this trend keeps up, i have to wonder if some of these schools are going to seriously consider dropping football within the next decade?

I would say very doubtful.   I think football is still too valuable an enrollment tool to just drop it.

It doesn't start to get desperate until you drop under 45... 86 scholarships at D1 schools and most freshman weren't expected to play when they set that number. So it takes less than 60 to field a team in the NCAA's eyes. Walk ons weren't expected to be significant contributors those most teams have a few. It'll be interesting to watch trends. We keep talking about the number of schools and the number of players per school going up on average, but I think at the higher end institutions where they don't rely on football to drive admissions you will see some struggle to get enough quality players.

Football is unique in the numbers needed. I don't envy the coaches at high admissions schools the effort needed to pull 30-40 first years every year. I don't know how CMU and JHU got their numbers this year or as consistently as JHU does. Heck of a hustle job by those staffs.

[SaintsFAN]

This year's roster lists 60 players, 24 freshmen among them.  This is Oberlin and Kenyon territory. 

Ouch.  If this trend keeps up, i have to wonder if some of these schools are going to seriously consider dropping football within the next decade?

Played a season with just 60 guys and had we not switched staffs after that year, it would've torpedoed our program.  It was such a schit year and so long that I started to hate football -- the offense and defense were feuding about "fault" (we went 3-7) and our coaches even argued during practices and had to be restrained from one another once.  It was awful.  Hope their season isn't as bad as that.

[sigma one]

There is always attrition, but according to DIII Football, the number of NCAC players who started Camp.

                          Allegheny               120
                          Denison                   97
                          DePauw                  179  (wow, under Lynch)
                          Hiram                     110
                          Kenyon                     67
                          Oberlin                     58
                          Ohio Wesleyan         110
                          Wabash                   120
                          Wittenberg              140
                          Wooster                    70

     I have not checked all the current rosters except for Wooster.  As you have seen above, they now list 60.
             
       

[HSCTiger fan]

How do you guys get excited about playing teams like this?  You guys have to beat HSC.  Because if you don't and you lose to Witt the season is over before getting out of September. I know you have Depauw at the end of the year but that's not been much of a game lately.

[Li'l Giant]

How do you guys get excited about playing teams like this?  You guys have to beat HSC.  Because if you don't and you lose to Witt the season is over before getting out of September. I know you have Depauw at the end of the year but that's not been much of a game lately.

After losing to Allegheny and Oberlin a couple of years ago I look forward to any and all blowouts.

[wally_wabash]

You guys have to beat HSC. 

Kind of not even one of the top 3-4 games I'm concerned about in 2015 to be honest. 

[Dr. Acula]

Aside from Witt and DePauw I'm curious who else is on that list. 

[HSCTiger fan]

Concerned or not the statement is true. It's not a statement of whether or not you're concerned. A third of the teams you guys play have less players than a good high school team. 3 teams averaged less than a 1000 people in attendance game last year. A fourth averaged only 1200. I questioned how as fan you get excited about playing such bad teams with no fanbase.  That's not an indictment on Wabash. I would think that's got to be frustrating.

There will be 7000 to 10000 at Fulton field Saturday. You'll see more tailgate parties this Saturday than you'll see fans at 4 of your away games combined. It's going to be a great atmosphere. I know you are not worried about the game itself. No one at Wabash is. It's impossible for you guys to imagine a scenario, where your team has to travel 100s of miles, play a very good opponent who you really know nothing about, play their first game on grass in years (it might rain, do your guys have cleats for grass?), in an environment with 8000 fans, with the pressure of being the favorite, against a team that only expects to win, a team whose classmates are talking to the team only about this game, against an excellent, experience head coach, a team coming in feeling unrespected, a team that could care less about your history and you lose. You're right there's nothing to worry about.

[wally_wabash]

It's impossible for you guys to imagine a scenario, where your team has to travel 100s of miles, play a very good opponent who you really know nothing about

Not falling for that one again. Unless the Richmond Spiders show up, the bolded statement is false. 

[bashbrother]

#monkeystomp

[HSCTiger fan]

The things you know don't matter. It's the things you don't know that do. You know who left the team. You don't know who is replacing them. You know the offense and defense they ran not the one HSC will run. Heck we as fans don't know what to expect I don't know how the hell you guys do.

All of you Wabash guys like to take small pieces of an entire quote, highlight them, then mock that piece while ignoring the rest. No wonder you ignore that the only ranked team you've beaten in the last two years is HSC. 1-3 against ranked teams is not exactly national stage stuff.  Borrowing a phrase from Bashbrother you guys were monkey stomped in 2 of those 3 loses. Losing to ranked teams does not make you football gods. Like it or not you play a crappy schedule. That hurts your team when they get to the playoffs.  There's conversations in the last few days about NCAC teams dropping football.  It's agreed that most likely won't happen but it's those type of conversations that make your conference or playing in it less attractive to recruits.

You guys boast more than any fans east of Linfield. At least they've won their conference the last 3 years and advanced deep into the playoffs Being the 2nd best team in a bad conference, losing badly in big games, and no recent NCAC titles is not much to boast about.

[wally_wabash]

The things you know don't matter. It's the things you don't know that do. You know who left the team. You don't know who is replacing them. You know the offense and defense they ran not the one HSC will run. Heck we as fans don't know what to expect I don't know how the hell you guys do.

Very zen of you.  Here's a fun philosophical thought experiment: if a team has inferior personnel, do the pages of the playbook matter?

[BashDad]

The things you know don't matter. It's the things you don't know that do. You know who left the team. You don't know who is replacing them. You know the offense and defense they ran not the one HSC will run.

So tell us. Otherwise, we're locked into a conversation about -- ugh -- conference schedules and the weather. I think we've accelerated to I know what you are, but what am I because there's just not much to talk about. The question marks are obvious (Nance, Walker replacements; your defense), the relative expectations of both teams are very different (read: imbalanced) from last year, and so because of that--because I am a fan of Wabash and I expect and am excited about Program Best things from "my" team this year-- I'm just kind of like whatever, dude to the non-game I saw you flinch! reaction experiments.

What's up with HSC, HSCTiger fan? How do they win on Saturday. Go.

[HSCTiger fan]

The things you know don't matter. It's the things you don't know that do. You know who left the team. You don't know who is replacing them. You know the offense and defense they ran not the one HSC will run. Heck we as fans don't know what to expect I don't know how the hell you guys do.

Very zen of you.  Here's a fun philosophical thought experiment: if a team has inferior personnel, do the pages of the playbook matter?

If you knew me you'd find that zen comment hilarious. Here's a fun philosophical thought for you - who gives a damn? They're going to play the game. HSC is not Oberlin, wait they beat you 2 years ago with inferior personnel, so did Allegheny. So did Witt last year (at least in your minds) The difference?  HSC is not some hack NCAC team that used to getting their brains beat out each year by the 2nd best team in their conference.  Our guys unlike, Hiram, Keynnon Dennison, OWU, or Depauw expect to win. Regardless of our personnel. I think deep down that scares the hell out of you guys but I doubt any of you are willing to admit it.

[BashDad]

Not scared.