FB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[Mr. Ypsi]

We are going to find out next year, Wes. Wabash is at Witt in week 10.

I also couldn't help but notice that with the 2010 schedule reshuffle, Witt somehow wound up with a week 9 bye in front of the Wabash game. 

So the bye...is a Witt.-concocted conspiracy? Seriously, you  2 'bash guys are contradicting each other a bit: one says it's disadvantageous to schedule a 'cream puff' or two before a big game, but the other says a bye (which seems even more cream-filled to me) is an advantage (but only for the opponent)? Ya' can't have it both ways. Besides, next year in of itself will tell very little empirically. It would take a lot of seasons to make that clear, if then.

The ultimate indignity - Wes being called a 'bash guy!

[wally_wabash]

I see where you're driving here, Wes, and after the last two years where I feel Wabash has definitely not been at their best against DePauw, there may be something to the Oberlin/Hiram lead in that doesn't help Wabash.  But then again, it might not matter at all.  There are any number of things that we could point to as factors for Wabash's struggles against DPU in the last two years...the schedule is one of them that could be considered.  Personally, I don't think it's fair to pin Wabash's struggling against a good team in week 11 on the fact that the teams they play in weeks 9 and 10 aren't as good.  That's not fair to the week 9 and 10 opponents, it's not really fair to let Wabash off the hook for getting housed at home by DPU, and it's not really fair to DPU's players that got the job done. 

As for the Witt bye in 2010...that bye wasn't there before last week.  That's all I'm saying.  And taking a bye the week before a big game is completely different than playing a mismatch the week before a big game.  If you think that it's not a big advantage that Witt has two weeks, especially that late in the season, to rest up and prep for Wabash, you're fooling yourself.  It is an advantage and a big one.  I don't know anything about how they rejiggered the 2010 schedule and what thread of conversations happened that led to Witt getting week 9 off...but whatever.  It is what it is. 

The revised 2010 schedule is here.  Frankly, I think the thing is a grease fire.  Everybody is only playing six conference games, however, everybody in the league plays at least one NCAC member in a non-conference game.  Huh?  Why?  The NCAC schedules page says that they are revising the 2011 schedule and I can only hope that they don't simply switch home/aways with the 2010 band-aid.  They need to redo that 2011 schedule from scratch. 

It's also noteworthy that the only NCAC team Earlham is keeping on their schedule is Denison.  I'm actually a little surprised at that as the 2010 game is in Granville which I thought might have been outside Earlham's travel radius.  I hope Earlham never needs a game from anybody in the NCAC in the near future.  This is an absolute mess they are creating next year. 

[Pat Coleman]

The conference office doesn't think schools should have the right to schedule as they wish? There are a bunch of teams with open dates this far out for 2010. Let's let the NCAC schools have some time to pick up opponents first before being dictated to play conference teams.

http://www.d3football.com/opendates/2010

And if they must all play conference teams -- why not count the games in the standings?

[Schwami]

Ugh.

Kenyon, Oberlin and OWU each will have two NCAC opponents counting as non-conference.  Also interesting that the revision date for the schedule is September 2009.  Isn't that before Earlham's departure was official?

Regarding scheduling before Monon Bell, Wabash did play a tough game at Wooster (W 21-10) and then a home game against Denison (W 42-0) in the two weeks leading up to the 2007 game.  Under Wes's theory, this supports a closer outcome in 2007 than 2008, which is of course what we saw.  Hard to believe that, either way, the schedule had much of an impact on Wabash's inability in 2007 to mount a final scoring drive, instead giving the ball back to DePauw so they could kick a 67 yard field goal or whatever.

The authorities wish to apologize for that last comment.  The field goal was clearly only a 47 yard chip shot.  It is a regrettable tendency of Wabash posters that they live in a fantasy world not based in fact.  This is especially evident concerning games in which Wabash has fewer points on the scoreboard at the end of the game than the other team.  Wabash does not actually lose such games, but typically the outcome involves a conspiracy, an Act of God, or an NFL field goal kicker hiding in a DePauw jersey.

[Valley]

Maybe it's a backup excuse, in case their quarterback actually plays next year.


I also couldn't help but notice that with the 2010 schedule reshuffle, Witt somehow wound up with a week 9 bye in front of the Wabash game. 
[/quote]

So the bye...is a Witt.-concocted conspiracy? Seriously, you  2 'bash guys are contradicting each other a bit: one says it's disadvantageous to schedule a 'cream puff' or two before a big game, but the other says a bye (which seems even more cream-filled to me) is an advantage (but only for the opponent)? Ya' can't have it both ways. Besides, next year in of itself will tell very little empirically. It would take a lot of seasons to make that clear, if then.
[/quote]

[ADL70]

Ugh.

Kenyon, Oberlin and OWU each will have two NCAC opponents counting as non-conference.  Also interesting that the revision date for the schedule is September 2009.  Isn't that before Earlham's departure was official?

Given that Earlham's departure was pretty much a given for some time, wouldn't it be prudent for the NCAC to have a revision at the ready?  

The 2010 revision does lend credence to the position that the NCAC teams ceded scheduling to the conference (a position I had heretofor resisted).

The original 2010 schedule had Oberlin for Witt before Wabash (alomst an idle week).

Wish the schedulers would give CWRU an opponent other than Hiram, but Witt gets the Terriers as its non-conf NCAC game.

[aueagle]

                      NCUAA
North Coast University Athletic Association
With the crazy 2010 schedule...why not just
            make this Official......

[ADL70]

                      NCUAA
North Coast University Athletic Association
With the crazy 2010 schedule...why not just
            make this Official......

The UAA part of the 2010 schedule is essentialy the same as 2009.  CWRU actually plays one fewer NCAC opponent in 2010. 

[smedindy]

The revised 2010 schedule is here.  Frankly, I think the thing is a grease fire.  Everybody is only playing six conference games, however, everybody in the league plays at least one NCAC member in a non-conference game.  Huh?  Why?  The NCAC schedules page says that they are revising the 2011 schedule and I can only hope that they don't simply switch home/aways with the 2010 band-aid.  They need to redo that 2011 schedule from scratch. 

It's also noteworthy that the only NCAC team Earlham is keeping on their schedule is Denison.  I'm actually a little surprised at that as the 2010 game is in Granville which I thought might have been outside Earlham's travel radius.  I hope Earlham never needs a game from anybody in the NCAC in the near future.  This is an absolute mess they are creating next year. 

Oh, mi corazon! Isn't it better just to blow it up and start over, keeping in mind the non-UAA / NCAC non-conference games? 7 NCAC games, 2 UAA games plus one other? Yeesh.

[Mr. Ypsi]

The revised 2010 schedule is here.  Frankly, I think the thing is a grease fire.  Everybody is only playing six conference games, however, everybody in the league plays at least one NCAC member in a non-conference game.  Huh?  Why?  The NCAC schedules page says that they are revising the 2011 schedule and I can only hope that they don't simply switch home/aways with the 2010 band-aid.  They need to redo that 2011 schedule from scratch. 

It's also noteworthy that the only NCAC team Earlham is keeping on their schedule is Denison.  I'm actually a little surprised at that as the 2010 game is in Granville which I thought might have been outside Earlham's travel radius.  I hope Earlham never needs a game from anybody in the NCAC in the near future.  This is an absolute mess they are creating next year. 

Oh, mi corazon! Isn't it better just to blow it up and start over, keeping in mind the non-UAA / NCAC non-conference games? 7 NCAC games, 2 UAA games plus one other? Yeesh.

That is the most bizarre thing I've heard in quite a while!  In the WIAC, with teams playing the same conference team twice, making one a non-con game makes sense.  To have conference rivals play only once, yet count it as non-con, is weird!

Is this the best Phi Beta Kappas can come up with?

[Pat Coleman]

Is this the best Phi Beta Kappas can come up with?

+1

[BashDad]

Where are the woo-bash post game reports I've come to love? I thought we'd all be gushing about what a remarkable debut that was for mr.belton and laughing electronically, and together, proudly, at his post game remarks. "oh my!"

[wally_wabash]

Ask and you shall receive...

Obviously, the big story from Papp on Saturday was the performance of Chase Belton in his first collegiate start.  That's a tough place for a kid to make his first start...Wooster is one of the more difficult places to play in the conference and Wooster was going to be smelling the blood with Hudson not playing.  Clearly, Belton handled that pressure well and had himself a really solid game.  283 yards, 4TDs, 0 INT...he exceeded my expectations.  He did turn it over once, but credit DeGrand for getting around the tackle and getting to the QB to cause that fumble.  That turnover wasn't on Belton...DeGrand just made a good play. 

Lemond was a beast.  I'm really bad about noticing exactly who is defending on pass plays, but whoever Wooster had on Lemond had no chance.  And I didn't notice that they gave much help after Belton really started to dial in on Kody.  I would have expected an adjustment to double Kody and make Belton force it to him or make him at least look elsewhere.  But that adjustment really never came and those two played catch all afternoon. 

Despite the 27 points on the board, I thought the D played pretty well.  Remember, one TD was on the blocked punt, another came on a very short field after the Belton fumble (and with a multiple score cushion).  The secondary really controlled the middle of the field (as they did against Witt) and forced pretty much all of Holter's passes to be short or to the outside. 

I'll say that I'm pretty happy to have seen the last of Austin Holter.  He's a tremendous competitor and he scares the hell out of me every time he gets out of the pocket.  I really felt that he did Wabash some favors by not keeping the ball more than he did.  Accuracy was a bit of an issue, but Wooster's receivers also really really hurt the offense with some bad drops.  As much as anything else, I think you can look at those dropped passes as a major reason why Wooster didn't keep the score even. 

As always, I enjoyed taking in a game at the Papp.  The new turf looks great there and the crowd was nice (although a little smaller than I remember from previous Parents/Family day games over there).  It was a good game to watch and great to see Wabash bounce back with a solid road win.

[smedindy]

The revised 2010 schedule is here.  Frankly, I think the thing is a grease fire.  Everybody is only playing six conference games, however, everybody in the league plays at least one NCAC member in a non-conference game.  Huh?  Why?  The NCAC schedules page says that they are revising the 2011 schedule and I can only hope that they don't simply switch home/aways with the 2010 band-aid.  They need to redo that 2011 schedule from scratch. 

It's also noteworthy that the only NCAC team Earlham is keeping on their schedule is Denison.  I'm actually a little surprised at that as the 2010 game is in Granville which I thought might have been outside Earlham's travel radius.  I hope Earlham never needs a game from anybody in the NCAC in the near future.  This is an absolute mess they are creating next year. 

Oh, mi corazon! Isn't it better just to blow it up and start over, keeping in mind the non-UAA / NCAC non-conference games? 7 NCAC games, 2 UAA games plus one other? Yeesh.

That is the most bizarre thing I've heard in quite a while!  In the WIAC, with teams playing the same conference team twice, making one a non-con game makes sense.  To have conference rivals play only once, yet count it as non-con, is weird!

Is this the best Phi Beta Kappas can come up with?

Just because the schools offer it doesn't mean that anyone having to do with football schedules at the colleges OR at the NCAC achieved membership!

[Black n Gold]

Now that the Woo/ Bash game is over and Witt stands alone, how does this play out?

Assuming Witt and Wooster both win out to week 10 (hoping Allegheny doesn't pull an upset):

A) Witt beats Wooster and wins the NCAC outright and Wabash probably sneaks in with a at large @ 9-1

B) Woo beats Witt and causes some drama within the league and a 3-way tie for 1st place.

My sources swear on their life that in this situation (B) it is Wooster that gets the Automatic Bid because of the circumstances and the "rose bowl rule": Wabash beat Wooster, Wooster beat Witt and Witt beat Wabash. If this were the case as well......will the NCAC get an at large if Wooster gets the Automatic?