FB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[DadofBashWarrior..]

First Regional Ranking by NCAA

East Region
1. Montclair State 7-0 7-0
2. Delaware Valley 6-0 6-1
3. Rowan 6-1 6-1
4. Alfred 5-1 6-1
5. St. John Fisher 7-1 7-1
6. SUNY-Maritime 8-0 8-0
7. Cortland State 6-1 6-1
8. Norwich 7-1 7-1
9. Western New England 7-1 7-1
10. Maine Maritime 6-1 6-1

North Region
1. Wheaton (Ill.) 7-0 7-0
2. North Central (Ill.) 7-0 7-0
3. Mount Union 6-0 7-0
4. Ohio Northern 5-1 6-1
5. Case Western Reserve 6-0 7-0
6. Trine 6-0 7-0
7. Baldwin-Wallace 6-1 6-1
8. Franklin 5-1 6-1
9. Wittenberg 6-0 8-0
10. Wabash 6-0 6-1

South Region
1. Hampden-Sydney 7-0 7-0
2. Mary Hardin-Baylor 6-0 7-0
3. Wesley 4-0 7-0
4. DePauw 7-0 7-0
5. Thomas More 7-0 7-0
6. Ursinus 7-0 7-0
7. Salisbury 4-1 6-1
8. Hardin-Simmons 7-1 7-1
9. Randolph-Macon 7-1 7-1
10. Washington and Jefferson 5-2 5-2

West Region
1. St. Thomas 8-0 8-0
2. UW-Whitewater 4-0 7-0
3. Wartburg 7-0 7-0
4. Coe 4-1 6-1
5. Bethel 6-1 6-1
6. Cal Lutheran 5-1 5-1
7. Redlands 5-1 5-1
8. Linfield 5-1 5-1
9. Pacific Lutheran 4-1 5-1
10. Central 7-1 7-1

[bashbrother]

When they want to be and when it counted.... Wittenberg is better than 3, maybe 4 of the teams in front of them in the Regional rankings.

It will all come out in the wash by the end of the regular season. (Except maybe Case)

Depauw at 4 is pretty strong, even though, I believe their conference is considerably down this year, but nice to see them at 4.  Can't wait until Depauw is listed in the NCAC standings.  Improves the top half bigtime!

[DadofBashWarrior..]

DK-11...you out there...

[aueagle]

nike: In the past, OWU football has taken-in x-players on the staff...
Because the money has been put in to pay for full-time staff...I think
the grad asst's have fallen off. Jon Way, OWU '95 was on staff in 200, '01, '02,
Rob Woodward OWU '01 on staff in Fall of '01..Paul Heyn, Ty Stillman on staff in 2000...and many others in other years. "H" has gone away from that, but I think because of the recent influx of money. The JV team question....I don't think it would ever happen in Delaware...

[BashBacker#16]

I'm very surprised with the North Region Regional Rankings.  Witt at #9 is a head scratcher...  I agree with Bashbro 110% on the comment that they are better then at least 3 or 4 teams ahead of them.

When looking at strength of schedule...this supports this...on several of these teams you could ask "who have they played?"  Franklin, for example, loses to Carthage, pounds Mt St Joe, and then finishes (not in this order) with Rose Hulman, Earlham, Anderson, Manchester, and Hanover.  Carthage, the team that gave them their lone defeat...is 4-3 and 1-3 in their conference.  Worse yet, look at Trine's schedule - yikes!!!  Teams like Manchester, LaGrange, Blufton...  Case is the other one that jumps out.

The gist of my point is where Witt is compared to the teams I mention above.    

[fantastic50]

The big key at any school in this level is retention - not just for athletes but for its entire student body. When 1/3 of your freshmen up and leave after one year that makes it harder on everyone.

I wonder to what degree the issue is retention within the team (young men who no longer play football), versus retention within the institution (those who transfer or drop out). 

I have think of a half-dozen fellows that I have had in class over the last two years who played football during their first year, but then decided that the time was better spent on their academics.  Perhaps position on the depth chart was a factor; I'm not sure.  (I'm not just talking about those who struggled in the classroom; one was a former all-Ohio high school player who will likely enter a PhD program in biochemistry after graduating next spring.) 

I don't have the numbers in front of me, but many of the NCAC institutions have freshman-to-sophomore retention rates of in the range of 85-90%, or even a little higher, and eventual graduation rates of 75-85%.  If there are as many football players transferring as what is indicated here, this must be a bigger issue in football than in other sports; if every team had attrition that high, the retention/graduation rates would be lower.

[BashDad]

I'm very surprised with the North Region Regional Rankings.  Witt at #9 is a head scratcher...  I agree with Bashbro 110% on the comment that they are better then at least 3 or 4 teams ahead of them.

When looking at strength of schedule...this supports this...on several of these teams you could ask "who have they played?"  Franklin, for example, loses to Carthage, pounds Mt St Joe, and then finishes (not in this order) with Rose Hulman, Earlham, Anderson, Manchester, and Hanover.  Carthage, the team that gave them their lone defeat...is 4-3 and 1-3 in their conference.  Worse yet, look at Trine's schedule - yikes!!!  Teams like Manchester, LaGrange, Blufton...  Case is the other one that jumps out.

The gist of my point is where Witt is compared to the teams I mention above.    

I have a feeling that these first rankings might be blind. No basis for that opinion other than the obvious wackiness of the selections. Seems if one were to have a list of TEAM A, TEAM B, TEAM C, etc, with their regional records, overall records, and SOS next to them, you might come up with a similar list.

[DadofBashWarrior..]

I am looking forward to a great season for Wabash again...There is always room to improve...One area that seems like it could use some change is in the area of penalties

Last year we had key penalties that cost us dearly...

Here is where we ranked in the conference last year...

PENALTIES                G   No  Yds Avg/G
------------------------------------------
1. Wittenberg.......... 13   62  594  45.7
2. Denison............. 10   51  481  48.1
3. Oberlin............. 10   55  493  49.3
4. Kenyon.............. 10   54  510  51.0
5. Earlham............. 10   55  544  54.4
6. Ohio Wesleyan....... 10   62  563  56.3
7. Allegheny........... 10   66  589  58.9
8. Wooster............. 10   64  603  60.3
9. Hiram............... 10   68  641  64.1
10.Wabash.............. 11   77  710  64.5

Note I posted this last summer...It has been a problem that has not gotten corrected...

Next three games will tell...we were hurt bad last year when it counted by penalties...We shall see if it has been corrected...I sure hope so...


WABASH ALWAYS FIGHTS

[DadofBashWarrior..]

I am headed to Minneapolis to see Greenville play in the Vikings Metrodome on Friday night...Ambers leads the nation in rushing yards 1175 and TDs 14...he is 6th in Yards Per Carry...

Then Saturday will catch the Bethel game as long as I am up there...MIAC plays some good football...

Am really looking forward to:

Wabash/Witt
Wheaton/North Central
Bell

[ExTartanPlayer]

When Wittenberg shows up to play, no doubt, they are a dominant team.  I think they are certainly capable of beating a bunch of the teams in front of them.  But are you really that sure they have a better season-long resume than the teams in front of them?  For instance, Case:

CWRU opponents' records: 18-24 (excluding losses to Case)
Witt opponents' records: 17-31 (excluding losses to Witt)

Common opponents:

Case beat Oberlin 48-36
Witt beat Oberlin 27-21.
Witt beat Gheny 24-21.
Case beat Gheny 24-23.

At best, Witt's resume is "equal" to CWRU (right now).  Even a win over Wabash doesn't "prove" much, provided CWRU beats WashU, given WashU's H2H win over Bash.  I'm well aware this post makes me sound like a UAA homer, which I undoubtedly am, but even looking at the criteria from a neutral standpoint, I don't see a clear-cut edge for Witt over CWRU in the objective criteria.

If Witt shows up to play (especially at home), they can play with anybody.  But based on the season thus far, there is no criteria to rank Witt ahead of CWRU in the regional rankings.  Excluding common sense and past performances, of course, but that's not how they do the regional rankings.  Otherwise Mount would be #1, right?

[BashDad]

 Even a win over Wabash doesn't "prove" much, provided CWRU beats WashU, given WashU's H2H win over Bash...
 

It would certainly prove that they, in fact, played and beat a tough opponent in addition to WashU. CWRU won't have that.

I'm well aware this post makes me sound like a UAA homer, which I undoubtedly am, but even looking at the criteria from a neutral standpoint, I don't see a clear-cut edge for Witt over CWRU in the objective criteria.

That's because, with the objective criteria, there isn't one. Witt's a hundred spots lower than CWRU in SOS. That'll change in the next three weeks, though I'm not sure by enough to "objectively" place them above CWRU. Which will be stupid.

[usee]

these first rankings are following straight SOS guidelines. Witt has the worst SOS of any team. I wouldn't read too much into the first or second week. Its the final week and selection Sunday rankings that get interesting. BTW, Carthage is 1-3 in conference with losses to NCC, Wheaton and Augie (2 of whom are ranked above Witt). I would take Carthage over many teams. They are talented and have one of the better qb's in the nation.

[wally_wabash]

Wittenberg's schedule, while undoubtedly poor per the SOS formula, is a little lower than what has actually happened because the games against WUStl and CMU do not count for Wittenberg in that calculation. 

[Schwami]

And under the formula, WashUStL's SoS is dead last.  Go figure. 

[GRIZ_BACKER]

I'm very surprised with the North Region Regional Rankings.  Witt at #9 is a head scratcher...  I agree with Bashbro 110% on the comment that they are better then at least 3 or 4 teams ahead of them.

When looking at strength of schedule...this supports this...on several of these teams you could ask "who have they played?"  Franklin, for example, loses to Carthage, pounds Mt St Joe, and then finishes (not in this order) with Rose Hulman, Earlham, Anderson, Manchester, and Hanover.  Carthage, the team that gave them their lone defeat...is 4-3 and 1-3 in their conference.  Worse yet, look at Trine's schedule - yikes!!!  Teams like Manchester, LaGrange, Blufton...  Case is the other one that jumps out.

The gist of my point is where Witt is compared to the teams I mention above.    

Folks might want to take a look how Franklin is beating folks and when teams they play are actually scoring  FC has given up approx 50 per cent of the points in the fourth during garbage time and score approx 80-90 per cent of the points prior to the 4th qtr.  Penalty /turnover plagued game (primary self inflicted) at Carthage  and blew 10 point lead.  FC should bgo toe to toe with Witt, Case, Trine, etc.  now Wheaton and NCC thats a tall order