FB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[wab64]

Best of luck for Pool B, guys. With 2 new conferences joining the AQ ranks next year and the field capped at 32, the room required has to be created by dropping either B or C teams. I believe Pat said, in a recent post that it would be pool B that gets reduced. That leaves 1 slot, and unless Wesley joins, or forms a conference that has an AQ, that would be it, considering their record. Otherwise, it would come down to DPU and the University Athletic. Could be interesting, if the UAA remains on this year's uptick.

[wally_wabash]

Best of luck for Pool B, guys. With 2 new conferences joining the AQ ranks next year and the field capped at 32, the room required has to be created by dropping either B or C teams. I believe Pat said, in a recent post that it would be pool B that gets reduced. That leaves 1 slot, and unless Wesley joins, or forms a conference that has an AQ, that would be it, considering their record. Otherwise, it would come down to DPU and the University Athletic. Could be interesting, if the UAA remains on this year's uptick.

The number of Pool B teams is figured by taking the number of teams in Pool A conferences and dividing that by the number of Pool A bids (one per league, obviously).  That ratio is then applied to the number of teams available in Pool B to determine how many Pool B bids will be available, the idea being that teams in Pool B have roughly the same mathematical access to the tournament as the Pool A bids.  Pool C is then whatever is left over.  Next year, there are a whole swatch of teams moving from the Pool B pile to the Pool A pile (that automatic bid:Pool A team ratio isn't changing much), so it makes sense that the number of Pool  B bids will be reduced...in this case, down to just the one. 

I'm still wondering what DPU's schedule will look like  next year.  Trinity and Millsaps are not traveling to Greencastle next year as was previously scheduled.  I've read that DPU is playing four NCAC teams next year, but I haven't tracked down what the other three schools are.  Per this article (thanks to Lil Giant for the link) DPU only has seven games scheduled for next year and only two of those games are at home (one of which being the 118th Monon Bell Classic).  Next year is going to be weird for DPU football, but ultimately this one bizarro season is a small price to pay for what I think is a fantastic long term move for their athletics programs in joining the NCAC. 

[DPU3619]

Bummer dude

[bashbrother]

Was there a reason given at the announcement of the merger for DPU Football not joining until 2012?  Was it scheduling issues on Depauw's side or was it prior commitments of the NCAC that created the decision?

[smedindy]

Was there a reason given at the announcement of the merger for DPU Football not joining until 2012?  Was it scheduling issues on Depauw's side or was it prior commitments of the NCAC that created the decision?

Well, logic would say to just take the NCAC schedule they developed a few years ago, go to "Edit", Hit "Find", Type "Earlham", then Hit the Replace button with "DePauw", making sure that the Wabash / DPU game was at the end of the year.

But this is the NCAC we're talking about.

[wally_wabash]

Was there a reason given at the announcement of the merger for DPU Football not joining until 2012?  Was it scheduling issues on Depauw's side or was it prior commitments of the NCAC that created the decision?

I believe the official reason for DePauw football joining in 2012 and not 2011 is "due to existing contracts".  

I'm looking at an updated 2011 football schedule...here are some notable changes:

Allegheny - Now hosting DPU in week 3 (was a bye in 2010); has dropped OWU in week 8; the week 11 game against Oberlin is now an official NCAC game

Hiram - now has an open date in week 6 (changed from a non-league game vs. Witt in 2010)

Oberlin - week 3 game vs. Wooster is now a non-league contest; week 11 game vs. Allegheny is now an official NCAC game

OWU - week 4 game vs. Wooster is now an official NCAC game; week 8 game vs. Allegheny has been dropped and replaced with a home game vs. DPU

Witt - week 1 series with Olivet is over and is being replaced with a new series against Capital; week 6 game vs. Hiram is dropped and replaced with a roadie at Huntingdon

Wooster - week 3 game vs. Oberlin is a now a non-league game; week 4 game against OWU is now an official NCAC game

And they've also posted DPU's schedule for next year which as of right now looks as such:
9/3 - open
9/10 - RHIT
9/17 - @ Allegheny
9/24 - @ Rhodes
10/1 - Centre
10/8 - @ Birmingham-Southern
10/15 - @ Sewanee
10/22 - @ OWU
10/29 - @ Austin
11/5 - open
11/12 - Wabash

If you're scoring at home, that means that Wabash's final three opponents (Allegheny, Witt, DePauw) have off weeks before their games vs. Wabash because those games aren't hard enough when everybody has equal prep time.  Washington also has a bye before their game against Wabash in week 6.  Awesome.  

[wab64]

    Wally, you deliver the goods! Think of all the weeks of idle speculation that are now unnecessary. Does your intelligence extend to Wabash's game in 11/5? I know future schedules are in the Media Guide, but I didn't get one this year so don't berate me.
    (I just hope it isn't Witt again this year-play them early and end all the suspense)

[wally_wabash]

    Wally, you deliver the goods! Think of all the weeks of idle speculation that are now unnecessary. Does your intelligence extend to Wabash's game in 11/5? I know future schedules are in the Media Guide, but I didn't get one this year so don't berate me.
    (I just hope it isn't Witt again this year-play them early and end all the suspense)

Wabash's 2011 schedule mirrors the 2010 schedule, just with home/away designations flipped.  So Wabash will be hosting Wittenberg on 11/5 next fall. 

[smedindy]

Was there a reason given at the announcement of the merger for DPU Football not joining until 2012?  Was it scheduling issues on Depauw's side or was it prior commitments of the NCAC that created the decision?

I believe the official reason for DePauw football joining in 2012 and not 2011 is "due to existing contracts".  

I'm looking at an updated 2011 football schedule...here are some notable changes:

Allegheny - Now hosting DPU in week 3 (was a bye in 2010); has dropped OWU in week 8; the week 11 game against Oberlin is now an official NCAC game

Hiram - now has an open date in week 6 (changed from a non-league game vs. Witt in 2010)

Oberlin - week 3 game vs. Wooster is now a non-league contest; week 11 game vs. Allegheny is now an official NCAC game

OWU - week 4 game vs. Wooster is now an official NCAC game; week 8 game vs. Allegheny has been dropped and replaced with a home game vs. DPU

Witt - week 1 series with Olivet is over and is being replaced with a new series against Capital; week 6 game vs. Hiram is dropped and replaced with a roadie at Huntingdon

Wooster - week 3 game vs. Oberlin is a now a non-league game; week 4 game against OWU is now an official NCAC game

And they've also posted DPU's schedule for next year which as of right now looks as such:
9/3 - open
9/10 - RHIT
9/17 - @ Allegheny
9/24 - @ Rhodes
10/1 - Centre
10/8 - @ Birmingham-Southern
10/15 - @ Sewanee
10/22 - @ OWU
10/29 - @ Austin
11/5 - open
11/12 - Wabash

If you're scoring at home, that means that Wabash's final three opponents (Allegheny, Witt, DePauw) have off weeks before their games vs. Wabash because those games aren't hard enough when everybody has equal prep time.  Washington also has a bye before their game against Wabash in week 6.  Awesome.  

These schools have open dates on 9/3/11:

Alfred
Augsburg
Carthage
DePauw
East Texas Baptist
Gallaudet
Husson
North Carolina Wesleyan
North Central (Ill.)
Olivet
Rhodes
Rockford
Simpson
Union
UW-Stevens Point
Washington and Jefferson
Wittenberg

These schools have open dates on 11/5/11 (a palindromic date!):
Albion
DePauw
Millsaps
Newport News
Puget Sound
Stevenson
Wesley

Certainly DPU can find a game!

[wally_wabash]

The accuracy of the open dates list is spotty...Wittenberg certainly does not have an open date in week 1 as they are playing Capital.  I'm sure they did have that date open at some point but haven't bothered to remove their name from that list since agreeing to a home and home with Capital.  There may be other schools with similar situations as well.  But there are certainly games out there for DPU...their problem is going to be getting someone to come to them I think. 

[formerd3db]

Well, unfortunately, the "ax just dropped" on DIII'er Josh McDaniels as the Denver Broncos owner fired him as head coach - breaking news just now on Comcast and other sports outlets.

[wally_wabash]

Well, unfortunately, the "ax just dropped" on DIII'er Josh McDaniels as the Denver Broncos owner fired him as head coach - breaking news just now on Comcast and other sports outlets.

That's a cutthroat profession.  Unless you're great, you're fired eventually.  And if you're not that great, you're fired closer to immediately.  If you're going to trade half your draft for a QB that you have to teach how to throw a football out of college and then get yourself in the middle of another video surveillance controversy, your record probably needs to be better than 3-9.  I'm sure McDaniels will be a head coach again, but this certainly looks like a situation where a guy may have been in over his skis for right now. 

[bashbrother]

Wally -

Exceptional work on your part.  The bye week situation is classic.   Teams still know who the big dog is.  

Depauw's bye before the Bell Game will just mean that we will defeat them 37-0 instead of 47.  I'll still take it.  

[aueagle]

Great intel wally....
I have Oct 22 posted to see the Tigers at Selby
Looks like another meat-grinder for the LG's
All quiet in Delaware.....

[wally_wabash]

Next year is going to be a very interesting year for DePauw football.  Graduating almost every major player from their playoff teams and playing in a season where there is no conference championship to aspire to and really very, very little chance of a playoff spot even if they do manage to go undefeated (hard to get over Wesley for that one Pool B spot...Wesley has killer SOS!)...this is probably about as close to playing a season on some kind of sanctions without having actually been sanctioned.  It'll be interesting to see how motivated that team is when they are staring down about 5000 miles of road trips in October. 

Of course, it's not as if DePauw football has been without adversity.  The revolving door at head coach there since 2003 would have buried a lot of teams.  Not only did it not bury DePauw, but they've managed to get better (as their league got worse, admittedly) and hit some program firsts.  So I wouldn't rule anything out for them in 2011.  We should know better by now.