FB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[wally_wabash]

So much so that there may not even be 8 North region teams in the field.  It should create an interesting bracket should the committee choose to get creative with interregional matchups.

Generally agree, wally, just sort of "thinking out loud" here....

I don't think that you can think about things from a "regional" standpoint until you've answered the following questions:

1) What 32 teams will be in the field?
2) Who are the four #1 seeds?

AFTER those two questions are answered, you can start to build quasi-regional brackets around the four #1 seeds.

There's a lot of hand-wringing on the East Region boards about the possibility that Mount Union will be shipped to headline the "East" bracket this year, but I think those folks are looking at the process backwards.  The committee is selecting Mount Union as one of the four #1 seeds, THEN putting the East Region teams in the bracket with UMU because they're the only #1 seed that falls within driving distance of most East teams. 

Many of the East folks are crying "foul" because they think Delaware Valley deserves a top seed and is getting robbed.  I think they're just crying about semantics.  If DVC (or any other East team) is national-title material, then they will win the game against Mount.  If they aren't, then what's the difference if they got eliminated in the semis or quarters?  The way that I see it, the East folks are just upset that "their" best team might be eliminated in the quarterfinals instead of the semifinals.

You're exactly right, ETP.  But that process of picking four #1 seeds and then building brackets around those four teams only works in the current landscape because two of those #1's are in spots where their regionality overlaps a bit (Mount Union can easily be East or North, UWW can easily be West or North, North actually causes less plane trips).  Another top tier team lately, Wesley, can go East or South.  I'm probably stating the obvious, but if we all thought the top four teams were UMU, UWW, St. Thomas, and Linfield, then there's no way they would build brackets around those four teams (apologies to UMHB who we know will be a top seed this year).  If any region is getting jobbed, it's the West whose region seems to be perennially unbalanced (less so since they've started moving UWW into a more Northerly quadrant). 

Where the East gets jammed, if you subscribe to the idea that the Eastern teams are being treated unfairly by the process (I don't), is that they simply haven't been producing undefeated teams that you could even start to think about seeding ahead of Mount Union or Wesley or whoever.  If the East were providing an undefeated team or two, then maybe they'd be seeing a top seed here and there.  I think, even if somebody like Del Val goes undefeated, it makes sense to build brackets around UMU, UWW, St. Thomas (or Linfield), and UMHB as the top four teams in the tournament.  But who knows...we got surprised last year with Wesley being the top seed overall and UWW not being a top seed. 

You're last point about having to beat Mount Union sometime is really spot on.  If there's an East team truly worthy of a regional championship, they're going to have to beat Mount Union to do it.  I don't worry too much about the path Wabash has to go through in the tournament.  If you're going to win it, you're going to have to beat 2-3 REALLY good teams...doesn't really matter what round they come in. 

[wally_wabash]

Mrs. Geezer and I were leaving church yesterday when we saw a young man wearing a Wittenberg football sweatshirt. We struck up a short conversation. His name is CJ Taylor and is a freshman running back for Witt. He lamented that his offensive line was unable to protect the Witt QB, and thus, the offense couldn't do enough.

They could have adjusted their offense to shorter, quicker pass plays.  They didn't, and they went backwards a lot.  Two weeks is a long time to game plan and not have a plan B.  Credit to Coach Hammer and his defense obviously, but I was really shocked that Wittenberg didn't have a counterpunch ready to go if their "chuck it deep" offense wasn't working. 

[bashbrother]

Mrs. Geezer and I were leaving church yesterday when we saw a young man wearing a Wittenberg football sweatshirt. We struck up a short conversation. His name is CJ Taylor and is a freshman running back for Witt. He lamented that his offensive line was unable to protect the Witt QB, and thus, the offense couldn't do enough.

They could have adjusted their offense to shorter, quicker pass plays.  They didn't, and they went backwards a lot.  Two weeks is a long time to game plan and not have a plan B.  Credit to Coach Hammer and his defense obviously, but I was really shocked that Wittenberg didn't have a counterpunch ready to go if their "chuck it deep" offense wasn't working.

That is all they had.  Masterful job by Little Giants D.......   Our quality corners and linebackers probably had something to do with their plan B if it existed.

[Li'l Giant]

Just wanted to say very quickly I'm proud of my alma mater for including the family of Josh Linthicum in the Senior Day activities on Saturday. HERE is a story in the Springfield paper and a photo of Josh's parents and his brother from the Senior Day album on the Wabash website. Nothing can ever take away the loss they must feel but I'm happy the College included them in what would have been Josh's Senior Day.

[Pat Coleman]

Pat,
Am I correct in reading the D3 football tournament selection committee criteria that cost-cutting adjustments to the bracket are only applicable to 1st round games?  Of course since we never get to see the secret final regional rankings, we don't know for sure which geograpically isolated schools are getting the nailed the worst.  That being said - have you ever gotten the impression that the committee was trying to set up merit-blind cost-cutting matchups beyond the first round?

I've never gotten that impression or really seen it in action, not in football. In basketball I'd say we do tend to see Texas and the West Coast set to meet on the second weekend, but not necessarily in football. In 2004 we had Texas vs. the West Coast in the Stagg Bowl, for example.

[D3_DPUFan]

Just wanted to say very quickly I'm proud of my alma mater for including the family of Josh Linthicum in the Senior Day activities on Saturday. HERE is a story in the Springfield paper and a photo of Josh's parents and his brother from the Senior Day album on the Wabash website. Nothing can ever take away the loss they must feel but I'm happy the College included them in what would have been Josh's Senior Day.

Very classy move, indeed.

[bashbrother]

anyone know if the Bash/Witt game is archived anywhere..... would like to watch that first half again....whole game for that matter.

[FightinScot]

First, congratulations to Wabash for wrapping up another NCAC title. Great program, they play the game it's meant to be played. Clearly the class of the league, once again.

Anyways, not much to say about Wooster's win against Kenyon, except for the fact that Robert Flagg reached a career milestone of 2,000 yards rushing and 1,000 yards receiving  - first player in Fighting Scot history to do so. Its been a rough season at times for both Flagg and the Scots, but it is quite an accomplishment for him.

Hopefully they used the last two weeks to build some momemtum and finish the season with a strong showing against Witt. Go Scots!

[smedindy]

Congrats to Flagg for hitting that milestone.

And congrats to the Wabash O-Line for making the D-3 team of the week!

http://www.d3football.com/awards/tow/2011/week10

[USee]

I think the "North" bracket will look like this:

UMU
Bash
NCC
Franklin
IWU
CWRU
Benedictine
Albion

I don't see a scenario where CWRU doesn't get in (as pool B or A) but stranger things have happened. This IWU/Franklin battle with the winner going to Alliance would be a decent bracket. The NCC/Bash game with the winner playing for a regional ship is also compelling.

Who knows.

[wally_wabash]

Solid guess, USee.  I think certainly that most of these teams will wind up in the same quadrant, but I'm not sure UMU will be one of them.  If the committee is going to pick four top seeds and then build brackets around those four, then the geography is going to dictate UMU into a more easterly quadrant and UWW in a more northerly quadrant, mainly because you'll have to split up UWW and either Linfield or St. Thomas (whichever the committee decides is a a #1 seed).  Can you even imagine the hollaring that would go on if UWW, Linfield, and St. Thomas were all in the same quadrant (not even bothering to mention Cal Lutheran and possibly Redlands as well)? 

[USee]

True, I should have qualified my UMU pick as a placeholder for any of the #1 seeds. Put UWW in the top spot and you have the same bracket potentially.

[ExTartanPlayer]

At first glance, I immediately agreed with wally's comments; I have to think that there's no way that UWW, Linfield, and St. Thomas will end up in the same bracket, and none of those teams can go to the de facto "South" or "East" bracket, so the most logical move is sending UWW to the bracket with mostly "North" teams and UMU to the bracket with mostly "East" teams.

But then I started thinking...

One thing that might come into play here is the # of Texas/"South" and California/"West Coast" teams that ultimately get into the tournament, and how the committee decides to treat them.  The committee could conceivably take a "Screw it, they all have to fly anyway" attitude towards the Deep South and West Coast teams and dump them all into a bracket together (perhaps putting UMHB and Linfield in the same bracket)...which would make it more reasonable to leave UWW and UST in the same bracket...which might leave Mount Union in the grouping of "North" teams?

I don't feel like grinding through the possible scenarios right now, but it's just something else that occurred to me; rather than a true "West" and "South" region you might end up with:

A "Way South and/or Way West" region that features UMHB, Linfield, Trinity, Centre, McMurry (if they get in), Cal Lutheran, Redlands...

A "Kinda Out There" region that featues UWW, UST, Monmouth, St. Scholastica, Dubuque...(this region could also import a North team to round it out, perhaps Benedictine, Albion, or Franklin)...

A "North-Ish" region that looks kinda like what USee posted...

(Thomas More ends up a bit of a wildcard here that could conceivably end up in any of those three regions)

and finally an "East" region that would feature Del Val, Wesley, Salisbury, Johns Hopkins, Kean/Montclair, Hobart/Union, Norwich, Western New England...perhaps importing Christopher Newport and Hampden-Sydney?

That ends up with a slight overload in the East, but you could probably send of of the listed "East" teams to the "North-ish" region.

Really, the choice of #1 seeds is the most important factor here, IMHO.  If the committee decides that Del Val is more worthy of a top seed than someone in the UMHB/Linfield/UST grouping, then this might be the only option, right?

[wally_wabash]

At first glance, ...

I kind of like the idea of a Texas vs. West Coast+1 bracket.  Texas and West Coasters might not be as enthusiastic about it.   

I think the issue is that if the committee decides that St. Thomas is one of those top four seeds, then St. Thomas and UWW have to be split up. Or maybe, looking at it from a different angle, if the committee doesn't see a team in the East region that is a #1 seed...that's the only way they don't build an easterly bracket around UMU, and really is there an East region team that is top 4 in the nation?  It would be a stretch to say so, I think. 

[ExTartanPlayer]

I think the issue is that if the committee decides that St. Thomas is one of those top four seeds, then St. Thomas and UWW have to be split up. Or maybe, looking at it from a different angle, if the committee doesn't see a team in the East region that is a #1 seed...that's the only way they don't build an easterly bracket around UMU, and really is there an East region team that is top 4 in the nation?  It would be a stretch to say so, I think.

I agree in principle, wally, but on paper Delaware Valley has a decent case.

I'm not sure if the SOS numbers include teams yet to be played or not, but Del Val is just a few slots below UST and plays 8-1 Widener this week.  With a win, they might jump UST in the SOS numbers (yes, I know that UMU and UWW are even lower in the SOS numbers...and it has occurred to me that one of them might not get a #1 seed).

I don't pretend to know EXACTLY how things unfold in the committee's process, but it is possible that DVC gets a #1 seed...and if they do, I think you end up with Mount headling a "Midwestern" bracket, UWW headlining a "North" bracket, and UMHB/Linfield headlining a "Teams Not Easily Connected to The Rest of Division III" bracket.

Also, I think that Pat floated the possibility of UMHB/Linfield being in the same bracket a few weeks ago, accompanied by any other West Coast teams and a few of the Southerly teams.