FB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[wally_wabash]

I think we played at Witt two years in a row in 2001 and 2002. Who knows.

This did happen.  Didn't make a lot of sense at the time, in hindsight I've chalked it up to a "reset" of the scheduling cycle in which case such things are bound to happen.  I'd have to do more legwork than I have time for at the moment, but I don't think Wabash to Witt is the only time this has happened to a team in the league in the last decade. 

Regardless of how much better or worse DePauw is in 2012, any year that you play the four (maybe five) toughest opponents on the road is going to be tough. Some of you that are more familiar with how the schedulers "think" (relative term) may be able to answer this - does this mean DePauw gets all four of Wabash, Witt, Woo, & Gheny at home in 2013?

Also, I'm not certain this is exactly what the DePauw administration envisioned.  Going to Pennsylvania twice isn't exactly the way we drew this up.  I reckon the Athletic Dept was not pleased about this roadie to CMU.  At least they struggled almost as much as DePauw did last year.

DePauw does get all four of those teams at home in 2013 as smeds noted.  Really, the NCAC schedule has been a total clusterflop since Earlham left (which really should have caught absolutely nobody by surprise...there was smoke around that fire for years).  Earlham bailed which poked holes in most schedules, made it impossible to play a 7-game league schedule...then you've got teams getting out of games vs. NCAC teams that were no longer deemed to be league contests which leads to everybody stacking bye weeks in front of Wabash and Wittenberg taking a roadie to Montgomery, AL...and then you're assimilating DePauw into the schedule which makes things a little more topsy-turvy.  All the while still trying to hold up the league's end of the deal with the UAA.  Toss all that in a pot, simmer on low for three years, and you wind up with a whole pot full of something that just isn't very good at all.  Things should settle after we get to the round robin in 2013.  You'd think...DePauw is right back on the road to those four in 2014.  No extra trip to PA (or even Hiram for that matter) though, so there's that.  Welcome to the league. 

[wally_wabash]

I was perusing schedules for interesting non-conference games for 2012 because non-conference games are about to be virutally extinct in this league.  I was a little disappointed in what I found...most of the non-league stuff are NCAC/UAA matchups that we've already seen 3-4 times over.  Kind of a bummer.  There are a few interesting games out there though. 

9/8 St. Olaf at DePauw - Intriguing game because we don't see the NCAC playing teams to the west of us all that often (recent series with WUStl and Chicago excluded) and we never see the NCAC play against the MIAC.  The Oles were 8-2 last year.  Stern opening test for a team on the rebound. 

9/8 Wabash at Hanover - Maybe more interesting to those of us around back in the ICAC/HCAC days.  Wabash and Hanover played one of the best games I've ever seen in person in week 10 of 1998 for the league championship.  It's been a long time since these two old rivals have hooked up...Hanover has changed color schemes once or twice since then! 

9/29 Witt at CWRU - Here's the last of the interesing yet still unplayed NCAC/UAA games.  CWRU gets Witt in Cleveland and sandwiched right between their Wooster and Wabash games.  The Spartans wouldn't have ever gotten a better crack at the Tigers than they'll get this year. 

[smedindy]

That's a tough opener for DPU to say the least. The Oles have been on the precipice of breaking through in the MIAC for many seasons and for some reason it's always someone else (Bethel or St. Thomas) that rises up and not them.

CWRU definitely is a 'trap' game for Witt and for Case it may be the playoff game before the playoffs.

I wonder if Hanover will throw it 80 times against 'Bash.

I think it will be neat to track who plays who in the non-conference when the NCAC starts to go round robin. I wonder if they'll be a lot of OAC / NCAC matchups? Also, the PrAC and NCAC could see a couple games.

[DPU3619]

The state of Indiana has released the Top 100 Reasons to Move a Business to Indiana.

I'll share reason #90 with you here:

"The annual battle for the Monon Bell between DePauw University, in Greencastle, and Wabash College, in Crawfordsville, is one of the oldest football rivalries in the nation."

I'm not sure why that makes me want to move my business to Indiana, but hey, thanks for having us anyway!

[DPU3619]

Not sure how many of you folks care, since it's probably the Denison crowd who is the most bitter about this, but I'll post it here anyway. 

DePauw wins the All Sports Trophy their first year in this conference.  They won the SCAC Presidents Trophy the last 6 years, as well.

[wally_wabash]

Not sure how many of you folks care, since it's probably the Denison crowd who is the most bitter about this, but I'll post it here anyway. 

DePauw wins the All Sports Trophy their first year in this conference.  They won the SCAC Presidents Trophy the last 6 years, as well.

I'm not terribly surprised by this and it is a nice accomplishment for DePauw's program, particularly given that they were not eligible for All Sports points in football this year.  It just cements what we all talked about last year; that the addition of DePauw raises the bar for the conference across the board, especially in the women's championships where every DePauw team finished t-4 or better (DePauw women won 4 league championships in this inaugural season). 

I like to see how Wabash fared in the obviously gender discriminatory [/heavy sarcasm] Men's All Sports competition.  Here's how that breaks down for this last year:

OWU 79.5
Denison 73.5
Wabash 73
Witt 63
DePauw 62.5
Allegheny 61
Kenyon 58
Wooster 51.5
Oberlin 48
Hiram 21

The difference between Wabash and the top of that list is, as it has been for the last few years, lacrosse.  One of these days, Wabash will have an NCAA lacrosse team.  I'm not sure when, but it'll happen. In any case, that's a pretty good score for Wabash and their four league championships in 2011-2012 which is a stellar year by any measure. 

[smedindy]

Beating Witt and DPU in men's all-sports, even without LAX?

That'll do.

[wally_wabash]

These are the things that happen on slow days...I played around with the numbers and figured out what the average place of finish is for each men's program from last year.  Note that the average I computed is out of the number of sports each school participated in.  I didn't see how it was useful to ding schools for placing lower than last in sports that they didn't participate in.  So here's what I got:

Wabash - 3.7th place
OWU - 3.8
DePauw - 4.1
Denison - 4.3
Allegheny - 4.9
Witt - 5.3
Kenyon - 5.7
Wooster - 6.3
Oberlin - 6.6
Hiram - 8.0

I have no idea what practical purpose these numbers serve, but there they are.  I am kind of shocked that Hiram's average place of finish is 8th.  And why don't the Terriers have a track team?  Requirements for a track team: shoes and open space.  Make that happen.  I'm also kind of stunned at Wooster's teams outside of hoops and baseball (two stalwart programs for Wooster for years and years and years).  Wooster's mens teams finished last or next to last in 5 of the 11 sports they played last year.  That is of course apropos of nothing...it just doesn't fit the perception that I think a lot of people have of Wooster's athletics. 

[The_Bishop]

Not sure how many of you folks care, since it's probably the Denison crowd who is the most bitter about this, but I'll post it here anyway. 

DePauw wins the All Sports Trophy their first year in this conference.  They won the SCAC Presidents Trophy the last 6 years, as well.

Nope.

[smedindy]

Wally,

Hiram recently dropped track but a Google search doesn't really say why or what for.

[DPU3619]

And why don't the Terriers have a track team?  Requirements for a track team: shoes and open space.  Make that happen. 

I don't know about the shoes, but for those of us that have been to Hiram, Ohio, we know for certain there's enough open space there for about 500 tracks.

Jokes aside, the football field still has a track around it, right?  What are they doing with that now?  Just letting it fall apart?

[Ralph Turner]

Happy Memorial Day.

Does anyone recognize these Wooster exes?

They did basic training at Camp Fannin northeast of Tyler TX.

[Ralph Turner]

At the Camp Fannin Memorial on the campus of the University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler, there is this bench that commemorates the commitment to our country by these Wooster students.

Does anyone recognize these Wooster exes?
Happy Memorial Day.

[bashbrother]

The silence is brutal......   Is it September yet?

Watched the Bell Game & playoff run highlights last night - Good stuff.   

Sounds like recruiting went very well for the LG's  let's get them ALL into camp.   

O-Line holes to fill,  skill positions will be strong again.    Scola back roaming the middle after being able to sit back and watch Gum deliver one of the strongest seasons for a linebacker that I have ever seen.

Look for lot's of speed and chaos from the defense this year.   Look forward to watching the Hodges brothers again.... what a pair.

Let's hope we see a running back break away this year.  Here's also hoping that all teams in the NCAC had productive recruiting and that the conference has a strong season.

Long summer ahead.

[aueagle]

I trust everyone is headed into summer with good health & spirits....
The word in Delaware is UP-Tempo....Our coach has energy and has hit the
recruiting trail hard. The players have responded....I can't wait for the opener...
Go Bishops