FB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[formerd3db]

This is somewhat off-topic and for the Ohio Wesleyan posters here (aueagle, bishopleftie, et all).  I noticed that Ohio Wesleyan's enrollment appears to continually drop over recent years.  I recall they used to have in the mid-to-higher 2,000's.  However, it is listed as only 1812 for this year.  Why is that?  Perhaps, in part, due to the high tuition as compared to some other schools? Just curious. Thanks.

[Bishopleftiesdad]

Back when OWU was in the 2000's, they had issues with retaining students. Every year only around 60% would mayriculate on to sophomore year and then they would lose more every year.
Several years ago when Rock Jones became President that they would change strategies.  Every year the Freshman class was very large to make up for class losses. So they are being more selective. So now the Freshman classes are smaller, but they are retaining more from year to year.
They also reviewed their scholarship requirements. To keep the highest scholarships, a student had to have a 3.5 GPA after their sophomore year. So they would lose quite a few between sophomore and junior year. So several years ago they dropped the requirement to a 3.0 GPA.
So while student enrollment was higher, most of those students were Fresmen or Sophomores. While this was good for collecting tuition, it was not good when looking at college rankings. I believe as far as the chage it is a good thing. The old strategy while keeping income high from tuition could lead to a downward spiral. To keep enrollment up they would need to keep admitting student who may not be ready or capable of the work. With the current strategy they hope to become a more selective college. If the strategy works they hope to get more qualified applicants eventually get the numbers back up.

[aueagle]

Stats from OWU Media Guide
Enrollment
2003 - 1850
2001 - 1841
1970 - 2500

Office in transition - can't locate additional intel
Anticipating the Wally Vegas line for the game at Selby

[aueagle]

Might look confusing...
the year is placed before the enrollment figure...
sorry

[wabndy]

Anyone here know the reason for the 2 PM start in Delaware, OH next Saturday?  I see OWU's homecoming isn't scheduled for another couple of weeks.

[aueagle]

We need an edge...throwing the
LG's off from a 1 o'clock KO may
Have them peak early...

[The_Bishop]

Back when OWU was in the 2000's, they had issues with retaining students. Every year only around 60% would mayriculate on to sophomore year and then they would lose more every year.
Several years ago when Rock Jones became President that they would change strategies.  Every year the Freshman class was very large to make up for class losses. So they are being more selective. So now the Freshman classes are smaller, but they are retaining more from year to year.
They also reviewed their scholarship requirements. To keep the highest scholarships, a student had to have a 3.5 GPA after their sophomore year. So they would lose quite a few between sophomore and junior year. So several years ago they dropped the requirement to a 3.0 GPA.
So while student enrollment was higher, most of those students were Fresmen or Sophomores. While this was good for collecting tuition, it was not good when looking at college rankings. I believe as far as the chage it is a good thing. The old strategy while keeping income high from tuition could lead to a downward spiral. To keep enrollment up they would need to keep admitting student who may not be ready or capable of the work. With the current strategy they hope to become a more selective college. If the strategy works they hope to get more qualified applicants eventually get the numbers back up.

I think the key here in BLD's post was the need for increased revenues, particularly in the mid to late 1990s when Tom Courtice took over as president replacing David Warren.  My understanding was that under the Warren administration, the school was stretched pretty thin as far as improvements to buildings and facilities and Courtice had a pretty hefty debt to contend with when he took over in 1994.  Showing my hand at my age here, but that was my freshman year and there were 4-person suites that now had 6 students crammed into them.  I'd prefer the trend move towards being more selective in the admissions process and total enrollment go down, which I think it is gradually doing.

[wabashsid]

I believe Saturday is the Hall of Fame induction luncheon at OWU. Thus, to give everyone time from OWU to enjoy the ceremony and still get to the football game, the kickoff has been moved to 2 p.m. by mutual consent of both schools.

[ohiofan1954]

Hoping for a good game in Granville this week. Looking forward to seeing this years addition of the Tigers before the big game on 11/8. GO Big Red.

[HCAlum86]

Really hoping for the Terriers to right the ship this week and pick up a more than manageable win at home against Kenyon.

Interested to see how OWU and Hiram match-up in the coming weeks, just given each teams performances respectively vs. Denison

[ExTartanPlayer]

Really hoping for the Terriers to right the ship this week and pick up a more than manageable win at home against Kenyon.

Interested to see how OWU and Hiram match-up in the coming weeks, just given each teams performances respectively vs. Denison

Agreed.  The only real downer for Hiram is the loss vs. Allegheny; they actually showed pretty well against Wooster, and nobody expected them to beat Witt.

OWU-Hiram is tough to handicap because they've got discordant results against Denison (Hiram wins, OWU loses) and Allegheny (Hiram loses, OWU wins). 

First, let's see Hiram beat Kenyon this week.  Go Terriers!

[wally_wabash]

Ok, I did some third down analysis because if there is an obvious wart in Wabash's team stats this year, it's 3rd down conversion percentage, particularly amongst the other top 10 teams (h/t to bashbro for bringing this up offline...what I found is interesting enough that I thought I'd share it here as well). 

I apologize in advance if my stats are one or two 3rd downs off of the official cumulative scorecard...I did this by looking through drive summaries and I may have missed one or two in there.  The overall effect is the same though. 

Unofficially, I have Wabash at 20-56 on third downs this year, which is not great.  It's really not even that good.  I think it was last year that ER mentioned on one of his pre game shows that if you look at any team in any conference and break down their third down conversion percentages into 3rd and 4 or less and then 3rd and 4 or more, everybody is basically the same.  The teams that wind up with really good overall 3rd down percentages are the teams that do the job on 1st and 2nd down and make 3rd down winnable.  Wabash is not doing that consistently so far this year. 

Of the 56 3rd downs that I counted, the AVERAGE distance is 8.6 yards you guys.  Now, I don't have that kind of analysis amongst other teams in the league or the nation, but that seems like a big number to me.  It seems like the kind of number that makes having a top 50-ish 3rd down conversion percentage nearly impossible. 

Now, of the 56 third downs I counted, only 14 fit into the 4 yard or less category.  Wabash is 9-14 in those situations (two of those misses were against Denison and were later converted on 4th down).  That leaves 42 third downs of 4 yards or more, and Wabash is predictably not good in those situations, converting just 11 of those. 

In all, Wabash has converted just 8 third downs running the ball, which is a testament to Wabash getting into situations over and over where they take away their biggest strength on offense. 

With all of that said, Wabash is officially converting 37.0% on 3rd down this year which is actually an improvement over last year's 35.7%.  You'd definitely like to see that number get up over 40% (at least).  But that starts on first down and not getting into 3rd and 9 on average.  Nobody converts 3rd and 9 very often. 

[cave2bens]

Great analysis, as always, Wally.  Eliminating some of the penalties would also shorten the field - officials aside (and they had issues on Saturday), the infraction rate is borderline ridiculous 

[bashgiant]

Great analysis, as always, Wally.  Eliminating some of the penalties would also shorten the field - officials aside (and they had issues on Saturday), the infraction rate is borderline ridiculous 

I think it would be interesting to look at other teams with great, aggressive defenses and see if they have a higher than average penalty rate. I think it is human nature if one team is dominating and really roughing the other team up physically the refs (whether they know they're doing it or not) tend to call more penalties on the team that is dominating. I am sure if you go back and look at great defenses whether it be pro, D1, or D3 you will find that great defenses are penalized quite a bit more than good or average defenses just for the simple fact that they are really aggressive and or mean and nasty and have a tendency to pick up roughing, late hits, and un sportsman like conduct penalties. For example there was an NFL game Sunday(can't remember who) where a defensive lineman basically clothes lined a running back and the running backs helmet came off, he fell to the ground and was shaken up quite a bit. The ref threw a flag for roughing but the commentators couldn't understand why. The commentators asked a referee that they have on staff for questions about rules and video reviews what he thought and he said that was absolutely not a penalty but the play looked so violent the ref thought it had to be some kind of penalty. On the next play they called holding which was definitely a make up call.

On a separate note the way Wooster came out in the second half you would have thought they were the team with a fairly comfortable lead as they were hooting, hollering, and carrying on. Mean while Wabash came out like they did in the first quarter against Dennison. If Wabash is to continue climbing in the top 25 they can't afford to come out flat in any part of a game. Hopefully some of the upper classmen can step up and put a stop to this. I believe it would certainly help Wabash in the long run if they could schedule more games like Hampden-Sydney, but, playing 9 conference games that obviously isn't going to happen.
Anyway just my 2 cents.

GO BASH!!!!
WAF!

[bishopowu]

I just wanted to say sorry to all my Bishop Family and my NCAC Family. I have been off the boards for awhile and just getting back on here. Glad to see the Bishops get a W on Saturday.

What is everyone forcasting for this weekend against Wabash?

Will anyone be tailgating?