FB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[wally_wabash]

We've got time to fill until the poll next week...so I found this.  Allegheny hired a strength and conditioning coach...and called him the Director of Peak Performance.  That is some righteous liberal arts wordsmithing right there.   

[sigma one]

Wally, will you wait until after the coaches' poll is published to do your NCAC analysis, which I always look forward to reading?

[wally_wabash]

Wally, will you wait until after the coaches' poll is published to do your NCAC analysis, which I always look forward to reading?

It will probably be after the coaches' poll before I do that, but probably before Kickoff goes live.  I just don't think I can hold myself back until late August. 

[wabashsid]

I'd like to pause the conversation for this brief commercial message...

If you are planning to attend the Gentlemen's Classic II at Hampden-Sydney, there are two alumni/parent/fan events taking place that weekend. Friday night folks will gather at Charley's in downtown Farmville at 7 p.m. for food and conversation. Saturday there is an official fan tailgate (in addition to the numerous 'unofficial' tailgates which will also take place) at the College. Information is available on the Wabash alumni page .

We now return you to the preseason conversation already in progress...

[wally_wabash]

I'd like to pause the conversation for this brief commercial message...

If you are planning to attend the Gentlemen's Classic II at Hampden-Sydney, there are two alumni/parent/fan events taking place that weekend. Friday night folks will gather at Charley's in downtown Farmville at 7 p.m. for food and conversation. Saturday there is an official fan tailgate (in addition to the numerous 'unofficial' tailgates which will also take place) at the College. Information is available on the Wabash alumni page .

We now return you to the preseason conversation already in progress...

Good stuff.  Hope to see a lot of scarlet-clad friends down there on 9/5.  It's looking like my plan is to scoot down Saturday morning (crossing fingers that 95S traffic doesn't ruin my day). 

This has been a fun series and I hope this isn't the last we'll see of it. 

[HSCTiger74]

I'd like to pause the conversation for this brief commercial message...

If you are planning to attend the Gentlemen's Classic II at Hampden-Sydney, there are two alumni/parent/fan events taking place that weekend. Friday night folks will gather at Charley's in downtown Farmville at 7 p.m. for food and conversation. Saturday there is an official fan tailgate (in addition to the numerous 'unofficial' tailgates which will also take place) at the College. Information is available on the Wabash alumni page .

We now return you to the preseason conversation already in progress...

Good stuff.  Hope to see a lot of scarlet-clad friends down there on 9/5.  It's looking like my plan is to scoot down Saturday morning (crossing fingers that 95S traffic doesn't ruin my day). 

This has been a fun series and I hope this isn't the last we'll see of it.

  That may depend on how serious a beatdown you lay on us this year.   

[wally_wabash]

I'd like to pause the conversation for this brief commercial message...

If you are planning to attend the Gentlemen's Classic II at Hampden-Sydney, there are two alumni/parent/fan events taking place that weekend. Friday night folks will gather at Charley's in downtown Farmville at 7 p.m. for food and conversation. Saturday there is an official fan tailgate (in addition to the numerous 'unofficial' tailgates which will also take place) at the College. Information is available on the Wabash alumni page .

We now return you to the preseason conversation already in progress...

Good stuff.  Hope to see a lot of scarlet-clad friends down there on 9/5.  It's looking like my plan is to scoot down Saturday morning (crossing fingers that 95S traffic doesn't ruin my day). 

This has been a fun series and I hope this isn't the last we'll see of it.

  That may depend on how serious a beatdown you lay on us this year.   

Out of curiosity- what are you expecting?

[jknezek]

I'd like to pause the conversation for this brief commercial message...

If you are planning to attend the Gentlemen's Classic II at Hampden-Sydney, there are two alumni/parent/fan events taking place that weekend. Friday night folks will gather at Charley's in downtown Farmville at 7 p.m. for food and conversation. Saturday there is an official fan tailgate (in addition to the numerous 'unofficial' tailgates which will also take place) at the College. Information is available on the Wabash alumni page .

We now return you to the preseason conversation already in progress...

Good stuff.  Hope to see a lot of scarlet-clad friends down there on 9/5.  It's looking like my plan is to scoot down Saturday morning (crossing fingers that 95S traffic doesn't ruin my day). 

This has been a fun series and I hope this isn't the last we'll see of it.

  That may depend on how serious a beatdown you lay on us this year.   

Out of curiosity- what are you expecting?

This game isn't going to go well for the Tigers. They are replacing an awful lot and I doubt they will be favored to win the ODAC. They won't be a bad team, but I don't think this will be a playoff caliber opponent for Wabash. As always, Coach Favret will make it interesting offensively at times, but based on what is left from last year the Tigers don't have the horses to keep up with Wabash.

[HSCTiger74]

I'd like to pause the conversation for this brief commercial message...

If you are planning to attend the Gentlemen's Classic II at Hampden-Sydney, there are two alumni/parent/fan events taking place that weekend. Friday night folks will gather at Charley's in downtown Farmville at 7 p.m. for food and conversation. Saturday there is an official fan tailgate (in addition to the numerous 'unofficial' tailgates which will also take place) at the College. Information is available on the Wabash alumni page .

We now return you to the preseason conversation already in progress...

Good stuff.  Hope to see a lot of scarlet-clad friends down there on 9/5.  It's looking like my plan is to scoot down Saturday morning (crossing fingers that 95S traffic doesn't ruin my day). 

This has been a fun series and I hope this isn't the last we'll see of it.

  That may depend on how serious a beatdown you lay on us this year.   

Out of curiosity- what are you expecting?

This game isn't going to go well for the Tigers. They are replacing an awful lot and I doubt they will be favored to win the ODAC. They won't be a bad team, but I don't think this will be a playoff caliber opponent for Wabash. As always, Coach Favret will make it interesting offensively at times, but based on what is left from last year the Tigers don't have the horses to keep up with Wabash.

  What he said.
  jk summed it up better than I would have been able to, but even taking into consideration HSC's home field advantage and the possible effects of travel on Wabash I'd consider it a moral victory if the Tigers stay within three touchdowns.

[wally_wabash]

I think the coaches' poll is happening tomorrow.  Predictions? 

I think it's a toss up for #1.  My guess is that the coaches will hedge toward the defending champion and have Wittenberg on top of this poll by a point or two.  It won't be a big gap either way.  I think DePauw will be a clear #3.  Then it gets interesting.  I think OWU will emerge from a pack of OWU/Denison/Wooster all kind of smushed together in 4-6.  Then it'll be interesting to see what they do with Hiram: 4-5 in league play last year, how much slippage do the coaches see happening with the Terriers in 2015?  I think they'll put Allegheny AND Oberlin ahead of Hiram, with Kenyon voted 10th. 

So I'm looking at:
Witt 94 (5)
Wabash 93 (4)
DePauw 75
OWU 64
Denison 62
Wooster 59
Allegheny 34
Oberlin 33 (1)
Hiram 20
Kenyon 16

[Li'l Giant]

The NCAC tweeted a link to the 2015 Football Guide which includes the coaches' poll.

Wally was right on the top 5. The coaches have Hiram higher than he did.

Either way, it's almost here.

[wally_wabash]

And we have a preseason poll. 

I'll cut to the chase here:
1. Wittenberg (7)...............................................97
2. Wabash (3)...................................................92
3. DePauw........................................................76
4. Ohio Wesleyan..............................................65
5. Denison........................................................64
6. Hiram...........................................................44
7. Wooster........................................................40
8. Oberlin.........................................................29
9. Kenyon.........................................................25
10. Allegheny....................................................18

A couple of surprises (for me at least). 
- The coaches do not like Allegheny at all.  I thought they'd be a little more bullish on Allegheny with so many of their players from the 2013 disaster now getting into a third full season. 
- I'm also a little surprised where Wooster landed with just 40 points.  As a little preview on my lean for the NCAC preview that is rattling around in my head- I don't think the coaches are wrong here.  I just didn't think they'd place Wooster this low. 
- I thought the Witt/Wabash split would be closer to 6-4 or maybe even 5-5, but whatever.  I did think Witt would wind up with the most points here and they did. 
- It is interesting that somebody had Wabash in third on their ballot (behind DePauw, presumably) for reasons that elude me entirely.  DePauw hasn't beaten Wabash in six seasons and they haven't really even been close since roughly halftime 5 1/2 games ago...but hey, if you keep betting on black it'll hit eventually.  I guess. 

[ExTartanPlayer]

I hope to God they're right about Hiram...I really, really don't want that to just be a one-season wonder (loss of QB Partridge scares me; he was a difference maker for them).  On the bright side, hopefully they'll get a full season from that freshman RB who was off to a hot start before he got hurt, which could somewhat mitigate the loss of Partridge.  Even if the Terriers don't go .500 again, I don't want them right back to the 1-9 doldrums.

One other note on Allegheny being at the bottom vs. Hiram being in the middle: I think there's a natural effect to look at what a team did relative to expectations last year, conclude whether you think the program is moving in the right direction or the wrong one, and maybe let that influence your prediction for the subsequent year a little too much.  I was definitely guilty of this with North Park last year.  I expected big things after the first Conway era brought three CCIW wins after going 0-for-the-decade, and expected NPU to finish over .500 last year.  They went 2-8.  Would I have looked at a 3-7 team from the CCIW (in a down year for the CCIW) so bullishly if it wasn't for the great story of the previously-woeful Vikings breaking the decade-long streak of futility in such style?  Of course not!

So I think Hiram might be a little over-ranked because of their big season last year (creating the belief, right or wrong, that the program is "on the rise") while Allegheny may be a little under-ranked because they've been awful for two straight seasons (creating the belief, right or wrong, that the program is "on the decline").  I mean, 2014 Allegheny was certainly still bad, but they were really a lot more competitive than the 2013 outfit, and wally is probably right that (assuming most of those kids have stuck around) taking their lumps over the last two years will result in a better 2015 for the Gators.

[wally_wabash]

I love the media guide.  Did you know that Tony Sutton scored six touchdowns in a single game?  Of course you did.  Did you know that he did that three different times?  He was good. 

And that might  wrap up the nice things that I have to say about Wooster football for this year.  I'm not liking what I'm reading about 2015 Wooster even a little bit. 

[oldtiger]

Brief Fincham remarks on coaches' poll:

http://www.springfieldnewssun.com/news/sports/college-football/defending-champion-wittenberg-picked-first-in-ncac/nnDZr/