FB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[Li'l Giant]

Probably lost in the election-night doings, Chris Creighton's Eastern Michigan team defeated Ball State last night to achieve win #6 on the season and become Bowl Eligible.  Who would have thunk it.

I'm wondering which P5 bottom feeder will want to hire him after the season is over. They love to overreact to one good season by a G5 coach. (I'm looking at you, Purdue).

[Dr. Acula]

He's definitely going to get calls you'd think.  I wonder the same thing about Jason Candle at Toledo.  He inherited a really nice program, but his phone is going to be ringing too.  That's just the nature of the beast for the MAC.  You either have a good coach who will leave (CC, Candle, Fleck), an old coach riding off into the sunset (Solich) or a bad coach.

[formerd3db]

Rankings:

NORTH   
1 Mount Union 9-0 9-0
2 North Central (Illinois) 7-0 9-0
3 Wheaton (Illinois) 8-1 8-1
4 John Carroll 8-1 8-1
5 Olivet 8-1 8-1
6 Wittenberg 8-1 8-1
7 Wabash 8-1 8-1
8 Rose-Hulman 7-2 7-2
9 Franklin 7-1 7-2
10 Illinois Wesleyan 6-2 6-2


Really, really, really good news for Wabash.  Hopping Franklin was a necessary move that I honestly wasn't sure was going to happen. 

So it's down to this: Beating DePauw coupled with a JCU loss to Mount Union and Wabash is probably going to at least get into the conversation on Saturday night.  I don't know if they'll get in, but they'll have a shot.

So Wally...this is probably to early to tell.  However, what do you think where Olivet would end up as far as playoff game #1, assuming they win this last game Saturday against Trine?  They should win, although hoping to avoid a slide like last year at the end, which cost them getting our league's bid, which went to Albion.  Quite an amazing run they have had, IMO, after their season opening loss to SJF and given the (most of us will admit this) the fact that, unfortunately, our MIAA teams are not of the strength of some of the other  conferences.  Still, they have managed to tweak out some close[er] wins, while fairly soundly quashing others.  Your thoughts?

BTW, have enjoyed your postings and well thought out scenarios, comments, opinions, etc. this year (although as you always do!).  Thanks for setting out an outline platform for the rest of us to cavil about!

[Mr. Ypsi]

Probably lost in the election-night doings, Chris Creighton's Eastern Michigan team defeated Ball State last night to achieve win #6 on the season and become Bowl Eligible.  Who would have thunk it.

I'm wondering which P5 bottom feeder will want to hire him after the season is over. They love to overreact to one good season by a G5 coach. (I'm looking at you, Purdue).

I doubt he'll get many (if any) calls THIS year (one good year could easily be a fluke), but if he can repeat the success next year, he'll definitely be 'HOT'.  But let us EMU fans enjoy our first bowl game in almost 30 years before you go 'tampering' with our coach!  (We're well aware that the price of being one of the 'dregs' of D1 is losing your coach if you finally find a good one. )

[wally_wabash]

So Wally...this is probably to early to tell.  However, what do you think where Olivet would end up as far as playoff game #1, assuming they win this last game Saturday against Trine?  They should win, although hoping to avoid a slide like last year at the end, which cost them getting our league's bid, which went to Albion.  Quite an amazing run they have had, IMO, after their season opening loss to SJF and given the (most of us will admit this) the fact that, unfortunately, our MIAA teams are not of the strength of some of the other  conferences.  Still, they have managed to tweak out some close[er] wins, while fairly soundly quashing others.  Your thoughts?

BTW, have enjoyed your postings and well thought out scenarios, comments, opinions, etc. this year (although as you always do!).  Thanks for setting out an outline platform for the rest of us to cavil about!

Olivet is really, really flexible.  They can go as far west as Coe, as far east as Hobart and as far south as Centre (WashU is in range as well).  There's seriously about 18 schools in Olivet's driving radius.  I think the most likely candidates for Olivet right now would be: Wittenberg, Thomas More, CWRU, the E8 runner up, Monmouth.  Which is to say that I don't think Olivet is in much danger of getting placed with Mount Union or Whitewater right off the bat. 

[smedindy]

Well, hush my mouth, the North region made some sense with their rankings.

I think the X factor is how much the committee will weigh a JCU loss to UMU. If it's close, the 'style' points could outweigh the two losses.

[Dr. Acula]

Depends on your definition of close, but I'd be surprised if Mount won by more than a TD or so.  And I wouldn't be shocked if JCU won.  I'd think that'd be a doomsday scenario for Wabash. 

[smedindy]

Right. If JCU wins, Mt. Union replaces Wheaton most likely, and then Wabash is bumped down the pecking order.

[wally world]

Haven't scrolled through all the posts, but just noticed Chris Creighton has EMU at 5-2? And one of those losses is to SEC member Mizzou. Impressive turnaround. Took a few years.

Meanwhile, Savannah State taking its lumps.

And just checked.....ER has Savannah State at 3-2 in conference play. Have back to back wins....for the first time since 2008! Got them going in the right direction already!

[Li'l Giant]

Losing to and Witt and Depauw in the same season is a Mulligan deal. You get one. Do it again and you need to get your resume updated. Full stop.

[Caveman # 95]

Sometimes it's not the Jimmys and Joes but the x's and o's.  He needs to go NOW!  Predicted this as soon as they hired him. Proven loser. Lazy admin. Don't give a flying rats a$$ about being PC. Accept the truth.

[DPU3619]

SOMEBODY HUG ME.

[wabashcpa]

SOMEBODY HUG ME.

Congrats Wes, been a long time coming.

[aueagle]

WOW !!! One of the best games I've seen in a long, long time..
Watched it from start to finish...Glad I got it on my TV..
Color man Paul Maguire was great during the broadcast, and
his closing remarks were right-on...
I didn't realize Tiger QB Hunt was that fast (glad he's a Sr)
Solid game by Tiger LB Gray...he closed on many plays & had some
hits on guys that made me go "Ummphh"
Conner brought his guys back...sorry he couldn't get this one; his
last shot at a Bell.
And OWU put up 37 pts on DPU for a win in week 7 ?
I know it's a tough one for the LG's...but that was one hell of a game

[cave2bens]

Agree with AUEagle - that was one entertaining game and congratulations to DePauw.  Y'all earned it!  Tough to watch from a Caveman's perspective and way too much like last weeks' nail-biter in Granville but all in all, the Dannies showed their heart and skill set when it was most needed at the end and Matt Hunt proved himself a beast as a senior.