FB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[formerd3db]

Trust me, I get your point, but it was really only four teams 

Not one of the Elite 8 teams fair caught their opening kick-off.

I'm assuming Alma did that (actually, they did all day today) because their kickoff returner had taken several (three, per the broadcasters) to the house this season and were hoping for that to happen. Unfortunately, it didn't.

[Crawford]

Congratulations to the 16 student athletes who made the All-regional team.  To the 12 seniors, wishing you all the best.

Denison 4 players: Trey Fabrocini RB, Kevin Stone T, Jeff Moore LB (2nd team), Josh Aiello WR (3rd team).

Depauw 5 players: Gabe Quigley TE, Ethan Lowry DT, Brevon Gude LB (2nd team), Tommy Martin G, Matthew Coons CB (3rd team).

Ohio Wesleyan 2 players: Marquel Henry DE, Drew Thornton S (2nd team).

Wabash 4 players: Penn Stoller TE (1st team), Quinn Sholar T, Joe Mullin C (2nd team), Liam Thompson QB (3rd Team).

Wooster 1 player: Lake Barrett K (1st team).

Tommy Martin, Drew Thornton and Mathew Coons are Juniors, Quinn Sholar is a Sophomore.

[sigma one]

     Although Stoller is shown as a junior on the All- Region team, pretty sure he is a senior.  I've heard that he has entered the transfer portal, hoping for a place to play next year.  He is scheduled to graduate in the spring, and then will be looking for graduate program to continue his studies.  Wabash offers no graduate degrees.    Too bad, great player and another year as an LG would have been nice.
     Also, Luke Barrett is the Wooster kicker (not from Denison).
     Congratulations to all from the NCAC selected as All-Region.

[Crawford]

     Although Stoller is shown as a junior on the All- Region team, pretty sure he is a senior.  I've heard that he has entered the transfer portal, hoping for a place to play next year.  He is scheduled to graduate in the spring, and then will be looking for graduate program to continue his studies.  Wabash offers no graduate degrees.    Too bad, great player and another year as an LG would have been nice.
     Also, Luke Barrett is the Wooster kicker (not from Denison).
     Congratulations to all from the NCAC selected as All-Region.

Thanks for pointing out Lake Barrett was from Wooster, I changed that. Much appreciations.

[Crawford]

From the pod cast:
Lyrics by Patrick Coleman, music by Billy Joel

50 years of D-III,
We know it's the place to be.
Salem made it special back some 30 years ago
Playoffs were just 16 teams
And you know what that means
You might not get in them even if you're 10-0

I know that happened to Wabash College, being undefeated and not being invited to the playoffs.  Did it happen to other schools as well?

[Pat Coleman]

Emory & Henry 1998
Grinnell 1998
Lakeland 1997
... etc.

[Whitecarrera]

First of all, Crawford, I need a song reference as well as the artist.  I'm drawing a blank.

Second, the thought of Grinnell going 10-0 blows my mind, though it's 99% certain they weren't near the top 16 that year. They've only had three other winning seasons since 1970. (BTW - Tim Hollibaugh is a stud). Conference champs weren't yet receiving automatic bids in 1998, and that was also the year that DePauw spent nine weeks stealing Wabash's offensive signs, leading to a lost playoff bid for another conference champ (8-2 Albion sends its thanks).

Emory & Henry in '98 was a completely different story.  Undefeated, with five straight ODAC championships, but still the odd man out in the South, where there were five good teams looking at only four spots?  (Think Florida State in 2023) (Albion sends its thanks, again).

As for Lakeland, who cares?  (Obviously my sarcasm's sneaking in, but really - I don't care) (If anyone wants to defend the Muskies, I'm always willing to learn something new)

[Pat Coleman]

First of all, Crawford, I need a song reference as well as the artist.  I'm drawing a blank.

Second, the thought of Grinnell going 10-0 blows my mind, though it's 99% certain they weren't near the top 16 that year. They've only had three other winning seasons since 1970. (BTW - Tim Hollibaugh is a stud). Conference champs weren't yet receiving automatic bids in 1998, and that was also the year that DePauw spent nine weeks stealing Wabash's offensive signs, leading to a lost playoff bid for another conference champ (8-2 Albion sends its thanks).

Emory & Henry in '98 was a completely different story.  Undefeated, with five straight ODAC championships, but still the odd man out in the South, where there were five good teams looking at only four spots?  (Think Florida State in 2023) (Albion sends its thanks, again).

As for Lakeland, who cares?  (Obviously my sarcasm's sneaking in, but really - I don't care) (If anyone wants to defend the Muskies, I'm always willing to learn something new)

You can go to the 15-minute mark in this week's podcast:
https://www.d3blogs.com/d3football/2023/12/11/atn-podcast-348-and-then-there-were-two/

[Whitecarrera]

Very nice -- now it makes more sense.

BTW Crawford, when Wabash was stiffed in 1982, there were only eight teams getting in, two per region.  Wabash's final ranking was 5, but Augie and BW were 1 & 3 (maybe the other way around).  That hierarchy had been there all year, and we knew that unless one lost we were staying home.  There was hope that the win over Dayton, coming off back to back Stagg Bowls, might help us to leapfrog, but no such luck.

[Crawford]

Very nice -- now it makes more sense.

BTW Crawford, when Wabash was stiffed in 1982, there were only eight teams getting in, two per region.  Wabash's final ranking was 5, but Augie and BW were 1 & 3 (maybe the other way around).  That hierarchy had been there all year, and we knew that unless one lost we were staying home.  There was hope that the win over Dayton, coming off back to back Stagg Bowls, might help us to leapfrog, but no such luck.

I remembered there were only 8 invited, but had not known it was only 2 from each region. Thanks for that clarification. 

When Wabash lost to Dayton in 1983 I remember the seniors were shocked, they had never seen Wabash lose a home game.  I had to laugh as I grew up watching Wabash during the Max Urick and Dick Bowman eras, and they didn't have any winning seasons.  Wabash went ten year without a winning record, and part of that was the first two years of Frank Navarro's tenure.  Let's hope Bash doesn't fall that far again.

[sigma one]

It's obvious to everyone that the key to Wabash's prospects next year is finding a quarterback.  Duh.  That and finding suitable replacements for the WRs and TE.  The RB position should be solid.  By my count the Offense returns only four starters--and also RB Tyler, who was their best back at the end of the season.  The Defense, improved this year, should return as many as nine starters, and several others who were in the regular rotation.  The OOC teams next fall might be St Norbert and UW Platteville, if my information is correct.

[Crawford]

It's obvious to everyone that the key to Wabash's prospects next year is finding a quarterback.  Duh.  That and finding suitable replacements for the WRs and TE.  The RB position should be solid.  By my count the Offense returns only four starters--and also RB Tyler, who was their best back at the end of the season.  The Defense, improved this year, should return as many as nine starters, and several others who were in the regular rotation.  The OOC teams next fall might be St Norbert and UW Platteville, if my information is correct.

St Norbert and UW Platteville.  Two quality programs. St Norbert's web site already list Wabash as a Sept 7 game in Crawfordsville.  Go Little Giants.

[Whitecarrera]

As I want to exclaim "no comparison between those two schools!", I immediately looked for a comparison - lol.

Two common opponents in 2023, Lakeland and Stevens Point:
St. Norbert vs Lakeland/Stevens Point -- 1 win / 1 loss; aggregate score 52-52
UW-P vs Lakeland/Stevens Point -- 2 wins; aggregate score 131-23
(So there is a comparison, but only technically)
Wabash and Platteville will be a good game.

[Li'l Giant]

Second, the thought of Grinnell going 10-0 blows my mind, though it's 99% certain they weren't near the top 16 that year. They've only had three other winning seasons since 1970.

My girlfriend at that time (and currently; it's a long story) was a student at Grinnell that year and everyone on campus was blown away by how that season went. I can't remember who the opponent was but we went to one of their home games when I was visiting. They had a really nice crowd and everyone seemed amazed at the turnout. It was definitely a new experience for them to see a winning team. Too bad it didn't last.

The OOC teams next fall might be St Norbert and UW Platteville, if my information is correct.

Those are good matchups and I'm glad we aren't playing an out of division opponent. Let's hope we never play one again.

[Crawford]

Uggh eight and a half months before our next D3 football game.  Thank you to the D3 staff for all your efforts in providing this web site.