FB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[gobash]

Then even Pat will have to recognize the 'Bash.

I do. It's the all men's school in the NCAC that wears red and white and plays for the Monon Bell every November.

"You'd better tell the Captain we've got to land as soon as we can. This woman has to be gotten to a hospital."
"A hospital? What is it?"
"It's a big building with patients but that's not important right now."


Sorry...just sorta struck me as the same joke

[wally_wabash]

I look for Witt to come in tough and challenge this weekend, I still think they are a scary team

Scary?  Hardly.  Did you miss their first three games? 

No matter what their record is, formidable Witt is next.  We need to be focused and ready!  They would like nothing better than to kick our a$$, particularly under the present circumstances.

OWU and Wooster didn't want to beat Wabash?  Geez...you'd think the friggin' Bengals were coming to town on Saturday.  Is there anything you've seen this year that makes you believe Wabash's coaches and players are going to allow themselves to not take this game seriously?  Wabash is playing for way more than just wins and losses this year...it's become obvious to me that these guys are taking this season personally.  Unfinished business or getting it back or whatever you want to call it, the team has rallied around this theme and they simply just want it more than the other guys do this year.   Nobody, especially Witt, is going to deny these guys.  I'm not saying that the game will be easy...these games are never easy.  Lose focus for one week, and anybody can jump up and get you.  Wabash isn't looking ahead...there's too much to play for this week. 

[bashbrother]

They do not release the criteria so they can change it at any time to fit their agenda.

Here is my guess on the Criteria they will use.

#1 - Head to head competition
#2 - Non-Conference Records
#3 - Overall winning point margin
#4 - Is the team from Ohio 
#5 - Is the team from the Bottom Tier of the Conference
#6 - When was the last time the Team went to the Playoffs
#7 - Flip a two-sided coin with both sides being heads and give Kenyon heads and Wabash Tails.

OWU & Denison - You must take care of business against the Lords.

[MITCH]

Wally Quote: I'm not saying that the game will be easy...these games are never easy.  Lose focus for one week, and anybody can jump up and get you...

That's exactly the point of my post

In regards to Witt being scary: Glover, Murray, and Holmes are all pretty good players...

Don't get me wrong, I believe Bash will have their way, but I do think that Witt may be better than you think.

[smedindy]

WCLegacy -

I hate to tell you. Informed sources have told me that the seven step tiebreaker is in place, but most of the points deal with teams that are tied that have losses in conference, and / or head to head matchups:

1. Overall record has NOTHING to do with it.
2. Point differentiall has nothing to do with it.

If teams had one loss, and there was no head to head, then they would go down the list to see who lost to who and the team that lost to the 'worst' team would be eliminated.

My informed source tells me that Wabash and Kenyon are on a collision course for the Rose Bowl rule.

This is Peter Gammons reporting for ESPN! 

[buffettfan1963]

Wally I greatly respect your knowledge and I've enjoyed your posts for the past several years. And I've enjoyed chatting with you on several occasions over the years as well, but with regards to Witt...

Tristian Murray rushed for 424 yards in the first three games. Yes those games that Witt didn't win. They went Oh and Three. Yes. I know.  

Alma: 5-1 this year with only loss coming to a DII team
Captial: 4-2 this year with losses coming to Mt. U (which they lead in the 4th Qtr and to Otterbein)
Dayton: 6-1 until this past weekend they were the number 1 ranked team in D1a.

I'm not great at math, but that's 15-4 for those three teams.

That's a pretty tough three, and they were in two of the three games. Not at all in the first one.

They have a very good QB, and there's no telling how healthy or not healthy he is. They have at least one good to great receiver in Glover.

And Murray might just be one of the best backs in the country, top 10 easily, and he torched them last year.

Have they played cupcakes in the conference, yes. Wabash has also played Earlham and they've played Oberlin. And there non-con schedule with Kalamazoo and Wash U., well neither one of them has a winning record.

I happen to think Wabash is very, very good this season. This may be the best team they've had since I've been broadcasting the games (2000), but Witt is going to be a lot better than anyone thinks.  They have just as much to play for as Wabash does. Just keep in mind if they win this game they are the front runners to win the NCAC, the first three games notwithstanding.

And before we go nuts over how impossible it is to lose in front of the crazies at BPH, the Lil Giants lost three at home last year.

I think this is going to be a very good game. Just don't undersell Witt because of the first three games and propaganda in the Springfield paper.

[Li'l Giant]

Wouldn't the NCAC have an incentive to do that? If Wabash is 10-0 it's inconceivable that they'd not get in as an at large team. So why not apply a "Rose Bowl Rule" and send two teams to the playoffs?

[WallyFS4]

bashbrother,

I could not agree more.  If there is critiera in place.  It should be posted for the whole world to see.  None of this, if it happens stuff.

Let's take care of WITT, then GHENY, and finally DENISON.  I believe reality will hit Kenyon this weekend, or at least I hope it does.

Wally,

I agree with you.  As long as we don't beat ourselves.  We will come away victorious.  Gheny does concern me.  At the Swamp, anything can happen, and probably will.  As always.

WABASH ALWAYS FIGHTS!

[wally_wabash]

I think I have a pretty good idea of how good Witt is.  Don't let my vitriolic posts mislead you...Witt is not a bad team.  Murray, Glover, and Holmes are good players.  It's too bad none of them play defense.  

I guess you'll just have to excuse me for not peeing down my leg because Wittenberg is coming to town.  This isn't a game where I sit back and say "Wabash is going to have to play the game of their lives to win" like I did in '02 or even last year.  Wabash is very clearly the better team.  As long as Wabash doesn't lay an egg, they'll win comfortably.  

[wally_wabash]

buffettfan-

I understand who Witt has played.  0-3 against that schedule, by itself, isn't bad.  I know this.  But you have to dig a little deeper.  Witt was giving up over 500 yards and around 45 points per game in those games.  Witt didn't just lose, they got blasted.  Give them credit for hanging around against Dayton and Alma, but they couldn't close the deal and they couldn't close the deal because they don't have any defense.  Am I supposed to pause at the donut they hung on Earlham?  The same Earlham that managed an entire safety against Hiram?  No way.   

All of this talk about Wabash in '04 really needs to stop.  We all know what happened last year.  Wabash lost 4 of the last five.  Wabash lost three home games.  Wabash got gashed by Murray.  I know.  The '05 Little Giants are playing a completely different brand of football this year.  They're healthy and they're as confident and focused as any Wabash team I've ever seen.  Wabash has imposed their will on every team they've played thus far.  I don't see Witt being a strong enough team, especially defensively, to change that this week. 

[Ryan Tipps]

I hate to tell you. Informed sources have told me that the seven step tiebreaker is in place, but most of the points deal with teams that are tied that have losses in conference, and / or head to head matchups ...

smedindy --
You don't have to "hate to tell" me anything. I'm just trying to get some understanding for myself and this board about what would happen in the case of a conference co-champion. I welcome any legitimate information about the topic.

You have all of sudden come out dropping "informed sources" when earlier points you made were based on "what I've heard around campus," which sounds an awfully lot like the rumor mill. I apologize for not completely jumping on the "Rose Bowl rule" bandwagon after that one -- but your phrasing was way too cryptic for my liking.

As I said in my previous post, I emailed the NCAC directly, and in my message, I asked about the exact scenario in quesiton (as it related to two undefeated teams that never played each other). And I posted the relevant part of the response. I'm not posting anything else from the email because it was a private communication between the NCAC and myself, and I am going to respect that. Also, it took the administrator only a few minutes to respond to my email (nicely done, I might add) and I feel like the administrator was being as honest with me as was possible.

I am happy reading the part of your recent post that says:

If teams had one loss, and there was no head to head, then they would go down the list to see who lost to who and the team that lost to the 'worst' team would be eliminated.

Thank you for being helpful in this instance.

[KC]

I don't really understand why some people are fearing a Rose Bowl scenario or some other devious plot by the NCAC.  First off, both Kenyon and Wabash have huge games for them this weekend, Kenyon in a game they are favored (on this board at least) to lose, and Wabash against a Witt team that is still playing for the conference championship, and is a lot better than a lot of people would like to think.  Say both Wabash and Kenyon win out, would the NCAC really want to be represented by Kenyon?  I'm thrilled about their season, but I don't really view them as a threat to many teams in the playoffs.  I do think Wabash could do damage, as do others.  I would imagine the NCAC would want them to represent the entire conference, seeing as they have the best chance to win a couple games.

[BashBacker#16]

Fortunately for Little Giant fans out there, all of our remarks on this board mean nothing to the current players and staff.  I can assure you that this Bash team will be more then ready to play and will expect a very tough game!  I also think they will thrive on the big game atmosphere and will be ready to roll come 1 PM Saturday.  If any of you guys, that will be there, have not heard the team chant under the stadium before they take the field...check it out this Saturday...it's pretty awesome and says a lot about how they approach the game.

BashDad - agreed on Wooster's O-line doing a good job on our front.  You would hope our front 4 could put pressure on without the blitz - it didn't sound like they did on a consistent basis.  I would anticipate Witt's O line not being as effective and would think that we will blitz more this weekend.  Holmes, from what I have seen the last 2 years, does not pose the same running threat and is less mobile.

I hope we get Selby back this weekend although Knez has played well.

[bagpiper13]

If things go as planned for Wabash and Kenyon then the records would be as follows:
Wabash 10-0
Kenyon_7-3
What the NCAC will do is give the bid to Wabash because of their undefeated non-conference play.
However, if the two teams were to be undefeated 10-0 (impossible) then the bid would go to Kenyon because of their long absence from the playoffs.

Keep in mind Kenyon still has two more huge games left in the season OWU and Denison. So this talk may be a little unecessary.

Good luck

[gobash]

Yeah, were I a betting man, I'd actually pick them to win at OWU, and then drop the Denison game after laying the whoop on Hiram.

I hope I'm just wrong and they lose vs. OWU   No offense Lords, you've had a great season, but Wabash takes priority over a feel-good story.