FB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[BashBacker#16]

Article from Springfield Sun News today...  Isn't Coach Creighton 4-2 vs. Fincham?  3-0 at Little Giant Stadium.  I pasted the entire article because the Springfield paper's link requires user name & password.

GRANVILLE, Ohio — Wittenberg is so used to being the preseason favorite in the North Coast Athletic Conference that if head football coach Joe Fincham had tattooed a bull's-eye on his back years ago, everyone would have understood — except maybe his wife.

The Tigers are perennial contenders, but they tied for third last year and haven't won the title since 2001. So it's understandable that the conference coaches and media picked Wittenberg to finish fourth this season Tuesday at the NCAC's 23rd annual Football Media Day at Granville Golf Course.

Wabash, receiving eight of the 10 first-place votes cast by the coaches and 24 of the 28 first-place votes cast by the media, is the overwhelming favorite for good reason. It went 10-0 in the regular season last year, including 7-0 in NCAC.

If the Little Giants can go undefeated in the league in 2006, 2007 and 2008, they would equal what Wittenberg did from 1998-2001.

"Repeating as champs has a lot to do with your mindset," said the 11th-year coach Fincham, whose team reports for preseason camp today and starts practice Thursday. "It also has a lot to do with your returning talent. (Wabash has) got a nice club. They've recruited well. I'm sure talent-wise, they'll be just fine.

"You've got to have some luck, too. You've got to stay healthy. You have to win a tight game or two, and you have to win a couple on the road, too. Repeating's tough, but winning the league's tough."

Wabash returns 14 starters, but it lost the 2005 NCAC Offensive Player of the Year, quarterback Russ Harbaugh. The team does welcome back All-American linebacker Adrian Pynenberg, one of the players that makes Wabash the favorite to repeat — not that sixth-year coach Chris Creighton is using that word.

"Last year, we wanted to win the championship. This year, we want to win the championship," Creighton said. "I just think that the whole mentality of thinking you're defending a championship, that you're on top, is just totally wrong. It's misleading. If they gave us the 2006 championship trophy for us to hold during the season, then if we didn't win it, we gave it up, then I would buy the deal of us as a defending champion." 

[herald79]

          Polls, Kenyon should not have a first place vote, I am close to the program, they are getting better fast, but. If they deserve a first place vote they need to play the big two,Witt, Wabash. If they can stay healthy and have a good showing in the upcomming scrimmage, the ball could roll into a matchup, under the lights with CWRU. Sanchez has his brother to throw to this season, plus a healthy shoemaker and a fast Johnson. Coombs will be back, and ready for a big senior year, and the D made strides last year and gets some injured vets back, plus some nice frosh talent. Just remember Kenyons facility is awesome, and the students of today get big eyes when they see the KAC-Kenyon Athletic Center,not to mention better recruits because of last years results. I think a good student who wants a chance to play and get a great education, is a natural for Gambier. With a roster of 70, a kid feels he has a better chance to get on the field sooner. The big 5, who most have around 100 or plus numbers can be  tough,  to get playing time in the first year. Well lets see what happens, and good health to all players ,coaches and fans of the NCAC.         Herald 79 

[smedindy]

Herald -

The nature of the NCAC's schedule precludes a total round robin. If they go undefeated (IF, mind you) and everyone else loses an NCAC game, then they are the champs.

Same as in the Big 10. Sometimes a team doesn't play the big dogs, plays the other tough games at home and gets a championship.

[wally_wabash]

Headline from the Springfield News Sun article:

"Witt picked fourth, were really awesome eight years ago." 

Past performance is not an indicator of future results...how much longer is Witt going to live in the past before they figure out that they've been caught and passed in the present? 

[Li'l Giant]

When was the last time Witt didn't receive a first place vote from either the coaches or the media?  4th in both polls for the Tigers...that's got to sting a little.

I'm more than certain they'll hear about this about 500 times between now and the start of the season. They will not lack for motivation.

[wabashcpa]

When was the last time Witt didn't receive a first place vote from either the coaches or the media?  4th in both polls for the Tigers...that's got to sting a little.

I'm more than certain they'll hear about this about 500 times between now and the start of the season. They will not lack for motivation.

From their coaches, or from Wally?  It will be 500X either way!

[bashbrother]

I would hope that Witt being picked 4th means that the NCAC is stronger.

The Conference needs to have a great year against non-conference opponents with a possible upset or two to prove this out.

Anyone see any surprise non-conference wins in the mix?

[wally_wabash]

The bigger non-conference games that I see are:

Allegheny @ W&J - This is a rivalry game so it usually plays pretty close.  Big win for both Allegheny and the NCAC if the Gators can pull the trick. 

Oberlin vs. W&J - This would be like Allegheny beating W&J times about 10,000. 

Wabash vs. Millikin - The CCIW was disgustingly good against everybody outside of the CCIW last year.  This is a big game for conference rep. 

Witt @ Capital - This would be another huge win for the NCAC...but it's not happening.  Plus, I don't think one win here by Witt can undo the damage done by the thrashings they took over the last two years. 

Witt vs. Dayton - Another big game for the NCAC if Witt can answer the call. 

Wooster @ John Carroll - The OAC is the measuring stick and Wooster has a chance to prove that they are legit, as well as scoring a big win for the NCAC. 

Those are probably the biggest non-conference games.  More important than these games though are going to be the non-conference games that aren't mentioned here.  OWU, Denison, and Kenyon all have non-conference schedules that I think they should sweep.  It's those games against the bottom and middles of other conferences that the NCAC has to start winning regularly to raise the rep. 

[wally_wabash]

From their coaches, or from Wally?  It will be 500X either way!

Really, I'm not going to harp on the preseason poll results much.  In actuality, preseason polls are worth about as much as the paper they're printed on.  Seeing Witt ranked fourth behind two teams that they beat by a collective score of 76-9 one year ago was a little surprising.  But I think it's an important result...Wittenberg has quite clearly used up any and all benefit-of-the-doubt capital that they had accrued in the late 90s.  Not one person with a ballot picked Wittenberg to win the NCAC.  It's been some time since that has happened.  This is a symbol that the Wittenberg aura has eroded.  How many consecutive seasons that "don't measure up to Wittenberg standards" does a team have to have before you start to rethink the standard?  Apparently, the answer is four.  At least that's what these poll results would suggest. 

[ScotsFan]

Wally,

Looking at your key non-conference matchups, I think 3 really stand out. 

First, Wabash cannot afford to lose to Millikin IMO.  Wabash is nearly a unanimous favorite to win the NCAC and Millikin is picked to finish T4th in the CCIW.  Granted, the CCIW is clearly a deeper league, but the talent at the top of the NCAC should be better than the middle of a pack CCIW team.  That would be a bad loss for the NCAC if Millikin were able to beat Wabash.

Second, I feel Wooster is almost in the same must win type of situation as Wabash when they face JCU.  The Blue Streaks seem to be down a bit and they are being picked to finish in the middle to bottom half of the OAC.  Again, this doesn't really mean much since the top teams are so strong in the OAC, but for the NCAC to start gaining some respect as a conference, they need wins like this.
Also, Wooster hosts JCU (not the other way around as you listed Wally) which makes winning even more important IMO.

Third would be the Allegheny v. W&J matchup.  Allegheny has come close to getting over on the Presidents, but just hasn't been able to get the job done.  This would be a big win for the NCAC over a traditionally strong team.  I think another key non-conference game for the Gators is another regional rivalry that takes place in the season opener against my alma mater, Westminster.   The Titans have gone 3-1 vs Allegheny since the rivalry was renewed back in 2002.  All 4 games have been very competive with the largest margin of victory coming in '02 being 11 points.  The last 3 meetings were 2 three point victories for Westminster and an OT victory for the Gators.   

As for some of the others you listed, I'm not holding my breath.   I haven't seen anything that show me Witt will even be competive against  Cap and I would be shocked if they beat were to beat Dayton.  And Oberlin will be lucky to keep the margin of defeat under 50 against W&J.  Maybe if they can beat the spread, the NCAC could use that as a moral victory for the conference.

[Ryan Tipps]

More important than these games though are going to be the non-conference games that aren't mentioned here.  OWU, Denison, and Kenyon all have non-conference schedules that I think they should sweep.  It's those games against the bottom and middles of other conferences that the NCAC has to start winning regularly to raise the rep. 

This, I think, is the real heart of what should be said. Last year, the NCAC had four teams that didn't win a single nonconference game, and two teams that won only one of their nc games.

Winning some of the big games that Wally and ScotsFan mentioned would be awesome and will give the conference some cred, but what really needs to happen is for every team to win at least one, preferably two, nonconference games this coming year. It doesn't have to be the best team on the schedule....what needs to happen is for the NCAC to consistently beat the mediocre and crummy teams on the schedules.

This year offers a good possibility for Kenyon to win all of its nonconference games, and for Hiram to also pull off at least one win (against Bethany). Gheny needs to beat Westminster, Wooster needs to beat Waynesburg, and Witt needs to beat Alma. Those basic things are what I would like to see prior to the conference games.

A bonus for the season would be big wins over JCU and Capital. And I disagree with you Wally; I think if Witt would beat Cap, that would definitely erase some of the ugliness of the past two years. There's nothing like momentum in the present to erase dwelling on the past.

[lancer98]

http://www.newarkadvocate.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060809/SPORTS/608090333/1006

[ski]

Any body have any info on what TONY Sutton is doing now?

[scotty]

ski, i believe it was reported that he was going to play professionally in Germany...

[wabashcpa]

I'm very interested to see how the Wooster/JCU game plays out, as JCU is usually pretty competitive in the OAC (save for one real stinker last year).

I'm also looking forward to the Wabash games against Franklin and Millikin, as those will be pretty good early season tests.  Millikin has some good talent returning on offense, so the Hard Hat D will have to bring it that day.