FB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[gogetit9]

If you read his bio it says he played at DPU...transferred to OSU where it sounds like he was a student assistant.  Graduated and now he's a caveman.

[INQBScout]

All it says is he spent time there. I spent time there too, but it wasn't as a student or a player or a coach.

Exactly...

[raiderguy]

Hey smedindy,
Let me be the first to invite you to a game in MN. Opening day Sept 1 with St Johns of the MIAC playing Marietta of the OAC. Of course you have the Stiftingfust festivities before the game and a great place to watch a game in Collegeville. This is a first for an OAC team to venture to Collegeville. St Johns has the horses to make a run at the title with a lot of talent back. If you are around let me know.
A couple of weeks later there will be a double header of interest. St Johns plays Augsburg I believe at 1PM at home and them at 6PM you have Wisconsin Whitewater playing St Cloud State at St Cloud. It is maybe a 20 minute drive from the two fields. What a day for football.

[BashBacker#16]

I believe he was a student assistant/GA-type and worked under Coach Tressel.  Tressel called Coach Creighton to endorse Needham for the position.  That may have  helped.   

I was unaware that Selby was going to help, very cool.

[DadofBashWarrior..]

Maybe a few people see us coming this year.....

In 2005 we were not in the Top 25 until the 8th week of the season and finished the year at 15th....

D3Football Top 25 has come out

[bashbrother]

I think that spot is about right.   It all starts week 1. 

If the O-Line and the Defense come together and a consistent running game is established....... The Little Giants will be just fine.

This is Huff's year to do some really special things.   Knott, Harbaugh & Huff...... not a bad run.

I wish it all started tomorrow?   Any luck getting Wabash hooked up with the webcast group?   Sure would be nice.  For what it is worth, My company will donate the server hardware to make it happen.  If anyone is reading this that is interested in putting this together...let me know.

[wally_wabash]

I think the preseason poll conducted on this site has a lot to do with past performance.  In 2003 Wabash rode their 12-1 '02 season to a #18 ranking in the preseason despite graduating the best quarterback in school history, the top receiver in school history, and a whooole boatload of outstanding seniors on defense.  A 28-21 loss to Kalamazoo later, and we all knew exactly how hard it is to reload a team like that.  Conversely, in 2005, Wabash returned nearly everybody but coming off a 6-4 season in '04 (dropping 4 of the last 5 BTW)wasn't about to even get sniffed for the top 25 prior to playing a game.

I'm not saying it's right or wrong...without national video coverage of D-III teams it is almost impossible to accurately pick the best 25 teams.  I know the pollsters get information packets on the teams they are considering for the top 25, but it's really only natural to be most swayed by what has actually happened.  In the case of the preseason poll, the most recent results are 8 months old.

Wabash dropped in about where I thought they would in the d3football.com poll and we'll find out in the first week if we belong in the top 25 or not.  I'm guessing that a lot of pollsters had Wabash and Franklin relatively close to one another and I'd expect the winner of that game on Sept. 8 to pick up a lot of the votes from the pollsters who had the loser ranked higher coming in. 

[Pat Coleman]

I think the preseason poll conducted on this site has a lot to do with past performance.

I think our preseason poll has less to do with past performance than any single other Division III pretender preseason ranking.

For your example, which, by the way, was not even voted on -- it was our last staff-only preseason Top 25 -- to start at No. 18 after a 12-1 season showed right away we had doubts about Wabash repeating.

[wally_wabash]

I guess I was looking at it from the perspective that 18th in a top 25 poll with over 200 teams eligible is a pretty good ranking.  I think it would have been easy to dismiss Wabash all together once the seniors from 2002 graduated. 

And I certainly don't mean to downplay the site's poll...this is by far the most educated poll available for D-III football.  I was just pointing out the pitfalls associated with preseason polling and in particular preseason polling for a sport that doesn't have much national visual media associated with it. 

[Li'l Giant]

For your example, which, by the way, was not even voted on -- it was our last staff-only preseason Top 25 -- to start at No. 18 after a 12-1 season showed right away we had doubts about Wabash repeating.

What did we end up at in 2002? It was in the top 10 wasn't it? I thought we were overranked in the 2003 preseason poll, honestly.

This one feels right though. Seeing this poll makes me so excited for the season though. My life is devoid of meaning right now. It will have meaning again on September 8.

[Pat Coleman]

We didn't have a poll in 2002. I couldn't care less what the AFCA ranked you guys to end 2002 -- seriously, though, the AFCA poll was so bad that year we gave up on it and started our own.

[Li'l Giant]

I honestly didn't remember from whence the ranking came. I just remember it being something we were proud of. Hell, I don't remember much from 5 years ago anymore.

I will echo Wally in that the poll you guys do is the best that can be done.  I didn't remember how long the poll had even been around.

[wally_wabash]

For your example, which, by the way, was not even voted on -- it was our last staff-only preseason Top 25 -- to start at No. 18 after a 12-1 season showed right away we had doubts about Wabash repeating.

What did we end up at in 2002? It was in the top 10 wasn't it? I thought we were overranked in the 2003 preseason poll, honestly.

Figuring that Wabash lost in the quarterfinals to eventual champion Mount Union (who waxed their semifinal and finals opponents more than they waxed Wabash) it's pretty easy to figure that Wabash would have ended 2002 somewhere in the top 10.  But that's all moot now. 

I honestly didn't remember from whence the ranking came. I just remember it being something we were proud of. Hell, I don't remember much from 5 years ago anymore.

I'm less concerned about poll positions and more concerned with where Wabash finishes the season.  Making the national quarterfinals is a season to be proud of regardless of where a poll puts you. 

This one feels right though. Seeing this poll makes me so excited for the season though. My life is devoid of meaning right now. It will have meaning again on September 8.

This is the life of an Astros fan, folks.   

[Li'l Giant]

This is the life of an Astros fan, folks.   

Brad "Lights out" Lidge just nailed down a 2-1 win over the NL West leading Dodgers. I feel like a crackhead that's been sober for 38 seconds.

[smedindy]

Raiderguy -

I'll be in touch if my schedule is clear. We'll have dual households for a while. I'll send you a personal message at some point!@