FB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[wisd3fan2]

In  Wisconsin the D2 teams are the wealthy suburban teams. The larger D1 schools are inner city schools. Although they have larger enrollment they field way less players. D2 had the top 5 ranked schools in the state last year. Waunakee brought out 87 juniors and seniors last year. D2 is wisconsin's toughest division by far. It has been this way for years. The Badgers have 8 waunakee players.

[badgerwarhawk]

My remarks were not intended to piss any one off. And I am not saying that HS football is at the level of college. However I am approaching my 70's and have been a D3 fan for many years. Last year Waunakee was impossible to run against. When you study the match up you find that Waunakee and Whitewater would have been a very tough game. To say that because a team is college that they would kill all high school teams is just not right. Wisconsin has many D3 schools and some would have a very tough time with our top HS teams.
Note, This year Wisconsin will be fielding a much improved D3. Look for Oshkosh, Stevens Point, and Stout. These teams could upset UWW. I am a UWW fan but look at the match-ups.

No one is pissed off.  We just think your assessment is absurd.  But you're certainly entitled to believe what you will believe.  Just as the rest of us are.

[sflzman]

My remarks were not intended to piss any one off. And I am not saying that HS football is at the level of college. However I am approaching my 70's and have been a D3 fan for many years. Last year Waunakee was impossible to run against. When you study the match up you find that Waunakee and Whitewater would have been a very tough game. To say that because a team is college that they would kill all high school teams is just not right. Wisconsin has many D3 schools and some would have a very tough time with our top HS teams.
Note, This year Wisconsin will be fielding a much improved D3. Look for Oshkosh, Stevens Point, and Stout. These teams could upset UWW. I am a UWW fan but look at the match-ups.

No one is pissed off.  We just think your assessment is absurd.  But you're certainly entitled to believe what you will believe.  Just as the rest of us are.

That's the great thing about this country. You can have your opinion, no matter how wrong it is! 

[BOYA87]

wiseD3fan did say he's approaching his 70's...perhaps he is becoming senile   only kidding D3fan!!

My freshman year at Trine (then Tri-State) was the last year before the Matt Land era.  We were so absolutely horrible that I found myself thinking "I wonder if we could even beat my high school team!!??"

now my high school is continually at the top of Indiana football and Tri-State was at the absolute bottom of DIII footabll.  But to even entertain the thought that a high school team (ANYWHERE in the nation) could compete with the nations BEST in DIII is pretty laughable!

I am confident that even with how bad Tri-State was at that time, we would still be able to outplay any high school team simply because of the age and experience difference.  The problem never was the athletes at Tri-State but a severe lack of vision, motivation, and effort from the coaching staff.

I understand you might have loyalties to this high school D3fan, but lets not let loyalties get in the way of our common sense

[wisd3fan2]

Hi All,
I am a real rookie when i comes to the MIAA. I might be a little stupid. I here about the MIAA not getting respect because it is a weak conference. I say let them think that. We might get poor seating in the play0ffs but we should also have fresher legs and less injuries. I think the conference champ should be sitting in a good place post regular season. It would be awesome to see MIAA go all the way!
How do MIAA guys think about this??

[wisd3fan2]

My feelings about top HS teams competeing with D3 does not stop there. I know that Coach Leipold from D3 uww tries to get a game with many D2 teams each year. Noone will play him. Some D1 schools better be very careful with Duluth D2.
A fresh top D1 school against a beat up lower level NFL team could even be a mess.
Football just keeps getting better and better.  I do think that quality of HS and D3 football are rising the fastest. In todays market  people realize that a nice saturday afternoon in a nice small ball park for 20 bucks is just as fun as 80000 people for 200 bucks. and you can catch a great game in D3 football!!!

[BOYA87]

Respect for sticking with your guns there D3fan!  I agree that the talent at the HS level seems to be growing pretty rapidly.  It seems like the athlets there now are far ahead of 17yr olds from years ago.

On the note of the conference not getting much respect, I dont think anyone will disagree with you there.  In fact, I dont think many MIAA people will argue that our league SHOULD get any more respect at this point.  fact is the league has been down and has been down for a long time.  I think what we all want to see is the league become stronger as a whole.  Have a better showing in the non-conference schedule, and then have a competitive season in the conference with 2 maybe 3 teams fighting for that playoff bearth. 

I think it is going to take that growth in non-conference performance, and that competition during the season, to really earn the MIAA representative a quality seed in the playoffs and prepare them for the competition of the playoffs. 

The last 2 years Trine has had strong showings in the playoffs.  Probably better than most people expected of them.  But to be honest Trine didnt see anything along the lines of playoff competition all season. Perhaps with more competitive games througout the season they can be better prepared for the tough battles in the playoffs.

[ThunderHead]

D3, I can't help but think your suffering from split-personality disorder

First you say a high school team could beat a D3 power, then you state the MIAA is under valued from a strength standpoint. (I'm just joking with ya, kinda)

Anyway I've been lucky enough to have been involved with football at the high D1 level and the NFL level, and I can tell you this, take the highest college game you can get, like the NC game, and compare it to the two worst NFL teams, and the NFL game at its worst is 4 or 5 times faster then that NC college game.

There isn't a college team in the country that could compete in the NFL, for a number of reasons. Its also equally as laughable to to think that a high school team could compete with a college team. Now that's not to say a HS team wouldn't have a good half against a poor D3 college program, but over the course of 4 quarters it wouldn't be close. There would be to much seperation over distance.

Though I can appreciate your position I think you should reconsider your view point, college football at any level is just a different brand.

[emma17]

Wisd3fan- a little + karma bandaid to help stop the bleeding. I give you credit for tenacity- but I'm not buying the HS vs DIII arguement either- I would think that any DIII school that is serious about contending for a conference title would be unbeatable by HS.

As for respect- although the conference may have been down it was nice to see the national respect given Trine last year. One excellent season and team seems to have revitalized many.

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[wisd3fan2]

Thanks all for the conversation. This is a really nice blog thing you have here. Nice people! I have just one more probably stupid question to ask. What is the reason or reasons that Trine is so heavily favored after loosing so many players? I'm just trying to figure out the conference. Huge Depth?

[LetItRain]

Yes, I believe the reason is huge depth (and a great coaching staff/program).  Last year there were several games where the starters only played the first half.  They built up a comfortable lead and then 2nd/3rd string players finished the game.  It gave the 2nd/3rd string players a lot of reps during the season.  These players have now moved up to starting positions with the departure of the senior class.

Coach Land and staff have done a great job of recruiting and building a team over a few short years.  Plus, having a winning program also attracts a lot of quality players.

Again - just my opinion.

[BOYA87]

Not a stupid question at all.  One thing Coach Land always said was "the best predictor of future performance is past performance".  I think he was using this in terms of film study or something like that, but fact is this factors into peoples rankings and perceptions of what teams will be.

over the last couple years Trine has fairly easily made their way through the conference and that is easy to look at and say "well they will do it again".  However I think Albion and Alma will be vastly improved and the conference race might be tighter than we think.

But as anyone who has ever played football before knows...pre season rankings dont mean SH*T!  A lot will be known in another week when teams start taking the field!

[D306]

The energy, coaching, local support and Trine's investment in buildings, field, school in general has pumped a fire at Trine.

Good area for recruits, a regional draw of players, a Strong staff with success prior coming to the school.


I think Albion has some quality teams in 2008 and 2009 season finishing 2nd both years.
Strong defenses those years as did Adrian.  Albion's issue was / is lack of depth.
2009 Albion had so many key players out, the wins and losses were directly related to who could get on the field. I believe Trine was the best team in the league those years, and still would have won if Albion was healthy.  I think Boya's comments regarding depth and a system are evident and willl prove out this year. Young Players getting experience and depth with dominating play by starters allowing depth to be built.
Success builds success.

I hope to see more competition for Trine in the league this year, the MIAA needs to win some out of conference games, and have the league champion win some games in play-offs to build interest and support at all the schools.

Glad to see the schools spending monies on stadiums and campus improvements, the cost to attend is always an issue for D3 schools. Campus must be a draw to compete with DII and State schools for students not even referencing student -athletes.

[RFMichigan]

Hey MIAA posters, I need some info about Adrian. I'm heading down for a game on September 17 for a 4:00 p.m. game with some other folks.

1) I need some ideas for an establishment for pre- and post-game refreshments.

2) I've visited the college and have seen the football field, but I don't remember that they have lights.(?)

3) What does Adrian have coming back. I understand that they are picked to be a top-tier team in the MIAA, but I'd like some specific info.

4) and most importantly, I NEED SOME IDEAS FOR AN ESTABLISHMENT FOR PRE- AND POST-GAME REFRESHMENTS.

Thanks in advance.