FB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[Titan Q]

Overall this was a big win...Its been 10+ years since Hope won a season home opener, and longer than that since they beat anybody from the CCIW. I know NPU iis hardly the standard bearer for the CCIW, but they were 3-0 to start last season.

North Park is 0-77 in CCIW play since the start of the 2001 season.  I have to believe "big win" is a bit of an overstatement?

[formerd3db]

Titan Q:

I believe Hopewatcher was referring to the fact that it was a "big win" for us (Hope) because we have not won an opening season game since 2004.  So in that regard only, it is not an overstatement.  

Anyway, I also forgot to mention the following:  it was great to see the attendance of 4250 at the opening game for Hope.  Admittedly, it was the Annual Community Day and unveiling of the new stadium as has been mentioned.  Yet, a great number.  Now, if we can keep winning, we might be able to boast of such attendance i.e. over the 4,000 mark avg for home games and try to keep up in that regard with Trine!

[hopewatcher]

Exactly right formerdb......As I said, I know NPU is not exactly the standard bearer for the CCIW, but for Hope fans, to win a home opener for the first time in 10+ years, and break a streak of losses against CCIW that is longer than that, makes it big in removing those monkeys from our back......regardless of who its against.......now we move ahead and focus on the next opportuity to get better.....

[Pat Coleman]

So it was a big scheduling decision.

[DBQ1965]

My take on the Hope-NPU game may have been tainted by the two obnoxious NPU fans (parents of players I think) sitting near me.  I had to move seats and that still didn't help much.

DBQ1965,

When are you coming to Alliance to see the Raiders?

When I have a Saturday free for a long drive like that one would be.

[sac]

I hadn't even noticed Hope's helmet decal was different until reading it on here.  What was the reason for the change?

the best I could find


I'm curious why North Park has no yellow in their uni's?



Hope needed to ease up on the non-conference strength of schedule, for years it was much to tough.  Its one thing to play tough competition to make you 'better', its another to beat your head against a wall hoping that it will stop hurting someday.

[formerd3db]

It wasn't so much a big scheduling decision.  Rather, the two leagues decided to sign a contract for a several year series.  I do not believe that North Park was chosen because they have had some down years and thus, a "beatable" team for Hope.  As we all know, it is difficult, nigh impossible, for the most part, to predict how teams will be talent wise when schedules are made out for future years.  Also, just for the sake of completeness in this discussion, some Hope people would like to see the Wabash, DePauw series return sometime; a few years back, Hope decided to change from that for awhile.

As to the helmet decal, it is my understanding the change in design is part of the new marketing logo change.  Hope's lacrosse team (men's) has used this type of "H" along with the anchor the past 4-5 years.  Although Hope's football uniforms/shoes, coaching/athletic training and other satff attire are with Adidas, I don't believe the new logo design was per Adidas - unlike how Nike sometimes does that in their package deals/contracts, although I really do not know for sure and could be wrong regarding Hope's case.  Nonetheless, as I previously mentioned, I prefer the old traditional Yale/BYU type "H" logo, but that's just me.  

[70_dc_alum]

Overall this was a big win...Its been 10+ years since Hope won a season home opener, and longer than that since they beat anybody from the CCIW. I know NPU iis hardly the standard bearer for the CCIW, but they were 3-0 to start last season.

North Park is 0-77 in CCIW play since the start of the 2001 season.  I have to believe "big win" is a bit of an overstatement?

Every win is a big win it does not matter how good the other team is, the beer tastes better and the girls are better looking after a W!!

I watched the first quarter and half of Albion/Defiance. While DC is young, inexperienced, and not that good right now Albion was extremely impressive. Great lines, great RBs, solid QB play, a running game so dominant it made the passing game look easy.  This game could have been 100-0 without much more effort. Having played against Albion 3x in the 90s I would go on record saying this is the best Albion team since their dominant runs in the mid 90's. Or my Alma Mater really sucks this year

[wabco]

former d3

Trust me ... Hope may not mind DePauw back on its schedule for the first game, but you don't want to see Wabash there.  Wabash plays Hanover as their first opponent this Saturday (Hanover's second game).  Should be a monkey stomp. 

I do like the improvements to Hope field.  A big positive change.  The stands and surroundings were always nice ... but the field drained very poorly as I recall from some of the Hope / Wabash games.  I root for Hope to build on their first game and get it going.

[MasterJedi]

Haven't been paying attention to the MIAA teams lately so can you great MIAA posters give me the low down on who's expected to compete and win the league this year?

[Raider 68]

Haven't been paying attention to the MIAA teams lately so can you great MIAA posters give me the low down on who's expected to compete and win the league this year?

MasterJedi,

From what I am hearing the top contenders for the MIAA title are;

Trine
Albion
Adrian
Hope

Not sure of the ranking, but the other posters may have a better idea of who rates 1 through 4!

[sac]

Haven't been paying attention to the MIAA teams lately so can you great MIAA posters give me the low down on who's expected to compete and win the league this year?

This was the pre-season poll from early August.

MIAA pre-season poll from  http://www.hollandsentinel.com/newsnow/x1225366078/Hope-College-football-picked-fourth-in-preseason-MIAA-poll

1. Adrian--10
2. Albion--11
3. Trine --16
4. Hope --17
5. Alma  --30
6. Kalamazoo  --31
7. Olivet --32

The voting was very close with 1 point separating Adrian/Albion.  Hope received 1 first place vote.  Pretty significant separation between 1-4 and 5-7

[formerd3db]

wabco:

I know what you mean.  Yes, I don't think Hope could match up with Wabash right now.  However, we were king of like that i.e. on/off we played them back in my day.  One year they killed us, the other year we beat them.  Also, indeed, the new stadium and field improvements at Hope are great.  No more huge crater holes as you recall and no drainage problems!

70_dc_alum:
Good to hear from you.  Thanks for the synopsis.  Hope you are doing well.

[NCF]

Haven't been paying attention to the MIAA teams lately so can you great MIAA posters give me the low down on who's expected to compete and win the league this year?

This was the pre-season poll from early August.

MIAA pre-season poll from  http://www.hollandsentinel.com/newsnow/x1225366078/Hope-College-football-picked-fourth-in-preseason-MIAA-poll

1. Adrian--10
2. Albion--11
3. Trine --16
4. Hope --17
5. Alma  --30
6. Kalamazoo  --31
7. Olivet --32

The voting was very close with 1 point separating Adrian/Albion.  Hope received 1 first place vote.  Pretty significant separation between 1-4 and 5-7

This picture is making me hungry!yummmmmm

[Gregory Sager]

Looking forward to driving up from St Louis to Decatur to see Hope play at Millikin on Saturday (barring bad weather)... will there be any other Hope fans there ....  Sac, Flying Dutchfan, Civic... do you travel for Football?  Or how about my CCIW buddies.... Sager?

Besides the fact that Mr. Sager broadcasts North Park football games (and the Vikings have a home game next week), somehow I can't imagine Greg driving 180 miles to Decatur to catch a Hope vs Millikin game.  I'll let him confirm for you though!

LOL! Best laugh I've had today!

Overall this was a big win...Its been 10+ years since Hope won a season home opener, and longer than that since they beat anybody from the CCIW. I know NPU iis hardly the standard bearer for the CCIW, but they were 3-0 to start last season.

North Park is 0-77 in CCIW play since the start of the 2001 season.  I have to believe "big win" is a bit of an overstatement?

I think that hopewatcher's statement was a valid one. Regardless of NPU's inability to win in the CCIW, the Vikings have been successful in non-conference play over the past couple of seasons, which is the only thing that's really relevant when talking about a non-conference matchup such as last Saturday's in Holland. North Park also returned a very large percentage of last season's team, including 21 seniors (which has to be a record for North Park football), and has the advantage of utilizing an offense that is unfamiliar to other D3 teams and difficult to prepare for. In addition, the MIAA is several notches below the CCIW overall, and NPU has recently demonstrated an ability to beat the top teams from lower-echelon leagues; the Vikings have beaten Benedictine the past two seasons, with Benedictine subsequently going on to win the NAthCon, and last season the Vikes also beat UAA runner-up Washington (MO). So, all things considered, this probably did fit into the "big win" ballpark for Hope.

Everything's relative. Just because a team is hapless within its own league doesn't mean that it's hapless in the bigger national picture.

It wasn't so much a big scheduling decision.  Rather, the two leagues decided to sign a contract for a several year series.  I do not believe that North Park was chosen because they have had some down years and thus, a "beatable" team for Hope.

As I said, NPU's actually been fairly strong in non-conference play over the past couple of years -- and the Vikings came darned close to winning a couple of CCIW games as well in 2011. NPU is obviously beatable as far as Hope's concerned -- we know that much after last Saturday -- but the Vikings were hardly an easy W for the Dutch, nor do I expect them to be one next year in Chicago.

I can't speak for Hope, but I think that the reasons why NPU head coach Scott Pethtel scheduled the series are: a) it's not that far of a trip; b) Hope is a solid opponent, but hardly a national power, and is thus a good non-conference test; and c) he's an MIAA guy (Adrian '75) who likes to recruit Michiana guys. He's also put Olivet on NPU's schedule.

I'm curious why North Park has no yellow in their uni's?

Several NPU men's teams have no gold in their uniforms. The baseball team has never utilized gold for as long as Luke Johnson's been the head coach. In fact, he uses black as the main alternate color to royal blue and white, and black is not a North Park color. The men's soccer team has no gold anywhere on the kit this year, at least in terms of the road kit (the 2012 home kit will make its debut on Friday against Gustavus Adolphus). The football team has used gold trim in the past; this year, for whatever reason, it doesn't on the road uni. Again, the home uni makes its debut this weekend (against Benedictine), so we'll see if there's any gold in them thar unis.

At North Park, head coaches have wide discretion in their uniform decisions. Former head men's basketball coach Bosko Djurickovic was notorious for using powder blue rather than royal blue as the primary color of the Vikings, because he was a North Carolina fan. Drove people nuts at the Park, but he got away with it.

Personally, I like the ample use of gold in NPU unis, because it's a distinctive color -- much more distinctive than the mundane royal blue that is the school's other main color. But I don't kid myself about having any sort of pull within the North Park athletic department.