FB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[Mr. Ypsi]

IF Hope wins at 0-for the conference Albion next Saturday (likely), they finish the conference season at 5-1.

IF Olivet wins at Adrian, and IF Trine beats Alma at home (neither a slam-dunk, but more likely than not), they will enter the final conference-season game at 5-0 and 4-1, respectively.

Therefore, IF Trine wins at Olivet on November 12, there could be a three-way tie among Hope, Olivet, and Trine, all 5-1, with each being 1-1 against the others and undefeated against all other MIAA teams.  Anyone know the tie-break for such a scenario?

(Also, the tie-break for most conferences is just for the AQ, and all tied teams are declared co-champions.  Is that also the case for the MIAA?)

[sac]

IF Hope wins at 0-for the conference Albion next Saturday (likely), they finish the conference season at 5-1.

IF Olivet wins at Adrian, and IF Trine beats Alma at home (neither a slam-dunk, but more likely than not), they will enter the final conference-season game at 5-0 and 4-1, respectively.

Therefore, IF Trine wins at Olivet on November 12, there could be a three-way tie among Hope, Olivet, and Trine, all 5-1, with each being 1-1 against the others and undefeated against all other MIAA teams.  Anyone know the tie-break for such a scenario?

(Also, the tie-break for most conferences is just for the AQ, and all tied teams are declared co-champions.  Is that also the case for the MIAA?)

Source within the MIAA.....

1) Head-to-head -- everyone goes 1-1 against each other.
2) Results against rest of the MIAA from fourth-place to seventh-place. -- all three would have beaten everyone else.
3) Overall winning percentage -- Olivet and Trine would have equal win percentage (.800), and Hope would drop out.

With Hope dropping out, you revert back to #1 once a team drops out. That is how I read the MIAA manual.

[sac]

[formerd3db]

It sure has been near dead on our MIAA board this season.  As had been mentioned earlier a couple of weeks or so, I am surprised we have not had Olivet posters here (other than OC_SID).  Anyway, anyone have any predictions for tomorrow?  The weather forecast appears to be very nice for tomorrow, which would be great.

[sac]

masseyratings for this week:

80.  Olivet
110.  Hope
122.  Trine
144.  Alma
145.  Adrian
181.  Albion
213.  Kalamazoo

Going into conference play, massey tabbed Adrian as the favorite, they've been sliding down his rankings ever since.



Saturday's games:

Olivet at Adrian  Olivet by 9
Alma at Trine  Trine by 6
Hope at Albion  Hope by 8

Wisconsin Lutheran at Kalamazoo   WLC by 3


As formerd3db mentioned the weather looks positively glorious for the first weekend of November.  Lots of sun, temps already near 60 degrees for the 1pm kickoffs.


The last 3 Hope-Albion games

2013   Albion 34 Hope 31  ---late Albion TD, Hope tying FG hits upright with seconds to play
2014   Albion 37 Hope 36 OT  ---extra point attempt blocked
2015   Albion 21 Hope 20  ---Hope TD with 15 seconds to play, 2pt attempt fails

[formerd3db]

Thanks, sac.  Once again, I think your predictions are pretty much spot on, although I'm sure that all of us know that any of tomorrow's MIAA games could go either way in such close spreads as you have penned.  Also, appreciate the recap of the last 3 Albion/Hope games.  All of those are painful memories for me and I'm sure all our fellow Hope fans, former coaches, former players and their parents/families, etc.-and that dates all the way back to my own playing days (and before).

Anyway, I'm hoping that we will break the streak against them tomorrow (like Michigan did against Michigan State last weekend).

To everyone traveling to their respective games tomorrow, I wish all a safe trip and enjoyable Saturday at the various college gridirons!

GO HOPE!

[sac]

Hope finally wins one of these close one's with Albion.  16-13


Nice bounce back year for the Dutchmen who'll finish 5-1 in the MIAA.   With Trine losing today and Olivet winning, the Comets clinch at least a share of the MIAA Championship and the auto-bid.  Hope can only hope for a tie for the title if Trine knocks off Olivet next week.

[dc_has_been]

Congrats to Coach P and the Scots on their first winning season since 2006!  It was a pleasure to play for Coach P at Defiance!

[formerd3db]

Great win for Hope yesterday.  A close [er] game just as I predicted, however, Hope really dominated for the first 3 quarters, then temporarily struggled in the 4th quarter and almost (key word is "almost" ) faltered trying to give the game away.  However, I give our players (everyone including those on our sidelines and our coaches) great credit for never giving up, holding a final stand and preserving the win.  Congratulations also to our kicker Darren Ford who kicked two long field goals of 46 yards each (he narrowly missed another near 40 yarder) and who now holds the record for the longest field goal in Hope College football history! Congrats to Hope for gaining at least a share of second place-a tie for the title occurs if Olivet loses to Trine next week and if the latter occurs, although I am sad we won't get the auto-bid.  But I add my congrats to Olivet also and we'll see what happens for them next week.

I would just add that I (and many other fans and some former coaches) commented on and were disappointed in the sparse crowd for the game, for such a storied and often heated rivalry that the Albion/Hope football game is.  I'm sorry, but there is no way that there were 3144 people at that game as is listed in the box score summary.  I (and others) did a quick survey count and if there were 700-800 at most, that would be generous.  There was no way there was 1,000 or over at that game.   I certainly can understand the lower attendance since Albion is not having a good year, but it certainly doesn't compare to years past when there is always a rather huge crowd for that game.  Regardless, it was gorgeous weather for a college football Saturday (especially in November) and a stroll on the historic Albion campus and historic stadium is always a highlight for me, bringing back many memories of past games I played in there and have attended.  Also, the new stadium facilities for lacrosse/soccer and baseball and softball at the new athletic additional complex are gorgeous. 

Congrats to Coach Sturs and his staff and our players for a great turnaround season after a slow start. 

[sac]

masseyratings.com doesn't want to cooperate with me today

Saturday:

Trine at Olivet
Adrian at Alma
Albion at Kzoo

Concordia, WI at Hope

Pretty simple, Olivet wins the MIAA Championship outright with a win, they would tie with Hope with a loss.  Either way the Comets have earned the right to be crushed in the first round of the NCAA playoffs.  Albion square off in an 0-5 vs 0-5 conference battle.  1972 was the last time Albion had a winless vs the MIAA squad.



Weather:

Should be sunny with some passing clouds and will feel a bit more like November 12 than last week.  Temps might creep into the low 50's by the 4th Q.  A little breeze will remind you of the date.

[waxx]

Good game from Alma. Adrian had chances to put it away but shot themselves in the foot too many times, lots of silly penalties in the second half.

It's the first time since 2001 that Adrian has a losing record, heck of a streak there.

[sac]

Final Standings

1.  Olivet   6-0
2.  Hope   5-1
3.  Alma    4-2
4.  Trine    3-3
5.  Adrian  2-4
6.  Kalamazoo 1-5
7.  Albion   0-6

First time Olivet's won back-to-back titles since 1913-1914

[formerd3db]

Som random comments:

1) Congratulations to Olivet for winning the MIAA title.  As sac pointed out, the first back-to-back championships since 1913 and 1914. A great season for them with great attendance/support, including the incredible nearly ~6200 at their Homecoming game.  Wishing them all the best as they represent us in the playoffs.  Projected opponent per Pat and crew (we'll find out for sure in about 1-2 minutes when the selection show starts) is Thomas More at Covington, KY.

2) Congratulations to my alma mater Hope for the biggest single season turnaround in our school's 107 years of collegiate footgball (IMO, we have more years than 107, but that is another story for another time! ).  The players deserve great credit for a fantastic turnaround, they did not give up.  Although we were still not a great team and still much improvement to work on, they did a great job as did the coaching staff.  The only "big" disappointment was losing to Olivet in that close game and were it not for that, we'd be going to the playoffs this Saturday.  Congratulations to our two RBs and kicker as those guys had great years-first time for two >1,000 rushers in the same season and school record FGs for this year.

3) I did not see that coming i.e. Kalamazoo blasting Albion.   Wow.   Very crazy as we blasted Kalamazoo, yet had difficulty in putting Albion away.  Very strange. But congratulations to Kazoo's players and Coach Zorbo and his staff for sticking in there is a very difficult season, which was certainly put in a difficult (and unecessary) position by the NCAA.

It will be interesting to see what the first round match-ups are and, of course, the first round results next Saturday.  I'm sure there will be a few disappointed teams and their fans with regards to the selections tonight as always occurs every year.  Someone is going to get slighted.  But...that's just the way it is.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Alas, the MIAA still gets no respect.  Olivet goes to JCU first round - I'd hoped for something slightly less daunting. 

Maybe JCU will still be celebrating their win over UMU (breaking UMU's streak of 7,896 consecutive regular-season wins).  I fear JCU is probably better than SJF, and I'm sure you recall how that turned out!

[Toph]

Alas, the MIAA still gets no respect.  Olivet goes to JCU first round - I'd hoped for something slightly less daunting. 

Maybe JCU will still be celebrating their win over UMU (breaking UMU's streak of 7,896 consecutive regular-season wins).  I fear JCU is probably better than SJF, and I'm sure you recall how that turned out!

JCU is good, but not unbeatable. Having not paid any attention to Olivet and strictly looking at stats, I think the matchup favors Carroll. Good young QB, athletic receivers. It'll be a tough go, but I am not counting any chickens just yet.