FB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[DBQ1965]

Decided I'm going to spam every conference board with my preseason (non-returning-starter-adjusted) projections.

Team	Rating	Overall	Conference
Olivet	0.7172	6.4-3.6	4.2-1.8
Hope	0.6690	6.5-3.5	3.9-2.1
Adrian	0.5663	4.9-5.1	3.2-2.8
Trine	0.5456	6.1-3.9	3.0-3.0
Alma	0.5181	5.4-4.6	2.8-3.2
Albion	0.4826	4.2-5.8	2.7-3.3
Kazoo	0.2663	3.7-6.3	1.2-4.8

Street & Smith are braver than I am. Without anything close to a clear favorite in the conference, it seems really improbable that any one team could string together a bunch of non-conference wins and conference wins. I could see two different teams doing so, i.e. one team having good non-conference results and the other running the table in-conference, but doubtful one team could do both. Hope, playing Monmouth Week 1 (10% win probability), will probably be out the the Top 25 conversation sooner than they were ever actually in it.

What about Finlandia (he asks facetiously)?

[HansenRatings]

Decided I'm going to spam every conference board with my preseason (non-returning-starter-adjusted) projections.

Team	Rating	Overall	Conference
Olivet	0.7172	6.4-3.6	4.2-1.8
Hope	0.6690	6.5-3.5	3.9-2.1
Adrian	0.5663	4.9-5.1	3.2-2.8
Trine	0.5456	6.1-3.9	3.0-3.0
Alma	0.5181	5.4-4.6	2.8-3.2
Albion	0.4826	4.2-5.8	2.7-3.3
Kazoo	0.2663	3.7-6.3	1.2-4.8

Street & Smith are braver than I am. Without anything close to a clear favorite in the conference, it seems really improbable that any one team could string together a bunch of non-conference wins and conference wins. I could see two different teams doing so, i.e. one team having good non-conference results and the other running the table in-conference, but doubtful one team could do both. Hope, playing Monmouth Week 1 (10% win probability), will probably be out the the Top 25 conversation sooner than they were ever actually in it.

What about Finlandia (he asks facetiously)?

I honestly considered throwing them in the mix just to be a smart @$$, but decided against it. I was pretty shocked by the news of them joining, that's gonna be a B of a road trip for Trine and some of the other schools.

[DBQ1965]

Decided I'm going to spam every conference board with my preseason (non-returning-starter-adjusted) projections.

Team	Rating	Overall	Conference
Olivet	0.7172	6.4-3.6	4.2-1.8
Hope	0.6690	6.5-3.5	3.9-2.1
Adrian	0.5663	4.9-5.1	3.2-2.8
Trine	0.5456	6.1-3.9	3.0-3.0
Alma	0.5181	5.4-4.6	2.8-3.2
Albion	0.4826	4.2-5.8	2.7-3.3
Kazoo	0.2663	3.7-6.3	1.2-4.8

Street & Smith are braver than I am. Without anything close to a clear favorite in the conference, it seems really improbable that any one team could string together a bunch of non-conference wins and conference wins. I could see two different teams doing so, i.e. one team having good non-conference results and the other running the table in-conference, but doubtful one team could do both. Hope, playing Monmouth Week 1 (10% win probability), will probably be out the the Top 25 conversation sooner than they were ever actually in it.

What about Finlandia (he asks facetiously)?

I honestly considered throwing them in the mix just to be a smart @$$, but decided against it. I was pretty shocked by the news of them joining, that's gonna be a B of a road trip for Trine and some of the other schools.

Got it.  Thanks for responding.

[waxx]

Being in the depths of the off season, I was just looking through some of the team pages and saw that Albion had gone 1-9 last year, which wasn't a surprise, I remember that happening. But was shocked me was the year before they had won nine games and the MIAA the year before. What happened? And how are the looking this upcoming season?

[Ryan Stoppable]

I honestly considered throwing [Finlandia] in the mix just to be a smart @$$, but decided against it. I was pretty shocked by the news of them joining, that's gonna be a B of a road trip for Trine and some of the other schools.

OTOH, those other schools only have to make that trip once every 2 years, which will effectively replace a similarly lengthy trip into NACC country. Finlandia has to make 3-4 long road trips a conference season (which they would have to do in any conference with how isolated they are).

[HOPEful]

I honestly considered throwing [Finlandia] in the mix just to be a smart @$$, but decided against it. I was pretty shocked by the news of them joining, that's gonna be a B of a road trip for Trine and some of the other schools.

OTOH, those other schools only have to make that trip once every 2 years, which will effectively replace a similarly lengthy trip into NACC country. Finlandia has to make 3-4 long road trips a conference season (which they would have to do in any conference with how isolated they are).

Alma is the CLOSEST MIAA school to Finlandia, a 7 hour and 15 minute drive on a good day.

[Captain_Joe08]

I honestly considered throwing [Finlandia] in the mix just to be a smart @$$, but decided against it. I was pretty shocked by the news of them joining, that's gonna be a B of a road trip for Trine and some of the other schools.

OTOH, those other schools only have to make that trip once every 2 years, which will effectively replace a similarly lengthy trip into NACC country. Finlandia has to make 3-4 long road trips a conference season (which they would have to do in any conference with how isolated they are).

Alma is the CLOSEST MIAA school to Finlandia, a 7 hour and 15 minute drive on a good day.

Sad but true. Lack of a E-W freeway (I-75 goes up to Sault Ste. Marie) in the Upper Peninsula definitely hurts. Doesn't help that Finlandia is on the other side of the peninsula. Expect a lot of two-three day trips up to Hancock.

Since we are talking about drive times, here is the mileage and drive time for the rest of the MIAA schools to Finlandia:

Hope: 531 Miles (8 hrs 45 min)
Albion: 544 Miles (8 hrs 45 min)
Trine: 588 Miles (9 hrs 15 min)
Kalamazoo: 554 Miles (9 hrs 2 min)
Olivet: 528 Miles (8 hrs 24 min)
Adrian: 566 Miles (9 hrs 6 min)

[sac]

Its really an easy drive, its just long.   Once across the bridge you take US 2 and US 41, two very nice wide two lane highways with minimal traffic and lots of 4 lane stretches and a suggested speed limit of 65 which is rarely followed (now 70 in places).  Your only hassle is the UP megalopolis of Marquette-Ishpeming........and possibly snow.

No doubt sometime in the future someone will report back about their "nightmare" trip to Finlandia when it snows in the high places West of Marquette and on the Keewenaw in mid-October.   

[Captain_Joe08]

Its really an easy drive, its just long.   Once across the bridge you take US 2 and US 41, two very nice wide two lane highways with minimal traffic and lots of 4 lane stretches and a suggested speed limit of 65 which is rarely followed (now 70 in places).  Your only hassle is the UP megalopolis of Marquette-Ishpeming........and possibly snow.

No doubt sometime in the future someone will report back about their "nightmare" trip to Finlandia when it snows in the high places West of Marquette and on the Keewenaw in mid-October.   

Will have to see that when I go up the UP in late August. Have not been up there in 15+ years (considering that I am in my late twenties).

As my grandpa (was born in Escanaba) said, "If there wasn't snow on the ground by Thanksgiving, there was something wrong"

[matblake]

Its really an easy drive, its just long.   Once across the bridge you take US 2 and US 41, two very nice wide two lane highways with minimal traffic and lots of 4 lane stretches and a suggested speed limit of 65 which is rarely followed (now 70 in places).  Your only hassle is the UP megalopolis of Marquette-Ishpeming........and possibly snow.

No doubt sometime in the future someone will report back about their "nightmare" trip to Finlandia when it snows in the high places West of Marquette and on the Keewenaw in mid-October.   

Will have to see that when I go up the UP in late August. Have not been up there in 15+ years (considering that I am in my late twenties).

As my grandpa (was born in Escanaba) said, "If there wasn't snow on the ground by Thanksgiving, there was something wrong"

Snow I can deal with.  It's the cold that is hard to take.  My Dad grew up in Menominee and he always pulled the "When I was a kid" guilt trip on us kids.  "You think it's cold today?  When I was a kid there were mornings when there was no red in the thermometer because it was so cold!"

[badgerwarhawk]

I came across this article on footballscoop.com and because it's author is a former Hope College coach I thought some of you may be interested.  It's an excellent piece at putting life into perspective.

http://footballscoop.com/news/love-football-emotional-open-letter-college-coaching-veteran-faced-difficult-decision/

[formerd3db]

Thanks BWH.  A very moving article.  Of course, I and others know of Coach Lund. He, his wife and her father and the entire extended family will be in our thoughts and prayers.  That is a difficult decision to make without question.  I know from a personal standpoint because I had to make the same along with a fellow colleague when we were assistants at Alma College years ago.  But, I'm sure everyone will agree, that is the right decision he made.

[formerd3db]

Although football pre-season has started, here is some interesting information I thought some of you might appreciate knowing as far as updates.
The Cost of Playing Football at an MIAA College for 2017-2018 (uh, I mean earning an college education/degree ) academic year (before any potential need-based and/or merit based financial aid is applied for those who qualify and/or are awarded such):

*This is the total for Tuition/Room/Board and basic student fee per the Tuition/Fees section on the current websites for each school which includes the usual standard student dorm residence hall housing i.e. not college owned apartments, cottages, etc. (additional fees may apply per each college depending on the topic/department, etc., which may vary the amounts listed slightly)

Kalamazoo College  $56, 082
Albion College         $55, 260
Alma College           $49, 760
Adrian College         $45, 630
Hope College           $42, 780
Trine University        $40,740  (add $2,000 if enrolling in an Engineering degree program at Trine)
Olivet College           $39, 995
Finlandia University  $31, 550

(just for the sake of the information, non-football playing Calvin College is $44, 100)

For a brief initial comment, I was surprised (taken aback) that Hope was now 5th on the list as opposed to having been 3rd in the past behind Kazoo and Albion.  Comments anyone?

[waxx]

Adrian College         $45, 630

People were shocked when I told them how much tuition was at Adrian when I was enrolled there. My friends could believe how much it went up over my time there. 18k in 2000, 23k in '05 when I graduated. I know salaries haven't gone up this much in the last 15 years, these kids have to have huge debt. I wonder if there are statistics on the amount of debt students have after graduating from each college.

[waxx]

Was able to answer my own question pretty quickly.

Institution          Average Student Debt
Kalamazoo                $30,608
Findlandia Uni            $30,644
Hope College             $30,724
Adrian College           $30,764
Trine University          $31,720
Alma College             $32,604
Olivet College            $32,632
Albion College            $38,988

source: http://www.collegefactual.com