FB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[HOPEful]

Good group of Hope fans made the trek to Angola on another gorgeous Saturday.  Good luck to your team the rest of the season.   

I hope they keep it up! Would love to see Trine win a couple playoff games this season!

[sac]

[Uncle Rico]

It looks like the Trine offense has been putting up some big numbers this year.  O-line?  Running game?  QB?  Could they crack the Top 25?  I have not been following them as closely as in the past. 

[TUAngola]

It looks like the Trine offense has been putting up some big numbers this year.  O-line?  Running game?  QB?  Could they crack the Top 25?  I have not been following them as closely as in the past.

Trine show some toughness when faced with adversity yesterday and came away with a huge win.  Defense wasn't as sharp as it had been in most games this year.  Adrian by far put up the most points/yardage against the Thunder yesterday and have a lot of offensive weapons that quite frankly Trine has not faced this year.  Stewart, Uecker, McGaw, Nutter, they are all pretty good players for Adrian.  The balance in their offense gave us fits all evening.

Still Trine was able to pull it out with a terrific 4th quarter.  QB Evan Wyse was a stud yesterday.  Every one knows he can run the ball, he is pretty powerful, but yesterday showed he can beat you with his arm too, had 3 TD passes.  Lamar Carswell had an outstanding game, he had to play a lot as the guy that Trine rotates at RB with Lamar, Mark Wilson, got banged up on his only carry yesterday and was out the rest of the game.  Seth Boggs, who is one of Trine's slot receivers, actually did some damage at tailback and scored a TD late as Trine only carries 3 tailbacks on the varsity roster; Carswell, Wilson, and freshman NiShawn Jones, who had a critical fumble in the 3rd quarter that led to Adrian tying up the game.

One of the biggest strengths of the team has been the O-line, they stay on their blocks really well and all you need is a sliver of daylight for Carswell.  Easily one of the biggest improvement from last years team has been this line.  They played well yesterday, but they have to clean up the holding calls, yesterday they had a bunch, but fortunately Trine was able to overcome almost every one to continue drives.

It's been a fun team to watch this year.  If you like offense, Trine can put up points in bunches. 

Not sure if Trine can crack the top 25 this year.  It takes some of the teams from say 15 on down to 25 in the poll to lose and you got to keep winning.  Trine's out of conference SOS hasn't been good.  So they have that against them.  Also the only team they faced in the MIAA with a winning record so far has been Hope.  So, the SOS from the MIAA has hurt them as well.  Trine finishes with Alma on the road and Olivet at home on Senior Day.  Olivet has had Trine's number the last few years, so it will be a big game in 2 weeks, and Alma always plays us close. 

[Mr. Ypsi]

Actually, I'm betting that Trine makes it into the top 25 later today!  Last week, they and Millikin tied for 24 points, the top slot among the ORVs - and Millikin lost yesterday.  It is a rare week that someone doesn't drop out of the poll, and Trine is poised to take that next slot.

On the other hand, no team in the bottom half of the poll lost yesterday, so this may be one of those rare weeks with zero drop-outs.

[Mr. Ypsi]

New poll is out - alas, no one dropped out.  Trine did pick up an additional 9 points, and sits all alone at the top of the ORVs.

Keep the faith - if they keep winning, they WILL crack the top 25 before the season is over!

[TUAngola]

New poll is out - alas, no one dropped out.  Trine did pick up an additional 9 points, and sits all alone at the top of the ORVs.

Keep the faith - if they keep winning, they WILL crack the top 25 before the season is over!

Still 33 pts out of #25 in the polls.  That's what a lousy SOS will do to an undefeated team. 

[Mr. Ypsi]

New poll is out - alas, no one dropped out.  Trine did pick up an additional 9 points, and sits all alone at the top of the ORVs.

Keep the faith - if they keep winning, they WILL crack the top 25 before the season is over!

Still 33 pts out of #25 in the polls.  That's what a lousy SOS will do to an undefeated team.

It's not JUST lousy SOS.  Case Western Reserve (also undefeated) has the third worst SOS in all of D3 (FAR below Trine's), yet is ranked 16th.  It is also reputational perception.  "Trine, the Rodney Dangerfield of D3!"

[Pat Coleman]

Regional rankings are out:
http://www.d3football.com/playoffs/2017/first-regional-ranking

[sflzman]

Why is Case a South Region team?

[Pat Coleman]

Why is Case a South Region team?

Because Case plays in the PAC.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Why is Case a South Region team?

Because Case plays in the PAC.

With the exception of the UAA in basketball (and maybe one or two others I've forgotten about), conference members are always put in the same region, regardless of an individual school's logical location.

But, yeah, leave it to the NCAA to put a Cleveland school in the South!

[sac]

Why is Case a South Region team?

Because Case plays in the PAC.

So, why is the PAC in the South 

[Pat Coleman]

Shifting those 11 teams to the North would skew the balance a bit.

[Pat Coleman]

Elaborating, now that I'm at my laptop -- there are 56 teams in the South and 53 in the North. The East has 63 (if you exclude the 10 NESCAC teams who don't participate in the rankings or postseason) and the West also has 63.

About 15 years ago, the MAC was in the South as well, but the ASC and USA South added football programs and the PAC brought schools in from the NAIA, so the South has changed a bit in that period.