FB: Middle Atlantic Conference

[PBR...]

lyco/kings score was closer than pbr thought...24-21 lyco win...good day of games across the mac today. well done everyone

[labart96]

lyco/kings score was closer than pbr thought...24-21 lyco win...good day of games across the mac today. well done everyone

congrats on the big dvc win pbr

[BAK4LVC]

Sorry, but I'm not buying Wilkes being up in the class of the MAC with Delaware Valley and Albright until they do it against MAC opponents.  The Muhlenburg win has been devalued after Gettysburg dominated them, and while the Montclair State win was impressive and the Christopher Newport win was a good one, I'm still not convinced either of them is top notch this year.  With quarterback play being at a premium, you still have to go through four year starters Mike Isgro and Tanner Kelley if you're going to win the MAC.  This goes for my Flying Dutchmen as well, who get their shot to prove themselves against the Aggies tomorrow.  Until Lebanon Valley wins a big game in conference, they can't be mentioned in the elite class either.

While I know that Gordon usually has the market on Delaware Valley broadcasts, if you are looking for a different view from the underdog program, the Delaware Valley at Lebanon Valley game can be heard at http://www.wmssfm.com/live.shtml.  You need Real Player to listen, but it is a free download.  Here's to a great weekend of MAC action starting tonight at FDU!

BAK4LVC,

You want to talk senior QB play in the MAC, and how Wilkes may not measure up in that catagory? Let's talk....

I've seen the first two Wilkes games this year, and I can tell you that the play of senior QB Rob Johnson has been a major factor in the 3-0 start. While he may not get as much attention as the more ballyhooed seniors around the MAC, Rob is a great athlete who is in his second year as a starter, and has grown very much in his four years with the team. I worked with the program during his first two years- he even lived nextdoor to me in his freshman year. So don't sleep on the Colonels because of QB play- Johnson is powering that offense, and a young group of wideouts is earning their stripes as they go along.

As for the schedule, Muhlenberg was in a rebuilding year from the start- everyone knew that. But if any of you are wondering how Wilkes is going to tackle Albright's horse, look at the Colonels game with Muhlenberg. In 7 years of following/working in the MAC I've seen some darn good backs- Steve Cook, Chris Jacobs, Richard Jackson...and Muhlenberg has a freshman RB who has the potential to be as good as  any of them. While I haven't seen the rest of the Centennial, I would be shocked if that guy isn't in the running for rookie of the year in the league. So the Colonels have some experience with that, and the D-line has been developing more and more each week. Still, the strenght of the team is the secondary- five experienced, heady guys back there, all with great awareness, toughness, and charecter.

So my friend, take it from a Wilkes insider......this is the sharpest, most focused Wilkes team since the title year of 2006, which gave me that nice ring on top of my dresser Hopefully we'll see you at Ralston Field next week- until then, enjoy this week's action!

well pbr thinks bak4lvc is serving a nice helping of crow to several posters...bak4lvc called it. HUGE win for DVC today. the weekend is breaking out just like pbr predicted in his picks for the games. widener wins, dvc, albright (winning well into the 4th), waiting for a lyco/kings score...

Well, PBR, I would have loved to have been wrong (at least about my Flying Dutchmen), but coming into the year, there just seemed to be two teams on paper that were ahead of the rest.  They showed themselves today.  Congrats to the Aggies on their road win.  Can't say we didn't have our chances, but when you throw for less than 40 yards in a game and turn it our three times, you aren't going to beat the conference elite.  I will say this, the Flying Dutchmen offensive line is the best in the conference and our Parker/Guiles combo in the backfield is second to none.  Now if we could just make the big plays when they need to be made like Isgro seemed to do all game long...

I now will look forward to next week's virtual elimination game with Wilkes.

[PBR...]

Sorry, but I'm not buying Wilkes being up in the class of the MAC with Delaware Valley and Albright until they do it against MAC opponents.  The Muhlenburg win has been devalued after Gettysburg dominated them, and while the Montclair State win was impressive and the Christopher Newport win was a good one, I'm still not convinced either of them is top notch this year.  With quarterback play being at a premium, you still have to go through four year starters Mike Isgro and Tanner Kelley if you're going to win the MAC.  This goes for my Flying Dutchmen as well, who get their shot to prove themselves against the Aggies tomorrow.  Until Lebanon Valley wins a big game in conference, they can't be mentioned in the elite class either.

While I know that Gordon usually has the market on Delaware Valley broadcasts, if you are looking for a different view from the underdog program, the Delaware Valley at Lebanon Valley game can be heard at http://www.wmssfm.com/live.shtml.  You need Real Player to listen, but it is a free download.  Here's to a great weekend of MAC action starting tonight at FDU!

BAK4LVC,

You want to talk senior QB play in the MAC, and how Wilkes may not measure up in that catagory? Let's talk....

I've seen the first two Wilkes games this year, and I can tell you that the play of senior QB Rob Johnson has been a major factor in the 3-0 start. While he may not get as much attention as the more ballyhooed seniors around the MAC, Rob is a great athlete who is in his second year as a starter, and has grown very much in his four years with the team. I worked with the program during his first two years- he even lived nextdoor to me in his freshman year. So don't sleep on the Colonels because of QB play- Johnson is powering that offense, and a young group of wideouts is earning their stripes as they go along.

As for the schedule, Muhlenberg was in a rebuilding year from the start- everyone knew that. But if any of you are wondering how Wilkes is going to tackle Albright's horse, look at the Colonels game with Muhlenberg. In 7 years of following/working in the MAC I've seen some darn good backs- Steve Cook, Chris Jacobs, Richard Jackson...and Muhlenberg has a freshman RB who has the potential to be as good as  any of them. While I haven't seen the rest of the Centennial, I would be shocked if that guy isn't in the running for rookie of the year in the league. So the Colonels have some experience with that, and the D-line has been developing more and more each week. Still, the strenght of the team is the secondary- five experienced, heady guys back there, all with great awareness, toughness, and charecter.

So my friend, take it from a Wilkes insider......this is the sharpest, most focused Wilkes team since the title year of 2006, which gave me that nice ring on top of my dresser Hopefully we'll see you at Ralston Field next week- until then, enjoy this week's action!

well pbr thinks bak4lvc is serving a nice helping of crow to several posters...bak4lvc called it. HUGE win for DVC today. the weekend is breaking out just like pbr predicted in his picks for the games. widener wins, dvc, albright (winning well into the 4th), waiting for a lyco/kings score...

Well, PBR, I would have loved to have been wrong (at least about my Flying Dutchmen), but coming into the year, there just seemed to be two teams on paper that were ahead of the rest.  They showed themselves today.  Congrats to the Aggies on their road win.  Can't say we didn't have our chances, but when you throw for less than 40 yards in a game and turn it our three times, you aren't going to beat the conference elite.  I will say this, the Flying Dutchmen offensive line is the best in the conference and our Parker/Guiles combo in the backfield is second to none.  Now if we could just make the big plays when they need to be made like Isgro seemed to do all game long...

I now will look forward to next week's virtual elimination game with Wilkes.

its good to see lvc coming around. Isgro is just amazing, we have been very lucky at dvc to have 2 great quarterbacks for the last 8 years. knoblauch and now isgro. pbr really hopes people/fans of dvc appreciate how lucky we are to have that high of caliber qbs. The coaching staff deserves a lot of credit as well at dvc. Now go beat wilkes and show the mac that lvc is coming on strong. The season still has a looooong way to go, so yes pbr really anticipates the match w/ albright but there is still lyco, widener and rest of the mac teams lying in wait...

[gordonmann]

King's was leading that game late against Lycoming.

[dlippiel]

MAC getting no love in the poll. Del Val gets (28 votes), understandable to an extent but with their only loss coming at the hands of a down right nasty Wesley and their solid win over Leb Val dlip feels they warrent a bit more consideration. Especially when you have Cortland (sporting a 24-10 loss to Kean) at #19 and Ithaca at #20(losing to Union (2 votes) and playing very close games with Utica and Wick). Then you have Albright smoking a solid Wilkes team and only getting 2 votes? dlip isn't understanding the rational behind that. Just some thoughts for discussion today.

[Pat Coleman]

Well, I think this week in particular there were not a lot of votes up for grabs since none of the Top 25 lost. Hard to make big gains when there's nobody to lose a lot of points.

[dlippiel]

Well, I think this week in particular there were not a lot of votes up for grabs since none of the Top 25 lost. Hard to make big gains when there's nobody to lose a lot of points.

Makes sense, that with 25 W's from 25 ranked teams, the room for movement is minimal at best. Yet if Albright keeps it up and even Del Val to an extent both may be deserving of some top 25 love from the Guru and co .

[PBR...]

Well, I think this week in particular there were not a lot of votes up for grabs since none of the Top 25 lost. Hard to make big gains when there's nobody to lose a lot of points.

Makes sense, that with 25 W's from 25 ranked teams, the room for movement is minimal at best. Yet if Albright keeps it up and even Del Val to an extent both may be deserving of some top 25 love from the Guru and co .

pbr thinks the guru and kmack address that on the front page of d3football.com (havent listened to the podcast yet) but they say intro no one lost in the top 25 and and maybe the best 25 arent in the top 25. point being ( i agree w/ this mostly) that you cant really drop a team in the standings if they won their games. i.e. eventhough dvc won a tough game at leb val who do u drop in the top 25? all the teams won and did what they were supposed to in order to stay ranked

[kate]

To Del Val's Sport's Information Director, Matt Levy, it's a real pick me up to listen to the play of the week on the DVC  sports web site.  Thanks, Matt!

[BAK4LVC]

To me, we're seeing the same thing in the D3 rankings as we do in the other levels of college football.  The easy thing to do is to say, "This was how I ranked them last  week and no one lost, so my rankings don't change."  But with each game that is played, we learn more and more about each team and the quality of their competition.  What scares me a little is that Deleware Valley had a nice win over previous unbeaten Lebanon Valley... and lost nine points in the poll!  Wilkes was at 57 points, got waxed by undefeated Albright, and all Albright could muster was 2 points?  Does this mean that the MAC is no longer relevant nationally, at least in the eyes of the voters?  The balance of the conference (four different tournament representatives in last four years), combined with the recent early exits in the championship tournament by the MAC champion (Lycoming 08, Widener 07) may be hurting the MAC's national profile.  Looks like it's going to take some postseason success this year to put the MAC back on the national map.

[gordonmann]

From having voted in polls like and including this one for years, I know there are a lot of different, subjective and at times contradictory ways to approach filling out the Top 25 ballot.  Multiply that by 25 people and it becomes really hard to generalize, though it generates interesting, good football talk.

Personally I dropped a few teams who won this past week  because other teams picked up wins that I considered more impressive.  I try to make sure my ballot has some internal consistency (i.e. "If Bethel very narrowly lost to St. John's and Wheaton, and I have those two teams in the Top 10, then what does that say about Bethel?").  But that doesn't always work out.  There are teams on my ballot that lost to other teams whom I don't put in the Top 25 right now.

Just remember that it is deceiving to look at one team on the list in isolation because the voter may not be thinking in those terms, except at the very highest ranks ("I know Mount Union/UWW is the best team in the country so they are No. 1 regardless of others").  So Albright and Del Val's change in poll votes is likely related to a lot of other teams' success.

And there has always been a strong correlation between NCAA playoff success and higher poll rankings in the following year.  The last two years haven't helped the MAC in that regard.

[gordonmann]

Oh, and Kate, be sure to send me your address so I can pay you appropriately for the marketing testimony.

[PBR...]

From having voted in polls like and including this one for years, I know there are a lot of different, subjective and at times contradictory ways to approach filling out the Top 25 ballot.  Multiply that by 25 people and it becomes really hard to generalize, though it generates interesting, good football talk.

Personally I dropped a few teams who won this past week  because other teams picked up wins that I considered more impressive.  I try to make sure my ballot has some internal consistency (i.e. "If Bethel very narrowly lost to St. John's and Wheaton, and I have those two teams in the Top 10, then what does that say about Bethel?").  But that doesn't always work out.  There are teams on my ballot that lost to other teams whom I don't put in the Top 25 right now.

Just remember that it is deceiving to look at one team on the list in isolation because the voter may not be thinking in those terms, except at the very highest ranks ("I know Mount Union/UWW is the best team in the country so they are No. 1 regardless of others").  So Albright and Del Val's change in poll votes is likely related to a lot of other teams' success.

And there has always been a strong correlation between NCAA playoff success and higher poll rankings in the following year.  The last two years haven't helped the MAC in that regard.

so did u vote for dvc and albright to be in the top 25?

[gordonmann]

Neither, actually.

On Del Val, I see them more than any other school and have seen every game for six years now.  I think this particular team has a lot of potential to do something special this year but also watched them play poorly (offensively at least) against FDU-Florham and Lycoming last year.  With that more moderated view in mind, I wanted to see how they'd handle Leb Val - a tough team playing well at home - and Del Val passed with flying colors.  Unfortunately there were very few upsets last week and nowhere to put Del Val...yet.

Albright was a little further down my radar until last week.  Like Del Val, I wanted to see what they'd do with Wilkes and they aced that test.  If I only had room for one team at this point, I'd go with Del Val based on the strength of non-conference opponents.  But, again, the lack of upsets didn't produce a lot of ballot turnover.