FB: Upper Midwest Athletic Conference

[AO]

It's also a question of competition and affiliation. Do they value being NAIA and giving scholarship? Do they want to play in a conference which boasts some of the top teams in its respective division (i.e. Carroll in the Frontier)?

And travel between NoDak and central Missouri (13-14 hours) isn't exactly close either. But those would be the two travel outliers I suppose.

Interesting to see how this develops. Any thoughts from the UMAC crew if the league would be interested in adding Jamestown?

I think Jamestown would be welcomed.  A d3 version of the Jimmies would probably look similar to their closest UMAC rivals Presentation and Morris.

[DadofBashWarrior..]

Go Greenville...starting off another great season...

[bleedpurple]

ANYONE INTERESTED IN BEING PART OF THE 2011 TOP 25 FAN POLL, PLEASE SEND ME A MESSAGE WITH YOUR CURRENT EMAIL ADDRESS. Now that Kickoff is out, I'd like to get our first poll out by the middle of next week.

[gcfan]

saw this on the UMAC website, the 2011 coaches poll was released today

1. 81 Points - Greenville College (9 First Place Votes)
2. 73 Points - College of St. Scholastica (1)
3. 57 Points - University of Minnesota Morris
4. 55 Points - Martin Luther College
5. 50 Points - Westminster College (Mo.)
6. 38 Points - Crown College
7. 36 Points - Northwestern College (Minn.)
8. 33 Points - Eureka College
9. 14 Points - MacMurray College
10. 13 Points - Presentation College

[wab64]

Go get 'em Greenville. Best of fortune to the Panthers-start with Milliken and run the table.

[DadofBashWarrior..]

Congrats to College of St. Scholastica and their win over Greenville...and Greg Carlson on building a program there...

[218Tommie]

So, if St. Scholastica wins out....who do you think they will get first round of the playoffs? I'm kinda hoping UST (or whoever represents the MIAC) just for selfish reasons, have a few friendly bets going with some of my friends that play there and my HS coach.

[D O.C.]

We would love to host St. Scholastica out at THE CATDOME.

[footballguy72]

Greenville guy and I will be rooting for St. Scholastica to earn the UMAC some respect next weekend!

[tommiegun]

Congratulations to the Saints on securing the 7 seed in the Delaware Valley Bracket.  Pretty impressive going from no program to NCAA tournament in 4 years.

Ok. So what can we expect from CSS in the first round at St. Thomas? 

[USTBench]

Congratulations to the Saints on securing the 7 seed in the Delaware Valley Bracket.  Pretty impressive going from no program to NCAA tournament in 4 years.

Ok. So what can we expect from CSS in the first round at St. Thomas?

*crickets chirping

[tommiegun]

I think the crickets are dead.

[hazzben]

If both teams come to play (translation: UST isn't looking past CSS) I'd say UST wins by at least 35 points. We might even be talking double monkey stomp territory.

CSS has done an great job creating a program and making it to the playoffs so quickly. That said, the playoffs is a whole new animal. The intensity increases noticeably, a change UST has experience with. That and CSS's played no one this year that is remotely as good as UST. While I'd wager UST has played a handful of teams that are probably better than the Saints.

It could be a long day on Saturday. But those first year playoff lumps can certainly be the seeds of future playoff success if a team and coach learn from them. Bethel can certainly attest to that.

[USTBench]

If both teams come to play (translation: UST isn't looking past CSS) I'd say UST wins by at least 35 points. We might even be talking double monkey stomp territory.

CSS has done an great job creating a program and making it to the playoffs so quickly. That said, the playoffs is a whole new animal. The intensity increases noticeably, a change UST has experience with. That and CSS's played no one this year that is remotely as good as UST. While I'd wager UST has played a handful of teams that are probably better than the Saints.

It could be a long day on Saturday. But those first year playoff lumps can certainly be the seeds of future playoff success if a team and coach learn from them. Bethel can certainly attest to that.

I think the idea of UST scheduling a WIAC team and St. Norbert's early is to get an idea of the talent level/style of play they'd be dealing with in the playoffs outside of teams they know well (SJU, Bethel, Concordia, St. Olaf). They're wise not to go full-tilt and schedule a NCC/Linfield type team early because the MIAC is pretty strong, and that kind of intensity early I don't think is beneficial. From what I can tell, CSS has not scheduled a program of UST's ilk in their history, so I think it will be an eye-opener. I'm looking forward to it, they have a talented bunch up in Duluth it seems.

[Retired Old Rat]

The Tommies have ugly uniforms.  And since they are not a Benedictine school, they are inferior.