FB: Upper Midwest Athletic Conference

[AO]

Greenville wins on Saturday...

I disagree.

Who gets the bid if Greenville wins, or what is the tie-breaking criteria in the UMAC?

It's not going to be necessary, but they would pick a name out of a hat.

II. NCAA Championship Automatic Qualifier ("AQ") Determination & Tiebreaker Criteria
A. Best conference record (based upon winning % of conference contests)
B. If two way tie then head-to-head result
C. If three-way tie then head-to-head results amongst three (2-0 advances)
D. If three-way tie without 2-0 record, then record against rest of conference standings in
descending order of finish (4th place, 5th place, etc.)
E. Random draw (if three or more teams) or coin flip (two teams) by UMAC Commissioner

[AO]

Greenville wins on Saturday...

impressive comeback, Scholastica must have been even more excited.  Hopefully they aren't sent to Tommieland again.

[DadofBashWarrior..]

Greenville wins on Saturday...

impressive comeback, Scholastica must have been even more excited.  Hopefully they aren't sent to Tommieland again.

Yes Greenville did win over Northwestern as I predicted...

The three way tie for Conference Championship ends with a random draw for the Automatic Qualifier on Saturday afternoon...Scholastica won the random draw and goes to the Playoffs on 11-17-12

Oddly both the remaining teams Greenville and Northwestern are both members of the the NCCAA (National Christian Colleges of America Association)...The NCCAA has a Victory Bowl game themselves which is awarded to the Top Seed (Greenville) who hosts the second seed (Northwestern)...so Greenville will host Northwestern in the Victory Bowl on 11-17-12.

Note: This puts Greenville in the Victory Bowl two years in a row and winning Conference Championships in 2 of the last 3 years...also of note Greenville finishes their regular season ranked 4th Nationally in Rushing Offense as seen below...

Rank   Name   Games   Carries   Net   Avg.   TDs   Ydspg   Wins   Losses   Ties
1   Wash. & Lee   9   566   3578   6.32   41   397.56   7   2   0
2   Springfield   9   510   2886   5.66   32   320.67   6   3   0
3   Ripon   9   558   2864   5.13   32   318.22   4   5   0
4   Greenville   9   536   2826   5.27   30   314.00   7   2   0
5   Trinity (CT)   7   373   2106   5.65   19   300.86   7   0   0
6   Mary Hardin-Baylor   9   474   2700   5.70   34   300.00   9   0   0
7   Salisbury   9   494   2633   5.33   31   292.56   7   2   0
8   Norwich   8   401   2237   5.58   19   279.63   6   2   0
9   Chapman   8   375   2211   5.90   18   276.38   6   2   0
10   Mt. St. Joseph   9   422   2458   5.82   24   273.11   4   5   0
11   Gettysburg   9   445   2435   5.47   34   270.56   6   3   0
12   Sewanee   10   611   2704   4.43   20   270.40   3   7   0
13   Gallaudet   9   431   2420   5.61   26   268.89   6   3   0
14   Delaware Valley   9   408   2380   5.83   30   264.44   7   2   0
15   Mount Union   9   412   2376   5.77   32   264.00   9   0   0
16   Johns Hopkins   9   442   2317   5.24   35   257.44   8   1   0
17   Wis.-Oshkosh   9   445   2294   5.16   27   254.89   9   0   0
18   Merchant Marine   9   536   2272   4.24   25   252.44   4   5   0
19   Concordia-M'head   9   433   2254   5.21   25   250.44   7   2   0
20   Hobart   9   450   2206   4.90   32   245.11   9   0   0
21   Elmhurst   9   392   2203   5.62   26   244.78   8   1   0
22   Augsburg   9   358   2195   6.13   19   243.89   6   3   0
23   Maine Maritime   9   551   2193   3.98   18   243.67   0   9   0
24   Sul Ross St.   9   358   2179   6.09   26   242.11   4   5   0
25   St. Thomas (MN)   9   401   2154   5.37   27   239.33   9   0   0
26   Framingham St.   10   479   2391   4.99   26   239.10   9   1   0
27   Bridgewater St.   10   508   2372   4.67   23   237.20   9   1   0
28   Heidelberg   9   399   2125   5.33   24   236.11   8   1   0
29   Illinois Col.   9   384   2118   5.52   29   235.33   8   1   0
30   Redlands   8   355   1875   5.28   22   234.38   5   3   0

[DadofBashWarrior..]

Greenville again?

[DadofBashWarrior..]

also of note Greenville finishes their regular season ranked 4th Nationally in Rushing Offense as seen below...

The #4 ranking comes into a litter better focus when you consider two other stats:
Strength of Schedule & Strength of Conference

Rank   Name            SoS   SoC 
1   Wash. & Lee          47    14
2   Springfield            46   16
3   Ripon                 134   20
4   Greenville           121   26

6   UMHB                  48    06
7   Salisbury              26    04
8   Norwich              208    23
9   Chapman            211    15
10   Mt S. Joe          219     25

15   Mount Union         65    02
16   Hopkins               52    12
17   UWO                   59    01

19   C-M'head             13    03
20   Hobart              120    16
21   Elmhurst             53   07
22   Augsburg              6    03

25   St. Thomas          36    03

So, taking account for the toughest schedules and toughest conferences, a more accurate sense of the elite running teams emerges.

In no particular order:

Wash & Lee; UST; UWO; Mount Union; Concordia-Moorhead; Elmhurst; Augsburg; Hopkins; Salisbury; UMHB; Springfield; Hobart. Each of these teams either played in an elite or above average conference or played against elite or above average competition, or both.

The rest either play in a bad conference or played very bad teams, or both. Doesn't mean they can't run the ball, but it does mean they were facing very subpar competition in racking up their stats.

Thank you Hazzbeen...I am well aware of all the stats you have produced...especially after 3 sons playing football with two at the collegiate level as well as one now a college coach and following Division III football since 1998....and it even includes many games at Bethel as one of my sons played center there...I know Steve Johnson to be a great coach and a good Man...

(BTW... one of the greatest games I have ever seen was Bethel /St John 2003...last game of the season for the championship...Bethel lost in the last 2 min when their QB was knocked out the game inside the 10yd line to go ahead...we all know St John went on to win the National Championship...)

But...statistics are still just that....

Bethel 24 Concordia 23....no one would have bet on that before the game...especially in light of the very stats you have provided (I watched the game online)



A quote I have seen on this site that I love...

Statistics are like bikinis...what they reveal is interesting...what they hide is essential

[DadofBashWarrior..]

Greenville having a great recruiting year...with the same coaching staff all returning...Conference OPY returning...QB returning and host of skill players returning...along with greatly improving in the air this past season...I look for them to make another run at that National Playoff Automatic Qualifier...Would like to see the UMAC adopt and upgrade their thinking and policy on conference ties...there is higher ground than flipping a coin

[ecreddevils]

Any UMAC fans out there?  EC off to its best start in years.  Should have beaten Greenville at home! 

Current standings:

Greenville    4-0    5-0
St. Scholastica    4-0    4-1
Eureka    3-1    4-1
Northwestern (Minn.)    3-1    3-2
Martin Luther    2-2    2-3
Westminster (Mo.)    2-2    2-3
Iowa Wesleyan    1-3    1-4
Minnesota-Morris    1-3    1-4
Crown    0-4    0-5
MacMurray    0-4    0-5

Good race shaping up for the top spot.  EC gets St. Scholastica at home, if we can win there we're right in the thick of it.  Northwestern has St. S and G-Ville the next two weeks. They can really shake things up by winning one or both of those games.

[DadofBashWarrior..]

Any UMAC fans out there?  EC off to its best start in years.  Should have beaten Greenville at home! 

Current standings:

Greenville    4-0    5-0
St. Scholastica    4-0    4-1
Eureka    3-1    4-1
Northwestern (Minn.)    3-1    3-2
Martin Luther    2-2    2-3
Westminster (Mo.)    2-2    2-3
Iowa Wesleyan    1-3    1-4
Minnesota-Morris    1-3    1-4
Crown    0-4    0-5
MacMurray    0-4    0-5

Good race shaping up for the top spot.  EC gets St. Scholastica at home, if we can win there we're right in the thick of it.  Northwestern has St. S and G-Ville the next two weeks. They can really shake things up by winning one or both of those games.

If there were more people on this board I would follow it daily as I do the NCAC board in the North...I have had two sons play D3...one was at Bethel in the MIAC...the other at Wabash in the NCAC...the Wabash grad is now the OC at Greenville so I have been following Greenville and the UMAC for the past 3 seasons this being his 4th season coaching there...was at the Greenville/Eureka game on your field 2 years ago where Greenville came from behind to win...I was unable to be at your field for the game with Greenville this year but I would like to stay in touch with you about Eureka and the UMAC...looking forward to your posts ecreddevils

[DevilDad]

UMAC is getting interesting. Two undefeated teams and Eureka with one loss (by one point) should make for an interesting end of season. Did UMAC change the method of choosing a conference champ in case of a three way tie?

[Pat Coleman]

There are no good ways of selecting a champ when three teams tie with one loss, unfortunately. They are all various flavors of bad. Whether you reward a random draw or the team that runs up the score the most or whoever has been out of the playoffs the longest, it's really hard to come up with a way that allows the players to earn it on the field once they lose a game.

[ecreddevils]

Any UMAC fans out there?  EC off to its best start in years.  Should have beaten Greenville at home! 

Current standings:

Greenville    4-0    5-0
St. Scholastica    4-0    4-1
Eureka    3-1    4-1
Northwestern (Minn.)    3-1    3-2
Martin Luther    2-2    2-3
Westminster (Mo.)    2-2    2-3
Iowa Wesleyan    1-3    1-4
Minnesota-Morris    1-3    1-4
Crown    0-4    0-5
MacMurray    0-4    0-5

Good race shaping up for the top spot.  EC gets St. Scholastica at home, if we can win there we're right in the thick of it.  Northwestern has St. S and G-Ville the next two weeks. They can really shake things up by winning one or both of those games.

If there were more people on this board I would follow it daily as I do the NCAC board in the North...I have had two sons play D3...one was at Bethel in the MIAC...the other at Wabash in the NCAC...the Wabash grad is now the OC at Greenville so I have been following Greenville and the UMAC for the past 3 seasons this being his 4th season coaching there...was at the Greenville/Eureka game on your field 2 years ago where Greenville came from behind to win...I was unable to be at your field for the game with Greenville this year but I would like to stay in touch with you about Eureka and the UMAC...looking forward to your posts ecreddevils

Great!  EC/ St. Scholastica is a huge game in a couple of weeks. Greenville is shaky, Crown nearly bumped them.  Hoping Northwestern can get it done on the road this week--if not Westminster is not an easy game, and could end up coming down to the GC vs. St. S on the last week of the season. 

EC/Mac this weekend looks easy on paper, but Mac always plays us tough at their place, beating us 40-21 there 2 years ago with a team that was 0-8. Potential trip game, but I just don't think we let that happen this time.

[DevilDad]

I think EC, St. Schol., and Greenville should all win this week. Greenville might have the hardest game of the three this week. Hopefully EC and St. Schol. won't look past this week to their game next week.

[DadofBashWarrior..]

I think EC, St. Schol., and Greenville should all win this week. Greenville might have the hardest game of the three this week. Hopefully EC and St. Schol. won't look past this week to their game next week.

Glad to see more posting here...great competition this season

[DevilDad]

Top three tams win today. Next week's game between Eureka and St. Scholastica will be game to watch. A Eureka wins creates a two way tie for second and Saints win ties them for first place. Game is at Eureka so I think I will give them a slight edge because of the long drive down.

[ecreddevils]

EC vs. St. S is indeed a huge game.  EC defense is for real, although they gave up some big plays to lowly Mac on Saturday.  The question for me is whether the offense can get back on track.  A very weak Mac defense basically shut us out for the entire second half.  That said, home field advantage is big here and I have to think EC finds a way to get this done, but it will be close. 

If it happens, St. S vs. GC becomes huge in the last week.