FB: Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[New Tradition]

Just wow! Thanks for doing right by D-III, UWW!

I desperately need to get some sleep but thought I'd promote this conversation I had after the game with Jason Dannelly, the NAIA football guru. Good takes on where each team might end up if playing in the other's division plus him conceding bragging rights for the next year.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6FCYGk-h6A

Thanks for going and staying late Pat- the three interviews are excellent and a great way to cap off the excitement. Your interview w Coach Bullis really showed his humility and honesty.

As 02 said- now I can relax andtake in some great D3 games this weekend.

Get serious, we know you'll be in Naperville watching Wesley/NCC. 

You can watch it from your couch, also, at NCTV17.com.  Don't mind the color guy, he's a bit of a hack. 

[emma17]

Just wow! Thanks for doing right by D-III, UWW!

I desperately need to get some sleep but thought I'd promote this conversation I had after the game with Jason Dannelly, the NAIA football guru. Good takes on where each team might end up if playing in the other's division plus him conceding bragging rights for the next year.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6FCYGk-h6A

Thanks for going and staying late Pat- the three interviews are excellent and a great way to cap off the excitement. Your interview w Coach Bullis really showed his humility and honesty.

As 02 said- now I can relax andtake in some great D3 games this weekend.

Get serious, we know you'll be in Naperville watching Wesley/NCC. 

Guilty as charged.  If technology works, I hope to have the Johnnies-Tommies game on my I Phone and Wabash-Witt on my wife's.   

[Pat Coleman]

Just wow! Thanks for doing right by D-III, UWW!

I desperately need to get some sleep but thought I'd promote this conversation I had after the game with Jason Dannelly, the NAIA football guru. Good takes on where each team might end up if playing in the other's division plus him conceding bragging rights for the next year.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6FCYGk-h6A

Thanks for going and staying late Pat- the three interviews are excellent and a great way to cap off the excitement. Your interview w Coach Bullis really showed his humility and honesty.

As 02 said- now I can relax and take in some great D3 games this weekend.

Thanks -- Coach Bullis gave some thoughtful and complete answers. Normally I wouldn't keep asking questions six minutes in or expect people to watch a seven-minute video, but the game demanded it, in my mind.

[emma17]

Question:
What do you think happens with the NAIA rankings?

[ExTartanPlayer]

Question: What do you think happens with the NAIA rankings?

Not really sure what the people who vote on the NAIA rankings think of D3.  As has been noted, they like to think they're more on par with D2 but it's not really that simple; however if some of their voters genuinely believe that "D3 is inferior to the NAIA" (without taking anything else into account) some people might drop them a few slots.  I would like to think they would not be docked for losing to multi-defending-national-champion that's gone undefeated four of the last five seasons against what we perceive to be relatively similar competition, but I expect that they'll drop at least a few slots.

[jknezek]

Question:
What do you think happens with the NAIA rankings?

Just a WAG, but I'm thinking they drop to 8th or 9th if everyone else wins. That's puts them behind the "known" programs and the undefeateds that generally sit near the top but have losses to each other. Complete WAG though...

[USee]

Question:
What do you think happens with the NAIA rankings?

I think Morningside drops to #2 and UWW appears as #1.

First team to ever hold #1 in 2 different divisions. Kind of like Sugar Ray Leonard holding the title in different weight classes.

[Gregory Sager]

Just wow! Thanks for doing right by D-III, UWW!

I desperately need to get some sleep but thought I'd promote this conversation I had after the game with Jason Dannelly, the NAIA football guru. Good takes on where each team might end up if playing in the other's division plus him conceding bragging rights for the next year.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6FCYGk-h6A

Good interview, Pat. I chuckled at the "Minnesota nice" reference at the end.

[DBQ1965]

Massey Ratings has UWW winning 44-28 on Thursday.

So take that for what it's worth.

I've seen a few people suspect on Morningside's defense against good offenses. If they're defense can be suspect then it's winnable for UWW. If it's a shootout I don't particularly like our chances. Hope the RBs can pound the rock, control clock and keep their offense off the field.

Who are these few people you speak of?

Games like this, like the Mount contests, are going to be won by the team who win and control the line of scrimmage. Everything happens because of that. I like our chances against ANYBODY in that regard. I also think we can win with their defense suspect or not. We will control the clock with our pound the rock philosophy and our discipline. I have yet to see an NAIA team with good team discipline. Our guys have been battle tested in close games and nearly always come out on top. I can see Morningside crumbling when the going gets tough since they have really never faced that kind of pressure for a complete game. Just my IMO. Now, go pick it apart.

Sure!

[emma17]

Question: What do you think happens with the NAIA rankings?

Not really sure what the people who vote on the NAIA rankings think of D3.  As has been noted, they like to think they're more on par with D2 but it's not really that simple; however if some of their voters genuinely believe that "D3 is inferior to the NAIA" (without taking anything else into account) some people might drop them a few slots.  I would like to think they would not be docked for losing to multi-defending-national-champion that's gone undefeated four of the last five seasons against what we perceive to be relatively similar competition, but I expect that they'll drop at least a few slots.

To be clear I'm not raising this question as a bashing of the NAIA- I was very impressed w Morningside's team and their fight. I don't pretend UWW would own a series w them.
I'm very curious if the voters would be tempted to take perception/reputation into their vote decision. If they do, I can see Robert Morris could be impacted. Rather than moving up even more given their victory over NAIA #1 last week and Morningside's loss, will their close game w UWO cost them votes?

[kubiack78]

Was reading the victory sports network forum on the WW Morningside game,  seems to be a lot of excuses being thrown around and the "team X would have won by 4 touchdowns" if they had played WW last night.   One guy said that Morningside should be dropped quite a bit to show that good NAIA teams don't lose to DIII

[MasterJedi]

Was reading the victory sports network forum on the WW Morningside game,  seems to be a lot of excuses being thrown around and the "team X would have won by 4 touchdowns" if they had played WW last night.   One guy said that Morningside should be dropped quite a bit to show that good NAIA teams don't lose to DIII

Was just reading that. Claiming that Morningside isn't the top team but a top 10 team and should have beaten UWW by 2 touchdowns and should be dropped hard because it's unacceptable to lose to a D3 team. Also how any of the other "proper top teams" would beat UWW by a lot and how their champion last year would have beaten UWW and Morningside by 4 touchdowns.

Seems they're still thinking NAIA>D2 lol

[kubiack78]

Was reading the victory sports network forum on the WW Morningside game,  seems to be a lot of excuses being thrown around and the "team X would have won by 4 touchdowns" if they had played WW last night.   One guy said that Morningside should be dropped quite a bit to show that good NAIA teams don't lose to DIII

Was just reading that. Claiming that Morningside isn't the top team but a top 10 team and should have beaten UWW by 2 touchdowns and should be dropped hard because it's unacceptable to lose to a D3 team. Also how any of the other "proper top teams" would beat UWW by a lot and how their champion last year would have beaten UWW and Morningside by 4 touchdowns.

Seems they're still thinking NAIA>D2 lol

Funny that they keep bringing up all the mistakes the Morningside made that "gave" WW the game.  Funny didn't see anything about the two fumbles by WW inside their own 20 that "gave" Morningside the lead. 30-26.  All they needed to do was stop WW from scoring a TD hmmmmmm

[jknezek]

I didn't spend a lot of time looking at it, but the little I did I do feel Morningside is probably more UMHB/Wesley/Linfield/MIAC Champ over the last 4 or 5 years than UWW or UMU. Really close sometimes, but not quite over the hump.

That doesn't take away from the great game, and the rankings were what they were, but Morningside LAST YEAR was handily beaten by a team that was handily beaten by the champion last year. Does that mean it would be the same this year? We will see as the season goes, but I can see how there are people claiming the #1 rating was a LITTLE inflated, emphasis on little. We have discussions all the time about our rankings, I'm not surprised they do also. Especially in the wake of a loss.

Does it matter? Let them salve their pride however they want. The fact is UWW went to the house of their coaches' number 1 and beat them in a hard fought close game. However the season turns out for both teams, that's a good win for UWW and a tough loss that will help battle test Morningside.

Impressive job UWW.

[bleedpurple]

I didn't spend a lot of time looking at it, but the little I did I do feel Morningside is probably more UMHB/Wesley/Linfield/MIAC Champ over the last 4 or 5 years than UWW or UMU. Really close sometimes, but not quite over the hump.

That doesn't take away from the great game, and the rankings were what they were, but Morningside LAST YEAR was handily beaten by a team that was handily beaten by the champion last year. Does that mean it would be the same this year? We will see as the season goes, but I can see how there are people claiming the #1 rating was a LITTLE inflated, emphasis on little. We have discussions all the time about our rankings, I'm not surprised they do also. Especially in the wake of a loss.

Does it matter? Let them salve their pride however they want. The fact is UWW went to the house of their coaches' number 1 and beat them in a hard fought close game. However the season turns out for both teams, that's a good win for UWW and a tough loss that will help battle test Morningside.

Impressive job UWW.

But the National runner-up last year (the one that throttled Morningside in the second half last year), beat Oshkosh last year 24-20 on a TD pass with one second left in the game.  And UW-W beat UW-O by 17 last year.  So what we really have from last year is a triad of results that are hard to decipher, especially a year removed. 

Just thoughts on several topics already brought up:
The post-game conversations you had were great, Pat.

Thanks to all D3 fans who became Whitewater fans for a night.  It shows the class and sense of D-III pride that exists underneath the back and forth of the message board.

Oz, thank you so much for your concern about the emotional state of the Warhawks.  This was a dramatic win for sure.  But it was emotional simply because Morningside is really good and because of the way Whitewater won.  In my experience, letdowns are more likely to come after emotional losses, not emotional wins (unless MAYBE a huge underdog victory). Also they seem to come BEFORE a huge game the following week.  No chance Whitewater looks past Platteville or Oshkosh.  They are both really good and everyone knows it. 

A win like this helps UW-W in numerous ways. First, it is a great experience to play an excellent team right before the conference season.  Second, the way they won will be a great confidence builder.  Of course, UW-W doesn't lack in that area, but IMO wins like that increase the late game "belief", even if it is already a strength.

Like other UW-W posters, very proud of the Warhawks.  The final drive was a beautiful example of execution and resolve with the game on the line.  They showed the character of a Champion last night.