FB: Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[emma17]

WIAC coaches and athletic communications personnel pick UW-W to win the WIAC again in 2017. The predicted order of finish is as follows:
Whitewater
Oshkosh
Platteville
Stevens Point
LaCrosse
River Falls
Stout
Eau Claire

Kind of shocked Oshkosh isn't above Whitewater. The Titans were just runners up in the Stagg Bowl, along with returning probably the best player RB/QB combo in the conference. UWW is returning 10 on offense, but just 3 on defense.

Edit: I just noticed Oshkosh isn't returning much more than UWW this season, with 9 on offense and just 1 on defense. So I guess it's kind of a toss up.

As winners of 10 of the last 12 conference championships, it's not exactly shocking UWW was picked by these folks to finish first yet again...it's a pretty safe bet. What I would really like to know is how the voting broke down; how many first place votes Whitewater received vs the rest of the league. Was it a near unanimous (can't be unanimous since voters can't vote their own team, right?) or split decision. Knowing this might help the curious mind decide how these guys are really thinking the season will play out.

I'm not at all surprised the Hawks would be the pick. I'm giuessing the voters did more wrestling in making their choices this year because of UW-O's playoff run. But UW-W has beaten UW-O four of the last five times they have played them and most voters probably expect it to come down to that game. .

UWW-UWO would make a great final game of the regular season, full of drama, intrigue and fan excitement. Unlikely to draw anywhere near as large of a crowd than when scheduled in Sept as it is this year. But, it would probably be a fine way to end the conference season. Instead they play the first weekend of conference play. 

The conference schedules are made up years at a time. So who knew 5-7 years ago that this would be a big game?

I get what you're saying, but the answer to your question is: A whole bunch of people. It simply was no secret that UWO was on the move evidenced by a semi-final appearance in 2012 (5 years ago). 

[emma17]

In the last two seasons the second place finisher went further in the playoffs. Winning conference is a fine objective, however I hope UWW's goal is winning a national championship.

Can't win a national title if you're not in the tournament. The conference championship is the only guaranteed route. Sure, the #2 WIAC team usually makes it, but leaving it to numbers and committee members is always dangerous.

I know we've had this discussion on the board before, but I will restate my point.
As much as I understand "winning conference is the only guaranteed route", I personally don't agree with setting Winning Conference as the season goal if the staff and players truly want to be national champions. The goal should inform every decision made/action taken.
IMO it's certainly possible a team can put everything into figuring out how to win conference and do so, only to find out in the playoffs that the style of play and type of players used to beat conference foes isn't effective in beating the best of the best national foes.
Know where you want to get to from the start and then use the regular season to prepare to get there.

[badgerwarhawk]

WIAC coaches and athletic communications personnel pick UW-W to win the WIAC again in 2017. The predicted order of finish is as follows:
Whitewater
Oshkosh
Platteville
Stevens Point
LaCrosse
River Falls
Stout
Eau Claire

The predicted standings are exactly the same as the 2016 final standings.  So none of the voters think anyone will finish any different than they did last year.

Well, that's probably not true, right? The aggregated total says the results will be the same but I didn't see where individual voters' ballots are published.

You're absolutely right Pat.  My bad I should have said that the group of voters didn't think anything would change rather than implying they thought that as individuals.  Thanks for the correction. 

[02 Warhawk]

Little WIAC tidbit at the bottom there....

http://scout.com/college/wisconsin/Article/Badgers-Recruiting-Menasha-Wis-safeey-Trent-Ingalls-no-longer-co-105972057

Well if he attends UWO, I'll support him wanting to stay away from football. 

[02 Warhawk]

In the last two seasons the second place finisher went further in the playoffs. Winning conference is a fine objective, however I hope UWW's goal is winning a national championship.

Can't win a national title if you're not in the tournament. The conference championship is the only guaranteed route. Sure, the #2 WIAC team usually makes it, but leaving it to numbers and committee members is always dangerous.

I know we've had this discussion on the board before, but I will restate my point.
As much as I understand "winning conference is the only guaranteed route", I personally don't agree with setting Winning Conference as the season goal if the staff and players truly want to be national champions. The goal should inform every decision made/action taken.
IMO it's certainly possible a team can put everything into figuring out how to win conference and do so, only to find out in the playoffs that the style of play and type of players used to beat conference foes isn't effective in beating the best of the best national foes.
Know where you want to get to from the start and then use the regular season to prepare to get there.

When Lance was here, he would always turn a cold shoulder to playoff talk during the regular seasonr. He constantly talked about preparing the team to win conference (one game at a time), then focus on the post season when it comes. And everything seemed to work out for the Hawks when he was around. 

However, whether or not Lance and his coaching staff truly practiced that behind closed doors....nobody knows (with the exception of maybe Bleed). Maybe they secretly did keep an eye on team's around the nation, and prep'd for the playoffs away from the team/public eye...I don't know.

[palum]

WIAC coaches and athletic communications personnel pick UW-W to win the WIAC again in 2017. The predicted order of finish is as follows:
Whitewater
Oshkosh
Platteville
Stevens Point
LaCrosse
River Falls
Stout
Eau Claire

The predicted standings are exactly the same as the 2016 final standings.  So none of the voters think anyone will finish any different than they did last year.

In the D3Football preseason poll La Crosse received votes and Stevens Point did not do they know something that the WIAC Coaches and SID's don't know. When I first looked at the WIAC poll the first 3 do not surprise me and the bottom 3 could fall in any order of those teams. I think the big question for the WIAC this year is  the 4-5 position will it be Point and La Crosse or the other way around. Also has either Point or La Crosse improved enough to knock off a WW, Osh or P-ville?

[BoBo]

Little WIAC tidbit at the bottom there....

http://scout.com/college/wisconsin/Article/Badgers-Recruiting-Menasha-Wis-safeey-Trent-Ingalls-no-longer-co-105972057

Well if he attends UWO, I'll support him wanting to stay away from football. 

He may have been "encouraged" to give up his committment as the Badgers have a Cornerback out of Fort Lauderdale (Marquis Williams) that holds a UW offer and has the Badgers in his final group. Eventhough Ingalls was one of the Badgers first recuits for 2018, he wasn't that highly rated in this cycle. Williams is someone the Badgers have been after really hard. With Ingalls de-committed, there is now an opening for Williams, should he want it. That's how things roll in the recuiting business.

[BoBo]

WIAC coaches and athletic communications personnel pick UW-W to win the WIAC again in 2017. The predicted order of finish is as follows:
Whitewater
Oshkosh
Platteville
Stevens Point
LaCrosse
River Falls
Stout
Eau Claire

The predicted standings are exactly the same as the 2016 final standings.  So none of the voters think anyone will finish any different than they did last year.

In the D3Football preseason poll La Crosse received votes and Stevens Point did not do they know something that the WIAC Coaches and SID's don't know. When I first looked at the WIAC poll the first 3 do not surprise me and the bottom 3 could fall in any order of those teams. I think the big question for the WIAC this year is  the 4-5 position will it be Point and La Crosse or the other way around. Also has either Point or La Crosse improved enough to knock off a WW, Osh or P-ville?

I would trust a WIAC coach and to a lesser degree, a WIAC SID, before I would a D3Football.com voter. They would know much more about this league that some Tom, Dick, or Harry who only gets their knowledge about the WIAC from what D3football.com provides them as resource material. At the end of the day, does it really matter who finishes 4th or 5th anyway?

[Pat Coleman]

Guess we'll see, eh?

Psst -- I was one of the people with UWL on my ballot. But behind the other three WIAC teams, of course.

[bleedpurple]

WIAC coaches and athletic communications personnel pick UW-W to win the WIAC again in 2017. The predicted order of finish is as follows:
Whitewater
Oshkosh
Platteville
Stevens Point
LaCrosse
River Falls
Stout
Eau Claire

The predicted standings are exactly the same as the 2016 final standings.  So none of the voters think anyone will finish any different than they did last year.

Well, that's probably not true, right? The aggregated total says the results will be the same but I didn't see where individual voters' ballots are published.

You're absolutely right Pat.  My bad I should have said that the group of voters didn't think anything would change rather than implying they thought that as individuals.  Thanks for the correction.

Missed in the nuances of this conversation is that the original response by BW isn't true. River Falls finished ahead of LaCrosse last year.

[bleedpurple]

Guess we'll see, eh?

Psst -- I was one of the people with UWL on my ballot. But behind the other three WIAC teams, of course.

Your support for UW-L is impressive considering they ended 2016 on a five game losing streak and gave up 152 points in their last three games in 2016.   I guess that can happen to an ascending team when you play in the WIAC!  And then there is the matter of ten consecutive losing seasons in conference play.  Certainly adds to the validity of the Conference's number one ranking!

[Pat Coleman]

My vote definitely relies on Yaeggi being healthy in all 10 games, for sure. I can see them as the No. 4 team in the WIAC this season and I'd generally at least consider voting for four WIAC teams.

[bleedpurple]

In the last two seasons the second place finisher went further in the playoffs. Winning conference is a fine objective, however I hope UWW's goal is winning a national championship.

Can't win a national title if you're not in the tournament. The conference championship is the only guaranteed route. Sure, the #2 WIAC team usually makes it, but leaving it to numbers and committee members is always dangerous.

I know we've had this discussion on the board before, but I will restate my point.
As much as I understand "winning conference is the only guaranteed route", I personally don't agree with setting Winning Conference as the season goal if the staff and players truly want to be national champions. The goal should inform every decision made/action taken.
IMO it's certainly possible a team can put everything into figuring out how to win conference and do so, only to find out in the playoffs that the style of play and type of players used to beat conference foes isn't effective in beating the best of the best national foes.
Know where you want to get to from the start and then use the regular season to prepare to get there.

I completely understand your point. And I don't disagree with it. I just believe your thinking is a little black-and-white-ish.  I believe the dynamic within a football program changes the approach to implementing the goal. If you use the definition of the goal as strictly "The goal should inform every decision made/action taken", then I promise on a stack of Bibles that the goal of the UW-W football program is to win the National Championship. Why do you think so many players with bumps and bruises sat out against Stout and Lakeland? But when the guys report for camp, there is ONE meeting in which the National Championship goal is mentioned. After that, it becomes counterproductive and can even be a distraction. Do you really want 100 college kids thinking of Salem, VA when preparing for Illinois Wesleyan?

UW-W plays in the toughest conference in the country. As much as I understand your philosophy, over-emphasizing the national championship during the season can even sound disrespectful to the other teams in the conference. It's the same reason I doubt very much you will hear much from UW-O about returning to the Stagg Bowl publicly.  First things first.

UW-W has not changed their goals one single iota and they have won twice as many National Championships as any other D-III school in the last 10 years.  However they do it seems to be working OK.

[emma17]

My vote definitely relies on Yaeggi being healthy in all 10 games, for sure. I can see them as the No. 4 team in the WIAC this season and I'd generally at least consider voting for four WIAC teams.

Pat I like your UWL thinking.
If Yaeggi stays healthy I pick them for third in conference and surely wouldn't be surprised if they upset #1 or #2.

[emma17]

In the last two seasons the second place finisher went further in the playoffs. Winning conference is a fine objective, however I hope UWW's goal is winning a national championship.

Can't win a national title if you're not in the tournament. The conference championship is the only guaranteed route. Sure, the #2 WIAC team usually makes it, but leaving it to numbers and committee members is always dangerous.

I know we've had this discussion on the board before, but I will restate my point.
As much as I understand "winning conference is the only guaranteed route", I personally don't agree with setting Winning Conference as the season goal if the staff and players truly want to be national champions. The goal should inform every decision made/action taken.
IMO it's certainly possible a team can put everything into figuring out how to win conference and do so, only to find out in the playoffs that the style of play and type of players used to beat conference foes isn't effective in beating the best of the best national foes.
Know where you want to get to from the start and then use the regular season to prepare to get there.

I completely understand your point. And I don't disagree with it. I just believe your thinking is a little black-and-white-ish.  I believe the dynamic within a football program changes the approach to implementing the goal. If you use the definition of the goal as strictly "The goal should inform every decision made/action taken", then I promise on a stack of Bibles that the goal of the UW-W football program is to win the National Championship. Why do you think so many players with bumps and bruises sat out against Stout and Lakeland? But when the guys report for camp, there is ONE meeting in which the National Championship goal is mentioned. After that, it becomes counterproductive and can even be a distraction. Do you really want 100 college kids thinking of Salem, VA when preparing for Illinois Wesleyan?

UW-W plays in the toughest conference in the country. As much as I understand your philosophy, over-emphasizing the national championship during the season can even sound disrespectful to the other teams in the conference. It's the same reason I doubt very much you will hear much from UW-O about returning to the Stagg Bowl publicly.  First things first.

UW-W has not changed their goals one single iota and they have won twice as many National Championships as any other D-III school in the last 10 years.  However they do it seems to be working OK.

I think this concept of a primary season goal of a National Championship gets convoluted with traditional "win the conference" thinking. For instance, I don't think it's logical to say

Do you really want 100 college kids thinking of Salem, VA when preparing for Illinois Wesleyan?

if you're not going to say "Do you really want 100 college kids thinking of Oshkosh when preparing for Illinois Wesleyan?" What's the difference?
Either way, I think we can all agree that one of the most important jobs a coach has is to get the 100 college kids thinking only of the upcoming game, regardless of the season's goal. LL always referred to it as the process, which you hear many coaches say.
The stated goal doesn't take the place of daily coaching. The stated goal may however, change the type of player that gets recruited. It may change the type/style of play to a degree and it may change the way practices are held to a degree.
Put another way, if I were a coach teaching the importance of playing fast, I would use drills that prepare the team for the type of athletes Mt Union or MHB has. I likely wouldn't stress to the team that they are preparing for game 15 vs Mt Union or MHB kids, but I sure as heck would let them know that the speed of the next conference game isn't the same as the speed of the deep playoff team.