FB: Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[wally_wabash]

Jesus...if UWW manages to beat Wheaton. I think we'll have to travel to SJU. I thought whitewater did enough to earn home field throw out. Stagg bowl runner up, undefeated in the best conference, tough NC schedule.

Of course a lot has to happen for that though. And I don't envy SJU's second round match up.

Well, then it's going to be hard to root for the Johnnies. 

Yep.  The Region 6 committee boosted SJU ahead of UWW. 

[bleedpurple]

Jesus...if UWW manages to beat Wheaton. I think we'll have to travel to SJU. I thought whitewater did enough to earn home field throw out. Stagg bowl runner up, undefeated in the best conference, tough NC schedule.

Of course a lot has to happen for that though. And I don't envy SJU's second round match up.

Well, then it's going to be hard to root for the Johnnies. 

Yep.  The Region 6 committee boosted SJU ahead of UWW.

Don't matter. Johnnies had a great year. Warhawks had a great year. Wheaton had a great year. UMHB had a great year. Others had a great year.

Now we get to sort it all out!

[DuffMan]

Don't matter. Johnnies had a great year. Warhawks had a great year. Wheaton had a great year. UMHB had a great year. Others had a great year.

Now we get to sort it all out!

Amen to that!  That's the great part about D3!

[retagent]

The Johnnies have a tough road to get to the semis. As does UWW for that matter. SJU has some key injuries, so that makes it even harder. We will see if they can heal a bit and that could help. Obviously they will be  going with the experienced backup QB, but he does a good bit of running which is always risky.

I hope all saw the Jags 2 point conversion yesterday. Bartch "leading" Arnold into the end zone, followed by a chest bump. Good DIII moment.

[emma17]

I know this is playoff week, but if you haven't had a chance to see the video of the Kansas walk-on freshman (not a starter) that caught the two-point conversion pass to win at Texas, take a look at video shot from his family:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5A1L0BVxBAc

[emma17]

I'm interested in opinions on the final four this year. That top left bracket is a meat grinder, and the bottom left is pretty rough too especially for the Central/Bethel/Wheaton/Aurora group.

I'll go:
Top Left: Linfield (persevering through instant classics with St. John and UMHB).
Bottom Left: UWW (after a very low scoring game with Wheaton).
Top Right: NCC (winning every game by 20+ points- sorry UWL).
Bottom Right: UMU (after some close games in rounds 2 and 3).

[OzJohnnie]

Top Left: Linfield (persevering through instant classics with St. John and UMHB).

Next stop after your picks?  Delivering the Xmas presents.

[02 Warhawk]

*Wheaton, SJU, NCC, Mount

NCC over Wheaton

*Over the past two years Wheaton is the only team able to hang with NCC. Beat them in 2019 and lost a "relatively" close one this year. They could be the second best team in the country.

[USee]

Well, that would be some gauntlet to beat Aurora, Central/Bethel winner, UWW on the road, St J on the road, NCC/Mt Union in Canton. If the Thunder can somehow pull that off there will be no doubt, even to WW.

[WW]

I'm interested in opinions on the final four this year. That top left bracket is a meat grinder, and the bottom left is pretty rough too especially for the Central/Bethel/Wheaton/Aurora group.

I'll go:
Top Left: Linfield (persevering through instant classics with St. John and UMHB).
Bottom Left: UWW (after a very low scoring game with Wheaton).
Top Right: NCC (winning every game by 20+ points- sorry UWL).
Bottom Right: UMU (after some close games in rounds 2 and 3).

I don't think I'm buying what you're selling with Linfield. You gotta go back to 2015 to find them (or any out-westers) winning a 2nd round game. Usually whatever remains is done after a round 1 win against their fellow west-of-the-Rockies foe.

The rest of yours I like, but if I'm filling out brackets, this is the year when I spend $5 on a chalk bracket, then another $5 on a crazy one. Think about UWW v UWL, or SJU v Bethel. Those games were a single play or a mere second from having a different outcome. So this bracket will have...

Top Left: BSC*
Bottom Left: Central/Bethel
Top right: LaCrosse
Bottom right: Muhlenberg*

*I truthfully have little confidence in these two picks... but Central/Bethel (prob lean Central due to Bethel injury sitch), UWL, on the other hand, I wouldn't even call them dark horses. They're legit contenders.

[bleedpurple]

Plenty of time to talk about the brackets, it's only Tuesday.

Back in 2017, when UW-0 had a handful of good years behind them, an argument was being put forth by some posters that UW-0 may have "caught" UW-W as the top program in the WIAC.  Let's take another look:

Since 2017, UW-0 has a conference record of 14-7.

Since 2017, UW-W has a conference record of 20-1 and their conference record since 2005?  106-6.

So UW-0 has lost more conference games in the past three seasons than UW-W has lost since 2005.

Sometimes it's good to reflect on old discussions to see how things pan out.

Waiting for the same claim to be made about UW-La Crosse in the next year or two. 

[02 Warhawk]

Well, that would be some gauntlet to beat Aurora, Central/Bethel winner, UWW on the road, St J on the road, NCC/Mt Union in Canton. If the Thunder can somehow pull that off there will be no doubt, even to WW.

Yeah, that's a rough road. Following UWW all these years have taught me that close games makes teams stronger. I believe that's why UWW has 6 wins (in 9 Stagg Bowl games) over Mount Union. Each year UWW always  had the tougher road, and it wasn't even close. By the time they got to the Stagg Bowl, Whitewater was battle tested for a close, hard-fought game....whereas Mount (between playing in the OAC and their cupcake region in the bracket) never was tested. So when they faced a team that was their equal, they didn't have the experience to play through such adversity.

Put it this way, I think the winner of the Wheaton/UWW will be playing NCC.

[02 Warhawk]

I'm interested in opinions on the final four this year. That top left bracket is a meat grinder, and the bottom left is pretty rough too especially for the Central/Bethel/Wheaton/Aurora group.

I'll go:
Top Left: Linfield (persevering through instant classics with St. John and UMHB).
Bottom Left: UWW (after a very low scoring game with Wheaton).
Top Right: NCC (winning every game by 20+ points- sorry UWL).
Bottom Right: UMU (after some close games in rounds 2 and 3).

I don't think I'm buying what you're selling with Linfield. You gotta go back to 2015 to find them (or any out-westers) winning a 2nd round game. Usually whatever remains is done after a round 1 win against their fellow west-of-the-Rockies foe.

The rest of yours I like, but if I'm filling out brackets, this is the year when I spend $5 on a chalk bracket, then another $5 on a crazy one. Think about UWW v UWL, or SJU v Bethel. Those games were a single play or a mere second from having a different outcome. So this bracket will have...

Top Left: BSC*
Bottom Left: Central/Bethel
Top right: LaCrosse
Bottom right: Muhlenberg*

*I truthfully have little confidence in these two picks... but Central/Bethel (prob lean Central due to Bethel injury sitch), UWL, on the other hand, I wouldn't even call them dark horses. They're legit contenders.

I honestly had to look up what team BSC was. Those predictions are crazy alright, I agree with you have that. Also, I agree with Emma about NCC. Easy 3 score wins until maybe they play Mount.

[WW]

Dang, not much love for LaCrosse in this room, is there...

[02 Warhawk]

Not really about lost love for UWL, more so about who they're playing in round 2