FB: Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[bleedpurple]

Willamette at UW-Stevens Point preview:

www.uwwfootball.blogspot.com

[Barber Greene]

Former Warhawk OC Jim Zebrowski and the NIU Huskies are on various Fox sportsnets and Comcast channels right now also

The QB play was horrible. 14 of 29 for 93 yards and 3 interceptions.  Jim has a challenge before him. Where is Jeff Donovan when you need him? 

[BoBo]

Seems like there are 2 Quarterback coaches that have a lot of work to do!! 

[bleedpurple]

Meet the Adrian Bulldogs

www.uwwfootball.blogspot.com

[BDB]

Stout vs Black Hills State game tonight @ 7pm can be viewed here: http://www.b2livetv.com/partner_members.asp?id=75

Not sure of the cost, but I'm buying it!

[Raider 68]

Ohio Northern...14
River Falls...8
Start of second quarter

Ohio Northern misses a 34yard field goal attempt.  River Falls goes 80 yards in nine plays for a touchdown.  Taylor Edwards 121 yards rushing in half.  At the end of the first half...

Ohio Northern...14
River Falls...15

Wow..this would be a huge win for the WIAC to start off the year. Go Falls!

Yeah, this is giving me hope that Oshkosh could beat Mt. Union 

Just curious, how do you draw that speculation?

[Barber Greene]

Ohio Northern...14
River Falls...8
Start of second quarter

Ohio Northern misses a 34yard field goal attempt.  River Falls goes 80 yards in nine plays for a touchdown.  Taylor Edwards 121 yards rushing in half.  At the end of the first half...

Ohio Northern...14
River Falls...15

Wow..this would be a huge win for the WIAC to start off the year. Go Falls!

Yeah, this is giving me hope that Oshkosh could beat Mt. Union 

Just curious, how do you draw that speculation?

Oh, just that a weaker WIAC team played a stronger OAC team so toughly.  Maybe it will repeat itself in Oshkosh. Probably not.

[Raider 68]

From Barber Greene

"Oh, just that a weaker WIAC team played a stronger OAC team so toughly.  Maybe it will repeat itself in Oshkosh. Probably not."

I watched much of the live stats and that was a close game and the stats bear it out. Without the 2 late RF TO's, it could have gone either way.

Very few in the OAC thought it would be that close or the WIAC as well. I think it is great to see the two conferences play each other. However many D3 fans would prefer that the Mount/UWW not happen for awhile!

[bleedpurple]

I watched much of the live stats and that was a close game and the stats bear it out. Without the 2 late RF TO's, it could have gone either way.

So UW-RF plays ONU really tough. Tougher than most of us would have imagined. I've been thinking through what that means.  Some possibilities are:

1. Any given Saturday...
2. 11th Ranked ONU is over-rated.
3. The bottom teams of the WIAC would be competitive in almost every other conference.
4. UW-RF is drastically improved.
5. For whatever reason, UW-RF matched up well with ONU.
6. There is far less difference between the highly ranked teams and the unranked teams (maybe aside from the top two ) than we could have imagined.

I know it's only a matter of hours before there are more games and this will only be a W for ONU and an L for UW-RF. But in the meantime, any thoughts? One of these? A combination? A different explanation entirely?

[Mr. Ypsi]

I watched much of the live stats and that was a close game and the stats bear it out. Without the 2 late RF TO's, it could have gone either way.

So UW-RF plays ONU really tough. Tougher than most of us would have imagined. I've been thinking through what that means.  Some possibilities are:

1. Any given Saturday...
2. 11th Ranked ONU is over-rated.
3. The bottom teams of the WIAC would be competitive in almost every other conference.
4. UW-RF is drastically improved.
5. For whatever reason, UW-RF matched up well with ONU.
6. There is far less difference between the highly ranked teams and the unranked teams (maybe aside from the top two ) than we could have imagined.

I know it's only a matter of hours before there are more games and this will only be a W for ONU and an L for UW-RF. But in the meantime, any thoughts? One of these? A combination? A different explanation entirely?

I would give the most credence to #1 and #5.  #2 and #4 are entirely possible, but as yet unproven.  #3 is a gross overstatement - while there certainly are a number of conferences where the WIAC's last place team would consistently finish first, the bottom two or three would not be in serious competition for the title in quite a few conferences.  #6 is probably a overstatement, though partially true.  I think there is often little separation between #15 and #45 (leading back to #1 and #5 ).

[bleedpurple]

I watched much of the live stats and that was a close game and the stats bear it out. Without the 2 late RF TO's, it could have gone either way.

So UW-RF plays ONU really tough. Tougher than most of us would have imagined. I've been thinking through what that means.  Some possibilities are:

1. Any given Saturday...
2. 11th Ranked ONU is over-rated.
3. The bottom teams of the WIAC would be competitive in almost every other conference.
4. UW-RF is drastically improved.
5. For whatever reason, UW-RF matched up well with ONU.
6. There is far less difference between the highly ranked teams and the unranked teams (maybe aside from the top two ) than we could have imagined.

I know it's only a matter of hours before there are more games and this will only be a W for ONU and an L for UW-RF. But in the meantime, any thoughts? One of these? A combination? A different explanation entirely?

I would give the most credence to #1 and #5.  #2 and #4 are entirely possible, but as yet unproven.  #3 is a gross overstatement - while there certainly are a number of conferences where the WIAC's last place team would consistently finish first, the bottom two or three would not be in serious competition for the title in quite a few conferences.  #6 is probably a overstatement, though partially true.  I think there is often little separation between #15 and #45 (leading back to #1 and #5 ).

This certainly adds to the intrigue of the post season when we deal with a 32 team field, doesn't it. I would point out that D3Football has ONU ranked #11 and (without giving out any Kickoff "secrets" to any non-subscribers) UWRF faaar closer to 100 than 50. 

[Mr. Ypsi]

I watched much of the live stats and that was a close game and the stats bear it out. Without the 2 late RF TO's, it could have gone either way.

So UW-RF plays ONU really tough. Tougher than most of us would have imagined. I've been thinking through what that means.  Some possibilities are:

1. Any given Saturday...
2. 11th Ranked ONU is over-rated.
3. The bottom teams of the WIAC would be competitive in almost every other conference.
4. UW-RF is drastically improved.
5. For whatever reason, UW-RF matched up well with ONU.
6. There is far less difference between the highly ranked teams and the unranked teams (maybe aside from the top two ) than we could have imagined.

I know it's only a matter of hours before there are more games and this will only be a W for ONU and an L for UW-RF. But in the meantime, any thoughts? One of these? A combination? A different explanation entirely?

I would give the most credence to #1 and #5.  #2 and #4 are entirely possible, but as yet unproven.  #3 is a gross overstatement - while there certainly are a number of conferences where the WIAC's last place team would consistently finish first, the bottom two or three would not be in serious competition for the title in quite a few conferences.  #6 is probably a overstatement, though partially true.  I think there is often little separation between #15 and #45 (leading back to #1 and #5 ).

This certainly adds to the intrigue of the post season when we deal with a 32 team field, doesn't it. I would point out that D3Football has ONU ranked #11 and (without giving out any Kickoff "secrets" to any non-subscribers) UWRF faaar closer to 100 than 50. 

True, but ONU DID ultimately win by two TDs.  However much we argue about "close, late" (I'm as guilty as anyone ), games are still 60 minutes (or sometimes more) long.  To the cliche about horseshoes and hand grenades, I'll point out that close also counts in archery and riflery (and romance ), but NOT, in the end, in football.   While I predicted a bigger margin of victory (and, alas, was whupped by HScoach on OAC Pickems ), the final margin was not out of line with Kickoff's rankings, given #1 and #5 above.

[BoBo]

As easily as Mr. Ypsi can discount bleed's #3 as a gross overstatement, I could say that out of 27 conferences, the bottom of the WIAC would be, highly competitive in, say, 20 of them, if not a couple more. IMO, Mr. Ypsi's comments are more of an exaggeration than mine!! 

On the other hand, put some of these conference champions that breeze through their season undefeated without working up a sweat in the WIAC and they would lose at least 2 games and not make the playoffs.

Bravado aside, we'll just never know!! 

[Mr. Ypsi]

As easily as Mr. Ypsi can discount bleed's #3 as a gross overstatement, I could say that out of 27 conferences, the bottom of the WIAC would be, highly competitive in, say, 20 of them, if not a couple more. IMO, Mr. Ypsi's comments are more of an exaggeration than mine!! 

On the other hand, put some of these conference champions that breeze through their season undefeated without working up a sweat in the WIAC and they would lose at least 2 games and not make the playoffs.

Bravado aside, we'll just never know!! 

Even some of the 'weak' conferences have individual (or dual) teams that would keep the WIAC bottom-dwellers from dominating - e.g., the 'weak' NCAC has Wittenberg and Wabash, the 'quite weak' MIAA has Trine, etc.

I very much feel that the WIAC is the strongest 'top-to-bottom' conference in d3, but let's not get TOO carried away.

[bleedpurple]

"We want to shock the world and we want to go make a statement. They are a very good team. That will be the best team I will ever play in my life. Wisconsin-Whitewater, the defending national champs, that's the game that we want to go out and show the world what we can do. That's the game that we're just drooling to go play." Danny Taylor, Adrian College Team Captain (quoted on lenconnect.com).

Man, these guys really ARE Bulldogs, aren't they?