FB: Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Warhawk 96]

Tough break hawks. Every once in a while you get a reality check. All you can do from this one in the words of Coach Borland, "Adjust and Proceed." Hopefully everything that needs to be adjusted is and it makes you hungrier in the long run. When picking playoff qualifiers, when was the last time a one loss previous year national champion got excluded from the playoffs?

Interesting to see that up to 6 teams really have a shot at this one.  I am not buying that no team is unbeatable based on remaining schedules.  All teams seem to have their flaws.  I mean a LAX team could go 5-5 overall and tie for the conference championship depending on how all else palys out.  I really think the WIAC is only going to get one in the playoffs this year.  Anyone remember what the tie-breaker situation is for the WIAC champion to get into the playoffs with a tie on top of the standings assuming it is a 3-way tie?  Been a little while since we've had to look at it.  

2 way tie- head to head match up
3+ way tie- The team that has been out of the playoffs for the longest time

On another note, great to see the footballfan clan out this weekend.

[the champ is here to stay]

I was at the Game with my three year old son as he wanted to see the racing sausages. It was disappointing to see the Hawks get beat after protecting their house for almost three years with out a loss.
This week's game against Eau Claire is HUGE as even though it's a non conference game it is still an in region game. I am not sure how a non conference in region loss will affect the hawk's playoff chances. However I do not remember the last time the defending national champions did not make the playoffs. However since 202 it has mainly Been Mount Union except the year Linfield beat Mary Hardin Baylor, and then last year.
The other thing we need to remember is that this last year was Leopold's first official recruiting class. As the kids he recruited after being hired were for the majority getting recruited by the old staff. So in a way he is still playing with Berezowitz's players.
We will see three years from know when he is playing with all of his kids what type of coach he is going to be. Not taking any credit away from him and what the accomplished last year. However that team was destined to win it all.

[stealth]

Yep even the best of the best loose one. Remember way back in the day when no one gave the Hawks a chance against MUC in the Stagg. Well consider this loss a wake up call to us as fans and the team. Some of us forgot to take into consideration that SP had one hell of a D coming into the game and proved on the field that they weren't a paper tiger. Congrats to SP they beat us fair and square but it's over. A grand beat down next week of EC will cure some of our anxiety. The sign of a champ is how you get off the canvas, or off the turf in this case.

C'mon lose one conference game in 3 years and they have to get new special team coaches and put in new plays.  They played bad, it happens. 
They will bounce back and prove they are the best team in conference this week and next.  Uww just need to keep doing what they have been and pound the rock even harder this week.

[WillieWarhawkforHeisman]

I agree with Goo......let's be honest, having as long of a conference winning streak as UWW did is very impressive and usually doesn't last that long (exception: MUC), but the Purple Raiders did lose to Ohio Northern during the regular season in 2005 ending a decent streak (i.e. 110 games to be exact).  Following that loss, they continued to win two national titles, one runner up finish and are looking to make it another deep run in the play-offs.  Warhawk faithful......HAVE PATIENCE FOR CRYING OUT LOUD....all of you Sunday/Monday morning quarterbacks are brutal.  You try watching 8 different films, getting 4 hours a sleep per night, formulating a game plan that documents what calls to make for a zillion different formations and then have the poise to make the exact call every time, good luck.  As I recall, our special teams returned a blocked punt against St. Xavier and almost blocked about three more. (granted brutal team)  As long as they have Lane "the train" Olson on every special team they will be fine.  Borland is, in my opinion, the best defensive coordinator in the nation and the best at making adjustments after a week like this.  Knowing from experience, Borland and the rest of the coaching staff won't cash in the season, they'll evaluate what went wrong and come back with a better game plan for next week.

Also, let's be honest.....who in their right mind is going to stand in the way of UWW up until the Natty Championship game.....North Central (refer to last year), UMHB (refer to last year), Wabash (brutal), Muhlenberg (you gotta be kidding me), Millsaps (yeah right).  The team will be hungry, on a mission and unstoppable until round 4 with MUC in Salem.

Goo....I am missing Ray's chili and can u believe the Mustard Museum is moving?

[Just Bill]

2 way tie- head to head match up
3+ way tie- The team that has been out of the playoffs for the longest time

To be technical, I think the three-way tie is "Whichever team has not recieved the AQ in the longest time."  Receiving an at-large bid woudn't count in that scenario.

[Barber Greene]

I agree with Goo......let's be honest, having as long of a conference winning streak as UWW did is very impressive and usually doesn't last that long (exception: MUC), but the Purple Raiders did lose to Ohio Northern during the regular season in 2005 ending a decent streak (i.e. 110 games to be exact).  Following that loss, they continued to win two national titles, one runner up finish and are looking to make it another deep run in the play-offs.  Warhawk faithful......HAVE PATIENCE FOR CRYING OUT LOUD....all of you Sunday/Monday morning quarterbacks are brutal.  You try watching 8 different films, getting 4 hours a sleep per night, formulating a game plan that documents what calls to make for a zillion different formations and then have the poise to make the exact call every time, good luck.  As I recall, our special teams returned a blocked punt against St. Xavier and almost blocked about three more. (granted brutal team)  As long as they have Lane "the train" Olson on every special team they will be fine.  Borland is, in my opinion, the best defensive coordinator in the nation and the best at making adjustments after a week like this.  Knowing from experience, Borland and the rest of the coaching staff won't cash in the season, they'll evaluate what went wrong and come back with a better game plan for next week.

Also, let's be honest.....who in their right mind is going to stand in the way of UWW up until the Natty Championship game.....North Central (refer to last year), UMHB (refer to last year), Wabash (brutal), Muhlenberg (you gotta be kidding me), Millsaps (yeah right).  The team will be hungry, on a mission and unstoppable until round 4 with MUC in Salem.

Goo....I am missing Ray's chili and can u believe the Mustard Museum is moving?

+Karma for the first paragraph, - Karma for the second (that attitude gets you beat-if you are on the team, that is. If you are a fan, it might make you look foolish later)

[Mr. Ypsi]

Also, let's be honest.....who in their right mind is going to stand in the way of UWW up until the Natty Championship game.....North Central (refer to last year), UMHB (refer to last year), Wabash (brutal), Muhlenberg (you gotta be kidding me), Millsaps (yeah right).  The team will be hungry, on a mission and unstoppable until round 4 with MUC in Salem.

1. If they get that far but go to Salem in week 4, they'll be forfeiting the semi-final game.

2. Last year is last year (as MUC discovered last year!)

3. While there is still a lot of football to be played, as things stand today I'd speculate that you might face NCC again - but in Naperville.  Currently it doesn't appear that the West will fill all 8 slots.  The top three ranked teams are all in the North.  One obvious possibility would be importing NCC as the #1 seed in the 'West'.  (Last year, rather than sticking with Regions, the Committee selected the 4 #1's, then build 'Regions' around them.)

[BoBo]

Also, let's be honest.....who in their right mind is going to stand in the way of UWW up until the Natty Championship game.....North Central (refer to last year), UMHB (refer to last year), Wabash (brutal), Muhlenberg (you gotta be kidding me), Millsaps (yeah right).  The team will be hungry, on a mission and unstoppable until round 4 with MUC in Salem.

1. If they get that far but go to Salem in week 4, they'll be forfeiting the semi-final game.

2. Last year is last year (as MUC discovered last year!)

3. While there is still a lot of football to be played, as things stand today I'd speculate that you might face NCC again - but in Naperville.  Currently it doesn't appear that the West will fill all 8 slots.  The top three ranked teams are all in the North.  One obvious possibility would be importing NCC as the #1 seed in the 'West'.  (Last year, rather than sticking with Regions, the Committee selected the 4 #1's, then build 'Regions' around them.)

Great, that would be like a homecoming (oops, wrong word to use  ) for all the northern Illinois Warhawks.  I'm sure they would like the opportunity to play in front of their family and friends a little closer to home.    

You're also speculating NCC makes it that far, right?  Certainly not a given.  Thers's still a lot of football to be played.

[dallas]

Congrats to SP.  They seemed to be the better team on Saturday and deserved the win.  Seems to be a lot of knee jerk reactions out there by the Hawk faithful.  Remember how young this team is...

At the beginning of the year would you have been more surprised if they went undefeated and won their second consecutive national championship or if they ended up losing 1 or 2 conference games in one of the (if not THE) toughest conferences in the country?  I hated to see them lose, but I think all of the talk of various staff/position changes is a bit overdone.  They'll bounce back and be ok.     

[AAHolder]

Alright...finally something I can talk about--Specials.

Punting the ball has been difficult this year for two reasons. First, there's a lack of experience. Kris is young. I understand that playing in the WIAC holds you to a different standard, as does playing for Whitewater. He gets few opportunities, and will be just fine. He's quite talented. I remember a certain punter who averaged about 33 yd/punt for an entire season following an All-WIAC year. Let's be patient.

Jeff is the best kicker in the country, and he knows when he doesn't play up to par. We've tried to make adjustments to his kickoffs of late, and this Spring. He understands that it's his downfall right now. Also, about the extra points. Teams can key-in on what new snappers do very easily. If you ask me, it's something that needs to be handled up-front. C'mon Dinkle--two-thirds, one-third!

As for the rest of the specials...things will pick up. The youth will soon become experienced.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Also, let's be honest.....who in their right mind is going to stand in the way of UWW up until the Natty Championship game.....North Central (refer to last year), UMHB (refer to last year), Wabash (brutal), Muhlenberg (you gotta be kidding me), Millsaps (yeah right).  The team will be hungry, on a mission and unstoppable until round 4 with MUC in Salem.

1. If they get that far but go to Salem in week 4, they'll be forfeiting the semi-final game.

2. Last year is last year (as MUC discovered last year!)

3. While there is still a lot of football to be played, as things stand today I'd speculate that you might face NCC again - but in Naperville.  Currently it doesn't appear that the West will fill all 8 slots.  The top three ranked teams are all in the North.  One obvious possibility would be importing NCC as the #1 seed in the 'West'.  (Last year, rather than sticking with Regions, the Committee selected the 4 #1's, then build 'Regions' around them.)

Great, that would be like a homecoming (oops, wrong word to use  ) for all the northern Illinois Warhawks.  I'm sure they would like the opportunity to play in front of their family and friends a little closer to home.    

You're also speculating NCC makes it that far, right?  Certainly not a given.  Thers's still a lot of football to be played.

Oh, absolutely.  I'm HOPING my alma mater, IWU, will render it moot in Naperville this Saturday!  (Though, trying to win pickems, even I won't predict that. )

[BoBo]

Alright...finally something I can talk about--Specials.

Punting the ball has been difficult this year for two reasons. First, there's a lack of experience. Kris is young. I understand that playing in the WIAC holds you to a different standard, as does playing for Whitewater. He gets few opportunities, and will be just fine. He's quite talented. I remember a certain punter who averaged about 33 yd/punt for an entire season following an All-WIAC year. Let's be patient.

Jeff is the best kicker in the country, and he knows when he doesn't play up to par. We've tried to make adjustments to his kickoffs of late, and this Spring. He understands that it's his downfall right now. Also, about the extra points. Teams can key-in on what new snappers do very easily. If you ask me, it's something that needs to be handled up-front. C'mon Dinkle--two-thirds, one-third!

As for the rest of the specials...things will pick up. The youth will soon become experienced.

I think Aaron Samplawski has been a pleasant surprise in the kick returner role...
...opponents have only been able to return 6 of 23 punts this year compared to 18 of 41 for the warhawks...
...have to research the exact number, but way too many penalties on kickoff returns...(way to many penalties overall, too)

[coocooforcoekohawk]

I hope both WIAC teams, if the WIAC does get 2 in, stay in the West.

Hope for two, you've got to be crazy.

Two is a lock when you look at the IIAC and MIAC this year.

This is true. How about the other 20 leagues, though, that all are competing for the same bids?

I was only considering the SCIAC, NWC, MWC, MIAC, IIAC, AND WIAC which makes six AQs and leaves two spots for more WIAC teams.  However, I guess only seven traditional west teams could make it and they could ship in a team from the traditional north to the west.  The north seems to be extra tough this year.

[Pat Coleman]

The West is not guaranteed any number of Pool C bids, you know that.

[chewey]

Is there any way of telling at this point whether it's likely one of the WIAC schools, if they get two in at all, will be in a different region?  I presume that the WIAC #2 or IIAC #2 would go out to Oregon.