Atlantic Central Football Conference/Independents

[@d3jason]

Tenth year of the turf

[jknezek]

Anyone else think, with Wesley's schedule and the fact that there are, right now, a bunch of worthy Pool B candidates, that they are in a lot of trouble? The best they can do, D3 wise, is 5-2. Now there could be some solid wins there, possible victories over the USASC champ and the possible E8 champ are very good, but if you get a couple Pool B teams going 10-0 (maybe Millsaps) or 9-1, 5-2 is going to look like absolute crud in comparison.

It's not that I don't think Wesley isn't at least a top 16 team, even after this loss, it's just that they are a poster child for schedule related failure this year.

[Teamski]

Who knows?  I am stunned Wesley lost.  But hey, it was bound to happen.  Another Montclair game where a Wesley QB throws an interception in the red zone to end the game.  Oh well, it is now up to the football gods to see if Wesley misses it's first playoff invitation in, what, like 7 years?

-Ski

[Teamski]

Who knows?  I am stunned Wesley lost.  But hey, it was bound to happen.  Another Montclair game where a Wesley QB throws an interception in the red zone to end the game.  Oh well, it is now up to the football gods to see if Wesley misses it's first playoff invitation in, what, like 7 years?

-Ski

Maybe more like ten years thinking about it.  The only thing that will save the team is their strength of schedule.

-Ski

[DE Wesley Fan]

It pains me to say this, but I don't know how strongly I could argue that we deserve a playoff spot this year.  Strength of schedule is obviously on our side, but unless there is a marked improvement over these last couple games I don't know how well we'd do even if we do manage to sneak in.  The offense had the same issues today as they've had most of the year, only magnified because we were playing a better team - inefficiency in the red zone, inconsistent line play, poor decision making by the QB.  Almost seems like that aspect of the game is getting worse instead of better.  Of course we do have flashes of greatness sprinkled in, and I truly believe this group will be a force to be reckoned with next year after having more time to play together and getting more experience.  Defense played well again this week, considering how much they were on the field, except for that last huge touchdown given up.

I have to give the offense credit for one play where they took a huge negative and turned into something positive.  In the 4th quarter, I believe it was 4th down around the 50.  Callahan wasn't ready for the snap and bobbled it, ended up in Jackson's hands and he scrambled around a bit with the defense coming at him.  Receivers worked back to him and he managed to throw it and get a completed pass.  Most amazing thing of it all was that there were no linemen down field (or at least not that were seen by the officials) after all that scrambling.  Great reminder of what is so much fun about watching this game.

[D3MAFAN]

It pains me to say this, but I don't know how strongly I could argue that we deserve a playoff spot this year.  Strength of schedule is obviously on our side, but unless there is a marked improvement over these last couple games I don't know how well we'd do even if we do manage to sneak in.  The offense had the same issues today as they've had most of the year, only magnified because we were playing a better team - inefficiency in the red zone, inconsistent line play, poor decision making by the QB.  Almost seems like that aspect of the game is getting worse instead of better.  Of course we do have flashes of greatness sprinkled in, and I truly believe this group will be a force to be reckoned with next year after having more time to play together and getting more experience.  Defense played well again this week, considering how much they were on the field, except for that last huge touchdown given up.

I have to give the offense credit for one play where they took a huge negative and turned into something positive.  In the 4th quarter, I believe it was 4th down around the 50.  Callahan wasn't ready for the snap and bobbled it, ended up in Jackson's hands and he scrambled around a bit with the defense coming at him.  Receivers worked back to him and he managed to throw it and get a completed pass.  Most amazing thing of it all was that there were no linemen down field (or at least not that were seen by the officials) after all that scrambling.  Great reminder of what is so much fun about watching this game.

That happened a couple times during the game for Callahan as well.

[D O.C.]

it's just that they are a poster child for schedule related failure this year.

Ditto.

Wesley's worthy opponent would like to see them get into a DIII  conference and quit messing up a great program.

[D3MAFAN]

it's just that they are a poster child for schedule related failure this year.

Ditto.

Wesley's worthy opponent would like to see them get into a DIII  conference and quit messing up a great program.

It is such as shame that no one would make an exception and allow them in a conference, but certain conferences have rules that Wesley can abide by such as player roster (i.e. NJAC), which seems like the most reasonable conference or somehow wait it out until the Capital Athletic Conference comes around or do something like Galla-Det and join the ECFC, that would definitely help their conference.

[pumkinattack]

I've never been a big fan of the NJAC, but if the other schools have agreed to it, I have no problem with them not making a roster exception for a different school.  If it were important enough to Wesley to be in a conference like the NJAC then they should pare the roster to join.  I don't have a problem with Wesley's choice to not do so either, but it would be unfair to blame the NJAC for not allowing an exception (especially in a state that has a credit rating in he bottom third of the country and can seen by their muni credit spreads, where state funded higher education is subsidized and tuition is not a money maker for most of these state schools).

[wesleydad]

Anyone else think, with Wesley's schedule and the fact that there are, right now, a bunch of worthy Pool B candidates, that they are in a lot of trouble? The best they can do, D3 wise, is 5-2. Now there could be some solid wins there, possible victories over the USASC champ and the possible E8 champ are very good, but if you get a couple Pool B teams going 10-0 (maybe Millsaps) or 9-1, 5-2 is going to look like absolute crud in comparison.

It's not that I don't think Wesley isn't at least a top 16 team, even after this loss, it's just that they are a poster child for schedule related failure this year.

JK, good question.  no excuse to lose this game.  I am not even sure if they are a top 16 team if they do not show any improvement.  They lost to Rowan who lost to Morrisville St. who lost to UCNJ.  I know that putting a string together like that means nothing but it does show that if Wesley is a top team they dont lose a game like yesterday.  As far as the playoffs go, are they better than all but a couple or maybe all of the pool B teams, probably.  Do they get in, probably not.  The scary part about this is that there would not be many teams that would want to see there name in the first round because if they clean up the mess, they would be a top 8 team.  Too many ifs.  Bottom line if you want to win it all you cant lose this type of game.

[wesleydad]

Did any of the Wesley posters actually make it to the game?  I would be interested in hearing how it looked as it played out.  I didn't go because I made my annual trek to Bridgewater to see some friends.  I made the trip figuring that this would not be a good game thinking that if Morrisville can score 40 so would Wesley.  Sounds like too many mistakes.  The pick 6 is a real killer.

[wesleydad]

Anyone else think, with Wesley's schedule and the fact that there are, right now, a bunch of worthy Pool B candidates, that they are in a lot of trouble? The best they can do, D3 wise, is 5-2. Now there could be some solid wins there, possible victories over the USASC champ and the possible E8 champ are very good, but if you get a couple Pool B teams going 10-0 (maybe Millsaps) or 9-1, 5-2 is going to look like absolute crud in comparison.

It's not that I don't think Wesley isn't at least a top 16 team, even after this loss, it's just that they are a poster child for schedule related failure this year.

JK, good question.  no excuse to lose this game.  I am not even sure if they are a top 16 team if they do not show any improvement.  They lost to Rowan who lost to Morrisville St. who lost to UCNJ.  I know that putting a string together like that means nothing but it does show that if Wesley is a top team they dont lose a game like yesterday.  As far as the playoffs go, are they better than all but a couple or maybe all of the pool B teams, probably.  Do they get in, probably not.  The scary part about this is that there would not be many teams that would want to see there name in the first round because if they clean up the mess, they would be a top 8 team.  Too many ifs.  Bottom line if you want to win it all you cant lose this type of game.

JK, quick look at the other POOL B teams, not sure who they all are but if Chicago wins out and Millsaps wins out and Texas Luth losses 2 of the 3 against the ASC teams which they could easliy do than that would put most of pool B with at least 2 losses and even though Wesley would only be 5 - 2 in D3 games, their resume would look much better than most if not all the others even if those others are 7 - 2 or 8 - 2.  Past history also comes into play and that looks good too.  With 2 losses they have no gripe if they dont get in not matter how it plays out.  I know you are much better at the Pool teams and have excellent insight into who is in what.  Will look forward to your breakdown of who gets in this week.

[D3MAFAN]

Did any of the Wesley posters actually make it to the game?  I would be interested in hearing how it looked as it played out.  I didn't go because I made my annual trek to Bridgewater to see some friends.  I made the trip figuring that this would not be a good game thinking that if Morrisville can score 40 so would Wesley.  Sounds like too many mistakes.  The pick 6 is a real killer.

Was not at the game personally, but watch the game online. From my perspective, it appears that every time Wesley had a chance to score, it was a turnover or penalty that kept them from advancing. Both teams had big plays throughout the game, but Rowan made more and that's how the game was decided. I still think that Wesley Defense was pretty good, the offense yesterday, meh.

[jknezek]

JK, quick look at the other POOL B teams, not sure who they all are but if Chicago wins out and Millsaps wins out and Texas Luth losses 2 of the 3 against the ASC teams which they could easliy do than that would put most of pool B with at least 2 losses and even though Wesley would only be 5 - 2 in D3 games, their resume would look much better than most if not all the others even if those others are 7 - 2 or 8 - 2.  Past history also comes into play and that looks good too.  With 2 losses they have no gripe if they dont get in not matter how it plays out.  I know you are much better at the Pool teams and have excellent insight into who is in what.  Will look forward to your breakdown of who gets in this week.

It's the question I basically asked. Pool B consists of the SAA, MASCAC, UAA, SCAC and Wesley (more or less, there are a few more independents that won't come into the equation). The SAA has 3 teams in contention with Millsaps, Centre and Rhodes. The UAA has two teams in contention with Washington U and Chicago. The SCAC has one with TLU, and the MASCAC has one with Framingham St. Framingham St could easily go 9-1 and that will put them on the table, disrespected conference or not. We've seen the last couple years that wins are important.

The SAA has Millsaps undefeated and the other two with one loss each. Interestingly, both losses are to Washington U, who is looking sneaky good. I'll get to that in a minute. I could see two 9-1 teams coming from the SAA. Millsaps doesn't look overpoweringly good, and both Centre and Rhodes have interesting wins behind them. For Centre it is W&L and Bethany, who both hold interesting wins but will probably not ever get RR, for Rhodes it is Chicago. For Millsaps it is LaGrange and Trinity. This weekend Centre and Rhodes will play. Winner will have a good shot at Millsaps later on. But two teams in the 9-1 range from this grouping would make the discussion and would have some wins that look good enough.

The UAA has Chicago and Washington U. Chicago is 5-1, loss at Rhodes. There is still a game at Pacific and at Washington U to build a good resume. Running that table makes them a contender. The most interesting is Washington U. Two losses already but they are a 10pt loss to undefeated UWW on the road and 10pt loss to a 5-1 Coe, who also looks pretty good. Respectable losses paired with wins over Rhodes, Centre and possibly Chicago could have them looking good.

Finally, TLU comes around. The least impressive resume. A single win over an ailing Trinity program. The game against La Col will be very important. HSU and HPU could also provide some resistance.

So for Wesley's sake, 5-2 won't look good against the two SAA teams at 9-1 (if that happens. Millsaps running the table would take a spot, but help clean up the way for Wesley). Washington U at 8-2 looks better to me than Wesley at 5-2. The losses are as good as Wesley's (as it looks now), and the wins are going to include some RR teams. Chicago running the table at 9-1 will look good, but 8-2 with a loss to Washington U doesn't give them much for good wins. TLU controls it's own destiny. They need to lose no more than 1 game, and preferably not the La Col game since that is a chance to get a RR win. Framingham St. simply needs to win out. I can't see an 8-2 Framingham with no quality wins in front of Wesley unless the committee gets shirty.

It's still much too early to be thinking about this, but I was surprised Wesley lost. They just don't have much margin for error.

[PA_wesleyfan]

 Youth showed yesterday. Callahan missed some open receivers and he also had some passes dropped. Rowan blitzed a lot . Remember that there are only 3 or 4 seniors on this team so there will be growing pains.. Wesley does have the second toughest strength of schedule so that may help in the playoff pic, plus they have beaten two teams who could win their conference and played 4