FB: American Rivers Conference

[DBQ1965]

The AFCA D III All America team is out now.

http://www.afca.com/article/article.php?id=1209

[Mr. Ypsi]

WashU is UAA.  SLIAC teams do of course often play WashU (especially Webster and Fontbonne, which share the city with them; I'm having a senior moment, but I think it is Fontbonne which is literally across the street from them), but in most sports it is a rather one-sided rivalry.  WashU and the SLIAC would not be a good fit athletically or academically.

I quickly looked through the Webster site and once asked the SLIAC board and no one seemed to know.  Maybe Mr. Ypsi will have an answer for me.  When did Webster add sports?  I was born in Webster and lived there until 1982, we had friends that worked at Webster (College in those days...University now)  I have no memory of Webster sponsoring intercollegiate sports way back in the day.

Sorry, I'm a CCIW guy (IWU, class of 1970) and an MIAA guy (lived in Michigan since 1970).  I'm not familiar with the SLIAC except what I read on their boards.  Denny Bridges, HoF IWU bball coach, and still the AD, in his memoir referred to facing the SLIAC champ in the postseason tourney as a 'speed bump' (somewhat rude, but not inaccurate ), but Webster had never been the 'speed bump' so I can't answer.

[doolittledog]

From the Dubuque Telegraph-Herald today we get...

UD's Hanus named D-III's top junior -- University of Dubuque quarterback Wyatt Hanus' historic 44-touchdown, eight-interception, 3,490-yard passing season has earned him the Joseph St. Lawrence Award as the most outstanding junior in NCAA Division III football, the D3 Senior Classic Committee announced.

Hanus set Iowa Conference single-season touchdown (35 in league games) and single-game (seven) touchdown records while generaling the Spartans' run to the school's first IIAC title since 1980.

All-American honors keep rolling in for UD's Zweifel -- Another day, another All-American honor for University of Dubuque record-setting receiver Michael Zweifel.

Zweifel's latest All-American nod came Monday from the American Football Coaches Association.

Zweifel caught an NCAA Division III season record 140 passes this fall, led the nation in total receiving yards with 1,915, caught 25 touchdowns and set a new all-division career reception record of 463. He was the only IIAC player to make the AFCA squad.

The AFCA has selected an All-America team every year since 1945.

[Fannosaurus Rex]

D3 fans are fond of talking about how much better our play-off system is vs. the way the BCS picks a national champ.  As an Old Guy, I used to kind of like the old Division I system where conferences were locked into bowl games and at the end of the season, the three polls had their say and the rest of us argued about how wrong they were and what a tragedy it was that the best teams didn't play each other and settle it on the field.

So here is my hot stove league conversation starter.  There are 27 D3 football conferences and the independents that participate in post season.  So, I think instead of play-offs, at the end of the season we should have 14 bowl games between conference champs.  Conferences would take turns hosting.

Here are the advantages.  No one's season would be longer than 11 games, which should be enough for any student athlete.  The season would be over before the weather gets December nasty.  It shouldn't be too difficult to figure out which conferences match well against each other so that the games are competitive and the plane rides are kept to what they are now.  Everyone will play all season for their conference championship and a chance to go to a post season game where they actually have a chance to win.  Teams would be more daring scheduling non-conference games if loses there aren't going to keep them out of their bowl game.  Some interesting rivalry traditions would develop.  The Wisconsin champ could play the Ohio champ as long as that makes sense.

I would like to see the IIAC champ play the California champ every year.  I would be there if Central was playing whether they were at home or in southern California in mid November (not too hard to take).  At the end of the season we would have 14 bowl champions and the national champion would be whoever D3Football.com and any other pollsters who are interested says they are.  Then we could all argue about it on Post Patterns for 9 months until the next season starts.  This year after St. Thomas beat Linfield and Wesley beat Johns Hopkins in their bowl games, and the polls ranked them both something lower than #2, their fans would all be saying, "Oh man, we were robbed.  This is the year we would have taken down Whitewater/Mount.

It seems to me like this would be more in keeping with the D3 ideal of sport for sport's sake and athletic competition just being a part of the overall college experience.  The real reason that there is controversy over who goes to which BCS bowl game, and who gets left out, is because of the enormous sums of $$$ involved.  DIII doesn't have that problem.  We can keep it pure.

Of course now that I have written all of that, for every sport but football, I kind of like the way the tournaments work out.  Must have something to do with football teams only playing one game a week.  Either that or the fact that Stagg Bowls all look the same lately.

[DBQ1965]

Fannosouras Rex ...

I must say, your proposal has some interesting implications.  However, thinking of the champions of the IIAC and the SCIAC playing each other every season, I was thinking ... why not take the West Region conferences and "rotate" them every year so that the IIAC, MIAC, MWC, UMAC, NATHC, NWC and WIAC  champions get a chance to face each other every few years?  Then I realized that an odd number of conferences doesn't work in that scheme.  So I thought, what if we took the 7 conference champs from the West Region and the 7 conference champs from the North Region and work out some sort of "bowl" set-up that way.  Then I'm thinking that perhaps that starts to involve too many teams/games and become unwieldly.

So we go back to just the West Region conferences and come up with some "strength of schedule" system for rating each Conference and the lowest ranked SOS Conference gets left out of the "bowl pairings" and the remaining 6 conference champions get matched up in some fashion.

If that wouldn't give us "grist for the mill" while we wait from the end of November to the end of August, I don't know what would.

Anyway, thanks for giving us something to chew over during these lean times.

GO SPARTANS!

[Phred]

There is no question.........DIII football is a TOTAL JOKE.....or is it a TOTAL CHOKE !!

To have Whitewater and Mount Union  in another playoff means that DIII playoff when they belong in DII is a travesty.   Everybody knows they are not DIII programs so why continue the charade, Pat.  Mt. Union has a DII or DI track program and the WIAC is a state college program subsidizing athletics.

Come on Man..............raise the question about both. 

[runk]

Phred.....you don't know what you're talking about. This has been said many times...but.   winning is not what makes a program d1-2 or 3.  lots of factors...come on man encourage these other schools to step it up as Wesley has or several other schools have.

[Pat Coleman]

You are just plain wrong, Phred. Mount Union DOES NOT HAVE A D-I TRACK PROGRAM.

That is a 20-year-old line about Dayton, who was indeed kicked out of D-III football in the early '90s along with other D-I schools playing non-scholarship ball.

[doolittledog]

Hey Rex, interesting proposal, and I bet Pat Coleman might like all the added traffic on this site as all of the arguing back and forth would heat up.  He might be able to raise advertising rates and generate a little bit more cash flow.  DBQ1965 has an interesting suggestion to rotate the games.  You know, us Dubuque fans might tire of sunny SoCal after visiting there 10 straight years as our decade of dominance continues to steamroll through the IIAC  

I think Rex and DBQ1965 should keep giving us hot stove topics...these have been good.

[footballdaddy]

I see no problem with the DIII playoffs the way they are. I agree that it's a little boring with the Purple Bowl for seven years, but MU and UWW are the two best teams in DIII. If someone is tired of seeing them there, then all you have to do is beat them. The "Bowl" scenario presented sounds good at first, but it reminds me of the "participation ribbon" we give to kids in park and rec for just showing up. I'm all for having an undisputed champion, and I belive it's the way FBS should be also.
 

[footballfan413]

Congrats to Michael for winning the Gagliardi Trophy!  I am thrilled for him, Coach Z, his family and the Spartan Nation!  His stats are unbelievable on the field and such a tremendous young man off the field as well!

[doolittledog]

Congrats to Michael Zweifel for winning the Gagliardi Trophy!!!  I was watching the presentation on D3football.com while at the office, but headed home before it was over.  It was nice to come on here and read that he had won after I finished dinner.  My wife and kids were wondering why the heck I was cheering in front of the computer

[Willie University]

A truley deserving honor for such a great young man. His football achievements are remarkable to say the least but who he is as a person says even more. This is an incredible honor for him, his family, his team and coaches, the Spartan Nation, and the entire Iowa Conference.

Willie U

[dutchfan1]

I have not been on the board in weeks (and pages and pages, I see....) I thought I would cruise by and congratulate young Mr. Zweifel on winning the Gagliardi trophy. Truly an outstanding honor! This award not only recognises football accumen, but also academics and strength of character. While being DIII's most outstanding player is an amazing honor on its own, this award recognizes the entire person. This is truly one of the highest honors in all of college football (at any level). From what I know, Zweifel deserves this honor, and then some. The award could not have gone to a better, more deserving candidate. Congratulations!

[WarhawkDad]

Congrats to Michael Zweifel on winning the Gagliardi!   Outstanding finish to an outstanding college career.