Around the Nation board

[Pat Coleman]

With the D3 one, I consulted with Pat and Gordon, and we tried to determine who had the most back. I think there's still going to be plenty to quibble with ... I demonstrated this triangle to Pat: Mary Hardin-Baylor has practically everyone back, but they lost to Wesley pretty convincingly in the playoffs; Wesley has everyone back but the QB and star FS, but how can you put them ahead of Whitewater, which pummlled them the last two playoffs? But Whitewater lost almost everyone from those teams, plus Berez and Zwiefel.

Got to talk about this comment, Keith.  With all due respect, while the Hawks have lost some significant talent, it sure isn't,"almost everyone."  They lose 3 starters but return the majority of their top defense including 2 of the 3 LB's, ISU transfer Borzick and (AA) Raebel, and all the DB's including a starter that was lost for most of last season to injury.  They will need to shore up the D line with the loss of Kleppe, (irreplacable,)  and Thompson, however.  Big losses on offense but only one from the line and they will still be blocking for (AA) Justin Beaver.  In addition, they lose the QB, one WR and the TE and FB.  But the  FB was lost at the UMHB game last season due to injury.  They also return (AA) kicker Schebler and we all saw at the Stagg what Jordon Well can do on special teams and with the loss of Stanley, I believe we will see a lot more of him at WR. The coaching staff will have a new look but they come with some great credentials.   Big news regarding transfers and new recruits and some serious talent waiting for their turn has most of the talk around UWW being VERY optomistic.       

So Schebler and Raebel, both listed as seniors last year, are back in 2007?

Can't wait until these redshirts graduate. What a pain.

[footballfan413]

With the D3 one, I consulted with Pat and Gordon, and we tried to determine who had the most back. I think there's still going to be plenty to quibble with ... I demonstrated this triangle to Pat: Mary Hardin-Baylor has practically everyone back, but they lost to Wesley pretty convincingly in the playoffs; Wesley has everyone back but the QB and star FS, but how can you put them ahead of Whitewater, which pummlled them the last two playoffs? But Whitewater lost almost everyone from those teams, plus Berez and Zwiefel.

Got to talk about this comment, Keith.  With all due respect, while the Hawks have lost some significant talent, it sure isn't,"almost everyone."  They lose 3 starters but return the majority of their top defense including 2 of the 3 LB's, ISU transfer Borzick and (AA) Raebel, and all the DB's including a starter that was lost for most of last season to injury.  They will need to shore up the D line with the loss of Kleppe, (irreplacable,)  and Thompson, however.  Big losses on offense but only one from the line and they will still be blocking for (AA) Justin Beaver.  In addition, they lose the QB, one WR and the TE and FB.  But the  FB was lost at the UMHB game last season due to injury.  They also return (AA) kicker Schebler and we all saw at the Stagg what Jordon Well can do on special teams and with the loss of Stanley, I believe we will see a lot more of him at WR. The coaching staff will have a new look but they come with some great credentials.   Big news regarding transfers and new recruits and some serious talent waiting for their turn has most of the talk around UWW being VERY optomistic.       

So Schebler and Raebel, both listed as seniors last year, are back in 2007?

Can't wait until these redshirts graduate. What a pain.

Yes, Pat.  Raebel is a part of the last class that the NCAA allowed to red-shirt at the D-3 level in 03 and will play his final season this fall but Schebler was a freshman last year.  Both players are correctly listed on the 06 roster on both Warhawkfootball.com and the UWW's official football web page as a junior and a freshman. 

[Pat Coleman]

Guess we can't trust the schools to nominate correctly, then. UW-Whitewater nominated each of these players last year as seniors.

[union89]

Ithaca has Karl Ravech of ESPN, actor David Boreanz, ABC News Anchor David Muir, Disney COE Bob Iger.

Oswego also has Al Roker, Steve Levy and Linda Cohn.

Cortland has Mankind (WWE) as an attendee, not grad I think.

Union has Andy Katz.....excuse me while I vomit a bit in my mouth.
Also Ted 'The Uni-Bomber' Kazinsky's brother is a professor at Union.....more vomit.

[footballfan413]

Guess we can't trust the schools to nominate correctly, then. UW-Whitewater nominated each of these players last year as seniors.

That's what I figured happened.   You are right.  Should help with the confusion when the last of the red-shirts go.   Widuch was listed as a freshman on the roster the first year he played for Whitewater after transfering from UW-M and was listed as a senior two years in a row after that!   

[Pat Coleman]

Also Ted 'The Uni-Bomber' Kazinsky's brother is a professor at Union.....more vomit.

Why vomit? Isn't that who turned him in? I'd be inclined to give him a medal.

[PA_wesleyfan]

Pat
Maybe they are taking Masters classes... And it is quite possible the coaching staff didn't know they were coming back.... My son had a medical redshirt and I believe he was the first player to play as a post grad at Wesley. And he hadn't decided to return for his Masters until right before graduation..  author=Pat Coleman link=topic=3800.msg724378#msg724378 date=1182534968]
Guess we can't trust the schools to nominate correctly, then. UW-Whitewater nominated each of these players last year as seniors.
[/quote]

[Pat Coleman]

I doubt the freshman is taking grad classes.

[PA_wesleyfan]

My bad Pat.. I knew I wasted my money on that speed reading course....

[PA_wesleyfan]

Ok now you have me wondering..... Does your five years to play four still exist? So if you play say baseball for four years can you still go to grad school and play one year of football??? Or better yet ..If you play in 2007 stay out of school for two years and return in 2009 how much eligibility do you have left??... Yup it's a slow night!!!!!

[theoriginalupstate]

Ok now you have me wondering..... Does your five years to play four still exist? So if you play say baseball for four years can you still go to grad school and play one year of football??? Or better yet ..If you play in 2007 stay out of school for two years and return in 2009 how much eligibility do you have left??... Yup it's a slow night!!!!!

You have 10 semesters to fufill 4 years of eligibility....you can take off semesters if you wanted..

[K-Mack]

With the D3 one, I consulted with Pat and Gordon, and we tried to determine who had the most back. I think there's still going to be plenty to quibble with ... I demonstrated this triangle to Pat: Mary Hardin-Baylor has practically everyone back, but they lost to Wesley pretty convincingly in the playoffs; Wesley has everyone back but the QB and star FS, but how can you put them ahead of Whitewater, which pummlled them the last two playoffs? But Whitewater lost almost everyone from those teams, plus Berez and Zwiefel.

Got to talk about this comment, Keith.  With all due respect, while the Hawks have lost some significant talent, it sure isn't,"almost everyone."  They lose 3 starters but return the majority of their top defense including 2 of the 3 LB's, ISU transfer Borzick and (AA) Raebel, and all the DB's including a starter that was lost for most of last season to injury.  They will need to shore up the D line with the loss of Kleppe, (irreplacable,)  and Thompson, however.  Big losses on offense but only one from the line and they will still be blocking for (AA) Justin Beaver.  In addition, they lose the QB, one WR and the TE and FB.  But the  FB was lost at the UMHB game last season due to injury.  They also return (AA) kicker Schebler and we all saw at the Stagg what Jordon Well can do on special teams and with the loss of Stanley, I believe we will see a lot more of him at WR. The coaching staff will have a new look but they come with some great credentials.   Big news regarding transfers and new recruits and some serious talent waiting for their turn has most of the talk around UWW being VERY optomistic.       

I've got gone, off the top of my head:

Kleppe
Stanley
Jacobs
Schmitt
Sakellaris
Reuland
Thompson
Berezowitz
Zwiefel

So maybe not everyone (or everyone good), but definitely enough where if you come out of the gate ranking UW-W No. 2 again, you're not respecting how good those guys were. I mean, that's probably five or six of their 10-12 best players last season, based on the games I saw.

I think you could very easily make a case for someone else winning the conference and UW-W falling back from unbeaten, given the transition to a new coach/coordinator (except for Borland), and the transition to a new QB, a new offense, etc. You could even go as far as the La Crosse game being on the road, looking for negatives.

You still have Beaver, you have Jones up to speed 1/3 or 1/2 way through the season, you have a good defense and you have four seniors on the OL. (I looked that up in last year's ATN, I thought it was three)

So, all that said, I think you'll be pleased with where they start the season in the top 25 I did for USA Today.

You'll probably hate who's ahead of them though

[K-Mack]

K-Mack:  I really appreciate the effort put into your writing on D3.  It definitely shows.

They like me! They really really like me!

Seriously though ... thanks, I appreciate the compliment. I think I speak for all the guys when I say we think D3 deserves some people who care. And since most of us were in your position once, looking for info on (our) D3 teams and not finding much ... well, that explains why we try so hard.

[K-Mack]

OK,
Here's a rough list of games to watch that Pat and Gordon and I came up with when I thought that was going to be a component of the USAT preview. It ended up being taken out, but it functions really well as the GAMES ATN MIGHT GO TO STARTER LIST.

Now is the time to campaign for your team's big matchup. Also, in all seriousness, D3football.com staff does accept kind offers of generosity that will make travelling to your team's game easier. We aren't necessarily looking for donations (your support of Kickoff '07 will do) but advice on the best way to travel/eat/stay/tailgate/catch the game is always appreciated.

IDEAS (games in bold are likely commitments so far)

Sept. 1
UW-La Crosse at Hardin-Simmons
Rowan at Christopher Newport
Gallaudet at St. Vincent (someone's gotta win!)
Lycoming-Ithaca

Sept. 8
Christopher Newport at UMHB
Redlands at Whitworth (blame Pat)

Sept. 15
Hardin-Simmons at Linfield
Rowan at Wilkes (doubleheader with Wesley at Widener Fri. night)

Sept. 22
SJF at Ithaca
(Fri. 21st Widener at Rowan, back-to-back Fridays)

Sept. 29
UW-Whitewater at UW-La Crosse
Huntingdon at Wesley

Oct. 6
UMHB at Hardin-Simmons b/w ETBU at McMurry
Trinity (Tex.) at DePauw

Oct. 13

Oct. 20

Oct. 27
UMHB at UW-Whitewater
Ithaca at Springfield
Trinity (Tex.) at Millsaps (second consec. trip to Jackson)

Nov. 3

Nov. 10
Central at Wartburg
Rivalry games

This is a very, very incomplete this. Your (honest) suggestions are appreciated.

Trying to get to St. John's, but not sure which game is the one this year (bethel/st. thomas/st. olaf).

Baldwin-Wallace vs. Capital might be the ODAC game to see; battle for No. 2 and possible Pool C, since No. 1 OAC is looking clearer than ever

Averett @ W&L also made our list, but that's a nice interconference matchup that also has potential to be a dud. At least it's not an overnight stay for me (wifey likes those)

[frank uible]

9/29 BW at John Carroll, 10/20 SJF at Springfield, 11/3 Linfield at Whitworth