Around the Nation board

[K-Mack]

So now that Kickoff is published ... new season anyone?

Yes, I like how you seem to have moved the bulk of the ASC teams into the top half of D3 schools. It appears that the mid-range ASC schools have gotten stronger, in McMurry's departure.  Sul Ross and Howard Payne still need some help.

Ralph ... how is your first foray into Division II coming? Have you infiltrated the D2football.com boards yet?

[Ralph Turner]

So now that Kickoff is published ... new season anyone?

Yes, I like how you seem to have moved the bulk of the ASC teams into the top half of D3 schools. It appears that the mid-range ASC schools have gotten stronger, in McMurry's departure.  Sul Ross and Howard Payne still need some help.

Ralph ... how is your first foray into Division II coming? Have you infiltrated the D2football.com boards yet?

Hi K-Mack. The D-2 message board is a different creature.  McMurry will be on the Independents board with Okie Panhandle State.  We have an all-time winning record against Okie Panhandle State!  Not much to talk about yet.

The biggest news on campus this week was the death of (former Defensive Back) Staff Sergeant Jeremie Border,  a 2006 grad, in Afghanistan. The players will wear #28 on their helmets this season.

Jeremie was your typical D-3 player. Double major in Sociology and Communications, active in Servant Leadership, Who's Who in American Colleges and Universities and FCA on campus.

I believe that he is our first "Gold Star" since Viet Nam.  On the western side of the campus is Gold Star Dormitory that was built in 1948 to memorialize the exes from World War II.

We will commemorate Jeremie in an appropriate fashion.  I think that you met Coach/Asst Professor Bill Libby when you were at McMurry when you came. Coach Libby is a former chaplain with the 101st Airborne, current Old Testament professor and former Cross Country coach.  He has led Student Leadership and is the CHAMPS Life Skills Coordinator.  Jeremie told his mom that he wanted Coach Libby to give his eulogy long ago.  Coach Libby will do a great job. (Coach Libby spends his summers in Jordan, doing archeological digs, whenever he can.)


Here is another memorial created by the Tom Landry Classic.  See the link below.

http://www.ihigh.com/vypedfw/article_135510.html

[K-Mack]

Ralph, I always love your input.

[hazzben]

Love the Top 50. Very appropriate given the size of DIII.

Love the love for Bethel. Here's to hoping they prove you underrated them 

thanks for all the great, hard work Keith

[KitchenSink]

Keith, you disappear from this week's podcast about halfway through.  (And I miss you terribly) 

[Pat Coleman]

Keith, you disappear from this week's podcast about halfway through.  (And I miss you terribly) 

Hmm -- looking at the file I can't see why that would happen, unless you're in mono or listening on just one speaker.

[Ralph Turner]

Good quality audio on Keith's microphone so far in the first few minutes of the podcast.

[Toby Taff]

when I was listening Keith sounded softer than pat. I had to stop listening because I couldn't find a good balance that would over come the sound of woks in the background.

[K-Mack]

This is odd because when I listened to it, both Pat and I sounded fine. And we used the same setup as the week before.

The only I remember is that there was some buffering this week, and I did blip out for a half-second here and there. But people are saying I went away and never came back?

We'll have to clean that up for this coming week. Thanks all for mentioning it, and for caring enough to listen.

[SaintsFAN]

So now that Kickoff is published ... new season anyone?

Yes, I like how you seem to have moved the bulk of the ASC teams into the top half of D3 schools. It appears that the mid-range ASC schools have gotten stronger, in McMurry's departure.  Sul Ross and Howard Payne still need some help.

Ralph ... how is your first foray into Division II coming? Have you infiltrated the D2football.com boards yet?

Hi K-Mack. The D-2 message board is a different creature.  McMurry will be on the Independents board with Okie Panhandle State.  We have an all-time winning record against Okie Panhandle State!  Not much to talk about yet.

The biggest news on campus this week was the death of (former Defensive Back) Staff Sergeant Jeremie Border,  a 2006 grad, in Afghanistan. The players will wear #28 on their helmets this season.

Jeremie was your typical D-3 player. Double major in Sociology and Communications, active in Servant Leadership, Who's Who in American Colleges and Universities and FCA on campus.

I believe that he is our first "Gold Star" since Viet Nam.  On the western side of the campus is Gold Star Dormitory that was built in 1948 to memorialize the exes from World War II.

We will commemorate Jeremie in an appropriate fashion.  I think that you met Coach/Asst Professor Bill Libby when you were at McMurry when you came. Coach Libby is a former chaplain with the 101st Airborne, current Old Testament professor and former Cross Country coach.  He has led Student Leadership and is the CHAMPS Life Skills Coordinator.  Jeremie told his mom that he wanted Coach Libby to give his eulogy long ago.  Coach Libby will do a great job. (Coach Libby spends his summers in Jordan, doing archeological digs, whenever he can.)


Here is another memorial created by the Tom Landry Classic.  See the link below.

http://www.ihigh.com/vypedfw/article_135510.html

RIP -- Keith is there a feature coming on this Patriot making the ultimate sacrifice?

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

This is odd because when I listened to it, both Pat and I sounded fine. And we used the same setup as the week before.

The only I remember is that there was some buffering this week, and I did blip out for a half-second here and there. But people are saying I went away and never came back?

We'll have to clean that up for this coming week. Thanks all for mentioning it, and for caring enough to listen.

I talked to Pat, because his audio dropped out on me about halfway through (after the sound byte)... may have been something with the mix down when the recording was complete... it happens - trust me. The second half was in stereo when the first half was in mono... so if you have a stereo/mono issue with your headphones or speakers (I have a speaker that likes to drop out on me on occasions), then it would have sounded like the audio dropped out from someone.

[roocru]

Keith,

I really liked your take on the scheduling issue in the Around The Nation column.  That question has been tossed around in high schools and all of the college divisions for a long time.  I think it primarily comes down to first, the difficulty a team faces in filling its schedule and secondly what the head coach thinks is best for his team.  Sometimes the coach gets it right and sometimes not!

In addition, while you are absolutely correct that Austin College has not made the Division III playoffs, I think it is worth noting that they were co-champions in the NAIA in 1981.  The game ended in a tie and both coaches had agreed prior to the contest that in the event of a tie they would call themselves Co-Champs.

[Ralph Turner]

Great ATN.

For the teams at the top of the pecking order, I like the non-region game approach.  UWW can fill out its schedule with a D-III opponent for whom a loss might not be devastating.

I think that the "non-region" benefit to Buff State was that the coach could show his program where they stood, but a loss would not be "primary criteria"

I may be mis-informed on the mindset of the selection committees, but a good outcome in the secondary criteria surely carries weight when "primary" criteria get fuzzy.

Buff State can make the case for being a solid Pool C, if they don't win the E8.  (Is UWW still as good as we imagine?)

[emma17]

Great ATN.

For the teams at the top of the pecking order, I like the non-region game approach.  UWW can fill out its schedule with a D-III opponent for whom a loss might not be devastating.

I think that the "non-region" benefit to Buff State was that the coach could show his program where they stood, but a loss would not be "primary criteria"

I may be mis-informed on the mindset of the selection committees, but a good outcome in the secondary criteria surely carries weight when "primary" criteria get fuzzy.

Buff State can make the case for being a solid Pool C, if they don't win the E8.  (Is UWW still as good as we imagine?)

That is a legitmate question.  Yesterday's game showed that the UWW defense is going to have to carry this team for a while if UWW is ultimately going to be the team we imagined. 

[K-Mack]

Keith,

I really liked your take on the scheduling issue in the Around The Nation column.  That question has been tossed around in high schools and all of the college divisions for a long time.  I think it primarily comes down to first, the difficulty a team faces in filling its schedule and secondly what the head coach thinks is best for his team.  Sometimes the coach gets it right and sometimes not!

In addition, while you are absolutely correct that Austin College has not made the Division III playoffs, I think it is worth noting that they were co-champions in the NAIA in 1981.  The game ended in a tie and both coaches had agreed prior to the contest that in the event of a tie they would call themselves Co-Champs.

A Platteville fan also e-mailed to mention an NAIA title.

I only have access to the D-III record book, which dates from 1973, but with different schools coming over at different times -- St. John's won the 1976 NAIA title, some PAC schools and the NWC was all NAIA in the 90s -- there is a part of history that's sort of vanished, from my perspective, but not from those of you who know it from being at the school.

Randolph-Macon, for instance, celebrates its 1969 undefeated Knute Rockne (Stagg precursor) Bowl team, so if you played there, you know those guys, but nobody else ever refers to that one championship R-MC won way back.