Around the Nation board

[Pat Coleman]

At least Millsaps had to beat a perennial playoff team to get into the field. There's nothing in the MIAA that matches playing Trinity ... and that's even with Trinity not having won a playoff game since 2002.

[Dr. xGSC]

Anyone from D3 headed to the RU/Hobart game tomorrow? If so, come to the south end zone (just outside the fence) for some tailgating, cigars, kielbasa, homemade wine, etc.

[Josh Bowerman]

Keith--

Nice column this week.

I wanted to throw out a "conspiracy theory" based on your column,  for your consideration, since no one (I've read in here) has done so:

Given you've listed the three teams competing for the final Pool C spot this year as St. John's, Cortland St. and Franklin (which I happen to agree with, BTW)--and based solely on my opinion of the AAs penny-pinching ways--do you think that geography had anything to do with the selection of St. John's over Cortland St.? 

I mean, all three were fairly equal in criteria, but St. John's fit the travel "vacancy" much more nicely than either of the other two would have, don't you think?.....

[Ralph Turner]

Keith--

Nice column this week.

I wanted to throw out a "conspiracy theory" based on your column,  for your consideration, since no one (I've read in here) has done so:

Given you've listed the three teams competing for the final Pool C spot this year as St. John's, Cortland St. and Franklin (which I happen to agree with, BTW)--and based solely on my opinion of the AAs penny-pinching ways--do you think that geography had anything to do with the selection of St. John's over Cortland St.? 

I mean, all three were fairly equal in criteria, but St. John's fit the travel "vacancy" much more nicely than either of the other two would have, don't you think?.....

Goodness, Josh!  You certainly know how to stir the pot.

And the Daily Dose, I posted this scenario.

Ralph Turner Says:

The 13th of November, 2006 at 8:06 pm

Cortland fans, I have one other thought about the dynamics in the Selection committee as they went down the list

Up first–

1) North-Capital/Wheaton/Franklin West UW-LC/SJU/Linfield South HSU/Trinity East SJF/Hobart/Cortland — Capital in as N#2; move up Wheaton
2) North-Wheaton/Franklin West UW-LC/SJU/Linfield South HSU/Trinity East SJF/Hobart/Cortland — HSU in as S#3 (They beat UW-SP as badly or worse than UW-W and UW-LC did.) Move up Trinity
3) North-Wheaton/Franklin West UW-LC/SJU/Linfeld South Trinity East SJF/Hobart/Cortland — UW-LC in as W#3. Move up SJU
4) North-Wheaton/Franklin West SJU/Linfield South Trinity East SJF/Hobart/Cortland — SJF in as E#3. Move up Hobart
5) North-Wheaton/Franklin West SJU/Linfield South Trinity East Hobart/Cortland — Wheaton in as N#4. Move up Franklin.
6) North-Franklin West SJU/Linfield South Trinity East Hobart/Cortland — Hobart in as E#5. Move up Cortland.
7) North-Franklin West SJU/Linfield South Trinity East Cortland — SJU in as W#7.

If you look at that table, SJU was the next best pick from the West in Round #4, #5, #6 and #7. That is a long time to be asking the question "Is SJU the next best team on the table?"

As that question was being asked, SJF came off! Then Wheaton came off! And then Hobart came off! That certainly must have raised some genuine questions as to which was the next best team left on the table for the 7th pick. I can imagine the committee's dynamics to see 2 East Region teams and 1 North Region team coming off while SJU was still on the table. Trinity, or whoever it was, was just too weak in the next South position.

Cortland, good luck in the ECAC.

Or better yet, what if UW-Lacrosse is the 2nd Pool C bid selected, and SJU is there as next from the West while the committee selects HSU (South), SJF (East), Wheaton (North) and Hobart (and East again)?

[K-Mack]

Yeah,
I don't know ... Ralph's thoughts make sense. It's a question worth asking Josh, but I really have no extra insight on how the committee actually works than all that we discussed last week.

Even if they were down to the final three and went on straight gut feeling ... St. John's and Cortland's results this past week (and MSJ's) made them look right, even though there's no telling what would have happened had things shaken down otherwise.

[PA_wesleyfan]

  K-Mack

If CMU lets Wesley throw underneath it could be along day for the Tartans D. With Clarks speed and Lanouette and Shatz hands  and the bubble screens Warwick could have a big day.

[K-Mack]

  K-Mack

If CMU lets Wesley throw underneath it could be along day for the Tartans D. With Clarks speed and Lanouette and Shatz hands  and the bubble screens Warwick could have a big day.

Millsaps had some success moving the ball like that, but they couldn't finish drives. They had small and shifty guys like Wesley tends to at WR. The big thing was they came up and made tackles, so the 5-yard outs were 5-yard outs and never became big plays. As we all know, big plays can kill you ... and at least last week, CMU didn't allow but one.

As my old coach Riccio used to say "They have to complete 20 5-yard passes to beat you that way." He always liked our chances for a turnover or an offensive mistake somewhere if we just bottled up the short plays and made the offense snap it again.

The bigger key may be Bryan Robinson and those guys against the Wing-T O-line, which is small but will be pulling all over the place. In my experiences against Gettysburg, we gave up some big plays the first year against the Wing-T, but once we saw it and schemed it, we won 27-0 and 44-13. In other words, we didn't have a lot of trouble with it once we figured it out ... and if Wesley does the same (having played them twice with some of the seniors on the current roster), CMU doesn't have the raw talent to overwhelm.

But they will have to play mistake-free, because CMU looks like they will. FWIW.

[K-Mack]

The e-mail inbox has mostly been personal stuff not that interesting to everyone or kudos and pats on the back that aren't necessary for me to share ad-nauseam to make myself look good.

The e-mails I like to share are when someone has a problem with the column, and my response to it. Maybe if it's that big a problem, airing it out will help. On the flipside, if my response covers the bases, maybe other people with this same questions will have their answers.

-------------- Original message ----------------------
From: "Brian xxxx" <xxxxx@franklin.edu>

> I like you.  You write well.  You seem like a nice fellow, and I know that most
> writers do so voluntarily.
>
> However, your "Around the Nation" is never just that.  You just give a glimpse
> at ONE team.  EVERY week.  This is getting annoying, and I have decided to stop
> reading your articles.  I do not mean to badger you, although I am, and I am
> sure you get many complaints every wekk...but c'mon.  The Around the Nation name implies an overlook at all the teams in contention or doing well.  Stop being
> biased toward certain reagions/conferences/teams.  Write about ALL the teams. 
> It is the playoffs!!!!  Write about EVERYONE chances!  I am biased to
> super-house Capital who took a nothing program to a nation elite with excellent
> recruiting and creative play calling.  Forget Capital, though, write about ALL
> teams...please!  Otherwise rename your article, "My thoughts on my favorite
> teams."
>
> -Brian

Brian,
  I'm sorry that you feel that way. I definitely disagree with your opinion on Around the Nation and wonder if you're really looking at it very closely. Just last week we did exactly what you asked, we looked at all the teams' playoff chances with a pretty comprehensive look at the bracket and region-by-region breakdown of possible surprises and disappointments.

With the exception of this week's article, half of which went up early because of the short Thanksgiving week (i.e. people not being in front of their computers much from Wednesday afternoon/Thursday on through Saturday), I always touch on dozens of teams.

There's always a lead item, i.e. the top part of the article. But then there's always items about other teams, whether it be about the polls, the playoffs, streaks or whatever. I would not be surprised if over the course of the year, nearly every Division III team was mentioned at least once in the column.

  The "Around the Nation" name implies a few things, but not necessarily every-week coverage of all 234 D3 football teams. I think you know that would be a tedious read and quite improbable to put together. Around the Nation aims to tackle something that's making news somewhere you're not, i.e. if you follow Capital, you might never have a chance to see Mary Hardin-Baylor play, but there may be an interesting story coming out of Texas. ATN also aims to take readers literally Around the Nation, as I am afforded the opportunity to travel to places that many people will never be able to see, either because they are attached to one team each Saturday or because they don't have the means or desire to do all that travelling.

The most important thing ATN does is try to take a look at things from a national viewpoint. Sometimes it's trends, sometimes it's issues in D3, sometimes it's just going somewhere off the beaten path. But before D3football.com, when I played, there was never anything like that -- we never knew much about the teams that weren't on our schedule or in our region -- and we at D3football.com always try to keep in mind how hard it was to get information about D3 teams before we were around.

I will try to take your criticisms into account, and I appreciate you at least trying to be respectful in your e-mail to me. I actually don't get a lot of complaints, and I'm pretty confident we already do what you're asking us to do. If you're looking specifically at the column that went up today, give me until Thursday evening to make some updates to it. I'll be writing about Mike DuBose's thoughts on D3 vs. D1, the Gagliardi Trophy field and the other playoff games this week. In the meantime, look beyond this week's Around the Nation and see what you find.
--
Keith McMillan
D3football.com National Columnist
Keith@D3football.com

[PA_wesleyfan]

K-Mack
With Wesley facing all that miss direction play calling last week, it should help the  coaches get the players to understand how to prepare this week for the Winged-T. Once they started to slow down and stay in there lanes they shut Dickinson down. With Dickinson it was the ability of their O line scheme blocking I think that worked early.  But I know how hard the Winged -T can be to defense especially if you have a QB who can handle the ball. I believe CMU taking time off the clock my keep it close.
   Coach Drass likes to put the D on the field first but I wouldn't be suprised to see Wesley take the ball and get the O going early if they get the choice.
As for Robinson, for a down lineman he can flat out chase people down. The things he can do you usually see in a linebacker.
  One last key to this game may be special teams. The last three or four games Wesley has had opposing punters completely freaked. Maybe CMU shouldn't let their punter watch the films. A big mistakes that some of them make seems to be that they think if they kick it quick they will get the roll. But on this new turf that doesn't happen. The turf seems to grab it and slow it down instead of those funky nose bounces. 
  Enjoy you turkey.

[PA_wesleyfan]

I don't remember where we brought this up before.... Oldtimers  getting to me  lol

But the Easton Pa. vs. Phillipsburg N.J. high school football Thanksgivng day game is being played for the third time in four years with Easton or Phillipsburg playing again this Sat. in their respective State playoffs games...

Now that's rivalry and tradition. Standind O for those young men....

[Pat Coleman]

Wow ... Brian couldn't be more off base. Yikes.

[Bill McCabe]

Pat, Happy Thanksgiving to you and thanks for D3 football.  You have given us an outlet for our passion for d3 football.  Three years ago, I didn't even know the site existed and now I can't wait to log on each day.  I appreciate all you and the writers do for D3 Football. 

[K-Mack]

I don't remember where we brought this up before.... Oldtimers  getting to me  lol

But the Easton Pa. vs. Phillipsburg N.J. high school football Thanksgivng day game is being played for the third time in four years with Easton or Phillipsburg playing again this Sat. in their respective State playoffs games...

Now that's rivalry and tradition. Standing O for those young men....

It was on the "Way Too Early Guesses for Playoff Regions" thread. I just posted there on Wednesday night, since the Easton-Pburg rivalry was on the front (1A, not the sports front) of the Weds/Thurs USA Today. Also available online.

FWIW, Easton won 21-7. Boo Pa. ... go N.J.!

[K-Mack]

Oh, and Around the Nation has been updated with the thoughts from Mike DuBose on Division III and reaction to the Gagliardi Trophy finalists.

Bill, thanks for the kind words.

[K-Mack]

K-Mack
With Wesley facing all that miss direction play calling last week, it should help the  coaches get the players to understand how to prepare this week for the Winged-T. Once they started to slow down and stay in there lanes they shut Dickinson down. With Dickinson it was the ability of their O line scheme blocking I think that worked early.  But I know how hard the Winged -T can be to defense especially if you have a QB who can handle the ball. I believe CMU taking time off the clock my keep it close.
   Coach Drass likes to put the D on the field first but I wouldn't be suprised to see Wesley take the ball and get the O going early if they get the choice.
As for Robinson, for a down lineman he can flat out chase people down. The things he can do you usually see in a linebacker.
  One last key to this game may be special teams. The last three or four games Wesley has had opposing punters completely freaked. Maybe CMU shouldn't let their punter watch the films. A big mistakes that some of them make seems to be that they think if they kick it quick they will get the roll. But on this new turf that doesn't happen. The turf seems to grab it and slow it down instead of those funky nose bounces. 
  Enjoy you turkey.

The biggest question ...

is it right for a team running the Delaware Wing-T (I'm assuming that's the CMU version) to beat a team from Delaware?