FB: Ohio Athletic Conference

[Kira & Jaxon's Dad]

Coming soon, to a message board near you:  WHY IS MOUNT UNION GIVEN THE 1-1 SEED???  THEIR CONFERENCE STINKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  WHY ARE THEY GIVEN SUCH A GIFT EVERY YEAR???  WHO DID MOUNT UNION BEAT??

THE FIX IS IN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My favorite track on that CD is that the NCAA should make Mount Union go to Linfield or St. Thomas or UMHB just once...ya know, just to change things up a bit.

Well they did bring UWW to Alliance last year. However, my question to the Mount Union Posters, outside of the OAC schools and Salem stadium, what is the best stadium (DIII) have you visited?

Fixed


   

When you win, you don't have to travel. 

Lost to ONU one year, could have traveled round 2, other top seed didn't win.  Too bad.

So to answer D3MAFAN's question: None?

But I agree. Mount shouldn't have to travel as long as they keep winning. unlike how UWW was forced to travel in 2010 after being undefeated in the regular season and defending champs.*

*Host: "Bitter, party of one....your table is ready"
  Me: "Yes, I'm here...thank you"

When I was a Freshman in 1990 we traveled to Wooster for the opener.  Showers flooded, no hot water.  But we did stop at a Ponderosa on the way home so that was cool.

[Dr. Acula]

My favorite non-OAC venue is Denison.  Not so much because of the stadium itself, but because it's just a really nice setting to watch a game in the fall with the backdrop.  It just feels like D3 football. 
   

[Desertraider]

Yes the secret to Mount's success is that Mount never travels. People seem to forget the 111 straight road wins  Last road loss - at Albion in 1994 playoffs 34-33. I am sure the NCAA would LOVE to have a Stagg Bowl without Mount or UWW - or the dreaded Mount and UWW - but if Mount keeps winning (and the OAC strength this year makes me think they will) they will most likely host. The only way to change it up is to adjust the brackets. Have a so called "Bracket of Death" with Mount, UMHB, UWW, Linfield, and UST.

[wally_wabash]

I am sure the NCAA would LOVE to have a Stagg Bowl without Mount or UWW - or the dreaded Mount and UWW - but if Mount keeps winning (and the OAC strength this year makes me think they will) they will most likely host. The only way to change it up is to adjust the brackets. Have a so called "Bracket of Death" with Mount, UMHB, UWW, Linfield, and UST.

I don't think that's quite fair.  I don't think the NCAA as an institution cares at all whether or not Mount Union and/or UW-Whitewater play in the Stagg Bowl every year.  Doesn't matter to them, really. 

[jknezek]

I am sure the NCAA would LOVE to have a Stagg Bowl without Mount or UWW - or the dreaded Mount and UWW - but if Mount keeps winning (and the OAC strength this year makes me think they will) they will most likely host. The only way to change it up is to adjust the brackets. Have a so called "Bracket of Death" with Mount, UMHB, UWW, Linfield, and UST.

I don't think that's quite fair.  I don't think the NCAA as an institution cares at all whether or not Mount Union and/or UW-Whitewater play in the Stagg Bowl every year.  Doesn't matter to them, really.

I think the people on and off this board who follow DIII have some UMU fatigue. I think there is still some residual UMU-UWW fatigue for sure in that group. But I don't think the NCAA cares who wins the DIII football championship. I think they just care that it happens, doesn't cause any bad headlines, and the membership is not raising a fuss. Put another way, DIII sports to the NCAA are important in that they exist and do the job correctly. That's about it.

[raiderpa]

I am a Raider and I understand "Raider fatigue"... I hated the Yankees because they always beat everyone, especially the Indians...I did not like Dallas when they were crowned "America's Team"...I hated the Bulls and Dennis Rodman...

It seems natural to dislike anyone who dominates, especially if they beat your team.

If you want to defeat the giant, you must make a commitment to it.  WWW did and was naturally hated by Mount fans...(quite respected as well)  Will they return to the top since LL shuffled off to Buffalo?   Does not appear so..maybe I'm wrong here, time will tell.

Linfield has had their shots...how many championships?  MHB has had their shots, how many championships?  Wabash, Wheaton, Trinity, Wesley (love Big Mike ),  St Thomas, nope (Mount fans really dislike Coach Family)... LaCrosse has died, Dayton left, Pacific Lutheran one and done? St. John's not since John retired...
So, until Mount does take a slide, and it will NOT happen until the Kehres influence is gone, Mount will continue to be the bully of D3, and get beat every fortnight or less.  If you hate Mount, this is the year to jump on them.  Their defense is suspect and skill players young.  2017 and 2018 could be championship calibre again.

[wally_wabash]

Is there a huge swell of genuine Mount Union dislike out there or this an invented thing here?  Like when teams play the "nobody believed in us" card even when literally everybody believed in them.  I don't think most people think this way about Mount Union.  Personally, I view Mount Union as the goal.  That's the thing D-III teams should want to be.  Sometimes I thought Pierre's act was probably a bit much at times which annoyed me, but outside of a few of those instances, I don't really know how you make a villain out of Mount Union and the Kehres dynasty. 

[jknezek]

I can say I don't dislike UMU. I'd prefer UMU, which is a relatively small liberal arts school and looks like my school, to win versus UWW or UST. Not that I think those schools don't belong in DIII, we all know there is nothing in the DIII rules about school size or public versus private, I just prefer to see schools like W&L win titles. You could say it is prejudice, I just say it gives me hope...

That being said, if UMU played virtually any other small liberal arts school, I'd probably root against them. So there is some fatigue and it would be something different.

[Pat Coleman]

Yes the secret to Mount's success is that Mount never travels. People seem to forget the 111 straight road wins  Last road loss - at Albion in 1994 playoffs 34-33.

In fairness, when you don't play playoff opponents on the road, you're less likely to lose road games.

[badgerwarhawk]

I am a Raider and I understand "Raider fatigue"... I hated the Yankees because they always beat everyone, especially the Indians...I did not like Dallas when they were crowned "America's Team"...I hated the Bulls and Dennis Rodman...

It seems natural to dislike anyone who dominates, especially if they beat your team.

If you want to defeat the giant, you must make a commitment to it.  WWW did and was naturally hated by Mount fans...(quite respected as well) Will they return to the top since LL shuffled off to Buffalo?   Does not appear so..maybe I'm wrong here, time will tell.

Linfield has had their shots...how many championships?  MHB has had their shots, how many championships?  Wabash, Wheaton, Trinity, Wesley (love Big Mike ),  St Thomas, nope (Mount fans really dislike Coach Family)... LaCrosse has died, Dayton left, Pacific Lutheran one and done? St. John's not since John retired...
So, until Mount does take a slide, and it will NOT happen until the Kehres influence is gone, Mount will continue to be the bully of D3, and get beat every fortnight or less.  If you hate Mount, this is the year to jump on them.  Their defense is suspect and skill players young.  2017 and 2018 could be championship calibre again.

It's been one year in which WW with essentially an entirely new staff made the semifinals.  I'm really just curious what part of that "does not appear" that they could reach the top?   There was a season that we didn't even make the playoffs under LL, 2012, and came back to win consecutive national championships. 

[pvpanthers]

I agree this is the year where Mount Union is vulnerable. Very young and there are many other outstanding teams this year with far more experience. Thus, it should be a very exciting season and playoff. I disagree with Pat's post to some extent. The OAC over the past twenty-plus years (and, yes, I realize this year it seems to be only UMU), has had some really, really great teams that would often get put in the same bracket as Mount Union. John Carroll, Capital, Baldwin-Wallace, Ohio Northern have had some fantastic teams over the years and one can only speculate that if they did not face Mount Union in the playoffs so early, where they might have ended up. No, they have not been on the road for a playoff game since 1994, but they have played plenty of playoff teams in the regular season. 

[Pat Coleman]

I agree this is the year where Mount Union is vulnerable. Very young and there are many other outstanding teams this year with far more experience. Thus, it should be a very exciting season and playoff. I disagree with Pat's post to some extent. The OAC over the past twenty-plus years (and, yes, I realize this year it seems to be only UMU), has had some really, really great teams that would often get put in the same bracket as Mount Union. John Carroll, Capital, Baldwin-Wallace, Ohio Northern have had some fantastic teams over the years and one can only speculate that if they did not face Mount Union in the playoffs so early, where they might have ended up. No, they have not been on the road for a playoff game since 1994, but they have played plenty of playoff teams in the regular season.

Yes, but consider that every serious national title contender plays teams like that in the regular season, and has also been sent on the road to play playoff teams as well. What you describe here is no longer unique to Mount Union.

[raiderguy]

Coming soon, to a message board near you:  WHY IS MOUNT UNION GIVEN THE 1-1 SEED???  THEIR CONFERENCE STINKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  WHY ARE THEY GIVEN SUCH A GIFT EVERY YEAR???  WHO DID MOUNT UNION BEAT??

THE FIX IS IN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My favorite track on that CD is that the NCAA should make Mount Union go to Linfield or St. Thomas or UMHB just once...ya know, just to change things up a bit.

Well they did bring UWW to Alliance last year. However, my question to the Mount Union Posters, outside of the OAC schools and Salem stadium, what is the best stadium (DIII) have you even visited?

Fixed

Yes, I would say UWW was about as FIXED AS THEY COULD BE.... IS That kind of fixed you are talking about? 

   

[pvpanthers]

Totally agree, Pat. Of course, I never said it was unique to Mount Union. One could say that playing on the road in the playoffs at the Catdome in McMinnville is nothing like playing a game in Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa. The "road" factor is not at all the same and thus not as daunting in that sense when you play in front of thousands vs. tens of thousands or in some stadiums, 100,000+.

This could be the year Mount Union does play a game on the road. Who knows? Maybe Mount Union loses to John Carroll? Maybe UMHB, UWW or UWO go unbeaten, along with St. Thomas and the Raiders do not get the overall #1 or 2 seed. Though, doesn't the NCAA somehow hide this, Pat? That they determine the host sites after a certain time following completion of each round? Given the strength of the WIAC and other conferences, it could happen. And hey, it would shut Geiger up.

[emma17]

Good subject.
I don't hate on Mt. either, they set the standard that has improved D3 football.

Also, I don't have any reason to think Mt would have lost had they been on the road in some playoff games previous years. There is a benefit to travel as well.

That said, I do think the rules on deciding home field should be perfectly clear. For instance, if Mt and St Thomas or MHB go undefeated and are on the same side of the bracket, what data point trumps- the sos and reality of teams played in 2016 or the national championship last year?
Imo if Mt and MHB are paired up in playoffs at 14-0, Mt should travel to TX.