FB: Ohio Athletic Conference

[bleedpurple]

Mount 654 - jcu (-7).....and Mount goes for 2 to close it out. Find the gas pedal - never let up.

I didn't get a chance to see this before the game. But I'm guessing you were thinking 93 TD's and a safety for Mount?

[edward de vere]

No quibble with the latest D3 rankings but I'd love to know the last time Mount was 3-0 and NOT ranked in the top three.

[Pat Coleman]

No quibble with the latest D3 rankings but I'd love to know the last time Mount was 3-0 and NOT ranked in the top three.

I mean, even the number of times Mount Union was not ranked in the top three is pretty small, but so is the number of times they didn't make the semifinals.

[rscl70]

No quibble with the latest D3 rankings but I'd love to know the last time Mount was 3-0 and NOT ranked in the top three.

I mean, even the number of times Mount Union was not ranked in the top three is pretty small, but so is the number of times they didn't make the semifinals.

What do this year's ranking and last year's loss to the eventual national champions have to do with one another?

[Pat Coleman]

No quibble with the latest D3 rankings but I'd love to know the last time Mount was 3-0 and NOT ranked in the top three.

I mean, even the number of times Mount Union was not ranked in the top three is pretty small, but so is the number of times they didn't make the semifinals.

What do this year's ranking and last year's loss to the eventual national champions have to do with one another?

Not a whole lot but it is Mount Union's last game against a team in the current top five and you would have to agree it probably remains in the mind of voters who have no 2021 common opponents to use to separate the elite teams from each other.

[D3fanboy]

No quibble with the latest D3 rankings but I'd love to know the last time Mount was 3-0 and NOT ranked in the top three.

I mean, even the number of times Mount Union was not ranked in the top three is pretty small, but so is the number of times they didn't make the semifinals.

What do this year's ranking and last year's loss to the eventual national champions have to do with one another?

Not a whole lot but it is Mount Union's last game against a team in the current top five and you would have to agree it probably remains in the mind of voters who have no 2021 common opponents to use to separate the elite teams from each other.

Didnt UWW get their brakes beat off in their last game against a current top five team (NCC 41-14) and wasn't UMHB nearly shut out in their last game against a current top 5 team (UWW 26-7)? 

That argument is pretty weak, but Mount is probably ranked right.  Young team and head coach that has played three top 25ish/playoff type teams, two on the road.  An 80 point Simpson type team in week one would have been nice to get some kinks out, but those games are coming. 

[Pat Coleman]

And UMHB looked like crap in that game, too, with 140-some yards of total offense -- what our voters may have noticed, however, is that the Cru seem to have sorted their quarterback situation with the five spring games and that can definitely influence how people think, even though it wasn't a full season.

[HOPEful]

That argument is pretty weak, but Mount is probably ranked right.  Young team and head coach that has played three top 25ish/playoff type teams, two on the road.  An 80 point Simpson type team in week one would have been nice to get some kinks out, but those games are coming.

I think just about everyone is in agreement that UWW, Mount, NC, and MHB are pretty much 1a, 1b, 1c, and 1d. Attempting to place them in some sort of a ranked order forces one to imply whatever metrics they see most fitting. Mine shift towards resume more than the "eye test" and are as follows...

1. North Central - Their win against Wheaton is the most impressive resume builder this year. The 64-7 dismantling of a very good Aurora team is jaw dropping as well. An Aurora team that went to St. Johns and was winning late in the fourth quarter.  The fact that they are the reigning champion doesn't necessary mean they should be #1 this year, but it doesn't hurt either.

2. Mary Hardin-Baylor - Their win again Hardin Simmons places them here for me. The 80 point win over Simpson looks a lot less impressive now after Central did similarly.

3. Whitewater - The win over Salisbury is next best.

4. Mount - John Carroll didn't do Mount any favors when they lost at home to a very good Washington and Jefferson team. They might be the best 1-2 team D3 ever, but Mount's best win on the year so far is to a team with a losing record. Also, they don't have another opponent on their schedule that would trump wins over Wheaton, Hardin Simmons, or Salisbury + the gauntlet that is the WIAC. I think Mount will have difficulty moving off the four spot without someone else losing.

Luckily for us, these rankings are more for fun than anything and we have a playoff to figure it out on the field

[D3fanboy]

That argument is pretty weak, but Mount is probably ranked right.  Young team and head coach that has played three top 25ish/playoff type teams, two on the road.  An 80 point Simpson type team in week one would have been nice to get some kinks out, but those games are coming.

I think just about everyone is in agreement that UWW, Mount, NC, and MHB are pretty much 1a, 1b, 1c, and 1d. Attempting to place them in some sort of a ranked order forces one to imply whatever metrics they see most fitting. Mine shift towards resume more than the "eye test" and are as follows...

1. North Central - Their win against Wheaton is the most impressive resume builder this year. The 64-7 dismantling of a very good Aurora team is jaw dropping as well. An Aurora team that went to St. Johns and was winning late in the fourth quarter.  The fact that they are the reigning champion doesn't necessary mean they should be #1 this year, but it doesn't hurt either.

2. Mary Hardin-Baylor - Their win again Hardin Simmons places them here for me. The 80 point win over Simpson looks a lot less impressive now after Central did similarly.

3. Whitewater - The win over Salisbury is next best.

4. Mount - John Carroll didn't do Mount any favors when they lost at home to a very good Washington and Jefferson team. They might be the best 1-2 team D3 ever, but Mount's best win on the year so far is to a team with a losing record. Also, they don't have another opponent on their schedule that would trump wins over Wheaton, Hardin Simmons, or Salisbury + the gauntlet that is the WIAC. I think Mount will have difficulty moving off the four spot without someone else losing.

Luckily for us, these rankings are more for fun than anything and we have a playoff to figure it out on the field

100% agree about the playoffs making this all just talk.  JCU will probably hang a banner about being the best 1-2 team ever. 

I think that you are giving Salisbury a little too much credit. are they a good team? of course.  Does their only decent conference competition exist in D3 anymore?  nope.  garbage conference schedule. 

if Aurora is "very good", then JCU, BW, and Westminster must be out of this world.  The Mount "W" was never in doubt against either of the three.  BW should run their schedule until JCU, JCU should probably do the same.  Neither will because thats what they do.  But Mount should have 1-2 RRO in the playoff rankings.   Westminster vs W&J could give Mount another, no "elite" wins but a chance to have 3 pretty good wins

at least its not a 4 team "playoff" right?

[D3fanboy]

And UMHB looked like crap in that game, too, with 140-some yards of total offense -- what our voters may have noticed, however, is that the Cru seem to have sorted their quarterback situation with the five spring games and that can definitely influence how people think, even though it wasn't a full season.

yeah, I guess as a voter you could look at the spring season.  Didn't Mount play in the spring too?  With your website's data, could you find out when the last time one of the top 4 were down by 21 points? let alone in the 1st half?  I'd guess Mount's last was up at Oshkosh in...17?

[HOPEful]

I think that you are giving Salisbury a little too much credit. are they a good team? of course.  Does their only decent conference competition exist in D3 anymore?  nope.  garbage conference schedule. 

if Aurora is "very good", then JCU, BW, and Westminster must be out of this world.  The Mount "W" was never in doubt against either of the three.  BW should run their schedule until JCU, JCU should probably do the same.  Neither will because thats what they do.  But Mount should have 1-2 RRO in the playoff rankings.   Westminster vs W&J could give Mount another, no "elite" wins but a chance to have 3 pretty good wins

1. Perhaps I am giving Salisbury too much credit. But if I am guilty of such a thing, so is every D3football.com voter who has them at #14 currently. If in three weeks we see Salisbury isn't quite that good, it won't matter because by then UWW will have played Stout and Oshkosh...

2. If you head over to the North Region Fan poll, you will notice that regional voters from this forum voted Aurora below JC and ahead of BW last week. BWs win over Heidelberg could shift that, but claiming the difference is "out of this world" is a stretch. It feels like you're belittling some teams and elevating others to fit your narrative. My point wasn't that Aurora is an amazing team. It was that they are "very good" and the Cardinals crushed them 64-7 when St John's needed a TD late in the fourth to beat them. But please don't focus on that point as though it's the primary argument. This is all secondary to their  20-7 win at Wheaton. Unless Wheaton gets handed another loss, that win will in my opinion remain the single best win of the season for any of these teams and is probably enough in my eyes to keep NC #1 until someone beats them. Had Wheaton won that game, I would say the same thing about the Thunder being ranked #1.

[raiderpa]

I think the Mount ranking is as high as they could hope for at the moment. In the early games, they are not showing  the super high powered offense that we are used to seeing. Perhaps we need to credit their opponents.  The QB is accurate and short throws are excellent, but he has not shown a good deep ball touch yet , nor have the Mount receivers separated themselves like those of the past. They have appeared to become more ball control than the quick strike, blowout Offense that we have been used to. (not all bad) Most of the passing success is timing and short delays. The defense is good, but not great and has been shown some slight cause for concern, but plenty of time to get ironed out. Obviously, there is a long way to go, but, at the moment, I would say they will find getting to the semi final more difficult than in the past and the Stagg...well, we'll see. I hope I am wrong. I would like to hear from HS Coach, as he has far more football knowledge than do I.

[MRMIKESMITH]

I think that you are giving Salisbury a little too much credit. are they a good team? of course.  Does their only decent conference competition exist in D3 anymore?  nope.  garbage conference schedule. 

if Aurora is "very good", then JCU, BW, and Westminster must be out of this world.  The Mount "W" was never in doubt against either of the three.  BW should run their schedule until JCU, JCU should probably do the same.  Neither will because thats what they do.  But Mount should have 1-2 RRO in the playoff rankings.   Westminster vs W&J could give Mount another, no "elite" wins but a chance to have 3 pretty good wins

1. Perhaps I am giving Salisbury too much credit. But if I am guilty of such a thing, so is every D3football.com voter who has them at #14 currently. If in three weeks we see Salisbury isn't quite that good, it won't matter because by then UWW will have played Stout and Oshkosh...

2. If you head over to the North Region Fan poll, you will notice that regional voters from this forum voted Aurora below JC and ahead of BW last week. BWs win over Heidelberg could shift that, but claiming the difference is "out of this world" is a stretch. It feels like you're belittling some teams and elevating others to fit your narrative. My point wasn't that Aurora is an amazing team. It was that they are "very good" and the Cardinals crushed them 64-7 when St John's needed a TD late in the fourth to beat them. But please don't focus on that point as though it's the primary argument. This is all secondary to their  20-7 win at Wheaton. Unless Wheaton gets handed another loss, that win will in my opinion remain the single best win of the season for any of these teams and is probably enough in my eyes to keep NC #1 until someone beats them. Had Wheaton won that game, I would say the same thing about the Thunder being ranked #1.

Salisbury being in a poor "reception" area in the country will have issues finding opponents to play in the near future. Many teams within a days trip  are already in 9+ team conferences, Salisbury is very fortunate to have an affiliation with the NJAC.  Nevertheless, Wesley and Frostburg both ceasing operations and leaving, respectively has surely hurt both Salisbury and the NJAC in regards to top competition. However, Salisbury HC mentioned in an earlier broadcast during the Spring and Summer that putting the likes of UW-Whitewater and UW-Oshkosh the past "two" seasons on the schedule was very intentional. Until Montclair, Rowan, and CNU can come around, which I believe they will, Salisbury will continue to have to schedule the likes of WIAC Schools. It was told to me that Salisbury HC had consulted Larry Kehres some years ago in regards to Salisbury raising its level of play and too briefly summarize, it was first improve facilities (which they subsequently did), recruit at an extremely high level, recruiting players that should be DI, DII or get solid transfers in (not really) and lastly schedule the top echelon of DIII (has done). Regarding scheduling, Salisbury couldn't even fill out its schedule the past 2 seasons for multiple reasons, this year was probably due to Covid and Budget issues. However, I know that many teams declined to play Salisbury. Now, Salisbury has both Montclair and Rowan over the next 3 weeks including that extra bye. We shall know as you aforementioned if they are forreal or not. Just a note, Montclair losses are to opponents that are a combined 11-0.

[D3fanboy]

I think that you are giving Salisbury a little too much credit. are they a good team? of course.  Does their only decent conference competition exist in D3 anymore?  nope.  garbage conference schedule. 

if Aurora is "very good", then JCU, BW, and Westminster must be out of this world.  The Mount "W" was never in doubt against either of the three.  BW should run their schedule until JCU, JCU should probably do the same.  Neither will because thats what they do.  But Mount should have 1-2 RRO in the playoff rankings.   Westminster vs W&J could give Mount another, no "elite" wins but a chance to have 3 pretty good wins

1. Perhaps I am giving Salisbury too much credit. But if I am guilty of such a thing, so is every D3football.com voter who has them at #14 currently. If in three weeks we see Salisbury isn't quite that good, it won't matter because by then UWW will have played Stout and Oshkosh...

2. If you head over to the North Region Fan poll, you will notice that regional voters from this forum voted Aurora below JC and ahead of BW last week. BWs win over Heidelberg could shift that, but claiming the difference is "out of this world" is a stretch. It feels like you're belittling some teams and elevating others to fit your narrative. My point wasn't that Aurora is an amazing team. It was that they are "very good" and the Cardinals crushed them 64-7 when St John's needed a TD late in the fourth to beat them. But please don't focus on that point as though it's the primary argument. This is all secondary to their  20-7 win at Wheaton. Unless Wheaton gets handed another loss, that win will in my opinion remain the single best win of the season for any of these teams and is probably enough in my eyes to keep NC #1 until someone beats them. Had Wheaton won that game, I would say the same thing about the Thunder being ranked #1.

NCC should have all of the #1 votes IMO.  I think Aurora is not a top 30-35 team, great QB, but pretty blah.  The d3football love for St Johns pumps them up a bit, imo.  I think the #2-4 spots are where the fun discussion can be had.  It'll all work out I'm sure

[Pat Coleman]

I think that you are giving Salisbury a little too much credit. are they a good team? of course.  Does their only decent conference competition exist in D3 anymore?  nope.  garbage conference schedule. 

if Aurora is "very good", then JCU, BW, and Westminster must be out of this world.  The Mount "W" was never in doubt against either of the three.  BW should run their schedule until JCU, JCU should probably do the same.  Neither will because thats what they do.  But Mount should have 1-2 RRO in the playoff rankings.   Westminster vs W&J could give Mount another, no "elite" wins but a chance to have 3 pretty good wins

1. Perhaps I am giving Salisbury too much credit. But if I am guilty of such a thing, so is every D3football.com voter who has them at #14 currently. If in three weeks we see Salisbury isn't quite that good, it won't matter because by then UWW will have played Stout and Oshkosh...

2. If you head over to the North Region Fan poll, you will notice that regional voters from this forum voted Aurora below JC and ahead of BW last week. BWs win over Heidelberg could shift that, but claiming the difference is "out of this world" is a stretch. It feels like you're belittling some teams and elevating others to fit your narrative. My point wasn't that Aurora is an amazing team. It was that they are "very good" and the Cardinals crushed them 64-7 when St John's needed a TD late in the fourth to beat them. But please don't focus on that point as though it's the primary argument. This is all secondary to their  20-7 win at Wheaton. Unless Wheaton gets handed another loss, that win will in my opinion remain the single best win of the season for any of these teams and is probably enough in my eyes to keep NC #1 until someone beats them. Had Wheaton won that game, I would say the same thing about the Thunder being ranked #1.

NCC should have all of the #1 votes IMO.  I think Aurora is not a top 30-35 team, great QB, but pretty blah.  The d3football love for St Johns pumps them up a bit, imo.  I think the #2-4 spots are where the fun discussion can be had.  It'll all work out I'm sure

Aurora is getting the 37th-most votes from our pollsters, so sounds like there is room for some common ground.