FB: Ohio Athletic Conference

[reality check]

[PurpleSuit]

Being a central Ohio guy my whole life and a long time listener to The Fan, wanted to let everyone that didn't know already that Chris Spielman's wife Stefanie has passed away this evening after a 11 year battle with breast cancer. She was a true hero. Rest in peace...

http://www.971thefan.com/live/content/stefanie.html

Chris Spielman was my main sports idol growing up in Stark County.  It is amazing how much of a battle Stephanie put up and how much money and awareness she raised for such a horrible disease.  R.I.P.

[seventiesraider]

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[Mr. Ypsi]

CarrollStreaks,

Allow a non-OAC observer to give you some advice (and one who is obviously not anti-JCU, since I took them in the basketball 'Survivor Pool'): either cool it or shut up.

You are WAY out of line to come out of nowhere and accuse RC of being a liar (HE has credibility after posting for more years than the current set-up tracks; you have less than zero and dropping fast).

After such a pathetic start, I have no idea if you can ever be an actual 'member' of the board, though I've seen others start nearly as badly and eventually be accepted and welcomed.  But I would suggest you either wipe the chip off your shoulder, apologize for your actions to date, and behave, or else disappear for a while and try coming back under a different name (and different attitude).

[MUCheats]

One last thought for the night:

Mount Union should go independent for football.  As of right now, no one benefits from them continuing to dominate the OAC.  If they went independent, they'd have no trouble earning a Pool B bid, and that would free up the OAC's Pool A bid for another team which, I feel confident in saying, would always be deserving of it.  Right now it's clear that the NCAA selection committee isn't willing to accept the fact that the OAC is one of the toughest conferences in the country, dominated by a dynasty unlike anything ever seen at this level of play.  As a result, good programs like Ohio Northern and Capital are reserved to playing for second place and have no margin for error if they want to remain in the Pool C hunt.  And unfortunately because of the strength of the conference, in recent years these teams have often had trouble sealing the deal (that is, winning all of their other remaining conference games).  Even going out of conference and beating a co-champion from another solid conference isn't deemed good enough.

The other reality is that the rest of the OAC hasn't caught up with MUC, and it doesn't look like they will for the foreseeable future.  They've got advantages (some self-developed, some institutional) that their OAC rivals won't be able to match for years, if ever.  As long as they're around, the rest of the conference will be left fighting for table scraps and many years coming up short.

One side note.  When Mount Union wins the national championship, they don't represent the OAC.  As we've seen time and again, the OAC is often regarded by fans of other conferences as MUC and the little nine, or the nine other schools that one by one lay down for Mount Union before they head off for postseason play.  Without the OAC, Mount Union is still the dominating force that it is today.  As a contrast, when Florida or LSU (and perhaps soon Alabama) wins the national title, these teams proudly carry the SEC flag along the way.  And doing so makes sense, because these teams and other members of the conference beat each other up and routinely there are multiple legitimate national title contenders from the SEC.  The OAC hasn't had that type of parity in years, and the Purple Raiders have dominated the conference for well over a decade.  So if you're a fan of another OAC team, there's no reason to get excited about another Purple Raiders national title.  It's not the conference's, it's theirs, and theirs alone.  There is no grounds for basking in their reflective glory.  When someone other than Mount Union proves that they can compete against the big boys from around the country, then perhaps we all can have some conference pride.

[PurpleSuit]

CarrollStreaks,

You're wrong.  Mount doesn't need to go independent.  They need to move up a division or join the MAC.  At the very least schedule Akron or Kent or YSU. 

[MUCheats]

CarrollStreaks,

Allow a non-OAC observer to give you some advice (and one who is obviously not anti-JCU, since I took them in the basketball 'Survivor Pool'): either cool it or shut up.

You are WAY out of line to come out of nowhere and accuse RC of being a liar (HE has credibility after posting for more years than the current set-up tracks; you have less than zero and dropping fast).

After such a pathetic start, I have no idea if you can ever be an actual 'member' of the board, though I've seen others start nearly as badly and eventually be accepted and welcomed.  But I would suggest you either wipe the chip off your shoulder, apologize for your actions to date, and behave, or else disappear for a while and try coming back under a different name (and different attitude).

With all due respect (because you are truly one of the few who commands it around here), you're wrong.  Reality Check embellished on a story a few weeks back and didn't have the guts to concede that he might be wrong when called on it.  And when I challenged him on his assertion, a few posters here had the audacity to say that he must be right because he's been here longer.  Talk about a load of garbage.

As for my "pathetic start," I'm certain I've made a positive contribution to the DIII boards.  You're unfairly judging me on the few times I got down and played in the mud with the handful of people who disagree with me on the OAC football board.  It's unfortunate that you can't see past that.

And I don't care about being accepted, because in doing so one is required to bend over backwards to impress the Mount Union bullies who practically run this board (without a doubt they run the OAC part of it).  One can't say any little thing that may upset their delicate little sensibilities or else they're going to be exiled.  And even worse, it seems that just about every other OAC fan that posts here has accepted this and tiptoes around making very certain not to anger and Purple Raiders fans.   They fall into line and refuse to challenge the status quo.  If I were wrong, I'd accept that, but from what I've heard from fans of schools in other conferences, I'm not the only one who sees this.

[MUCheats]

CarrollStreaks,

You're wrong.  Mount doesn't need to go independent.  They need to move up a division or join the MAC.  At the very least schedule Akron or Kent or YSU. 

Obviously that's an institutional decision, and one I believe the school probably could not afford at this time.  It's debatable that Kent and Akron, large state schools, even belong in Division I-A. 

I know you're being facetious because that's something you've heard before, but it would be nice if someone had the fortitude to legitimately discuss this.

[Pat Coleman]

As we've seen time and again, the OAC is often regarded by fans of other conferences as MUC and the little nine, or the nine other schools that one by one lay down for Mount Union before they head off for postseason play.  

As evidenced by the OAC runners-up and their cumulative record in the playoffs against teams other than Mount Union?

[Schwami]

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

+k

Mr. Ypsi, no karma for you until next week, out of principle 

[MUCheats]

As we've seen time and again, the OAC is often regarded by fans of other conferences as MUC and the little nine, or the nine other schools that one by one lay down for Mount Union before they head off for postseason play.  

As evidenced by the OAC runners-up and their cumulative record in the playoffs against teams other than Mount Union?

They do pretty well, there's no doubt about that.  But it's hard to get a read on just how good these runners-up are in any given year considering they are almost always set up to see MUC in the second or third round.  Have any of them reached the level of a program like Whitewater?  A team that is a clear contender and consistent challenger to Mount Union.  I don't believe so.

[Mr. Ypsi]

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

+k

Mr. Ypsi, no karma for you until next week, out of principle 

Understood.  For this week only, I even hate wally_wabash, normally one of my favorites!

[Dr. Acula]

CarrollStreaks,

Allow a non-OAC observer to give you some advice (and one who is obviously not anti-JCU, since I took them in the basketball 'Survivor Pool'): either cool it or shut up.

You are WAY out of line to come out of nowhere and accuse RC of being a liar (HE has credibility after posting for more years than the current set-up tracks; you have less than zero and dropping fast).

After such a pathetic start, I have no idea if you can ever be an actual 'member' of the board, though I've seen others start nearly as badly and eventually be accepted and welcomed.  But I would suggest you either wipe the chip off your shoulder, apologize for your actions to date, and behave, or else disappear for a while and try coming back under a different name (and different attitude).

With all due respect (because you are truly one of the few who commands it around here), you're wrong.  Reality Check embellished on a story a few weeks back and didn't have the guts to concede that he might be wrong when called on it.  And when I challenged him on his assertion, a few posters here had the audacity to say that he must be right because he's been here longer.  Talk about a load of garbage.

As for my "pathetic start," I'm certain I've made a positive contribution to the DIII boards.  You're unfairly judging me on the few times I got down and played in the mud with the handful of people who disagree with me on the OAC football board.  It's unfortunate that you can't see past that.

And I don't care about being accepted, because in doing so one is required to bend over backwards to impress the Mount Union bullies who practically run this board (without a doubt they run the OAC part of it).  One can't say any little thing that may upset their delicate little sensibilities or else they're going to be exiled.  And even worse, it seems that just about every other OAC fan that posts here has accepted this and tiptoes around making very certain not to anger and Purple Raiders fans.   They fall into line and refuse to challenge the status quo.  If I were wrong, I'd accept that, but from what I've heard from fans of schools in other conferences, I'm not the only one who sees this.

CS,

I don't necessarily think this is accurate.  You are correct that the MUC posters are obviously the driving force on the OAC board.  This is clearly the product of sheer numbers...there are more regular MUC posters than all other OAC schools combined.  But I think you'll find that, if anything, the MUC posters want MORE representation from other schools on here.  And not more people to bow down to the mighty machine as you may think, but simply more people who want to talk football.  Quite frankly, it can get stale without some opposing viewpoints.  And it's sad that BW/JCU week is silent outside of a few speculative posts from MUC guys.  I think you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who's opposed to having more diversity on here.  Honestly, I thought you brought some valid points to the table when you arrived.  I was happy to have another JCU fan here, but when you rattle off half a dozen posts that have nothing to do with football like you did tonight you've lost me.  Please just bury the hatchet w/ RC already and get back to making quality posts about football.  I would much rather read pages and pages of posts from you about JCU's incoming freshmen class than read non-football posts of you calling people lame or d-bags.       

[jam40jeff]

As we've seen time and again, the OAC is often regarded by fans of other conferences as MUC and the little nine, or the nine other schools that one by one lay down for Mount Union before they head off for postseason play.  

As evidenced by the OAC runners-up and their cumulative record in the playoffs against teams other than Mount Union?

I would say as evidenced by the fact that a conference containing probably 3 of the top 25 teams in the country only got 1 team into the playoffs this year.

I know it is currently popular to pile on CarrollStreaks for his inexcusable name-calling tirade, but I do think he has a point about MUC.  I'm not saying they should go independent, but it definitely does seem to drag the other OAC teams down, especially with what seemed like a 2 losses and you're out mentality by the selection committe this year.  If MUC were in another conference, what happens this year?  The rest of the OAC ends up with two 8-1 teams and a 7-2 team (9-1 and 8-2 if we assume they find a winnable non-conf game to fill the spot).  They garner at least one Pool A bid and one Pool C bid, and 8-2 Capital ends up feeling like ONU feels right now.  MUC still goes 10-0, beating whoever they feel like scheduling.

I also think it's kind of funny that you guys all jumped all over CS for his "starting off the season 0-1" comment.  I know that is a defeatist attitude, but when a team only has one loss in the conference in over 15 years, it is pretty much statistically true.  I don't know if in the long run it is beneficial for teams to get to play a team like MUC every year, but it surely does hurt the other 9 OAC teams' playoff chances.

[Kira & Jaxon's Dad]

How many other Two Loss, Pool C teams made the playoffs this year?

Not many other conferences can say that if their runner up only loses to the conference champion can still have a legitimate shot at the playoffs.

Win the rest, play solid against MUC (or even get monkey-stomped) and the committee will usually put the OAC runner up in the playoffs.

Lose to Marietta, or go 8-2 in a year where there are a lot of 1 loss teams, and you don't deserve to make it.

It is a heck of a lot better than the BCS BS that goes on now.

Step up your game or be quiet.  I am sick of all the "move up a division" or "move out of the OAC" comments.  Bring your program up to MUCs level (see ONU, UWW, Rowan, UMHB, SJU, Capital (with Pentello), JCU (with Arth), BW (With Larlham)) or quit complaining.

If I offend some, so be it.