FB: Ohio Athletic Conference

[bleedpurple]

Sporting News released D3 top 25.
1.   Mount Union
2.   Linfield
3.   Wisconsin- Whitewater
4.   Washington & Jefferson
5.   Mary Hardin-Baylor
6.   Wesley
7.   St. John's
8.   Wheaton
9.   Wartburg
10. Wittenberg

I think John Carroll was at #14.

Washington and Jefferson getting some serious love in that poll.

[Dr. Acula]

Wow, that's bold to say the least.

[SaintsFAN]

Wow, that's bold to say the least.

I thought so too, but they have like 18 or 19 starters returning from last year.  I would for sure put MHB ahead of them, but to me they are AT LEAST equal with Wesley. 

[purpled]

Only 63 days to Raider football! 

[bleedpurple]

Wow, that's bold to say the least.

I thought so too, but they have like 18 or 19 starters returning from last year.  I would for sure put MHB ahead of them, but to me they are AT LEAST equal with Wesley.

If I were a voter, I would have no idea what to do with Wesley or W&J.  I have a hard time interpreting blow-out losses to Mount Union, but I would tend to downgrade them for it.  I know that 95% of the teams weren't even playing anymore when the blowouts occurred, but I find it hard to believe either St. John's or Wartburg would get blown out by Mount. I would put UMHB, Wartburg, and St. John's ahead of both Wesley and W&J right now. 

[SaintsFAN]

Wow, that's bold to say the least.

I thought so too, but they have like 18 or 19 starters returning from last year.  I would for sure put MHB ahead of them, but to me they are AT LEAST equal with Wesley.

If I were a voter, I would have no idea what to do with Wesley or W&J.  I have a hard time interpreting blow-out losses to Mount Union, but I would tend to downgrade them for it.  I know that 95% of the teams weren't even playing anymore when the blowouts occurred, but I find it hard to believe either St. John's or Wartburg would get blown out by Mount. I would put UMHB, Wartburg, and St. John's ahead of both Wesley and W&J right now.

That is sound reasoning, I think.

[Onward on, John Carroll]

Sporting News released D3 top 25.
1.   Mount Union
2.   Linfield
3.   Wisconsin- Whitewater
4.   Washington & Jefferson
5.   Mary Hardin-Baylor
6.   Wesley
7.   St. John's
8.   Wheaton
9.   Wartburg
10. Wittenberg

I think John Carroll was at #14.

Correct.  JCU was 14th.
http://www.jcusports.com/news/2015/6/11/FB_0611150852.aspx

[Sir Battlescars]

It's nice that those publications give D3 a little love, but when they put W&J at #4 it's hard to take them serious. I expect to see few different teams in the top ten when the real Top 25 poll comes out from our friends at D3football.com. 

[Kira & Jaxon's Dad]

Kevin Burke has been voted a team Captain for Team USA in the IFAF World Championships being Played in Canton.

Luc Meacham is also on the Team USA Roster.

Ed Ruhnke from Mount Union also won a tryout to be the teams K/P.

Championship Website:  http://ifafworldchampionship.org/

Team USA plays on Thursday evening and game will be on ESPN3

[reality check]

I see Dan Hawkins is the USA HC.  He's been coaching these teams since his departure from Colorado as I recall.  And his son, who a lot of people questioned as a worthy Division I QB, continues to benefit from being named Hawkins, as he serves as QB coach.  Good luck to the 3 Mount guys as they rep USA.

[ExTartanPlayer]

Wow, that's bold to say the least.

I thought so too, but they have like 18 or 19 starters returning from last year.  I would for sure put MHB ahead of them, but to me they are AT LEAST equal with Wesley.

If I were a voter, I would have no idea what to do with Wesley or W&J.  I have a hard time interpreting blow-out losses to Mount Union, but I would tend to downgrade them for it.  I know that 95% of the teams weren't even playing anymore when the blowouts occurred, but I find it hard to believe either St. John's or Wartburg would get blown out by Mount. I would put UMHB, Wartburg, and St. John's ahead of both Wesley and W&J right now.

That is sound reasoning, I think.

Adding to this: it's not like W & J steamrolled everyone for 11 weeks and then dropped an egg at Mount.  They gave up a decent amount of points all season, and they weren't exactly a shutdown unit against a very mediocre PAC.  I do understand that we're picking nits here, but for a team ranked 4th overall in the preseason poll, I'm expecting a little more.  I don't know exactly what Wartburg is bringing back, but based on their undefeated-ness and much more competitive loss to UWW (as opposed to the blitzings Wesley and W & J took from Mount), I would absolutely have them ahead of W & J and Wesley.

This is a curious rant, but for some reason I notice that in (non-D3-savvy) preseason polls, W & J seems to benefit from a reputation built on accomplishments from a long while back.  Not that they're a bad team - they're clearly a top-25 program - but I don't think it's too much to ask that a team ranked in the preseason top-10 have some record of recent playoff success, or some reason to think they'll be a contender for the national quarters this year, and...well, let's look at their playoff record over the last ten seasons:

2014 - won 41-25 at Wittenberg, lost 67-0 at Mount Union
2013 - lost 34-20 at Mount Union
2012 - lost 42-10 at Johns Hopkins
2009 - lost 55-0 at Mount Union
2008 - won 35-20 at Millsaps, lost 63-7 at UMHB
2007 - as a #1 seed, lost in first round 35-34 to NC Wesleyan
2006 - won 27-23 at CNU, lost 30-27 at UMHB

That's three playoff wins in the past decade (two of which were following by 60-point curb-stompings at the hands of a purple power) and a couple of bad first-round losses (either because of the margin or because they lost at home as a #1 seed against NCW, who lost 64-0 at UMHB the next round).  What in the last season or two indicates that W & J is about to make the jump from "solid second-tier program" back to "national contender" status?  This isn't UWW having one weird down season in 2012; this is a solid decade of evidence that W & J is merely a "good" D3 program, not a great one.

This is starting to remind me of how Florida State rode the coattails of their insane 1987-2000 run to high preseason rankings for the next decade; even coming off 7-6 seasons we would hear about how this is the year that FSU is back (until it finally did happen...in 2012).  W & J was a nationally elite program...in the 1990's.  But they haven't been on that level for at least a decade.  Do they have some "brand" recognition among people who compile D3 polls for Lindy's and Sporting News?  "Uh, yeah, Washington and Jefferson is always really good, stick em in there."

Anyways, that's a totally sideways and unnecessary rant.  Just something I feel like I've noticed almost every year for the past couple.  I admit this might happen with other schools, too, I just always notice W & J ranked too high and think "Wait, really? Weren't they just OK last year?"

[purple]

 Mount Union players accounted for the first ten points for the USA against Mexico tonight. Luc Meacham mad e the best catch I've ever seen him make, a one handed stab in the end zone on a high throw from Kevin Burke and Werle kicked a 45 yard FG and an extra point. 10-3 at halftime. Mexico has some very good defensive players.

[ADL70]

The catch was just featured on Sports Center.

[BoBo]

Kevin Burke has been voted a team Captain for Team USA in the IFAF World Championships being Played in Canton.

Luc Meacham is also on the Team USA Roster.

Ed Ruhnke from Mount Union also won a tryout to be the teams K/P.

Championship Website:  http://ifafworldchampionship.org/

Team USA plays on Thursday evening and game will be on ESPN3

Did you happen to see the lead story on footballscoop.com today? It reads, "
The World Cup of American Football begins today. What the hell is the World Cup of American Football?"

Now that I've seen the games box score, I understand the meaning of that title ... only 350 in attendance. Did anyone here actually watch it? If so, was that number correct? I realize it's the middle of summer and not football season, but do the organizers of the thing put out any publicity on the event? How embarrassing...

[Dr. Acula]

None of my buddies that still live in that area knew about it.  And a few of them said they would have checked it out just to watch some football had they known.  One issue that may hurt casual attendance even if people knew is that the area's big HS All-Star game is in that stadium next week I believe.  A lot of folks may have still skipped last night and just waited another week to watch kids they know.