FB: Ohio Athletic Conference

[Dr. Acula]

TMC is leaving the PAC?  Can we trade Musky or Wilm for them?  I mean, TMC is basically in Cincy.  That's close enough, right?

[Onward on, John Carroll]

TMC is leaving the PAC?  Can we trade Musky or Wilm for them?  I mean, TMC is basically in Cincy.  That's close enough, right?

I think Wilma and Musky would vote for trading Mount!!

John Carroll abstains.

[purple]

  The Great Number 7, Bill Borchert, has been nominated for the College Football Hall of Fame. He stands out even in the company of so many great Mount Union quarterbacks. He also started as a true freshman, a near impossible feat at Mount, especially at the quarterback position.

[SaintsFAN]

TMC is leaving the PAC?  Can we trade Musky or Wilm for them?  I mean, TMC is basically in Cincy.  That's close enough, right?

I'd love to see Thomas More in the OAC.  But, I doubt it happens.  Maybe instead of a trade, if one of those teams could seek out the HCAC? 

Anyways, it will be an interesting summer/fall in Crestview Hills -- sounds like they are considering all options. 

[Dr. Acula]

Isn't the dream solution for Wilmington to return to the HCAC and TMC to join the OAC?  It seems like everyone wins in that scenario.  The OAC gets a nice upgrade in most sports, TMC helps their programs by playing in a better conference, Wilmington slides back in somewhere a little better suited to their athletics.  I'm sure it's a pipe dream, but it's fun to hypothesize.   

[Pat Coleman]

I wouldn't argue with that assessment.

I wonder about the possibility of Thomas More going to the OAC and Wilmington returning to the HCAC, where they have a chance to be more competitive.

[Dr. Acula]

Couple more names I saw on Twitter...

CJ Roberson, DE/TE, Southfield MI.  Nice frame to build on (6'3" 220).
Brett Butcher, WR/DB, West Branch HS.

The MI focus is definitely real.  I'm going to be interested to see that tally when the freshmen roster is released.

[Dr. Acula]

Not football specific, but I was looking at the OAC All-Sports results.  A couple interesting notes:

JCU, Mount and ONU have finished in the top 3 in the men's All-Sports standings 5 straight years now.  Those are 3 of the 4 schools that field teams in every offered sport for men and women (BW being the 4th).

Musky has finished last in the men's standings for 5 straight years.  This is especially difficult considering they actually field a team in one more men's sport than Wilm does.

An item I'm sure LK takes pride in...neither the Raider women or men have finished lower than 2nd in the last 6 years.

[JCUStreaks70]

Not football specific, but I was looking at the OAC All-Sports results.  A couple interesting notes:

JCU, Mount and ONU have finished in the top 3 in the men's All-Sports standings 5 straight years now.  Those are 3 of the 4 schools that field teams in every offered sport for men and women (BW being the 4th).

Musky has finished last in the men's standings for 5 straight years.  This is especially difficult considering they actually field a team in one more men's sport than Wilm does.

An item I'm sure LK takes pride in...neither the Raider women or men have finished lower than 2nd in the last 6 years.

Can't say that I'm terribly surprised by what you pointed out... It seems that at the DIII level (not just the OAC) that the best football schools are generally also the best all around... Not making a proclamation, just an observation

[Dr. Acula]

I've said it before and it holds true in other D3 conferences as well...there are always haves and have nots.  ONU, JCU, Mount have institutional support to succeed in athletics.  Schools like Musky and Wilm simply do not have the same level of support.  Even a school like Etta that's highly successful in hoops and baseball can't sustain competitiveness across the board.  It's just the landscape in D3. 

[JCUStreaks70]

I've said it before and it holds true in other D3 conferences as well...there are always haves and have nots.  ONU, JCU, Mount have institutional support to succeed in athletics.  Schools like Musky and Wilm simply do not have the same level of support.  Even a school like Etta that's highly successful in hoops and baseball can't sustain competitiveness across the board.  It's just the landscape in D3.

Absolutely agree 100%.. This is evidence when you consider the playoffs even. All 3 schools have great support, at home and on the road. Being from Chicago, seeing the amount of fellow JCU grads who drove out to Wheaton, in 2014, and then Whitewater and Oshkosh this past year was AWESOME.

Mount as we know, always travels well and has a great fanbase.

Then I remember is 2010 when Ohio Northern played North Central in the 2nd Round in Chicago (well Naperville, which is where I also call home) they had a nice following as well...

This helps, because not only does the administration support the team with an importance on Sports; Alumni and Fans also assist in this manner. By making the D3 Experience feel more like D1; i.e. tailgating, going to games (home and away) it helps recruit better players who want that experience.

[Craft_Beermeister]

Former Mount Union football player Tre Jones has signed a free agent contract with the CFL's Calgary Stampeders.

http://athletics.mountunion.edu/sports/fball/2017-18/releases/20170607iulx3j

[Craft_Beermeister]

Below is a link to a great article about Matt Campbell and the influence his years at Mount Union have on his coaching style.

http://www.amestrib.com/sports/20170512/how-iowa-state-football-coach-matt-campbell-found-his-process-part-ii-mount-union

[edward de vere]

The "Legend O' Larry" continues.  Thanks for the link!

[HansenRatings]

Decided I'm going to spam every conference board with my preseason (non-returning-starter-adjusted) projections.

Team	Rating	Overall	Conference
UMU	0.9990	9.5-0.5	8.5-0.5
JCU	0.9951	8.5-1.5	8.0-1.0
Heidelberg	0.9269	6.9-3.1	6.1-2.9
ONU	0.9213	7.1-2.9	6.2-2.8
B-W	0.7801	5.6-4.4	4.7-4.3
Otterbein	0.6532	4.3-5.7	3.1-4.9
Muskingum	0.4960	3.5-6.5	2.6-5.4
Marietta	0.3916	2.7-7.3	2.3-6.7
Capital	0.3338	2.5-7.5	2.2-6.8
Wilmington	0.0414	1.2-8.8	0.3-8.7

I don't know how controversial this will be on this board, but I firmly believe that Mount Union was a better team than JCU last season, and it took a considerable amount of luck for John Carroll to pull off the win. Given that, and their 4-year regression, Mount is a pretty heavy favorite for next season. Baldwin-Wallace is inevitably going to have a rebound season this year, even if they do only go 5-5--it took a lot of bad luck last year for them to lose 7 games--and Wilmington probably isn't going to win any conference games.