FB: Ohio Athletic Conference

[skunks_sidekick]

Ho hum.........it's that time of year again!   

Just as I saw a few Christmas/holiday commercials tonight on TV......it's also time for the "Mount move up", "Mount has 200 kids and ANYONE can get in there", "Mount has a bunch of D-I/D-II transfers", "Mount HAS to be cheating....no one is that good"...............

You know what they say........any pub is good pub....we could be ummmm......(insert obscure low-level D-III team here) and be totally ignored. 

Here's hoping Mount can somehow win this weekend, and then if they get a few breaks, and get very lucky they can POSSIBLE win a few play-off games.  (There...that should break any voodoo hex that anyone has put on Mount with their "best team ever" talk...just call me Lou Holtz)   

[runyr]

+karma for Lou Holtz, East Liverpool and Kent State's favorite son! 

[Toph]

I've got a question for the nitwits out there that think the answer is moving up a division.

Lets say for a second that the football program at Mount Union could play at a different level than the rest of the sports, it can't but let's say it can for a second.

OK, now, does anyone know how many D2 schools there are within 250 miles of Alliance, Ohio?  Answer, not many.  And the ones that are would lose just as bad as the teams they are currently playing.

Not only would you be basically losing all history and rivals by moving up but now you're playing a whole new group of teams, with increased travel ten-fold, at least.  And your home attendance? It probably drops.  Your revenues would not increase, which would be the only reason to move to D2, they would probably drop.  Unless there was a D2 team out there that would pay a pretty penny for Mount to come to town.  

Lets say North Dakota State paid Mount Union College $100,000 to play up there.  How many Mount fans would be there?

I'm trying to keep this simple, but simply said, saying Mount Union needs to play better competition is pretty damn ignorant as things are set up in the NCAA's!  After all you do realize there is a nine game conference schedule, which allows only one non-conference game, right?

Maybe the answer is leaving the OAC and becoming an independent so they can fight like hell to get ten teams to play them rather than the one they have difficulty scheduling now.

1st of all Mount Union CAN play at a higher level, there has been plenty of teams that do it and play competitively! Competing don't mean they will always win but push or challenge teams on a higher level! There has to be teams that are within a reasonable travelling distance that MUC can play against since their fans travel pretty well for a D3 school. Finally, MUC don't need to play more than 1-2 games a season against stronger competition ... that would be more than enough to see how good they are!

English 101, anyone?  Now that I've put that out there...

"There has [sic] to be teams that are within a reasonable travelling [sic] distance that MUC can play against..."  Ric just answered that question.  There are only two Division II colleges in the entire state of Ohio, and two I-AAs (or Division I Non-BCS Bowl Subdivsion, Sector 4G, Linear Route 8425.5...I think that's what the NCAA is calling it now).  So, please, do tell us where these teams are.

Instead of worrying about Mount Union moving up (because that notion is completely ridiculous and anyone who suggests it doesn't understand exactly what it would mean for the school), why don't you worry about proper spelling and grammar?  Instead of complaining about Mount, why don't you complain about the fact that nobody else is stepping up to the plate to beat them?

Why does this argument keep coming up every year?

EDIT:  AJ-  The difference between the MAC and Division III is night and day.  Mount may be able to hang with a couple of MAC teams for awhile (hell, they might even get lucky and beat somebody), but eventually the difference in size and speed will become too great for even Mount to overcome...and RC is right, the MAC gets paid a ton of money to go and get their helmets handed to them by bigger schools.  MAC schools need some kind of financial incentive to play Mount (there's a reason they play some games on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday...ESPN is willing to televise them).  Let's face it, college football is a business.

[JK]

You know what they say........any pub is good pub....we could be ummmm......(insert obscure low-level D-III team here) and be totally ignored. 

You don't even have to be an "obscure low level D-III team."  You could just be Capital or Otterbein in our own conference.  It's hard to find ink for those two when you have to have OSU on 6 of your 10 page sports section (Columbus Dispatch).

Cap occasionally gets a Dispatch reporter or photographer for games, but when they go on the road, even in a playoff road game at Mount Union... nothing but a blurb submitted by Cap's SID.  Otterbein wins the NCAA championship in basketball a few years ago, do they get even a mention?  Not that I recall.

Hell, they barely get any press when they play one another...

[reality check]

Toph

To be fair, there are 4 schools in OH that are D-II.  That doesn't mean MUC will be playing any of them any time soon though.

On a sidenote

Arcadia HS, in PHX has a heavily recruited junior WR named David Carroll.  His dad is a coach on the varsoty team and his name is John Carroll.  Funny but true.  And even more reason for me to dislike him.   

[ONUFB77]

I for one am tired of people crying about MUC being so good that they should move up. Its not going to happen and it shouldn't. Mount is on an excellent run the last 15 years and they have built their program so this will continue. If your tired of them winning do like the pros do and copy their formula. ONU and Hiedelberg have  

[Toph]

Toph

To be fair, there are 4 schools in OH that are D-II.  That doesn't mean MUC will be playing any of them any time soon though.

On a sidenote

Arcadia HS, in PHX has a heavily recruited junior WR named David Carroll.  His dad is a coach on the varsoty team and his name is John Carroll.  Funny but true.  And even more reason for me to dislike him.   

Findlay, Ashland were the ones I was thinking of.  Forgot about Tiffin...who am I missing?

You know, there is a better story that you might have forgotten about, or might not have ever heard in the first place.  There was a basketball player at BW named John (maybe Jon) Carroll a few years back.  In the early going I had to keep repeating "John Carroll, the player for Baldwin Wallace" to avoid any confusion.  If you ever have a chance to speak with the father...be sure to let him know that his son can get a fine, Jesuit education at John Carroll University in Ohio.  

[runyr]

Mount Union in Another Division:

Anybody who even suggests this doesn't know much about Mount Union College or this board.  Maybe somebody should start a remedial board topic for those who want to get up to speed on the fact that Mount Union is a D3 school as much or more than any other school in the division.  Period. 

[ONUFB77]

Central State is the other D2 school

[reality check]

Toph

ONUFB77 beat me to the answer.  I'd guess that Mount gets better games from Averett and Washington U though.

I don't plan on talking to him or his father any time soon, especially not to promote that school in U Heights.

[JK]

I don't plan on talking to him or his father any time soon, especially not to promote that school in U Heights.

Methinks it would be a pretty tough sell anyway to convince a kid from Arizona to slog through the cold and lake effect snow of Cleveland... 

[Toph]

I don't plan on talking to him or his father any time soon, especially not to promote that school in U Heights.

Methinks it would be a pretty tough sell anyway to convince a kid from Arizona to slog through the cold and lake effect snow of Cleveland... 

No...no.  You focus on the outstanding, Jesuit education he will receive.  It's too hot in AZ anyway!   

[rscl70]

Lake Erie College will compete next year as an NCAA Division II program.  They completed a JV schedule this year at 7-2.  The two losses were to North Carolina Tech 42-41 and Mount Union JVs 35-14.  Mount's JVs also defeated Ashland this year by a 28-6 score.

[pradierguy]

More rumbling rumors from MUC campus: Cincinnati Bengals had a scout at the JCU/MUC game this past weekend. Scouting Pierre Garcon (obviously) and supposedly there to look at Micheli, Kostelnik, Safran, and Blanchard.

This could all be a rumor.

Ric or anyone else, can you dispell or confirm this?

[SaintsFAN]

Everyone knows the Bengals have their coaches do the Scouting. . .

I'm sure if one was there, he was there to look for a hidden gem in Division 3's BEST program.  Lord knows they need to get lucky with a few of them.

sincerely,

a beat up Bengals fan.