FB: Presidents' Athletic Conference

[Cleveland Cartel]

HAHA


Even the GURU"S are Wrong!!  That is karma for ya!

[PittTBCW]

Give me a break!!!

Thiel 22nd in the poll and W&J 16th??

Very puzzling to me. Thiel beat W&J has faced teams with a way better record and still do not get a higher ranking then W&J.

When will Thiel get the respect they deserve is the question that is going through my mind.

I guess when Thiel runs the table and finishs 10-0 and PAC conference champions they might get some respect.

Give me a break.

Very disappointed to see this.

Lost alot of respect for the voters.


Tomcats just keep kicking you know what and taking names. As long as you believe in yourselves who cares what the polls say. Stay focused and take care of buisness men and the sky is the limit.

In a great coaches words: "Take care of the small things, and the big things will happen"

Thiel keep taking care of the small things.

1-0 every week all season long!!!!

[Pat Coleman]

All things aside, W&J still has starters who have started in playoff games and won them. Those kids are a part of this team and you can't push that aside that easily.

If I were Thiel I'd be worried about having a letdown like the one at Buff State last year.

And don't kid yourself -- Bluffton and Bethany are not stellar opponents either. No voter is stupid enough to think that. Ohio Wesleyan has not gotten one vote all year.

[OldPhart]

 PittTBCW - Relax.   W&J's Sirianni's may have inherited a program with a strong tradition - but he hasn't been standing still waiting for the rest of the PAC to catch up.  Yes, Thiel beat W&J on the field - but Thiel has yet to show the consistency of the W&J program.  The voters are probably confident that W&J will win out - but aren't as confident that Thiel will do so.  W&J has a postseason history - Thiel does not. 

In another example, if I was asked to rank teams (I am certain many on this board are glad I do not), I would choose 4-0 Wabash ahead of 4-0 Wooster based on their respective performances this year.  I am sure that part of the reason that Woo is well ahead of Bash in the current polling is Woo's playoff history.  Wabash has something to prove before the voters are going to shift to their side. 

The solution for both Bash & Thiel: prove it to the voters one game at a time for the rest of the season.  Besides - D3 has a playoff system.  This makes the poll rankings fun - but much less of a make-or-break situation than it is in D1. 

Thiel has "learned how to win" over the past couple of years.  This year, in both the OWU & W&J games they let leads dribble away in the late going.  No doubt, Thiel took a big step forward this past weekend.  However, I think the next step they need to take is to develop more of a killer mentality - taking a lead on a solid team (please don't bring up Bluffton or Bethany) & then salting it away.  Please forgive the simile, but too often Thiel has been a bit like their Tomcat mascot - playing with their prey rather than killing it outright.

[Dutch12]

I'm surprised Thiel didn't get a little more respect in this week's poll.  To beat a top 10 team on the road with the offensive weapons W&J has should have garnered a few more votes.  I'll be surprised if anyone left on W&J's schedule gives them a scare with the possible exception of TMC who has played great defense to this point.  

OldPhart: I agree with most of what you said however, it's hard to say Thiel doesn't have a killer mentality based on that game.  The game was a see-saw battle and both teams at different points in the game had leads and let them slip away.   The list of teams that are going to go into W&J and win easily or without a battle is very short. 

Hopefully Thiel won't have a letdown and takes advantage of the situation they haven't been in for a very long time.  After watching Saturday's game it looks like the coaching staff has the team focused and everyone's head in the right place.  

[Cleveland Cartel]

Pat,

Where is the respect?  Thiel goes toe to toe with the 6th ranked team in the Nation (at the time) according to D3football.com, and wins with a strong Defensive performance and a stingy run game all day and all you say is:

1.  WJ has the starters who have playoff expereince and won with them.
2.  Thiel's let down last year.
3.  And the lack of quality in Thiel's opponents so far.

No positive comments about the game at all?  I understand the hesitation with the voters, but Pat you did not have one good comment about Thiel spanning from last year, to this year, or in the game on Saturday.  Something is wrong with that and heres why!

1.  Yes, WJ does have the experience and we can not take that away from WJ, but how about kudos to a Thiel team that went into rowdy, Legendary, Cameron Field on thier largest crowd ever for homecoming and come away with the Victory.  Lets just start with the 5 picks Thiel's D had, and was the most of Edwards career in a game.  He had only thrown 2 all season before that game.  Where is the repsect? 

2.  "The let down to Buff State Last year", or could we reflect on last year at this time they were down 14-0 to WJ in the first quarter just like on Saturday, but on Saturday they had a year of maturity, intensity, focus, and leadership underneath them to fight through adversity, and that is why I believe that let down will not happen this year.  

How about that 1 year of maturity so far?  Sametime this year and last year and the team has grown immensly, but you want to point out the negative once again.

3.  You want to talk about steller opponets in Blufton and Bethany.  One bethany is a PAC foe and they have no choice but to play them.  How about WJ's opponets so far this year.  Without Thiel's 4-0 start WJ's opponets combined record is a 2-12 compared to Thiel's 5-11 without WJ.  Obviously no better.

4.  Yes, the voters are not stupid Pat, but obviously Thiel's early season foes have faired better than WJ's.  

5.  OWU has not gotten a vote all year yes, but when did Hanover, E&H, Tri State, or Allegheny?  I didn't think so...

Pat give me my karma points back and Tack on minus 4 for you!!!
DO IT!  

Am I going over the deep end with this post or is it on the money? 

[Pat Coleman]

I think if you look at the front page of D3football.com and see who the lead photo is of you can find positives and respect. Don't be ridiculous. Spare me the endless babbling.

[Cleveland Cartel]

Pat,

Your the best Pat....I appreciate the Karma then i know i did a good job!!

[Matt Barnhart (kid)]

In the three years of D3football.com having a Top 25, a top 10 team has lost to an unranked Division III team (during the regular season) 14 times:

Year	Week	Losing Top 10 School	Winning Unranked School	Unranked School's Rise in Votes (Rank)
2003	3	#8 Trinity, TX	Pomona-Pitzer	0 (-) to 30 (26)
2003	4	#8 Bridgewater, Va.	CNU	0 (-) to 61 (25)
2003	5	#5 Rowan	New Jersey	2 (40) to 104 (22)
2003	7	#9 Brockport St.	Ithaca	21 (33) to 134 (22)
2003	10	#4 Mary Hardin-Baylor	East Texas Baptist	10 (36) to 107 (23)
2004	1	#7 Bridgewater, Va.	McDaniel	0 (-) to 32 (32)
2004	3	#5 Wartburg	Buena Vista	0 (-) to 0 (-)
2004	5	#8 Montclair St.	Cortland St.	0 (-) to 0 (-)
2004	9	#5 Capital	Ohio Northern	20 (34) to 145 (21)
2004	9	#4 Wheaton	Carthage	2 (45) to 109 (23)
2004	10	#10 UW-Eau Claire	UW-Stout	0 (-) to 10 (39)
2005	4	#10 Salisbury	Montclair St.	0 (-) to 0 (-)
2005	5	#7 Ohio Northern	John Carroll	0 (-) to 7 (43)
2005	5	#6 Wash. & Jeff.	Thiel	4 (42) to 104 (22)

So to those out there complaining that Thiel isn't getting respect for their win over W&J this past weekend, keep in mind that the Tomcats made the fifth most dramatic jump in votes over the past three years.

But some "good" news for both Thiel and W&J ... of the 11 top 10 teams that lost in either 2003 or 2004, six still made the playoffs.  Of the 11 schools that upset those top 10 teams, four made it to the postseason ... with three of the four being the #2, #3, and #6 most dramatic jumps in votes - E.T.B. (2003), Ithaca (2003) and Carthage (2004).

[Matt Barnhart (kid)]

I failed to mention that Thiel's jump from "#42" to #22 is the biggest since D3football.com has conducted a poll.

[Ric]

Kid man I don't know what we'd do without you but you have way too much time on your hands.

[Pat Coleman]

Ric gets an applaud from me for getting rid of Bart Simpson.

[Ric]

You didn't like Bart? LOL

[Matt Barnhart (kid)]

Ric gets an applaud from me for getting rid of Bart Simpson.

But I'm going to miss the five posts in a row on the fantasy thread with Bart's rear being exposed. 

[Ric]

Here hold on I got a good one for you ...