FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[MUC57]

But beyond all that: So this process happens after every round with every team and no one outside the NCAA knew it?

This is the part that a bit mind blowing to me. NCC got the shaft here (through no fault of Mount Union). But to suddenly find out that the committee continues to meet and re-examine the criteria each round is a huge deal. And it appears no one even knew that was a thing.

It's been said before, but the bummer here is for the families of NCC players. The logistics and cost of attending the Semi-final and Stagg likely just doubled. Not every family will have the money to simply take in both games. Do you skip the Semifinal, so you can travel to the Stagg, but risk missing your family members final game? 

hazzben

Who says families of NCC players have to consider travel for 2 games? They may only need one trip. Mount Union is not dead.    

[Ice Bear]

But beyond all that: So this process happens after every round with every team and no one outside the NCAA knew it?

This is the part that a bit mind blowing to me. NCC got the shaft here (through no fault of Mount Union). But to suddenly find out that the committee continues to meet and re-examine the criteria each round is a huge deal. And it appears no one even knew that was a thing.

It's been said before, but the bummer here is for the families of NCC players. The logistics and cost of attending the Semi-final and Stagg likely just doubled. Not every family will have the money to simply take in both games. Do you skip the Semifinal, so you can travel to the Stagg, but risk missing your family members final game? 

hazzben

Who says families of NCC players have to consider travel for 2 games? They may only need one trip. Mount Union is not dead.    

Ice Bear refers MUC57 to the above bolded print where hazzben acknowledges this exact possibility. Of course, Ice is hoping NCC takes the Raiders to the back of the tool shed and ****ing throttles them come Saturday...Ice says this with all due respect of course. 

[MUC57]

Ice Bear

You hurt me. I'll get over it. Go Raiders!   

[robertgoulet]

Hansen's model for Semis:

UWW -3.5
NCC -6

[edward de vere]

    I just found out about the travesty of Mount Union hosting the Semi-Final game.  I rarely agree with the guys on D3football.com, but they got this one right!  The rules are that the defending champion when undefeated and no common opponents host all the way to the Stagg Bowl.  The rule was written ten years ago specifically for Mount Union.  If a rule change is in order, a genuine, non-corrupt leader will change it BEFORE the season, not in the middle of the play-offs! 
    I am an NCC Alum but coached football for a while at an NAIA school.  I have long been an advocate of schools leaving Division 3 for NAIA.  The athletes are treated better and the schools can give money for athletics.  The system was always fair which is more than I can say for the NCAA.  I as one am going to pressure the NCC administration to make a formal complaint to the NCAA about this to make it as painful as possible so the committee thinks twice about travesties like this again.
    As far as the team goes, I know that coach Thorne will use this to get his team more ready than ever and all that frustration will be put into Mount Union

NCC Administration issuing a Formal Complaint to the NCAA

NCAA:  "Oh no a "Formal" complaint from a DIII School, what will we do?" (crumples up paper and throws it in the trash can).

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=youtuve+video+i+strenously+object+a+few+good+men&t=newext&atb=v257-1&iax=videos&iai=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DbOnRHAyXqYY&ia=videos

[Stagg Again!!]

I'm at the point Monday morning where I'm still mad about it, but have more or less accepted it. I understand the decision making even though I find it opaque (in that the whole "we rerank every week" thing came out of nowhere) and I disagree vehemently with their use of the numbers, but what's done is done.

Let's go beat Mount again.

I'd guaranty that we (fans, parents, etc) are more far more upset about this than the players are.

I don't know, Coach Throne seemed a tad bit upset when his team wasn't getting respected by the D3 poll which most of realize doesn't matter, this was a legit slap in the face that impacted his team.

Freudian slip?    Time to move on.  24 hours plus of bitching about the ridiculous decision is probably more than enough.  Let's go Cards!

Agree Alum.  We've aired our extreme displeasure at the NCAA's decision just like the UWW fans did back in 2010 when they were forced to travel.  Now, we go to Alliance (or Naperville-East, as I have heard a few folks call it in the past two days) and take care of business on the field and in the stands... just like the Warhawks did on on that snowy day on 12/4/10.

[WashedUpCard]

I checked the weather for Alliance on Saturday after watching that crazy game in Buffalo.

The current game time forecast is light rain with 15-20 mph winds (gusting to 30 mph).   It will be interesting to see how much impact that has on the passing games for both teams.

Temperatures are projected to be in the low 60's!

[Stagg Again!!]

I checked the weather for Alliance on Saturday after watching that crazy game in Buffalo.

The current game time forecast is light rain with 15-20 mph winds (gusting to 30 mph).   It will be interesting to see how much impact that has on the passing games for both teams.

Temperatures are projected to be in the low 60's!

NCC will pound the rock... just like the Patriots did last night!

[robertgoulet]

These damn playoff weeks move too slowly!

[New Tradition]

These damn playoff weeks move too slowly!

[theaprof]

Anybody interested in getting together at Rey's 62 in Alliance for some wings/beverages on Friday evening before the game?  Mount fans and NCC fans?  We have done this before the semis for years and it has always been friendly.  We're really only rivals on the field. 

Let me know if you are interested--we can even talk about how NCC got ripped off (which I think they did) by the NCAA!  Good luck to both teams!  May the game be clean, safe, and (most of all) well officiated!

Theaprof

[USee]

I was gonna go to North Central on Saturday and sit in their stands and watch the game on my iPad out of protest. Can I zoom in for wings Friday?

[hazzben]

On a personal note if I'm permitted........................

I highlighted the above sentence about a 100% vaccination rate due to a recent experience wherein I almost lost my wife who just spent 28 days in the hospital. She was admitted for a non Covid related infection which affected several bodily systems. At one point it was thought she had suffered a stroke on top of the 4-5 problems she was already fighting. As such, she was transferred from the internal medicine related unit to the neuro intensive care unit. Although after several tests she was found not to have had a stroke, she somehow got Covid despite the fact that 100% of the people who work within that area are fully vaccinated as are myself and the only other 2 visitors she had while there. I'm saying this just to illustrate the fact that even when seemingly all precautions are taken the evil Covid bug can still somehow find a way to bite you.
It's been a very hellish time recently during which it's often seemed like nothing was going right. There really hasn't been a lot of fun in life recently. Fortunately my wife is now recovering at home and is at a point where I could drive 5 minutes away and spend a couple hours without her needing me for that length of time. I'm sure I over-reacted to losing out on this possibility and thus my recent complaints. Just need to remember that everything pales in comparison to having my better half home and on the road to a full recovery. Sorry for the rant. * Everyone please take care of yourselves AND each other.

We lost my dad in a similar situation last November. No vaccine at the time. But he'd just rung the bell for his Colon cancer, but was only a week out of Chemo (body still full of toxins). His ascending aorta ruptured and he was airlifted to UofM medical for open heart surgery. Survived the surgery, and looked to be on the long road to recovery, only to get COVID in the hospital. Was transferred to the ICU, battled for several weeks, but after the Chemo/cancer and open heart surgery, his body had no fight left. We weren't allowed to visit him in the hospital in the week up to and after his open heart surgery, out of COVID precautions, yet the Virus still found a way in. I had to fight like crazy to get into his ICU room for the last 5 minutes of his life so I could hold his hand and have a person with him as he passed.

This Virus has been a B*tch... longing for the days when it's endemic and we can return to the something more akin to 'life as we knew it.'

[robertgoulet]

NCC has released their preview of the game. Don't see any starters missing:

https://northcentralcardinals.com/news/2021/12/7/football-national-semifinal-preview.aspx

https://northcentralcardinals.com/documents/2021/12/6/fb_media_notes_121121.pdf

[CardinalAlum]

Congrats to Thunder's Dallas McRae on being named Region 5 Defensive player of the year!  And congrats to all of the Cards and CCIW players as well!  Here the rest of the Region 5 selections:

https://www.d3football.com/awards/all-region/2021/2021-d3football-all-region-5