FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Olinemom]

Just wanted to say "Hi" to HSScoach and everybody from UWW. So glad to see my Warhawks play today  I remember my visi to campus when Coach LLeipold had me Pound the rock with the guys!! It was a tremendous honor. They looked great on the field in their unis!!  Boy, do I remember Jace & AJ,  Mark Garonski (sp) & so many more who I cheered for at the Stagg Bowl in SALEM & brought cookies to after the game. I'm too old now, The Stagg is in Shenandoah, Texas, but I'm going to root for my UWW team!!
Love,
        OLINEMOM

[HScoach]

Despite some of the predictable laziness by the broadcast booth, they've shot this game incredibly well at a place where that's not necessarily a given.  I'll take a really high quality professional video product 7 days a week if the cost is having to self-edit somebody saying Muhlenberg's defense is the best in the nation.

Nope. This is ESPN. There shouldn't be a choice. It should be both from the #1 sports network in the world.

It's frankly not reasonable to expect two people who get one single D3 assignment per season to speak on it with the level of nuance and insight that somebody who is immersed in it week after week, year after year like you are does.  They're going to get some of the finer points wrong.  It's fine.

It's not nuance to expect an ESPN team to know how to pronounce player names, or to know basic stats that take a 3 second google search to find. It's called preparation and paid announcers are supposed to do their job. I think its perfectly reasonable to expect that.

As someone who broadcasted both high school and Mount games for a number of years without any broadcasting experience or training, I have to agree with Usee.  It's not that hard to sound competent.  Good Lord, if I was able to put it off, a paid professional from ESPN should be able to do so in spades.

[emma17]

Congratulations to NCC for a great game and now a shot at the national championship. My soft spot for NCC will have to take the week off.

[WRMUalum13]

Stagg should be a good one, assuming NCC can protect Rutter better than SJU protected Erdmann.

Yes, this reminds me a lot of the UMU 2013 and 2014 matchups against UWW. They were both incredibly explosive offenses that were slowed down by incredibly good UWW defenses (specifically their D-lines) I'm curious to see if NCC's offensive line can deal with a bigger and better dline than they've dealt with all year.

Wheaton's D-line is the best unit NCC has seen all year, better than UWW's. But I'm sure the Warhawks will present their own  unique challenges.

Not sure about that UWW sacked erdman 7 times... Wheaton only got him 3 time s

I don't know that I would say Wheaton's DLine is outright better than UWW's based on 1 game. I also don't think its at all rational to say UWW's is better because they sacked him 7 times to Wheaton's 3. There's a lot more to it than that. Having said that, the obvious key for UWW is to get to Rutter (Wheaton did sack him 7 times in their game)

That's fair, I haven't watched enough of UWW or Wheaton to properly judge I suppose. I guess I can say the last time NCC faced a similarly talented dline  they were held to 21 points, it'll be interesting to see who they do against UWW

[jaybird44]

I did not see the game, so I can't comment directly on the performance of the announcers.  However, there certainly is an expectation that if one is broadcasting for ESPN, due diligence must be paid to prepare for the game. 

Something basic that I use is the "Tale of the Tape" sheets.  Filling the two sheets up with info provides a great foundation of preparation, that could lead to other investigative gems if there is time to pursue them.

Team A                  Offense                                       Team B

                             Points/game
                             Rushing yds/game & carry
                             Passing yds/game & catch
                             Total offense/game
                             Pass comp. %/TD/INT
                             3rd/4th down conversions
                             Red zone scores/TDs
                             Time of Possession

                             Defense

                             Points allowed/game
                             Rush yds allowed/game & carry
                             Pass yds allowed/game & catch
                             Total defense/game
                             Comp % allowed/TDs allowed/INT
                             Sacks/Tackles for Loss (TFL)

                             Special Teams

                             FGs/PATs
                             Punting Avg/Net
                             Kickoff length avg/touchbacks
                             Kickoff return avg
                             Punt return avg
                             Blocked Kicks
                             Onside Kicks

                             Intangibles

                             Takeaway/Turnover Ratio
                             Avg. Penalties-Yards/game
                             Best/Worst Quarter
                             Overtime

                             Miscellaneous

                             Last season's record/highlights
                             Next Game
                             What's Ahead--Rest of the season?
                             Future Plans (is a coach retiring/team moving/new stadium built/moving up in class?)

Anything less than this...especially for an ESPN broadcast...would be disappointing.

[wally_wabash]

Despite some of the predictable laziness by the broadcast booth, they've shot this game incredibly well at a place where that's not necessarily a given.  I'll take a really high quality professional video product 7 days a week if the cost is having to self-edit somebody saying Muhlenberg's defense is the best in the nation.

Nope. This is ESPN. There shouldn't be a choice. It should be both from the #1 sports network in the world.

It's frankly not reasonable to expect two people who get one single D3 assignment per season to speak on it with the level of nuance and insight that somebody who is immersed in it week after week, year after year like you are does.  They're going to get some of the finer points wrong.  It's fine.

It's not nuance to expect an ESPN team to know how to pronounce player names, or to know basic stats that take a 3 second google search to find. It's called preparation and paid announcers are supposed to do their job. I think its perfectly reasonable to expect that.

Thankfully, 99% of viewers are 99% less pedantic about this stuff than you are.  So when the analyst at the NCC-MUHL game says that Muhlenberg has the best defense in the division when he should have said that Muhlenberg has one of the best defenses in the division, reasonable persons can self edit and not allow that syntax oversight to ruin what was a well produced game. 

Mistakes happen.  I watched a game last week where the broadcast crew, repeatedly, made incorrect statements about the site of a certain semifinal game.  I didn't let that oversight- which could have been avoided with preparation- ruin what was an otherwise outstanding broadcast. 

[USee]

Despite some of the predictable laziness by the broadcast booth, they've shot this game incredibly well at a place where that's not necessarily a given.  I'll take a really high quality professional video product 7 days a week if the cost is having to self-edit somebody saying Muhlenberg's defense is the best in the nation.

Nope. This is ESPN. There shouldn't be a choice. It should be both from the #1 sports network in the world.

It's frankly not reasonable to expect two people who get one single D3 assignment per season to speak on it with the level of nuance and insight that somebody who is immersed in it week after week, year after year like you are does.  They're going to get some of the finer points wrong.  It's fine.

It's not nuance to expect an ESPN team to know how to pronounce player names, or to know basic stats that take a 3 second google search to find. It's called preparation and paid announcers are supposed to do their job. I think its perfectly reasonable to expect that.

Thankfully, 99% of viewers are 99% less pedantic about this stuff than you are.  So when the analyst at the NCC-MUHL game says that Muhlenberg has the best defense in the division when he should have said that Muhlenberg has one of the best defenses in the division, reasonable persons can self edit and not allow that syntax oversight to ruin what was a well produced game. 

Mistakes happen. I watched a game last week where the broadcast crew, repeatedly, made incorrect statements about the site of a certain semifinal game.  I didn't let that oversight- which could have been avoided with preparation- ruin what was an otherwise outstanding broadcast.

No one would have known this based on your repeated postings after said game.

Again, there is a big difference between nuance and pedantic mistakes and basic preparation. If all they did was miss Muhlenberg's defensive ranking by a couple spots (which I did not originally bring up btw), fine. But their mistakes were constant and reflected the poor preparation behind it.  My opinion, and apparently 99% of other's who have posted on this, was that the paid crew from ESPN should have been better.

[wally_wabash]

Despite some of the predictable laziness by the broadcast booth, they've shot this game incredibly well at a place where that's not necessarily a given.  I'll take a really high quality professional video product 7 days a week if the cost is having to self-edit somebody saying Muhlenberg's defense is the best in the nation.

Nope. This is ESPN. There shouldn't be a choice. It should be both from the #1 sports network in the world.

It's frankly not reasonable to expect two people who get one single D3 assignment per season to speak on it with the level of nuance and insight that somebody who is immersed in it week after week, year after year like you are does.  They're going to get some of the finer points wrong.  It's fine.

It's not nuance to expect an ESPN team to know how to pronounce player names, or to know basic stats that take a 3 second google search to find. It's called preparation and paid announcers are supposed to do their job. I think its perfectly reasonable to expect that.

Thankfully, 99% of viewers are 99% less pedantic about this stuff than you are.  So when the analyst at the NCC-MUHL game says that Muhlenberg has the best defense in the division when he should have said that Muhlenberg has one of the best defenses in the division, reasonable persons can self edit and not allow that syntax oversight to ruin what was a well produced game. 

Mistakes happen. I watched a game last week where the broadcast crew, repeatedly, made incorrect statements about the site of a certain semifinal game.  I didn't let that oversight- which could have been avoided with preparation- ruin what was an otherwise outstanding broadcast.

No one would have known this based on your repeated postings after said game.

The misstatements caused confusion and I tried to clear that up for folks.  Your broadcast was otherwise very good, as usual.  But the point is that, even with preparation, it's easy to misspeak in the midst of a live broadcast, no?  I don't think it's possible to have a technically perfect live broadcast. 

[jdlenzD3]

North Central has been designated as the home team for this year's Stagg Bowl.

[archgemini24]

Does anyone know when was the last time two Pool C teams made the Stagg Bowl, or are we breaking almost entirely new ground here?

[formerd3db]

Any guestimates as to what this year's Stagg Bowl attendance might be? I suspect it might be a little lower due no Texas or closer regional located team playing this year as was UMHB. However, you never know.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Any guestimates as to what this year's Stagg Bowl attendance might be? I suspect it might be a little lower due no Texas or closer regional located team playing this year as was UMHB. However, you never know.

Depends largely on how they count attendance.  Some locales count all players, sideline personnel, gate and concessions workers, etc.  Some count only 'fans in the stands'.  If the latter I'll guess several thousand less than last year.  (Of course, who can predict how many northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin fans just want a few days away from the cold?!)

Incidentally, of course NCC is the 'home team'.  They must be at least 30 miles closer to Shenandoah than UWW!

[Gregory Sager]

Any guestimates as to what this year's Stagg Bowl attendance might be? I suspect it might be a little lower due no Texas or closer regional located team playing this year as was UMHB. However, you never know.

Depends largely on how they count attendance.  Some locales count all players, sideline personnel, gate and concessions workers, etc.  Some count only 'fans in the stands'.  If the latter I'll guess several thousand less than last year.  (Of course, who can predict how many northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin fans just want a few days away from the cold?!)

Current forecast for Friday in Shenandoah, TX is showers, with a high of 67 and a low of 46.

[Pat Coleman]

Any guestimates as to what this year's Stagg Bowl attendance might be? I suspect it might be a little lower due no Texas or closer regional located team playing this year as was UMHB. However, you never know.

Depends largely on how they count attendance.  Some locales count all players, sideline personnel, gate and concessions workers, etc.  Some count only 'fans in the stands'.  If the latter I'll guess several thousand less than last year.  (Of course, who can predict how many northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin fans just want a few days away from the cold?!)

Incidentally, of course NCC is the 'home team'.  They must be at least 30 miles closer to Shenandoah than UWW!

This isn't "a locale" -- it's the NCAA and the number is supposed to be ticket sales.

Shenandoah would owe the NCAA for every person they claim was there.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Any guestimates as to what this year's Stagg Bowl attendance might be? I suspect it might be a little lower due no Texas or closer regional located team playing this year as was UMHB. However, you never know.

Depends largely on how they count attendance.  Some locales count all players, sideline personnel, gate and concessions workers, etc.  Some count only 'fans in the stands'.  If the latter I'll guess several thousand less than last year.  (Of course, who can predict how many northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin fans just want a few days away from the cold?!)

Current forecast for Friday in Shenandoah, TX is showers, with a high of 67 and a low of 46.

I don't put much stock in forecasts for 5 days away.  Though if I were driving down 1,000 miles, I'd probably demand 75 and sunny!  I'd imagine the hosts are not real delighted with a forecast of rainy and less than 70!

In Michigan we've trained our forecasters to predict BEAUTIFUL weekend weather - it's called the Chamber of Commerce forecast!