D3 vs. NAIA

[Ralph Turner]

Cool. We have the same thing.

Course it's easy to keep up with one game every two weeks

I just appreciate the double-checking/proofreading!

[Ralph Turner]

D3 20 games, NAIA 7 games.

Week #8

D3   Frostburg St  7  at   NAIA   Union KY 3


Week #9

NAIA Southern Virginia  at  D3-Affiliate Apprentice-Nwpt News

[Ralph Turner]

Plagarized from the front page.

Newport News beat Southern Virginia 32-0.

Week #10
vs. NAIA (1-0 in Week 9, 21-7 in 2006)
Huntingdon at Southwest Assemblies of God

[K-Mack]

How come the NCAA statistics have Nebraska Wesleyan as the 13th-ranked (or whereever) defense in D3, but they pretty clearly consider themselves NAIA?

http://www.nebrwesleyan.edu/athletics/football/index.php

http://web1.ncaa.org/stats/StatsSrv/rankings

I know there's a lot of dual-membership cases and whatnot, so can one of you gurus tackle this one for me?

[gordonmann]

That is interesting.

Nebraska Wesleyan is Division III for basketball.

There are other teams that are Division III for some sports, but not others.  Menlo (Division III football, NAIA hoops) and Cal State Hayward (Division III baseball, NAIA hoops) come to mind.

[runyr]

Wow, I just read this entire thread (9 pages).  My head's spinning and I can't imagine the two sides ever agreeing on which organization has the better teams. 

[Ralph Turner]

Oh, the cowman and the farmer should be friends...

We will keep track of the scores again this year.  Contributions and corrections are appreciated.  Sometimes my fall travel schedule makes it tough to post in a timely fashion.

[Ralph Turner]

Week #10 Huntingdon 42 Southwestern Assemblies of God 17

D3 22 wins; NAIA 7 wins.

Week #11

Waldorf IA 20, Buena Vista (IIAC) 17 OT

Colorado College 28, Southwestern Assemblies of God 6

Final tally in the 2006 season:

D3 -- 23 wins
NAIA -- 8 wins

[K-Mack]

Final tally in the 2006 season:

D3 -- 23 wins
NAIA -- 8 wins

I can't imagine the two sides ever agreeing on which organization has the better teams. 

A couple more seasons like that should settle the argument. You can talk about matchups all you like but that's a serious disparity.

But considering that D3 itself functions as I-AA and II in some states (Wisc.) and NAIA is present in states where there's little D3 presence or vice versa, it's safe to assume that a similar level of player ends up at a lot of NAIA and D3 institutions.

I can't speak for NAIA necessarily, but there's such a wide range of talent level in D3 alone that it's really hard to generalize an entire division as better than the other. HSCoach, I think, said it best on the other thread that some of our best teams are probably better than some of their best and some of our worst are worse than their worst.

They probably have a similar disparity in talent between their Carrolls and St. Francises and the schools who are brand new programs, brand new to the classification or simply floundering, or what have you.

Some D3s can beat D2s and I-AAs, scholarships or no.

Basically, it's probably not very wise to spend a lot of time trying to generalize the skill level of 238 teams, some of whom aren't that far removed from NAIA status themselves.

It appears to be a more adversarial relationship than it should be. After all, we small-school fans should probably be banding together.

[runyr]

It appears to be a more adversarial relationship than it should be. After all, we small-school fans should probably be banding together.

Not when some of us have stars on our bellies and some of us don't! (Dr. Seuss)

[K-Mack]

Nice Sneetches reference 

[d-train]

Basically, it's probably not very wise to spend a lot of time trying to generalize the skill level of 238 teams, some of whom aren't that far removed from NAIA status themselves.

It appears to be a more adversarial relationship than it should be. After all, we small-school fans should probably be banding together.

I agree with your sentiment here, K-Mack. I'm just a fan of small-college ball and I think a few more people need to adopt that attitude. We have a lot more in common with NAIA teams than we have differences...especially those schools (like PLU, Linfield, HSU) with NAIA roots. Geez, Willamette lost the '97 NAIA title game to a team that is now D-2...and I played in NAIA and D-3 playoff games without changing schools. 

[K-Mack]

Well said d-train.

[Kira & Jaxon's Dad]

Does the NAIA do drug testing.  I visited St. Ambrose my senior year in HS and remember that as one of the big differences (other than scholarship $) was that the NAIA didn't drug test.

[HScoach]

Nice Sneetches reference 

I agree.  Just read that one the other night (and Yertle the Turtle) to my youngest boy.  Nothing beats Dr. Seuss!