FB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Pat Coleman]

No idea as to whether this has any veracity to it, but wow if true.  From Norman Seawright of WCCO...

Today in
@MIACathletics
:
@CSSsaints
joins conference as full member in 2021.
@MACathletics
football returns to MIAC in 2021. MIAC Football adopts 10-team, 2-division format in 2021; top teams in each division to play at season's end for NCAA Playoffs auto-qualifier. #wcco

Quite the bombs - so only one more year of the Tommies if true - Pat, I'm sure you're digging deep to get the scoop.

The St. Thomas thing was already established, though -- there was no chance that UST was going to be allowed to extend its stay.

[Redtooth]

VOJ reporting the same.

Interesting-- likely to mean lots more nonconference games. There would be no need for a championship game if you were just playing all 9 conference teams otherwise.  How do you split the 10?  I assume they aren't "even" in strength, or the championship will be the same 2-3 teams every year.

My guess is there will be a lot of trips up and down I-94 between Collegeville and WIAC schools.

Starting in 2021-22, @SJUFootball's divisional opponents within the MIAC will be Carleton, Gustavus, St. Scholastica & St. Olaf #d3fb #gojohnnies

The full MIAC press release spells out the scheduling elements with playing all 4 divisional teams and 3 overlap games....followed by a final week of matching up the teams from each division playing their similar seed from the other division.  There is one major flaw with the first version of the schedule with this model and that is the final two weeks of the regular season are played cross division which could lead to teams playing twice over the course of three weeks.  Happy to add St. Scholastica, less thrilled with the Mac add back (buffet line style).  Don't like how it impacts the full schedule that was played prior to this....although my guess is this move will be temporary with someone currently playing choosing to discontinue playing football altogether.

[SagatagSam]

From the MIAC Website:

https://www.miacathletics.com/general/2019-20/releases/20200526avs20a

[art76]

The full MIAC press release spells out the scheduling elements with playing all 4 divisional teams and 3 overlap games....followed by a final week of matching up the teams from each division playing their similar seed from the other division.  There is one major flaw with the first version of the schedule with this model and that is the final two weeks of the regular season are played cross division which could lead to teams playing twice over the course of three weeks.  Happy to add St. Scholastica, less thrilled with the Mac add back (buffet line style).  Don't like how it impacts the full schedule that was played prior to this....although my guess is this move will be temporary with someone currently playing choosing to discontinue playing football altogether.

The release is here: https://www.miacathletics.com/general/2019-20/releases/20200526avs20a

Actually, Week 10 could see two teams playing a "crossover game" and then end up playing one another in week 11 as a "playoff game" during "Championship Week".  The way around this is to simply schedule all the crossover games early in the schedule, and "in-division" games at the end of the annual schedule. It'll be interesting to see how they decide to schedule things.

Edit: SagatagSam beat me to the punch.

[Caz Bombers]

I wonder how many years it will be until the conference championship game is any matchup other than SJU-Bethel. Feels like everyone else will be waiting a long, long, long (etc.) time.

[faunch]

I wonder how many years it will be until the conference championship game is any matchup other than SJU-Bethel. Feels like everyone else will be waiting a long, long, long (etc.) time.

The division names remind me of when the Big 10 tried the Legends and Leaders 
The Johnnies have one legit game on their division schedule (GAC)...the rest???
The Skyline could be a three team race once Augsburg has a year or two under their new coach...he did a great job recruiting at Osseo    .

I don't see many situations where the MIAC will get two NCAA bids...am I wrong?

[repete]

Wow.  Take Me Back Tuesday is the '63 championship game over Prairie View.

I'm going to sit down and enjoy this game on Saturday.  Play it on the big screen.

https://youtu.be/zEnobnHtq1U

Fun underscore to hear - Star Trek, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and MASH, to name a few.

The highlights end with The Battle Hymn of the Republic playing in background...a little different from the more modern highlight reels.
https://youtu.be/cdVyRgnezB4

I want the whole darn soundtrack!

[AO]

I wonder how many years it will be until the conference championship game is any matchup other than SJU-Bethel. Feels like everyone else will be waiting a long, long, long (etc.) time.

The division names remind me of when the Big 10 tried the Legends and Leaders 
The Johnnies have one legit game on their division schedule (GAC)...the rest???
The Skyline could be a three team race once Augsburg has a year or two under their new coach...he did a great job recruiting at Osseo    .

I don't see many situations where the MIAC will get two NCAA bids...am I wrong?

Actually this schedule could set up scenarios where the SoS could get a large boost.  The Johnnies don't play Macalester or Hamline in 2021 and will probably play Bethel or Concordia twice.  Bethel doesn't play St. Scholastica or Carleton in 2021, so they'll get the boost too.  Obviously you're also going to have years where you don't play one of the powers from the other division and your SoS will be hurt by that.

[SagatagSam]

On somewhat of a parallel note, the Summit League just announced that it will not be inviting Augustana to join the conference...

I think it had been mentioned on here that UST and Augie were on a similar track and could go through the growing pains of D1 together. Looks like that may not be so...

https://www.argusleader.com/story/sports/college/2020/05/27/summit-league-opts-not-invite-additional-members-time/5269925002/

[faunch]

I wonder how many years it will be until the conference championship game is any matchup other than SJU-Bethel. Feels like everyone else will be waiting a long, long, long (etc.) time.

The division names remind me of when the Big 10 tried the Legends and Leaders 
The Johnnies have one legit game on their division schedule (GAC)...the rest???
The Skyline could be a three team race once Augsburg has a year or two under their new coach...he did a great job recruiting at Osseo    .

I don't see many situations where the MIAC will get two NCAA bids...am I wrong?

Actually this schedule could set up scenarios where the SoS could get a large boost.  The Johnnies don't play Macalester or Hamline in 2021 and will probably play Bethel or Concordia twice.  Bethel doesn't play St. Scholastica or Carleton in 2021, so they'll get the boost too.  Obviously you're also going to have years where you don't play one of the powers from the other division and your SoS will be hurt by that.

So here's a what it scenario:
SJU plays BU and CC during the regular season and beats both in competitive, close games. Let's say each team were ranked in the top 15 throughout the season a in the league championship game BU comes in with one loss and SJU were undefeated. And suppose BU wins the "ship" by 3 or less. I'm assuming that's a situation where two MIAC teams could get in to the playoffs.

[faunch]

So does today's announcement mean we should welcome OAS (aka One Armed Scott) back to the boards? I observed him back in January or February while attending the SJU basketball game at MAC>

[OzJohnnie]

Has anyone heard the rumors and innuendo about Macalester leaving the Midwest Conference for football? If that's true, will they go back to the MIAC or will they choose to be an affiliate with the UMAC? There's also rumors and innuendo that St. Scholastica joining the MIAC is imminent.

Credit where it's due, the St Norbert Dangler (uh...) posted this here four hours before the Good Neighbour post by Esq.

I don't mind this at all.  We still play two non-conference games and eight conference games.  I suspect that had to happen as a few teams may have had 2 non-conference games already scheduled.  The non-conference agreements could also be the reason that the cross-over games are in the obviously wrong spot fo the last few weeks in the schedule.

Anyways, it's vibrant and gives the MIAC some life not just for football but for all sport.  I'm glad to see it.


EDIT: But the "Northwoods Division"?  There ain't a single team from the Northwoods in this league.

[OzJohnnie]

And another thing, that first season is loaded for backend relevance.  GAC in week 5 and BU, Con and Championship in weeks 8, 9 and 10.  It looks like the first two weeks of the season are open for out of conference play?  Does that look right to you as well?

Regardless, the back end is loaded and meaningful.  High drama.  I actually quite like that year's schedule when I look at it.

EDIT: And I really like it because the qualifier isn't settled until the last weekend.  No dead matches for two or three weeks to finish the year now.  Makes the conference play highly relevant again.

[Pat Coleman]

The full MIAC press release spells out the scheduling elements with playing all 4 divisional teams and 3 overlap games....followed by a final week of matching up the teams from each division playing their similar seed from the other division.  There is one major flaw with the first version of the schedule with this model and that is the final two weeks of the regular season are played cross division which could lead to teams playing twice over the course of three weeks.  Happy to add St. Scholastica, less thrilled with the Mac add back (buffet line style).  Don't like how it impacts the full schedule that was played prior to this....although my guess is this move will be temporary with someone currently playing choosing to discontinue playing football altogether.

The release is here: https://www.miacathletics.com/general/2019-20/releases/20200526avs20a

Actually, Week 10 could see two teams playing a "crossover game" and then end up playing one another in week 11 as a "playoff game" during "Championship Week".  The way around this is to simply schedule all the crossover games early in the schedule, and "in-division" games at the end of the annual schedule. It'll be interesting to see how they decide to schedule things.

Edit: SagatagSam beat me to the punch.

And this is how the Midwest Conference did it and does it when scheduling in divisions.

[AO]

And another thing, that first season is loaded for backend relevance.  GAC in week 5 and BU, Con and Championship in weeks 8, 9 and 10.  It looks like the first two weeks of the season are open for out of conference play?  Does that look right to you as well?

Regardless, the back end is loaded and meaningful.  High drama.  I actually quite like that year's schedule when I look at it.

EDIT: And I really like it because the qualifier isn't settled until the last weekend.  No dead matches for two or three weeks to finish the year now.  Makes the conference play highly relevant again.

If you're just worried about the qualifier then those week 8 and 9 BU and CON games don't matter at all.  If you might have lost another game on the schedule and things don't look good for the pool C, it would be wise to rest your top players or use a limited game-plan and save the best for the championship game.