FB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[retagent]

Not much love for the MIAC as worthy of higher spots.

[SJUrube]

What is the MIAC rule on "ball boys"? The reason I'm asking is that I've always seen the home team (kids or teenagers) act as the ball boys. Yesterday Gustavus had an adult (appeared to be in his 30's or 40's, full beard) in a warm up jacket with Golden Gusties on the back, acting as not only ball boy but in several situations appearing to send some sort of arm signals to the Gustie defense. He'd signal & the Gustie defense would adjust. It seemed weird and I don't remember seeing this type of thing in all my years of watching MIAC football. 
Feel free to discuss or point out where this type of arrangement has been going on for years and I simply haven't noticed it.

I have no idea what the rule is for MIAC regular season games. In the playoffs I believe the home team provides the ball boys. I was "lucky" enough to have this job during the 2001 playoff game vs UW-Stevens Point - on their sideline. The humbleness of having this job was replaced with awe after the game Blake had that day.

I would've guessed the home team would provide them during regular season games. If a coach wants to be their own ballboy I guess I don't see what the problem would be - besides it being a distraction to them.

[OzJohnnie]

Not much love for the MIAC as worthy of higher spots.

I reckon it's not too bad. Everyone moved up one or two spots and even though the johnnies moved up only one spot, they did get 33 (I think) more votes.  The only argument for out of whack is that the tommies should have moved up four spots to the front of WW and Osh, but WW isn't going to drop far until the earn it (think how sticky the johnnies of '04 and '05 were) and Osh looks pretty strong with that win over WW.

Plus, the tommies suck so you'll never see me argue that they should be treated better.  And they have all the money.

[AO]

2.  Pam the checkout lady at the Midway, St. Paul Target made me laugh this afternoon.  In front of me in line were two MAC football players (they were wearing football team gear).  Pam asked them if they won their game yesterday and they had a brief chat about their compelling affair with Beloit. 
She then asked if they had any idea how U$T did?  One of the MAC boys said that U$T had beat Hamline by about 78-7.  The kid said that U$T year in and year out has a pretty good program.  That's about when Pam said...and I paraphrase, "They've got all that money."   For a moment I thought about getting involved in the discussion but decided to just leave it alone and chuckle to myself. 
It's funny to me that she had that perception of U$T and was making that comment to two MAC kids when in fact the MAC endowment is almost twice as much as U$T's is.

[OzJohnnie]

#2's gymnastics team won the state championship in their level on the weekend. It's the third year her team has won - they're like Hawthorn.  Individual championships are in three weeks. She's gunning for gold this year. Her best individual finish at State is second.

[BDB]

#2's gymnastics team won the state championship in their level on the weekend. It's the third year her team has won - they're like Hawthorn.  Individual championships are in three weeks. She's gunning for gold this year. Her best individual finish at State is second.

Go #2 and congrats!!!  Good times Oz, good times.

[OldAuggie]

I was expecting the "Blue Blood" programs of the MIAC to be ranked higher as well. UST and SJU to be specific.

[wm4]

I was expecting the "Blue Blood" programs of the MIAC to be ranked higher as well. UST and SJU to be specific.

I suspect this week's games will drive adjustments or certainty to the polls, depending on who wins.  If UWO wins at Platteville, they'll be firmly ranked above all MIAC / WIACC teams.  If Plateville and UST were to win, UST will become the highest ranked.  At the end of the regular season, here's where I think everybody will be:

UWO
UST
UWW
SJU
Platte
Wart

[USTBench]

I was expecting the "Blue Blood" programs of the MIAC to be ranked higher as well. UST and SJU to be specific.

I suspect this week's games will drive adjustments or certainty to the polls, depending on who wins.  If UWO wins at Platteville, they'll be firmly ranked above all MIAC / WIACC teams.  If Plateville and UST were to win, UST will become the highest ranked.  At the end of the regular season, here's where I think everybody will be:

UWO
UST
UWW
SJU
Platte
Wart

Watched some of Concordia v. Augsburg on Saturday. Concordia is much better than Wartburg I suspect.

[AO]

I was expecting the "Blue Blood" programs of the MIAC to be ranked higher as well. UST and SJU to be specific.

I suspect this week's games will drive adjustments or certainty to the polls, depending on who wins.  If UWO wins at Platteville, they'll be firmly ranked above all MIAC / WIACC teams.  If Plateville and UST were to win, UST will become the highest ranked.  At the end of the regular season, here's where I think everybody will be:

UWO
UST
UWW
SJU
Platte
Wart

Watched some of Concordia v. Augsburg on Saturday. Concordia is much better than Wartburg I suspect.

I think you'd also have to put Gustavus ahead of Warty by that logic. 

[USTBench]

I would put a lot of teams in the West over Wartburg at this point. I've kind of held this position for the last few weeks, that Wartburg is not the same caliber of team as 2014. Wheaton, Wabash and UST have all been dominant in their victories this year, and UST had a pretty substantial victory over the 6th ranked team in the nation (at the time), on the road, in front of 17K and yet they barely cracked the top 10, while Wartburg was sneaking by teams they beat by 40 last year.

When a team doesn't "have it" they should be able to sneak by a team they would otherwise blow out (Concordia 27 to 24 over Carleton), or, worst-case-scenario, get "upset" by one score. And in that situation most of us realize that it was most likely a fluke, or a one-in-a-hundred type scenario. Wartburg, on the other hand, got annihilated by Dubuque in Monkey-Stomp like fashion. 35+ TOP to 24 minutes. Dubuque more than doubled Wartburg's yardage output. This wasn't a team "not showing up." It was a mediocre football team getting blown out by a better-than-average football team.

All I know is that this pretty much makes SJU a lock for an at-large if both they and UST win out. Especially if Dubuque takes the IIAC. But if UW-P beats UW-O this weekend, who knows what will happen?

[sjusection105]

How is the Bethel squad this year? Can they give UST a challenge?

Costly SJU turnovers made it a no contest earlier this season. 

BU & CCM are all that stands between UST and an outright MIAC crown. How will it stack up?

Note: If CCM were to take down UST then SJU would be on the outside looking in as far as play offs. CCM  would get the automatic bid,because they have been out of the play-offs the longest (MIAC rule) and the NCAA is  not going to take 3 teams from the same conference,even if they all are 9-1 and in the top 25 poll.

[art76]

A swing and a miss - sorry to use a baseball phrase on a football post, but the Oles pulled one out on me this past week winning in the Cereal Bowl last week. The Gusties are idle this week, and licking their wounds.

This week in the MIAC St. John's travels down to Carleton for the first game in this, the eighth week of the eleven week season. The Johnnies are coming off a resounding thumping of the Gusties and will continue to roll this week.

The second game in the MIAC this week won't be all that close either as the Cobbers come back to the twin cities to take on Hamline. As I reported last week, Austin Duncan left the Bethel game and it was noted that he was not available for the Tommie game this past week. If he's not available against Concordia the Pipers don't have anyone else to lead the corps, which might make for a long game for the Hamline faithful.

Again this week, much like last week, we have two interesting games left in the conference, either of which someone might like to go see if they didn't have a horse in the race, as they say.

The third game in the MIAC this week is St. Olaf coming up to Augsburg after winning at home to keep the Goat Trophy.  Each of these teams has won one game in the conference and two games overall this season. The victor in this contest will be in the driver's seat for the bottom half of the conference. Both of them still have Hamline on the horizon and if they both win their respective games, then this head to head game will determine how these teams stack up at the end of the season. If the Pipers win one or both of the games, then things are a little less clear. But this game is the bellwether game for the season for these three teams and how the standings end up at the end of the season.

The last game of the week will be the one with more folks watching, I suspect, as St. Thomas is starting to rattle its sabres as we start talking about the play-offs at this point in the season. Bethel has to play the game of its season to pull the upset off as they head South down Snelling Avenue to keep its post-season hopes alive. If the Royals lose any of their remaining games they will be out of the post-season mathematically speaking because it would mean 3 overall losses for the season. I am hoping that the Royals can keep it interesting and give the Tommies a run for their money.

I mentioned it earlier in a separate post, but I will be at the Whitworth/Linfield game this coming Saturday, as I'll be out of town on business in that part of the world. I'm looking forward to seeing some other teams from around the country that we may see here in the MIAC for post season play later this season.

[USTBench]

How is the Bethel squad this year? Can they give UST a challenge?

Costly SJU turnovers made it a no contest earlier this season. 

BU & CCM are all that stands between UST and an outright MIAC crown. How will it stack up?

Note: If CCM were to take down UST then SJU would be on the outside looking in as far as play offs. CCM  would get the automatic bid,because they have been out of the play-offs the longest (MIAC rule) and the NCAA is  not going to take 3 teams from the same conference,even if they all are 9-1 and in the top 25 poll.

They should though. This is the major flaw of the playoff system in its current incarnation. UWP, UWW, UWO will most likely all deserve a spot in the playoffs. Likewise if CCM knocks off UST. SJU may not have as strong of an argument as CCM at that point because of the "what-have-you-done-for-me-lately" mentality of the NCAA. But any of those 6 teams are capable of making a deep run in the playoffs. Instead what we'll get is a nice sacrificial lamb from the UMAC and the MWC, and two very good teams on the outside looking in.

[AO]

Note: If CCM were to take down UST then SJU would be on the outside looking in as far as play offs. CCM  would get the automatic bid,because they have been out of the play-offs the longest (MIAC rule) and the NCAA is  not going to take 3 teams from the same conference,even if they all are 9-1 and in the top 25 poll.

They revised the tie-breaker rules since the last time that happened.

1. Head‐to‐Head winner among all teams tied
2. Results against teams not tied as the league leaders in descending order after the tied teams
3. Point differential between tied team
4. Team not in the NCAA playoffs most recently (If a tie still remains, result of head‐to‐head competition between the remaining tied teams will receive the automatic bid.)
5. Highest Massey Rating
6. Coin Flip