FB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[USTBench]

FYI: A couple of additional informational tours of The CRUthedral. The second one goes more behind the scenes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmgbxGRmh3g

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Mnlec3ouOA

Where is the bar?

[art76]

Long range forecast for Saturday's game at Kickoff is 68 F and sunny, winds out of the South at 8 mph. Will be 74 and sunny and winds up to 11 mph by the end of the game. Will be a great afternoon weather-wise for all involved.

[Toby Taff]

FYI: A couple of additional informational tours of The CRUthedral. The second one goes more behind the scenes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmgbxGRmh3g

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Mnlec3ouOA

Where is the bar?

Not even within walking distance, unless you want to walk for a long while.

[AO]

FYI: A couple of additional informational tours of The CRUthedral. The second one goes more behind the scenes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmgbxGRmh3g

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Mnlec3ouOA

Where is the bar?

Not even within walking distance, unless you want to walk for a long while.

That's sounds even bigger than I thought.  Must be similar to this one.  Wouldn't want to walk over to the other side to get to the bar.

[BerryCollegeFan]

Yeah, that's the ticket, Pat. That one.

If you want to skip the bridges all together the F.A.M.I.L.Y can always #rowtheboat across the river

LOL #WeAllRow is a tag line Berry uses often.

And thanks for all the great recommendations,  we'll be looking at the list. 

I am excited to see Berry give St Thomas the biggest challenge they had in a month or so.
It'll be good for this young program to see how far they have yet to go...

Looking forward to it also. I hope the St Thomas folks treat you well. We can be a bit questionable in terms of character, if this board is to be believed 

Biggest challenge in a month or so is not a tall bar to cross, so I hope that's the case. Recently found out that a friend of mine and his wife are Berry alums (2004) and they are decent people, so I'll assume that the rest of you are alright.

Thanks for the hospitality.  Most of jesting Saturday was good clean fun.  I don't think Berry had as good a crowd as expected.  I know they talked of trying to schedule a fan bus, but they couldn't find one available.  I guess next year they will begin scheduling those things sooner. 

Berry started slow but was able to get things going later.  Missing that scoring opportunity near the end of the first half certainly hurt.  Overall I was pleased with how the team performed.

[USTBench]

Berry College Fan: You should be proud. That is a very good football team who now has a blueprint to continue the upward trajectory. I can see them passing Linfield and SJU quite soon.

In all seriousness, I predict we'll start talking about Berry as a perennial Top 10 team in the near future. They could have folded like lawn chairs, once down 22-0, but pretty much controlled the second half. If they were able to convert that redzone chance at the end of the first half, we may be having a very different conversation today.

[miac952]

Where Berry was at on Saturday reminded me of UST's first playoff run with Caruso where they went to Linfield in round 3 about a decade ago. You could see the pieces were in place for program growth beyond the current state. It's a strong academic school in a hot football market with a great coaching staff and administration and community that support it. Berry's rise has just begun.

[wm4]

Where Berry was at on Saturday reminded me of UST's first playoff run with Caruso where they went to Linfield in round 3 about a decade ago. You could see the pieces were in place for program growth beyond the current state. It's a strong academic school in a hot football market with a great coaching staff and administration and community that support it. Berry's rise has just begun.

Absolutely!  If they stay on their current trajectory, they'll be a force.  The South is loaded with good football talent, yet not many D3 programs down in that neck of the woods. They could really be on to something as a power down there.  Would be great for the school and great for D3 as well.

[DuffMan]

Is this the beginning of a U$T/Berry bromance??? 

[USTBench]

Is this the beginning of a U$T/Berry bromance??? 

Could be, but they only have one fan on the boards.

We may be pressing, I just look at SJU/Linfield and say to myself, "I want what they have!"

[Pat Coleman]

Anyone else notice that 7 of the 8 second round games were Monkey Stomps? Curious.

That's basically the whole topic of our Saturday roundup and today's podcast, including how normal (or abnormal) this is.

[BerryCollegeFan]

Berry College Fan: You should be proud. That is a very good football team who now has a blueprint to continue the upward trajectory. I can see them passing Linfield and SJU quite soon.

In all seriousness, I predict we'll start talking about Berry as a perennial Top 10 team in the near future. They could have folded like lawn chairs, once down 22-0, but pretty much controlled the second half. If they were able to convert that redzone chance at the end of the first half, we may be having a very different conversation today.

I certainly appreciate the kind words.  hope they can continue.  There are several football schools in Georgia who moved on from DIII  West Georgia and Valdosta come to mind.  Georgia has more FCS schools, seems the northern schools have stuck with DIII.  I don't know the decisions behind them all, but it would make an interesting article one day, why certain regions of the country move to or away from DIII.  I don't see Berry moving anytime soon.

[HSCTiger74]

FYI: A couple of additional informational tours of The CRUthedral. The second one goes more behind the scenes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmgbxGRmh3g

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Mnlec3ouOA

Where is the bar?

Not even within walking distance, unless you want to walk for a long while.

That's sounds even bigger than I thought.  Must be similar to this one.  Wouldn't want to walk over to the other side to get to the bar.

    An Aussie football reference and it wasn't Oz? Didn't think I'd see that.

[Flynntowne]

Interesting article on the MIAC: https://www.minnpost.com/sports/2017/11/miac-without-mercy-can-minnesota-intercollegiate-athletic-conference-solve-its-footba

I am dumber for having read Mr. Joel Stegner's comment.

I'm dumber for letting you sucker me into looking at what you were referring to. 

That article was just bad on so many levels.  St. Olaf got throttled a few weeks ago.  I was not happy with both St. Olaf and St. Thomas, but I have to remember that St. Olaf used to win by some of those scores years ago.  The biggest issue I had with that game was the final score.  The one that happens on second down with 7 seconds to go.  There is this thing called taking a knee.  It was clear that St. Thomas just wanted to make a statement, and they did.

I would like to address a few issues.  First of all there are options when it comes to blowouts and time.  The length of the quarters can be shortened.  I think Clemson did that a few years ago.  There is also the option to play with a running clock.  That was used this year with KU and TCU.  KU's offensive coordinator had the same position at TCU last year.  There were options.  I do think the road rosters need to expanded.  That has been an issue for years.  I assume part of it is travel and facilities, but other than a few trips I don't think that is a huge issue.

The MIAC has had athletic/academic issues for decades now.  There is a reason why Mac doesn't play football in the MIAC.  Part of it deals with the priorities of each individual school.  We have those that want build their reputation with academics which is great.  There are also those that build their reputation through athletics which is hard to argue especially when they are national television and receive other attention for those accomplishments.  The issue in the MIAC is that this divide is getting bigger, and there are few solutions.  If 3 schools leave the MIAC for football the conference loses its AQ status.  Hockey and other sports would also suffer.  There are schools that would love to join the MIAC, and Mac could return under certain conditions.  St. Olaf and Carleton have been in other Midwest Conference which is an option, but the travel costs and stresses on the students would be tough.  It is also important to note that graduate programs in the MIAC are increasing while the MIAC remains one of the few conferences to not allow for graduate students.

Moving up to a different division presents some challenges.  St. Thomas has the enrollment if you want to use that number.  They have more students than about 15% of the FBS schools.  Their issue might be facilities.  Those would need some serious upgrades especially with a school that is pretty well landlocked when it comes to space.  There are also other costs that would likely come with a move for them that might make it a challenge.  St. John's has an issue when it comes to enrollment.  Even doubling the enrollment or adding the St. Ben's enrollment to get a comparable number it is still relatively small.  I don't they they would have the same issue with the facilities as St. Thomas.  Ideally the two schools would stay in the same conference, but what level.  There are some sports that are not supported at the D2 level so they would likely have to go D1 in those.  That is not a huge issue.  There is also the option of FCS, but I am not sure that is viable in the immediate.  Then we add Title IX issues which would present another set of complex problems.  The final question is whether or not either school has the money and desire to spend it that would be required to make that move.

TexasOle, Your statement that St. Thomas has more students than all but 15% of FBS schools is ridiculously incorrect. St. Thomas has 6,200 undergrads, according to its own website. That number would make UST the 7th smallest FBS school, out of 130, ahead of only the three service academies, plus the University of Tulsa, Rice and Wake Forest. I think any conversation about UST going to the FBS is ludicrous in the first place and not worth anyone's time. But, I couldn't just let your baseless statement go uncorrected.

[DuffMan]

Any Tommie$ making the trek to TX?