FB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[jamtod]

New Regional alignments have the MIAC with a stacked Region 6:
St John's and Bethel locked in with the WIAC and ASC and NWC, so the Linfields, Mary Hardin-Baylors, and Whitewater/Oshkosh/Plattevilles of the world.

Every Stagg Bowl going back to 2002 includes at last 1 member of Region 6 (with the inclusion of St Thomas, obviously no longer in D3), and in 2004, both teams were. Most of those years, there was an additional Region 6 team in the semifinals as well.

[jknezek]

New Regional alignments have the MIAC with a stacked Region 6:
St John's and Bethel locked in with the WIAC and ASC and NWC, so the Linfields, Mary Hardin-Baylors, and Whitewater/Oshkosh/Plattevilles of the world.

Every Stagg Bowl going back to 2002 includes at last 1 member of Region 6 (with the inclusion of St Thomas, obviously no longer in D3), and in 2004, both teams were. Most of those years, there was an additional Region 6 team in the semifinals as well.

Officially the Region of Death. That is going to suck when teams are blocked from the table in this Region. Sure that happened all the time in the West Region, but now there are more, smaller regions. And this region is brutal. Sorry guys, but you will continue to be under-represented for your quality. Although with so few at-large bids it doesn't matter that much anyway I guess.

[sjusection105]

New Regional alignments have the MIAC with a stacked Region 6:
St John's and Bethel locked in with the WIAC and ASC and NWC, so the Linfields, Mary Hardin-Baylors, and Whitewater/Oshkosh/Plattevilles of the world.

Every Stagg Bowl going back to 2002 includes at last 1 member of Region 6 (with the inclusion of St Thomas, obviously no longer in D3), and in 2004, both teams were. Most of those years, there was an additional Region 6 team in the semifinals as well.

Officially the Region of Death. That is going to suck when teams are blocked from the table in this Region. Sure that happened all the time in the West Region, but now there are more, smaller regions. And this region is brutal. Sorry guys, but you will continue to be under-represented for your quality. Although with so few at-large bids it doesn't matter that much anyway I guess.

I concur.
+K

[OldAuggie]

New Regional alignments have the MIAC with a stacked Region 6:
St John's and Bethel locked in with the WIAC and ASC and NWC, so the Linfields, Mary Hardin-Baylors, and Whitewater/Oshkosh/Plattevilles of the world.

Every Stagg Bowl going back to 2002 includes at last 1 member of Region 6 (with the inclusion of St Thomas, obviously no longer in D3), and in 2004, both teams were. Most of those years, there was an additional Region 6 team in the semifinals as well.

Officially the Region of Death. That is going to suck when teams are blocked from the table in this Region. Sure that happened all the time in the West Region, but now there are more, smaller regions. And this region is brutal. Sorry guys, but you will continue to be under-represented for your quality. Although with so few at-large bids it doesn't matter that much anyway I guess.

I concur.
+K

Looks like Murderers' Row.

[art76]

New Regional alignments have the MIAC with a stacked Region 6:
St John's and Bethel locked in with the WIAC and ASC and NWC, so the Linfields, Mary Hardin-Baylors, and Whitewater/Oshkosh/Plattevilles of the world.

Every Stagg Bowl going back to 2002 includes at last 1 member of Region 6 (with the inclusion of St Thomas, obviously no longer in D3), and in 2004, both teams were. Most of those years, there was an additional Region 6 team in the semifinals as well.

Officially the Region of Death. That is going to suck when teams are blocked from the table in this Region. Sure that happened all the time in the West Region, but now there are more, smaller regions. And this region is brutal. Sorry guys, but you will continue to be under-represented for your quality. Although with so few at-large bids it doesn't matter that much anyway I guess.

I concur.
+K

Looks like Murderers' Row.

Wow - the season hasn't even opened training camps and all I can think about right now is how they'll seed the 32 playoff teams...

[MWCfan212]

New Regional alignments have the MIAC with a stacked Region 6:
St John's and Bethel locked in with the WIAC and ASC and NWC, so the Linfields, Mary Hardin-Baylors, and Whitewater/Oshkosh/Plattevilles of the world.

Every Stagg Bowl going back to 2002 includes at last 1 member of Region 6 (with the inclusion of St Thomas, obviously no longer in D3), and in 2004, both teams were. Most of those years, there was an additional Region 6 team in the semifinals as well.

Officially the Region of Death. That is going to suck when teams are blocked from the table in this Region. Sure that happened all the time in the West Region, but now there are more, smaller regions. And this region is brutal. Sorry guys, but you will continue to be under-represented for your quality. Although with so few at-large bids it doesn't matter that much anyway I guess.

Would you mind explaining more on how the playoff selection works? Always a tad too confusing when I tried to take a look.

[AO]

Would you mind explaining more on how the playoff selection works? Always a tad too confusing when I tried to take a look.

27 bids go to conference champions, the other 5 bids are at-large bids (numbers will slightly vary from year to year).   The committee ranks the top teams from each region, then compares the top unselected team from each region.  They replace the selected team with the next highest ranked team from that region. Ideally the national committee would correct any situation where a team unlikely to be selected is blocking a team that has the objective criteria to be selected.

[OzJohnnie]

I suspect they went to six regions in the hopes that East and North teams get a look at playoffs when they were constantly stuck behind the same-old, same-old who were stuck behind the West.  Hence, jam the West more and open up the East and North.  If the committee stays true to selecting the best team available then that will only stack the playoffs with more West teams as the West has been beefed up with the strongest from the South.

We'll have to keep a cynical eye on the selection criteria come the end of the year.  Maybe this was an attempt to stop two teams from coming from each of the MIAC, WIAC and ASC.  Pouring more teams into the Regional Rankings tables could make it harder for a second squad to get considered from these strong conferences.

EDIT:  Consider the situation for Hardin-Simmons.  They could find themselves behind two WIAC, two MIAC, MHB, an ARC, and Linfield in the new Region 6 that has one fewer non-AQ spot in the year-end regional ranking table now with the ASC added to the mix.  HSU's spot in that scenario would almost certainly go to one of the new regions split out of the East and North.  And I'm not just picking on HSU.  The same scenario is true for every second team in the MIAC and WIAC.  Possibly even the NWC in some years and the SCIAC, depending on how they come out of their covidian nightmare.

Yup, this was definitely engineered to get one playoff spot out of the ASC/MIAC/WIAC and into the East/North.

[OzJohnnie]

The chances of the ARC getting a second team considered now are almost zero. Two teams would need to have utterly phenomenal seasons to get close to consideration now.

[Wdavis5]

New here. I am ready to see some D3 football.  Who are the Front runners besides SJU in this conf? Who are the dark horses.

[DuffMan]

Whoa, a CSS fan?!?!  Welcome. 

Aside from SJU, Bethel usually is a contender.  Concordia has their ups and downs but is usually a tough team, even though they run an ancient offense.  GAC is usually a darkhorse.

[Wdavis5]

Whoa, a CSS fan?!?!  Welcome. 

Aside from SJU, Bethel usually is a contender.  Concordia has their ups and downs but is usually a tough team, even though they run an ancient offense.  GAC is usually a darkhorse.

CSS fan yes indeed. Both my sons will be Freshman there this fall.

[MRMIKESMITH]

I suspect they went to six regions in the hopes that East and North teams get a look at playoffs when they were constantly stuck behind the same-old, same-old who were stuck behind the West.  Hence, jam the West more and open up the East and North.  If the committee stays true to selecting the best team available then that will only stack the playoffs with more West teams as the West has been beefed up with the strongest from the South.

We'll have to keep a cynical eye on the selection criteria come the end of the year.  Maybe this was an attempt to stop two teams from coming from each of the MIAC, WIAC and ASC.  Pouring more teams into the Regional Rankings tables could make it harder for a second squad to get considered from these strong conferences.

EDIT: Consider the situation for Hardin-Simmons.  They could find themselves behind two WIAC, two MIAC, MHB, an ARC, and Linfield in the new Region 6 that has one fewer non-AQ spot in the year-end regional ranking table now with the ASC added to the mix.  HSU's spot in that scenario would almost certainly go to one of the new regions split out of the East and North.  And I'm not just picking on HSU.  The same scenario is true for every second team in the MIAC and WIAC.  Possibly even the NWC in some years and the SCIAC, depending on how they come out of their covidian nightmare.

Yup, this was definitely engineered to get one playoff spot out of the ASC/MIAC/WIAC and into the East/North.

You still have to consider automatic bids. Unless you are assuming they would be behind the 2nd/3rd place teams from the MIAC and WIAC. However, they'd essentially be bhind 2nd place MIAC, WIAC, essentially being #3 from the Region. Looking at the final RR from 2019 and recreating the rankings for at-large.
Region 1 (MAC, ECFC, CCC, NEWMAC, MASCAC): Stevenson 8-2, Endicott 8-2
Region 2 (NJAC, E8, LL, CC): Wesley (8-1), Susquehanna (9-1), Ithaca (8-2), Hobart (8-2), Brockport (8-2)
Region 3 (USAC, SAA, PAC, ODAC): Randolph-Macon (8-2), Trinity (TX) (8-2)
Region 4 (MIAA, NCAC, HCAC, OAC): John Carroll (8-1), Denison (8-2), Albion (8-2)
Region 5 (CCIW, NACC, ARC, MWC): North Central (IL) (9-1), Wartburg (9-1) ,WashU (7-3)
Region 6 (MIAC, ASC, SCIAC, UMAC, NWC, WIAC) – UWW (8-1), Redlands (9-1),  Texas Lutheran (8-2), Hardin-Simmons (8-2), UW-L (7-2),

Susquehanna runner-up of CC was left on the board 5 times, mainly due to playing a 4-6 Lycoming. The CC has qualities teams in that of Muhlenberg & John Hopkins, but Hopkins schedules pretty well in their only OOC game, which usually allows it to get an at-large most years. John Carroll played UW-SP, which didn't do to well, as such  If either Texas Lutheran doesn't lose to Hendrix or H-S doesn't lose to Tex Luteran, I think they get in above Redlands most year's,  however kudos to Redlands for beating Linfield and Redlands playing 10 games.

Looking back, I think if the 2019 committee were looking at the Board, it would be North Central, UW-W, Wesley, Redlands, Wartburg. 

[hazzben]

How do these regions break down by number of schools per region. Looking at number of conferences alone, this would seem like something that flies in the face of equal access.

Or for at large purposes (i.e. RRO games), if one region has 20% more schools in its footprint, does that region get to rank the top 12 teams compared to another region's top 10? No? ok, yeah, I didn't think so. 

[hazzben]

We've officially turned the page on HBD America.

So, thinking of fall football and the new divisions for the MIAC this year. I'm actually kinda excited.

Northwoods Division: Carleton College, Gustavus Adolphus College, Saint John's University, St. Olaf College, and The College of St. Scholastica.
The Skyline Division: Augsburg University, Bethel University, Concordia College, Hamline University, and Macalester College.

It's actually a pretty ingenious way of protecting teams that aren't fully committed to competing nationally, and making sure the top of the conference doesn't end up with diluted SOS numbers (with MAC and CSS additions, and UST moving on).

I also love the way it pumps extra juice into games between Bethel and Concordia, presumably battling for the Skyline, and SJU, GAC, and STO, battling for the Northwoods. Bethel and Concordia have had some awesome games over the years, but for neither side has it risen to the level of SJU or UST in terms of animus. Going forward, I think this creates a great wrinkle to the rivalry. And likewise for the Northwoods teams. 

It'll also be interesting to watch the transitions into MIAC play for MAC and CSS. MAC knows the lay of the land, and the hill it has to climb. From what I've heard, CSS football numbers are WAY down. Even with the protected scheduling of the new division format, it might be a really long few years for them.