FB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Kilted Rat]

  I was not at the game and cannot speak for what happened, but I am happy to hear that it wasn't BC(u) players doing any "stomping" after the game.

On that note, I think the "Miami" references are a bit unfair and unjustified.  If there were no BC(u) players making a scene, then I don't believe it makes sense to analogize the post game of Bethel student fans' behavior to "Miami thugs." 

Anybody who follows college football knows the "U" is notorious for this kind of shenanigans, and no matter how you spin it more is expected of BU fans be they students, parents, alumni etc. They were happy the team won and that's fine, but what was done after the game was D-U-M-B and not consistent with the way BU strives to project itself. Any time you can win against SJU it is a big deal, but it's never been an excuse for abandoning sportsmanship and class. I've been to a couple SJU games where the J's lost with a lot more at stake, and the opposing team and fans were able to maintain composure. It's not like I'm talking pie in the sky here. Glad to hear that most of the Johnny faithful saw that the team itself handled the moment with class. You'd expect nothing less, wouldn't you Cheese? I will beat this dead horse no more .

I agree with 56321 that the bracket is rather harsh on Bethel, but the Carleton loss probably tied the selection board's hands to a degree. UW-L's only loss is to the region's top seed so there's really no comparison. It's a great opportunity to achieve another first for the program, though.

Congrats to SJU not only for getting in, but also for getting the most favorable draw that could have been hoped for. I know the Godfather is fired up..."Dutch Letters and Sitftungfest burgers for all my friends!" You, my friend, are a great American . 

Thank you Mr Hannity. 




Regarding the Logo stomp, here's my take:

Let the Bethel fans celebrate as they wish so long as no one gets hurt and no property is damaged. This was a huge win for their program! After years of getting beaten by SJU, many times in close games, Bethel fans had a lot of frustration built up.
Before this game, Bethel had lost 5 straight to SJU, and this was only Bethels 3rd win in 28 meetings! Let 'em celebrate however they chose. If the players had done it, I would have been a bit less likely to pass it off as nothing.
Besides, from the sounds of things and based on the stats, their team thoroughly dominated all aspects of the game especially the 2nd half! Now it's time to see if they can break their playoff 0-fer streak.

[DutchFan2004]

KR,

Are you coming to Pella?  Would love a chance to meet you.  Hope it fits into your schedule. 

[nuggs]

KR a true fan, thanks for the response.

My Thoughts on the West Region:

-The West Region is the toughest Region in DIII football along with the OAC/North Region.

-The West Region has six of the top twelve teams in DIII football according to national rankings.

-The north region has the seeding right with Mount Union #1 and Capital #2 as would hold true with national rankings.

-If we're going to seed this thing and carry some kind of national rankings impliacation the West Region would have turned out like this (assuming Bethel is ranked ahead of St. John's based on head to head competition):

#1Whitewater vs. #8 St. Norbert
#2LaCrosse vs. #7 St. John's
#3Whitworth vs. #6 Bethel
#4Central vs. #5 Occidental

Due to travel purposes I can see where Whitworth would play Occidental however that would leave Bethel with the Dutch.  In terms of national seeding Bethel gets hosed for beating St. John's however there has to be some sort of penalty for losing to Carleton, right? 

-A conference champ should either never have to go on the road to face a Pool C team, or they should seed this thing nationally like they did in the North Region. 

-The West is tough and there will be no easy games or blowouts other than possibly the St. Norbert/Whitewater tilt and to be the best you have to beat the best.

[bcflyguy1]

Hawk-
Not slighting the Dutch in any way, I know anyone coming to Pella will have all they can handle. That being said, I think SJU folks would agree what they'd rather be playing Central than either of the UW schools in the first round. Couple that with the history the two teams have and that Pella is a great road trip, and you have a good draw. It's not lost on me that there are no easy games in the playoffs.

Kilted-
You're welcome, Mr. Colmes .

[DutchFan2004]

Carl,

I think you are correct that SJU got a good draw.  Central and SJU match up pretty even I would say.  History is on SJU's side too. 

nuggs,

What national rankings did you use to give the seeds to the West bracket?  They don't even come close to the national rankings. 

[nuggs]

nuggs,

What national rankings did you use to give the seeds to the West bracket?  They don't even come close to the national rankings. 

I simply used the d3football.com rankings:

UWW         #2
SJU            #3 (falling)
UWLAX       #8
Whitworth #9
Central      #10
OXY           #11

[Kilted Rat]

KR,

Are you coming to Pella?  Would love a chance to meet you.  Hope it fits into your schedule. 

As of right now, I am 99.9% on for Pella! You should come to Johnnie Red's tailgate party and say hi!

Will your son be making the trip from Des Moines as well? How is he doing?

KR a true fan, thanks for the response.

Thanks, I try to keep some perspective most of the time. 



Carl,
I catch the Hannity show once in a while on my way home from work. Definitely a guy with a lot of strong opinions!



I would definitely agree that SJU got a good draw, especially not having to face UWW until the West region championships should they both make it that far.



Pat,
Sorry I missed ya on ESPNNews, thanks again for a great regular season on the site and for representing D3 football for the masses!

[DutchHawk]

Carl,
Wasnt figuring you were slighting the Dutch, just wondered your perspective! It will be one heck of a game...hopefully Pat, or Keith will make it to Pella as well. I do agree that I would rather see SJU than Whitewater again, LaCrosse maybe not as bad...but it is nice for both Central and SJU to not have to worry about WW until the regional final. That said Central and SJU do match up very evenly, Im thinking low scoring, 13-10 something around those lines.

I know the Johnnies travel well so we should expect a large crowd Saturday right??!

[Kilted Rat]

Dutch fans,
How much visitor seating is there in Pella? Will I be able to get a ticket on gameday?

[Willy Wonka]

SJU people - Please get over fans jumping around at midfield. There is no way to determine the motivation and it's a useless topic to take out the frustration.

How far is Pella from Luther and/or Wartburg? Wonka is contemplating a trip down for hoops and football double dip next weekend.

Scrubby - You are an idiot. The fans left the stands after the clinching touchdown in preparation of storming the field, as most any school who upsets SJU would do. TDT has not yet posted because he just got back to his own abode less than 30 minutes ago. After last night's performance, it'd not surprise me to find he's worshipping the porcelain gods like his Cobber buddy Dinny for the rest of the night.

CM - Valid points. However, when D2 Weber trips at the 20 and D2 Gearman drops a perfect pass, both which should have been touchdowns, it's hard to completely fault little Gags on the choke job.

[sjusection105]

Thanks 105 and "barry", I didn't think my first post needed clarification.

Just in case, I'll spell it out again.  Many inside the SJU program (not just players) feel that Jim Gagliardi is the only thing keeping this current squad from actually being worthy of a previously inflated national ranking.

I would argue that this year's offense has as much overall talent as 2000 or 2003, but the missing piece of the puzzle is the ability to plan a game on offense.  John is probably trying to help his son build credentials for an eventual job application, but he's being far too kind to his own kid.  Nepotism (Jimmy G as coordinator and Casey Haugen as starting receiver) is probably keeping this team at about 5 to 10 ppg less than it should be scoring.

Here's hoping that John takes back the reigns next week, and the Johnnies re-gain their form!  I have faith!

PS- the Kennedy beating was welcomed, the football beating was not.

Who is barry I'm confused

[DutchHawk]

Pella is about 2.5 hours from Wartburg, and close to 3.5 to Luther.

Seating is listed at 6000 at Schipper stadium on D3...you will have no problem getting a ticket as there is plenty of area to stand on the hillside surrounding the stadium. It sits in sort of a bowl.

[Kilted Rat]

It sits in sort of a bowl.

Sounds familiar




It appears PC was sending TDT signals during the Selection show  :

[sjusection105]

CM - Valid points. However, when D2 Weber trips at the 20 and D2 Gearman drops a perfect pass, both which should have been touchdowns, it's hard to completely fault little Gags on the choke job.

Wonka,
The D2 Weber graduated last year. Loftboom (trip on the 20) has been at SJU 4 years never anywhere else.CM still has a valid point as the lines were put on the field by..... you guessed it The theory holds true

[miacsuperfan]

sju and bu,   i was on hand yesterday.   nice job royals.  as ken venturi once said, "take your par and go quietly."   best of luck to both teams next weekend in making the miac look good.