FB: Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Gray Fox]

Can Don Hansen's one man band be considered a "poll"? 

Hopefully CLU will get some love in the next two weeks.  Getting to the playoffs is another thing.

[toballer]

The SCIAC as we all know, and if you watch D-3 football in SoCal, is not very good. It is one of the worst conferences in the country.  This is not opinion it is a proven fact.  OXY is a pretty good team and deserves to go to the playoffs, but no one else in the conference is good enough.  One team is enough from SCIAC.   

[RFB]

The SCIAC has had some down years in the past, but I feel the conference is on it's way up. Oxy, Cal Lu, and Redlands are in great shape right now. Laverne, Whittier, Pomona, and Claremont are doing some good things and look to be getting stronger. This website has ranked the SCIAC over many other conferences. I look for good things from this conference in the future.

[toballer]

You are correct that this web site did rank SCIAC head of other conferences.  SCIAC was ranked at the end of last season #20 out 25 conferences.  The out of conference record was 7-12.  This year CLU at 6-1 is not even ranked regionally.  The conference is not very well thought of.

[rockcat]

toballer,

And how many of those out of conference wins were against Colorado College, Lewis and Clark, Menlo or some other garbage team?  My guess is that the SCIAC would be even further below .500 against out of conference schools if they played good competition.  If often wonder if any of the whiners have ever seen a DIII game outside of Southern California.

With that said though, there are some teams doing some good things.  Obviously Oxy is on a good run and Cal Lu is building up their program and Redlands is right behind them.  But getting two SCIAC teams in the playoffs is a stretch this year because the west is without question the deepest region.

[RFB]

The SCIAC will get better, the foundations are all pretty solid at all of the schools. Redlands, Oxy, Laverne, Cal Lu and Claremont all have long term coaches in place. Pomona seems to have a good, young coach. Whittier finally has a good coaching staff and they seem determined to build the program. It is good to see.

[D O.C.]

Confidence...that's what Occidental has going into this season (and a QB from the Pacific Northwest). Last year they handled The Fly. They traveled far, played in a dome and came away with a win. They've seen how LINFIELD takes care of business.
I could see it in the small things they did as a team in the Redlands game: the sideline demeanor, the readiness of various units, and even (some) downfield blocking because they have the feeling that if OXYCollins scrambles in a broken play he could  go  all  the  way.
Have to agree with RFB in that if Andy goes down the ship sinks.

[OxyFan21]

It'll be interesting to see how Oxy performs without Collins.  He is listed as a Junior, but due to his transfer, I don't know where he is academically.  If he leaves after this season, I hear that we have a good Frosh QB from Michigan waiting...

Also, since I live in the midwest now, I have seen many D3 games outside of SoCal, and I have to agree that the SCIAC is not that strong top to bottom, but I really believe that Oxy, Redlands, and Cal Lu can at least compete on a national level right now.  We'll see if the league can travel well if given the opportunity in the future.

[tigersports]

I see a bunch of posts that owe Oxy's recent success entirely to Collins.  That's sounds good but just isn't in accord with the actual facts.  Oxy won the SCIAC in '01 -- going undefeated in conference play and losing only to Menlo in the opening week.   They didn't go to the playoffs because Pomona wasn't in the SCIAC.  In '03, they lost their starting QB the week before the Pomona game, lost that game with a new QB (not Collins), lost a squeaker the next week v. UR and then kicked the crap out of the next four teams, including Cal Lu and a 6-3 Claremont team.  The point is that Oxy's been on the rise since the millenium changed and getting Collins has transformed them from SCIAC contender to national quarter-finalist. 

[tigersports]

And two more things.  (1)  Don't forget to tune in to www.oxybroadcast.com for the Laverne game this Saturday at 1:00.  (2) Oxybob, I don't mind the wit and good-natured ribbing.  Imho, the rhetoric got a bit heated and over the top.  If I'm the only one that feels that way, my bad.

[D O.C.]

In '03, they lost their starting QB the week before the Pomona game, lost that game with a new QB

Funny how that works.

Your honor, I rest my case.

[LigerLover]

The SCIAC is NOT as week as everyone seems to think....It like many other confrences has ups and it has downs...look at the northwest confrence right now....it is always seen as a pretty good league but it is in shambles right now...lewis and clark and pac lu are horrible...willamette bounced back from 3 tough losees but I think they are a redlands calliber team...as for whitworth, I think they are pretty good but not much better than the top 3 SCIAC teams....I think that calling the SCIAC horrible is a ridiculous statement...so rethink it toolboxer or toballer

[tigersports]

Not so fast DensLA.  The QB was NOT Collins, first of all, it was Justin Elway.  He QB'd the loss to Redlands AND the final four crap-kicking games.  Thus, if you choose to rest your case, you just lost.

[rockcat]

I think his point was that the new QB lost the big game.  Who cares about blowouts if you lose the games that matter.

As for Liger...how can you even compare the SCIAC to the NWC?  That is the most ridiculous thing I've heard from you since last week.  The only team that might beat Whitworth would be Oxy.  I saw Cal Lu this year and the were decent but would be middle of the pack in the NWC. 

Good conferences don't have ups and downs...they are always UP.  When has the SCIAC really ever been up?  The NWC has been a national power since they moved to DIII less than 10 years ago.  Two different programs have won national championships and they always do well outside of the conference.  Both Whitworth and Willamette are better than Redlands and Cal Lu.  Whitworth proved this by easily beating La Verne and Redlands.  Willamette will most likely end the year with three DIII losses, all of which are playoff teams including last years championship game teams.

Like I said earlier, the SCIAC is getting better but they aren't there just yet.

[tigersports]

Comparing SCIAC and NWC is like comparing the Big-10 to the WAC.  Though an occasional Boise St. or Fresno St. can emerge from the WAC to challenge the big schools, the middle of the Big-10 is far superior.  Same applies here.  Since UR is one of the few teams that plays the good teams in that conference and routinely get beat between by between 2-5 scores, there is no contest.

Last thought on the Collins debate is that Linfield is pretty ordinary by their standards (i.e., maybe 8-1, 7-2 and not winning every game by five scores) without their QB.  Oxy moved the ball pretty well on them while it was still a game.