FB: Midwest Conference

[piopride10]

Until the conference champion from the MWC wins a few games in the playoffs our conference will never see much love.  And I hate to admit it, but the average teams in the WIAC could prolly take our conference champion.  Case and point, UWEC over SNC last year (and that was a pretty darn good SNC team if you recall).  I want Monmouth to run the table and represent the conference well so we can have more playoff hopefuls in the future, but if you let Ripon play Whitewater I'm guessing blowout.  It's just a different game with those schools.  I mean their enrollments are about 10,000 so they just have that many more people to work with.  Plus a lot of those schools are establishing themselves as playing competitively in arguablly the nation's best conference.  So my guess for the next couple years is that the MWC will only have 1 representative.  Is it fair?  I think yes.  Our conference is competitive amongst itself (and not really even with a lot of the teams being consistently bad year in and year out).   The seasons not over yet, but when it is the Scots will have earned my cheers and respect.  Until then, get after 'em Carroll.  A 7 win season wouldn't be a bad way to finish off the year.

[Pat Coleman]

You'll have to forgive Roop -- he doesn't have much experience with the whole playoff concept.

[scottie]

ZING!  

Careful, Pat....as The Roop likes to remind us:

<----------<<<<  It's bow season!

[SNCOLDAD]

COLD PAT. REAL COLD!

[The Roop]

LOL and touche' Pat. My concept of what the play off system "should be" is Pool C criteria only and 16 teams is enough. If certain conferences never get in then they simply need to get better. Besides, we wouldn't be having this conversation had Point not won. Blame Old School. 

[MWCalum]

MWCfan... I understand what your saying but Ripon is a team that puts a huge emphasis on special teams and they won that.. the turnover battle if you were watching the game was honestly more like 1-1 with Ripon fumbling a snap and that INT right before the half the WR's hip collapsed on his cut. Granted thats part of the game but still, realistically this game was as close as can be. I think in 10 games it would be 5-5, maybe 6-4 either way. These teams are very even!

Roop does make some very good points, unfortunatley i dont think the committee thinks the same way.. barring an absolutely unheard of ending, its the purple hawks over the red hawks.. UW-W, Mount Union, just a couple schools that have quite the advantage over other teams.. I know its not going to happen, but maybe they need to be looked at as teams that could play d2..

[SNCOLDAD]

Lots of good conversation going on here. And the activity is great to see. My comments on lots of topics:
1. scottie made a very important point. Win with integrity - lose with integrity.
2. We can hash it all day long on who is better. That was one VERY close game.
3. Score is the final stat that matters.
4. Other stats can give you a flavor of the game. Example SNC vs. Monmouth.
5. MWC teams need to play top level opponents outside of conference.
6. MWC needs a playoff win.
7. UW Whitewater will absolutely make the playoffs.
8. MWC needs 2 or 3 teams that FILL the stadium every week. Example, the Johnnies. This will have the committee look at us more. Think money at the gate.
9. No matter what, I still say GO GREEN KNIGHTS

[Chief116]

Im new to the playoff thing also. IF ripon had won the oshkosh game, do they get in? IF ripon wins out thier two loses were by a total of 4pts. both games they were in it until the end. Should'nt that be in the mix

[The Roop]

5. MWC teams need to play top level opponents outside of conference.

I agree but the MWC teams still only have 1 non-conference game to schedule every year. Not sure how much one non-conference game against a power team is going to help the cause. St. Norbert is the only one that tried that this year anyway. The only way to have more non-conference games is to go to a divisional system and then Team X will always complain that Team Y didn't have to play Team Z this year.

Besides. St. Norbert, Carroll and Ripon would have to be in one division and Monmouth would always rule the other. Beloit and Lake Forest would be a good fit in either, because of their locations, but neither is ready to challenge for the top spot right now.

There is no easy fix until the MWC decides it wants to be a football conference and right now it's not a high priority.

[Pat Coleman]

Im new to the playoff thing also. IF ripon had won the oshkosh game, do they get in? IF ripon wins out thier two loses were by a total of 4pts. both games they were in it until the end. Should'nt that be in the mix

Perhaps. Right now, though, there is zero way Ripon gets in ahead of UW-Whitewater because of the strength of schedule and the common opponent.

[Pat Coleman]

8. MWC needs 2 or 3 teams that FILL the stadium every week. Example, the Johnnies. This will have the committee look at us more. Think money at the gate.

This isn't the NAIA or the FBS. Attendance is not a factor in getting into the playoffs.

[SNCOLDAD]

Pat, I would like to think that. But the NCAA is the NCAA and $$$ is usually a factor. Hypothetically it comes down to one spot open for a play off. Ripon and St Johns are the remaining 2 teams to get a bid. All else being equal, (remember I said hypothetically) who gets the bid? The one that draws a few hundred or the one that they know will fill the house?

I know what you are saying though. Chances of it coming down to that and no other differences are very slim and extreme.

Chief116. Ask Pat where his play off explanation is. It is well worth the reading.
And we all know Pat will always plug a link to other spots on this site. Right Pat? 

[Pat Coleman]

Pat, I would like to think that. But the NCAA is the NCAA and $$$ is usually a factor. Hypothetically it comes down to one spot open for a play off. Ripon and St Johns are the remaining 2 teams to get a bid. All else being equal, (remember I said hypothetically) who gets the bid? The one that draws a few hundred or the one that they know will fill the house?

I know what you are saying though. Chances of it coming down to that and no other differences are very slim and extreme.

Chief116. Ask Pat where his play off explanation is. It is well worth the reading.
And we all know Pat will always plug a link to other spots on this site. Right Pat? 

The FAQ is linked right below this post, as always.

All else is never equal. There's always some determining factor to use. But coming down to the last bid, home attendance shouldn't even be close to a factor, since that team isn't going to get a home game.

Again, this isn't like the Orange Bowl picking a team based on profit margin.

[SNCOLDAD]

Very good point on the home game. Had not thought about that. Do you think they take proximity into account? I would assume for over the 500 mile range but what about within that range? Try to have the closer school get the bid to have a better following? Just a thought. At least there is a playoff in D3. It may have faults to some, but it is there unlike the guess work in D1.

[MWCfan787]

I agree this is d3, there is not alot of money being made.

But, if that is the case then why would the NCAA reject Monmouth of hosting a playoff game due to people being able to see the game for free.  With the updates to the stadium this year mainly focused on a new much larger press box, I am pretty sure they have the facilities to host the media that other teams who host d3 playoff games have had.  And to see if the stadium updates are up to par does the NCAA send someone there to check it out?

It might not even be an issue if the Scots are ranked low in the west region, but I would think they'd be a team to get a home game.

I agree that attendance probably doesn't have anything to do with seeding.

Attendance is easy for some schools compared to others.  I attend Monmouth College so I know the atmosphere (small area, small enrollment, small but nice new and clean facilities).  On a trip this summer we were in the area and had time so we checked out Whitewater's campus and stadium.  After seeing their campus size and facilities, I found it comical that the two schools are in the same division.  We could have our 100% of our campus at that stadium (faculty included) and then the whole population of Monmouth (9000) there and the place would just be filled. The Scots drew a crowd of 3200 at home against Ripon with the conference on the line(not sure how they got that number since they don't charge for games) and the Monmouth-St. Nobert game drew 2466 in De Pere.