FB: Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference

[golden_dome]

Hi Chris,

What I am saying is that I'm no longer penalizing Millsaps the team for what the Millsaps coaching staff did in the second half of that game.  My rankings are my best guess of who would beat who if teams met today and all things were equal.  I understand where people are coming from who say "X beat Y and that what the rankings should reflect" but Millsaps #1s put 20-3 on the board against MC's #1s in the first half - and that to me is the most accurate representation of the true relative strength of the two teams.  Like most others I wish we weren't put in this position but that's how I am going to handle it.  There are four other voters who don't see it that way, and that's fine too. 

A game between two teams indicates relative strength on that day.  As the season progresses I freely adjust my ratings to reflect more recent results.   MC's 2-0 at home - can they do as well once the travel starts?  We'll see, and if they continue to do well they'll move up. 

Ron,
   I can understand that but just don't agree with it, but that's why we have these boards. You are certainly entitled to your opinion. MC has more talent than they have had in a long time and they will get a chance to prove it in two weeks against Hardin-Simmons if they don't look past a McMurry team certainly capable of beating them.

Millsaps' J.V. defeated  Belhaven College's J.V. 41-28 this afternoon. The teams played four, twelve minutes quarters. It was a good showing for both squads.

Millsaps is working on two JV games with MC, and possibly working on a third with another school. Schedules are to be announced at a later date.

Happy to hear that. A good thing for both programs with the ever-increasing sizes of the rosters. It gives players buried on the depth chart a chance to earn some PT. Every year some of those players who show out on the JV team end up helping the varsity at the end of the year.

[Ralph Turner]

LaGrange plays both MissColl and LaCollege this year.

I can foresee Adam Shaffer developing thru the season.  He missed "all" of 2006, and the Millsaps game was his first action since the injury.

Juan Joseph had the chance to develop thru the rest of 2006.

[Ron Boerger]

Request denied (unless you want to lose to Rhodes).   

[golden_dome]

One thing for sure, this may be just the thing that is needed to begin to turn this hyped up / media promoted rivalry into a real rivalry again. I think things will be a little more intense next year when these guys tee it up. Put yourself in the players shoes, Major or Choc --- this game was a buster and anybody worth his salt will want to get back out there sooner than later and get it on.

May be just what the doctor ordered for a rivalry that was dead and cold for some 40 years and has been trying to be reheated for the last 7 years.

We are in 100% agreement with that, all of the debate has to be great for the rivalry. I am sure players from both teams have plenty of reason to be ready for that game which should have the attention of many in the D3football.com community.

[frank_ezelle]

Did Big C just break the record for the longest post ever?  I'll confess that I didn't make it through the entire post, an approach many of you probably take with my wordy entries.

I discovered last year that if a team loses 3 non-conference games and then goes undefeated in the SCAC, things will still work out fine when it really matters, namely at the end of the year.  Would MC have beaten Millsaps if it was a conference game?  Would MC have beaten Millsaps if the Millsaps roster had been limited to only 52 players?  Those are questions that everyone can answer on their own, but those questions will just become an interesting footnote to the season if Millsaps wins the SCAC. 

I've come to the conclusion that Millsaps being unranked at this point of the season is a good thing.  With some luck, maybe people will continue to focus on that MC loss as proof that Millsaps isn't so great and obviously their defense can't be that tough since they got torched for three 4th quarter TDs.  I know that sounds like spin, but there are those who believe that Millsaps was helped last year by the overconfidence of their opponents so maybe it will work again this year.

As for the JV game yesterday, I was impressed by the quality of some of the players for Millsaps.  It's hard to believe that none of these guys are in the top 52 that get to travel and I won't be surprised if a few of them find their way on the travelling squad by the end of the year.  They did play 5 12-minute periods and it was fairly even most of the way with Millsaps building a lead in the last couple of periods.  I doubt that winning the game was the top priority for either team.  Coach DuBose talked last year about "building a program" and the addition of a JV schedule will go a long way in accomplishing that goal.

[Ralph Turner]

Not the longest post, it seems to have four in-bedded quotations.

As Big C gets more facile with the utilities of the message board, his posts will look more conventional. 

I am just glad to have a bevy on SCAC posters.

[exmajor]

I am very excited that Millsaps has built a JV team.  When I came into the program in '97 we had the largest class to date, but lost so many guys over the course of two years mostly due to lack of playing time.  Of course there were other reasons, but this is a huge step in the right direction of building a winning program.

As far as the Rhodes rivarly goes, I think it was a much more important game (as opposed to MC) in my years due to 1.) it was a conference game and 2.) we did not start playing MC again until my senior year.  We really never cared much for the boys from Memphis and it was traditionally a more competitive game for both squads, as opposed to the Trinity game.  Now, we always wanted to beat Trinity because they were always on top of the hill.  I seemed to get even more up for that game, but more so due to the fact I was from Texas and had a choice between both schools. 

I see the MC game continuing to return to its former luster over the course of the coming years, but as Frank alluded to in an earlier post, the conference rivarlies have more riding on them in the long run.

[Josh Bowerman]

I enjoyed it as well and have looked over the pictures. You did a great job.

I sent a couple of the proofs to my son along with a few of a couple of his good friends --- 77, 22, 44, 30 --- we may want to order a couple from you?

I wish I had thought to catch up with you after the game and introduce you to him and my family.

If you get over to a Millsaps game later this year, we will have to see that that happens.

Thanks again.

Big C--

If you're interested, you actually order them directly from this website.  Pictureprints.net helps process all the orders.  The proceeds from the sales go to help keep the site up, running and free, as well as to help Pat and Keith travel around the country and cover DIII games--like the HSU/Linfield game last weekend.

[Pat Coleman]

Big C:

There's ordering info at the bottom of the photo pages if you scroll down. Let us know via e-mail if you have any problems or questions.

[Matt Gaunt]

Welcome to the board Gaunt! (its Mike Valentine)  Have not talked or seen you in a while hopefully you live close to Greencastle and can add insight to along with DPU3619 and DPULefty22.  All i do is read since i live in New Orleans.

Hey Mike,

Yea, I've been away finishing my education, and haven't really had the chance to follow the team over the last handful of years. But I'm back in the general central Indiana area until mid-late October.  I made it to the Anderson game, and hope to make it to the Trinity game as well.  My eyes, of course, gravitated to the linemen.  During the Anderson game the offensive line looked good, and, concordantly, the offense performed well, especially for the rumors in the stands / talking to Coach Nick about them being a young squad.  Two other things, aside from the outcome, that put a smile on my face: Jake Wissing appeared to be coaching the offensive line, and Coach Hreha was Coach Hreha (good to know some things never change).

That the team has put up 85 and allowed only 14 in the first two games makes me think that it is going to be a good year for them, but as others have said it is all cautious optimism at this point.  A few more games and a clearer picture will emerge.

[DPU3619]

Well, it seems the AFCA poll is out.  Bridgewater says so, anyway.

http://www.bridgewater.edu/Sports/news/AFCApoll1.pdf

Trinity #15.  DePauw gets a vote, yet Centre, who DePauw took to the woodshed on Saturday, gets 21 votes.  Millsaps gets nothing, in a surprising turn of events.

[frank_ezelle]

Centre at 1-2 get 21 votes and DePauw gets 1 vote after beating Centre 38-7 last week.  That's an interesting take on the first 3 weeks of the season.  I'm not sure that the Millsaps team needs any extra motivation, but being ranked behind 3 SCAC teams can't hurt in keeping the team focused and ready for the first home game of the season. 

[Ron Boerger]

CENTRE got 21 votes??? WTF is up with that??!?! 

"AFCA:  where not only do most of our voters not know the teams they vote for, but they also ignore game results."

And of course eternally overrated Rowan is in the top 25 despite losing to 1-2 CNU and squeaking out a one-point win last week.   You already know where I stand on the Millsaps issue. 

[Pat Coleman]

Rowan is in our Top 25 as well. They're 1-1, it's not like they put Wilkes in the Top 25 or anything. Sheesh.

[Ron Boerger]

Meh, Rowan always gets the benefit of the doubt.   Gets old after a while.