FB: Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference

[Ralph Turner]

Ditto on the announcers from WGRE!

Why shucks!  Those guys are so good, I m' gonna give DPU3619 a Karma!   

Trinity's posting absence/restraint -- Measured wisdom.

I am looking forward to Millsaps at UMHB in the first round of the playoffs. 

[DPU3619]

Well gee, Ralph.  I sure appreciate it, but all I did was be the halftime interview guest.  lol.  

[KentATM]

hey im new here.  glad to see there are actually places to discuss DIII teams.

I was wondering what you guys think of Austin College this year.  They really seem to have improved over years past (at least the ones I've witnessed).  They are 2-3 now but it seems to me that they can win the next three and be 5-3 going into DePauw and Trinity.   Could my Roos actually have a winning season this year? 

[Ralph Turner]

Hey I'm new here.  Glad to see there are actually places to discuss DIII teams.

I was wondering what you guys think of Austin College this year.  They really seem to have improved over years past (at least the ones I've witnessed).  They are 2-3 now but it seems to me that they can win the next three and be 5-3 going into DePauw and Trinity.   Could my Roos actually have a winning season this year? 

Welcome aboard. 

I think that the Roos are another 2 years away from getting into the top echelon of the SCAC.

They are the same hard-working guys, but they can use some depth and experience.  I think that winning the next three and going 3-2 for the rest of the season means that they did not lose any games that they should not have lost, and the Roos will look at the Centre and McMurry games as reasons to work harder in the off-season.

[KentATM]

yes, there is certainly lots to work on (like getting a passing game that teams must at least respect).  McMurry and Centre were both winable and if they had taken better care of the ball, they probably would have pulled them off.  Even  against Millsaps they played very tough and were in it late but again, the turnovers killed any chance they had.

[Gray Fox]

hey im new here.  glad to see there are actually places to discuss DIII teams.

I was wondering what you guys think of Austin College this year.  They really seem to have improved over years past (at least the ones I've witnessed).  They are 2-3 now but it seems to me that they can win the next three and be 5-3 going into DePauw and Trinity.   Could my Roos actually have a winning season this year? 

I was at the game yesterday.  I wish I would have met you.

I see them about once a year.  They are improving.  They had some good line play, punting, intensity, and a tough running back.  I wish them luck on their improvement.

+k for joining us.  Their are a couple of pick em  boards you may want to join.

[Ralph Turner]

Big C, since this is only the 5th weekend of the season, I am still trying to figure the "Texas Subbracket".

Millsaps needs to win the SCAC.  Trinity might get a Pool C bid if they only lose to Millsaps.  Then Trinity goes up the interstate to Belton and Millsaps plays someone in the first round.  A 6-4 Austin College is more evidence that the move to the SCAC is what AC needed.

[KentATM]

heck, I'm just happy they are actually competitive now.  even if they only get to 5-5 that would be the best record they have had since I've been here.

of course you cant take any games for granted, they could lose the rest too.  They just have to keep plugging away, run their offense and take care of that ball.

[DPU3619]

One question / minor critique --- Has the stadium turf always been in poor condition? What is up with the field?? ---

Yes.  Some years worse than others.  This year seems to be particularly poor.  You may recall this post of mine:

Thoughts on next Saturday?

What's the weather forecast for Greencastle, Indiana???

Better than the forecast for the field conditions. 

And letting it grow and watering won't help.  It's just bad.  It looked to me like it was a bit of an advantage for DePauw early.  The Millsaps skill players were slipping all over the place in the first quarter.

I think it's pretty sad that a school with the kind of money to rebuild every building on campus can't put down for a decent playing surface for the football team.  Really unfortunate.

[Ron Boerger]

heck, I'm just happy they are actually competitive now.  even if they only get to 5-5 that would be the best record they have had since I've been here.

of course you cant take any games for granted, they could lose the rest too.  They just have to keep plugging away, run their offense and take care of that ball.

I was at the game and was very impressed at the comeback yesterday.  Coach Gage made some good adjustments on both sides of the ball and Colorado just couldn't deal with them until it was too late.  It would have been easy to give up down 23-7 but the 'Roos kept their heads in the game and it paid off.   

[Carl Menist]

One question / minor critique --- Has the stadium turf always been in poor condition? What is up with the field?? ---

Yes.  Some years worse than others.  This year seems to be particularly poor.  You may recall this post of mine:

Thoughts on next Saturday?

What's the weather forecast for Greencastle, Indiana???

Better than the forecast for the field conditions. 

And letting it grow and watering won't help.  It's just bad.  It looked to me like it was a bit of an advantage for DePauw early.  The Millsaps skill players were slipping all over the place in the first quarter.

I think it's pretty sad that a school with the kind of money to rebuild every building on campus can't put down for a decent playing surface for the football team.  Really unfortunate.

The facilities are awesome --- The indoor track facility is nicer than LSU's (as in Louisiana State University) --- I can see strategically allowing the field to play more to the hnd of the team that prefers to hammer it up the middle --- nothing wrong with that --- Remember when the Celtics turned the heat on in the old Boston Garden in one of the last finals against the Lakers when Kareem was near or right at the end of his career.
Conditions can be to ones advantage or disadvantage

Again --- very impressed with the entire program / commitment at Depauw. very fine tradition and a credit to the SCAC.

[Ron Boerger]

Trinity is up to 12th in the latest D3football.com Top 25.  Millsaps received 5 votes. 

[DPU3619]

I can see strategically allowing the field to play more to the hnd of the team that prefers to hammer it up the middle

I'm not sure it does play more to DePauw, though. 

If it's all torn up and crappy in between the hashes and nice outside the numbers, wouldn't one think that favors the team that's attempting to throw it all over the joint? 

[frank_ezelle]

Trinity is up to 12th in the latest D3football.com Top 25.  Millsaps received 5 votes. 

As a Millsaps fan, you have to love this (yes, I'm being serious).  In week 4 Millsaps only trailed Trinity by 280 points (282 points to 2).  Thanks to the road victory at DePauw, Millsaps only slipped 30 additional points behind Trinity (315 points to 5) in week 5.  Since the polls don't matter at all in the SCAC Championship or the NCAA Playoffs, it seems to me that the thing that helps the Millsaps team the most with the polls is to continue to see Trinity ranked so high while Millsaps remains virtually unranked.   

[Ralph Turner]

Frank, I hope that the Millsaps fans will look at the polls and the tendency of poll voters to look at the long term evidence over numerous polls.  There is very little justification as of Week #5 to vote for a second SCAC team.

(I wish that we had a comparable flying-under-the-radar poll...

"Who is the best team that is breaking all of the conventional rules?")

Ask yourself two historical questions...

1) How often is there really a second strong team from the "one-trick-pony" SCAC?

2) Under the current pool system (since 1999), how many playoff games has someone from the SCAC other than Trinity won?

Concerning this week's poll, either Millsaps picked up 5 one-point votes, or the two voters from week #4 moved them from 25th to 24th/23rd.

The hard thing to comprehend is how hard it is to break into the Top 25 out of 238 teams.  On a comparable level for D-1 FBS, Millsaps is in the high teens of the Top 25.

The national voters are looking to see if Millsaps can win a playoff game (to be one of the last 16 teams playing in the tourney) and beat Trinity as a measure of a consistently ranked (low-teens/high Top10) program.