The Top 10 Eastern Region teams of the D3football.com Era

[rams1102]

pg04,

Great job. To me a great team has to go playoff deep. My top 8 went playoff deep even though (1) did it (4) times. Give them credit they deserve it. I forgot Widner (00) & 01) which should at least have  one or two teams in the top ten.  Your 8-9-10 are good teams but not great teams. I think they would definitely make the top 10 honorable mention.

Happy July 4th To All  !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Actually Widener is a good choice but I thought at that time they were considered part of the South Region.  If this is not the case someone let me know for sure because I will definitely make an addendum and slot them tied with another team that I have put on the list...because they are definitely deserving of at least one slot. 
[/quote

Good point on Widner. I never could understand why the MAC was part of the South. I always thought of them as an East Team.

Maybe Pat should make the call or maybe put them in with an (*)

[Pat Coleman]

The MAC moved to the east in 2005 or so.

[Ralph Turner]

pg04,

Great job. To me a great team has to go playoff deep. My top 8 went playoff deep even though (1) did it (4) times. Give them credit they deserve it. I forgot Widner (00) & 01) which should at least have  one or two teams in the top ten.  Your 8-9-10 are good teams but not great teams. I think they would definitely make the top 10 honorable mention.

Happy July 4th To All  !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Actually Widener is a good choice but I thought at that time they were considered part of the South Region.  If this is not the case someone let me know for sure because I will definitely make an addendum and slot them tied with another team that I have put on the list...because they are definitely deserving of at least one slot. 

In the spirit of good-natured off-season boosterism, I encourage you to include the 2000 Widener team, considering that they had one regular season loss to Western Maryland, only to see Western Maryland defeated 32-10 by #1 South Region seed Hardin-Simmons in the second round of the playoffs.

I have ranked that 2000 Hardin-Simmons team as the #5 team in the South in the "Modern" era.  Widener, the Pool A bid from the MAC in 2000, was the beneficiary of a plethora of Pool B bids (Union and Hobart from the Upstate Collegiate AA and Brockport St) being awarded in the upstate NY region before the consolidation of the conferences moved those  Pool B bids to Pool A.  The "East Bracket" that year included Brockport, Hobart, Union, Springfield (Freedom FC), Widener (MAC), Montclair St (NJAC) and Bridgewater St. (NEFC).

[Reno Hightower]

Id love to see the site do something like this every year. Like a best teams of the last 10 years every year or something like that. using the same format we are in here. Could be done for each of the 4 regions and for the nation.....would make out of season stop bys at the site more frequent I am sure. You could even go one step further and add different categories like they do with the end of the year reviews (and even added a mid year one last year also I believe?).

[Pat Coleman]

Next year, when we've been around for 10 years, I think we might do something along those lines. But I want to stick to the years we have some authority on.

['gro]

Next year, when we've been around for 10 years, I think we might do something along those lines. But I want to stick to the years we have some authority on.

As long as it's not as tacky and pointless as ESPN's "Who's Now?", I'll look forward to it.  You can, however, authorize the use of Stewart Scott's likeness for the project.


_{Can I get a D3 "BOOYA!"}

[JT]

Here's my list:

1. Rowan 2001 (Best chance for Nat title, ruined by refs)

2. Rowan 1999 (Made school realize that requiring OC and DC to teach Monday and Tuesday before a National Championship game is a bad idea, 2000 becomes the 1st year OC and DC are full time coaches)

3. St. John Fisher 2006 (First team to ever dominate Rowan in the East Region playoffs, hung with Mount Union)

4. Rowan 2005 Hung with Mount Union after losing starting QB, AA Defensive End, and starting RB.

5. RPI 2003 Almost didn't get a bid. Hung with National Champs for a half.  Possibly played better than Mount Union did against St. John's

6. Widener 2000 Got waxed by Mount Union 70-30. I know they weren't in the East in 2000, but they are only 15-20 minutes West of Rowan.

7. Rowan 2004 Pasted by Linfield 52-0

8. Brockport 2002 Great defense.  Lack of offense cost them against OAC's John Carroll

9. Ithaca 2003 Epic battle against RPI in a blizzard

10. Del Valley 2005 Late comeback by Rowan keeps Del Valley from semi-final

[lewdogg11]

I better see this team as 'Honorable Mention':...  

This team will easily get lost in the mix as Rowan dominated the 1999 year, but an undefeated regular season followed by a valiant showing in RPI's first ever NCAA playoff game, should most definately warrant, at the very least, an Honorable Mention....(Had we gotten a better draw than to host Rowan in the first round, this could have been a playoff run of our own - Which leads to the NCAA 'conspiracy theory' that Rowan was 'punished' by not being able to host a game, but was seemingly given a first time playoff contender...sounds fishy to me...)

1999 RPI Engineers

Kean W 55-7
Coast Guard W 42-3
@WPI W 42-27
Rochester W 34-6
Union W 16-7 (Also LD11's infamous 21st birthday)
@Hartwick W 48-3
@St. John Fisher W 38-7
@St. Lawrence W 32-7
Hobart W 17-6
Rowan L 29-10

This is the Rowan that ended the 54 game Mount Union Winning streak, only to lose in dissapointing fashion, at the hands of Pacific Lutheran.

Just some food for thought...

[realistic]

Great topic....don't know how I missed this until now.  I will try and get points down without going back and imbedding tons of quotes.

as for '06 SJF v '03 RPI...it may be a slight advantage for SJF but it is pretty damn close.  Going into St Johns and going into MUC is pretty similar...and Collageville in mid-december is something else.  The '02 playoffs Coe v SJU was -2 before the windchill the Saturday after Thanksgiving.  Nasty.

JT - I think the '01 Ithaca team has to be taken over the '03.  1) they won at RPI, 2) They won at MSU (with a backup qb and rb)  3)  They had (prob arguably) a better regular season.  Granted they got hammered by rowan but you have that team as #1 and they were on the road and all kinds of beat up at that point.

Finally - unfortunatly I think JT's list is probably closest with 3 Rowan teams.  I know lists like this tend to try and have very few repeats...but those Rowan team were the best.

[JQV]

Good list JT.

After looking at all the lists I have to say that I think everyone has the '03 Bombers and the '01 Bombers reversed.  The '03 Bombers had a better showing in the Region Final but I still think the '01 team was better for a few reasons.  1) they got smoked by a really good Rowan team, at Rowan.  2) they were playing with their backup QB in the playoffs whose first career start came in the second round.  3) they were deep as hell.  4) they dominated everyone right up until that Rowan monkeystomping.

They don't deserve too much credit because we really don't know what they could have done with the starter still in at QB.  I just think they should be higher than the '03 team.

EDIT: Good post realistic

[lewdogg11]

Here's my list:

1. Rowan 2001 (Best chance for Nat title, ruined by refs)

2. Rowan 1999 (Made school realize that requiring OC and DC to teach Monday and Tuesday before a National Championship game is a bad idea, 2000 becomes the 1st year OC and DC are full time coaches)

3. St. John Fisher 2006 (First team to ever dominate Rowan in the East Region playoffs, hung with Mount Union)

4. Rowan 2005 Hung with Mount Union after losing starting QB, AA Defensive End, and starting RB.

5. RPI 2003 Almost didn't get a bid. Hung with National Champs for a half.  Possibly played better than Mount Union did against St. John's

6. Widener 2000 Got waxed by Mount Union 70-30. I know they weren't in the East in 2000, but they are only 15-20 minutes West of Rowan.

7. Rowan 2004 Pasted by Linfield 52-0

8. Brockport 2002 Great defense.  Lack of offense cost them against OAC's John Carroll

9. Ithaca 2003 Epic battle against RPI in a blizzard

10. Del Valley 2005 Late comeback by Rowan keeps Del Valley from semi-final

I think this list is good, with the exception of 2003 Ithaca...I think 2003 Springfield definately makes the list over Ithaca in 2003.

[realistic]

haha - Jose...spot on.

Lewdogg - I think you are right as well...that Springfield team needs to have a place as well but I still think the '01 Bombers as well as the '03 Pride should be in there.

[Jonny Utah]

JT,

What were the Rowan OC and DC teaching in 1999?  I mean even Coach Welch teaches at IC even now.  I mean he isn't setting up Chem Labs or anything but he is still teaching classes along with the rest of the IC staff I believe.....

['gro]

Springfield '03 should definetly be on this list... they rolled over the regular season competition...

LD is right about the '99 Engineers, they deserve an HM shout. A very cocky Rowan team rolled into troy (players and coaches, yes coaches, doing some jawing on Friday as one team finished practice and the other arrived.) And much like RPI did to Ithaca in '03... Rowan '99 got out to a 14-0 lead and RPI just could make up the difference, falling 29-10.

Then again, the best RPI team I ever saw was 1997, not in the modern era though.

[PBR...]

# 8:  2005 Delaware Valley Aggies

The Basics:

Overall Record:  12-1
End Result: Eliminated by Rowan in Regional Final
Key Regular Season Win:  vs. Wilkes 17-14, vs. Albright 35-34
Key Regular Season Losses: NA
Points For: 34.6
Points Against: 18.2

Key Strength:

A very balanced offensive attack.  2,954 yards of the offense came on the ground for the season, while 3,429 of it came through the air.   That along with a very balanced quarterback came some very successful times in the regular season and deep into the playoffs.

Key Players:

Offense:

Adam Knoblauch, QB: 246-414 for 3307 yards and 29 Touchdowns; 142 rushing attempts for 737 yards and 10 touchdowns
Don Marshall, WR: 59 receptions for 1010 yards  and 9 touchdowns.
Steve Cook, RB: 229 attempts for 1284 yards and 8 touchdowns. 

Defense: 

Justin Porter: 8 sacks, 4 interceptions and 55 tackles.
John Pursell : 108 tackles (50 solo) and 3.5 sacks.

Eventual cause of demise (because let's face it, the Eastern teams always have a demise) :

A 27-21 loss to the Rowan Profs in the 2005 Regional Finals.  The Aggies looked like they were well on their way to an easy victory over Rowan, leading 14-0 at halftime.  However, the dagger would once again fall on the MAC team as the profs would force 3 turnovers on the first 3 Delaware Valley 2nd half possessions, and eventually scoring 27 unanswered points.  Del Val would cut it to a 27-21 lead, and then get deep into Rowan territory, but their comeback attempt would fall short and the Profs were once again off to the National Semifinals, and there was once again disappointment for Del val against Rowan.  This was the second year in a row they had lost to Rowan in the Regional Finals 


Why did they make the list?:

An undefeated regular season run followed by a nice playoff run gets them on this list.  They were able to defeat Curry and Hobart in the playoffs before finally falling to Rowan.  Also, the overall balance of the team, as mentioned above, makes them a good candidate.  This team probably would have been higher had it's regular season wins been a little more impressive, and if they had a harder run to Rowan in the playoffs.  All and all, I believe this team was worthy of this spot.   

Thoughts??? -- It dried up a little with the Springfield pick!

Next up, the #7 team, tomorrow night. 

d@mn you!! pbr had finally put this game to rest somewhere deep in the back of pbr's mind only to have the wound open again. this was one of the most painful games pbr has ever witnessed...  great lists and input done by everyone on here.