Running up the score

[Josh Bowerman]

However, you can use the "in-region" rule to your advantage.

MUC vs SJF is not an in-region game.

MUC vs SJU is not an in-region game.

MUC vs UWW is not an in-region game. Nor are

MUC vs HSU
MUC vs Linfield
MUC vs Rowan
MUC vs UMHB
MUC vs Wartburg or Central IA.

Thanks for illustrating my point better than I seem to have been able to do, Ralph.   

[smedindy]

But is there not a limit on how far Mt. Union can travel for a game - by their rules (or the OAC's)? Averett was about 460 miles away. SJF will be a bit short of 300.

Rowan is closer than Averett - Whitewater is almost 500 miles away. But farther than that and a bus ride isn't going to be very practical.

[Josh Bowerman]

I wouldn't claim to know the answer to that question, smedindy. 

If it's their rule, then that just illustrates my point.  I have no knowledge of a conference ever imposing that kind of rule on its teams, but it's something that is certainly plausible.

Because of a personal connection that I won't get into here, I do have a pretty good idea about how enthusiastically the administrative leadership of MUC supports its football team.  Because of that, I find it hard to believe that they couldn't work something out (institutionally speaking) fairly easily to send the football team basically wherever they wanted to go, whenever they wanted to go there.

Where I come from, though, everybody that thinks they're anybody wants a shot at the champ, every year.  Evidently, that's different in other parts of the country, though...

[wally_wabash]

Where I come from, though, everybody that thinks they're anybody wants a shot at the champ, every year.  Evidently, that's different in other parts of the country, though...

I want my shot at the champ too...I just want to make sure that the reward for beating the champ is substantial.  You don't win squat for beating MUC in September. 

[smedindy]

Well, yes, MUC should support their team. But do they take a trip to Linfield and waste resources that are needed for the other 20 sports at Mt. Union, or the other activities? Even at Mt. Union, the well is not bottomless. And even if the administration supports the team - it may be tough to change the rules of the college, since the Trustees would have to approve that no doubt.

The financial support for MUC isn't as great as you would think. According to their site, they get about $1 million in annual fund donations, and their endowment is $121 million.

[Warren Thompson]

Where I come from, though, everybody that thinks they're anybody wants a shot at the champ, every year.  Evidently, that's different in other parts of the country, though...

You don't win squat for beating MUC in September. 

Really? I would think a team that beats Mt. Union in any month does, in fact, win a good deal of "squat" and likely a helluva lot more than that .... 

[gordonmann]

For what it's worth, I've heard lots of reasons that coaches can't fill their schedules.  Some of them are not particular to Mount Union or isolated regions.  Those reasons include...

1) "Everyone around us has lots of conference games": the MAC runs into that next year when the NJAC expands (a role reversal from when the MAC had 10 teams and the NJAC needed games). It's a different sport, but this was one of the factors that pushed Lincoln (Pa.) to go Division II in basketball.

2) "We have trouble filling our schedule because we're an independent": This is one reason teams will drive long distances to part of illogical conference alignments.

3) "No one wants to play us because we're too good": One coach of a new program jokingly told me the opposite.  "Everyone wants to play us to be their homecoming queen."

4) "We can't afford to travel that far": One team had an intriguing offer to play a game half way across the country, but the school doesn't have the funds to make the trip.  "That would blow our whole budget for one game," he lamented.

5) "We can't find enough opponents who are 'like minded institutions'": No one has explicitly said the words "like minded institutions" to me, but there have certainly been implications that some schools are not interested in playing others because they view their institutions' approach to athletics as inherently different.  The corollary theory is...

6) "They won't play us because we're a public school"

7) "We can't find games because no one wants to travel here": The implied completion of the sentence is "...and we're not going drive to Wassamatta U if they're not returning the favor next year."  Can't say I fault those coaches.

8 ) "We just can't make the schedules work":  This may be the case where coaches are trying to avoid having a game on a particular week.  One coach told me he couldn't schedule games for Week 1 because of quirks in the institution's academic schedule.  Tough to fault them for putting the schoolwork first.

No. 7 can also combine with No. 3 to limit opening week opportunities.  Another coach who had a bye in Week 1 told me he couldn't fill that week because it would mean bringing players back to campus a week early and they couldn't afford to pay for the players' accommodations.  This was a coach who was easily within driving distance of lots of schools...but his budget wasn't.


The point is, putting together a schedule is hard for lots of reasons.  And those reasons aren't always evident from a comparison of open dates or looking at Mapquest.

[ADL70]

"...and we're not going drive to Wassamatta U

Yea, noone wants to go to Frostbite Falls.  Tip of the hat to Jay Ward.  Although FWIW Wikipedia spells it Wossamotta U

[frank uible]

One can't expect two Russians, a squirrel and a moose to be very particular about the spelling of the name of a prestigious American university.

[gordonmann]

Ha.  Thanks, CWRU70.

"Now we NEVER catch Moose and Squirrel!"

[Pat Coleman]

One can't expect two Russians, a squirrel and a moose to be very particular about the spelling of the name of a prestigious American university.

+1 for frank, whether he wants it or not.

[frank uible]

I need all the help I can get.

[Ron Boerger]

One can't expect two Russians, a squirrel and a moose to be very particular about the spelling of the name of a prestigious American university.

But Mr. Know-It-All would be!  He'd get it wrong, but would still be concerned ...

[ADL70]

As I recall Boris and Natasha were Pottsylvanians, although clearly modeled after Russians (Soviets).

[frank uible]

I confess guilt for failing to take the word play to its ultimate.