The 2008 Year-in-Review thread

[Ron Boerger]

No matter how well they do on Saturday, I think (OK I am a little biased  ) the success of the LaGrange College program this year is good one when reflecting on this year.

In only their third year, they were 0-20 the first two seasons and picked to finish only 4th in the conference. Coach Mooney, his staff, and a solid group of young men who stayed with the program from the beginning have really done a great job. They are now 9-1 conference champions and prepping for the first round of the playoffs.

I hope their story will move other D3 schools in the south and especially Georgia to start football programs.

Jason Bowen has covered the team well in his Around the South columns this season.

LaGrange is one of the great stories to come out of D3 this season.   Win or lose on Saturday, they have already overachieved in every sense of the word.   Congratulations and good luck!

[K-Mack]

Just a reminder to self:

Between the d2 game and the ECAC game, I wonder if there has ever been a day in football where two teams scored 68 - and lost?!

[K-Mack]

Garet Lynch rushed for a record-setting 429 yards and seven touchdowns as Brockport defeated host Hartwick 70-68 in the ECAC Northwest Bowl.

Lynch set a NCAA Division III record for rushing yards in a half, gaining 370 before the break. He also broke the Brockport records for rushing yards in a game, touchdowns in a game and rushing yards in a season with 1,665.

Also:
Franklin beat Otterbein 62-45 in a game that was 0-0 after the first quarter and 14-all at the half.

Griz at one point had over 500 yards of passing and -1 yard rushing.

Logan Deffner caught 5 or Chad Rupp's 7 TD passes.

[Ralph Turner]

I have lifted this post from "headlinesman", an ASC poster, who gives his interpretation of the UMHB-UWW second half kickoff that went backwards!

UMHB recovered the kickoff on its own 24 and was flagged for an illegal touching penalty.

...
What I wanted to address, however, is the opening kickoff of the 2nd half.  We all know the rule that says the ball has to travel 10 yards before a member of the kicking team can legally touch the ball.  The Field Judge (FJ) (the guy with the F on his back) was straddling the 40 yd line, also known as the kicking team's restraining liine.  His main job is to make sure the ball travels 10 yards.  Here's where it gets hinky.  Any restraining line is treated as a line, not as a plane, as the goal line is treated.  A kicked ball, by rule, is deemed not to have crossed a line until it touches the ground, a player, or an official on or beyond that line.  In all the confusion, you miay not have noticed, but the FJ had dropped his bean bag on the UMHB 39, signifying that being the spot where the kick first touched the ground.  Of course, we all know that once the ball hit the ground, it looked like a Tiger Woods wedge shot, and shot back toward the UMHB goal line, so the ball, by rule, never crossed the restraining line, hence it never traveled the required 10 yards, hence when the CRU recovered, it constitited illegal touching, giving Whitewater the ball at the spot of the illegal touching.  If the FJ was right, the call was absolutely correct, inasmuch as the home crowd protested.

Some of the confusion occurred up in our part of the stands when some folks started sayint that the ball actually hit the ground at the 42, not the 39.  If that were the case, then the ball crossed the restraining line, and the Cru should have been allowed to keep the ball.  However, without replay, the only way to know will be to look at the game film much after the fact.
...

[HScoach]

Garet Lynch rushed for a record-setting 429 yards and seven touchdowns as Brockport defeated host Hartwick 70-68 in the ECAC Northwest Bowl.

Lynch set a NCAA Division III record for rushing yards in a half, gaining 370 before the break. He also broke the Brockport records for rushing yards in a game, touchdowns in a game and rushing yards in a season with 1,665.

Also:
Franklin beat Otterbein 62-45 in a game that was 0-0 after the first quarter and 14-all at the half.

Griz at one point had over 500 yards of passing and -1 yard rushing.

Logan Deffner caught 5 or Chad Rupp's 7 TD passes.

Along the vein of starting slow......

Kmic vs. Wheaton:

1st quarter:  7 carries for 8 yards

Rest of game:  22 carries for 302 yards.

[K-Mack]

Was gonna say ... Last call for '08 items!

Glass-ceiling awards:
Wheaton 9-6 playoff record; all six losses to Mount Union, including in this year's semifinals. (Even won the N bracket when MUC's bracket hosted mostly E teams)

UMHB 0-4 vs. UW-W, including in 2007 and 2008 semifinals.

HSU vs. UMHB?

SCIAC vs. NWC in first round?

Things to change next year:
-Come up with a standard for online broadcasts so watchers aren't constantly downloading new programs before the kickoff of each game.

-Get all playoff games online w/ video

-Allow staggered starts (Noon starts are easy-peasy, no discussion needed, but for exposure it would be cool to be able to watch more than one when 16 are going on nearly simultaneously)

-Something about the MUC haters that show up on the board each year ... then morph into decent contributors to the discourse on the site.

[Ralph Turner]

...

-Allow staggered starts (Noon starts are easy-peasy, no discussion needed, but for exposure it would be cool to be able to watch more than one when 16 are going on nearly simultaneously)

That probably needs to go thru the Championship Committee and addressed by legislation.

Good luck! 

[K-Mack]

...

-Allow staggered starts (Noon starts are easy-peasy, no discussion needed, but for exposure it would be cool to be able to watch more than one when 16 are going on nearly simultaneously)

That probably needs to go thru the Championship Committee and addressed by legislation.

Good luck! 

Yeah, I usually just suggest it in writing then take credit for it four or five years later when it actually happens, a la building brackets around No. 1 seeds

[Mr. Ypsi]

...

-Something about the MUC haters that show up on the board each year ... then morph into decent contributors to the discourse on the site.

At least Ralph's only required going to the Championship Committee and creating legislation.  This one would require altering human nature!

[ADL70]

I have lifted this post from "headlinesman", an ASC poster, who gives his interpretation of the UMHB-UWW second half kickoff that went backwards!

UMHB recovered the kickoff on its own 24 and was flagged for an illegal touching penalty.

...
What I wanted to address, however, is the opening kickoff of the 2nd half.  We all know the rule that says the ball has to travel 10 yards before a member of the kicking team can legally touch the ball.  The Field Judge (FJ) (the guy with the F on his back) was straddling the 40 yd line, also known as the kicking team's restraining liine.  His main job is to make sure the ball travels 10 yards.  Here's where it gets hinky.  Any restraining line is treated as a line, not as a plane, as the goal line is treated.  A kicked ball, by rule, is deemed not to have crossed a line until it touches the ground, a player, or an official on or beyond that line.  In all the confusion, you miay not have noticed, but the FJ had dropped his bean bag on the UMHB 39, signifying that being the spot where the kick first touched the ground.  Of course, we all know that once the ball hit the ground, it looked like a Tiger Woods wedge shot, and shot back toward the UMHB goal line, so the ball, by rule, never crossed the restraining line, hence it never traveled the required 10 yards, hence when the CRU recovered, it constitited illegal touching, giving Whitewater the ball at the spot of the illegal touching.  If the FJ was right, the call was absolutely correct, inasmuch as the home crowd protested.

Some of the confusion occurred up in our part of the stands when some folks started sayint that the ball actually hit the ground at the 42, not the 39.  If that were the case, then the ball crossed the restraining line, and the Cru should have been allowed to keep the ball.  However, without replay, the only way to know will be to look at the game film much after the fact.
...

Isn't the sideline another situation where it is a plane not a line, at least as far as a punt is concerned.  I'm not sure the rule for kickoff.  If it lands out of bounds past the goal line, but crossed the plane of the sideline at the one is it a touchback?  Might have time to consult the rule book.

[ADL70]

This from NCAA Football Rules seems to contradict the assertion regarding restraing lines v planes:

Rule 6/1  Touching and Recovery of a Free Kick
ARTICLE 3. a. No Team A player may touch a free-kicked ball until after:
1. It touches a Team B player (Exception: Rules 6-1-4 and 6-5-1-b);
2. It breaks the plane of and remains beyond Team B's restraining line
(Exception: Rule 6-4-1) (A.R. 2-11-2-I);

The language that seems to apply to the UMHB kickoff is "and remains beyond."

[retagent]

My take would be that the sideline is a line not a plane. If you catch the ball with one (or both depending on what league) foot in bounds, it's a catch even if the ball itself is out of bounds.

[ADL70]

But it is a plane for a punt.  The punt is ob where it crosses the plane of the sideline.  I qualified my statement with "as far as a punt."

[PA_wesleyfan]

But it is a plane for a punt.  The punt is ob where it crosses the plane of the sideline.  I qualified my statement with "as far as a punt."

and yet a punted ball is not a touchback until it touches the ground or player

[Ralph Turner]

No disrespect intended, but why didn't you include number three in your rule recitation?  6-1-3-a of the NCAA football rules says that "No Team A player may touch a free kicked ball until after:
1.  It touches a Team B player (with certain exceptions);
2.  It breaks the plane of and remains beyond Team B's restraining line (with certain exceptions), OR,
3.  It touches any player, the ground, an official or anything else beyond Team B's restraining line.
Thereafter, all players of Team A become eligible to touch, recover or catch the kick.
Had it struck the ground at the 42, it would have been the Cru's ball.  period.

Updated from the ASC board... 

Thanks to headlinesman.