FB: Southern Athletic Association

[awadelewis]

I don't think you would find much interest amongst the ODAC schools for changing leagues.   Combination of some long-term rivalries and a very favorable travel situation.     

If you look at schools in the South in other conferences, the only two that would match the academic profile that the SAA presidents think of themselves as having would be Maryville and (maybe) Huntingdon.    I don't see either of those schools leaving the USAC.   And most of the FL schools that have recently added FB have either gone the NAIA or  D-2 routes (and most of them have academic profiles closer to the USAC schools than the SAA schools).

I have to wonder about the amount of ill will floating around between the SAA and SCAC schools over the split.   The fact that the SAA has enough schools in the league to qualify for an automatic bid in the FB playoff puts the SAA in much better bargaining position.   SAA could just make schedules work with the current membership and not do anything.

[Ralph Turner]

For the sake of geography, Huntingdon might see an advantage to moving to the SAA, but I don't think that the mission and vision aspect works as well for them in the SAA as it does in the USAC.

LaGrange is a great Huntingdon rival.

[awadelewis]

I was somewhat leery of including Huntingdon for those very reasons. 

Not much choice, tho', if you want to try to keep the travel for the other sports to a reasonable bus ride and you can't convince some schools to switch out of the ODAC (which I think is not very realistic).

[Ralph Turner]

I was somewhat leery of including Huntingdon for those very reasons. 

Not much choice, tho', if you want to try to keep the travel for the other sports to a reasonable bus ride and you can't convince some schools to switch out of the ODAC (which I think is not very realistic).

You gotta admire the ODAC for what they are, and what they accomplish.

They embody the finest ideals of D3 sports.

There is absolutely no reason for any ODAC member to leave the ODAC.

[Ron Boerger]

Austin American-Statesman story on Rhodes' WR Nick Parinella, who overcame Hodgkin's lymphoma prior to returning to the field last season:

http://www.mystatesman.com/news/sports/football/parinella-returns-to-football-after-fighting-off-c/nnCq8/

[Pat Coleman]

I wanted to take a moment here as we go into our final crunch time on Kickoff 2015 to thank SAA fans for their support of Kickoff 2015. You guys are among the top five conferences supporting the site and our ongoing coverage of Division III football very nicely so far this season and Keith and Ryan Tipps and I really appreciate it. If you haven't subscribed yet, earlier is always better than later!

http://www.d3football.com/notables/2015/08/time-to-get-kickoff-2015

Publication set for noon ET/11 CT on Tuesday.

[Ron Boerger]

Centre makes ESPN!

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=13510691

[SaintsFAN]

Centre makes ESPN!

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=13510691

Thats pretty funny

[awadelewis]

Sewanee holds off Kenyon 31-21.  Looked like a typical game for us: strong start early, other guy gets back into it, and we have to win it in 2H.      Next week off we go to Lexington to play W&L, who put 63 on Averett today with a final score of 63-35.

Other scores: Centre also puts up 63 on Hanover, 63-7;   Maryville puts up 30 in the first half to beat Berry 43-17.   Rhodes blows out Southern Virginia 65-10.

Looks like the entertaining game of day is Hendrix at Austin with AC leading 52-41 with just over 3 minutes left in the game.

And not to forget that Millsaps beat Belhaven earlier in the week.

[jknezek]

W&L looked much different than when we met on the mountain last year. Hoping they keep that trend going into next week. Glad you guys are going to Lex but I sure like the years I can drive up to Sewanee to watch them play.

[awadelewis]

Looks like it's going to be another year's worth of weak secondary play on our part given what I saw in the webcast of yesterday's game.   I think Sewanee's defense will stay true to form and struggle against anybody with a decent passing game.  Offense consistent with what you saw last year with some good numbers for our #2 QB who played a good part of the 2nd half.

I don't have a good feel for the rest of the league after week 1... too many blow-outs to make any call about how some teams will do for the rest of the season.    Anybody got thoughts on what happened yesterday with Centre, Rhodes, and Hendrix?

[umhb2001]

Any Millsaps fans making the trip to Belton this week to see the game?

[jknezek]

Any Millsaps fans making the trip to Belton this week to see the game?

I don't remember ever seeing a Milsaps fan here. Really it's a lonely board this one.

[Ron Boerger]

Any Millsaps fans making the trip to Belton this week to see the game?

I don't remember ever seeing a Milsaps fan here. Really it's a lonely board this one.

Back in the DuBose heydey (SCAC days) there were quite a few.

Nationally successful teams tend to draw more participation.  The number of Trinity posters is way down with their struggles of recent years. and one of our most faithful supporters unfortunately passed away a couple of years ago.  TLU didn't have much of a presence until they left the ASC and started doing better among lesser competition.   I also think that the improvements to school websites, webcasting, and the like have made the need to join together on boards like this much less.  You can watch an increasing number of teams for free (does anyone in the SAA besides Rhodes charge for video?) and the quality is getting better.

[jknezek]

W&L's game notes for the upcoming Sewanee contest.

http://generalssports.com/sports/fball/2015-16/releases/Sewanee_Notes