FB: Southern Athletic Association

[Ron Boerger]

Not a lot of regard for the SAA in the D3football.com preseason Top 25, with Berry coming in at 25th (75 points), just four points ahead of the next team, and Hendrix the only other school receiving any votes (10 points).   

Here's hoping the teams can avoid the Delta bug and that we get to see some games in person this year. 

[BSCpanthers]

We play Huntingdon in week 2, and they are currently receiving 3 votes.  So hopefully with an 3-0 start we can get in the top 25 before conference play starts. 

[Ron Boerger]

Whoa ... Southwestern will be leaving the ASC and joining the SAA as an affiliate member in football in 2023.   Better fit here to be sure.

https://saa-sports.com/news/2021/8/19/saa-announces-that-southwestern-university-will-join-the-league-as-an-affiliate-member-in-football.aspx

[albatross]

Definitely a better fit. I know travel costs are a beating but Austin College fits better with the SAA member institutions and they are bolting...

Whoa ... Southwestern will be leaving the ASC and joining the SAA as an affiliate member in football in 2023.   Better fit here to be sure.

https://saa-sports.com/news/2021/8/19/saa-announces-that-southwestern-university-will-join-the-league-as-an-affiliate-member-in-football.aspx

[albatross]

Fun article in The Athletic today on Sewanee's history:

THE ATHLETIC: Journey back to Sewanee, a founding SEC member that has no regrets
(https://theathletic.com/2787563/2021/08/27/journey-back-to-sewanee-a-founding-sec-member-that-has-no-regrets/)

[BSCpanthers]

Shame it's behind a paywall, would have liked to have read the article.

[Ron Boerger]

Shame it's behind a paywall, would have liked to have read the article.

Agreed.  I used to have a subscription until they canned the one writer who covered the San Antonio Spurs.  They canned him, I canned them.

The story probably covers much of the same ground as this New York Times story from 2019.   It too would normally be behind a paywall but they let subscribers share 10 articles per month, so hope this incredibly long URL will work for you. 

[BSCpanthers]

Traveling to out of conference(OOC) games, Sewanee and Berry are currently the two I'm most interested in.  I love Sam Antonio, but that is a long ride for a weekend.  I'm hoping over the next 3 seasons I will get to see all the schools in the SAA, for football anyway. 

[umhb2001]

Whoa ... Southwestern will be leaving the ASC and joining the SAA as an affiliate member in football in 2023.   Better fit here to be sure.

https://saa-sports.com/news/2021/8/19/saa-announces-that-southwestern-university-will-join-the-league-as-an-affiliate-member-in-football.aspx

Tired of getting blasted by Everybody in the league. I've been surprised at their decline the last two years. It works for us though, cuz we need more teams from Texas in alternate leagues who can garner a playoff spot and give HSU and UMHB another team to play in the first round.

[awadelewis]

Yep, The Athletic story pretty much covered the same ground as that NYT article.     

Tho' they missed the fact that the plumbing in the restrooms underneath our home stands pretty much dates back to the same time period. 

Looking forward to the first home game... have missed football.

The story probably covers much of the same ground as this New York Times story from 2019.   It too would normally be behind a paywall but they let subscribers share 10 articles per month, so hope this incredibly long URL will work for you.

[BSCpanthers]

We have officially made it to game week boy and girls!!!!

I have BSC taking game one over LaGrange 31-10.  GO PANTHERS!!!!

[Ron Boerger]

Here are all this week's games - with a couple "when did that get scheduled":

Thursday:   Millsaps at Belhaven

Saturday:

• Augustana at Rhodes
• Hendrix at Austin
• Sewanee at St. Scholastica
• McMurry (not MacMurray) at Trinity
• Maryville (TN) at Berry
• Hanover at Centre
• LaGrange at Birmingham-Southern

Safe practices, travel, and gameplay to all given the delta outbreak.

We should have the SAA preseason poll out this week.

The SAA's policy on fans in the stands is to defer to the hosting institution:  "Spectator policies – including availability, ticketing, seating restrictions, and masking requirements -- will be at the discretion of the host/home institution and publicized clearly and as early as possible on that institution's athletic websites."  Still have not heard if Trinity is allowing visitors to attend; last word was just parents and students, but that was on the parent/supporter Facebook, nothing yet  from an official source.

[albatross]

Pretty decent non-conference teams from decent conferences when Week 1 matchups are taken as a whole. Hanover, Maryville, and St. Scholastica are solid on a program level. McMurry might keep it close from a talent perspective but that is big "might" ...

Here are all this week's games - with a couple "when did that get scheduled":

Thursday:   Millsaps at Belhaven

Saturday:

• Augustana at Rhodes
• Hendrix at Austin
• Sewanee at St. Scholastica
• McMurry (not MacMurray) at Trinity
• Maryville (TN) at Berry
• Hanover at Centre
• LaGrange at Birmingham-Southern

[Ron Boerger]

We don't get Kickoff this year, but we do get 20 Questions from the d3football crew.  Unfortunately I didn't see any SAA content (possible I could have missed it, and if not the SAA's hardly alone) but it's interesting nonetheless.

One of the things I did note is that apparently Keith Macmillan is moving on to other things - Pat says "[w]e will manage to get by without Keith".  I wish Keith continued success at the Washington Post and hope he and his family are doing well.   

[Ron Boerger]

SAA preseason coaches poll is out.  Trinity edges Berry for the top spot despite only receiving  two first-place votes.  The other first-place votes were not provided.

Trinity                              55 pts
Berry                               53
Hendrix                            46
Birmingham-Southern     40
Centre                             39
Millsaps                           22
Sewanee                         19
Rhodes                            15