2015 D3 Season: NATIONAL PERSPECTIVE

[TennesseeJed]

That Thomas coach should be slammed for beating Green Mountain 15-1. Someone should remind him that this is not D1 Football where your winning score helps your ranking. If ever there was anything to necessitate more meetings for a D4, Green Mountain is it.

107 GA vs 6 GF in 11 games @ Green Mountain!!!  Maybe the GMC should take the program to club or something, yikes, , If I was the coach there, I would not want to see my kids getting beaten up every week like this, what is the purpose?

It is demoralizing for players IMO.  Not sure I know what the right answer is, but feel for the teams that are having to deal w/ strings of 1 or 0 vs. 5+ scores every game...awful way to participate, given all the work that these players have to put in during a season...

[PaulNewman]

Colorado and Trinity heading to OT.  0-0.  Oshkosh beats SSU 2-1.

[PaulNewman]

Trinity wins with a good play and good goal in 2nd OT.  Very well played game.  Both teams played good possession and game was very open and up and down despite lack of scoring.  Count Trinity as right there with Messiah in terms of offering very good video production, with good video, pretty good commentary, an interview with Coach McGinlay at halftime, etc.  Trinity had the school advertisements at the half, before OT and between OT periods, and now I want to send a grandkid to Trinity (TX).  Well done.  Colorado College and Trinity now tied in the SCIAC.

[PaulNewman]

Rutgers-Camden in deep trouble.  Down 2-0 to Randolph pretty early on in 2nd half.

Now 3-0.

[PaulNewman]

Camden outshot Randolph 28 to 18 but loses 3-0.

[PaulNewman]

NCAC NE Top 25 (thru 10/11)

1) Amherst
2) F&M
3) Brandeis
4) Montclair St
5) Whitworth
6) Calvin
7) UW-Oshkosh
8) Thomas More
9) Christopher Newport
10) UW-Whitewater
11) Kenyon
12) Haverford
13) Plattsburgh
14) Trinity (TX)
15) Tufts
16) Loras
17) Oneonta St
18) Messiah
19) OWU
20) Eastern
21) E'town
22) Colorado College
23) Skidmore
24) DePauw
25) MIT

RV (not in order) -- Middlebury, Conn College, Macalester, Case Western, Carnegie Mellon, Emory, Oglethorpe, Kean, Lycoming, St Johns, ECSU, Dominican, St Scholastica, Wash U, Rochester, W&L, Randolph, PS-Behrend, Endicott, Drew, Redlands, Chicago, Johns Hopkins, UMass-Boston, Salisbury, Denison, RPI, SLU, Brockport, Buffalo St, Hobart, Vassar, Rowan, Texas-Dallas, Stevens, Gordon

Teams not-RV but don't forget about me -- Wheaton (Ill), North Park, Wesleyan, Williams, Occidental, Ohio Northern, Babson, WPI, Wheaton (MA), Roanoke, Lynchburg, Dickinson, KZoo, Wabash, Rutgers-Camden, Rutgers-Newark, Dubuque, Pacific Lutheran, Puget Sound, Union

[blooter442]

It is demoralizing for players IMO.  Not sure I know what the right answer is, but feel for the teams that are having to deal w/ strings of 1 or 0 vs. 5+ scores every game...awful way to participate, given all the work that these players have to put in during a season...

Add to that list Wheelock College, who, according to its site, has not won a game in program history (program has been around since 2009.)

I agree, TennesseeJed, in that I have no solution but I genuinely feel for these kids and coaches. I would hate to think someone has said that "maybe these guys just aren't good enough to play at varsity level?", but at the same time I am a big believer of overcoming adversity and working hard to achieving a goal. Would make that first victory all the more sweet, but it's tough to see it coming when they're getting blown out 5-0, 6-0.

Second point: Programs that lose consistently are obviously in a bad place, but there's no need to completely blow them out 12-0. I realize I might sound like a high school parent, and I understand that collegiate athletics are non-compulsory, but age doesn't change my underlying message - going and blowing out an unsuccessful program 10+ to 0 is useless and classless in my book. Maybe I'm too much of an idealist, but while it pads your stats it ultimately has no more effect on the result than, say a 5-0 win. At that point, I personally would institute some kind of mitigating rule (10+ passes before a shot, shots from outside the box only, etc.) I'm not saying there has to be a specific "enough is enough" point, but just some decency would be great. It wouldn't make losing programs winning programs, but it would keep those kids from having their confidence suffer a complete beat-down every single time out.

[Wisco21]

NCAC, I'm flattered you think Oshkosh is deserving of the #7 spot on your list. Can I inquire as to why they make such a leap seeing as they are currently unranked?

[PaulNewman]

NCAC, I'm flattered you think Oshkosh is deserving of the #7 spot on your list. Can I inquire as to why they make such a leap seeing as they are currently unranked?

Sure, I wasn't looking to see if they are unranked before doing my ranking.  I formulated my ranking independently of the others, so it's not a projection of what I think will happen with the real rankings.  I don't know much at all about Oshkosh, but my sense is that the UWs tend to be overlooked and/or underrated.  I looked at their record and saw they are 11-1-2 with the only loss 2-1 opening day to Loras.  Some cupcakes on the schedule for sure (which most ranked teams have) but also some very solid wins.  I also have a sense that both Oshkosh and Whitewater are tough teams to beat and would represent themselves well in NCAA play.  Conversely, you can blame the high ranking on the whiskey if you prefer  .

[dontshootthegoose]

I appreciate the Wisconsin loving New England! I too, think that Oshkosh should be ranked, but UWW has the crown as of right now. Realistically UWW will be somewhere in the top 10 and I think Oshkosh will be mid to high teens. I think this could be a year where both teams can make a case for the NCAA tournament, one with the pool B and the other with an at-large bid.

UWW 12-2   Key wins: MSOE, St. Olaf, Carthage, Loras.     They do have one red flag in a loss to Concordia Wisconsin at home. Other loss came on the road at North Park.

UWO 10-1-2  Key wins: MSOE, North Park, St. Scholastica    Only red flag is a tie at Willamette. Only loss was first game of the season at home to Loras, and the other tie was at Wheaton (which could carry more value than a win against a weak opponent)

Should point to mention that MSOE has dropped 2 in conference games, which could potentially keep them out of the "central regional rankings". North Park will more than likely jump in the central regional rankings at one time. Olaf and Carthage both have an outside chance to jump in the regional rankings when those come out, but I would think that those odds are rather slim.

So with that all being said,
UWW has 1 for sure regional win in Loras. Most likely 2 with MSOE, eventually.
Oshkosh has 1 in St. Scholastica, and more than likely North Park and the option with MSOE.

These teams will face October 24th up at Oshkosh. Obviously as we see, whoever wins would get not not only the regional win, but the head-to-head win.  With all that being said, I think both teams are in a good position.

[PaulNewman]

I transposed the two UWs mainly because Whitewater had the more recent loss, but obviously there is little difference between #7 and #10.  Let's compare them to Kenyon who just a week was #1.  Both UWs have more strong wins, as Kenyon only has a home win over a perhaps-not-so-great Carnegie Mellon and a decent road win over pretty average Centre.

Part of my algorithm is also a "how comfortable would you feel playing them?" factor.  That's why I have Tufts, Loras, Messiah, OWU, etc higher than we may see in the regular polls, and if that was the only factor, I'd have them even higher.  I may have a team like Thomas More a little high, but there has to be a merit factor as well, as TMC has played a very credible schedule and mostly come out quite favorably.

On a side topic, perhaps a few teams get a bit of a bump for name recognition, but there's also a reason why they have name recognition.  I'd rather play some of the ranked teams than Wheaton (Ill), soon to be be unranked SLU, etc.

[D3soccerwatcher]

Current top 5 results of D3Soccer.com poll, with over 450 votes cast...

At the midpoint of the regular season, which men's conference has been the best (strongest, deepest, etc.) this year ?

Centennial (F&M, Haverford, Gettysburg, Dickinson, etc.) (82) - 18%

NCAC (Kenyon, Ohio Wesleyan, Denison, DePauw, etc.) (74) - 16%

NJAC (Montclair St., Rutgers-Camden, Kean, Rowan, etc.) (68) - 14%

UAA (Brandeis, Carnegie Mellon, Case Western, Washington U., etc.) (61) - 13%

NESCAC (Amherst, Tufts, Middlebury, Connecticut, etc.) (53) - 11%

[Mid-Atlantic Fan]

Current top 5 results of D3Soccer.com poll, with over 450 votes cast...

At the midpoint of the regular season, which men's conference has been the best (strongest, deepest, etc.) this year ?

Centennial (F&M, Haverford, Gettysburg, Dickinson, etc.) (82) - 18%

NCAC (Kenyon, Ohio Wesleyan, Denison, DePauw, etc.) (74) - 16%

NJAC (Montclair St., Rutgers-Camden, Kean, Rowan, etc.) (68) - 14%

UAA (Brandeis, Carnegie Mellon, Case Western, Washington U., etc.) (61) - 13%

NESCAC (Amherst, Tufts, Middlebury, Connecticut, etc.) (53) - 11%

I'd go UAA, NCAC, Cen, NESCAC, NJAC

[Mid-Atlantic Fan]

NCAC NE Top 25 (thru 10/11)

1) Amherst
2) F&M
3) Brandeis
4) Montclair St
5) Whitworth
6) Calvin
7) UW-Oshkosh
8) Thomas More
9) Christopher Newport
10) UW-Whitewater
11) Kenyon
12) Haverford
13) Plattsburgh
14) Trinity (TX)
15) Tufts
16) Loras
17) Oneonta St
18) Messiah
19) OWU
20) Eastern
21) E'town
22) Colorado College
23) Skidmore
24) DePauw
25) MIT

RV (not in order) -- Middlebury, Conn College, Macalester, Case Western, Carnegie Mellon, Emory, Oglethorpe, Kean, Lycoming, St Johns, ECSU, Dominican, St Scholastica, Wash U, Rochester, W&L, Randolph, PS-Behrend, Endicott, Drew, Redlands, Chicago, Johns Hopkins, UMass-Boston, Salisbury, Denison, RPI, SLU, Brockport, Buffalo St, Hobart, Vassar, Rowan, Texas-Dallas, Stevens, Gordon

Teams not-RV but don't forget about me -- Wheaton (Ill), North Park, Wesleyan, Williams, Occidental, Ohio Northern, Babson, WPI, Wheaton (MA), Roanoke, Lynchburg, Dickinson, KZoo, Wabash, Rutgers-Camden, Rutgers-Newark, Dubuque, Pacific Lutheran, Puget Sound, Union

I like it. Don't know if I would have Haverford that high but definitely top 20 in my book. 12 is just a hair too high I think. Also, I don't think Messiah should be top 25 at the moment. Maybe switch Eastern and Haverford's spots and take out Messiah and put Case Western in and then it's spot on!  Well done though.

[TheSwayzeTrain]

Anyone know, or know where to find out how websites like Hero and Massey rank the teams the way they do? Which of these (I'm sure there is more) are the most reliable?

Who sneaks on the new rankings coming out tomorrow? Seems like a good number of teams toward the bottom of the top 25 have dropped games over the last week. Should see some new faces.