Playoffs -- 2015

[Mr. Ypsi]

Another option, but be careful not to overly discourage teams from having challenging OOC games.  NCC (just for one example) has already been burned twice in the last four years for overly ambitious scheduling.  I'd like to find a way that encourages scheduling games like NCC/Wesley and NCC/UWP, not potentially making them the 'kiss of death' if you don't win the AQ.  (SOS is supposed to do that, but it is clearly inadequate to the task, besides being a seriously flawed stat in it's own right.)

"Results against regionally ranked teams" takes care of NCC.  The North RAC and national committee could have put NCC in front of Ohio Northern using that criteria, but they clearly didn't think as much of Platteville as we did.  Maybe if NCC had played Oshkosh or St. Thomas, the extra loss wouldn't have hurt as much.

At 7-3, they were clearly dead in the water regardless of other criteria.

[wabndy]

Another option, but be careful not to overly discourage teams from having challenging OOC games.  NCC (just for one example) has already been burned twice in the last four years for overly ambitious scheduling.  I'd like to find a way that encourages scheduling games like NCC/Wesley and NCC/UWP, not potentially making them the 'kiss of death' if you don't win the AQ.

I still don't get what the beef some folks have against who gets in the tournament.  Yes - the WIAC is awesome - whatever.  Bottom line is that if you want a Pool C bid, you kind of have to be able to beat the third best team in a conference - any conference.  Filling out a d3 non conference schedule isn't as easy as picking your opponent out of a catalog and there is only so much creative scheduling one can do to achieve that mythic "credible-but-not-too-tough" schedule.  Besides, we also need to acknowledge that lots of cross-country games like NCC/Wesley- while cool for us - just don't make much sense at this level.  It just costs way too much and for most schools it is an unaffordable luxury.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Another option, but be careful not to overly discourage teams from having challenging OOC games.  NCC (just for one example) has already been burned twice in the last four years for overly ambitious scheduling.  I'd like to find a way that encourages scheduling games like NCC/Wesley and NCC/UWP, not potentially making them the 'kiss of death' if you don't win the AQ.

I still don't get what the beef some folks have against who gets in the tournament.  Yes - the WIAC is awesome - whatever.  Bottom line is that if you want a Pool C bid, you kind of have to be able to beat the third best team in a conference - any conference.  Filling out a d3 non conference schedule isn't as easy as picking your opponent out of a catalog and there is only so much creative scheduling one can do to achieve that mythic "credible-but-not-too-tough" schedule.  Besides, we also need to acknowledge that lots of cross-country games like NCC/Wesley- while cool for us - just don't make much sense at this level.  It just costs way too much and for most schools it is an unaffordable luxury.

Agreed, and NCC did not deserve a C this year.  But if they had chosen to beat a Podunk instead of the loss to UWP, and thus been 8-2 (losses only narrowly to Wheaton and Wesley), what would have happened?

My goal (thus far unrealized) is to come up with a system that rewards teams for scheduling tough opponents.  Despite SOS and results vs. RROs, my sense is that the current system penalizes aggressive scheduling unless you are absolutely 'purple-power' quality.

[smedindy]

As we know, scheduling Podunk or the anti-Podunk in a given year is a tough challenge. Last year W&L was 2-8. This year they ran the table until the playoffs. How you gonna schedule for that?

In 2012, Olivet went o-fer. This year 9-1.

There are few certainties. Heck, even Hiram has put together back to back 5-5 and 4-6 after going 15-145 from 1999 to 2013.

[Ralph Turner]

If NCC had beaten UWP, Wesley and Wheaton,

UWP would not be in the discussion.
Wesley would have been a 2-loss Pool C bubble team.
Wheaton would have been in the Pool C discussion.

And, NCC would be in the discussion for a #1 seed in the Bracket.

[retagent]

And if my aunt had testicles, she's be my uncle.

[SaintsFAN]

If NCC had beaten UWP, Wesley and Wheaton,

UWP would not be in the discussion.
Wesley would have been a 2-loss Pool C bubble team.
Wheaton would have been in the Pool C discussion.

And, NCC would be in the discussion for a #1 seed in the Bracket.

And Hopkins STILL would've lost to Wesley.  They can't get over that hump with the Wolverines.

[D3MAFAN]

And if my aunt had testicles, she's be my uncle.

That can happen, you know?

[Ralph Turner]

Bracket challenge is now 2 weeks into the playoffs. I recognize Wabndy, but the real quesiton is how many have picked which of the 8 teams to win it all?

[Craft_Beermeister]

Some interesting stats for DIII playoffs recently posted on Twitter by  Jeffrey Zupanic @JeffZupReview

Total defense ranks of 8 teams: UMU (1), Linfield (2), UST (3), Wabash (5), UWO (16), UMHB (22), UWW (29), Wesley (67)

Total offense ranks of 8 teams: Wesley (1), UMU (2), UST (4), UWO (12), Linfield (19), UMHB (22), Wabash (34), UWW (42)

Combined O+D ranks of 8 teams: UMU (3), UST (7), Linfield (21), UWO (28), Wabash (39), UMHB (44), Wesley (68), UWW (71)

[crufootball]

These are pretty similar rankings but I think it shows even more than yardage that these teams know that it is all about the points on the board.

Scoring Offense ranks of 8 teams: UMU (T-1), UST (T-1), Linfield (3), UMHB (4), Wesley (6), UWO (13), Wabash (19), UWW (20)

Scoring Defensive ranks of 8 teams: UMU (1), Linfield (2), UST (T-3). UWO (T-3), Wabash (5), UWW (8), UMHB (22), Wesley (55)

Combined O +D ranks of 8 teams: UMU (2), UST (4), Linfield (5), UW0 (16), Wabash (24), UMHB (26), UWW (28), Wesley (61)

[ExTartanPlayer]

Quarterfinalists represent a rather impressive gathering of Division III's blue-blood programs over the last decade.

St. Thomas
Wabash
Linfield
UMHB
Mount Union
Wesley
UW-Oshkosh
UW-Whitewater

A few fun stats:

- this list includes all 20 Stagg Bowl participants from 2005-2014 (Mount every year, UWW nine times, and 2012 St. Thomas)
- this list includes 34 of the 40 semifinalists from 2005-2014 [except for North Central (2013), Bethel (2010 & 2007), Wheaton (2008), St. John Fisher (2006), Rowan (2005) - I think]
- 7 of the 8 programs (Mount, UWW, St. Thomas, UWO, Wesley, Linfield, and UMHB) have been to the semifinals at least once within the last three seasons

Put another way, Wabash - a program that's been to the playoffs seven of the last 11 seasons, with two quarterfinal appearances and losses to both UWW and Mount along the way - can be viewed as the least accomplished of the eight "programs" remaining.  Truly, this is a gathering of the high priests of Division III football.  It should be fun.

[Toby Taff]

Quarterfinalists represent a rather impressive gathering of Division III's blue-blood programs over the last decade.

St. Thomas
Wabash
Linfield
UMHB
Mount Union
Wesley
UW-Oshkosh
UW-Whitewater

A few fun stats:

- this list includes all 20 Stagg Bowl participants from 2005-2014 (Mount every year, UWW nine times, and 2012 St. Thomas)
- this list includes 34 of the 40 semifinalists from 2005-2014 [except for North Central (2013), Bethel (2010 & 2007), Wheaton (2008), St. John Fisher (2006), Rowan (2005) - I think]
- 7 of the 8 programs (Mount, UWW, St. Thomas, UWO, Wesley, Linfield, and UMHB) have been to the semifinals at least once within the last three seasons

Put another way, Wabash - a program that's been to the playoffs seven of the last 11 seasons, with two quarterfinal appearances and losses to both UWW and Mount along the way - can be viewed as the least accomplished of the eight "programs" remaining.  Truly, this is a gathering of the high priests of Division III football.  It should be fun.

but the best thing about it is that even if a committee could have picked it it was decide on the field.

[wally_wabash]

Quarterfinalists represent a rather impressive gathering of Division III's blue-blood programs over the last decade.

St. Thomas
Wabash
Linfield
UMHB
Mount Union
Wesley
UW-Oshkosh
UW-Whitewater

A few fun stats:

- this list includes all 20 Stagg Bowl participants from 2005-2014 (Mount every year, UWW nine times, and 2012 St. Thomas)
- this list includes 34 of the 40 semifinalists from 2005-2014 [except for North Central (2013), Bethel (2010 & 2007), Wheaton (2008), St. John Fisher (2006), Rowan (2005) - I think]
- 7 of the 8 programs (Mount, UWW, St. Thomas, UWO, Wesley, Linfield, and UMHB) have been to the semifinals at least once within the last three seasons

Put another way, Wabash - a program that's been to the playoffs seven of the last 11 seasons, with two quarterfinal appearances and losses to both UWW and Mount along the way - can be viewed as the least accomplished of the eight "programs" remaining.  Truly, this is a gathering of the high priests of Division III football.  It should be fun.

Hater. 

[Pat Coleman]

It also includes the 2004 Stagg Bowl participants.

A couple of months ago I added the semifinalists to our playoff history page -- now that the years are beginning to run together for me I needed a quick and easy reference:
http://www.d3football.com/playoffs/index