As a new year begins and the 2005 football season begins to fade into the recesses of your memory and ours, perhaps just a few moments will stand out. Likely they’ll involve a team you played for or followed closely. With roughly 231 teams and 1,198 games making up the season, we at D3football.com certainly weren’t able to be everywhere, but we did ask our reporters and avid fans coast to coast to send us their standout moments while they were still fresh in their minds.

The 2005 season was also a year D3football.com continued to shoot for bigger and better, with Kickoff 2005, the debut of The Daily Dose blog and the shift to a new message board, among other things. So what better way to close the book on the season than with Around the Nation’s most comprehensive year in review yet?

With that, I thought I’d try something a little different, shifting the focus from superlatives to memorable moments. It was a bear to write, and might be one to read, so make sure your coffee is fresh, cancel your next appointment or bookmark the page.

So that you can look back at 2005 as more another season ending with Mount Union winning it all, here are 105 ways — our traditional awards included — that you can remember the 2005 Division III football season:

The memorable games and plays
1. Remember the great regular-season “under the radar” games
Trailing Baldwin-Wallace 31-13, Marietta scored three TDs in the final 7:57, including an 11-yard TD pass from Jason Vrable to Nic North with 51 seconds left. Nick Manson’s PAT provided the winning margin in the 32-31 final, partially because the Yellow Jackets had scored twice on safeties earlier in the game, and the Pioneers failed on a 2-point conversion and had a PAT blocked during their rally.

We received several e-mails suggesting this for the game of the year, including one from Jason Vrable, who says he “attended” the game. A fellow with the same name also also happened to complete 32 of 52 passes for 305 yards that day, having a hand in five TDs. The two teams combined for 855 yards, standard for a shootout, but teamed for a remarkable 18 third-down conversions in 37 attempts (49%), and another eight on nine fourth-down attempts. That meant 70% of the day’s drives were converted on a suspense-filled down.

Wheaton, playing a week after coming out on the bad end of a dramatic finish in a Little Brass Bell loss to North Central, rallied from a 21-7 fourth-quarter deficit for a 41-35 triple-overtime victory. Suggested by fan Nate Brown for “most bang for the buck,” the Thunder win fit here because the game garnered almost no attention because it was played on the same day Howard Payne upset then-No. 2 Mary Hardin-Baylor, third-year Huntingdon nearly beat SCAC power Trinity (Texas) and Northwestern (Minn.) won twice.

2. Remember the great games during the playoff push: Coming off of a 47-0 loss at Brockport State, where Salisbury won 35-30 earlier in the season, Wesley looked like it might have an uphill battle for the ACFC title heading into the Salisbury game, especially since the Sea Gulls came into the game rushing for 396 per contest. Instead, the Wolverines got it rolling during a 35-point second quarter and coasted to a 63-19 win that virtually locked up a playoff spot.

3. Remember the great playoff games: Certainly, the playoffs are filled with great games each season, despite the propensity for mismatches and blowouts. Among the epic battles this year was eventual runner-up UW-Whitewater’s trip to 2004 champion Linfield.

As e-mailer Kurt Stefan, who listened to the game streamed over the Internet, said: Even though the playoffs are not over and my alma mater is still alive (Go Warhawks!), I can't imagine one of the three remaining games being as exhilarating as this one …[T]he game lived up to all of the hype and then some. You never seemed to know what was going to happen next. There were great offensive and defensive performances by both teams, big plays, a great finish, and an upset (well according to the rankings) at the end. … This game epitomized everything that is great about D3 football.”
> Suggested by: Several.

4. Remember the great rivalry games: Since I was there, I can say that there Monon Bell game is second to none in Division III. Wabash and DePauw sit 27 miles apart in a stretch of central Indiana where there isn’t much else to get excited about. But they’ve been doing the season-ending game for both teams big since 1890, and it’s as chippy now as it ever was. Wabash hung on for a 17-14 win this season in a game where the play along the lines was fierce and both quarterbacks were warrior-like. They lead the series 52-51-9.

But no tale from game day summarizes how big the rivalry is like this does: As soon as I wrote I was coming, three Wabash e-mails arrived, politely thanking me for choosing to attend but mentioning how much better the game is when not at DePauw. Now that’s a rivalry.

The best rivalry game is “a toss up between the Dutchman Shoes and Monon Bell,”
says D3football.com’s Gordon Mann. Union and RPI combined for close to 1,000 yards, 91 points and one heckuva battle for the Dutchman Shoes. Wabash and DePauw had a similar situation with both teams entering the game with playoff aspirations.”
> Suggested by: Wabash-DePauw by Mike Gregory, Lee McLaughlin, Paul Schreel
> Also suggested: Muskingum-Marietta, by Chris McDaniel

5. Remember the great upsets: Ohio Northern’s win at Mount Union was one of the year’s most surprising wins, but the Polar Bears were no pushover. On the other hand, given Rowan’s semifinal finish against those same Purple Raiders, their 20-19 loss to 5-5 William Paterson was either a big misstep on the Profs part or a sign of things to come for the Pioneers. William Paterson beat two playoff teams this season — it defeated Wilkes in its opener — but lost to every NJAC team but Rowan. In New Jersey, however, a win over the Profs resonates. As fan Gary Rich points out, Rowan beat William Patterson 61-6 in 2004, so the win could be a big selling point during recruiting.

The Massey Ratings had the Pioneers’ win over the Profs as, mathematically, the least likely result, followed by McDaniel’s Sept. 3 win over Bridgewater (Va.) and these eight:

3. Manchester 32, Defiance 29, Nov. 5
4. Hanover 41, Mt. St. Joseph 35, Oct. 1
5. Bethany 34, Franklin & Marshall 21, Sept. 3
6. Brockport State 47, Wesley 0, Oct. 22
7. Baldwin-Wallace 17, John Carroll 14, Nov. 12
8. Buffalo State 27, Cortland State 20, Sept. 24
9. William Paterson 21, Wilkes 17, Sept. 3
10. Ursinus 21, Johns Hopkins 17, Oct. 29

> WPU/Rowan suggested by: Rich, WPU Sr. defensive back Daniel Casanovas; Ohio Northern/Mount Union by Dave Ross (SeventiesRaider)

6. Remember the wildest regular-season shootouts: Although Thiel fan Michael Voelker suggested a doozy, the Tomcats‘ 50-48, triple-overtime victory at Carnegie Mellon, a different shootout set the standard this season. Earlham’s 69-62 victory over Manchester broke a two-year old record for scoring in a single game and marked what’s becoming an annual occurrence: two teams playing a tight game right on into the 60s. In 2003, it was Coe’s 66-63 win over Cornell, and last season Olivet outlasted Franklin 63-62 when the Grizzlies went for two and missed.

More bizarre was that the Quakers, who scored 110 points in their first two games with Justin Rummell quarterbacking, lost him to injury and managed just 41 points in their final eight games, all losses. After putting up 62, Manchester scored seven points in each of its next five games, but came on late, averaging 27 points in its final three games, all against teams .500 or better. The Spartans’ two wins were also an improvement from an 0-10 2004.
> Suggested by: Chris Steiner

7. Remember the surprising regular-season blowouts: John Carroll (7-3) was an enigma, handing Ohio Northern one of its two losses, by 25 points, and Otterbein one of its three, by 26. But while that sounds like the résumé of an unlikely blowout candidate, before either of those wins, Mount Union hung 70 on the Blue Streaks and shut them out. In hindsight, Wesley’s 47-0 loss at Brockport and Hardin-Simmons’ 38-7 defeat against Mary Hardin-Baylor were just as surprising, but not as high-scoring.
> Suggested by: by Dave Ross (MUC/JCU); Colin Bloodworth of Belton, Texas (UMHB/HSU); Mike Mangone (Brockport/Wesley).

8. Remember the wildest playoff shootouts: While defense still wins championships, great offenses are bound to collide in the postseason. UW-Whitewater’s 44-41 win at Linfield was exciting, as was the 35-point fourth quarter at Delaware Valley, in which Hobart fell short on four passes into the end zone at the end of a 21-14 loss. Wesley got so far out in front of Mary Hardin-Baylor that their 46-36 win was more a result of the Crusaders playing furious catch-up than an mano y mano slugfest. Mount Union and Capital were more that in their 34-31 quarterfinal, but none of those were the wildest shootout. In upstate New York, a back rushed for 264 yards and a quarterback passed for 416 … and they both played for Union. Ithaca’s Kyle Crandall returned the opening kickoff 67 yards, and the Bombers led 41-34 going into the final period. Union scored 14 seconds into a fourth quarter they dominated 21-0 en route to a 55-41 win.
> DelVal/Hobart suggested by: Paul Schreel

9. Remember the surprising playoff blowouts: UW-Whitewater against St. John’s matched two of Division III’s longtime coaching greats, not to mention a pair of top 10 teams. But the sound you heard Nov. 26 was the thud of unfulfilled hype hitting the turf. Or perhaps it was a collective groan from Johnnies fans wondering what kind of game it would have been if their team hadn’t fumbled eight times on a dry day during a 34-7 loss to the Warhawks.

Likewise, Bridgewater’s quarterfinal at Wesley seemed like a matchup of a pair of mid-Atlantic heavyweights. The Eagles would bring defense, a running game and speed, while the Wolverines would bring physical line play, smart quarterbacking and speed. And the game would be on turf! How could it disappoint? One might want to ask a well-rounded Wesley team that poured it on from the jump. The one time the Eagles looked like they would make a game of it, after a 99-yard TD pass narrowed the score to 19-7, Wesley came back with a Larry Beavers reverse that went 65 yards for a TD. Final score: Wesley 46, Bridgewater 7, disappointment, 1.
> UW-W/SJU suggested by Dave Ross (SeventiesRaider), Paul Hamann; Wesley/Bridgewater by Kurt Stefan

10. Remember the most surprising playoff nail-biter: Only nine of the 31 playoff games were decided by a touchdown or less, and all of those were between fairly evenly matched teams. The most surprising close game didn’t have a nail-biter final score, but seeing Concordia-Moorhead hold a halftime lead over defending champion Linfield, and keep it a game until the end was eye-opening. Not so much because the Cobbers should have been a pushover, but because the Wildcats had rolled 63-21 the week before over unbeaten Occidental, and looked to be unstoppable. The Cobbers showed chinks in the armor in a 28-14 loss, and UW-Whitewater followed up, eliminating Linfield the following week.
> Suggested by: Dave Ross (SeventiesRaider)

11. Remember the great games that weren’t: What a different season it could have been if hurricane-related weather hadn’t wiped out DePauw’s crack at breaking the SCAC stronghold of Trinity (Texas). The Tigers’ losses were by three and five to teams that advanced into the playoffs. One of the teams that beat DePauw, Wesley, thumped Mary Hardin-Baylor in the second round, a week after the Crusaders eliminated Trinity 35-6. And speaking of the Cru, fallouts from this season’s hurricanes cost them a game with offensive juggernaut Louisiana College, while Millsaps and Mississippi College each postponed September games as well.

Says Mann “DePauw/Trinity could’ve changed the complexion of the entire South Region. If DePauw beats Trinity, they win the SCAC. Is someone else the top seed in that bracket then? Does UMHB not meet Wesley until later? If ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’ were candy and nuts…”

Along those lines, Linfield vs. Mount Union wasn’t cancelled, but the hoped-for matchup of titans never too place because UW-Whitewater entered the picture, eliminated the Wildcats, and battled the Purple Raiders in the Stagg Bowl.

12. Remember the best plays: Certainly there were scores of great finishes, and scores finished in great ways each week. Beyond that, there were surely many moments in which something instinctive, or some attention to detail, affected a play, which affected a game, which affected a season.

No play brought all of those things together like the Week 7 finish in Moorhead, Minn. If it had closed out mighty St. John’s, Concordia would likely have won its second MIAC championship in a row and could have avoided the second-round playoff matchup with Linfield that ended the Cobbers’ season.

Instead, with a half a minute to go, Johnnies quarterback Alex Kofoed stepped up in the pocket, bought himself some time by scrambling, and launched a pass to Kyle Gearman, streaking across the field from the backside. The play turned into a stunning 74-yard TD pass with 25 seconds left in St. John’s 20-16 win.

It looked to have a great effect on the national picture, but by playoff time, it didn’t really matter. Both MIAC teams won a first-round home game, then lost to a powerhouse in the second round.

> Suggested by: Ken Kofoed, Noah Retka and Paul Hamann
> Also suggested: Union safety Alex Markel’s 76-yard interception return for a game-winning touchdown with 31 seconds left against Coast Guard; A Pierre Garcon catch for Mount Union against Capital.

13. Remember the best play that wasn’t: Replay entered the college football mainstream this season and its effects filtered down to Division III, where it was used in the Stagg Bowl. But we’re still looking for the first reversal of a call. The game was stopped three times for plays to be reviewed and two were clear-cut decisions to let the play stand as called. The only debatable one was whether UW-Whitewater tight end Pete Schmitt had control of a pass as he crossed the goal line. The call on the field was an incomplete pass and the booth upheld the call. A touchdown would have given Whitewater a chance to tie the game before halftime.

The memorable players
14. Remember the best players: It’s such an undefined quality, what makes on player the best. I saw a lot of players this season, and I think Wesley defensive lineman Bryan Robinson impressed me the most. But does that make him the nation’s best player? Given the raves about St. John’s Damien Dumonceaux, Robinson might not have even been the best at his position.

Luckily, quantifying how valuable a great lineman to a team is won’t be necessary this year. We’ve mentioned many times how he lost his starting spot, ahead of a player who later became the NFL’s No. 1 pick, at Division I-A Utah, but came to Linfield and led the Wildcats to a championship. Quarterback Brett Elliott get the Wildcats over the West Region hump in 2004. In 2005, the Wildcats were eliminated in the round of eight, but Elliott still brought home hardware: the Gagliardi Trophy. His candid, gracious pre-Stagg Bowl interview gave listeners a glimpse at a player who really did fit the D-III mold.
> Also suggested: Aaron Krepps, by Brandon Patterson

15. Remember this year‘s great surprise players: Nate Kmic was a pleasant surprise for the Purple Raiders and an unpleasant one for every opponent,” says D3football.com’s Gordon Mann. “He emerged after Aaron Robinson’s injury in the first round of the playoffs to carry the ball for more than 1,000 yards and 12 TDs in the postseason, which helped carry the Purple Raiders to the title.

16. Remember the players who were surprised to enter the game, but did well: Rowan and Hardin-Simmons needed injury fill-ins at quarterback when Mike Orihel and Jordan Neal went down, respectively. But Joe Rankin kept the Profs on pace, for the most part, helping Rowan survive injuries to two more key players.

Jordy Bernhard stepped in for Hardin-Simmons, which narrowly missed the playoffs, and Kmic, of course, helped power the national champions’ offense in the postseason.

Added Mann: “Could be Kmic again. But I was impressed with the Profs who, as a team, rallied after Brian Bond’s injury to keep the Rowan run defense stout.”

17. Remember the great individual seasons: It’s hard to be a one-man show when your quarterback passes for more than 3,000 yards, but Catholic wide receiver Nick Bublavi managed it. He accounted for 1,797 receiving yards — 179 of the Cardinals’ division-best 434 passing yards per game. Four ways to put Bublavi’s season in perspective: First, there was just one receiver who came within 400 yards of his total. Union’s Steve Angiletta racked up 1,612 yards … in 12 games. Two, Bublavi and Guilford’s Chris Barnette tied for the national lead in receptions per game. Each had 101 catches and 15 TDs, but Bublavi had 428 more receiving yards. Third, if you take away Bublavi’s best game, a 386-yard outing against La Salle, he still would have led the nation in receiving yards. And fourth, Bublavi was a senior who did not play in 2004. With him in ‘05, the team nearly doubled its offensive output, from 2,426 yards to 4,707.
> Suggested by: Brendan Nugent of Iowa City, Iowa

18. Remember the great two-man shows: The first drive of Linfield’s first game, against Western Oregon, ended with a touchdown pass from Brett Elliott to Casey Allen. The first drive of Linfield’s last game ended with a touchdown pass from Elliott to Allen against UW-Whitewater. In between they connected for 20 other touchdowns and earned handfuls of postseason honors.
> Suggested by: Gordon Mann

19. Remember the great transfers: Linfield’s Brett Elliott, two seasons removed from Utah, took home the Gagliardi Trophy and Pierre Garcon, one season removed from Norwich, caught two TD passes in Mount Union’s Stagg Bowl triumph. Still, Pat Cummings and I agreed that the transfer with the most impact was Guilford quarterback Josh Vogelbach.

The former East Carolina (Division I-A) quarterback rallied Guilford to a 5-5 finish after an 0-4 start, including a second-place tie in the ODAC at 4-2. The Quaker coaching staff briefly toyed with the idea of replacing him with an option-oriented quarterback, and benched him for the start of the Hampden-Sydney game. But Vogelbach cemented his status with the first of five five-passing-touchdown games in leading Guilford back from a 37-8 deficit, nearly beating the Tigers. The Quakers lost just once more after that 47-45 final, and the redshirt freshman passed for more than 350 yards per game, among the nation’s top five in total offense.

Says Cummings: “Garcon was a great transfer, but he was inserted to a program that was real good without him. He made them better. Guilford football doesn't get any recognition, Vogelbach got me to recognize him, and get some Guilford alums to start
writing me about him, etc. That surely never happened before. He was the transfer of the year.”

20. Remember the best (true) freshmen: We certainly can’t analyze the performance of each freshman, but a few stood out. Geoff Troy made 18 of 21 field goals for Kings Point, earning him one of two first team All-American spots for freshman. Washington and Lee freshman Stuart Sitterson (national-best 34 yards per kickoff return) was the other. Keith Ricca, who passed for 3,311 yards for Catholic, was among the true freshmen with the most impact. And of course, Nate Kmic was a big help during Mount Union’s championship run.

21. Remember the comeback kids: Here’s a fan who says it better than I could:
“I have a feeling that this category is designed for teams that made a huge comeback during a game or perhaps a season, but I'd like to nominate a player. Russ Harbuagh, quarterback, Wabash College. After winning the starting job as a sophomore in '03, Russ played musical quarterbacks in '04, was much maligned for relatively benign mistakes, and received a lot of the blame for Wabash's disappointing 6-4 season. As a senior, Russ shook off the naysayers, led Wabash to a perfect 10-0 regular season, had the best season at quarterback in Wabash history (not a small feat given what Jake Knott accomplished during his career), and was named a Gagliardi Trophy finalist. Even the most optimistic of Wabash fans couldn't see this coming, and it's one of the more warming stories of the year.”
> Suggested by: Greg Thomas (wally wabash), Lafayette, Ind.

22. Remember to appreciate: We got three nominees for ‘most under-appreciated,’ all of essay length, quite opinionated and in some cases filled with “facts” we can’t substantiate. We can share a quote from each though.

Hardin-Simmons QB Jordy Bernhard
Suggested by: Rabbit1 (message board handle)

Jordy stepped on the field early in the second quarter of the second game of the year versus La. College, substituting for injured QB Jordan Neal. In his first extended play in two years, he shook off the dust quickly, finishing the day 25-14-270-3TDs & added 58 rushing yards. The kid led HSU to an additional five wins this season, losing only to UMHB, then went down with an ACL (surgery in Nov.) in the first quarter of Game 8 versus McMurry.

… Top it off with a distinct possibility that he will be named a Academic All-American.”

Capital QB Rocky Pentello
Suggested by: Superap3@aol.com

“Rocky Pentello, junior QB at Capital, is the most underappreciated and overlooked player in the country. In just three years, Rocky has transformed Capital football from a laughing stock into an elite eight team and a national title contender. … This year in head to head contests, he has beaten three league player of the year winners (Doug Phillips of John Carroll (the OAC’s outstanding offensive back), Kam Kniss of North Central, and Russ Harbaugh of Wabash), the last two on the road and in the playoffs, and two national player of the year (finalists) (Phillips and Harbaugh). All this in the very difficult and highly regarded OAC. … He has done something much more difficult than being another very good piece in an already dominant puzzle (at Mount Union), he is building a program and creating tradition. Very good quarterbacks have played in the OAC over the past 15 years, all things being equal, I take Rocky every single day of the week and twice on Saturday afternoons.

The Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
Suggested by: Kurt Stefan
“The WIAC is the most underappreciated conference in the nation. Yes, the argument against the conference (up until this year) is that they’re always one-and-done. However, the conference consistently has two or three teams in the top 25 in the nation. Obviously, when you have such tough competition in your conference schedule you get beat up throughout the year and probably will come out of the season with a couple of losses. … Maybe with the success of Whitewater this year means the WIAC will finally get some respect and be represented by two teams in the playoffs. I think the WIAC, one of the toughest conferences in the nation, is deserving of that.”

23. Remember the first time you heard of the next big things on Saturdays: Without question it's going to be (sophomore) Justin Beaver,” Kurt Stefan e-mails. “This kid is already unbelievable and has the opportunity to leave a legacy at UW-Whitewater and throughout D3 football.”

We agree. Beaver, the only non-senior among 10 Gagliardi Trophy finalists, is already a big thing, the perfect example of the symbiotic relationship between team success and individual recognition.

24. Remember the last time you saw the next small thing on Sundays play: Linfield’s Brett Elliott, the Gagliardi Trophy winner, heads a list of five players who show up on NFL watch lists and a different group of five who participated in the Jan. 21 Hula Bowl.

Ohio Northern defensive back/return specialist Wes Hostetler, UW-Oshkosh tight end Bob Docherty, North Central linebacker Lenny Radtke and Occidental safety Derek Turbin joined Elliott in the nationally televised all-star game.

Casey Allen, who caught passes from Elliott at Linfield, joins Ohio Northern defensive end Jason Trusnik, Frostburg State defensive lineman Kevin Culbert (projected as a linebacker), Docherty and Elliott as players previously spotted on ESPN.com draft charts.

THE MEMORABLE COACHES
25. Remember the great regular-season coaches: With 34 of the 231 teams improving by three wins or more, there is no shortage of viable candidates we could call “great.” Around the Nation often leans toward recognizing coaches who did a lot with a little. In that sense, Ferrum’s Dave Davis or Defiance’s Robert Taylor would make great honorees, each taking a team with a losing record in 2004 and turning it into a winner. Defiance went from 1-9 to 6-4, while Ferrum went from 4-6 to 9-2. But Kenyon’s Ted Stanley, Guilford’s Kevin Kiesel, Maine Maritime’s Christopher McKenney and Frostburg State’s Rubin Stevenson each led significant turnarounds. And then there are the coaches who got their teams through serious on- or off-field adversity. John Carroll’s Regis Scafe led his team to six consecutive victories after a 70-0 drubbing. That takes serious mental strength, but so did just getting through the season for Dean Paul’s Ohio Northern team (their tribulations are mentioned later).

We’re waffling here, but it’s deliberate. No way are we prepared to say one coaching job this season was the greatest. Let’s just point in the direction of our All-Region coaches of the year, Union’s John Audino, Wesley Mike Drass, Capital’s Jim Collins and UW-Whitewater’s Bob Berezowitz and leave it at that.

26. Remember the great half-season coaching jobs: Bowdoin’s David Caputi took a team with 16 seniors who had gone 3-21 in their first three seasons and got them out of the gate 4-0. Three of the wins — 22-21 over Middlebury, 16-13 at Amherst and 10-8 at Tufts — came as the Polar Bears were dramatically outgained. Bowdoin was no match for the NESCAC’s top two teams, scoring just six points against Trinity and Colby. In the end, they beat just one team with a winning record and watched the White Mules secure CBB bragging rights, but to go 6-2 while outscoring your opposition 131-124 is a testament to great coaching, either X’s and O’s, or getting players to believe any game is winnable.

In the second half, after starting 0-3 with losses to Division II Western Oregon, then-No. 2 UMHB and NAIA power Asuza Pacific, Willamette’s Mark Speckman rallied his team to the brink of the playoffs. But it wasn’t just that the Bearcats ran off five wins before Linfield eliminated them from playoff consideration. It’s how hard they had to work for them. A Michael Plank TD catch with 57 seconds left helped defeat Puget Sound, and the Bearcats went last-minute the following week in a double-overtime victory over Southern Oregon on Oct. 8. Then, not playing again until Oct. 29 because of a planned bye and the cancelled Lewis and Clark game, Willamette picked up where it left off, although the last-minute heroics were on defense. The Bearcats stopped Pacific Lutheran on fourth-and-goal from the 7 in a 34-27 win, and then finished the amazing run with a 40-34 overtime win at Whitworth.
> Also suggested: Mike Miello for William Paterson, by Daniel Casanovas

27. Remember the great coaching jobs in the postseason: Since we honor Larry Kehres’ genius below, Mike Drass and offensive coordinator Chip Knapp took the postseason, and the capital city in Delaware, by storm. Playing four games, alternating home and away, the Wolverines dumped the past two South Region champions in unceremonious fashion. Drass and his staff remained classy all the way, and, aside from a rumored misjudgement on what type of shoes to wear on grass, made all the right calls. How appropriate that Drass (16 years) and Knapp (17) have been around Wesley football since its infant Division III stages and were still around to enjoy its greatest moments.
> Kehres also suggested by Dave Ross (SeventiesRaider); Drass by UMHB fan Colin Bloodworth

28. Remember the great coaching performances by rookie head coaches: At least 20 teams debuted new coaches this season, and success was instant at some institutions. Mike Miello led an inconsistent, but at times great, team in his first year at William Paterson. Kevin Kiesel’s Guilford team began to click beautifully, at least on offense, midway through the season. Kalamazoo’s Terrance Brooks and Bridgewater State’s Charles Denune each helped their school improve by three wins over last season.

29. Six ways Larry Kehres awed us with his coaching: This season struck me as positively Jordanesque for the Purple Raiders coach. A little much, you say? Well without a doubt, we are witnessing one of the all-time greats in his prime. Here are five reasons why:

He delegated. After calling plays for 19 seasons, Kehres let former players Matt Campbell and Jason Candle handle about 80% of the duties (although Kehres did call plays in the Stagg Bowl). Formerly the quarterbacks coach, Kehres turned the job over to his starter last season, Zac Bruney.

He lived without. Kehres’ defensive coordinator of two decades took a head coaching job elsewhere, and the Purple Raiders were as good as they’ve ever been on defense. Former players Jeff Wojtowicz (’84), Vince Kehres (’98) and Nick Sirianni coached that side of the ball.

He adjusted. After quarterback Mike Jorris struggled early in the Stagg Bowl, Kehres called mainly basic plays to help settle his quarterback down. “We decided in the first quarter that we had to get the quarterback in a comfort zone,” Kehres said. “We went to some plays that we hadn’t stressed” in game-planning or much of 2005, actually. Kehres said the plays were ones installed and drilled when a quarterback first gets to Mount Union. Settling Jorris down resulted in a 50-yard TD pass to Pierre Garcon. “Our first TD today was the same as our first in ’98,” he said. “Same end zone, same side of the field.”

He kept his sense of humor. Asked during the Stagg Bowl teleconference if other teams had begun to catch up to Mount Union, coach Larry Kehres replied: “Yeah, there’s no doubt about it. One of them passed us,” referring to the Ohio Northern loss. He also joked about enjoying Salem for the first time when his daughter played there for Wittenberg in the national volleyball championship. During nine trips to town for Stagg Bowls, Kehres admitted he’d “barely been out in Salem.”

He regrouped. Rather than taking the loss to Ohio Northern hard, he took advantage. “These guys heard an awful lot about losing a game,” he said after the Stagg Bowl. “Internally, within the family … that’s all it was. We don’t feel like we have to go into a deep depression. We looked internally at ways to improve in Weeks 8, 9 and 10 and in this 5-week march through the playoffs.”

He represented. Pressed by a reporter after the game about why he hadn’t pursued a Division I job more intensely, he said he’d had his chances but “didn’t follow that path.” “I just like these kind of guys,” he said of Division III players. “They don’t feel any sense of entitlement. Their parents pay, and sometimes it’s a great sacrifice for them to do this.” He also revealed the two questions he asks players during recruiting visits: “Are you a good man?” and “Do you have a passion for football?”

THE MEMORABLE TEAMS
30. Remember this year‘s great surprise teams: When I asked a few D3 staffers if anyone could beat Ferrum, resident smart aleck Gordon Mann replied: “Wesley did, quite convincingly. :)"

Yeah, Gordon, I meant in this category, as this year's surprise team. The staff and I were split on that, as I thought Ferrum came more out of nowhere (4-6 in 2004), whereas Wesley was 8-2 in '04 before its run to the national semifinals. Still, Mann said "Seriously, I think it needs to be the Wolverines who went from 0 votes in the preseason to South region champs.” Pat Cummings added, “Oh, c'mon...Wesley out of the South. Beating UMHB on the road … that was big.”

While we’re on the matters of Wesley and votes, only two pollsters took notice of the Wolverines’ 31-26 win over DePauw on Sept. 3 by ranking them. Pat Cummings voted for Wesley 20th, and I tabbed them 25th.

31. Notable steps forward: Asks fan Jack Fuchs: “Isn't perennial loser Kenyon's advance to 6-4 and second in the NCAC the hands-down favorite? Losing to Wooster 84-21 at home in 2004, but winning at Wooster 27-24 has to be the biggest turnaround in the nation.” Well, Jack, it was up there, especially if you’re influenced by gut feelings. By the numbers alone though — and I did look at all 231 finishes — the Lords had a lot of company.

Of the 229 Division III teams that played in 2004, 89 finished this season with more wins, 41 won the same amount and 99 lost more.

Of the 89 that won more, 13 made an improvement of more than three wins. Kenyon was one of eight that won four more (St. John’s, Wesley, Thiel, Frostburg State, Bowdoin, Guilford and Maine Maritime were the others). Four teams won five more games (Wabash, Union, Ferrum and Defiance) and UW-Whitewater improved by seven wins, going from 7-3 to 14-1.

But going by gut feeling, Kenyon, Defiance and Bowdoin were some of the better feel-good stories of the year. Others included Ferrum (despite being outscored 103-21 in its final two games), since it climbed into the playoffs after a 4-6 season, winning their first nine and leading Division III in rushing offense.

Three near-perfect years were large improvements: Wabash went 11-1 on the heels of a 6-4 season, Union’s 11-1 came from 6-3, while Thiel surged to 11-1 from 7-3.
> Kenyon suggested by Fuchs; Catholic by Brendan Nugent.

More of the 105 ways to remember 2005.