D3football Daily Dose

We’re in a pretty cool position here at D3football.com, with two people who have seen both UW-Whitewater and Wesley play in person this season. Keith McMillan has seen each once, I’ve seen Wesley once and UW-Whitewater twice. Keith gave you his thoughts in Around the Nation; here are mine.

Even without an equipment miscalculation such as at Brockport State, Wesley could still get blown out, even if they hang onto the football. Wesley is comparable on the defensive side of the ball, perhaps better than the Johnnies up front. Max Sakellaris and Brady Ramseier will have their hands full with Bryan Robinson and the rest of the Wolverines defensive line. They’ll need to keep them off of Justin Jacobs and Justin Beaver to give Derek Stanley time to get separation downfield.

Here are the keys, however: Jacobs will be, by far, the best quarterback Wesley has faced in the playoffs. You have to go back to Week 1 against DePauw’s Ross Wiethoff (Wesley won 31-26) to find one comparable. And this will also be Wesley’s first game in the postseason not played on turf.

On the other side, Wesley quarterback Chris Warrick has a great touch and his receivers will go up and catch anything they can get their hands on. Kevin Nelson, the 5-3 running back, could be successful getting lost behind the tackles. Warrick should fare better than St. John’s quarterback Alex Kofoed or UW-Eau Claire’s Jesse Krzyzanowski, the two quarterbacks I’ve seen play Whitewater this season. Whitewater’s defense gave up yards but not points against St. John’s and gave up both against Linfield. Marcus Lee will have a size advantage working against the Warhawk secondary but Larry Beavers will not.

Pat Cummings and Mark Roberts will be broadcasting this game for us, with pregame at 12:30 ET.

And the prediction: UW-Whitewater 41, Wesley 20.

Now, I have not seen either Mount Union or Rowan play this year (spent too much time flying to O’Hare and back, I guess). But I would find it hard to believe that Rowan can slow Mount Union down enough to win this game. I don’t know if the Purple Raider players will be motivated much by revenge for the last meeting, the 24-17 Rowan win on Dec. 11, 1999, that snapped Mount Union’s first long winning streak.

For highlights of that game, by the way, catch our pregame show, which starts at 11:35 a.m. ET. Gordon Mann and Doug Phillips are our broadcasters in Alliance.

A couple of teams have had success against Mount Union this year, and with differing styles, Ohio Northern by land and Capital by air. Running back Nadyr Albri ran for 149 yards in the snow at Union but just 49 yards on 17 carries at Delaware Valley. Mount Union doesn’t give up much on the ground. Lewis Howes had 245 yards receiving for Capital at Mount Union last week and Rowan will need similar performances from the taller guys, Sakeen Wright and Phil Silva, neither of whom are quite as tall as Howes.

Prediction: Mount Union 45, Rowan 18.

Enjoy the games, everyone.

Usually when we announce annual awards, there’s always a lot of weeping and gnashing of teeth, some name-calling, griping, anger, you name it, about who didn’t make the team, or who was ranked ahead of whom, etc.

Because the All-Region team is a new process for us (the committee defected en masse from another All-Region sponsoring entity), this is something I’d like to address on a wider scale. Usually when we name 100 All-Americans, which we’ll do again this year on our Stagg Bowl pregame show, it’s a process of whittling down 250 or so nominees to the 100 honorees. This is a difficult process, to be sure, but there are often a handful of nominees which we can dismiss out of hand.

Not so with All-Region. We got 676 nominations all told for the 300 slots and let me tell you, voting for this award was not easy. I voted for all four regions and I don’t think there was a single region that took less than 90 minutes of poring over. So first of all, my hat’s off to the voters for making it happen.

Secondly, often times the student-athletes who readers and fans complain about simply were not nominated. Although we sent two e-mails out through the SID e-mail list (this is maintained by a Division III school and includes every Division III sports information director) and had a note on our front page for more than two weeks, not every school with worthy people nominated them. Also, we wrote very detailed directions that some schools did not follow. While we contacted as many as we could, in most cases we were left with completely blank nomination forms and no recourse.

Here’s the schools that nominated, and how many players they put forth. We didn’t put any restrictions on how many a school could put in.

Adrian 5; Albion 8; Albright 2; Allegheny 4; Alma 4; Amherst 6; Anderson 3; Augsburg 5; Augustana 6; Aurora 5; Averett 4; Baldwin-Wallace 4; Bates 2; Beloit 3; Bethany 2; Bethel 5; Bluffton 1; Bowdoin 4; Bridgewater (Va.) 6; Bridgewater State 13; Brockport State 5; Buena Vista 1; Buffalo State 2; Capital 7; Carnegie Mellon 2; Carroll 9; Carthage 3; Case Western Reserve 9; Catholic 2; Central 3; Centre 4; Chapman 2; Chicago 4; Christopher Newport 4; Coast Guard 3; Coe 7; Colby 5; Concordia (Wis.) 2; Concordia-Moorhead 5; Cornell 3; Cortland State 8; Curry 4; Defiance 5; Delaware Valley 15; Denison 4; DePauw 7; Dickinson 3; Dubuque 4; East Texas Baptist 2; Elmhurst 4; Endicott 2; FDU-Florham 2; Ferrum 5; Fitchburg State 3; Franklin 2; Frostburg State 1; Gettysburg 4; Greensboro 1; Greenville 4; Grinnell 1; Grove City 2; Guilford 5; Hamline 1; Hampden-Sydney 6; Hanover 2; Hardin-Simmons 8; Hartwick 3; Hobart 4; Hope 2; Howard Payne 3; Huntingdon 6; Husson 1; Illinois College 2; Illinois Wesleyan 4; Ithaca 5; John Carroll 2; Kalamazoo 3; Kean 3; Kenyon 3; King’s 2; Kings Point 4; Lake Forest 2; Lakeland 4; Lebanon Valley 2; Linfield 8; Loras 1; Louisiana College 2; Luther 3; Lycoming 2.

Macalester 1; MacMurray 3; Maine Maritime 2; Manchester 1; Marietta 4; Mary Hardin-Baylor 7; Maryville (Tenn.) 2; Mass-Dartmouth 5; McDaniel 2; McMurry 1; Menlo 1; Methodist 8; Millikin 4; Mississippi College 3; Monmouth 4; Montclair State 5; Moravian 5; Mount Ida 1; Mount Union 6; Mt. St. Joseph 8; Muhlenberg 2; Muskingum 2; North Central 10; Occidental 5; Ohio Northern 7; Ohio Wesleyan 3; Olivet 4; Otterbein 2; Pacific Lutheran 5; Plymouth State 3; Pomona-Pitzer 2; Randolph-Macon 3; Redlands 3; Rhodes 1; Rockford 4; Rose-Hulman 2; Rowan 7; RPI 12; Shenandoah 1; Simpson 4; Springfield 1; St. John Fisher 9; St. John’s 8; St. Norbert 1; St. Olaf 2; St. Thomas 2; Sul Ross State 2; Susquehanna 2; Texas Lutheran 6; Thiel 7; Thomas More 5; Trinity (Conn.) 6; Trinity (Texas) 4; Tufts 2; Union 8; Ursinus 2; Utica 1; UW-Eau Claire 5; UW-La Crosse 5; UW-Oshkosh 7; UW-River Falls 2; UW-Stevens Point 1; UW-Stout 4; UW-Whitewater 6; Wabash 4; Wartburg 2; Washington and Jefferson 6; Washington and Lee 5; Washington U. 3; Waynesburg 6; Wesley 3; Western Connecticut 5; Western New England 1; Westfield State 1; Westminster (Mo.) 2; Westminster (Pa.) 3; Wheaton 2; Whitworth 6; Widener 3; Wilkes 2; Willamette 6; William Paterson 3; Williams 2; Wittenberg 5; Wooster 2; Worcester State 1

I don’t think it would be fair to list the names of the nominees. But this should give you some idea. The 175 schools out of 225 or so eligible (full Division III member schools only) is a large number, far more than we ever got for the All-America team, for obvious reasons.

Thanks to those who nominated. Those nominees will be considered for All-American as well, and you can hear that announcement sometime between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. ET a week from Saturday.

The City of Salem is conducting a sweepstakes to award a free hotel and Stagg Bowl game tickets to one random entrant.

They did the same with basketball and a lucky Calvin fan got his hotel and tickets covered for the Division III final four this past March.

Click here for more details.

“Ladies and gentlemen, the NCAA promotes good sportsmanship by student-athletes, coaches and spectators. We request your cooperation by supporting the participants and officials in a positive manner. Profanity, racial, or sexist comments, or other intimidating actions directed at officials, student-athletes, coaches or team representatives will not be tolerated and are grounds for removal from the site of competition. Also, the consumption or possession of alcoholic beverages at the site of competition is prohibited.”

I’ve heard this so many times in the past decade or so it rolls off the tongue (or fingers) in a flash. But it often seems like there are some fans who need a reminder. I have it on good authority that the NCAA has heard some of the reports we’ve seen from playoff games this season and while I don’t think this year is any different than previous years, incidents are coming to the attention of those who are in a position to do something about them.

Consider this, fans, especially you students out there. These are big games, no doubt, and it’s great to get excited about them, but these players do not deserve your abuse. A Division III football player gets no special treatment above and beyond what you get. They’re not on scholarship, don’t get special dining halls or treatment in the classroom (in fact, you can count on some professors being harder on football players than on the rest of the class).

I would be in favor of immediately kicking anyone out of the stadium who is in violation of the sportsmanship agreement. So what if you paid $5, $8, whatever to be there? Act like a grownup, since that’s what you allegedly are.

If you need to get all liquored up in order to enjoy a football game, stay home. The football should be reason enough. If you’re of legal age, there’s plenty of time to drink after the game — that’s one of the benefits of a noon kickoff.

Wow, what a day of football. And the day ended for us a lot like the Miracle in the Mud day ended. In this case, it was with both Pat Cummings and Keith McMillan driving home glued to their cellphones as I had two phones, one to each of them, sitting on the speakers of my laptop.

That’s how it came down in 2000: Keith and I were driving back from a game at Widener and my wife set up a phone next to the computer speaker, allowing me to listen and relay the play by play to Keith.

I hope this wasn’t the de facto national championship game in McMinnville, today. I have to believe Mount Union is going to have something to say about it. But kudos to UW-Whitewater for carrying the WIAC flag into the semifinals and not just phoning it in.

Kudos also to Wesley, for taking its Cinderella run to the semis as well. I don’t know if they’ve got much of a chance at Whitewater, but not sure how many gave them a chance at UMHB either. This is a great run for that program.

Capital put on a good show as well in falling short. Lewis Howes, who set a Division III single-game receiving record a few years back at Principia, wanted to see what he could do at a higher level. Today we found out (12 catches, 245 yards, four TDs).

What’s left of Rowan makes the trip to Alliance, Ohio. The two haven’t met since Dec. 11, 1999, when Rowan upset Mount Union and ended the Purple Raiders’ then-record win streak.

Should be an interesting week.

This isn’t my favorite week of the season, to be sure. I’ve been sitting in Minneapolis all week, with no Division III game within driving range this Saturday. Now, the reason I’m here instead of at home isn’t particularly heartening either, but that’s another story. I’m here.

I’ll be listening in to all four games as much as possible on Saturday. Good luck to all the participants and our broadcast crews in the field.

With every passing week, the Wesley 47-0 debacle loss at Brockport State gets more and more puzzling. How could this team go up to Brockport, field conditions aside, and not put up one single point? My trip to Wesley the next week to see them pound Salisbury began the puzzlement — it was obvious this was a good team, with the ability to win a playoff game or two, but to become the first non-Texas team to win a playoff game in the Lone Star State since 2001?

Incredible. And that’s coming from me, after picking Wesley as the cinderella team in the bracket on the ESPNews selection show.

Another home game on turf. Then a trip West for the winner. Who knew.

Mount Union pulls another Mount Union and rolls a quality opponent. I know Capital is a familiar opponent, but that bodes well for Mount Union, which has had a tendency to pound OAC teams the second time around.

Even though St. John’s helped UW-Whitewater out, Whitewater would have won on its own today. Five of the seven fumbles were forced and defensively, Whitewater was making plays even when not taking the ball away. Other than a brief period in the third quarter, St. John’s couldn’t stop Justin Beaver and Derek Stanley burned the Johnnies defense for a pair of big plays when they needed them.

West Region final should be a dandy. So should the South. Not so sure about the East, if Rowan has found its stroke again it might not be much different than last year’s Rowan/Delaware Valley regional final.

No stupid e-mail of the week, at least not ones I have with me, so we’ll have to suffice with the …

Bad karma moment of the weekend: Two St. John’s fans independently coming up to me and asking me why UW-Whitewater passed them in the poll a few weeks ago. Never a good idea right before a head-to-head matchup.

Here’s a look at what some of the local papers around the country are writing ahead of tomorrow’s games:

Wesley/Mary Hardin-Baylor
Wesley struggled with its transition from junior college to Division III football two decades ago, but is playing the biggest game of the program’s history Saturday, from the Sussex News.

One nitpick on this story: It says, “Drass brought a record 150 players to preseason camp this year.

Wesley President Dr. Scott Miller is quick to point out that while less than 100 players made the team, most of the other students are still in school. He said that’s usually not the case at other schools.”

In our experience, that isn’t particularly accurate. But that’s a nitpick.

Hobart/Delaware Valley
Feature on Delaware Valley receiver Don Marshall in The Intelligencer.

Bridgewater/Thiel
Adrian Herndon juggles football, classes, as well as a 2-year-old son and a part-time job in the Lynchburg News & Advance. Bridgewater coach Mike Clark deals with the logistics of a playoff road trip in The Daily News Record of Harrisonburg. Thiel finds the bandwagon is getting huge, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Union/Rowan
Union is thankful it’s still playing, says a feature in the Albany Times Union.

Augustana/Mount Union
The Repository in Canton, Ohio, discovers the Wing-T.

Linfield/Concordia-Moorhead
The Silverton Appeal catches up with local product Josh Ort, Linfield defensive back. The Fargo (N.D.) Forum discovers there’s some guy named Brett Elliott quarterbacking Linfield. Meanwhile, the Linfield team lends a hand at Thanksgiving.

St. John’s/UW-Whitewater
The St. Cloud Times writes on the backs splitting time for the Johnnies. Plus, Times beat writer Frank Rajkowski has started a blog on St. John’s playoff football. (We link to it from our list of blogs on the front page of the Daily Dose.) The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel focuses on the Whitewater offensive line.

Capital/Wabash
The Crawfordsville Journal Review previews Capital and earlier in the week took a brief look ahead at Wabash.

Snow coming down in suburban Washington, D.C. is rare enough, but to see it before Christmas is unusual indeed. It’s a nice backdrop here, with the children nestled snugly in their beds and all quiet. So from our house to yours, have a happy Thanksgiving.

To those of you traveling this weekend, whether to holiday gatherings or ballgames, drive safely.

Just for the record: The Gagliardi Trophy is not the Division III equivalent of the Heisman.

The award doesn’t always go to the best player in Division III. The mission of the award is different than the Heisman’s, or, at least, the end results are. The instructions to voters say it all: “Please remember that the winner of the award should be an outstanding football player who, at the same time, exemplifies the Division III philosophy of the well-rounded student-athlete. The winner of the award should exhibit excellence in three areas: football, academics and service/leadership on campus and/or in his community.”

It goes on to give the most salient point, one which I think should be emphasized. “First and foremost, however, it is a football award; you should consider the candidate’s scholastic and extra-curricular records to help you break a tie.”

There used to be a national Division III football award purely for football prowess, the Melberger. However, this award has been mismanaged and marginalized into a regional production. It flamed out rather famously in 2002 and hasn’t been a legitimate award since. We’ve toyed with naming our own Division III football player of the year award (by the way, if you’re looking to sponsor such an award, we’re all ears). This effort gained traction last year when Wooster running back Tony Sutton was not named the Gagliardi winner. However, I think this year Gagliardi voters will agree with us on a winner.

This is a great award. We need an award that exemplifies the spirit of Division III. But we also need to remember that football is part of the award.

Here’s more on each of the 2005 finalists, by the way:

Russ Harbaugh, QB, Wabash College (Ind.), Senior, English and Art - NCAA playoff participant…29 touchdowns and four interceptions in 11 games this season…3,324 yards, in 11 contests, to break the school’s single-season passing record…NCAC Offensive Player of the Year…football community food drive & freshman orientation community projects.

Adam Knoblauch, QB, Delaware Valley College (Pa.), Senior, Criminal Justice - NCAA playoff participant…one of only seven players in college football history (all divisions) to pass for 10,000 yards and rush for 1,000…has passed for 10,758 yards in his four seasons (sixth all-time in Division III), and run for 1,468 yards…career total offense of 12,226 yards ranks third in Division III history and he is 10th in touchdown passes with 97…semifinalist for Draddy Trophy from the National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame……member of move-in team, student athletic advisory committee and visited children’s hospital in Philadelphia.

Brett Elliott, QB, Linfield College (Ore.), Senior, Communication - NCAA playoff participant…passed for 3,105 yards and 41 touchdown passes this season…ranks #1 in Division III in pass efficiency with a 201.08 rating and in touchdown passes/game at 4.56…threw four or more touchdowns eight times this season…worked with the Linfield Review campus newspaper and campus radio station KSLC…served a summer internship with KFXX radio in Portland…served as a speaker at freshman colloquium and volunteered as a weekly tutor and mentor to an at-risk fifth grade student for nine months.

Ross Dillavou, DE, Loras College (Iowa), Senior, Psychology - 2005 team leader in tackles for loss with 12.0 and sacks with eight…ranks 33rd in the nation in sacks per game, third on Loras in tackles and three blocked kicks (1 punt, 1 field goal & 1 extra point)…peer tutor and student teacher…leadership council representative for athletics and fundraiser for Hurricane Katrina relief…mentor at Mass, read to elementary students, did fundraising for Special Olympics and played Santa Claus for local Knights of Columbus benefit.

Dusty Kain, WR, Simpson College (Iowa), Senior, Sports Administration - Broke school records for career TDs with 27, career receptions with 233 and career yards receiving with 3,210 yards…works with retirees at The Village Home in Indianola, served as a team member for Simpson College campus day…helps as a volunteer for the Prairie City-Monroe boys & girls track meets, booster drives & city food drive.

Mitch Tanney, QB, Monmouth College (Ill.), Senior, Math and Spanish - NCAA playoff participant…eclipsed most of the school’s single-season records with 215 completions in 292 attempts for 2,587 yards and 33 touchdowns…academic all-district first team…Dean’s List for six semesters…members of Spanish honor society – Delta Sigma Pi…received honors from the mathematics and modern foreign languages departments…served as volunteer Spanish instructor at local elementary school for second graders…also volunteers for special Olympics and the Boys & Girls Club.

Justin Beaver, RB, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater (Wis.), Sophomore, Physical Education - NCAA playoff participant…rushed for 1,745 yards in 2005…scored 18 TDs, averaged 5.7 yards a carry & 174.5 yards per game…number one rusher in Division III this season…Dean’s List every semester in school…member of the student advisory council and football council freshman year…assisted with Whitewater football camps and passing league official…helped mentor students at Palmyra-Eagle H.S…mentors troubled youth at Lad Lake.

Doug Phillips, QB, John Carroll University (Ohio), Senior, History and Communications - Threw for 2,543 yards and 25 touchdowns in 2005…two-time Ohio Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Week…leads OAC in passing touchdowns and is second in passing yards at 254.3 yards per game…Dean’s List all six semesters…honors program, 2005 National Football Foundation Draddy Award semifinalist…Habitat for Humanity, campus ministry and international children’s games volunteer.

Damien Dumonceaux, DL, Saint John’s University (Minn.), Senior, Biology & Mathematics - NCAA playoff participant…leads SJU with 67 tackles, 16.5 tackles for loss and four blocked kicks…2005 MIAC Mike Stam Award winner as conference’s top lineman…named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District 5 second team in 2005…will graduate with more than 150 credits…member of the biology & mathematics clubs, tutor for comparative anatomy, support staff member for struggling biology students…active member of the St. John the Baptist Parish as a religion education teacher.

Joe Rizzo, DB, Washington University (Mo.), Senior, Finance and Accounting - led team with six interceptions…had 37 tackles this season…Dean’s List, Academic All-UAA and CoSIDA First Team Academic All-District…Give Thanks, Give Back executive board…Phi Delta Theta president, Inter Fraternity Council vice president of campus outreach, campus interview team and varsity football team captain.