D3football Daily Dose

Some fake plants look better than others.

Sometimes you’ll see a vase of flowers or bowl of fruit and not be entirely sure whether it’s real or not. So you get a closer look, check for little plastic joints or “made in China” inscriptions on the leaves. Maybe you take a sniff to see if there’s an aroma. Sometimes you even have to touch the plant to know for sure. Then someone walks by and wonders why you’re fondling the plastic posies.

This week we get a closer look at some teams to see if they are real contenders for conference titles. We’ll look under the “leaves” of 3-0 Carleton as the Knights travels to MIAC master No. 4 St. John’s. We’ll give Mississippi College the whiff test as the 3-0 Choctaws head to Texas to play No. 5 Hardin-Simmons. We may even conspicuously brush Merchant Marine to see if the 3-1 Mariners can much up the Liberty League race against preseason favorite Union.

By the end of Saturday, we’ll know which of these teams are rooted in their conference races and which are just waxy fruit glossed up with early season wins. Moving away from weak allegories, here are some other thoughts…

Wish you were here: If I could be anywhere in the country on Saturday, it would be in Pella, Iowa for Central versus Wartburg.

The Central Dutch have very quietly moved up the Top 25 rankings. They were 18 in the preseason…then 17…16…14…and now 13. Perhaps just as quietly, the Wartburg Black Knights are undefeated and, as Keith McMillan points out in this week’s Around the Nation, are building confidence that they can win the IIAC again.

Don’t sleep on this one Howard Payne doesn’t play Hardin-Simmons or No. 12 Mary Hardin-Baylor for a couple weeks, but if the Yellow Jackets aren’t careful this week, those games won’t matter as much. I think Sul Ross State will make things interesting when they host HPU in Alpine, Texas. SRSU is 3-0 and coming off an emotional win over ETBU. Fear los Lobos. On the other hand…

Zzz: No. 1 Mount Union has beaten its opponents by a combined score of 197-21. Heidelberg hasn’t beaten anyone in approximately 113 weeks. This week they meet, in Alliance no less.

Most likely Top 25 team to lose: Central, who has the toughest test against Wartburg. Whitworth plays traditionally strong NAIA member Azusa Pacific, but the Cougars have lost two straight to WIAC teams, albeit very good ones in No. 2 Whitewater and No. 8 La Crosse.

Super Ridiculous Pick of the Week: Yes, Kalamazoo has averaged just six points against Adrian the past two years. Yes, Adrian is likely to be pretty feisty after last weekend’s 2OT loss dropped them to 1-2. Yes, the Bulldogs were preseason favorites in the MIAA. But K’zoo has lost both games by the same score (17-14) this year. They can’t lose by the same score three weeks in a row, right?

Kalamazoo 17 Adrian 14

Record thus far for these selections: 0-for-ever

And finally…

Slightly unique, though only slightly: The Blue Tigers of Lincoln (Mo.) travel to Millsaps

Good afternoon everyone!

This week is the fifth week of the Division III sporting season and also the fifth of D3sports.com national sports coverage.

We would like to introduce you to our photographers and our new Photos of the Week blog. Each week I ask my photographers to submit to me their best photos from the past week for a second publication and here they are.

If you would like to submit your own photos, you may certainly do so. A basic grasp of HTML is required and use of the IMG tag, for more information please read this story on HTMLGoodies.com.

And one last note: Humorous photos are acceptable. Please use the photos below as a guide.

Guidelines to posting your photos

All-American tight end Jon Branche comes up with a fourth-quarter touchdown catch for RPI against Hobart.

Whitewater’s fans come out for the upper midwest night game of the week.

I feel so cheated.

I was looking forward to listening to the DePauw/Trinity (Texas) game tonight, which should go a long way toward determining the SCAC title. It would’ve last year, too, had it not been washed out by Hurricane Rita.

At least they’ll get to make this one up tomorrow, unlike last year.

Phew: A couple teams may’ve saved their playoff hopes – at least for now – via special teams today. Thiel avoided a third consecutive loss on Sammy Koyl’s 27-yard field goal in overtime to beat Thomas More in the Tomcats’ PAC opener. And No. 20 Delaware Valley blocked an extra point early that turned out to be the difference in a 17-16 win over Lycoming. The Aggies avoid an 0-2 start in conference that would’ve basically erased much chance at winning the MAC. Keep in mind their win over FDU-Florham doesn’t count in the MAC standings because of a quirk in the 11-team conference schedule.

On the other hand: 2006 playoff teams Augustana and Concordia-Moorehead both lose again. The Vikings could bounce back when CCIW play starts next week, but the Cobbers’ heartbreaking lost to SJU drops them to 0-3.

Rowan Rusty? After two weeks off, the Profs’ potent offense was shut out this week at Division I-AA Robert Morris. Maybe the rare back-to-back byes were a factor. That shouldn’t be a problem next year. From what we’ve heard Rowan will add Wilkes and Wesley to its non-conference schedule starting next year.

Magic carpet ride update: As mentioned last week, Concordia (Wisc.) may be this year’s surprise team to post an undefeated regular season. Perhaps Carnegie Mellon will join them on the magic carpet ride. The Tartans improved to 4-0 with a 34-14 win over Franklin & Marshall behind Travis Sivek’s third 100-yard game of the year. Plus CMU has a freshman named Socrates Zacharias which is always fun. Unfortunately his major is biology, not philosophy.

Neighbors in more ways than one: There are two teams tied for first place in the MAC and they are located on the same street. No. 16 Wilkes isn’t too much of a surprise, but King’s is, particularly after losing star defensive end Tore Alaimo before the season started to injury. The Monarchs average less than 300 yards a game on offense, but are getting them when they count. Quarterback Jeff Searfass just missed a perfect game, so to speak, completing 17 of 18 passes in a 38-14 win over Albright.

Three cheers for: Adam Jordison who had five sacks in No. 15 Coe’s 41-17 win over Buena Vista…Westminster (Pa.) kicker Fred Romeo whose field goal was such sweet sorrow for Adrian, beating the Bulldogs 27-24 in 2 OT…Colorado College sophomore Justin Alexander who had 224 yards on 22 carries in the Tigers’ 46-3 win over Lewis & Clark.

There are lots of good games on the slate tonight.

Texas Lutheran is trying to stay in the race against UMHB.
Wash U will try to avoid another loss to a CCIW opponent versus Wheaton.
DePauw and Trinity will finally meet again.
And UW-Oshkosh will have a chance to show they can contend in the WIAC against UW-Whitewater.

If you want to offer thoughts on these games or any others from today, fire away. And you can listen to a lot of these games off the scoreboard page (click on the plus sign to reveal the radio links).

I’m having a good time in Connecticut — once you take away the high gas prices, the traffic, the Joe Lieberman/Ned Lamont ads, the fact that my family is 300 miles away, etc.

Hmm, let me rephrase. Living in Connecticut has given me the opportunity to see three new D-III fields already and five new teams. It’s never been my goal to see all 234 football teams or stadiums (think about it, that would take almost another two decades at one game a week) but it’s nice to get a look at some different environments.

Hobart at RPI is a game I wouldn’t have considered making the trip to if I still lived in Virginia, but it’s only a three-hour trip for me now. Even if upstate New York doesn’t repeat last season’s success, it’s better than anything I could have gotten to in the D.C. area.

Life begins at 30: Trinity (Conn.) gets back on the field this weekend, hosting Colby and putting its 30-game winning streak on the line. We get this question so often I think I’m going to put it in the FAQ: How come Trinity has won 30 in a row and I’ve never seen them in the playoffs? FAA: The NESCAC chooses not to participate. NESCAC’s loss. FAQ: How come Trinity doesn’t get ranked? FAA: Our voters don’t think they’re good enough and without any non-conference play it’s hard to tell. FAQ: Wait, doesn’t the Ivy League get ranked? They don’t go to the playoffs. FAA: Yeah, but Ivy League teams play non-conference games. When was the last time Trinity played someone from outside the NESCAC?

Colby went 7-1 last year but did not play Trinity. There are 10 NESCAC teams, so each team could play a limited schedule and still hit all nine opponents, but no, it only schedules eight games. The ninth is a scrimmage.

But then again, this is the league that listed its standings alphabetically until not that long ago.

Defying convention: Let me be the first to say … at least the first on this blog … that this year the Ithaca/St. John Fisher game will not come down to the last play. Three years ago, Ithaca won 20-19. Two years ago, St. John Fisher won in double overtime. Last year, Ithaca won in overtime. This year … Ithaca wins comfortably. A hunch. We’ll have John McGraw there to undoubtedly tell me otherwise.

Military madness: SUNY-Maritime is still looking for its first win. Even last week the Privateers lost to the club team from Gallaudet. When Gallaudet returns to varsity status next year it will have a 30-plus game losing streak, the longest in Division III, to shake off. They’ll face Norwich, which still has some military ties.

Then, just plain madness: Washington and Jefferson travels to Oberlin this weekend. Why, why, why? W&J, preseason Kickoff ranking, 15, at Oberlin, the preseason 186. And that 186 is about the highest Oberlin’s been.

Another upset pick: Gordon Mann and I each told Around the Nation’s Keith McMillan that Lycoming is the pick against Delaware Valley this week. Gordon and I both saw Delaware Valley struggle offensively last week and that is a big part of the reasoning. But I’ll throw out another and say UW-Stout will beat Whitworth. Couple reasons — first is the long trip for Whitworth to Menomonie, Wis., likely flying to Minneapolis and then piling in the bus for another couple hours. Second reason? Ask Hardin-Simmons about its trip to Stout a few years back.

Seriously, people like to pooh-pooh the concept of an air trip having an effect on a team but a prominent coach told me a few years back it absolutely makes an impact. Similarly, a team that hasn’t made an overnight trip all year could have trouble when taken out of its rhythm, say, in the postseason.

Someone tried to get me to say UW-Oshkosh would beat UW-Whitewater, but I don’t see it. We’ll have a photographer there anyway, however, just in case.

Major Payne: Note to Howard Payne — you guys are not in the NAIA. Play some D-III schools in non-conference play so we can find out how good you actually are. This week? Paul Quinn College, which is — not surprisingly — 0-2 after playing Division I-AA Jackson State and Division II Western New Mexico on the road.

In-house rivalry: The much-ballyhooed Catholic/Randolph-Macon rivalry returns this weekend. Not familiar with it? Well, it’s the D3football.com staff rivalry — Catholic is my alma mater and Keith McMillan played for Randolph-Macon. I first came to learn of Keith when he was picking off four passes against Catholic in a game I called on campus radio after graduation. It’s also Catholic’s longest-standing current rivalry, as the teams have played every year since 1987. Randolph-Macon leads the series 14-12-1, though Catholic leads 10-8-1 since the series was revived and leads by just 32 points over those 19 games.

The tie? Only the highest-scoring tie in Division III history, a 50-50 … let’s say spectacle back in 1995. And since there’s overtime now, the tie is built to stay that way.

I think Keith and I need some sort of traveling trophy associated with this game.

Soul-searching: Linfield has a bye this week after starting the season 0-2. Rowan gets back on the field after back-to-back bye weeks.

Kickoff is coming up quickly. Any thoughts in the waning hours?

Just a couple of quick items that crossed our desk earlier today:

1. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson will be on campus at Framingham State on Friday filming The Game Plan. The Gridiron Gang star told NBCSports.com that acting allows him to live out his NFL dreams.

That’s the greatest part about being an actor. I had those aspirations about playing in the NFL, about going to the Super Bowl. Now, I get a chance to play in the NFL, go to the Super Bowl, be the MVP. It’s like a dream come true.

2. Former Cortland State student-athlete Michele Celestino Falco faces an offer on Deal or No Deal Friday night of about $170,000. (For those who don’t understand the show, well, there’s amounts of money, suitcases, buyout offers, etc. It can’t be explained in 25 words of less.) Falco played field hockey and ice hockey and is supported by her husband, former Cortland State football player Anthony Falco. He’s ranked ninth in school history with 104 career receptions.

Hey, don’t forget to keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars. Or something.

That phrase above is the key part of the Division III sportsmanship statement, but in some places it is ignored by administrators and trampled on by fans. That’s the only conclusion I can draw from my experiences this past weekend.

As you may know, I went to three Division III football games over the weekend. At two of them, the fans did support the participants and officials in a positive manner. (More so the participants.) However, fan behavior at Wilkes was appalling, to an extent on both sides, but especially from the Wilkes fans.

As it stands right now, I would never take my children to a Wilkes game and I would recommend nobody else do so either.

And I’m not even talking about the inebriated mob standing in one end zone at the end of the game. It’s the fans in the other end zone who chose to berate individual players from the opposing team, loudly and with the foulest language I’ve ever heard at a D-III event. (And I’ve been to a lot.) At one point in the game Delaware Valley was punting from its own end zone. While several fans in the corner of the end zone were yelling at the punter, one person stepped up and yelled at the top of his lungs, “You f—ing f-g–t, you’re nothing but a f—ing f-g–t! Pressure’s all on you, you f—ing f-g–t!”

I shot a picture of the fan and it’s in our gallery if anyone wants to follow up.

Security? Nowhere in sight, of course.

I wouldn’t mention it if it were an isolated incident, or if the university had shown any interest in policing its crowd. But this harkens back, unfortunately, to many problems that we have had with MAC fans on the message board in the past, and echoes other problems reported regarding MAC fan behavior. You’d have to have been around the league a fairly long time to remember a brawl between Wilkes and Lycoming fans after a men’s basketball game in the late ’90s, but I remember full well, since it was part of a pattern of fan behavior, and a previous MAC commissioner and a since-departed basketball coach had the gall to blame us for it.

At the time, I pointed out that the MAC had no sportsmanship statement and if it did, it was not on the conference’s Web site.

This is going on eight years later and the MAC still does not. It doesn’t even pay lip service to sportsmanship, and it shows at the games. It is long past time for the MAC to take this seriously.

“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.”

Let’s see, profane, racial, sexist and intimidating. Yeah, that pretty much covers it.

The MAC should take direction from its like-minded neighbor to the north, the Empire 8. That league has been at the forefront of sportsmanship efforts in Division III for years and commissioner Chuck Mitrano has been the driving force. Sportsmanship in Division III was the subject of a lengthy piece in a recent edition of the NCAA News.

“You could educate until you’re blue in the face, but if you don’t have a policy under which to monitor and enforce things — to hold people’s feet to the fire — it just isn’t going to be beneficial,” Mitrano says in the NCAA News piece. “To really have an impact, be successful and have longevity, all three things have to work together.”

But that requires work. The MAC needs to roll up its sleeves and get to it, like other conferences have already done.

And this to the fans, though I’m repeating something I wrote in December:

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).

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. Otherwise, act like the adults you allegedly are.

If I had to summarize what I learned in Week 3 in one sentence it would be, “Life after Superman as your quarterback isn’t nearly as much fun.”

The three best quarterbacks I’ve seen in person the past three seasons are Brett Elliott (Linfield), Adam Knoblauch (Delaware Valley) and Mike Orihel (Rowan). The first two graduated, leaving Linfield and Del Val trying to find replacements and ways to score. Through four games the Wildcats and Aggies have combined for 46 points. Yes, they’ve played some very good defenses in (HSU, Wilkes, non-Division III Western Oregon). But there are lots of growing pains when you try to replace quarterbacks like those two.

On the flip side, the sign of a great defense is that they have different guys who impress you on any given weekend. For Wilkes, I’ve been a big fan of All American LB Kyle Follweiler for a couple years now. But it was DT Anthony Serafin who impressed in Week 1, causing havoc in WPUNJ’s backfield. This week it was Wilkes’ defensive ends Keith Cavallotti and Erik VanGilst who used their speed on the outside to cause pass protection problems in the Colonels 14-7 win over Delaware Valley.

Elsewhere…

Back up and running: Springfield College certainly knows how to bounce back from losing seasons. They went from 4-6 in 1999 to 11-2 in 2000…4-5 in 2001 to 8-2 in 2002…4-6 in 2005 to, well, we don’t know yet. But they’ve already registered two impressive wins over Union and Montclair State.

Maybe it’s coincidental that Springfield has this sort of cyclical success. Or maybe it just takes Coach DeLong a little while (about a year) to find some players who can thrive in that triple option set. Once they get that system down, the Pride offense takes off.

Looking at quarterback Chris Sharpe’s numbers over the past four games going back to 2005 – 795 yards and 13 TDs – I think he’s got the system down pretty well now.

Close games are overrated: Five of the top six teams were in action today and won by an average margin of 43.2 points. Mount Union scored 71 and didn’t even have the largest margin of victory – SJU won 60-0.

Magic Carpet Ride Watch: There is usually at least one team a year that has a surprising undefeated run through the regular season. Last year there were at least three in Monmouth, Thiel and Wesley. The year before it was Wooster, to some extent.

There’s still A LOT of football to play, but maybe this year’s magic carpet rider are Concordia (Wis.). At a glance they are the first IBFC team to get through non-conference play unscathed since MacMurray did it back in 2002.

Three cheers for: Wheaton (Ill.) receiver Noah “says if we get in the ark it’ll be” Dreyer, who had 3 TDs in the Thunder’s 45-7 win over Washington University of St. Louis…Mount Union quarterback Mike Jorris who has thrown 10 TDs and just on INT through two games…Bethany Head Coach Tim Weaver whose Bison need just one more win this season to equal their total wins from 2003-2005.

K-Mack’s already done a nice job looking at this weekend’s action so I’ll just quickly throw my two-cents (plink, plink) in the jar.

Wish you were here: While the showdown between No. 7 Hardin-Simmons and No. 11 Linfield should be a lot of fun, I’m pretty satisfied with where I’ll be this week – Edwardsville, Pa. for No. 12 Delaware Valley vs. No. 19 Wilkes.

This game has played a big part in deciding who will win the conference title the last three years. In 2003 Wilkes upended upstart Delaware Valley, knocking the Aggies out of first place for good. In 2004 Del Val clinched the school’s first ever NCAA playoff appearance for a team sport by beating Wilkes 12-0. In 2005 a late field goal by Bill Miller was the margin of victory in the game and the season as the Aggies nosed out Wilkes for the title.

I don’t know how much offense there will be on Saturday, but the two defenses are very good. Maybe first one to 10 wins.

Down sleep on this one: Christopher Newport opened the season by getting drubbed 32-0 by No. 3 Rowan and then bounced back to upset then-No. 6 Mary Hardin-Baylor. Salisbury basically did the opposite, opening with a win over then-No. 15 Washington & Jefferson and then getting beaten handily by Brockport last week. This is a crucial game for both teams who come in 1-1.

Just throwing it out there: Big weekend for the CCIW and the UAA. Elmhurst and Chicago meet after winning their openers by a combined score of 86-0. Wheaton (Ill.) gets a good test in 2-0 Washington University. If you can’t get to a game on Saturday, you could hopefully still watch that second one via streaming video on WETN.

Most likely Top 25 team to lose: Obviously at least two will lose with the aforementioned games between ranked teams. But Bethel could make it three against No. 23 Concordia-Moorhead who is coming off a loss, a bye and a road trip. UW-Whitewater isn’t “likely” to lose, but NAIA Azusa Pacific is a big test and hasn’t lost to a Division III team in a long time.

Super Ridiculous Pick of the Week: It wasn’t that long ago that Hartwick lost some heartbreaking games to Ithaca. In 2002 and 2003 the Bombers rallied in the fourth quarter to beat the Hawks 19-18. Since the 2003 loss Hartwick has won 8 games total with some Arena Footballicious scores along the way (70-41, 59-41).

Ithaca has given no reason to pick against them in the first two weeks with convincing wins over Buff State and Huntingdon. Meanwhile Hartwick needed a shootout victory over Endicott in Week 1.

So naturally this is a perfect candidate for this week’s super ridiculous pick of the week - Hartwick 42 Ithaca 41 2 OT

And finally…

A pretty cool souvenir: When a certain MIAA team is done playing Austin College this week, they should return home with Austin’s nickname and become the Kalamazoo Kangaroos.

As I take a proverbial “victory lap” as a fifth year senior at Augustana College, sitting down to write as an insider for a third year I recall that it has never been easy to sit down and write a blog after a loss. After every sentence, word, and letter I punch into the keyboard I beat myself up over what I could have done better to have enhanced my teams’ chance of walking off the field with a victory.

Could I have broken a few more tackles or have made better blocks Saturday? Could I have worked harder in practice last week? Could I have pushed myself harder this summer? It is easy to question yourself when things aren’t going well and easier after a loss. However, what good comes from staying below the level you feel you have sunk to?

I can’t go back and change the outcome of our 17-7 defeat against Baldwin-Wallace this past Saturday, and no one in America could go back a day on 9/11/01 and prevent what happened to the World Trade Center twin or to the Pentagon. Though our experience is miniscule in comparison, tragedies and setbacks do happen. It’s a part of life. There is no good that comes from feeling sorry about yourself or your situation, but there is no greater feeling than rising to the light that is above the darkness inevitably set before us.

As an American and football fan, if you don’t get the chills while watching highlights of NFL players screaming out of a tunnel waving the American flag sky high to hundreds and thousands of ecstatic fans post 9/11 you better check your pulse. That was a time where it would have been easy for us to feel sorry for ourselves. We could have questioned our national security. We could have questioned this country’s morale.

We did the exact opposite. We rose above the darkness the fallen World Trade Center shed across our country and the light ahead was brighter than ever. We all saw this country come together like never before and it is something I will never forget. Now in no way is a loss in a football game comparable to 9/11, but the only good that can come from last Saturday is to push yourself to get better.

That said, sorry to cut it short, but I have a practice to get to……