D3football Daily Dose

20 photos and one game posted in the UMAC Dome Day Phlog and 31 photos posted in the St. Thomas/St. John’s Phlog.
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If you have photos from the weekend you would like to share with us, please go ahead and send them!

Thank you very much,
Ryan Coleman
Photo Editor, D3football.com

What a difference a week makes.

Last week at this time I was shocked at Chris Sharpe’s performance for Springfield against St. John Fisher and shocked at Susquehanna upsetting Delaware Valley. Just seven days later Springfield gets held to single digits by Ithaca and Delaware Valley looked down right giddy after a gritty win over King’s.

And then there are things that never change. Mount Union 38 Capital 12.

I have a feeling we’re going to see a lot of questions the next two days over how the Empire 8 and CCIW will sort out their three-way tie at the top, should they have one two weeks from now. I don’t know how the Empire 8 will break the tie for their AQ since every conference does it differently. Thanks to the North Central website, here is how the CCIW would handle things.

“The Cardinals (6-2/4-1) sit atop the CCIW standings along with the Vikings (5-3/4-1) and Wheaton College (7-1/4-1). Should all three win out, the tiebreaker is point differential between the three schools. Augustana edged Wheaton 17-14 and Wheaton defeated North Central 20-7. The Cardinals’ 27-point victory gives them the edge in point differential.”

Wheaton (Ill.) would still have a good shot at a Pool C bid as they have one-loss and a 10.571 Quality of Win Index (QOWI) coming into this week. Augustana is now just 5-3 in region and will probably miss the playoffs. If you’re a Vikings fan, you’ll need IWU or Carthage to upset North Centralin the last two weeks. That would create a two-way tie at the top between Augustana and Wheaton, with the Vikings winning the head-to-head tie-breaker.

Teams that helped their playoff cause

Well, Concordia (Wis.) for starters. They clinched the Illinois-Badger Football Championship and its AQ today. Congratulations to Coach Gabrielsen and the rest of the Falcons for being the first ones into the party. Mt. St. Joseph pretty much wrapped up another HCAC title by beating Defiance. Wilkes can do the same in the MAC by winning either of its last two games, thanks to Del Val beating King’s today.

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NOTE: In my haste to post this, I overlooked three other teams that locked up bids with wins today. St. Norbert clinched the MWC and its automatic bid by beating Beloit. Even if the Green Knights stumble against Illinois College next week, they would finish the MWC season with a one-game advantage on their closest competitors. The MWC wraps up its season a week early.

As best I can tell, Occidental clinched the SCIAC with their come-from-behind win over Cal Lutheran. The Tigers now have a lead of two games or more on every team but Redlands (3-1 in conference). But Oxy already beat the Bulldogs and only has one conference game left. The worst Oxy can do is finish tied with Redlands and they have the head-to-head tie-breaker advantage.

And Wesley came as close to clinching a Pool B bid as you can by beating Salisbury 13-10. The Wolverines wrapped up the ACFC title and, more importantly for the playoffs, finished their regional season 5-0. The last two games against Chowan (D-II) and Morrisville State (D-III Provisional) won’t impact the record the NCAA Committee looks at for the playoffs.
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Wartburg rallied from a 10-point deficit to beat Buena Vista in overtime and avoid that critical second loss. Considering that the Knights were ranked 10th in the first regional rankings, they may be on the fringe of Pool C consideration as it is. And beating Cornell and Dubuque in the final two weeks won’t boost their QOWI that much. Speaking of teams with one loss, here’s what we’re left with.

Hardin- Simmons
Wheaton
Two of St. John Fisher, Ithaca and Springfield
Franklin
Wartburg
Bethel
Rowan
Capital
UW-LaCrosse

Dropped off: Alfred, Sul Ross State, Defiance, Wooster

Added: Springfield

Special thanks to “TecmoBowler” on the message board for doing the leg work here. He also broke down the biggest games left for each team before this week.

That’s 10 teams for seven spots, assuming the Pool B teams don’t take a Pool C bid. I still think that we’re going to have a two-loss Pool C team in the playoffs when it’s all said and done.

The team that best fits that profile right now is Baldwin-Wallace. The Yellow Jackets are the only team in the regional rankings with two-losses outside of those that need to win their conference to get in. If they can beat Capital in the final game, they would have an edge over the Crusaders. And not getting shelled by Mount Union looks good, too.

Teams that hurt their cause

Aside from the teams who picked up that dreaded second loss today, Rowan tops this list with its overtime loss to Montclair State. The Profs now either have to beat Cortland State next week to take over first in the NJAC or could miss the playoffs entirely. What a turnaround for a national title contender. For that matter, what a turnaround for Montclair State who got mashed 41-3 last week by Cortland. My unsung hero of the day – Vin Doffont who kicked two field goals over 40-yards in the Red Hawks win. If the weather in North Jersey is like what it was in Northeast PA, that’s very impressive.

I know Rowan’s offense has been subjected to a lot of criticism this year. But the Profs’ defense today gave up a 78-yard pass for one score, a nine-play 91-yard drive for another, a 43-yard drive in the final two minutes to allow the tying field goal and a score in overtime.

At a glance, it looks like Alma is out of the MIAA hunt. The best they could do is finish in a three-way tie with Olivet and Hope at 5-2 and the Comets and Dutch both already beat the Scots. How much of the MIAA title will be on the line next week when the Comets and Dutch play? Olivet! Let’s Hope we get a good game (ducks tomato).

This is Scott Miles live in Alliance, Ohio for today’s Ohio Athletic Conference matchup between No. 1 Mount Union and No. 4 Capital.

Both teams are 7-0 on the season and 6-0 in the OAC.

The last two times these teams met, Mount Union defeated Capital 34-31 in the NCAA National Quarterfinals. The Crusaders took a 31-27 lead with eight minutes left, but the Purple Raiders rallied with a touchdown of their own with less than four minutes on the clock.

Look for several talented playmakers on both sides to play a major factor in today’s game. The Purple Raiders are led offensively by running back Nate Kmic (126.9 ypg), receiver Pierre Garcon (101.3 ypg) and quarterback Mike Jorris (1st nationally in pass efficency). Offense is first nationally in scoring and defense ranks second in points allowed.

Capital counters with quarterback Rocky Pentello, the all-time OAC passing yards leader, and the OAC’s top receiver, Derick Alexander (110.7 ypg). The offense is fourth nationally in scoring, and a well-balanced defense ranks fifth in points allowed.

We’re an hour away from kickoff and it is cold, windy and raining here in Alliance. Weather conditions will definitely be playing a factor today.

Woo, baby, the regular season is getting down to the end and there are two giant games on tap this weekend.

We’ll have a blogger live at Alliance for the game between No. 4 Capital and No. 1 Mount Union. More on this game in Around the Great Lakes. I’m just hoping it’s a competitive game. We’ve seen so many so-called big games involving Mount Union turn into big freakin’ blowouts.

Keith McMillan and I will be in Belton, Texas, to call the game between No. 6 Mary Hardin-Baylor and No. 2 UW-Whitewater. Why are we going to Texas instead of Ohio? (Many of you have … well, let’s use the polite term and say asked.) It’s pretty simple — first of all, it’s a Division I-A style game, featuring two highly ranked teams from different conferences, one making a long trip. This time of year, non-conference games are rare and big-name games are even more rare. Second of all, note what I said about Mount Union and blowouts. Third, projected high of 76 tomorrow.

We booked this trip before Justin Beaver’s injury, but it becomes even more interesting now. UMHB has allowed fewer than 20 rushing yards per game this season and Whitewater’s vaunted offensive line will have its hands full.

Keith and I have started compiling our list of what teams we’ve seen and what stadiums we’ve been to. We’ve seen all four teams play and between the two of us we’ve been to all of the stadiums except the one UMHB plays in.

Keith is supposed to be writing more about this game today. I leave for the airport soon but we’ll figure out a way to get it online. He’s possibly the only person who’s seen both of the teams play, covering the UMHB/Christopher Newport game in Week 2 and the UWW/UW-La Crosse game two weeks ago.

Elsewhere in Division III, a colleague of ours just reported in from St. Louis that he’s staying in the same hotel as the Carnegie Mellon football team. He chatted up players, mentioned he knows the D3football.com guys, and reports they asked him to tell us to put them in the poll!

Carnegie Mellon is 7-0. Here’s the Tartans’ opponents:

No. 30 Carnegie Mellon (7-0):
Sep 02 AWAY Hiram (0-7) W 6-27
Sep 09 AWAY Grove City (1-6) W 0-28
Sep 16 HOME Westminster (Pa.) (2-5) W 33-6
Sep 23 HOME Franklin and Marshall (2-5) W 34-14
Sep 30 HOME Colorado College (3-4) W 50-24
Oct 14 AWAY Case Western Reserve (3-4) W 10-20
Oct 21 HOME Chicago (2-4) W 27-0

Nobody here with a winning record. They play at Wash U (5-3) Saturday afternoon. If they win that game they might be taken seriously. Otherwise, do the math: their opponents are 13-35.

The annual Johnnie/Tommie game takes place this weekend, as does the Rte. 13 rivalry between Wesley and Salisbury. Surprising Sul Ross looks for validity against Hardin-Simmons. Springfield heads to the grass to take on Ithaca. Long trips for Springfield in back-to-back weeks.

Another option team not many people talk about is Coast Guard. Granted, a season-opening loss to Merchant Marine, the best team on the schedule, doesn’t do much for national recognition, but I had the honor of being asked to call their Homecoming game for their Internet broadcast last weekend and had a good time. Steve Arguelles, who is tied for the national lead in interceptions with eight (matching King’s Craig Haywood), is a legitimate safety as a freshman. Presumably teams will try to avoid him as his career continues. But Christian George, the quarterback, is the key to the team. He left the game early with what appeared to be an ankle injury and if he can’t go this week, Coast Guard is in big trouble at Maine Maritime. Backup Niles Pierson basically wasn’t allowed to do anything in his time under center.

Also looking for legitimacy is Alfred, which hosts No. 17 Hobart. Alfred might be a great team but its schedule is so backloaded that we have no real clue. They lost by a touchdown at Springfield early in the season and close with No. 17 Hobart, No. 20 Ithaca and No. 19 St. John Fisher. Yikes!

Other games are on the radar as well — check out Defiance/Mt. St. Joseph.

Today is also the annual Dome Day in Minneapolis, where the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (not a D-III member league but with nine of its 10 schools in Division III) holds its championship. We have photographers at the Metrodome now to shoot all five games. It started at 8 a.m. CT. We’ll hear more from them later, if they can see straight after all’s said and done.

Injuries have always been a part of the game. For someone to go throughout their four years of college football without an injury would be the equivalent to someone picking all four teams in last year’s NCAA basketball final four. It just doesn’t happen.

Some injuries may cause an athlete to miss a play, series, game, season, or career. I’ve seen plenty of them and have had my fair share (knocking on wood). It’s funny how you don’t realize how much you appreciate the simple act of walking or running until you pull a hamstring; or being able to dress yourself once you tear a muscle in your shoulder.

It is true, football is just a game. There is much more to life than what is played between those thin white lines. However, it is funny how much you can take from such a violent game.

For instance, on Friday, September 22, Travis Hearn, a Rock Island High School junior running back suffered a serious spinal cord injury. He is now paralyzed from the shoulders down. Travis may never be able to walk or use his arms again, which makes a pulled hamstring seem like a paper cut.

Many rival high school teams throughout the area have collected thousands of dollars to be put towards his recovery. The Rock Island Rocks have come together as a team and more importantly, as a family. Vic Boblett, the head coach of the Rock Island High School football team stated, “It’s one of the neat things about football; it’s truly a family. You don’t realize how much of a family it is until you go through something like this.” in the wake of the injury.

This game means so much to so many people. Football has its many ups and downs, but throughout those trials and tribulations you really get to know the people surrounding you who share the same passion for the game. It’s a bond you don’t find too often. Then again, when something like this happens you realize how many things you take for granted.

Here at Augustana College we have started a fundraiser for Travis Hearn and the football team alone has raised nearly $1,200. If anyone would like to contribute we would greatly appreciate it, and so would Travis.

Contributions may be sent to any branch of THE National Bank, with checks made payable to: “Travis Hearn Fund”. One hundred percent of all funds collected will go toward the payment of medical care and related expenses incurred by Travis Hearn arising from this tragic accident.

The National Bank
1800 5th Avenue
Rock Island, IL 61201

Phone: (309) 752-9251

The NCAA has released its first regional rankings for 2006. Their top 10 teams by region, with in-region and overall records are listed below.

For more information about the playoff format and how participants are determined, check out our FAQ.

East Region
No. Name In-Region Overall
1. Springfield 7-0 7-0, 12.000
2. Hobart 6-0 6-0, 11.667
3. Rowan 3-0 5-1, 10.600
4. Wilkes 7-0 7-0, 11.714
5. Cortland State 6-0 7-0, 10.500
6. St. John Fisher 7-1 7-1, 10.875
7. Union 5-1 5-1, 10.000
8. Alfred 6-1 6-1, 9.857
9. Ithaca 5-1 6-1, 8.167
10. Curry 8-0 8-0, 10.000

North
1. Mount Union 7-0 7-0, 11.571
2. Capital 7-0 7-0, 11.286
3. Mount St. Joseph 7-0 7-0, 10.429
4. Concordia (Wis.) 8-0 8-0, 10.125
5. Augustana 5-2 5-2, 10.429
6. Wheaton 6-1 6-1, 10.571
7. Wooster 6-1 6-1, 10.143
8. Franklin 6-1 6-1, 9.714
9. Rockford 7-0 7-1, 10.000
10. Baldwin-Wallace 5-2 5-2, 9.143

South
1. Wesley 4-0 7-0, 12.000
2. Christopher Newport 6-0 6-1, 10.500
3. Mary Hardin-Baylor 6-1 6-1, 12.000
4. Trinity (Texas) 6-1 6-1, 9.857
5. Carnegie Mellon 6-0 7-0, 9.500
6. Hardin-Simmons 5-1 5-1, 10.143
7. Dickinson 6-1 6-1, 9.857
8. Washington and Jefferson 5-1 6-1, 9.333
9. Washington and Lee 6-1 6-1, 8.714
10. Averett 5-2 5-2, 9.000

West
1. UW-Whitewater 6-0 7-0, 11.833
2. St. John’s 8-0 8-0, 10.875
3. Central 6-0 7-0, 11.667
4. Whitworth 6-0 7-0, 10.000
5. UW-La Crosse 3-1 5-1, 9.500
6. Occidental 6-0 6-0, 10.667
7. Linfield 3-1 4-2, 9.750
8. Bethel 6-1 6-1, 10.714
9. St. Norbert 7-0 8-0, 10.714
10. Wartburg 6-1 6-1, 10.286

It’s that time of year when fans start to wonder about their team’s chances at the playoffs and where they might land if they do make it. Considering that we just finished Week 8 of 11, it’s appropriate and totally legitimate to start asking those questions now.

This is also about the time of year when my inbox starts filling up with specific questions about specific teams. So here’s what I’m going to do. Instead of just giving my response, I’ll open it up to other D3football.com staff and readers, especially those with intricate knowledge of the Division III handbook and such. That way, if you’re reaching for a glimmer of hope, you’ll have more chances at hearing an answer you like, although I have to warn you … even with 32 playoff spots, 202 of you get none, and that group usually includes some deserving teams.

If talk of Pools A, B and C confuses you, I suggest you start at our FAQ Page and the accompanying playoff primer:

After that, we’ll start answering individual questions. Although I can’t get to it right this second, here’s the one I’ll start with:

Hey,
First off, I love your column and the whole website. You guys do a great job and it is the only place I go to get my small school football info! Keep up the great work!

Ok, on to the important stuff.
Now I am a little confused about what it takes to get into the playoffs with the new spots. What are the chances of Depauw getting an at-large spot. I know the loss to Millsaps really hurt, and that we won’t have any huge wins. But, right now we are 35 in the Quality Win Index, and if we win out, I would like to think we have a shot at the top 25 in that category. Do you think winning out would be enough to make the playoffs? What if Millsaps wins the SCAC and Trinity then presumably gets an at-large, is there a chance of two SCAC at-larges? Any thoughts you have would be much appreciated, and I hope you get to come to campus for a game sometime this year!

Keep up the good work!
Drew Donovan

I’ll do my best to group all these questions and answers here. For those of you that find this interesting and see similar talk on Post Patterns or elsewhere on the blog, feel free to direct people here.

At some point soon, we’ll do official projections. We also publish the Quality of Wins index that the committee uses to judge strength of schedule when selecting teams.

Well all,
it’s mid-afternoon/early evening on a Saturday. Time to get one of these threads going.

Me? I’m in a very rainy and cold state of Iowa — trust me, anyone that cares will hear all about it in this week’s Around the Nation. Wartburg has outlasted Coe 10-7 in the rain and Central handled Cornell. Ryan Coleman and I got to see some nice campuses and nice teams, but the not-nice weather really limits how much insight one can gain on how well these teams would play on a dry day. I thought it hurt Coe especially.

As I get word of these scores, stunners are everywhere. Bridgewater not ruling the ODAC for the first time since I played, practically? Seven TDs for Chris Sharpe (jaw drops) … Del Val lost to Susque? Eiiiw. Word out of Ohio Northern and possibly DePauw is upset too, but I’m just getting my bearings. This traveling is really tiring … I do it all for you

Anyway, let’s get the Saturday chatter up…

… or photo/blogging mashed together, for the uninitiated.

The weekly photo blog has new software and better presentation. Take a look at this week’s featured images.

Keith deals with it in the Game Day blog post and comments, but Justin Beaver’s injury is a big blow for UW-Whitewater. Remember, fellow All-American Steve Angiletta broke his collarbone in a scrimmage in Week 1 and Union hasn’t gotten him back yet.

Can UWW make the playoffs without Beaver? Definitely, though this upcoming week’s game at Platteville has a different tenor to it. The UMHB game was never a gimme and is less of one now. We’ll know a little more next week.

Cortland State is officially the best team I’ve seen this year. (Competition for that “honor” comes from Wilkes, Hobart, Williams and Delaware Valley.) With Alex Smith they should be a Top 10 team, though I only saw him today for a drive and a half. Ray Miles was pretty decent as a replacement.

“We’re not a Top 25 team”
That’s what one Bridgewater fan communicated to me this afternoon. While I think that’s a bit harsh, I’m not surprised about the loss. Unfortunately, Bridgewater was floating upwards in our poll (and higher in the coaches’ poll) because of the attrition around it. Teams do not float on my ballot, at least not much. I feel pretty happy about the 17 that Bridgewater was at on my ballot and they will probably slide in at about 21 on mine this week.

One of the things I like about our poll is that when it’s not broken, our voters don’t fix it. I expect more of the same this week when voters analyze No. 4 Capital winning by a touchdown at No. 17 Ohio Northern. Doesn’t that prove the poll was pretty accurate, at least relative to those two?

Mt. St. Joseph has never been higher than No. 25 in our poll and has a shot at getting there this week. That would be about right after this week.

The sun’ll come out
There are some lingering questions about Rowan and they’ll be in the spotlight tomorrow at noon against Buffalo State. John McGraw will be there to call the game for D3football.com.

There was good news about injured Alfred player Julio Fuentes, as it was reported he has feeling in his legs. Continued best wishes for his recovery. He was injured back in September against Thiel.

Hmm …
Coast Guard won at Bridgewater State which makes the Bears the favorites in the NEFC Bogan. They did not win a game in two years in the Liberty League before moving. Curry remained unbeaten on the other side of that league.

Also …
Olivet wins at Albion to stay unbeaten in the MIAA. … CCIW could be a two-bid league if Augustana and Wheaton win out. … Similarly the SCIAC if Cal Lutheran beats Occidental, though that seems less likely after CLU’s two-OT loss to Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. … Hmm, yeah, more St. Norbert dominance. … Some Oshkosh fans were bemoaning the playoff system on the board and in e-mails to us this week. Those arguments just went Splatteville. … Carnegie Mellon still unbeaten. Waiting for the game at Wash U and the finale with Thiel before we know for sure what the Tartans have.