D3football Daily Dose

Don’t say you weren’t warned.

D3football.com values all of its patrons, so those of you who want to beef with each other can continue it here.

In the meantime, I’ll be keeping the Well-thought-out, respectful discussion on the semifinals free of smack talk, whining, bickering, beefing and any other kind of knuckleheadedness that doesn’t pertain to the title in the thread.

Believe it or not, some people just want to come on to the Daily Dose and talk football without being called names, having their motives questioned, etc.

That stuff will be acceptable on this thread, since it’s clearly labeled for such discussion.

As for the other clearly labeled thread, please save me the trouble of moving/removing any of your posts.

If you don’t understand why I moved your post, it might just be because it didn’t add anything constructive to the discussion over there, which was clearly part of the stated goal.

The offending posts (I was kind enough to find them a new home, as opposed to deleting them entirely) follow:

rigg0123 Says:
The 5th of December, 2006 at 11:49 am

I’d like to give a shout-out to the Mt Union Purple Raiders. The greatest sports dynasty of all time.

GIT R DONE boys GIT R DONE!!

I can’t wait for Saturday. MU 56 — SJFC 3

DOC SWAMI Says:
The 5th of December, 2006 at 12:21 pm

ST JOHN’S FISHER WILL GET WHAT ROWAN DID OUT WEST AT LINFIELD IN 2004. MT UNION IS FAVORED BY 17 AND SHOULD WIN BY AT LEAST 28. UW WHITEWATER IS FAVORED BY 13′. I REALIZE THAT WESLEY IS BETTER, BUT WHITEWATER I BELIEVE IS READY FOR THE SHOWDOWN WITH MT UNION AGAIN. WHITEWATER WILL WIN 31-7.

Purple Crush Says:
The 5th of December, 2006 at 2:50 pm

You are dreaming if you think the score will be that bad. Stop being a HOMER and get real, clone!

rigg0123 Says:
The 5th of December, 2006 at 3:01 pm

Hey-
Aren’t you the one claiming UMHB was going to cruise through the south region and crush Wesley?
You all still crying about your first round match-up down there in Texas? Maybe the selection commitee knew what they were doing after all.

OK, so I’ve had the idea for this thread all day today. I was hoping to give us, as D3 fans and alumni in general, the benefit of the doubt, that we were all highly-evolved enough not to need it. But we do.

So here’s the deal. This is the new home for discussion about Wesley at UW-Whitewater and St. John Fisher at Mount Union, with a caveat: Your posts have to have some sort of value to them: perspective, insight, well-thought-out reasoning or a question you need answered.

What you’ll get in return is a respectful environment where personal attacks and smack are limited, if not entirely absent. I’ll personally make sure of it.

For those who want to carry on with the immature stuff, the whining about not being respected, the jabs at other posters … we’ll still have other threads for that on the Daily Dose and Post Patterns (I’ll probably be on those threads too). But this isn’t the place for that.

If you’re a fanatical fan of one team and you honestly don’t know anything about the other, save your score predictions. You can be helpful here with the amount of insight you must have from watching the same team each week.

In a way, this thread is an experiment. People seem like they really value, and want, a respectful, intelligent atmosphere. But we’ll find out how much that is really wanted by how much you post here. Perhaps we all like to mix it up a little more than we want to admit.

In any case, here are a few questions to start off the mature, thoughtful discussion about these games:
1. Does the past matter? (Mount Union’s titles, last year’s Wesley-UWW result, Saturday’s games)
2. What’s each team’s biggest on-field strength, or on-field weakness? What will they need to do that they normally don’t do to win Saturday?
3. Which “unsung heroes” will be key to their team’s chances Saturday?
4. These are four cold-weather teams. Will weather matter? Whose style would be most affected by precipitation. Whitewater is a grass field, but the other three teams are turf. The Stagg Bowl is on grass. Factor or non-factor?
5. Kmic, Robinson, Beaver … who’s the best back left? Kleppe, Robinson, Stickley … best D-Lineman left?
6. Who has the most to prove?
7. D3 fans help out your fellow D3 fans … where to eat/stay and things not to miss on game day (besides the game) in Alliance and Whitewater.
8. How do the teams match up, in specific areas? Who is healthy and/or banged-up?

So here I am for the annual trip to Alliance where the weather is about 30-something degrees and there’s a good wind blowing across the field.

I feel a little silly wearing a Linfield sweatshirt, which I brought to have some fun with the SJU and Whitewater fans before the flight got cancelled. I need to buy some OAC wardrobe for these trips since we make enough of them.

Ric Brienza and “HS Coach” gave me a very pleasant surprise, printing me copies of their game charts which we have named “Brienzas” in honor of Ric. They combine all the players’ vital information in a shell that’s easy to complete for a new team and even easier to update for a team you’ve seen before. Bless their hearts for the help since this was a late change in travel plans.

A few Capital players were milling around at about 10 AM and seemed in good spirits. If nothing else, they won’t be intimidated playing in this Stadium. QB Rocky Pentello and the other four-year seniors are playing their sixth game against Mount Union.

As for the Purple Raiders, they are always good for some stunning stats.

- Nate Kmic averages 7.43 yards per carry and is within striking distance of Chuck Moore’s school record (7.46).
- The Purple Raiders are holding teams to 0.9 yards per carry. That’s about what you should get if your quarterback takes the snap and collapses forward.

The two guys I most look forward to seeing are Pentello to see how he stacks up against other OAC playoff quarterbacks in the past few years (Arth, Adamson) and Matt Kostelnik. A junior safety for the Purple Raiders, Kostelnik has amazing numbers — 44 tackles (fourth on the team), 11.5 TFL (2nd), 7.0 sacks (1st), 4 INTs (1st) including two for TDs. Hello, All-American team.

I’ll post some thoughts at the half and after the game, but the floor is certainly open for other thoughts from Wisconsin, Delaware, New York or wherever else you may be.

It’s that time again — probably way past it. When we have 264 comments and counting on last week’s Game Day Updates blog post, it’s time to start looking ahead.

The 32-team field has been drawn (Nov. 12) and quartered (through last weekend). Here we have eight teams remaining and four quarterfinal matchups — perhaps the best foursome in recent memory, if I didn’t make that completely clear in Around the Nation. I think we could see four single-digit margins of victory. And even though Pat Coleman and I provide this week’s expected final scores, and they don’t all fall in the single-digit range, we both know we’re looking at eight teams matched against opponents they can beat, should they put it all together Saturday.

It’s our third consecutive week of predicting playoff scores, and we do so not so much to flaunt our knowledge or embarass ourselves, but just to provide an idea of what’s expected to happen, so you’ll know you’re seeing history in the making should the results go off course. Pat has taken the wrong winner in just three of the 24 games so far, while I rebounded after a rough opening week to go 7-1 last week. Pat and I both missed one of the East bracket games and correctly hit the winners in the others.

Why is that relevant? Because our scores — done separately, without consulting each other — are again very similar. That may not speak much to what will happen, but it does paint a clear picture of what’s expected.

Wesley (South) Bracket quarterfinal in Dover, Del.:
Pat: Mary Hardin-Baylor 27, Wesley 23
Keith: Mary Hardin-Baylor 29, Wesley 28

Mount Union (North) Bracket quarterfinal in Alliance, Ohio:
Pat: Mount Union 42, Capital 21
Keith: Mount Union 35, Capital 23

Wilkes (East) Bracket quarterfinal in Pittsford, N.Y:
Pat: Rowan 20, St. John Fisher 17
Keith: Rowan 23, St. John Fisher 21

UW-Whitewater (West) Bracket quarterfinal in Whitewater, Wis.:
Pat: UW-Whitewater 31, St. John’s 20
Keith: UW-Whitewater 28, St. John’s 17

If Pat and I are wrong, and all four games are decided by a touchdown our less, that would be a first in the eight years of expanded playoffs. I looked back at the seven previous 28- and 32-team brackets, and found that all but three quarterfinal games were decided by seven points or fewer (12 games) or 25 points or more (13 games). No season has featured two margins like Pat and I are predicting in Alliance and Whitewater, but three (’02, ‘03 and ‘05) have featured three games decided by a TD or less.

It makes sense, as the early rounds have always seemed to separate the “playoff teams” from the “Stagg Bowl contenders.”

The road to Salem continues Saturday.

Feel free to comment on our picks or make your own below.

Monday evening, the nomination window closed for our All-Region teams. As I was looking through the ballots and testing the voting software, I found something unusual. Two of the four regions didn’t have even the minimum three tight ends nominated to fill our three teams.

So I started looking through the All-Conference teams to see whom I could plug in to fill the gaps and to my surprise, quite a few conferences don’t even bother to honor tight ends at the end of the year.

What the heck has happened to the tight end?

I do understand that run-blocking tight ends are hard to nominate because the statistics just aren’t there to entice someone to vote. But it seems like there are a lot of schools at which nominating tight ends is simply not on the radar. We saw it all season with the Team of the Week. But one un-nominated tight end was the leading receiver on his team. Another was the No. 2 receiver on his team and came from a school that nominated several other players, so it wasn’t like they forgot to nominate altogether.

I do also understand that teams using a spread or run-and-shoot aren’t always going to feature a tight end in the passing game. And in some cases, the person listed as a tight end lines up in the slot far more than as an actual end. (One of the most prominent “tight ends” in Division III fits that description.) But in the end, how can a region of 55 or so teams not have three tight ends worth nominating?

We’re barely underway and I’m about ready to close the book on Wheaton. Here’s the way the first six minutes have gone so far:
Wheaton got the ball first, punted.
Punt went 26 yards.
Then Pete Ittersagen, Wheaton’s top corner, got hurt.
Nate Kmic ran for a 52-yard touchdown.
Wheaton went three-and-out, giving up only its eighth sack of the season.
Wheaton punted for 25 yards. Mount Union ball on the Wheaton 35.

… as I write this Wheaton picks the ball off.

As I said on the front page, this should be a good week of games, at least outside of the top two teams in Division III. Looking forward to what should be classics in the other six games, especially these two East Region games.

As in the past, Keith McMillan and I are making our picks indpendently, without consulting each other. But as you can see, we’re on the same page on which games will be the most competitive, even if we don’t know who will win them.

Predicted scores:

East
Pat: Springfield 42, St. John Fisher 39; Rowan 17, Wilkes 15.
Keith: St. John Fisher 35, Springfield 34; Wilkes 13, Rowan 12

South
Pat: Wesley 24, Carnegie Mellon 20; Mary Hardin-Baylor 40, Washington and Jefferson 17.
Keith: Wesley 17, Carnegie Mellon 7; Mary Hardin-Baylor 42, Washington and Jefferson 14.

North
Pat: Mount Union 49, Wheaton 10; Capital 22, North Central 20.
South: Mount Union 31, Wheaton 9; Capital 24, North Central 17.

West
Pat: St. John’s 17, Whitworth 14; UW-Whitewater 42, UW-La Crosse 28.
Keith: St. John’s 31, Whitworth 21; UW-Whitewater 35, UW-La Crosse 21.

Other storylines
The rematches: Rowan blew out Wilkes in the first round last year. Springfield beat St. John Fisher in a regular season game in October. Mount Union ended Wheaton’s season in 2002, 2003 and 2004, while UMHB did the same to W&J in 2004. Capital beat North Central in the playoffs last season. UW-Whitewater and UW-La Crosse play every year in the WIAC, obviously.

Who’s healthy? Will Justin Beaver play for UW-Whitewater? Is Joel Clark back to 100% for Whitworth? Eric Lowry, Wesley’s top kick returner, may not play.

Who wins in the East? As Keith and I showed, the bracket is up in the air.

Enjoy your travels and cheer responsibly. Let’s play ball!

Thanksgiving is a time to … uhhh …. give thanks, right?

Here’s some things we should be thankful for as D-III fans.

We should be thankful we don’t have to deal with or worry about the BCS. When I read and hear the constant commentary about who should get to play Ohio State for the national title, I’m grateful we have five teams lined up in the bracket to play our Ohio team.

We should be thankful we’ve had three consecutive competitive Stagg Bowls and five such games in six years. Compare that to 1994-99, where the game was never decided by fewer than 20 points.

We should be thankful there are enough people at the NCAA who care about Division III to get our selection show on national television, and hope that the telecasting package the NCAA has put together for Division II football gets translated up a level for Division III next year.

I’m thankful that my 19-month-old still recognizes me, considering I’ve been working in Connecticut the past three months and the rest of the family is still in the D.C. area.

I’m thankful that my 180,000-mile car has gotten me everywhere I’ve needed to go in recent years. Hopeful it can get through the end of the football season, but not positive it will.

I’m thankful there are so many Division III fans that this site has become self-sustaining over the past couple of years. (And that Google does a good job at selling our space.)

And I’m thankful for the recent influx of registered users over the past couple weeks. A lot of them have been players whose playing careers have just ended. We’re glad you are sticking around, and we’re also thankful for your contributions on the field. Bring your classmates.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

Last night as I was updating the NCAA playoff results by conference on the front page — something that sits on the site 52 weeks a year and only changes five times — I was struck by the old adage: The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Apologies for the un-fanciness of the standings, but here they are:

Conference    W   L   Pct.
OAC          35   8   .814
NWC          18   9   .667
MIAC         19  11   .633
E8            5   3   .625
NJAC         16  10   .615
MAC          12   8   .600
CCIW         11   9   .550
WIAC          9   8   .529
SCAC          9   8   .529
ODAC         10   9   .526
NCAC         10   9   .526
ASC          11  10   .524
ACFC          4   4   .500
UAA           1   1   .500
PAC           6   8   .429
Independents  5   7   .417
UCAA/LL       7  11   .389
FFC (defunct) 3   5   .375
IIAC          6  11   .353
Centennial    4   9   .308
SCIAC         2   5   .286
Dixie/USAC    2   6   .250
MWC           1   8   .111
HCAC          1   8   .111
MIAA          0   7   .000
IBC           0   7   .000
NEFC          0   8   .000

Who gained and who lost? Well, I think the concept that a rematch automatically follows the original game took a big beating (thankfully). I’ve been reminding people all season that a team playing its first game loses to another team playing its second game does not mean that team is automatically better.

Conferences which gained this week

Northwest Conference: League champion Whitworth became the third conference team to win a playoff game this weekend with the first-round victory against Occidental. It probably is the only one the NWC will get this year but serves as a reminder that the league is not a one-trick pony. (And that’s only for people who don’t remember Pacific Lutheran.)

Ohio Athletic Conference: No. 1 and No. 2 seeds and two big blowouts. ‘Nuff said.

Empire 8: Two W’s for a league that hasn’t sponsored football for very long. The 5-3 record looks a lot better than 3-3 did.

Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference: Two wins gets the league, much maligned for its 1999-2004 performance, above the .500 mark in the automatic bid era.

University Athletic Association: Off the schneid thanks to Carnegie Mellon.

Conferences which fell this week

Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference: Ouch. The SCAC has already been looked at as a one-trick pony league with Trinity the only team to qualify for the postseason. The league hasn’t won a playoff game since Roy Hampton’s ill-fated night on the Riverwalk. The Millsaps loss doesn’t help.

Old Dominion Athletic Conference: Washington and Lee’s loss is almost as bad, though no No. 8 seed has ever won a playoff game … in the two years that No. 8 seeds have existed. Only Bridgewater has won a playoff game from this league, though at least Catholic, Emory and Henry and Washington and Lee have had the opportunity.

Illini-Badger Conference: Only disbanding can pull the league out of this hole.

Liberty League: Two one-and-outs from teams that each won playoff games last year. The conference loses a little bit of the ground it gained in the 2005 playoffs.

Partly cloudy, mid-to-high 40s here at Springfield, no wind as we are about 15 minutes away from kickoff between No. 2 seeded Springfield and No. 7 seeded Curry. I’ll be down on the field shooting for most of the game and won’t be checking in much but wanted to get the ball rolling for those of you at other games and those sitting at home.

Parking lot is packed with tailgaters — in fact, an hour before game time, there was nowhere to park. Excellent football weather, especially for mid-November in New England.

It’s the first meeting of these schools. Should be a quick game — you may have heard that Springfield runs the triple option, plus Curry runs for 227 yards a game so expect the clock to roll.