47 thoughts on “UWW whomping UMHB: What does it mean?”

1. Alright…I’ll start it out….UWW showed that they were still elite in my opinion…It was hard to tell how they would be this season with so many changes..but they showed up, made big plays, UMHB needed to be more on top of it…you cant turn the ball over that many times against anyone I dont think and expect the game to come out your way…as for best effort…you need to be ready to give your best effort in a game this big…UMHB didnt seize the moment….

   Im sure this will be debated, and being such a fan of Mount as I admittedly am, it might be biased….but here goes anyways….this year’s MUC team, should they not get complacent or over-confident, is going to be extremely tough to beat I think….so many players with playoff experience from last year’s run…The offense is very good, and even when the O seems a little off…the defense has always been there with top notch performances…the level of football being played this year in the OAC is up for debate, but the wins have all been solid for MUC….I think it will come down again this year to a team having enough firepower to combat all of Mount ‘s weapons…when one isnt working, they beat you another way on offense…or the D just shuts people down….no one is unbeatable….these guys could forget to show up one week and get bumped off like anyone else…I hope they continue to bring the intensity and land a spot in Salem….

2. I know stats do not win football games. But, everyone should look at the stats of this game before voting. UMHB led the stats in all categories except passing yards, red zone percentage (barely), and unfortunately, ;( in tackles and penalties. I chose option 6.

3. Stats?? Maybe your team was looking at stats before the game too. UMHB was third in total offense, third in rushing, first in scoring offense, second in turn over margin, first in tackles for loss, first in turnovers gained, and first in passes intercepted. It looked good on paper before the game didn’t it? Then a blow out… and you’re still talking about stats???

4. Sorry, that should read “first in rushing”. My appologies to your stats.

5. I was at the game and to my mind the difference is QB play and passing game production. WW had a better passer in Jones and a better passing scheme. UMHB’s QB seemed to have a weak arm (his passes floated or were underthrown) or just threw the ball late. There was never really a threat that the Crusaders would get big plays out of their passing game.

   Otherwise, I thought the defenses of the two teams were pretty equal.

6. This is coming from a Cru fan, mind you, and I said this last week – MHB was never going to roll over Whitewater and I was afraid this might happen – though not quite this bad. MHB, for all the points they ran up on ASC opponents, can be a bit of a sloppy team – especially in the first half. For that reason alone, I had a feeling that something like this could happen. I had a feeling that a lack of a strong passing game, ball control and for crying out loud – PENALTIES – would kill them. The ball control hasn’t been as much of an issue in the past but it can be at times for them. They were able to get away with more sloppiness in their conference games. But they couldn’t get away with it on UW-W. Coach Fredenburg even said this himself – that the Cru isn’t used to having to play catc-up ball and that leads me to belive that mentally they couldn’t come back from 28 down. I even heard that MHB was picked to win this game and I just had a gut feeling that it wouldn’t happen. In my opinion the West is much better than the south anyway. The Cru hasn’t really had a big challenge yet until now. But I didn’t expect them to get beaten so badly.

7. I agree with the comments the passing game. There were just a handful of plays where MHB’s big boy Oliver was matched up against Gabe Schultz, and he had that full foot+ height advantage. Welch threw one high ball that was no contest, easy catch. After that, Schultz was consistently matching up against other receivers and Oliver was matched up by taller guys. When MHB was in the red zone, 6′ 5″ Ben Farley covered him. That at least limited an easy throw option they had, and with the wind being a factor really affected what MHB could do in the air. We weren’t more than 5 minutes into that game when I said the MHB does UWW a real favor whenever they go back to pass. Unless they can do more in the passing game, MHB has to run for probably 300 yards or more in a game to beat a good team. That’s what they were doing this year – until yesterday. If teams can just slow down their run game (not an easy thing at all), MHB does not appear to have the passing game to take over. Balance, can be a wonderful thing.

8. I think the score was a result of 2, 3, and 4. Whitewater is obviously a better football team that MHB, and this game proves how much better the West is than the South. The competition in the West is just not comparable to the competition in the South. MHB fans were a little to confident about their team coming into THE PERK and pulling out a victory. Jones, Beaver, and the defense are all starting to jell together, and this team looked elite for maybe the first time this season. With the losses of Kleppe, Jacobs, Schmitt, Stanley, Sakelaris, Widduch, etc., the current team finally has its own identity. Whether or not the MHB fans want to admit it or not, they underestimated this team, and for that all the credit goes to Coach Leipold and the team for coming to play. We showed the Crusaders that they weren’t going to be playing Mississippi College on Saturday at THE PERK!!

   Also, since when was winning football games about stats???? I knew the whole stats thing was going to come up in conversation on Sunday, but it is a moot point. UWW took advantage and CAUSED several MHB mistakes, and that is exactly what good defenses do. Credit goes out to the defensive staff and the players for a great game plan that was executed to almost perfection.

   And a note to MHB players, fans, etc.: I speak for the entire UWW crowd and players at the game on Saturday when I say the stomping on the W at midfield and not showing up for the national anthem were not classy moves. Those are things that are not necessary in college football. I can’t believe the MHB players would do such a thing as jump on OUR W, but I guess the result of the game put them in their place. As far as the national anthem thing, maybe that was just a miscommunication between UWW and MHB, but that is inexcusable and hopefully will never happen again.

9. I have to say, I was very surprised at how the game went. Pleasantly surprised, but surprised nonetheless. I have to agree with txpiano on the Cru just getting down too much too quick. Even then though, they still looked like they could have come back. They had their option game working pretty well against an otherwise stout UWW defense. The problems came when they went to the air. QB just did not look comfortable or confident in his throws. The two pick 6’s killed them (second one sealed the game). I think that if they had stuck with their bread and butter a little more, they would have had a chance to comeback. Penalties were also huge, but for both sides. MHB’s first TD was set up by a number (IMHO many questionable) penalties on the UWW defense. The difference of the game though was hands down the play of the QB’s. MHB is a much better team than the final score indicated, and they are a team that I would just as soon not see UWW play again come postseason time.

10. I’d take #6.

    Let’s face it, you can’t turn the ball over 5 times and expect to win against a Top 5 team in the country [unless you are the Dallas Cowboys].

    I’ve watched UMHB play for the last 6 years and this is by far the most talented and deep team as possible. It was probably good for them to get their butts beat like that…last time that happened during the season, they went to Salem!

    I don’t believe losing the #1 seed in the South will make a difference on how far UMHB goes in the playoff’s.

    It will be interesting to see if the NCAA committee formats a Cru – Mt Union semi-final or a WW – Cru semi-final. I would place my money on UMHB heading back to Whitewater for another rematch.

    Both teams a very good – – Mt Union could learn a lesson and start scheduling some harder non-conference opponents..

11. BaylorFan,

    They did in the past WW in ’02, ’03 and in the future St John Fisher in ’08 & ’09.

    It is important they do this so they can get better!!!!!!! Lesson taken.

    The OAC typically is as good as scheduling most out of region games too.

    This years OAC while it appears to be a little down is still as stiff a test as most teams will face when they go out of conference. The WIAC also falls in to this category. The only problem they face is they do not have a ten team league and have difficulty finding teams that are willing to play them.

    See you in Alliance or Salem.

12. This just reinforces one of the oldest truisms in the book: You can’t turn the ball over against a good team.

    Whether it was SJU 2005 (eight fumbles, seven lost) or UMHB 2007, those will kill ya. I had doubts going in: I thought UMHB was better and didn’t noticer the lame air game, and wasn’t as sure about the UWW D without Kleppe — but was proven wrong. Another great UWW team.

    However, is it just the UWW or the WIAC? I think it’s more of a West regional thing. Consider last year’s playoffs: Aside from the MWC walkover, UWW eked out 24-21 and 17-14 wins just to get the chance to flat out spank Wesley. Even the 2005 team needed a squeaker just to win the West (and skate past the South champ).

    But if you look at what all West teams have done vs. East and South teams in the semis lately, the results are telling.

13. BaylorFan,

    I think you’re being a little more than presumptuous. First of course assuming that your “most talented and deep” Crusaders will even make it out of the South. You’ve had the same team for the last two years and where did that get you? A secondly (and more glaringly) were you telling Mount Union to learn a lesson???? Where do you get off? Because I think it is your stop.

14. I wonder if there were as many DII teams in Wisconsin as there are in Pa if the DIII schools would be as good as they are. There is a bid difference in size and speed from one level to another.

15. D3Keith,

    Your statement about wanting to play the Raiders is quite true. If they keep their heads about them and LK usually has that under control then this team is probably better than the team that beat WW in last years Stagg. WW is putting together a good run but I do not feel IMHO they are as strong as last years. St Johns has to overcome the Perkins mystic again this year as it looks like WW will be #1 again in the West. Third time is a charm maybe.

    I was surprised that UMHB did not stick to what brought them there. They have two backs that are gaining 1000 yards each and should have worked on keeping the ball away from WW. Of course giving the ball away really gets in the way of this. It was early in the game though and they still had plenty of time. It sounds like they got themselves in trouble whenever they tried to pass. When they beat the Raiders in ’04 as it was mentioned earlier, they had a two back combination similar to this year and they just pounded the ball in the fourth quarter and put themself in a position to win with the Hail Mary at the end of the game. It still hurts to remember that one.

    At least it wasn’t my fault since I wasn’t at the game. Circa ’99 Rowan and ’03 ST Johns. LOL.

16. How about giving a little credit to the Hawks defense for some of those turnovers. All week the buzz was about how the rushing duo had run for a combined 523 yards rushing the week before and that they were all but unstoppable. Didn’t happen as they were held to 118 yds yesterday. That forced the Cru to have to do what they are weakest at, pass the ball, which resulted in the 2 picks. When you play at the top of D-3, your offense can not be one-dimensional. You must be able to take what the defense gives you and the Cru could not do that yesterday. With Beaver being held to 77 yards as well, both defenses were very tough against the run and both teams were forced to pass to win. The Hawks just did it much better and defended it much better. At this elite level, you will not JUST run all over any team. The Cru are obviously a very talented team. I would say that the result was a combination all those theories above but to varying degrees.

17. PA,

    There are no DII teams in WI. That’s part of the reason some people use for the WIAC to move to DII. As a former coach in the WIAC, it is a great conference and I hope they stay D3 and continue to do great things. I think the state system in MN could learn some lessons from WI.

18. Dedreagon,

    sorry you misread my post. I said in it that “stats do not win ballgames”. I am an ex-coach as well and I understand you have to do it on the field where it counts. My point was to illustrate my reasons for my choice of option 6. I give full credit to Whitewater for taking advantage of UMHB’s dreadful mistakes. I would just like to have seen a game where neither side made glaring errors (like last years game which despite the low score was a excellent game to watch).).

19. Baylorfan,
    thanks for telling the team who has won eight titles in the last eleven years that they have a lesson to learn…I love when stupid excuses meant to cheapen Mount’s dominance get thrown out like that….and it always starts out right before playoff time…folks find a hundred ways to call MUC weak… the OAC is usually much tougher than this year, and I really think Capital in another conference would have been in the Stagg last year…are all the teams like Cap?…no…but its not as easy as it looks…personally, Id love to see us take on some other so-called “tougher” teams…and after Mount beats them you’d have to find another excuse to move on to…

20. Baylorfan,

    Just curious what “lesson” it is that Mount Union needs to learn about scheduling? I can’t recall too many problems that have arisen for them the past 14 years that are a result of “weak” scheduling.

21. Well Ladies and Gentlemen,

    I was on the field yesterday and I seem to have viewed a different game.
    Here is what I saw.

    Opening kickoff – MHB – Receivers undecided who would catch the kickoff. Ball went into the endzone.
    Other kick off – tried to get fancy and backs seemed to be undecided – danced around – Whitewater kickoff special team – swarmed and gang tackled — no place to go.
    UW-Whitewater Defensive line – nuturalized MHB Offensive line – UWW linebacker swarmed to stop the “Record Breaking Run Offense” You have good running backs but UWW has GREAT Linebackers — Big Edge to UWW

    Our entire team (UWW) was ready to play football. Intensity was all over the field. UWW defense forces MHB into making mistakes. Sure – statistic make it sound like it was a close game, but you can’t measure the win with statistics. You measure a win by the final score. 28 to 0 at half is hardly a close game – not even close. Mistakes are forces or are created by not being ready to play.
    I know – I played as a starter for 3 years — When you have your game face on, you don’t make mistakes.

    One thing many people may not know, but the size of colleges that are in the schedules of these two team point out something. You can have big scores agaist other simular sized (enrollment) teams, but when you get down to it – larger colleges alway have a larger number of better athletes. Why does Division one team have better teams — scholarships and more students to pay for the better athletes. Colleges of 1000 – 2000 students just don’t have the same financial resources as larger collages of 8000 – 10,000 students. Division 1 colleges are in the 25,000 to 40,000 students — Size does matter.

    Bottom line – yesterday – Whitewater was the better team — now another day- the score could be closer – but I don’t think so. — UWW had a better defense – Offense didn’t make any mistakes — Pentalties hurt both teams.
    Turn over – 5 to 0 2 Direct TD returns and set up for another — Poor execution by MHB? or UWW Forced MHB to make mistakes — maybe both. – either way the score said – UWW- 41 and MHB 14. Win for UWW — #2 in the country this week.

    Both teams will see each other again.

    I my opinion – MHB not being on the field was disrespectful of our military service men.
    It was a game that was honoring our Militrary – who defend us all. It was something that should not have happen. You can play all of the mental games you want, but that one was not good. You can yell and scream and trash talk all you want, but in the end – UW-Whitewater won the game by being focused and played hard without making major mistakes. My hats off to all of the Warhawk Players — job Well done.

22. Baylorfan, if I had your email, I would discuss this off-line.

    MUC is a member of the 10-member OAC. That gives them 1 non-conference game. Coach Kehres has not shied away from tough games. The current 2-year contract was with Averett, whose Head Coach wanted to give his players the Mount Union exposure. The next two-year contract is home-and-home with St John Fisher, who played MUC in the 2006 Semis.

    I think that a UMHB-MUC series would be great. As an out-of-region game, it would not have the same impact that the UWW-UMHB series has.

23. Hooper73,
    I didn’t quite follow what your point was on the enrollment factor. If size does matter, why does Mount Union with only 2,000 students have all those rings, while WW and the rest of the 10,000+ schools in the WIAC have none. WW has more students than Notre Dame. Any school, no matter what size they are can be in Div. I, all they have to do is fund the scholarships. Number of scholarships given is the determining factor as to what Div a school participates in. The size of the schools in the WIAC could easily put them on par with Div IAA schools, as most of them have between 8,000 and 12,000. But in my humble opinion, as long as they choose to not give scholarships, they really don’t have any other advantage over other D-III schools. You either recruit good athletes, or you don’t.

24. I don’t know why MHBU was not on the field for the anthem, may indeed be just an unfortunate timing issue, (if intentional then not a good move,) but to get offended for the team to gather in the center of the field to yell and get the team fired up to play before the game is reaching and being over sensitive in my opinion. It is the center of the field, seems a natural place to gather before going to the bench before the whistle. No need for Warhawk fans to be looking for something to criticize. I was very impressed with their classy program while in Texas last year and saw no reason to doubt that yesterday.

25. “while WW and the rest of the 10,000+ schools in the WIAC have none. ”

    If we can believe the stats on the front page, there are no 10K enrollments in the WIAC.

    As long as they play by the D3 rules, they belong.

    While I’ll grant they might fit what many think is a d2 profile instead of the typical d3, I have NO PROBLEM with them in d3. (I just hope they’d revert to their big, slow days and lose early in the West region form … 🙂 )

    Perhaps at some point size MIGHT matter. I don’t know where that point might be, however. We aren’t there yet.

    I’d be a little concerned, for example, if per Dedragon’s note, that Minny state schools would move to d3. It would work for the NSIC teams, but St. Cloud, which is pushing 14,000 plus Mankato and Duluth are large as well. I’m guessing their d1 hockey programs might keep them from leaving d2 FB.

    This seems to be one of those inevitable late season topics … next up, why MUC should join the NFC West….

26. repete,

    I stand corrected, the WIAC average about 9000. According to the WIAC website, here are the numbers.

    Oshkosh 12,400
    WW 10,600
    Eau Claire 10,500
    LAX 8800
    St. Point 8600
    Stout 8400
    Platteville 6200
    River Falls 6100

    and as I said earlier, I have no problem with it.

27. Mainjack,

    Yeah, I was agreeing with your point and disagreeing with Hooper … but just surprised by the numbers because I hadn’t seen any above 10K.

    Those numbers vary quite a bit from the d3football front page, which has the largest WIAC school at 9,300 or so. Seems the numbers are a bit out-of-date.

28. Ralph Turner,

    Sweet Jesus….the “lesson to learn” would be to look to schedule harder non-conference teams to highlight great regular season games. It would be nice if the NCAA would drop the “regional” alignment, we all know that the “travel” policy for the playoffs ruin possible great late round matchups.

    Sorry that the OAC allows only 1 non conference game.

    I’d love to see Coach Fred schedule a home-away series with Mt. Union.

    Recently moved to the Cincinnati area and I’ve heard about as much as I can handle regarding OSU.

29. The size of the school and the quality of the team aren’t really closely related. If Whitewater chunks out 2500 CPA candidates, or chemists, or special ed teachers every year, how much does that really help the football team? Heck, half of them are women!!

    Wait a sec – that many women students … Oh, now I see the point.

30. I am a UMHB fan, and I was at the UMHB/UWW game yesterday and I guess I must put in my .02 worth, or maybe more!! I would frankly say–all 6 statements are in one way or another true, and were definitely true yesterday.

    First, though I must say something about the disrespect comments. I have seen virtually every UMHB game for the last 4-5 years. They go to the middle of the field and do that at every warmup before the game, home or away. I really do not think there was any intent at all to stomp on the “W” or do anything like that. I hope the UWW team did not think that but they sure played like they wanted to send UMHB a message. UWW was awesome.

    I also think the national anthem was surely a miscommunication. I saw the clock before the game and saw that it was really showing the game actually starting at 1:05. If our coaches just looked at that and did not get the word any different they still came out a couple of minutes before the clock ran down. At home we do not play the anthem until both teams are on the field. I really think they did not understand the timing yesterday,and there was no disrespect to UWW or our country or any gamesmanship involved. We obviously had lot worse problems than the midfield complaint or the anthem.

    Having said all that, UMHB really played into UWW’s hands yesterday in every way. Is UWW better? Yesterday, absolutely. Another day? Frankly, probably, at least right now, but certainly not 27 points better.

    No one has mentioned the wind but it was really fairly strong, and pretty much not a crosswind but straight up and down the field. All 3 ints. were into the wind and were difficult throws, especially for our QB who frankly is better on short throws or long throws where you can loft it up. I agree that the UWW QB play was far superior yesterday. Jones not only played very smart and controlled but he had a powerful arm, even into the wind. 2 of the interceptions were in the middle of the field 25-30 yards downfield and a “gun” was required and they floated badly into the wind. The UWW players obviously made great plays and took them back. The 3rd int. was even worse–a 30 yard out route into the wind. The ball floated, the DB made a stud play and frankly that was all she wrote–21-0 in the first quarter. The TD right before half also was tough. UMHB is obviously not a comeback team. If we throw 25-30 times you know we have big problems.

    24 Whitewater points were literally right off turnovers. 2 Ints. for TD’s, only 9 yards after the other Int and a fumbled punt at the 20 or so for a FG. What I do not understand is why we did not stick with our game, especially with that wind being so strong.

    Having said that, I still think UMHB made some fatal decisions as far as play calling. Way way too many passes–and the wrong kind–early in the game into that wind. The UWW coach had some quotes in our local paper in Texas. “Do not give up long gains, make UMHB work for everything, and put them in a down and distance they don’t like.” That was very wise and that is exactly what happened. And frankly, our offensive coaches seemed to panic a little bit and put it up way too much. I would have liked to see UMHB stick to what it does and if we get beat we get beat. Although I know Whitewater is certainly way way above the level of anyone we have played to date, I would still have liked to see if we could wear them out a bit in the second half with our 2 offensive lines that we play. Frankly, we probably would have lost anyway, at least yesterday, but not like that.

    I was disappointed with the effort given by UMHB, although I do understand the team you are playing has a lot to do with that. UWW played hard, smart and effectively all day long. We did get a few tough calls also from the zebras, but when you are not firing on all cylinders that always seems to happen. Maybe the long trip after an 8 hour bus ride to Mississippi just the week before had something to do with it, but UMHB players and coaches seemed to be either overconfident or just the opposite–scared of UWW–I never could figure out which. Just a bad game all around. UWW took it to us–period.

    UMHB certainly must play much much better to even think about a rematch with anybody and hopefully they will rebound. UMHB certainly can still be very very good although I am sure the UWW folks will question that. We will all see how UMHB responds over the coming weeks. The 7 of us including 5 college boys who traveled together had a great trip except between 1-4 pm yesterday. I enjoyed the drive from Chicago to Whitewater, especially from Pleasant Prairie–very nice!

31. repete: We list full-time undergraduates, and we never round up. The WIAC’s numbers apparently count something else.

32. Actually, the regional alignment lets teams schedule tough D3 opponents according to the coach’s needs.

    If you want a tough game that counts, schedule in-region.

    If you want a tough game against a D3 opponent that won’t hurt your playoff chances, then make sure that it is out-of-region.

    The real problem in this equation is money. In the ASC in the last 8 years, UMHB, HPU, HSU and McMurry have been the only schools that have scheduled a D-3 non-conference football opponent more than 500 miles away. Most programs don’t have the bucks!

    The teams in the central core of D3 can get plenty of opponents without traveling far. The difficulty in finding non-conference games or filling their schedules applies to teams that are not in conferences, and the geographic orphans such as the ASC, the NWC, the SCIAC and the WIAC.

33. What it means is that we’re most likely looking at MUC/WWW in Salem again. Ugh.

34. Pat,

    I’m guessing consistent numbers are hard to find ….

    http://www.uwosh.edu/strategicplan/facts/2006factscharts.php

    http://www.uwec.edu/home/aboutus.htm (doesn’t breaks out FT/PT)

    http://www.uww.edu/uwwfacts.html

    Enough, I think, to show that they are all over the board ….

    And to enlighten me to the fact that Kato Kaelin was a Bluegold. 🙂

35. I have no problem finding consistent numbers, actually. Each school that accepts federal financial aid must report enrollment numbers to the U.S. government and they are published on the Department of Education web site.

36. Just wanted to clearup one point. All I ment by the enrollment numbers was a general comment that says — bigger college (Wisconsin — Madison – 30,000+ students and 100 football schollarships should have a better team – they have more resources. — ND – has a big alumni and treasure chest to pay for big time athletes. State of Wisconsin only has one college that gives scolarships — UW- Madison – Big 10. National level Top 25 – 50 — Whitewater or MHB couldn’t stand up to them. NIU which is a Div 1 team just got clobbered by UW-Madison this past weekend. Madison is huge compaired to NIU in Dekalb.

    NIU would kill both MHB and UW-W — they are bigger and give scholarships. Now if you don’t think a private college like MU doesn’t give scholarship — better look into the “Academic Scholarship Avenue”. You can’t have that many players on Academic schlarship and not say it is Div 2 rules — private colleges do provide special program for student athlete to play sport at their schools. State college are under way different rules.

    So my point on the size was just that there might be more athletes that will go to a state college on their own to play football. That was my case — I wanted to play football and I couldn’t get a free ride — parent made too much and I was not a A+ student. I was a Deans list student but not an A+ student.

    Now I know you will beat me up on this point — I am just having fun talking about a football game.

    PS Rick Akins — your analysis of the game was right on. Yesterday was a good day for UWW and not so good day for MHB. The better team score wise was UWW. As far as the national anthem – must have been a mistake. All I was saying – it didn’t make a good impression. If it was a mistake in timing – It is forgiven. In talking to the Whitewater players — in general – they felt the game was played without much game trash talk. They all felt MHB players played hard and just got caught by the mistakes. Momentum was a big factor early on.

    Part of the fun of playing national level teams is that you get to visit other parts of the country. I got the opportunity to visit MHB last year and was treated great. Good campus and you team both years played hard. You can be proud of the players and coaches — Good luck for the rest of the year.

37. Well, I’m glad if the schools aren’t using them then somebody is.

    Although not even the D of E’s numbers appear consistent.

38. But, all in all, it was my mistake using “out of date.” Sorry ‘ bout that.

39. As a parent of a UMHB player I can honestly state that there was no direct or indirect actions by our team prior to the game to disrespect UWW. Our 2 punt returners stand at mid-field and receive a punt each. The team converges on the last one and they get together at mid-field. Just so happens there was a big purple “W” there this time. This gathering of players is done before every game and is not mentioned to show anyone up. As to the national anthem I think that was a situation of misinformation to our coach. We have been on the sideline for each of our previous games prior to the national anthem being played. I forgot that we were playing a state school as there was no pre-game invocation like our previous 7 games.
    As to the game, the best team on that day won. We got away from our bread and butter to early. UWW was the best team this day. Hopefully a rematch will show a better effort by UMHB. 1st trip to Wisconsin beautiful drive and courteous fans. But, is there an easy way to get there from Chicago?

40. Forgive me if someone else said this… but essential in the discussion of stats here is thinking about the situation in this game most of the way. UWW had a comfortable lead going early on… with that, the last thing you want to do is take the kind of risks that could get your opponent back into the game. UWW had little incentive or reason to really go down the field much. For the majority of the game as long as they were taking time off the clock their possessions were successful. Same with the defense… bend but dont break. Dont let MHB just walk down the field, which they didnt. MHB got some running yardage mainly but were generally held in check most of the time. It was extremely clear to me that UWW was a far better team, and not just from the turnovers, though you cant dismiss them. UWW sure looked more physical and aggressive and they went out and got those turnovers and took them in for points. Anyway, when you find yourself up 21-0 relatively quickly… I think there is some normality to cooling the engines a bit in terms of not taking chances. There was some wind there… so that also limits what you try to do if you are ahead… and yet UWW still did an effective job passing for some first downs in the second half. I do think the score was very indicative of the difference in the teams. I really have only seen three UWW games in my life… so I am not judging this from being a UWW fan, I am judging it from what I saw as a fan of football in general (which is the reason I went to see a game of ‘#2 vs #3’). When I saw UWW against UW-Oshkosh, two weeks prior, they didnt look as dominant… but, I was shocked that MHB was the second ranked team in the nation… they did not look THAT good in any phase. You could tell they could run against a team that cant tackle… but, UWW, like most good teams, can. All in all… UWW really earned this game… and come on… think a little more about the obvious reasons why UWW didnt rack up more yardage stats… the winner is not declared by that stat, they had no real incentive to have to drive the whole field and score. As it turned out, they had double the points they needed to win by halftime! Of course, you cant sit on a lead against a major team… but you still do minimize risks at that point. UWW played great and was coached fantastically… it really was as dominating as it seemed…

41. Texas’ sized, ten-gallon hats off to WW! Judge us rightly on our performance; WE STUNK AND WW STUCK IT TO US! Good teams take advantage of others mistakes. WW deserved to win.

    But please don’t misjudge our character. It is customery for MHB to huddle at midfield after pre-game warm-ups. There was no disrespect intended for the “W” or “THE PERK”. We are not the U of Miami!. We have more class than that. It was already a hostile environment, so why aggravate the problem. We have the upmost respect for the WW program.

    On the National Anthem, it was an embarassing misunderstanding. MHB is next door to Ft. Hood. The 4ID is frequent guest at our home games and proudy present the Colors. Just a couple of weeks ago, Gen. Hammond gave the pre-game talk to the Cru. He presented Coach Fredenberg a 4ID helmet. Coach Fred presented the Gen. with a Cru helmet. There was hardly a dry eye in the place! He said that he was leaving for Iraq, shortly, and would take the Cru helmet with him and display it proudly. Coach Fred also said that the 4ID helmet would also be proudly displayed in the football office. We regret that this misrepresents the Cru and the fans. Nothing could be further from the truth.

    Hopefully, the Cru will regroup, get to the dance and see WW again.

    WW has a great tradition, as well as the Cru.

42. parkfore,

    We flew into Milwaukee. Great trip and short drive.

43. First let me say hats off to UWW and their defense they played a great offensive and defensive game. It was a great defensive effort from both football teams with one offense faltering. Both defenses rose to the occassion to stop the other. UMHB dug a big hole with the first-half turnovers and could not climb out. UMHB has always been a running team and just recently established a passing game along with the run. The passing game was flat and could have been better. As many of you have stated they should have stayed with their running game however, many teams have been able to prepare and stop a running team with no passing game. I know the quarter back felt bad and wish he could have played a better game, not to take anything from UWW’S defensive effort it could have been a better game. As bad as they were beaten and if UMHB meets UWW in the play off’s the outcome will be totally different, it will be a closer game or UMHB could deliver a game performance that will shock everyone. Remember on any given Friday, Saturday or Sunday any team can be beaten or ahve a bad game.

44. Were any d3football “people” at the game on Saturday? (Other than just photographers)

45. “why does Mount Union with only 2,000 students have all those rings, while WW and the rest of the 10,000+ schools in the WIAC have none.”

    La Crosse won it all in ’92 and ’95.

    The Eagles went through Alliance to do it the second time, you know, back in the day where Purple Raiders fans actually had to hold their breath every now and again.

46. There’s only a few D3 “people” who aren’t “just” photographers who would have been assigned to go.

    There’s Pat, myself and Adam, the Around the West columnist. (Gordon is booked during the regular season).

    Pat and I went to UWW-UMHB last year and when we booked the trip to St. John’s in August or September, we didn’t imagine it would conflict with a No. 2 vs. No. 3 game.

    So the answer is no, but not because the game wasn’t worthy. There’s only a handful of us, and a limited travel budget, and there are more than 100 D3 games each weekend, so we try to spread the love best we can.

    It turned out not to be such a bad game to miss, but as I wrote last week in ATN, I was definitely having second thoughts about missing it, and we were very interested in the live updates from there, MUC-Capital, Trinity-Millsaps, W&J-Waynesburg, etc. on Saturday.

47. “What it means is that we’re most likely looking at MUC/WWW in Salem again. Ugh.”

    Well that’s most definitely the two favorites now, but plenty can happen. And if not, try to enjoy the early-round matchups. 🙂

    The rounds of 16, 8 and 4 are usually a blast the farther you get from Alliance 🙂