Game day: Round of 16

We’re a little more than an hour from kickoff on the three Eastern Time Zone games Saturday, in Alliance, Ohio; Crawfordsville, Ind.; and Cortland, N.Y.

D3football.com will be coming to you live from the home of the Red Dragons with audio at noon, and will cap the day with a broadcast of UW-Whitewater at Willamette at 3 p.m. The defending national champions and the West No. 1 seed have the “airwaves” to themselves in a broadcast that’s not online elsewhere, and doesn’t feature live stats or video (that we know of).

If one of the four Central Time Zone games is what you’re after, we’ll be around to chat and provide updates about those too.

Links to video (from Millsaps and Monmouth), live stats (from Mount Union, Wabash, Mary Hardin-Baylor and North Central) and audio from all eight games are on our scoreboard page.

The floor is open. Have at it.

242 thoughts on “Game day: Round of 16

  1. Wartburg scores on a 22 yard pass with less than 10 seconds left….Heartbreaking loss 30-28 Wartburg. Monmouth passed on a 38 yard field goal to go on 4th down.

  2. The Monmouth broadcasters are lamenting a decision not to kick a field goal at some point earlier … the 30-28 lead if it holds up over the last 7 seconds it denies the MWC a big opporuntity to be in the round of 8.

    Sounds like a good finish. I had to step away for a bit.

  3. Monmouth really gave one away today…The offense looked unstoppable when they held onto the ball. 3 second half fumbles in Wartburg territory. Scots had 3rd and 1 at the Wartburg 11 with 1:40 to go. After a false start and a delay of game, they opted to go for it on 4th and 11 instead of kick the 38 yard field goal. Tanney’s pass zipped through the hands of Monmouth’s receiver.

    Wartburg drove 79 yards in 1:30 capped by a Vetter’s TD catch with 3 Scots draped all over him.

    Monmouth also had 3 face mask penalties in the second half that helped keep Wartburg drives alive…I’m going to go throw-up now…

  4. I suppose it’s not all bad…we get all of our starters back on offense next year. I think the Scots really put the MWC on the competitive map. Especially after the resounding thud they came in with in 2005.

    Coach Bell has been recruiting a different breed of athlete since that 05 debacle. The Scots will be back. Good luck Wartburg.

  5. Another game in the East Region and yet another big victory from MUC.

    Next up Cortland.

    How many teams left – 8 right? – at this point we the stage appears to be increasingly set for yet a 4th straight match up between MUC and UWW.

  6. I loved the effort of Hobart today. Their defense gave their team a shot to win in the first half. That window the defense afforded them closed quickly after half time. This was a good effort by a good team, and Mount Union needed to have a game like this, where they are forced to stretch themselves, look a good team in the eye, and then make adjustments and beat them. I felt the missed FG in the first half took some confidence away from the Hobart O. MUC did bend of defense but never really broke, minus the score in the second half. Hobart’s D did show what you can do if you can keep Cecil Shorts under wraps, like they did in the first half. MUC O was not nearly as effective imho during that stretch of time. It feels like to me, a fan, that MUC needs to try to spread the ball around a little more when they attack through the air – get some of those role players a little more involved – keep the opposing D honest. To me, the best MUC offense’s over the years have always had multiple scoring threats thru the air.

    BIG congrats to Nate Kmic….he is the heart and soul of this team, and deserves to enjoy this milestone. Very happy for him today….

    Statesman78,
    I don’t know about Buckeye JV comment…according to most of the country, the Buckeyes aren’t that good, so their JV team couldn’t be all that good either… 🙂 And the bulk of the MUC roster are guys who are at home at DIII, and work their tails off at being better than any other team in the nation…Although it does say something for a program, Coach Kehres, and the tradition that MUC has established when guys who could have tried their hand at DII or maybe DI come and play for him instead – not too many other DIII schools have that kind of track record where players on that level would consider making that choice. I wish when your team got beat, fans like you could leave the excuses out of it….

    And lastly, you better believe MUC is going to score when they can, and if you call that running it up, or not having any pity, so be it…This is the playoffs, not a preseason scrimmage…if you don’t like to see MUC in the end zone, your team needed to stop letting them get there.

    Looking forward to the regional final games…pretty interesting cast of characters once again this year.

  7. I’m so very, very happy that I was wrong about the UWW-Willamette game. I didn’t think that the Warhawks had what it takes to beat the No. 1 seed in their home. Now, unlikely of all unlikelys, we get to host another playoff game!

    See you next weekend in Whitewater! Go ‘Hawks!

  8. If Mount Union wanted to run it up, they would have punched it in at the end instead of taking a knee on the Hobart 1 yard line.

  9. I’ll be interested to see the outcome of the Wartburg-WW game. Wartburg has escaped by the skin of their teeth on a consistent basis, and I get the feeling that Whitewater is more vulnerable than in previous years. I would expect WW to win after seeing Wartburg in Monmouth today. I thought the Scots were the better team.

  10. People have been saying the defending champs are vulnerable since the loss to UW-Stevens Point, but yet all they do is win…I’m interested to hear what he thinks after seeing them today.

  11. Would be nice to read about the Franklin win over North Central, but the link on the home page takes everyone to the write-up about Wheaton-Wabash game. Can someone fix this?

  12. Grzimom, thanks for the heads-up.

    Oldsarge — I don’t get the constant perception that UMHB gets no love around here. Why are we bothering to rank them so highly, then?

  13. Congrats CRU; you played the best game of the year today. However, you better BRING it next week, W&J is tough.

    Thanks for proving coach Drass wrong especially after the horrible things he said about UMHB and Texas in the locker room at Wesley a couple of years ago. The local paper ran a article today about Drass and those comments; he failed to return calls to the sports writer. However, I commend Drass today for taking one of his starters out for trying to kick a UMHB player. The officials missed the kick, but Drass seen it and sent the player to the locker room; that’s a coach who is in charge of his team. Good luck next year Wesley you have a good team.

    Go CRU beat W&J

  14. If UWW and UMHB wins next week, then UWW comes to TX, right?? WOW that will be a hell of a game. Let’s just hope they can get by this week, it will be tough.

  15. “We’ve got three more games”…a direct quote from Nate Kmic…just a little motivation for C-State…go get’em boys

  16. WOW!!!!! Thats the best way to describe the Franklin v. North central game today. Its hard not to just become mezmorized watching Chad Rupp rip defenses apart with not only his arm but his legs as well. He absolutely is as calm a player as I have ever seen….he’s calm in the game, calm on the bench while the coaches talk to him and his offense. Today he had a ton of time to pick out what he wanted to do and deliver strikes to several different receivers…the O line was very impressive. After the first two NC scores, the Grizzly D really stepped up!!! A total of 7 sacks against the No. 2 team in the country….they harassed Fanthorpe and his sub all day long. Grizzly fans were incredibly loud from early morning at the # 1 tailgate in D III and throughout the game. Their #s were at least equal to NC’s crowd. Looking forward to week # 3 from Faught Stadium as the beat goes on!!!!!!
    GO GRIZ!!!!!

  17. Cru crushed —

    Congrats to your team for a great victory. I am glad that you saw the Coach Drass that I have know for 25 years.

    I thought Eric Drennan’s lead in his article in the Temple Daily Telegraph was a cheap shot. If he was going to put something out there like that, he should at least have the guts to give it a source instead of saying “Reportedly” on something that happen two years ago in a pregame locker room speech. The man couldn’t even look him in the eye at the post game press conference.

    It was very hard not to be impressed by UMHB today. They are peaking at the right time. They took it to a talented Wesley team in all three phases of the game. They are going to be a very tough out, especially since they maybe home the next two weeks.

    Thanks to Coach Fredenberg, SID Jon Wallin and they rest of the “Cru” for their help and generous hospitality. Good Luck.

  18. Mt. Union’s dynasty might be in it’s last days. Whitewater can use their proximity to Chicago and Milwaukee and their lax admission standards to recruit all the talent they’ll ever need, and they get almost unlimited taxpayer funding to keep tuition down and finance their facilities. Even in this rebuilding year they could win it all again.

  19. Just because teams are undefeated doesn’t mean they should be ranked high or get #1 seeds. This is proven out again this year. The Division III rankers just don’t have a clue many times. The automatic qualifiers (conference winners) has to be looked at again. We are not getting the top 32 teams in the playoffs, maybe 20.

  20. UMHB vs W&J

    Very good matchup. UMHB has had our number and has had very good teams. I feel that this may be the best W&J squad that UMHB will face. Should be a good one. If W&J executes in the same manner that they did against Millsaps this one will be decided by 3 or less.

  21. Pat Coleman: “Oldsarge — I don’t get the constant perception that UMHB gets no love around here. Why are we bothering to rank them so highly, then?”

    Pat, didn’t mean anything personal…my comment was mostly meant to be “in jest”…..but, in answer to your point…yes the CRU is normally ranked high in the polls…though I was surprised when they finished last year ranked 3d then was 4th behind Wesley on the pre-season for this year. Also, even though the CRU defeated Hardin Simmons in the regular season all three of you (Keith, Ryan and yourself) picked Hardin Simmons in the 1st round. Additionally, you were the only BELEIVER for the 2d round…..good for you!! Us UMHB supporters just want a “LITTLE bit” of love for our boys down here in Texas (smile). Now to be serious…..you guys are doing a great job and I know you don’t take your “job” lightly…..thank you, for what you do.

  22. pearlaker:

    Saying that is like saying the same thing in college basketball not having the best 64…65 teams. You leave no room for the mid-majors which gives them nothing to play for. Our field isn’t as big, but you play your way in. Teams that get left out won’t likely win a championship anyway.

    Do you think Franklin or Monmouth get in as at-larges in your system? Because Franklin is playing for a regional championship after beating an OAC and CCIW team and Monmouth had a golden opportunity to host the West Region final. These are teams from automatic qualifiers that you would ignore.

  23. MUC01-You have a great, great team. Nobody doubts that. What I meant by running it up was 2 meaningless touchdowns in the final few minutes, especially by putting the ball in air. But, you’re probably still stinging after last year’s Stagg, so I guess you need to pound your collective chests. Again, your team is the pinnacle of D-III and I congratulate you. I will however, root for Cortland as with being the best, you have to understand we all want to beat the best. By the way, does Kmic have a little brother and can we persuade him to take a look at Hobart?

  24. GoScotties: I’m not certain I understand your implication about Franklin perhaps not “getting in” as an at large team were it not for the fact that they won their conference, now two years in a row. It is true that they were left out as an at large two years ago when they had their first 9-1 team and even Pat Coleman last year on ESPN indicated he felt that was a mistake. What I think it says about the system is that first and foremost, win your conference, and second schedule tough non conference teams as much as you can. The opponents strength of schedule and their opponents strength of schedule is what appeals to the selection committee. Finally, you have to build a reputation before you can count on it to help you and over the past several years Franklin has worked very hard to do that, on and off the field. It takes some innovation on the part of your institution, an agressive SID to help build and keep your “cred” and most important a school and a coaching staff with the kinds of values that appeal to young athlets wanting a great experience and a great education. In Franklin’s case, all of these things combine for a very compelling story!!

  25. Statesman78: I hardly call a 13 play drive that started on the MUC 4 yard line with the score 28-7 and culminates with a 8 yd pass on 4th down running up the score in the “final few minutes”.

    If Mount wanted to run it up, they wouldn’t have pulled the starters with 6 minutes to go and wouldn’t have taken a knee at the Hobart 1 yard line to kill the last minute and a half.

    Your team played hard and made Mount work for their 500+ yards. Don’t ruin a great effort by your boys by displaying your sore grapes.

  26. It’s been a year since I posted … but I’ve followed closely all year. The GRIZ being in the Elite Eight is enough to bring me out of typing hibernation !! GrizFanBill covers the Franklin being left out as an at large team .. so let me just leave it at — Everyone can continue to discount the Grizzlies, and please, please go ahead and pick Wheaton in the Regional final !! The one element I’ve seen with Franklin is the HEART of the team … Rupp is extremely talented and the rest of the team does their jobs at every position. But no one, especially the people with the podium in this forum and others, bothered to measure the HEART this team brings to the field week in and week out !! GO GRIZ !! Home of the best tailgate in D3 !!

  27. My point about Franklin was exactly that, 2 years ago they were left out, and it was a mistake. And if there weren’t any automatic qualifiers, they may have had a tough time getting in this year at 9-1 due to their first round loss last season.

    I was really just trying to defend the automatic qualifiers, not downplay the success or ability of a nice team like Franklin. It wouldn’t surprise me a bit to see them in the “final 4”. I was responding to a comment about “taking another look at the AQ system because we’re not getting the best teams in”

    The only two teams that really didn’t have a place in the tournament were Randolph Macon and Aurora and that was proven by the result of their first round games.

    I agree wholeheartedly, win your conference and you deserve a shot at continuing your season. I understand that some teams have a more difficult road to get that done, but we can’t let everyone into the playoffs. For years, the HCAC and the MWC have been losing in the first round. This year, Monmouth and Franklin have represented their conferences well. Who’s to say that Aurora won’t eventually be that team that breaks the cycle for their conference? Conference champs deserve to be here…that was my point.

  28. statesman78,
    Hobart players played a great inspirational game. They got beat by 35. If the game would have ended 14-0 does it make a differance? Your team would still be home next week. Why is Mount the best? They play 60 minutes. Not 30. You root for Cortland all you want, bottom line will be the same. The teams from the east and south are not yet at Mounts level. Not a knock, reality. Hobart found out that when you play the best you better be in it for 60. By the way, be mad at your coach, end of the half Hobart d makes a great stand, gets a fumble with 1:23 or so and he basically kneels on the ball. Nice message to send your kids who were sky high at the time. He was just happy to be in the game.

  29. pearlaker
    “The Division III rankers just don’t have a clue many times. The automatic qualifiers (conference winners) has to be looked at again. We are not getting the top 32 teams in the playoffs, maybe 20.”

    So — how do YOU propose picking the “BEST” 32 teams ?? Do you want to have the choices made by a committee ?? Then we end up with the bias of the members — and I think we have all just about had enough of the biases that constantly tell us “…the OAC is the best conference” or “… the CCIW is so tough”. Good teams win conference titles. Everyone doesn’t get to play in the Mount Union Conference, where 1 team wins them all, and almost all of the rest of the league is 5-5 or worse. Mount is a great team, but just playing in a conference with them doesn’t make all the rest of the teams great too !! I’d also like to know who YOU think was slighted this year ?? Other than maybe Depauw, I’m not sure the committee didn’t do a tremendous job of getting deserving teams into the mix. Don’t like their brackets and seedings in some cases, but that’s part of it too.

  30. “neutralobserver Says:

    November 30th, 2008 at 9:23 am
    Mt. Union’s dynasty might be in it’s last days. Whitewater can use their proximity to Chicago and Milwaukee and their lax admission standards to recruit all the talent they’ll ever need, and they get almost unlimited taxpayer funding to keep tuition down and finance their facilities. Even in this rebuilding year they could win it all again.”

    As a UWW student, I’d like to think you’re right, but I don’t think its quite that simple. They’re still competing with the other WIAC schools (similar tuition, facilities, etc.., and one of the strongest top-to-bottom conferences in the country). In addition, there are at least 5 other private DIII schools in this part of WI alone. However, UWW has the tuition advantage over them (IL students pay out-of-state tuition here BTW), and a proximity advantage over the other WIAC schools, so I can at least agree in part with you on that. Will it be enough to build a lasting dynasty? History says no, but you gotta start somewhere right?

    All that being said, I don’t think MUC is going away anytime soon. Let’s see them lose a game or two some year, and then we’ll talk.

    Already looking forward to the UWW-Wartburg matchup on Saturday. Always fun to meet up with different teams in the playoffs, and Wartburg is coming to The Perk with a ton of momentum. Should be a good one, especially if its snowing like it is now (remember UWW-Wabash last year?).

    Either way, the semifinals in that half of the bracket should be great. UWW-UMHB, round 4? Wartburg with a shot at the Stagg Bowl? I think this has already been asked, but does anyone know where the potential UWW-Wash&Jeff semifinal would be played?

  31. I believe earlier Pat said that the South Bracket was higher seeded than the West so either way if the Warhawks win they will be back on the road.

  32. If UWW beats Wartburg, they will travel to the winner of the UMHB-W&J game. UMHB would gain home field based on being seeded higher than UWW. W&J would gain the homefield advantage because the South Region is ranked #2 this year and the West Region is ranked #3. Both UWW and W&J are 5th seeds, so the criteria calls for a deferral to the regional ranking.

  33. Thanks for the response bleedpurple. I knew that region rank was the next criteria, but couldn’t find anything that said which region was ranked higher.

  34. bleedpurple,

    UWW will come to Belton TX to play UMHB.

    UWW 34 Wartburg 21

    UMHB 41 W&J 28

    That’s my prediction anyway. I have been wrong ONCE before.

  35. I’ll second the endorsement of Shiner Bock. One of my favorites. I’ve been able to find it in the D.C. area and in Minneapolis, so it does have some distribution outside of its home area.

  36. I would love to try Shiner Bock. I hope you hit your predictions right on the money! Now is no time to be wrong a second time. It’s way too early for the football season to end! Just wouldn’t seem right….

  37. I have been reading this website and never posted, but the attitude of the MUC fans (at the game and on this site) has prompted me to post. Re: running the score up: saying that their last second kneel down was proof of their class is like saying that since a murderer didn’t stab his victim the 15th time means he is a good guy. Get real. MUC was 3 TD’s ahead with less than 3 minutes left and were passing the ball. Re: the fans: About 8 times a MUC fan came up to me and asked where Hobart was. It was quite insulting. Here’s a tip…Google it. I also had MUC fans come up to me astounded that Hobart was only down by 14 at halftime. There ARE other programs out there besides yours. RE: the “program”: Hobart was in this game into the 3rd quarter. Keep in mind that Hobart lost their 2 most potent offensive threats (Duliba, Hobaica) and had a QB with a separated shoulder and a much hobbled O-Line. MUC is just not as good as you believe. Also, in regards to the “program”, MUC has a 94 man freshman roster and an 86 man regular roster. This many kids on a team means that many, many, kids graduate without ever stepping foot on a varsity field. This is not called a class program in my book, it is called a meat grinder. Is it a winning formula? obviously, but don’t kid yourselves into thinking it is a successful program. Re: LL respect. the last thing that D3Kieth has said about Hobart was “So yeah…enjoy that homegame”. This is far from respectful. Re: the MUC players: I have never seen a team complain to the refs so much. Also, they had 2 nasty personal fouls. One last thing for all you fathers wanting their son to play college football. If you want them to win a national title, send them to MUC, if you want them to get a top notch education, send them to Hobart.

  38. Maybe we can all meet and have a Shiner Bock before the UMHB-UWW game. Both teams have to win first but I would be surprised if one lost. I think the UWW-Wartburg game will be close. If UMHB plays like they did last Saturday the President’s will lose by 14 or more. If UMHB plays UWW the following week, UMHB wins by 7 or less. UMHB will lose to MUC by 14 or more. MUC is that good gentlemen. However, I would not place a bet on any of these predictions. I can’t wait to see how this plays out, I don’t like eating crow but I have before and may again.

  39. bartman Says……… dont sit there and tear mount down, you have no idea. ask hobarts coach what he thinks of mount and kehres, i bet he respects him and the team, they did not do anything different than anyother teams does sportsmanship wise. its called competition. they didnt run the score up, they average 47 points a game and scored 42. hobart was a good team i dont understand the attack from you on mount. show some respect and class to one of the greatest dynasties of all time in div 3 football.“““your comment `This many kids on a team means that many, many, kids graduate without ever stepping foot on a varsity field. This is not called a class program in my book, it is called a meat grinder.““yea they graduate, thats the whole point, who cares if they play they were part of something special and are going to get a great education.

  40. Bartman,
    wow, that might be the most ignorant, clueless, inaccurate and self-involved posts I’ve seen on here….great job.

  41. It is interesting to me that once someone says something unflattering about MUC, they get attacked. “Ignorant, clueless, innacurate, self-involved”. Name calling is never very nice, my friend. All I have done is point out the obvious: that although MUC has a winning tradition, it comes at a cost. That cost is the hopes and dreams of young men. It seems that purplephyco has inadvertently agreed with me. The only problem with the purplephyco post, though, is that it is incorrect in saying MUC kids get a great education. Last I looked, MUC was not on ANY list of top liberal arts colleges. The end result then is a program that kicks kids to the curb, WITHOUT a great education. The Hobart coaches AND players are gentlemen, of course, they will have nothing but repect for a team that soundly beats them on the field of play. The real question is, why are all of you so blind to the truth. Many kids are paying the price for your fanatic loyalty. The good thing is that I now know why the d3football.com people fall all over themselves praising MUC, they are scared of you people.

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