Earlier this week, Hardin-Simmons announced its 2006 schedule, which includes the current defending national champion, Linfield. UW-Stevens Point remains on the schedule as well.
It’s as if someone finally gets it. This is the kind of game the automatic bid era was supposed to bring about from the get-go. The conference schedule is paramount, so why not test yourself out of conference and see what you’re made of? But games like this are still rather rare. Capital plays Wittenberg, Christopher Newport plays Rowan, Mary Hardin-Baylor has played Willamette the past two years, but non-conference games between two national contenders? There should be more of them.
How great would these games be? How about Ithaca and Rowan? Trinity (Texas) and either of the top two ASC teams? Washington and Jefferson against Mount Union?
Let’s step up and test ourselves. The access for at-large teams will never be better than it is right now. The field will likely never expand beyond 32 teams, and as more schools join Division III, it will only get harder to get into the playoffs in the future. Mount Union shouldn’t have to travel 500 miles to find a game.
I believe that the secret to the “great matches” is that the outcome of the Linfield-HSU game, a non-region game, will only minimally impact playoff chances as presented in the Handbook criteria.
Wittenberg takes an in-region loss from Capital, but CNU gets “soft” prestige for playing Rowan. UMHB defeated a Pool B Willamette in 2004, but UMHB’s Willamette win in 2003 for ASC Tri-Champ UMHB was not enough to give them a Pool C bid under the 28-team format.
The 32-team format will help us. We are seeing conference consolidation and movement from Pool B to Pool A. e.g.,
–the growing Presidents AC with 7 teams apparently going to 9.
–a new 7-member Northwest Conference is practically a wash from “B” to “A/C”.
–the possible migration of ACFC members (who contribute to the “numerator” of Pool B) into the established conferences such as the NJAC or the USAC,
–and even the movement by 2011 of the “UMAC” members (all of those teams with winless records mentioned in Keith McMillan’s Around the Nation by 2011) from B to A.
As I think about the nature of the selection criteria in the Hanbook, IMHO, keeping a select group of games as remaining outside the criteria (non-region) is the most likely way to encourage these great games.
I’d like to see them too – but not at the expense of some state rivalries or games against schools of a similar academic footprint. I know the NCAC playing the UAA is supposed to try to foster the latter – but I’d still love to see Wabash knock heads with Hanover every year – as that was always a great game in the ICAC / HCAC.