Every year I spend my “fall back” extra hour of sleep right here, on the site. Then I look up and think, “crap, is that 2:15 daylight or 2:15 standard?”

So far, still daylight time, I believe.

There’s a couple of teams whom we won’t hear much clamoring for Top 25 consideration after today. Ferrum folks probably will continue. Waxing Greensboro isn’t entirely unique, however. You know the deal, Week 11. Until then it’s just talk.

Saw Wesley just crush Salisbury today. I’ve had the pleasure of watching Salisbury several times in the past few years with Dustin Johnson at quarterback (seriously, the guy is fun to watch), but the Sea Gulls were awful today. They had 11 rushing yards at the half and finished with 76 for the game. Wesley came out with a five-man front that had Salisbury in trouble all day. Meanwhile, Chris Warrick just picked the Salisbury secondary apart (other than All-American Byron Westbrook, whom they worked away from). He hit receivers in perfect stride, and when he didn’t, they came down with jump balls.

Obviously you have to worry about Wesley under less-than-perfect conditions. Dry turf is ideal but a playoff team needs to be able to play in the mud as well, like last week’s 47-0 loss at Brockport.

I would be very surprised now to see Salisbury make the NCAA playoffs. They may struggle at home with Widener next week, because Widener isn’t exactly a pushover.

The three teams who announced this week they were leaving the MAC went 0-3.

Meanwhile, I think those who sat through the entire five-game set at the Metrodome on Friday may still be recovering. Our photographer shot all five games for the league and I have barely seen him online since. (That and the St. John’s/St. Olaf game, which he shot but we have yet to see.) I hope someday the MIAC gets back into the Metrodome.

Interested in:
What Monmouth can do in the playoffs. Will they be like St. Norbert, competitive in every first-round game, or like Lake Forest, the only non-Norbert team to make the playoffs and a 45-0 loser to Wartburg?
Union finally playing one of the other Liberty League front-runners next weekend. Talk about a backloaded schedule. (St. Olaf knows what that is.)

Concerned about:
Hardin-Simmons, though maybe they have found their quarterback by default now.
Can DePauw make it to Monon Bell unscathed?
Rowan, with pieces dropping like flies. Today it was key defender Brian Bond tearing two knee ligaments against Brockport.

Crazy e-mail of the week:
There’s a good set to choose from, including one from a person last night advocating for Johns Hopkins to be in the Top 25. I gave him my honest assessment last night. But I think Hopkins coaches already know they were ranked too high in the AFCA poll … again.

Anyway …

Below is the result of your feedback form. It was submitted by
[name removed] (xxxxxxxxxxxx@uww.edu) on Saturday, October 29, 2005 at 07:17:58 PM
—————————————————————————
Subject: UW-Whitewater
Notes: Don’t you think its kinda weird how Whitewater is ranked number 2 in the nation for D3 football and there were no players from Whitewater in the person-all americans and never get any recognition for what they have accomplished this season. I bet if you go and ask anyone outside the state of Wisconsin and ask them where Whitewater is they would not have a clue. Come on now show everybody out there what UW-Whitewater is all about and give them some props.
Thank You

Well, let’s see, recognition. Whitewater has had people on the Team of the Week twice this season, they are, as noted, ranked No. 2 in our poll, they’ve been on the front page at least twice … oh yeah, and Keith McMillan and I have been there this season.

If people don’t know where Whitewater is, it’s not our fault.

Have you ever heard the phrase, “If ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’ were candy and nuts, we’d all have a merry Christmas?” In that sense, this week’s schedule looks like a holiday finger food smorgasbord.

If ONU beats Capital we could be headed for a three-way tie in the OAC. St. Olaf is undefeated but they haven’t played SJU or C-M yet. If Albion beats Hope, they’ll be in first in the MIAA but they still have to play Alma.

Conditional statements (if … then) make my head hurt and cause flashbacks to sophomore high school geometry class. So maybe we can get more clarity and less ifs and buts after tomorrow.

That being said, here are my two-cents worth (plink, plink) for this weekend:

Wish you were here: I’ve never been to Collegeville so a hypothetical trip to SJU-St. Olaf would be fun. But I’d pass on that to go to Ada, Ohio where No. 11 ONU battles Capital, who sits just outside the Top 25 and on the fringes of the playoff race.

No disrespect to Wilmington and Marietta, but this is probably the Polar Bears’ last major hurdle to the playoffs that doesn’t involve off the field decisions at the NCAA or OAC level. Capital needs to win to keep their Pool C hopes alive. After last week, I’ve given up making predictions for the OAC. But it would be fun to see how this plays out.

Don’t sleep on this one: Two sub-.500 teams try to keep their playoff dreams going. Bluffton gets Mount St. Joseph. Bluffton (3-4) beat Hanover who beat MSJ. Then again, Mount Union beat JCU who beat ONU. Elsewhere Albion hosts Hope (3-4) who will try to keep their MIAA title dreams afloat. (Hope floats…get it? It was a movie with — eh, never mind.)

I also suspect a rejuvenated Brockport team will give Orihel-ess Rowan a fight in Glassboro. I’d be interested to hear thoughts from any observers on either QB since both figure in their team’s immediate (Rowan) or long-term (Brockport) plans.

Most Likely Top 25 Team to Lose: I’m yet to predict correctly a result in the next category. Think Houston Texans bad. Think Houston Astros with runners in scoring position bad. Think Houston sports fans’ collective opinion of Gordon Mann bad.

But I’ve been solid here, even quasi picking Brockport over Wesley last week. So this week’s pick is…no one. They all win. Del Val and ONU get the biggest scares.

The Super Ridiculous Pick of the Night: We dole out the first automatic qualifying bid into the playoffs. Witt beats OWU. Earlham beats Kenyon. Wabash beats Allegheny. Little Giants, with tie breaker over Witt, clinch the NCAC.

Saturday Night’s Alright: As the days get shorter and the air gets colder, it seems like our selection of good Saturday night games gets more sparse. JCU hosting Otterbein is intriguing, but it’s not being webcast to our knowledge and 6 PM isn’t really night time. PLU and Willamette could be entertaining if the Lutes play an inspired game. You can catch both broadcasts off the scoreboard.

And don’t forget to turn your clocks back tomorrow evening. We’re a full service organization at D3football.com.