Looking ahead to Saturday

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The national media is going to flock like … well, a flock of something … to this Northwestern (Minn.) doubleheader story. Northwestern is in the suburbs of St. Paul, a provisional Division III member in its first year, four years away from being a full member. We’ll cover it, of course, but we’ll keep in mind that there are games that affect playoffs and teams who are actually eligible for them.

To wit:

Under the radar key playoff game: Johns Hopkins hosts Franklin and Marshall. Although most games in the Centennial Conference this season matches up 2004 co-champions (there were five of them, after all) this one is likely to have an impact in the final analysis. Question is whether F&M can score — the Diplomats have scored just 42 points in four games while Johns Hopkins has allowed 27 in four games. The schools were picked 1-2 in the conference’s preseason poll, combining for nine of the 14 first-place votes and separated by one point.

Above the radar key playoff game: Bethel hosts No. 7 St. John’s. You might have heard of these two teams. It’s also by far the most important game taking place in the St. Paul suburbs this weekend. This is an elimination game for Bethel. Winner has to take down St. Olaf and Concordia-Moorhead later.

Long road to go key playoff game: Augustana at No. 13 Carthage. Just the second in a list of games between the top four contenders in the CCIW.

Long road to go key playoff game II: No. 8 UW-Whitewater at UW-Stevens Point. Stevens Point might be out of the running with a loss, leaving just La Crosse, Stout, Eau Claire and Whitewater as serious WIAC title candidates. If Stevens Point wins, it’s still a five-team race, even with River Falls, Oshkosh and Platteville as spoilers.

Who-are-these-guys key playoff game: This game almost didn’t get scheduled — it was on, then off, then on again this offseason. And if you don’t know who Huntingdon is, you should soon enough. Even if they can’t hang with No. 10 Trinity (Texas), this is a program in building mode in fertile football ground in Alabama. Hopefully they don’t bail on D-III like the last program in building mode in fertile football ground in Alabama — Stillman.

Letdown potential key playoff game: Look out, Thiel, Grove City takes the Mercer County rivalry seriously and looks to be better than last year. To borrow an overused phrase from Division I-A, this could be a trap game for the No. 22 Tomcats.

This is their playoff game: Lewis and Clark’s short season comes to an end Saturday night at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.

Irresistible force/immovable object key playoff game: Alma’s Scot-Gun offense (514.2 yards per game) against Adrian’s defense, led by standouts Mike Lewis and Taz Wallace

6 thoughts on “Looking ahead to Saturday”

  1. Here are my two-cents (plink, plink)…

    Wish you were here: Weather forecast for my Philadelphia region – Rain today. Rain tomorrow. Rain Sunday. Rain Monday. Weather forecast for San Antonio, Texas: Partly cloudy.

    If I had my druthers, I’d take option #2 and then take in Huntingdon/Trinity (Texas). I think the Tigers will win this one (bold pick, I know), but I’d like to get a look at the developing Hawks program. I’m guessing folks at LaGrange will monitor the progress of this one, too. The Panthers, who are conference mates of Huntingdon in other sports, begin football in 329 days.

    Don’t sleep on this one: You can only hope to contain Don Thibodeau!

    Who is Don Thibodeau? He’s a big reason the Maine Maritime Mariners are 4-0 with his Division III leading 232 ypg rushing. I know it’s only week 6 and I know it’s the NEFC, but I’m sort of enjoying the Mariners run (no pun intended…no really). Bridgewater State, which gives up just 71.5 rushing yards per game, will try to stop the men from Castine, Maine tomorrow.

    Misty water color memories…: It seems like a lifetime ago that I was anxiously driving up to Benedum Field to meet Ray Martel for D3football.com’s broadcast of the No. 10 WCSU Colonials and No. 21 Springfield College Pride. So many things have changed since then, but my sentimental side hopes for a 37-35 barn burner when the teams meet tonight.

    Most likely Top 25 Team to Lose: My pick here is Car – oh, that’s right. I promised not to pick against a certain CCIW team from Kenosha, Wisconsin. They are even on my Top 25 ballot. So I’ll go with UW-Oshkosh, by gosh, to beat UW-Stout.

    The super ridiculous pick of the night: Okay, so I’m 0-3 on these. And last week I cited a “good feeling” about Lewis & Clark beating Chapman. Only off by 53. But things are gonna change, I can feel it…

    Emory & Henry 25 Hampden-Sydney 21. After Chris Kearns and Matt Campbell make an unexpected pregame locker room speech, Coach Montgomery’s defense shows signs of promise, shutting down the Tigers before a late rally falls short. J.D. Ricca borrows a year of eligibility from his younger brother at Catholic and vows revenge in 2006.

    Saturday night’s alright: I’m visiting family this weekend, so I’ll probably be forced to watch something like “Walker Texas Ranger” or CSI: Mattress Tag Removal or whatever is on.

    But if you’re looking for a game to listen to, check out No. 13 Carthage-Augustana in a big CCIW showdown. If you’re on the West Coast or prefer late night entertainment, try the SCIAC battle between LaVerne and Redlands. We’ve got the links off our scoreboard.

  4. Our follow-up coverage will be up either Monday or Tuesday. Adam Johnson and Ryan Coleman were essentially embedded with the team on Saturday. Adam’s column and Ryan’s photos will run in Around the Region.

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