With every passing week, the Wesley 47-0 debacle loss at Brockport State gets more and more puzzling. How could this team go up to Brockport, field conditions aside, and not put up one single point? My trip to Wesley the next week to see them pound Salisbury began the puzzlement — it was obvious this was a good team, with the ability to win a playoff game or two, but to become the first non-Texas team to win a playoff game in the Lone Star State since 2001?

Incredible. And that’s coming from me, after picking Wesley as the cinderella team in the bracket on the ESPNews selection show.

Another home game on turf. Then a trip West for the winner. Who knew.

Mount Union pulls another Mount Union and rolls a quality opponent. I know Capital is a familiar opponent, but that bodes well for Mount Union, which has had a tendency to pound OAC teams the second time around.

Even though St. John’s helped UW-Whitewater out, Whitewater would have won on its own today. Five of the seven fumbles were forced and defensively, Whitewater was making plays even when not taking the ball away. Other than a brief period in the third quarter, St. John’s couldn’t stop Justin Beaver and Derek Stanley burned the Johnnies defense for a pair of big plays when they needed them.

West Region final should be a dandy. So should the South. Not so sure about the East, if Rowan has found its stroke again it might not be much different than last year’s Rowan/Delaware Valley regional final.

No stupid e-mail of the week, at least not ones I have with me, so we’ll have to suffice with the …

Bad karma moment of the weekend: Two St. John’s fans independently coming up to me and asking me why UW-Whitewater passed them in the poll a few weeks ago. Never a good idea right before a head-to-head matchup.

Here’s a look at what some of the local papers around the country are writing ahead of tomorrow’s games:

Wesley/Mary Hardin-Baylor
Wesley struggled with its transition from junior college to Division III football two decades ago, but is playing the biggest game of the program’s history Saturday, from the Sussex News.

One nitpick on this story: It says, “Drass brought a record 150 players to preseason camp this year.

Wesley President Dr. Scott Miller is quick to point out that while less than 100 players made the team, most of the other students are still in school. He said that’s usually not the case at other schools.”

In our experience, that isn’t particularly accurate. But that’s a nitpick.

Hobart/Delaware Valley
Feature on Delaware Valley receiver Don Marshall in The Intelligencer.

Bridgewater/Thiel
Adrian Herndon juggles football, classes, as well as a 2-year-old son and a part-time job in the Lynchburg News & Advance. Bridgewater coach Mike Clark deals with the logistics of a playoff road trip in The Daily News Record of Harrisonburg. Thiel finds the bandwagon is getting huge, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Union/Rowan
Union is thankful it’s still playing, says a feature in the Albany Times Union.

Augustana/Mount Union
The Repository in Canton, Ohio, discovers the Wing-T.

Linfield/Concordia-Moorhead
The Silverton Appeal catches up with local product Josh Ort, Linfield defensive back. The Fargo (N.D.) Forum discovers there’s some guy named Brett Elliott quarterbacking Linfield. Meanwhile, the Linfield team lends a hand at Thanksgiving.

St. John’s/UW-Whitewater
The St. Cloud Times writes on the backs splitting time for the Johnnies. Plus, Times beat writer Frank Rajkowski has started a blog on St. John’s playoff football. (We link to it from our list of blogs on the front page of the Daily Dose.) The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel focuses on the Whitewater offensive line.

Capital/Wabash
The Crawfordsville Journal Review previews Capital and earlier in the week took a brief look ahead at Wabash.

Snow coming down in suburban Washington, D.C. is rare enough, but to see it before Christmas is unusual indeed. It’s a nice backdrop here, with the children nestled snugly in their beds and all quiet. So from our house to yours, have a happy Thanksgiving.

To those of you traveling this weekend, whether to holiday gatherings or ballgames, drive safely.