GREENVILLE, Pa. — Alright, well, 15 of the first-round games are in the books and the 16th is a formality at this point, with Occidental trailing Linfield 63-21. As good a time to start as any.
Keith McMillan and I drove up to Greenville, Pa., for the Thiel-Johns Hopkins game and certainly came away impressed with Thiel receiver Brandon Chambers, who had three long touchdown catches, each different styles, in the 28-3 win. As an exercise on the drive up here, we each predicted not only the winner of each first-round game, but the actual score. (We each wrote down scores indpendently and only compared notes afterwards.) So let’s see how we each did:
East Bracket
Delaware Valley/Curry — Pat: DVC 56-7. Keith: DVC 56-17. Actual: DVC 37-22.
Hobart/Cortland State — Pat: Cortland 21-17. Keith: Cortland 31-28. Actual: Hobart 23-22.
Rowan/Wilkes — Pat: Rowan 38-17. Keith: Rowan 13-10. Actual: Rowan 42-3.
Ithaca/Union — Pat: Union 28-27. Keith: Union 20-14 (OT). Actual: Union 55-41.
South Bracket
Trinity/Mary Hardin-Baylor — Pat: UMHB 45-21. Keith: UMHB 35-21. Actual: UMHB 35-6.
Wesley/Ferrum — Pat: Wesley 54-24. Keith: Wesley 21-6. Actual: Wesley 59-14.
Bridgewater/W&J — Pat: W&J 35-34. Keith: W&J 45-42. Actual: Bridgewater 30-21.
Thiel/Johns Hopkins — Pat: Thiel 24-7. Keith: Thiel 17-3. Actual: Thiel 28-3.
North Bracket
Wabash/Albion — Pat: Wabash 31-17. Keith: Wabash 28-10. Actual: Wabash 38-20.
North Central/Capital — Pat: Capital 28-17. Keith: North Central 35-33. Actual: Capital 21-19.
Augustana/Lakeland — Pat: Augustana 56-7. Keith: Augustana 49-9. Actual: Augustana 49-22.
Mount Union/Mt. St. Joseph — Pat: Mount Union 56-7. Keith: Mount Union 51-14. Actual: Mount Union 49-6.
West Bracket
Linfield/Occidental — Pat: Linfield 53-21. Keith: Linfield 49-24. Actual: Linfield 63-21 at this writing.
Concordia-Moorhead/Coe — Pat: C-M 21-17. Keith: C-M 28-10. Actual: C-M 27-14.
St. John’s/Monmouth — Pat: St. John’s 52-14. Keith: St. John’s 45-17. Actual: St. John’s 62-3.
UW-Whitewater/Central — Pat: UWW 45-14. Keith: UWW 49-21. Actual: UWW 34-14.
You guys score this at home. Looks pretty even.
OK, Keith checking in while Pat helps some poor fellow hook up to the internet from the Thiel Student Lounge (fine looking student center here though).
As for immediate thoughts, not too many surprises around the bracket. Some may have thought Trinity would put up a better fight against UMHB, but the Cru looks like it’s ready for another run toward Salem … Wilkes, as the 32nd team in, looks like it might as well have stayed home. I picked a low score on that one because of the Colonels defensive rep and Rowan’s banged up offense, but Pat said heck no, they’ll still hang a bunch on them. Score one for Pat. … Capital/North Central turned out to be the great game we thought it would be, while the East bracket panned out as far as the New York games were concerned. Wow outta Union, 99 points?
Pat: Another great W&J/Bridgewater game. They should play in the regular season. Just thought of another great matchup we won’t see — two of the three Division III all-men’s schools (St. John’s and Wabash) meeting in the finals, in the Stag Bowl (pun intended). Not a whole lot of surprises, other than North Central hanging in without Tyke Spencer (separated shoulder) … or Capital winning despite five turnovers (can’t do that next week, guys). Or Curry leading Delaware Valley and hanging late into the game. Neither of us surprised by the Wesley/Ferrum result, as you can see. Should be an interesting matchup for Wesley next week — Chris Warrick will have a lot less time to throw against UMHB.
Keith is heading out to Augustana/Mount Union and I am heading for St. John’s/UW-Whitewater … somehow. John McGraw will be at Rowan/Union. Gordon Mann will be at Delaware Valley/Hobart. We’ll try to have someone at Thiel/Bridgewater.
Throwing the floor open.
RE: Bridgewater/W&J — Keith: W&J 45-42. Actual: Bridgewater 30-21.
Does this mean Keith will actually vote for Bridgewater in his final D3footbal.com Top 25?
Only kidding. 🙂
Eagles defense played a heck of a game … if not for two offensive boo-boos that gave W&J short fields of 12 and 15 yards (both of which were touchdowns), perhaps we could have held the nation’s #3-ranked offense to only seven points!
Gee, what am I, chopped liver? I’ll be at Wesley-UMHB. 🙂
While you two were writing your score predictions down, who was driving/watching the road?
I just found your site today. Wanted to give all of you a big thumbs up.
As an ex-D3 guy, it sure is nice to see some people take interest in the league. Go UW-W.
It is amazing the running around you guys do.
Echinacea Goldenseal? Airborne?
What training methods besides NEVER partaking in tailgate shenanigans do you employ to stay healthy on these trips?
Remaining young is our primary weapon. 🙂
All I have to say is that drive to Thiel was awful. Thiel (aka. Chambers) looked pretty darn good though. Great experience as a Hopkins fan, despite the loss.
Hard to believe that the Union team of the last three weeks is the same one that needed overtime to beat 3-7 Kings Point, a Hail Mary in the final minute to beat 5-6 F&M, and a last minute interception to score the only points of the game against 2-7 Coast Guard. Yet this Union team has averaged over forty points a game against New York State’s best. Yesterday momentum was an orphan until the fourth quarter as Union’s big guns wore down Ithaca. Can Union beat Rowan’s D I refugees? Probably not. But what a season! John Audino has proven himself quite the maestro in preparing his team for what has to be considered one of the most impressive stretch runs in the history of Union athletics.
I don’t think we should let K-Mack at another Wabash game. Harbaugh was JUST 34-39 for 360 yards against Albion! The DePauw game was hist worst of the season, so K-Mack HAS to be the reason! (Just kidding, K-Mack!)
North Central losing their All-American reciever early was certainly a big blow, but not capitalizing on early Capital turnovers was what did them in. Kniss did not play his best game yesterday. Perhaps losing his main target was tough on his psyche. Can’t fault the kids effort, he just didn’t have his A game. Kam will learn from this and be better for it. There’s a strong possibility he may have his main target back next year too! Keep your heads up boys, it was a great year.
I’d love to see a replay of the illegal forward pass call at the end of the game. I was sitting right on the LOS, it was very, very close. That was the ballgame.
Excuses, excuses. Hats off to Capital. They’re a good football team from top to bottom. I hope their standout tailback wasn’t hurt too badly late in the game, b/c he’s a playmaker. Their QB was stellar yesterday as well. Last but certainly not least, the defense, who was put in some bad positions all day, always seemed to step up when they needed to. Including holding on a 4th and short inside the 15 yard line (Bet NCC wishes they’d kicked the FG…hindsight). They were the better team for 3 of the 4 quarters yesterday, and they certainly deserved to win.
Capital fans are all classy bunch too. Congratulations and good luck the rest of the way.
I think you should’ve put UW-Whitewater and/or St. Johns in the eastern bracket. In theory, you’re going to see the championship game before the actual Stagg Bowl.
There’s a novel idea Pat and the rest of the D3 world hadn’t thought about
You do realize Pat has no control over the playoff brackets, right?
http://www.d3football.com/dailydose/?p=149#comments
Read that if you want to see Pat’s thoughts on the issue.
What a game between Union and Ithaca! Hats go off to both offenses, amazing effort from all those players! Union comes out on top and moves on. This is a great Union team, they have managed to prove so many wrong this season, always coming out on top. A question? Having only seen Rowan play a few times (none of which were this season) do the Dutchmen have a shot next week? I would like to think so, I definalty am praying that they do. I am however a realist and from what I have heard and read it seems as if there are only a few D111 teams that could beat Rowan. Is Union one of them? Any insight anyone? Oh yeah, hats off to the Liberty league! RPI(beats a good St.Johns team) and UNion and Hobart win frist round, I guess all the talk Ithaca had about our league proved false. NIce jon LL. Go UNion!
Sorry, Ron, didn’t know your plans at the time, still haven’t read all of yesterday’s e-mail. 🙂 Should also mention that Pat Cummings will be at Mount Union/Augustana as well, a key point not to be overlooked.
I think Union could beat Rowan right now because Rowan isn’t at 100%. Normally I wouldn’t think so but I think we might see another shootout.
Hey Pat, I’m wondering if we could make a switch and have K-Mack come to the Whitewater/St.Johns game on Satruday instead of you! Nothing personal but he seems to have become a Warhawk fan and believer since he predicted WW to win it all!!! Just kidding, of course! We will be honored to have you in the house!!! Go Hawks!
Horseface:
I was at the game between NCC and Cap and I thought it was veryclose too as I watched it from the ground on my knees praying he was over the line. I was very impressed with Kniss. He was very elusive and made so big plays from his scrambling. Our coachs were like WOW is that kid hard to bring down. The NCC fans and players were very classy as well. That was just about as exciting as I could stand. I am looking foward to traveling to Crawfordsville to take on Wabash. Another great game I’m sure.
Hello All, this is my first comment to the site. I just wanted to express my opinion on the outcome of the Linfield/Oxy game.
I have to tell you it was truly a very exciting game. What a Q.B Oxy has. My main thrust for this comment is that being a parent of a Linfield player I am very happy for the victory, but also very, very sad for what I had to see and feel for the Oxy team as they gathered on the field after the game. There where many broken hearts of some great athletes on that team. I feel so bad for a team of that caliber and ranking to have thier season end yesterday. That team should have been playing in the qtrs, simi or championship game. Instead they are one and out. Truly a tradegy.
On the other hand, my mixed emotions are this. We also got see see a FANTASTIC football game between 2 champions in thier own rights play in the first round.
I agree it would have been nice to see Wis.-Whitewater or St. john’s in another region. Perhaps move Wabash to the East and one of these guys to the North?
Interesting that Curry had Del Val on the ropes yesterday and Wilkes was routed.
At least we have no more byes in the first round and even more games to follow. Even if the regions could use some tweaking so the West teams were not most of the top 5 as it’s been the last few years.
Funny, I haven’t seen any of the Ferrum folks on here acknowledging that, just perhaps, we were right in questioning their true strength. 😉
Dear Keith and Pat, Just remember to choose Thiel next week. Your choice of W&J over BC may just have given us the luck to go in there and clean their clocks even though they had our Sunshine on their side. I will say the #7 is scary good!! We had only 1 man on him at one point and wham, he was down and in for a score in about 5 seconds. But it is true that we spotted them 14 points. We cannot do that if we have any hope of going to Texas or Oregon in the next week or so! And I, for one, would like to see all the people I met at the Stagg Bowl last year when UMHB and Linfield came to town. That was a great day!! 🙂
Hey that Del Val Curry game was a awesome game, I was there seeing as im a Del Val student. Props go to Curry they played a good game especially # 52 on the d line. Keith and Pat dont count del val next week, i think coach mangus will have the team well prepared for holbert.
Go Aggies!!
Funny, I haven’t seen any of the Ferrum folks on here acknowledging that, just perhaps, we were right in questioning their true strength.
I am a Ferrum grad and was wondering the same thing. I was pulling for the Panthers as much as anyone but wasn’t convinced they would be successful on the national stage. We had a great year and nothing to be ashamed of but still have a little work to do. It’s OK Ferrum faithful. Come on out with heads held high and take your medicine. 🙂
allsky7,
Ferrum is trying to correct some of their strength of schedule issues next year. I know for a fact that they are playing Bridgewater in a non-confrence game. CNU should be stronger next year too. If Ferrum makes it to the dance next year I think they will be better able to compete than the were this year.
Ron-
In response to:
”Funny, I haven’t seen any of the Ferrum folks on here acknowledging that, just perhaps, we were right in questioning their true strength.”
Let’s not forget those #1 Trinity Tigers bowing out in the first round? Were you right in questioning their true strength?
rigg,
Trinity was playing last year’s South Region champs and national runner-ups. I didn’t feel that Trinity was as good this year as in recent years, BUT I’d say it’s tough to get a read on how good they really are when put in that kind of matchup (kind of like Occidental).
On the illegal forward pass in the Cap-NCC game:
The LOS was the 34. When Kniss let go of the ball, he was between the 31 and 32. My first reaction was wow he may have been across the LOS. It was an exciting play, nevertheless.
NCC had several chances that were so close but won’t get you far in playoffs.
1. Disdaining the FG and then throwing to a receiver who couldn’t get down in bounds (the short receiver was wide open).
2. Missing the two point conversion when all 4 receivers stopped when Kniss expected one of them to break across the back line.
3. The illegal forward pass.
If Linfield smokes the Cobbers in the next round, that won’t bode well for the Johnies or Whitewater. I think SJU,Concordia, & UW-W are very comprable teams, at SJU and Concordia anyway. Go cobbers!
MWFB,
Agreed. There were many oppotunities for NCC to win that game.
On the forward pass, I sure didn’t see it the way you did. It looked like he let that ball go right on the LOS to me, and I was sitting on the 30 yd line. Don Majikowski (For all you Bear fans) close. The side judge was right on it, so it was probably the right call.
Bottom line, they “Capitalized” on their opporunities, and we didn’t. Capital is a darn good football team. Both teams were deserving.
mizzou_mofia-
I totally agree with your assessment, but a #1 seed losing in the first round 35 to 6? That’s ridiculous……..
Well I am not to happy with the way the last two games ended. I am guessing Ferrum just ran out of gas. Just remember Ferrum was ranked 5th in their conference in the preseason. Next year Ferrum will be very experienced and have some playoff experience. Everyone doubted the Panthers and gave them no chance. If in the beginning of the year someone said they were playoff bound, I seriouly doubt anyone would believe it expect for a few of us. Next year, 2 playoff wins.
AUGUSTANA vs. Mount Union will be a killer. GO AUGIE!!!!!!!! I wish I could be there.
I wish North Central could have pulled it out – hats off to Capital. Capital is going to handily win over Wabash.
I still think UW Whitewater is going to win it all. It is a shame that so many good teams are / were in that bracket.
I think D3football.com should start a petition that will be sent with a zillion signatures to those who came up with the brackets. They need to come up with a new system – a fair system. Some teams have lucked out (Delaware Valley), and some teams get the shaft (UW Whitewater, St. Johns, Linfield – actually the whole bracket). I know it, you know it, now lets let them know.
I wasn’t knocking Delaware Valley, they don’t pick where they are put.
GO AUGUSTANA!! BEAT MOUNT UNION!! YOU CAN DO IT!!
SeanGOP Says:
The 21st of November, 2005 at 11:14 am
Capital is going to handily win over Wabash.
__________________________
May the Capital team itself be so over confident. Wabash 37 Capital 17.
allsky7,
Ferrum is trying to correct some of their strength of schedule issues next year. I know for a fact that they are playing Bridgewater in a non-confrence game. CNU should be stronger next year too. If Ferrum makes it to the dance next year I think they will be better able to compete than the were this year.
Religion,
That is great! Ferrum / BC has some rivalry potential. I would love to see more USAS & ODAC match ups. (I am a Ferrum & Maryville grad and long time supporter of H-SC) I know that sometimes strengthening your schedule can be a tough task when schedules are made years in advance. H-SC dropped Maryville and picked up Hopkins to do that. I was at that game this year and the Tigers flat whipped JH but unfortunately, the W&L loss did in the Tigers this year. Rumor has it that H-SC is also going to drop Sewanee. If in fact that is true, it will be interesting to see who they pick up. I would love to see them play Ferrum or CNU.
Wally97,
Wabash 37 – Capital 17. I don’t think so. It is good however to hold on to dreams – and that is exactly what that is.
Capital plays quality competition throughout the year, Wabash does not.
Wabash will score less than 22 points, and Capital will hang 42 on them.
I am still amazed that folks are still grousing about the brackets and the match ups.
By my estimate 9 of the 16 games on Saturday were blow outs. (winning margins of 20 points or greater)
I have more sympathy for North Central and Cortland State losing close games in the final minutes then I do for Occidental
Fact is that 32 teams enter the tournament and 31 teams seasons will end with a lost. In the next few weks lots of great teams with wonderful atheletes are going to huddle together on the field knowing their season is over. These losses aren’t tragedies, they have had a chance to compete for a national championship. In the next few weeks, lets hope the tournament is filled with lots of close games not blow outs If that happens then the NCAA did a great job!
Rigg0123: “Let’s not forget those #1 Trinity Tigers bowing out in the first round? Were you right in questioning their true strength?”
If I had been on the boards all year blowing smoke about how great they were, you might have a point. You can see my prediction on the ASC pick ’em board if you like.
Good prediction.
Prediction most likely to be taken back, this one from the blog last week:
“Scots Dad Says:
The 15th of November, 2005 at 4:41 am
Maybe alot of people will have their eyes opened when they see Monmouth play on Saturday against St. John’s.”
Unless he meant Monmouth people.
Rigg0123: The TU-UMHB game was not actually the blow-out that one would expect. Realistically, the TU defense (the Black Flag) only gave up 14 points. TU’s starting QB was lost to injury and the back-up was good, but could not make that much difference. We will see how good #2 Thiel is, but when all of the scores are in, I would not be surprised by a post-playoff assessment that the Region Finals were played in San Antonio.
What’s more, by late season form, we ASC fans wonder if there aren’t 4 teams from the ASC who would fit nicely in the Top 8 in the South Bracket: UMHB, HSU led by at least a 2nd string QB, HPU which adapted nicely to the coaching change, and maybe a TLU which lost by a TD to TU, UMHB and HPU.
UMHB’s performance will give us some clues. And I think that UMHB’s secondary will be up to the task of handling any passing attack in the South. Also, UMHB has a rushing attack that will earn respect from the northern half of the region.
I would love to see Ferrum play Bridgewater, HSC, CNU and Methodist. This combined with improving teams like Averrett and Shenandoah would make for a very tough schedule. Lets just hope it works.
As a Hopkins fan, I really thought they would keep it close. It was very disappointing after the first quarter.
Hopefully, they can learn from this and improve the next time they get to the playoffs.
Ron-
I don’t follow every message you post on http://www.d3sports.com and I apologize for not doing so.
If you want to be so quick to say, “I told you so” to the Ferrum supporters after their defeat-Then what do you expect in return?
Suck it up and admit that your alma mater was vastly over-rated as well.
By the way- these fans you accuse of “blowing smoke” are the same fans that support your website-
… and the same ones that cry about not getting enough respect. I think we may not necessarily share the same definition of the term “support.”
Or your understanding of the term “your,” for that matter. 🙂
Pat Coleman
Publisher, D3football.com
So… A great weekend of D3 Football…. However, is there a page where I can view my “Pick-em’s”….??? Not only my own, but also how my compare to others…??
Thank you very much… I really appreciate it !!
GO MOUNT UNION!! Stop the rush… It’s seems to be all they have…
The UW-Whitewater/St. John’s should be a good game. St. John’s will win by single digits. Go Johnnies!!
Wesley was on Ferrums schedule this year. For some reason Ferrum dropped them late. I understand it was more an administration/money saving idea. I guess there are school in state that can make their schedule stronger but they didn’t help that this year by dropping Wesley
If Wesley’s specail teams and D’ keep playing well they should be able to give MHB a good fight. The weather may not be great though and could hamper the speedy recievers. But that said the running game has alson improved to the point that you can’t sit with eight pass defenders and stop them
Not to have two Wallies gang up on Sean, but I think you’ll be suprised how good Wabash’s defense is. 42 points on saturday!!! when Wabash has allowed no more than 21 all year. Not to mention I believe Capital is a running team and Wabash has an amazing running defense with some of the best linebackers at Wabash ever… They held Depauw 170 yards below their total and I think Albion to around 50 yards are something last weekend. Also, Wabash hasn’t played many good teams but they have faced good running backs and that will help Wabash defend the running game. Not to mention, Capital will have trouble defending Harbough who at his last two home games has thrown a total of 5 incompletions with completion percentages of 95 and 87 in those games. Besides Wittenberg, (who caught Wabash off guard in the first quarter) Wabash hasn’t played a home game w/in 20 points all year. I really think Wabash will knock off Captial not 37-17 but 28-17. Although we’ll have to wait for saturday to see who’s right.
Someone earlier posted that Rowan is not at 100%. What is their QB position situation? Their stats and team web site show #4 with incredible stats through 5 games but it appears a Sophomore has taken over at QB?
Having seen the Union vs Hobart, RPI and Ithaca games it is obvious that Union’s D is not very strong, especially in the secondary. Rowan appears to have a couple receivers about 2 times the size of Union’s DB’s and could prove deadly.
How is Rowan’s run defense?
If Union can control the clock, run the ball effectively and keep Rowan’s offense off the field I think they may finally have a chance this year.
Playing at Frank Bailey Field in the snow in Schenectady, NY this weekend could improve Union’s chances with their running game and making passing difficult in the snow. As a Union grad, I’d love to see a true D3 Football team beat Rowan that has traditionally featured D1 transfers. I hope the Dutchmen can run the ball down Rowan’s throat!!!
LET’S GO DUTCHMEN!!!!!
Pat-
“Support” to me means the number of visitors to your website that you
can go to advertisers and claim to reach- and then hopefully
attract their advertising dollars.
go Wesley!!! should be a good match-up
Thanks.
I wouldn’t say one team’s fans, even Linfield’s fans, make so much of an impact that we can change advertising rates. Ferrum fans can support the site better through your definition by purchasing next year’s Kickoff, which they didn’t do this year. They can support the site better through my definition by not complaining about every perceived slight, not demanding more votes every single week as if it were a birthright, making sure the head coach’s family doesn’t post on the message board, and attempt multiple times to circumvent a posting ban, etc.
Dutchmen77 — Orihel is out for the season, wrist surgery. Rankin’s the guy from here on.