Wow, what a day of football. And the day ended for us a lot like the Miracle in the Mud day ended. In this case, it was with both Pat Cummings and Keith McMillan driving home glued to their cellphones as I had two phones, one to each of them, sitting on the speakers of my laptop.
That’s how it came down in 2000: Keith and I were driving back from a game at Widener and my wife set up a phone next to the computer speaker, allowing me to listen and relay the play by play to Keith.
I hope this wasn’t the de facto national championship game in McMinnville, today. I have to believe Mount Union is going to have something to say about it. But kudos to UW-Whitewater for carrying the WIAC flag into the semifinals and not just phoning it in.
Kudos also to Wesley, for taking its Cinderella run to the semis as well. I don’t know if they’ve got much of a chance at Whitewater, but not sure how many gave them a chance at UMHB either. This is a great run for that program.
Capital put on a good show as well in falling short. Lewis Howes, who set a Division III single-game receiving record a few years back at Principia, wanted to see what he could do at a higher level. Today we found out (12 catches, 245 yards, four TDs).
What’s left of Rowan makes the trip to Alliance, Ohio. The two haven’t met since Dec. 11, 1999, when Rowan upset Mount Union and ended the Purple Raiders’ then-record win streak.
Should be an interesting week.
“What’s left of Rowan makes the trip to Alliance, Ohio”
Exactly. 3 of their top players out, including their 2 best, per this week’s Around the Nation. AND playing on the road. And still no one in the East can beat them. Ridiculous. If this wasn’t the year that finally showed just how bad the East is then I don’t know what year will. How none of the “top teams” in this region on their home field can beat a squad that is so badly banged up is embarrassing. And this has been going on for years. Please NCAA, PLEASE start putting some teams worth a darn into this region. Otherwise, we might as well give the Profs the East region trophy every single frickin’ year. Oh, and how about we not give them 3 at large bids anymore, either. How about 0 – yeah that sounds about right.
Congrats to the Profs for getting it done. This is nothing against your football team. And congrats to the teams in the other regions who gave us regional final games for the ages (West and North) and to the South for showing your competitiveness and throwing us for a loop this year.
Hey – D3forme –
You apparently have forgotten that, at this stage of football, at any level, great defenses usually find a way to outlast great offenses. From my vantage point, it doesn’t look like any great teams west of PA play great defense. 500-plus yards of offense is the norm – on both sides of the ball. It’s a joke.
Conversely, if you look at the details of Rowan’s last two victories, their defense forced 8 turnovers that played a signficant role in each of their victories. Both DV and Union produced over 400 yards against one of the top defenses in the country. Difficult to overcome in any game, let alone against the top program in the region. Nonetheless, both games came down to the final minutes.
Before knocking the East Region lineup, take a close look a the North Region lineup this year – I mean Lakeland (gave up 73 points in a regular season loss), Mt. St. Joseph and Albion?? I mean, their conferences combined have one playoff victory EVER! And let’s talk about the West – where Occidental and Monmouth give up over 60 points in playoff games – and critics were hoping for an Occidental/Linfield regional final? Are you kidding?
If anything, the East demonstrated its balance – top to bottom. Rowan has survived two games that weren’t decided until the last whistle – yet you crow about the other regional finals as “games for the ages” – what about Rowan’s last two victories? It’s obvious where your bias lies. We’ll see about the weak East next week. Then we’ll chat.
D3forme – I write this without bias and your comment shows just how little you know about the East Region. For starters, the #1 and #2 teams in the country did happen to meet on the playing field, albeit in the National Quarterfinals…..not the National Championship. If WW is the true champ, they will take out Wesley and the winner of MU and Rowan. Second……at least we have a playoff in D3…….not the BCS bs like D1 (although the top 2 teams will be meeting there as well!!). Third…….Wesley is an Eastern team (Delaware) who was placed into the South and throttled the weak sisters in that bracket!!! The weakling from the East blew up that bracket!! How come no issues on your end on the weakness of the South? Trinity, Mary Hardin-Baylor…..at home……please!!!! No matter how the brackets are set up, the cream will rise to the top and the best team will be crowned champion. Whether Linfield lost (at home!!) in the National Quarterfinals or at the Finals……they lost. Where they lost and when they lost will not hurt nor would it have helped any of their players find a good job or get into a top notch b-school, med school or law school!!! When my HR people are interviewing various candidates for positions at my companies across the country (D3 grad without my team even in the playoffs!!!), no potential employee will be asked about the relative weakness of the East versus the North and South in D3 football. When we go on campus to Tufts, Trinity (CT), Bowdoin, Amherst, etc., the resumes state that these individuals played football and we’ll know they excelled with an excruciating academic load.
As far as a game that I was at and I’ll doubt that you were………Delaware Valley was up 14-0 at halftime and had given up 78 yards of offense. At the start of the second half, DV lost their All-American wide receiver (David Carmon) to a separated shoulder, lost their only cornerback near 6′ tall (the 5’7″ corner was left to cover the 6’4″ D1 transfer All-American), lost their #3 receiver (John Kiphorn) who dressed despite a torn MCL suffered last week and for all intents and purposes lost the effectiveness (badly sprained ankle) of their best nose tackle and still had a chance at the end of the game to win it but the pass fell incomplete. And by the way, DV’s two best d-backs last year transferred to Rowan this year and started for Rowan all year. They didn’t want to leave but couldn’t afford the expense of the private school (Rowan is a public school and about 1/3 as expensive!!). And please don’t make a big deal of winning D3 playoff games on the road. A couple of thousand fans does not make the Big House at Michigan, Joe Pa’s at Happy Valley nor Death Valley at Clemson……especially when then travel for the road team is only an hour or two away!! Ask Trinity, Mary Hardin-Baylor, Union, DV, Linfield about the importance of home field.
As far as the East is concerned, Rowan, Union, Del Val, Wilkes and Wesley (yes, they are in the Eastern US) are extremely young and loaded for next year and will represent the East just fine……..both on, and much more importantly……off the field!!! And don’t forget about what Trinity (CT) would do in the playoffs on the national scope as well. They take the Ivy League approach and don’t participate in the playoffs because of the intensity of the academic load. In some (but not all respects) I take my hat off to Trinity!!
Congrats to Rowan, WW, MUC and Wesley and the best team in D3 will be the team that wins the Stagg Bowl in two weeks!!
P.S. I guess the Hobart coach was correct when he spoke about the closeness of Union and DV. They both lost on their home fields by four points and six points and had a chance to win at the end. Hats off to the Hobart coach in his on-the-money analysis.
ducthman89 – Dead on!!!!!!!! And remember, Wesley (Delaware) is an Eastern team who tore up the tough South!!!!
To prove once again that DIII football is the Rodney Dangerfield of big-city media, the Dallas Morning News reported the following pairings for next week’s games:
Mount Union v. Rowan
Wisconsin-Whitewater winner v. Wesley
Oy.
lg1970 – Just consider the source…..If it’s not the Cowboys, the Horns or Texas High School Football Playoffs……it doesn’t matter!!! I’m an Easterner who spent some time in the Big D establishing a couple branch locations and the sports coverage in The Morning News drove me nuts (but the women drove me wild!!!!). Hello Grapevine!!!!!
D3Forme – one other comment. Looking for balance in a region? Last I looked, Mt. Union lost a regular season game this year fir the first time in about 10 years. Not too many competitive contests during that time either. Along the way, they’ve won 7 national championships, and have only lost in the playoffs. As I recall, their NCAA record 55-game win streak was snapped in 1999, at home, by…..Rowan? In any event, as far as “loaded” regions go, and “balance” is concerned, there isn’t really too much of that in the North, as MU seems to always emerge as the top dog. I guess everyone out there gets excited when they play the perennial champs to a close loss.
The Dallas Morning News was once a great newspaper. Without the competition from another great newspaper, the Dallas Times Herald, it has gotten sloppy and careless. 🙁
Competition has made the South Region tough. No longer just the province of Pennsylvania football (when the MAC was in the South Region), the South has had another team reach the Semis. Trinity made it in 1999 and 2002, Bridgewater in 2001 and 2003, Hardin-Simmons in 2000, UMHB in 2004 and Wesley in 2005. Seven years, five teams from 4 conferences. That is similar to the balance in the West.
Go Wesley! Carry the South Region banner. (After all, Delaware is on our side of the Mason-Dixon line! 🙂 )
Who cares about Texas, Dallas or the lousy newspaper in that overrated state…..WIAC rules, we’re bigger,faster and stronger, as will be proven 2 more times.
Talk all you want about competition being tough in regions, the only thing that matters in the end is the North and West regions have won every title since (Ithaca in) 1991. I will be shocked if it does not come out with a West or North winner again this year!
Keep thinking that way Dutchman. Wesley may just convert you yet. Just as it has the Ferrum, MHB and Bridgewater. They all thought they could stop Wesley’s high powered, quick strick offence. They COULDN’T. They all thought the could roll over Wesley’s defence, They COULDN”T.
Maybe you should look at a little deeper into your crystal ball and see the real reason Wesley’s D is on the field so much. Because the offence scores so quickly and often!!!!! Just ask the new Wesley fans of the south!
dutchman89
Just to clear up a few things. The ’99 loss to Rowan ended the Raiders 54 game winning streak that went from “96-99”. That loss was at home. During that run the Raiders managed three Stagg bowl victories in a row.
After that loss, another 55 straight, three more D3 championships and a loss to St John’s in the 03 Stagg. Again we stumbled through the best in D3 during that span.
The Raiders play in one of the toughest conferences in the country and have had plenty of “close games” along the way. We had to play our own conference runner up Saturday after they took out two automatic qualifiers and the No 1 seed in the bracket. It is our curse to be stuck in NE Ohio and forced to compete in the north. Do you think the results would have been different if those Mount teams were in any of the other regions.
Then the complaint would be the East, South or West (pick one)isn’t very balanced and Mount Union is getting another free pass to the Stagg Bowl.
I don’t believe for one minute Rowan is a free pass from the East. It seems to me I am reading the same non-challenged complaints about Rowan coming from East. Could be both teams just might be good!
Raiderguy
Tough conference? Just looked at MU scores since 1999. Only 5 regular season games within 14 points. Do I think the results would be different if they played outside Ohio? Probably not – its a great program-likely the best ever in DIII.
Ralph Turner – You’re not from around here so a quick geography lesson. Wesley is located in Dover, Delaware……..thought of as a bedroom community of Philadelphia. Most business types move down there for much cheaper real estate and put up with a slighly longer commute to Philadelphia and its’ suburbs. Other than football, Wesley plays all other sports in a conference called the Pennsylvania Athletic Conference where all of the colleges and universities are from Southeastern Pennsylvania.
The roster is made up of primarily PA, NJ, NY and MD residents (and Baltimore/Washington skews much more heavily towards faster paced Eastern standards than the much more laid back South…….believe me, I know the difference having business concerns in many locations in both parts of the country).
I don’t know wher Wesley goes from here……….heavy underdogs against who I believe is the best team in the country…..WW. But Wesley has represented Eastern Football just fine (as has PSU with the big boys!!!!!).
But Ralph…….you can send some of your fine women up here any day of the week!!!
pcole
You spoke about Lewis Howes playing for Principia, and now playing for Capital. I was looking up his name, and the Principia site shows him as a senior last year. It appears he was also a very good DIII Decathalete. How is it that he is playing for Capital this year? Did he graduate from Principia with a year of eligibilty left?
I think he was a first semester senior last year.
Odd story — he did the fall at Capital but the spring at Principia last year.
Dutchman –
Don’t forget, though, that Albion of the MIAA won a national title in the 90’s.
dutchman89 and the other geniuses who try and reason how the East isn’t the weak stepsister of the 4 regions:
Nice try, but only you and your biased supporters will be the ones who are EVER going to believe what you say. I listed Rowan’s playoff games scores over the last 5 years on last weeks “Immediate thoughts”. They have defeated all but one of their opponents in this region (one narrow loss to Brockport State) by an average of 33 points/game. You talk about how close some of their games were this year. That’s because their top 3 players were out and they were playing on the road Einstein! AND THEY STILL BEAT ALL OF YOUR SORRY ASS TEAMS! That defies comprehension. If they would have had these players these games probably would have been blowouts just like all of the other years. It’s not a slight against Rowan, it’s a slight against all of the other teams in this region. If Rowan was winning national championships that would be one thing, but they’re not. I don’t care if Mt. Union runs through their region when they beat everyone out of it too. If you think you are going to convince anyone who isn’t an East homer that you have a “balanced” region than you are the ones who really have no clue about DIII football.
D3forme – You obviously didn’t read the post at 8:46am this morning about the details of yesterday’s Rowan game. But reading is probably not fundamental for you!!! There is only one champion each year and that team will have proven it on the field regardless of how the brackets are set up. It’s also obvious that your team is gone so you’re just bellyaching about your region (by the way……….Wesley is in the East!!!!!).
Thanks for the compliment about the geniuses in the East…..we do try hard (although most of us don’t have to try as hard!!!). We are in the backyards of the Ivy League as you know. It must be osmosis!!!
D3 may be for you……….but you are not for it!!!! Let me run my business concerns (from here in the East) so I can donate more this year (to several D3 schools) than you make in a year!!!!
dukefinadv, I’ve been making these statements about the East long before my team was ever in the playoffs. Nice last sentence. I think we all now see how classy you are. It would take years for a pyschiatrist to sort through the issues that would make one insecure enough to make a statement like that.
Looks like the sub-title for the UW-W vs. Wesley game next week will be Beaver vs. Beavers…a guy named Beaver(s) will be on the offensive side of the ball almost every play next week…should be a challenge for the radio guys to not confuse us too much…may the best Castor Canadensis win…
d3forme – You knock the East like it really matters. You don’t comment on anything specific. You don’t read the specifics of other posts. You mention Rowan being without their Big 3 (even when they have superior depth to most teams…….especially in the East………and…….it was only Big 2. Their backup RB went for 149 yards against Union). You don’t mention Wesley as an Eastern team nor give them any props for going down to Mary Hardin-Baylor and laying wood. You don’t mention Trinity (CT) and how that team would perform if they saw athletics remotely as important as academics. You don’t mention the ten zillion D1-AA, D2 and D3 programs jammed into the East……which spreads and dilutes the talent. You don’t mention Rowan’s affordability as a public institution (playing against primarily private institutions in the East). You’ve been the one spewing the anti-East venom…..the rest of us are just reacting to what you say. In the spirit of an interesting blog you do a great job!!! In the spirit of a factual debate, this D3 grad (again…..non-playoff school……and it hasn’t hurt me in business) questions what your motives truly are and what they represent. If the true essence of D3 is about academics first and athletics second……..both are a part of the discussion. As far as the psychiatry is involved………I count many of them as clients and many of them as graduates of schools in the Eastern region that you love so much to knock. I don’t mean to get personal but you do a great job of antagonizing…..I guess it’s just the cutthroat, fast paced, academically and professionally successful Eastener in me!!!!! Happy Holidays D3forme and let’s all just enjoy the Final Four!!!!
“I guess it’s just the cutthroat, fast paced, academically and professionally successful Eastener in me!!!!!”
You’re doing a wonderful job in supporting your argument. Keep up the good work.
Oh, and you’re already backtracking by going to the “all of schools out here dilute our talent” card. Hmmm, sounds like you are trying to rationalize why the East is soft, which was my point. Thanks.
Though not really a consolation, it would be nice for the team that knocked Ferrum off to make a run at the D3 Championship. Wesley beat Ferrum and Bridgewater handily and with ease. They are definitely clicking as a team and I hope to see them playing in Salem.
rbrockwell – Just ask D3forme……..Wesley is cursed by being from the intellectually oriented East Coast. They have no chance against WW (just as he said they had no chance against Mary Hardin-Baylor at MHB). Hey D3forme, quick question? Do you know where New Jersey and Delaware fall on the map? Two out of the Final Four from the East!!!Of course you don’t because you never leave the cave you live in and D3 is the only non-porn site that you peruse. And even that has been an issue since your parents put the porn blocker and parental controls on their computer. If you are going to use big words like psychiatrist, please spell it right (your 12:34 post). Geez…….what Ivy League school let you in to get your MBA (mine is from Wharton…….do you know where that is genius?). You also never addressed dutchman89’s post from 8:34 this morning!!
Stagg Bowl prediction………WW over Mount Union by 8
D3foranybodybutyou…………..who wins the Gagliardi?
Looks like the mighty ODAC showed that it is still no better than the other southern conferences-just the beneficiaries of too much respect given to an average conference. It was a forgone conclusion that Wesley was going to win that bracket before things were started, and congratulations to the Wolverines. They have most of the pieces in place, and if they can stay away from the wind (even though it was quite windy Saturday) and rain they may win it all. My guess is that Clark is not running out to schedule Wesley for next season, as most of those players are returning for Wesley next year.
Seriously, dukefinadv and D3forme, please try to use a little sportsmanship. I played at an MIAA school. Maybe we don’t win many playoff games, and maybe our graduates don’t all go on to Ivy League schools, but guess what, on the field we played hard, as do the teams in the East, West, North and South regions. Every D3 athlete plays hard and works hard, and not in that order. Every school should be celebrated.
I think this may be getting out of control. Yet, what I see is the following: d3forme making general comments (with some strong points) and dutchmen/dukefinadv making more specific information based comments(with many strong points). I think d3forme should let this one go, your argument is weak and senseless.
I’m not going to turn this thread into a back and forth argument everyone else has to read this week. This will be my last statement on it. Many people from all the different regions have brought up the weakness of the East for a long time and you know it. We’ll see how Wesley and Rowan fare this Saturday. Again, you do a great job of supporting your argument when you yourself predict they lose by having UWW and Mount Union in the Stagg Bowl. Good grief.
And I always know someone is hurting when they go to the grammar card on a chat board. But since you went there, “on-the-money” is not hyphenated, dude, per Websters or dictionary.com. In-the-money, yes. On-the-money, no. If you are going to point out poster’s writing mistakes, at least don’t make them yourselves. That’s the ultimate sign of the ultimate tool.
cokethom is right on! You guys are all smart and knowledgable, be nice. Just don’t attack the east,west north or south. When you do you really insult all the kids that work hard day in and day out. All college atheletes deserve credit and not insults.
Everyone thought that Cap would get blown out of the water, and they played great. I have a question to anyone who was at this game in person. I was listening to the game on Cap and Mt. radio channels and they both said officiating was poor. Was it really poor? or was it an excuse? Jim collins proved he can coach with anyone. If not for a few rocky pentello interceptions then Cap is playing rowan
cokethom and dlippiel – You are right. I was only on the defensive by originally defending the East. D3forme should host a sports talk show in the East where the job is to get the listeners incited enough to call. I’ve enjoyed the banter and, quite frankly, it’s refreshing to see while there may not be a ton of us blogging on the site……..the interest in D3 football does excite me. I played at a D3 school that dropped the sport due to the academic types getting their way…..Swarthmore College (go to the website…..yes, I’m an intellectual geek!!!!……but only pull out the academic sword when attacked!!!). I respect all student-athletes (in that order!!), all programs in all regions. Regional hierarchy in D3 football ranks a few notches below issues with the BCS and quietly paying athletes at the D1 level……..and just slightly above the importance of the status of Jessica and Nick’s marriage. But as unimportant as it is relative to kids younger than us protecting our backsides around the world and on our home turf (while we enjoy our daily riches!!) and children starving throughout the world…….it’s nice to have an outlet to express views. I’m done with the negativity and academic/professional bravado as well (unless my brethren starts it up again!!). My prediction for the Stagg has nothing to do with Eastern inferiority…….it’s picking the two higher ranked home teams (including the one who beat the #1 team in the country on their home field yesterday!!).
Time to go make my travel plans for the week including a Saturday stopover in the mid-east (had to do that d3forme!!!) to see Mount Union!!!
I’ve enjoyed the banter as well. Finally something we can agree on! I’m done with this topic as well. When I start up my radio show (although I couldn’t have it physically in the East because I would be severely maimed!), you can be my first guest, dukefinadv. I think the ratings would go through the roof. Best of luck to the 4 remaining squads and hopefully no more injuries to any of the teams.
D3forme – You got it buddy!!! I’ll take you up on being your first guest anytime. I’m probably done blogging until after next Saturday’s games. By the way, if you want to hear a typical East Coast idiot (Philadelphia) doing controversial sports talk, check out http://www.610wip.com from 3:00pm to 7:00pm. It’s the Philadelphia sports talk station. They will be putting 20,000 people in the Wachovia Center (where the Sixers and Flyers play) at 5:30am (the tailgaiting starts the night before) on the Friday before the Superbowl to watch a wing eating contest along with dozens of scantily clad women (the Wingettes of course). Only in America!!!!
Talk to you down the pike D3forme!! And best of luck to the Final Four!!
Looks like the mighty ODAC showed that it is still no better than the other southern conferences-just the beneficiaries of too much respect given to an average conference.
Man, must be something in the air today!!! As cokethom says, we should be celebrating these athletes and their schools, not slamming them. The ODAC is a fine conference. Not quite sure what you mean by overrated. Bridgewater had a great season!! I’m sure there are teams from many conferences out there would love to make it to the 3rd round. Overrated!!! H-SC baseball / 05 College World Series, R-MC women’s basketball / 05 national runner up, Bridgewater football / national runner up a few years back, H-SC basketball / 1 final four, 1 national runner up in recent years. R-MC has been solid in mens basketball in recent years. I’m sure I have left a few off but these are just a few that come to mind.
Now back to football!! Should be a great final 4.
W-W over over Wesley in a close one.
Mt. Union over Rowan in a close one.
W-W over Mt. Union in a close one.
I know, a real risk taker I am, 🙂 And for the record, I didn’t say this is who I wanted to win, just what my gut is telling me. GO UNDERDOGS!!
Raiderguy – Great post, but just to let you know, Cap played 1 AQ (Wabash). NCC was an at-large team that finished 2nd in the CCIW (Augustana was the AQ).
caprules70 – I am not sure why you stated, “If not for a few rocky pentello interceptions then Cap is playing rowan?” I believe Pentello put up 300+ against the number 2 rated defense in the country, and 4 td’s! Plus, he had only 1 interception. If you want to blame someone on the loss, there are a lot of others, not just the qb (i.e., the entire defense for the 34 that was put on them, the o-line for not picking up the blitz in the final minutes of the 4th quarter, etc.). I don’t think there was one Cap player or coach that walked away blaming their qb for the loss. This is a team game, you win as a team and you loose as a team. The MUC-Cap game might have been one of the best games I have witnessed in D3, the bad thing about the whole situation was someone had to loose the f-ball game.
Hey, don’t know the Wing Bowl until you’ve tried it…it’s one of those things that you should really experience before commenting…
Rather…don’t knock the Wing Bowl…till you’ve tried it.
Yep and this year all new contestants in the Virgin Wing Bowl. Pat maybe we could start a eating contest before the Stagg. Oh no we couldn’t .., No one could agree on the food to gorge on!!!
It is a spectacle to end all spectacles…I was there for Wing Bowl X, Tournament of Champions…oh the humanity.
dukefinadv–I understand Delaware. That is where every Fortune 500 company in the world is incorporated! LOL And one of the best things that I ever did for the lovely bride was to spend a day at the du Pont place, Winterthur.
As for the next shake-up in conferences, I expect the SUNYAC will evaluate its stance on football if SUNY-Morrisville has football. That would give it 4 members: Brockport, Buffalo, Cortland and Morrisville. I could imagine it moving to sponsor the sport for an AQ. That would leave the NJAC and the SUNYAC to seeking affiliates/new members, e.g., Wesley? Salisbury? Frostburg? SUNY-Maritime?
I guess that Wesley must be basking in all of the love that it is getting, Texas, Pennsylvania, Ferrum, Bridgewater and even parts of NJ! LOL!
bvboom, the geography doesn’t work. Eight of the 10 ASC schools are farther west longitude that the westernmost school in the WIAC. As I look at intercollegiate athletics in Wisconsin and follow its development over the past 3-plus decades, the Wisconsin State University Conference migrated from the NAIA to D3 NCAA. The Lone Star Conference moved from dominating the NAIA in football in the 1970’s to the NCAA’s 3 divisions: D1 for (Southwest) Texas State, Sam Houston St and Stephen F Austin State; D-2 for Angelo State, TAMU-Commerce (the old East Texas State) TAMU-Kingsville (the old Texas A&I) and Tarleton State; and D-3 for McMurry, Howard Payne and Sul Ross State.
The UW-W has had a good run. This should be interesting. There won’t be a cold weather advantage for UW-W vs. Wesley as there might have been with UMHB.
All I have to say is the Wing Bowl is one of the greatest events in Philly. You must go and yes, the tail gating starts the night before. Then after the wing bowl everyone goes to the bar afterwards. Two years ago I went and was partying for over 24hrs straight. Enough about the Wing Bowl.
People love to talk about the East bracket like we are the worst. Who else has beaten Mt. Union in Alliance…I know the profs did cause I was there. I took the 5 hour hike across Pennsy to Ohio. One of the best games I have ever witnessed. I just wonder about thier fan base. Being from a Philly Burb my whole life I know what it is to be a fan (Yes I am an Eagles fan, the best fans in the world of proffesional sports.) At the 99 Rowan, Mt Union game about 100 Rowan fans was louder than the 3000+ fans from Mt. Union. How does that happen?
If any team has a chance to beat Mt. Union in Alliance, it is the Profs. We are the Beast of the East and never get any respect. Rowan is down to RB’s and a QB. We almost loss our #2 WR this week. We are always a beat up team but know how to get the job done. I hope everyone here has heard “Offenses wins games, Defenses wins championships” (if you haven’t heard that or something close you shouldn’t be reading any of these comments” Rowan’s defense is one of the best I have seen there since 98. Yes I said 98, the defense was better in 98 than 99. Rowan will beat Mt. Union and be taking the trip to Salem, Va. We should have been there in 01 but the refs in the Bridgewater game had some home cooking of there own.
Oh yeah, one more thing I forgot to mention. Does anyone know what happened to Trinity TX. From my memory it was always Mt. Union from the North, Rowan from the east, Trinity TX from the south and some random from the west? Did they get new coaches or something.
K.C. Keeler never could win the stagg bowl for rowan but when he moved to U Del. he could win the DI AA (or AAA, can’t remember right now cause it is a sunday during football season) championship. Jay Acorsi, now it is your time to put the Keeler era behind you and start your own.
UW-Whitewater is a determined, talented team that isn’t going to back down against any team, no matter what region they come from. The Warhawks have one of the most potent offenses in D3. Jacobs is re-writing the record books for a QB at UWW and Beaver is one of the top rushers in the nation. With 2 extremely talented WRs (plus good depth) and a weapon at TE, Whitewater has proven that they can put up the points with the best of them, just ask Linfield. On the defensive side they are solid with a number of playmakers. Brown, Raebel and Kleppe always rise to the occassion and they have shown that they are not afraid of any offense.
Stagg Bowl: UW-Whitewater 31, Mt. Union 27
Hey dirtycheme…What’s Rowan’s over-all record against Mount? What is Rowan’s record against Mount in the Stagg Bowl? I rest my case. Also, by the way…I was also at the Rowan game when they beat Mount and if you really want people to believe that your 1000 fans were louder then the 3-4,000 Mount fans, nice try…..not even close to the truth. I don’t mind anyone having their opinion, cause that’s what we all do, but don’t distort the facts….and another fact….WE’RE GOING TO BEAT YOU AGAIN THIS WEEKEND…..I GUARENTEE IT !! Mount Union 28, Rowan 17……Out !!!
Oh…I just realized something after reading dirtycheme again. He said that 100 Rowan fans were louder than the 3-4,ooo Raider fans. Oh my Lord…what are you thinking?…You were right though on that huge fan base that made it to Alliance, OH that day….about 100. Boy, what a following !! Do you think you guys might bring 150 this time around? Whatever the case, it’ll be a LONG ride home, especially for Jay Acorsi, he’ll find himself 0-1 against Mount…but don’t worry…there are many DIV III coaches out their who haven’t beaten Mount….in the Stagg Bowl that is……….ROWAN !!
i haven’t read your last one yet just wanted to respond. who won the last time we met. You are dreaming if you think that MU will beat rowan. we have the heart and determination to beat you. I took a few walks around the 99 game and all I heard was rowan fans cheering. It seemed your fans didn’t know what to do in a close game except get nervous (like your team did) Wait till you see our Dfense and you will be amazed. I wish I could go sat. but will definatly be listening.
Rowan 21, Mt. Union 20
Dirtycheme,
The best team won Bridgewater-Rowan game in 2001. The other team went home to New Jersey.
I am sure we will still be having this conversation sixty years on.
The Stagg Bowl matchup in 98 was horrible, I will agree. And yes Mt. Union has the best program for the last 10 years, (I don’t know much of D3 football before 95) and then Rowan was still Glassboro State College. Rowan will make it to the Stagg Bowl, but them like my Eagles (and the truth hurts) can’t finish what they started. You won’t be able to stop our defense, and if remember 99, it was our defense that won that game.
Hey Warhawk fan…what’s your prediction for this week.
It isn’t a bye, you know.