Immediate Thoughts on Week 3

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If I had to summarize what I learned in Week 3 in one sentence it would be, “Life after Superman as your quarterback isn’t nearly as much fun.”

The three best quarterbacks I’ve seen in person the past three seasons are Brett Elliott (Linfield), Adam Knoblauch (Delaware Valley) and Mike Orihel (Rowan). The first two graduated, leaving Linfield and Del Val trying to find replacements and ways to score. Through four games the Wildcats and Aggies have combined for 46 points. Yes, they’ve played some very good defenses in (HSU, Wilkes, non-Division III Western Oregon). But there are lots of growing pains when you try to replace quarterbacks like those two.

On the flip side, the sign of a great defense is that they have different guys who impress you on any given weekend. For Wilkes, I’ve been a big fan of All American LB Kyle Follweiler for a couple years now. But it was DT Anthony Serafin who impressed in Week 1, causing havoc in WPUNJ’s backfield. This week it was Wilkes’ defensive ends Keith Cavallotti and Erik VanGilst who used their speed on the outside to cause pass protection problems in the Colonels 14-7 win over Delaware Valley.

Elsewhere…

Back up and running: Springfield College certainly knows how to bounce back from losing seasons. They went from 4-6 in 1999 to 11-2 in 2000…4-5 in 2001 to 8-2 in 2002…4-6 in 2005 to, well, we don’t know yet. But they’ve already registered two impressive wins over Union and Montclair State.

Maybe it’s coincidental that Springfield has this sort of cyclical success. Or maybe it just takes Coach DeLong a little while (about a year) to find some players who can thrive in that triple option set. Once they get that system down, the Pride offense takes off.

Looking at quarterback Chris Sharpe’s numbers over the past four games going back to 2005 — 795 yards and 13 TDs — I think he’s got the system down pretty well now.

Close games are overrated: Five of the top six teams were in action today and won by an average margin of 43.2 points. Mount Union scored 71 and didn’t even have the largest margin of victory — SJU won 60-0.

Magic Carpet Ride Watch: There is usually at least one team a year that has a surprising undefeated run through the regular season. Last year there were at least three in Monmouth, Thiel and Wesley. The year before it was Wooster, to some extent.

There’s still A LOT of football to play, but maybe this year’s magic carpet rider are Concordia (Wis.). At a glance they are the first IBFC team to get through non-conference play unscathed since MacMurray did it back in 2002.

Three cheers for: Wheaton (Ill.) receiver Noah “says if we get in the ark it’ll be” Dreyer, who had 3 TDs in the Thunder’s 45-7 win over Washington University of St. Louis…Mount Union quarterback Mike Jorris who has thrown 10 TDs and just on INT through two games…Bethany Head Coach Tim Weaver whose Bison need just one more win this season to equal their total wins from 2003-2005.

44 thoughts on “Immediate Thoughts on Week 3”

  1. Union notches their first “W” against a solid but undistinguished Muhlenberg team. If one recalls all the rabbits that Union pulled out of their hat last Fall on their way to an undefeated regular season, one can now comprehend the fact that they are mere mortals. Yes, they do have a great running back and great wide receivers, but their defense is definitely suspect. With a resurgent Rochester team staring them in the eye, we are less than optimistic about their immediate prospects.

  2. Josh Bowerman and I saw McMurry hosting LaCollege, and HSU hosting Linfield. (I watched; Josh shot photos…see elsewhere, like the front page.)

    I met a nice contingent of Linfield parents who enjoyed the Prime Rib and Cajun Catfish at Perini’s Restaurant in Buffalo Gap, TX, 15 minutes south of Abilene.

    Linfield did not quit, but we saw HSU give up 3 red-zone turnovers and Linfield one. HSU looked good, but Jordan Neel seemed to be shaking off the rust from his Medical Redshirt year in 2005.

    We saw Louisiana College’s Desmond Pittman “climb a ladder” in the endzone to haul in the pass for LaCollege’s 2nd TD.

    But, in my humble opinion, McMurry’s Dusty Thornhill was the best receiver that I saw today. Dusty was back in his freshman (2004) form with 7 receptions and 103 yds for 1 TD in the McMurry 23-12 win to inaugurate the new Field Turf at McMurry today.

    http://www.mcm.edu/athletics/football/stats/mcmlc.htm

  3. What was with all the safeties and overtimes? Eight OTs that we know of (some schools seem to be skipping OT on their score reports) and three games where a team scored just two points.

    Still waiting for a line score on Ursinus 6, La Salle 2. Was this at Citizens Bank Park? 🙂

  5. I sat and watched Averett give up over 300+ yards in the air, just in the first half yet they stayed with Guilford with their running game and went to the locker room all tied up at 28. What was impressive is Averett made the necessary adjustments to get pressure on the QB and they got more agressive with the receivers in the second half. Averett also opened their offense up in the 2nd half with not only the running game but they put the ball in the air a few times as well and their special teams were very impressive. I guess Dunlevy knew what he was doing to put them through hell the first two weeks of the season with Mount Union and Wesley. They kept thier poise and played a complete game down to the end.

  6. The Cortland defense has teeth! 10 sacks just doesn’t seem fair. I was impressed with Brockport’s defense, and it looks like the Golden Eagles have found their tailback of the future in sophomore Garet Lynch. He’s a big kid with good moves and strength.

    I stick by what I said last week about Hobart really struggling early this season. They look more like a mid-pack team in the LL in 2006 than a Top 25 team in the nation. It looks like the LL will be RPI vs Union this year, with a possible outside shot from Rochester but I really doubt it. Fisher exposed them.

    IC, Fisher, and Springfield kept rolling along. I was surprised to see Alfred struggle to slip past St Lawrence…do the Saxons have the offense to hang with Fisher and IC? How will their vaunted D match up with Springfield, which got another win? Give the Pride props for playing a rough schedule again in 2006 – Union and Montclair out of conference is impressive.

    Wilkes moved to the front of the pack in the MAC. I’d say the MAC is stronger now – Susquehanna was addition by subtraction. After what happened in the NCAA’s I’m not convinced yet they can handle Rowan, but that pretty much goes for the entire East until proven otherwise.

  7. I didn’t have a chance to pore over the weekend’s scores until this morning, but here’s what stood out (although by no means is it a comprehensive list, just the immediate reaction):

    — The three teams only scoring a safety and the eight OT games

    — Of the three top 25 losers (I’m thinking my top 25 ballot, though I don’t think there were any discrepancies) only one was an upset (Miss. Coll. over TLU), and that was nearly my upset special, but I went with that as the Surprisingly Good Game instead … D’oh! I was actually starting to think I might be good at this this. Del Val and Linfield lost to other Top 25 teams.

    — Alma heck of a bounce back after a 32-31 loss to IIAC bottom-feeder (formerly, anyway) Cornell, beating UW-Eau Claire 33-30 in OT.

    — Unimpressive winning scores by ranked/nearly ranked teams:
    Hobart 31-27 over William Paterson
    Bridgewater 30-27 in OT over Ferrum
    UW-Stout 36-34 over Upper Iowa
    Alfred 17-14 over St. Lawrence
    Howard Payne 24-17 East Texas Baptist (only unimpressive compared to Trinity’s 41-0 win over ETBU)

    OK with Coe’s 16-10 margin of victory over Luther though.

    — Wins that moved a team onto my “just beyond the top 25” radar
    Bethel 21-7 over Concordia-Moorhead
    Cortland State 17-10 over Brockport State (Red Dragons probably should’ve already been on my radar, duh)
    Cal Lutheran 26-16 Willamette
    Springfield
    Lycoming 15-12 Widener (always a good game)
    Carthage 31-2 Whittier (not sexy, but 3-0 giving up only 7 points a game)
    Averett 54-34 Guilford

    — Back under consideration:
    Union 34-7 Muhlenberg
    North Central 38-0 Benedictine
    Washington & Jefferson
    Salisbury (even in defeat vs. CNU)

    — Seemed good (or not that bad) in defeat
    Salisbury
    Del Val

    — Falling off the radar:
    Texas Lutheran and/or Trinity (Texas)
    Baldwin-Wallace (were hardly on it)
    Thiel

    — Waiting for them to play a darn game
    Trinity (Conn.)

    Unbeaten teams that 0-2 Linfield is probably still much better than:
    3-0
    Carnegie Mellon
    Case Western
    Ursinus

    2-0
    Carleton
    Newport News
    Thomas More
    WPI
    Rhodes
    DePauw
    Franklin
    WNEC
    Miss. Coll.?
    Wooster?
    W. Conn.?
    Puget Sound 🙂

    There are more, but I started to feel mean.

    ** Now, for the record, I would never knock a team for winning, and for many games, all I have seen are scores. Often a couple late TDs can make a 35-14 game 35-28, appearing much closer to the fan/voter/etc. who doesn’t know any details of the game.

    Oh, and my alma mater won again 😯 :happiness:

  8. You can ad St Norbert as one of the undefeated teams that Linfield can destroy. The reason St. Norbert wins is because they don’t play anyone. Their conference is one of the weakest in the nation. They play one non-conference game a year, and that is usually a cupcake. Monmouth played Wartburg and got shut out and shut down.

  10. I don’t know if I’d get too excited over Cal Lutheran. OK, they beat Willamette by 10 (Gustavus beat Willamette by 4 TDs then got smacked by St. Thomas — both are middle-of-the-pack MIAC teams).

    Cal Lutheran also beat PLU by 3 — and PLU got beat at home by UWRF, which was ripped by SJU.

    Linfield will emerge as the best of the West Coast. A good, solid program is much more able to regenerate than the occasional contenders. Two losses to start a season isn’t fatal. (See SJU 2001.)
    http://www.d3football.com/previous_info.php?school=St.+John%27s&year=2001

  11. Gosh Keith, losing faith in Trinity (TX) this week? I could see it last week, when they lost by 4 points with their scout team QB forced to play most of the way. I guess the guys need to shoot for more than six INTs next week 😉

    Seriously, I know the TU offense is a huge question with the total lack of any running game. But the defense is getting the job done. We’ll see what they can do against DePauw this week; DPU hasn’t been impressive in their two wins but there’s a lot of pent-up frustration in Greencastle over never beating the bunch from San Antonio.

  12. Sean. Relative to your comments about St. Norbert: In the last ten years, St. Norbert’s non-conference foes have included 5 teams from the WIAC including UW-Whitewater (’04/’05), 4 teams from the MIAC, and a nationally ranked NAIA program. Hardly cupcakes. They were 5-5 in these non-conference games. During this 10-yeaar period, St. Norbert has appeared in the DIII national play-offs 5 times. Although they have lost each of these first round games, the average margin of victory by their opponents has been a touchdown with one game going into OT. These opponents; Augustana, Simpson, St. John’s, Central and UW-LaCrosse in 2004. No cupcakes herer either. My point: the Midwest Conference may not be as strong top to bottom as others, but St. Norbert has proven over the last 10 years that they have a solid championship tradition and can compete against some of the premier programs in the country.

  13. my initial thought is that Gordon is really cheesy 😛 😉

    Wheaton (Ill.) receiver Noah “says if we get in the ark it’ll be” Dreyer, who had 3 TDs in the Thunder’s 45-7 win over Washington University of St. Louis…

    😀

  14. All:

    I tend to agree with the St. Norbert defender. They don’t play cupcakes non-conference, although Whitewater treated them like a cupcake the past two years. Also, the Green Knights — perhaps because of a favorable matchup against an IIAC runner-up — have won a playoff game and also had UW-La Crosse on the ropes in the playoffs a couple years ago before losing. Lake Forest lost to Wartburg 45-0 in ’02 was it? and Monmouth lost 62-3 to St. John’s, but the fighting Norberts are the ones who at least have an argument that they’re an exception to the rule.

    Re: Cal Lu, I was not one of their big supporters last season when they were 8-1 with the 41-9 loss to Oxy, but I think scheduling Willamette is an upgrade over Menlo. They’re just on the radar. I don’t think they play anyone between now and Oct. 28 (Oxy) that could vault them into the top 25.

    Re: Trinity and Ron, I lost faith in Trinity earlier than this week (see Kickoff ’06), based on conversations with people close to the program and some questionable results. They should probably still in on the top 25 radar, but not ranked. Division III is tough like that, Trinity is probably still a very good football team with all the injuries on offense and such … but we have 26 conferences and 32 playoff teams and only a top 25, so everyone “good” just can’t be ranked. I thought the ETBU win was a big deal, but that’s losing luster, and unfortunately Redlands has not done anything impressive except play Whitworth and Trinity.

    I’ll take a closer look at them. They deserve that at least.

    Although the great thing about D3 is that opinions are just opinions, and vs. DePauw this week, Trinity will have a chance to prove itself, as you mentioned.

    Frankly, everyone can’t be in the top 25, but a lot of teams can be on the overflow radar. Teams that win a bunch of games, even in bad conferences or against bad teams … that’s still worth something. Just winning 9 or 10 games, even against teams you should always beat, is a significant display of consistency and something of an accomplishment.

    FWIW.

  15. St. Olaf looks to be having a bounce-back year. Looking at their schedule, they are untested the next few weeks. They should go undefeated into the St John’s game on October 7, making it a big showdown.

  17. theduke…not sure how you can still call the Union defense “suspect”. While they were totally run over by Springfield they rebounded quite nicely against a team that plays a more traditional offense (as will the rest of their opponents this season). My bet is that the Springfield game will prove to be an anomaly.

  20. Well Linfield is ranked right now because of what they did in the past. CNU is not in the top 25 and has played arguably the toughest 3 game start in D3. I am not going to say Ferrum needs to be ranked right now, but if your keeping Linfield in the top 25 after an 0-2 start at least give Ferrum a few points for thier game against Bridgewater…one they SHOULD have won.

  21. Whether or not they would beat Union (total conjecture on anyone’s part) should have nothing to do with ranking Linfield in the top 25. As I said previously,rankings ought to be based on what a team has done THIS season…0-2 to me doesn’t merit inclusion in the top 25.

  22. What you want is standings. What we do is rankings. Rankings are ALWAYS conjecture. Standings are the only thing that follow the winning percentage.

    Well, that and the AFCA poll.

  23. Let’s take these in succession:

    What Linfield has done this season:
    Lost to a DII team, which tells us nothing about how they match up against D3, and lost to a D3 team now ranked sixth, which doesn’t tell us much about how they stack up against the other 227 D3 teams.

    What could be more absurd than not using other factors like starters returning from a team that went deep into the playoffs, traditional conference strength and performance within that conference, when you lack other more current/accurate data?

    I have Linfield in the top 25 still; I’m not foolish enough to think a team that has beaten two or three teams that haven’t played anyone close to Hardin-Simmons’ strength is automatically better than Linfield.

    However, they are in the 20s. I am ranking them off what they have done so far. By the same token, I have Whitworth several spots ahead of Linfield, which bugs me, because last time they played, it’s wasn’t a very close game. Whitworth has beaten two good opponents, but neither the strength of either that Linfield has played, possibly.

    It could turn out that Linfield is not a top 25 team at all, but it would take more information than we know now to ascertain that.

    Comparing that to Ferrum … if staying close to Bridgewater was their only result, and the Eagles were 10th or 15th or wherever, then you could say Ferrum is about the same strength. I am big fan of using close losses (which generally have a play that could have gone either way that decided the game) as a measuring stick. Many teams help themselves by how they perform in losses, in my mind.

    But Ferrum’s two-TD loss to Guilford kind of nullifies whatever the Bridgewater game tells us about them; in fact, it might say more about Bridgewater not being that strong.

    Conversely, Christopher Newport has a bad loss to a much better team, but then came back and beat UMHB, which even though it was probably just as close as the Ferrum-Bridgewater game, since it was decided on the goal line in the final minute, we voters tend to give extra credit for actually winning. CNU’s third result vs. Salisbury helps.

    I had CNU 25th to start the year, dropped them after the Rowan loss, and have had them back in on my ballot, ahead of UMHB, logically, for the past two weeks.

    Agree about Olaf; Like I said above regarding Cal Lutheran, if you win the rest of your games and get blown out by the playoff team(s) on your schedule, it kind of leaves you in that good-but-not-great grey area.

    Also, results don’t necessarily follow a steady pattern. Sometimes things just don’t add up, and a voter has to decide what he thinks is real and what isn’t.

    It is, by definition, an educated guess. As we get more information, the polls are supposed to change. That’s good news. It gives us plenty to argue about leading up the playoffs.

    Man, that was long. I think I need to re-run it in ATN for the non-Daily Dose lovers.

  24. Ferrum is a good 0-2 team, but until they can consistently play for four quarters on both sides of the ball, they lie with the other 202(?) teams who are….NOT in the top 25.

    Best playoff hopes for this conference is with CNU. Winning out is the Panthers only saving grace.

  25. Something tells me that despite Linfield’s 0-2 start this season, you could put it in the East Region and it would easily be one of the top two teams.

    I’ll concede that Rowan is probably better this year — at least at this point of the season — but it’s worth noting that it has been outscored 94-13 in its two post-season games with NWC teams.

  26. black hats … 234 is the total number of teams, so 209 are unranked.

    I got 227 by subtracting Hardin-Simmons and the five teams ranked ahead of it, and Linfield itself. 234-6-1 = 227.

    Meaning Linfield losing to Hardin-Simmons tells us something about how Linfield would fare against the sixth-ranked team and ones we feel are better, but they could fall anywhere in that group between 6 and 234, or not-as-good-as Hardin-Simmons and the worst team.

    For what that’s all worth 🙂

  28. My understanding is LK does not submit players for consideration by his own design. The Raiders play as a team and as such that is where they receive their reward.

    Eleven as one.

    I do not think that has changed.

  29. Does anyone else find it odd that the biggest concern in the pre-season was Ferrum’s inexperienced O line and now they are part of the team of the week? Ferrum’s running scheme is probably the best in the nation. So if the Defense shows up Ferrum may still have a shot at the playoffs after and 0-2 start.

  30. dea I would like to see a Union vs Linfield game. I beg to differ with your arrogant tone, I think Union would take them. Having seem both teams play in the past two seasons I would have to go with the Dutchman. If the Dutchmen D came to play and the O played well I just do not think Linfield could handle them. I do agree with most though that Linfield probably should still be in top 25. Yet can you blame someone for questioning a top 25 ranking with a 0-2 record? I even questioned Union remaining in the top 25 after the defeat at the hands of Springfield.

  32. Dlippiel,

    Have the AD at Union get on the horn and see if they can get a series with Linfield. The ‘Cats are looking for games since the SCIAC seemes to lose the ‘Cats phone number every year.

    This will all be moot when Linfield is 5-2 and playing for the NWC vs Whitworth later this season.

  33. Wildcat I think you are on to something here. I would love to see it! May the best team win. Please just cut and paste your last statement and hope what you are saying happens, if it does not, well, those whom are questioning now will be right. At least though you sound like a great Linfield fan whom believes in his team, which I think is great. Good luck this year.

  34. I saw both Hobart games ,I was not impressed . This is my first D3 football experiance, is this what a rank team looks like.I guess I just got used to some pretty good D1 High school ball.

  35. Union-Linfield … I like the idea, but who’s going to pay for the flights?

    Barnacle, what makes you qualified to say Ferrum has the best running scheme in the nation? Have you see other run-happy teams like Augustana, Springfield or UW-River Falls?

    You can look at the NCAA stats and see if they gain the most yards, but judging the scheme is a subjective thing, and would require seeing a game from somewhere other than the Ferrum sideline, wouldn’t it? 🙂

    Of course, I’m just nitpicking and breaking your stones for no apparent reason … hope you don’t mind.

  36. dilippiel,
    It’s great that you’re a believer in your team, but … Union could improve its chances of playing Linfield (or another West team) very simply: just win the East — the easiest region to advance out of nearly every season.

    Sometime this millenium, the East will advance a team to the Stagg …

  37. UWRF isn’t in the same run-happy group as Springfield these days. They’ve abandoned the ‘bone and are in double digits in passing attempts this season. While who knows what’s up at PLU this year, it was a nice road win for RF and the WIAC last weekend.

  39. I am just saying that game in game out against whoever Ferrum puts up crazy rushing stats. The passing game is no more than hopefully we surprise them for big yardage. I never said I am qualified and in all honesty with the extremely large amount of D3 schools and such limited coverage is anyone really qualified? Now I would suspect that the writers are qualified for their region or at least a conference or two.

  40. I was just giving you a hard time, completely unnecessarily.

    I’m pretty sure Ferrum led the nation last year with 360 a game or something.

  41. I understand. Its just frustrating. Ferrum has a solid squad, maybe not as good as last years team but solid. Their 0-2 showing to start the year is just opposite of what most of Panther Nation thought. And the qualified remark I made, it was not any disrespect. I think most of D3 football fans appreciate all the effort you guys put into making this site what it is. I mean we “fans” complain all season (except mount union) about the rankings but never really stop to say thanks for all of you that make this site and commentary on games possible. So keep up the good work, we’ll probably keep complaining but we appreciate the reporting and stories.

  43. laxeye –

    keep in mind most early season rankings are the result of the PRIOR SEASON. we were 4 downs away from taking del val into ot and possibily getting into the NCAA Eastern Region Finals.

    i think any knowledgeable hobart fan would say that the team has not been playing well – certainly not as well as a team with a top 25 ranking should.

    starting with rpi this saturday, we’ll see if the statesmen are just taking a long time to gel as a team, or if they aren’t really that good.

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