I’m having a good time in Connecticut — once you take away the high gas prices, the traffic, the Joe Lieberman/Ned Lamont ads, the fact that my family is 300 miles away, etc.
Hmm, let me rephrase. Living in Connecticut has given me the opportunity to see three new D-III fields already and five new teams. It’s never been my goal to see all 234 football teams or stadiums (think about it, that would take almost another two decades at one game a week) but it’s nice to get a look at some different environments.
Hobart at RPI is a game I wouldn’t have considered making the trip to if I still lived in Virginia, but it’s only a three-hour trip for me now. Even if upstate New York doesn’t repeat last season’s success, it’s better than anything I could have gotten to in the D.C. area.
Life begins at 30: Trinity (Conn.) gets back on the field this weekend, hosting Colby and putting its 30-game winning streak on the line. We get this question so often I think I’m going to put it in the FAQ: How come Trinity has won 30 in a row and I’ve never seen them in the playoffs? FAA: The NESCAC chooses not to participate. NESCAC’s loss. FAQ: How come Trinity doesn’t get ranked? FAA: Our voters don’t think they’re good enough and without any non-conference play it’s hard to tell. FAQ: Wait, doesn’t the Ivy League get ranked? They don’t go to the playoffs. FAA: Yeah, but Ivy League teams play non-conference games. When was the last time Trinity played someone from outside the NESCAC?
Colby went 7-1 last year but did not play Trinity. There are 10 NESCAC teams, so each team could play a limited schedule and still hit all nine opponents, but no, it only schedules eight games. The ninth is a scrimmage.
But then again, this is the league that listed its standings alphabetically until not that long ago.
Defying convention: Let me be the first to say … at least the first on this blog … that this year the Ithaca/St. John Fisher game will not come down to the last play. Three years ago, Ithaca won 20-19. Two years ago, St. John Fisher won in double overtime. Last year, Ithaca won in overtime. This year … Ithaca wins comfortably. A hunch. We’ll have John McGraw there to undoubtedly tell me otherwise.
Military madness: SUNY-Maritime is still looking for its first win. Even last week the Privateers lost to the club team from Gallaudet. When Gallaudet returns to varsity status next year it will have a 30-plus game losing streak, the longest in Division III, to shake off. They’ll face Norwich, which still has some military ties.
Then, just plain madness: Washington and Jefferson travels to Oberlin this weekend. Why, why, why? W&J, preseason Kickoff ranking, 15, at Oberlin, the preseason 186. And that 186 is about the highest Oberlin’s been.
Another upset pick: Gordon Mann and I each told Around the Nation’s Keith McMillan that Lycoming is the pick against Delaware Valley this week. Gordon and I both saw Delaware Valley struggle offensively last week and that is a big part of the reasoning. But I’ll throw out another and say UW-Stout will beat Whitworth. Couple reasons — first is the long trip for Whitworth to Menomonie, Wis., likely flying to Minneapolis and then piling in the bus for another couple hours. Second reason? Ask Hardin-Simmons about its trip to Stout a few years back.
Seriously, people like to pooh-pooh the concept of an air trip having an effect on a team but a prominent coach told me a few years back it absolutely makes an impact. Similarly, a team that hasn’t made an overnight trip all year could have trouble when taken out of its rhythm, say, in the postseason.
Someone tried to get me to say UW-Oshkosh would beat UW-Whitewater, but I don’t see it. We’ll have a photographer there anyway, however, just in case.
Major Payne: Note to Howard Payne — you guys are not in the NAIA. Play some D-III schools in non-conference play so we can find out how good you actually are. This week? Paul Quinn College, which is — not surprisingly — 0-2 after playing Division I-AA Jackson State and Division II Western New Mexico on the road.
In-house rivalry: The much-ballyhooed Catholic/Randolph-Macon rivalry returns this weekend. Not familiar with it? Well, it’s the D3football.com staff rivalry — Catholic is my alma mater and Keith McMillan played for Randolph-Macon. I first came to learn of Keith when he was picking off four passes against Catholic in a game I called on campus radio after graduation. It’s also Catholic’s longest-standing current rivalry, as the teams have played every year since 1987. Randolph-Macon leads the series 14-12-1, though Catholic leads 10-8-1 since the series was revived and leads by just 32 points over those 19 games.
The tie? Only the highest-scoring tie in Division III history, a 50-50 … let’s say spectacle back in 1995. And since there’s overtime now, the tie is built to stay that way.
I think Keith and I need some sort of traveling trophy associated with this game.
Soul-searching: Linfield has a bye this week after starting the season 0-2. Rowan gets back on the field after back-to-back bye weeks.
Kickoff is coming up quickly. Any thoughts in the waning hours?