Keith deals with it in the Game Day blog post and comments, but Justin Beaver’s injury is a big blow for UW-Whitewater. Remember, fellow All-American Steve Angiletta broke his collarbone in a scrimmage in Week 1 and Union hasn’t gotten him back yet.

Can UWW make the playoffs without Beaver? Definitely, though this upcoming week’s game at Platteville has a different tenor to it. The UMHB game was never a gimme and is less of one now. We’ll know a little more next week.

Cortland State is officially the best team I’ve seen this year. (Competition for that “honor” comes from Wilkes, Hobart, Williams and Delaware Valley.) With Alex Smith they should be a Top 10 team, though I only saw him today for a drive and a half. Ray Miles was pretty decent as a replacement.

“We’re not a Top 25 team”
That’s what one Bridgewater fan communicated to me this afternoon. While I think that’s a bit harsh, I’m not surprised about the loss. Unfortunately, Bridgewater was floating upwards in our poll (and higher in the coaches’ poll) because of the attrition around it. Teams do not float on my ballot, at least not much. I feel pretty happy about the 17 that Bridgewater was at on my ballot and they will probably slide in at about 21 on mine this week.

One of the things I like about our poll is that when it’s not broken, our voters don’t fix it. I expect more of the same this week when voters analyze No. 4 Capital winning by a touchdown at No. 17 Ohio Northern. Doesn’t that prove the poll was pretty accurate, at least relative to those two?

Mt. St. Joseph has never been higher than No. 25 in our poll and has a shot at getting there this week. That would be about right after this week.

The sun’ll come out
There are some lingering questions about Rowan and they’ll be in the spotlight tomorrow at noon against Buffalo State. John McGraw will be there to call the game for D3football.com.

There was good news about injured Alfred player Julio Fuentes, as it was reported he has feeling in his legs. Continued best wishes for his recovery. He was injured back in September against Thiel.

Hmm …
Coast Guard won at Bridgewater State which makes the Bears the favorites in the NEFC Bogan. They did not win a game in two years in the Liberty League before moving. Curry remained unbeaten on the other side of that league.

Also …
Olivet wins at Albion to stay unbeaten in the MIAA. … CCIW could be a two-bid league if Augustana and Wheaton win out. … Similarly the SCIAC if Cal Lutheran beats Occidental, though that seems less likely after CLU’s two-OT loss to Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. … Hmm, yeah, more St. Norbert dominance. … Some Oshkosh fans were bemoaning the playoff system on the board and in e-mails to us this week. Those arguments just went Splatteville. … Carnegie Mellon still unbeaten. Waiting for the game at Wash U and the finale with Thiel before we know for sure what the Tartans have.