Monthly Archives: October 2006

Looking ahead to Week 9

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Woo, baby, the regular season is getting down to the end and there are two giant games on tap this weekend.

We’ll have a blogger live at Alliance for the game between No. 4 Capital and No. 1 Mount Union. More on this game in Around the Great Lakes. I’m just hoping it’s a competitive game. We’ve seen so many so-called big games involving Mount Union turn into big freakin’ blowouts.

Keith McMillan and I will be in Belton, Texas, to call the game between No. 6 Mary Hardin-Baylor and No. 2 UW-Whitewater. Why are we going to Texas instead of Ohio? (Many of you have … well, let’s use the polite term and say asked.) It’s pretty simple — first of all, it’s a Division I-A style game, featuring two highly ranked teams from different conferences, one making a long trip. This time of year, non-conference games are rare and big-name games are even more rare. Second of all, note what I said about Mount Union and blowouts. Third, projected high of 76 tomorrow. 🙂

We booked this trip before Justin Beaver’s injury, but it becomes even more interesting now. UMHB has allowed fewer than 20 rushing yards per game this season and Whitewater’s vaunted offensive line will have its hands full.

Keith and I have started compiling our list of what teams we’ve seen and what stadiums we’ve been to. We’ve seen all four teams play and between the two of us we’ve been to all of the stadiums except the one UMHB plays in.

Keith is supposed to be writing more about this game today. I leave for the airport soon but we’ll figure out a way to get it online. He’s possibly the only person who’s seen both of the teams play, covering the UMHB/Christopher Newport game in Week 2 and the UWW/UW-La Crosse game two weeks ago.

Elsewhere in Division III, a colleague of ours just reported in from St. Louis that he’s staying in the same hotel as the Carnegie Mellon football team. He chatted up players, mentioned he knows the D3football.com guys, and reports they asked him to tell us to put them in the poll!

Carnegie Mellon is 7-0. Here’s the Tartans’ opponents:

No. 30 Carnegie Mellon (7-0):
Sep 02 AWAY Hiram (0-7) W 6-27
Sep 09 AWAY Grove City (1-6) W 0-28
Sep 16 HOME Westminster (Pa.) (2-5) W 33-6
Sep 23 HOME Franklin and Marshall (2-5) W 34-14
Sep 30 HOME Colorado College (3-4) W 50-24
Oct 14 AWAY Case Western Reserve (3-4) W 10-20
Oct 21 HOME Chicago (2-4) W 27-0

Nobody here with a winning record. They play at Wash U (5-3) Saturday afternoon. If they win that game they might be taken seriously. Otherwise, do the math: their opponents are 13-35.

The annual Johnnie/Tommie game takes place this weekend, as does the Rte. 13 rivalry between Wesley and Salisbury. Surprising Sul Ross looks for validity against Hardin-Simmons. Springfield heads to the grass to take on Ithaca. Long trips for Springfield in back-to-back weeks.

Another option team not many people talk about is Coast Guard. Granted, a season-opening loss to Merchant Marine, the best team on the schedule, doesn’t do much for national recognition, but I had the honor of being asked to call their Homecoming game for their Internet broadcast last weekend and had a good time. Steve Arguelles, who is tied for the national lead in interceptions with eight (matching King’s Craig Haywood), is a legitimate safety as a freshman. Presumably teams will try to avoid him as his career continues. But Christian George, the quarterback, is the key to the team. He left the game early with what appeared to be an ankle injury and if he can’t go this week, Coast Guard is in big trouble at Maine Maritime. Backup Niles Pierson basically wasn’t allowed to do anything in his time under center.

Also looking for legitimacy is Alfred, which hosts No. 17 Hobart. Alfred might be a great team but its schedule is so backloaded that we have no real clue. They lost by a touchdown at Springfield early in the season and close with No. 17 Hobart, No. 20 Ithaca and No. 19 St. John Fisher. Yikes!

Other games are on the radar as well — check out Defiance/Mt. St. Joseph.

Today is also the annual Dome Day in Minneapolis, where the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (not a D-III member league but with nine of its 10 schools in Division III) holds its championship. We have photographers at the Metrodome now to shoot all five games. It started at 8 a.m. CT. We’ll hear more from them later, if they can see straight after all’s said and done.

Part of the Game

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Injuries have always been a part of the game. For someone to go throughout their four years of college football without an injury would be the equivalent to someone picking all four teams in last year’s NCAA basketball final four. It just doesn’t happen.

Some injuries may cause an athlete to miss a play, series, game, season, or career. I’ve seen plenty of them and have had my fair share (knocking on wood). It’s funny how you don’t realize how much you appreciate the simple act of walking or running until you pull a hamstring; or being able to dress yourself once you tear a muscle in your shoulder.

It is true, football is just a game. There is much more to life than what is played between those thin white lines. However, it is funny how much you can take from such a violent game.

For instance, on Friday, September 22, Travis Hearn, a Rock Island High School junior running back suffered a serious spinal cord injury. He is now paralyzed from the shoulders down. Travis may never be able to walk or use his arms again, which makes a pulled hamstring seem like a paper cut.

Many rival high school teams throughout the area have collected thousands of dollars to be put towards his recovery. The Rock Island Rocks have come together as a team and more importantly, as a family. Vic Boblett, the head coach of the Rock Island High School football team stated, “It’s one of the neat things about football; it’s truly a family. You don’t realize how much of a family it is until you go through something like this.” in the wake of the injury.

This game means so much to so many people. Football has its many ups and downs, but throughout those trials and tribulations you really get to know the people surrounding you who share the same passion for the game. It’s a bond you don’t find too often. Then again, when something like this happens you realize how many things you take for granted.

Here at Augustana College we have started a fundraiser for Travis Hearn and the football team alone has raised nearly $1,200. If anyone would like to contribute we would greatly appreciate it, and so would Travis.

Contributions may be sent to any branch of THE National Bank, with checks made payable to: “Travis Hearn Fund”. One hundred percent of all funds collected will go toward the payment of medical care and related expenses incurred by Travis Hearn arising from this tragic accident.

The National Bank
1800 5th Avenue
Rock Island, IL 61201

Phone: (309) 752-9251

ALERT: NCAA regional rankings

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The NCAA has released its first regional rankings for 2006. Their top 10 teams by region, with in-region and overall records are listed below.

For more information about the playoff format and how participants are determined, check out our FAQ.

East Region
No. Name In-Region Overall
1. Springfield 7-0 7-0, 12.000
2. Hobart 6-0 6-0, 11.667
3. Rowan 3-0 5-1, 10.600
4. Wilkes 7-0 7-0, 11.714
5. Cortland State 6-0 7-0, 10.500
6. St. John Fisher 7-1 7-1, 10.875
7. Union 5-1 5-1, 10.000
8. Alfred 6-1 6-1, 9.857
9. Ithaca 5-1 6-1, 8.167
10. Curry 8-0 8-0, 10.000

North
1. Mount Union 7-0 7-0, 11.571
2. Capital 7-0 7-0, 11.286
3. Mount St. Joseph 7-0 7-0, 10.429
4. Concordia (Wis.) 8-0 8-0, 10.125
5. Augustana 5-2 5-2, 10.429
6. Wheaton 6-1 6-1, 10.571
7. Wooster 6-1 6-1, 10.143
8. Franklin 6-1 6-1, 9.714
9. Rockford 7-0 7-1, 10.000
10. Baldwin-Wallace 5-2 5-2, 9.143

South
1. Wesley 4-0 7-0, 12.000
2. Christopher Newport 6-0 6-1, 10.500
3. Mary Hardin-Baylor 6-1 6-1, 12.000
4. Trinity (Texas) 6-1 6-1, 9.857
5. Carnegie Mellon 6-0 7-0, 9.500
6. Hardin-Simmons 5-1 5-1, 10.143
7. Dickinson 6-1 6-1, 9.857
8. Washington and Jefferson 5-1 6-1, 9.333
9. Washington and Lee 6-1 6-1, 8.714
10. Averett 5-2 5-2, 9.000

West
1. UW-Whitewater 6-0 7-0, 11.833
2. St. John’s 8-0 8-0, 10.875
3. Central 6-0 7-0, 11.667
4. Whitworth 6-0 7-0, 10.000
5. UW-La Crosse 3-1 5-1, 9.500
6. Occidental 6-0 6-0, 10.667
7. Linfield 3-1 4-2, 9.750
8. Bethel 6-1 6-1, 10.714
9. St. Norbert 7-0 8-0, 10.714
10. Wartburg 6-1 6-1, 10.286