We’re barely underway and I’m about ready to close the book on Wheaton. Here’s the way the first six minutes have gone so far:
Wheaton got the ball first, punted.
Punt went 26 yards.
Then Pete Ittersagen, Wheaton’s top corner, got hurt.
Nate Kmic ran for a 52-yard touchdown.
Wheaton went three-and-out, giving up only its eighth sack of the season.
Wheaton punted for 25 yards. Mount Union ball on the Wheaton 35.
… as I write this Wheaton picks the ball off.
On the Capital note, anybody that can go 11-1 in that conference with their only loss being to MUC has had a pretty good year, and deserves some respect. There are still some other pretty good teams there.
UWWFootball5-Last year must mean something to you since most UWW fans are judging their chances this year based on their performance in last year’s Stagg vs MUC. they are salivating at another chance to play them! If that’s the case then you have to look at Capital last year who lost by 18 at MUC in the regular season and then played them closer IN Alliance than UWW did on a neutral field in the playoffs. I think Capital is a team to be highly respected in these playoffs. As long as Rocky P is throwing it around and their defense is there, they have a chance against anyone.
Congratulations to Fisher and Rowan. I stand by my belief that Fisher is the most complete team in the East bracket and is a real threat to play with the nation’s best should they make it out.
Great season for Springfield, but honestly as a fan of Eastern Region football I am glad to see them lose to SJF. I just do not see a one-dimensional offense giving Mt Union, St John’s, UMHB, Whitewater, Wesley… a run for their money.
Cortland: It was a great game and perfect weather and turnovers yes but not ones that can truly agravate a person. I agree with your sentiments. SJF left the slot unattended on 1st and 2nd down all afternoon. On the few occations when Mr. Sharpe dropped back to pass he was looking way up the field, not a familiar experience to be sure, and usually opted to run. Who can blame him? He is a wonderful athlete and it seems a slant or simple turn in patterns are called for to keep a defense honest. The Ithaca teams of the mid 70’s (who ran option and veer) were well known for that sort of thing. I wonder what the resistance is?
Another great SJF/Springfield game. SJF defense held Sharpe in check for the most part but it was the 4th and 19 conversion that was the difference in the game. Too bad they had to meet this week,because I think they were the 2 best teams in the East and SJF should destroy Rowan at home. Great season PRIDE, and SJF keep the EMPIRE 8 drive alive!
Congratulations to the Rowan Profs, a win is a win. They played very well and ultimately won a great game. Howver, the NCAA might as well be ashamed of themselves for putting that group of referees out there today. By far they were the most unsure group of officials that I have ever seen. They missed critical calls throughout the entire game and when they did throw a flag, they lacked cohesiveness in explaining why it was thrown. If playoff officiating is supposed to be done by the “best” officials, I will not hesitate to question the NCAA on their “official” choices for this one. I pose a challenge to all those gentlemen involved in assigning this crew.. Give an honest look in the mirror tomorrow morning… And when you look yourself in the eyes realize that you robbed some young gentlemen of their pride, hard work, and commitment on saturday.
Perhaps the same crew the East sent to mess up the Stagg Bowl in 2003.
Keith McMillan, who says he’s a pretty rational dude, said he’s seen much worse officiating and isn’t really sure what all the complaining was about, either here or at the field.
there are some very very very good games next week…i really look forward to UMHB/Wesley and StJohns/UWW specifically
…Springfield and The St John Fisher Cardinals – what an awesome game… If you saw this one – then you saw one of the greatest games ever played in this region… Sharpe runs for 38 yards on the first play of the game, and is then held to 31 yards on 24 carries… Take nothing away from Chris Sharpe, the nation’s leading rusher – he is a multi-talented athlete, with class and character beyond his years (and this is coming from a Fisher fan)… The Cardinals today were just ready; the contact and intensity was at such a high level… The team rallied through a few mistakes, never once hanging their heads, and stuck to their game plan… End result, St John Fisher leaves Springfield with the win… Our two All-Americans played to their normal expected high levels, but it was “Team Fisher” that won this game…
So next Saturday, Rowan visits Rochester, with the winner going to the “Final 4″… Should be another thriller… Glad to see Fisher is getting support from the NY State teams… It’s been quite a ride this year, and I don’t think we’re quite done yet, so stick with us NY State… And for you folks at D3, you can pick and predict, and talk about whoever you’d like to, but here at Fisher, we’ll just play the game…
I have been Wilkes fan for many years. Rowan has an outstanding team and played well. Wilkes known as a second half team came out at half time and took it to Rowan. Wilkes mixed up their plays well and Rowan on their heals most of the second half. Had it been not for a fumbled snap with 2:47 left in the game Wilkes had a good chance to move on. Wilkes had a great season and has nothing to be ashamed about. Rowan is a quality team and good luck to them next week. Now as for the past few comments made about the officiating at this game. I was at the game and this by far was worst crew I have seen all year. On at least three occassions this crew had a conference to determine if their was a penalty and on two of these occassions took at least half a minute to throw a flag. On another occassion late in the game they missed a obvious pass interference call that would have given Wilkes the ball at approximately the 20 yard line, with 30 seconds left. An NCAA official also saw this play and acknowledged the missed call. This crew was horrible. At the end of the game I am told that one of the crew was face to face with a Wilkes player exchanging words. Not a quality crew at all. I also would like to acknowledge all of the D3 people for the great job they do on this site and for Division III football. By the way Wilkes has great fans.
Usee,
I’m not a WW honk by any stretch but you point that Capital played Mount closer in their 2nd meeting during the playoffs than WW did during the Stagg…well I would hope that a good team like Capital would figure out how to make a second game more competitive from the first.
I think if WW had a second chance to play MUC last season the Warhawks might have been able to closed the gap some and maybe more….
We’re also ignoring the fact that UWW defeated a VERY good LaCrosse team. LaCrosse upset South Dakota State this year, who I believe is D1 AA.
wc11:
You nailed that. You’d expect that second meeting to be closer . . .
pc:
that 2003 stagg crew was horrid, I believe they were PA officials, but can’t recall for sure. A couple of them waddled out of position all game long. The Elliott two-foot TD reception was unreal. MUC also appeared to be jobbed by a punt that deflected off a Johnnie. How that crew made it to the big game was a joke.
Let’s continue the OAC discussion. My point is that for a number of years that the two OAC teams that received bids to the tournament have demonstrated their superiority over all other teams from their region. Thus splitting the two teams into two different brackets would permit interesting tests of regional strength. In addition, I believe that the 5 top teams in the OAC would fare quite well against any other league and indeed the other teams would compete quite nicely with the bottom half of any other league. Certainly there can be no debate that Mount Union has over time established itself as the premier Division III football program in the country as no other school has come close to their history of success.
Responding to the bad calls… Five minutes for a false start call, which cost Wilkes a first down. the “no-call” on the Rowan qb for removing his helmet after the third INT, the blatant interference on the Wilkes receiver toward the Rowan sideline on the last drive, another no call, and the unsportsmanlike on the next to last play, which was nullified because of another penalty, but would have killed any chance for Wilkes, and the flagrant holding throughout the game which were also “no calls”. Shall I continue?…. Watch the tapes its all there. Shame on the NCAA.
great point wildcat. thanks for being just about the only one helping me out! haha. i never denied the OAC as being a good conference, i know they are, but i just have that much confidence in mine……….sorry i didnt do this sooner, but lax played an amazing game today, and i was proud to be part of that……………and even though this is a D3 board, i just want to say that i am disgusted with Notre Dame’s Brady Quinn. I have close friends who know him, and he is nothing but a self-centered jerk. Even though the announcers are talking great about him, anyone can see that he is acting like a prick tonight.
Wherestheluv06: A very thorough job on the bad calls. Some people will says that it is just complaining because Wilkes lost. Well we played the game on the field and you know the outcome. I just feel that the officiating very sub par for the caliber of game that this was. We all knew that it was going to be hard for either team to get points because of their outstanding defenses. The colonels had other chances also.
On a side note, The NCAA official that I referred to as acknowledging the missed call was a blue tag representative. My mistake.
Capfan-
It has been done. I agree it could be done more though. I think it was 2002 John Carroll was sent to the East bracket. They ended up winning it, but barely so. The edged out a Brockport team which was playing with its 3rd string QB if I remember correctly.
Corrrect, CortlandFootball, and in OT.
Well Capfan, enjoy the Capital MUC rematch next weekend.
We had the UMHB HSU rematch last weekend…That’s in round 1, you know!
We in the ASC would love to have our teams on the opposite sides of the regional brackets. Consider yourself fortunate!
I will eat SOME crow as UMHB’s win today was sloppy at best. They were ahead 27-7 and driving to score when they fumbled not to metion a TD was called back for a hold that no one saw. At the half W&J only had 1 first down. UMHB slacked off the second half and made the score close at the end as UMHB gave up prevent yards. W&J never had control of the game that’s for sure. I am disappointed that UMHB lacked discipline and slacked the entire 4th QTR. I think the officials called a decent game, they were from the Northwest WA, CA and OR. Wesley will beat UMHB by 4 Td’s if UMHB plays the same next week. All I can say is don’t blitz to many times because Wesley has a great passing game. Wesley will not gain much on the ground but won’t need to if they can call the same schemes that worked last year. Wesley 28-UMHB 10
I am surprised that UW-L almost beat UW-W. If UW-L picked up the first down with just over 5 min left, they would have won.
UWW had 3 timeouts left, so WW still would have had a chance even if they had picked up that 1st.
and i dont think wesley wins by that much……
UWWFB5, wildcat11, repete,
I agree with you but the facts tell us thats not the case. I am not an OAC guy but if you look at every rematch with MUC they always win by much larger margins than the first time. Last year vs Cap in the playoffs was the first time this didn’t happen. As a CCIW guy I am looking forward to driving up to UWW this weekend and watching the Warhawks and the Johnnies live!
Capfan,
that’s a stretch. Last year Cap won 2 nailbiters vs good North region teams before playing MUC close in alliance (an exception the 2nd time blowout rule). in 2003 everyone said BW was the 2nd best team in the nation and they lost to an average wheaton team in the 2nd round. The 2nd place OAC team has NOT separated themselves from the field. All they have shown is that they can lose in Alliance just like every other North region team.
Having said that, it seems this Cap team is better than previous versions of OAC #2 and has the ability to give MUC a run for its money this week. But I wouldn’t bet against LK’s record in rematches.
Great day in Springfield yesterday! Even though I was rooting for the Pride I feel the better team won. I am very impressed with SJF. They won this game even though they made some huge mistakes in the first half. Springfield simply could not stop SJF on offense. I give SJF credit they did figure out the Springfield O enough to win. Both teams should be very proud of themselves. I really wondered how far a triple option offense could go in the playoffs. I guess I got my answer. Hats off to both teams, Sharpe, Robinson and Kramer. Great game. Good luck SJF I think you have many fans from the east rooting for ya next week. I still also have to give Rowan credit, they pulled out a big win today and deserve respect going into next week. Let’s go Cardinals!
“Wow…couldnt be prouder of Vos and co. for shutting down arguably the two best runners in D3 last two weeks…or is Robinson the best?”
I like Arcidiacono, Sharpe and Robinson, but I think it’s fair to assume Beaver is the best and Kmic is not far behind. Now maybe if you put one behind the other’s line or in the others’ scheme it might be different, but knowing what we know …
msi2b8,
I’ve always believed you take out the middle teams to compare conferences with uneven numbers, but the rules on it are cockamamy because the whole theory is. We can argue about it all day, we can’t really prove anything unless they actually play.
As I have written in the past when we do in the in-depth conference rankings, the WIAC is the best football league in D3, top-to-bottom. The OAC usually has a very competitive top four or five, but the depth in the WIAC usually trumps the OAC and the rest of D3. Without looking, I’d be willing to bet their out of conference winning pct. this season stacks up with most other leagues.
The 1 p.m. NFL games today are awful. I’m regretting having the Ticket, and feeling compelled to watch because I do.
Hey Keith hear ya about the NFL games. How do we arrive at taking out the middle teams?? Not doubting you just trying to understand the reasoning?
wherestheluv06, Wilkesfan …
I was at the game Saturday, although not in a working capacity, so I can’t say I was paying as close attention as I normally do, but I’ll be honest … from an unbiased observer’s standpoint, I think you’re both giving people from around the country the wrong idea about this game.
Officiating was a non-issue at Rowan vs. Wilkes as far as I was concerned.
Officials did not miss two second-half field goal attempts for Wilkes, including one chip shot.
Officials did not fumble a snap exchange on their own 22 with 3:00 left.
If anyone robbed the WIlkes players of a chance to move on, etc., etc., it was the Wilkes players. They played well enough to win and did not.
I could go into details about what I thought about the particular calls, but none of them decided the game. And as usual, when one side lists all the calls they didn’t get, you forget the ones they did get … i.e. Rowan got a false start on the 1, moved them back to the 6, and they still scored.
Bottom line, the game was there for Wilkes’ taking and in my personal opinion, officiating was not a major factor in the outcome.
Mountguy,
Just seems like the most logical way to compare “top to bottom,” as Pat said earlier, using the top and bottom.
If any of you guys has a better idea, I’m all ears.
Also,
Despite what’s written above, isn’t it “cockamamie?”
“it seems this Cap team is better than previous versions of OAC #2”
What are you basing this opinion on?
I’m just curious. There have been some pretty good Ohio Northern, Baldwin-Wallace, John Carroll and even Capital teams in the past.
You could make a pretty good argument that this year’s Capital team is not as good as last year, judging by scores, scores vs. mount union only or some of the talent that they lost.
FWIW.
I have to agree with Keith on the topic of best back. Beaver, with the exception of the first two games at the start of the season, has been lighting it up every game (986 yards for 5 games; 197.2/game). This being said, I think that it’s hard to really rank how good a back is without considering the system and line that they have. UWW has shown that it’s line can open holes for just about anyone in the backfield, with Reuland and Pittz having three 100+ yard games between them while Pittz and Underwood combine for 142 in another game in Beaver’s absence. Obviously if you take Sharpe out of his system, he (most likely) would not be near as effective. Bottom line is that every team that has a great back also has either a great system, great line, or both. To really determine who’s best, they would have to be taken out of their respective systems and away from their lines, and I don’t see this happening anytime soon.
I really agree with that.
Stats don’t tell the whole story, and neither does the performance of a back behind a well-coached line or in a good scheme. When I look at these guys, I try to factor in more individual things, like how they run in the open field, how they take on tacklers, etc.
The “best” back in the nation is probably a guy who excels on a bad team, and has to do it all behind a mediocre line or with sloppy play around him, or no passing game to divert attention from stopping the run, etc.
That’s why I said “knowing what we know.” Because that’s all we can really go on, so when we say “best back,” we probably really mean “most effective runner.”
I pondered that but Webster listed cockamamy first and cockamamie second. Next time it comes up in USAT you and Rayos can have this discussion. 🙂
http://www.webster.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?sourceid=Mozilla-search&va=cockamamy
I trusted your first spelling, then I went with my gut the second time.
Sad that my job is to have discussions like that. But you could do worse things for money than preserve the English language.
(Gets snooty on them hindquarters)
Sum won has two.
GO CRU,
If the Cru plays bad again next week it may be ugly. Wesley will have a easy game. However, if the Cru plays up to potential they will win.
To the Wilkes fans complaining about the officiating…give me a break. There was one bad call against Wilkes and it was a non-call on what should have been a pass interference against Rowan late.
Rowan completely dominated the entire first half and Wilkes should have been down by 3 TD’s at half. In the 2nd half it was a different story, but bottom line is that Rowan seems to be able to score when they have to.
I think the field conditions helped keep the game close. Had it been on turf, I think Rowan wins going away.
As I stated previously, Rowan finds a way to win. This week, despite Orihel constantly throwing into double coverage and not checking off to the a usually wide open receiver, he came up big when he had to.
Rowan’a game plan should be simple from here on out: Use the run to set up the pass, protect the QB and the QB will find a way to put the ball in the end zone. The defense has been strong early in both playoff games but has tired late which is why Rowan will need to jump on SJF early and often if they are to move on.
D3Keith: I agree with you somewhat. As I stated in my earlier statement. I congratulate Rowan and yes, Wilkes had their opportunities as well. I understand that the players punt, pass and kick the football. But, if you feel that missing a pass interference call that would have given Wilkes the ball in excellent field position with approximately 30 seconds left or not calling the Rowan QB for removing his helmet on the field of play not important, I do not agree. Those calls do make a difference. The game is history now and Rowan got the Win and it was a good game, but officiating does make a difference. As I also expressed earlier Wilkes can hold their heads up high for a wonderful season and good luck to Rowan next week.
Purple Crush and others……….Why does everyone think Wesley is such a dominant team compared to Mary Hardin-Baylor??? Ive seen both of these teams play recently, and I really like UMHB. No chance I would say its an “easy game” for Wesley.
Purple Crush,
I am anything but a poor sport. Congrats to UMHB. However, I do agree with you about next week. They will need to play better against Wesley on the road. If they give up two defensive TD’s like they did against W&J, they will surely lose. It should be a good game. I will say however, that W&J did have a better showing than many on this site expected against a good team in a hostile environment.
UWWFootball5,
I do not think Wesley/UMHB will be a blowout. But UMHB must play better. I will say that your boys better watch out for St John’s
One thing in Wesley’s favor is that since they are playing at home, they might be able to secure the proper shoes.
Pat
Maybe they will freeze the field up real nice just to see if Wesley got new shoes!!! Lets see tarp+hot air with frigid temps= moiture add 20 deg temps and you get solid ice. That’s easy science!!!! Add that to a speed oriented pass offense and you get ???? I had tooo say it !!!!! But still to this day I have never read anything that was said by Coach Drass about shoes…
“it seems this Cap team is better than previous versions of OAC #2″
D3Keith,
My arguement stems largely from their playoff results so far. more dominant than last year. Also, Cap won @ ONU and @ John Carroll. 2 tougher road games. they handled everyone they played at home which you would expect. I also thought NCC was a better team than last year and Cap beat them easily. The MUC results last year and this year don’t really differ (8 pts). I suppose we will find out how much better/worse thay are but to get back to the point they were a year ago in more dominating fashion tells me they are better. Keep in mind they lost their best defensive player for several games and he is healthy now (hausler).
ONU/BW/Cap/John C haven’t done anything more than any other north region team (lose to MUC) So I don’t see an argument they are any better. cap last year took MUC to the wire in Alliance but that’s about as close as its ever been.