Well,
We’ve always enlisted readers’ help for the year in review, and last year you helped us produce the biggest year in review ever. Hopefully we can boil it down some, but with 234 teams and about 1,200 games, there’s just so much to cover.
That’s where you all come in. With the popularity of the Daily Dose, some of the more serious posters can be a big help in looking back at a great season. (Obviously we’ve one game left, but it can’t hurt to start looking back at the rest now)
Here are the ground rules:
Season in review
Around the Nation will begin accepting brief suggestions from readers (and players, coaches and school-affiliated professionals) for our 2006 Year-in-Review, due out in January 2007. Use last year’s review (linked at the top right-hand corner, posted Jan. 25, 26 and 27) as a guide for which categories we’re looking to fill, or make up your own. ATN cannot promise public credit for your suggestions this year, and we may or may not use them.But if you think Kean was the surprise team of ‘06 or Luther was the biggest disappointment, let us know here. We’d like to hear your games of the year, plays of the year, players, coaches and things, but most importantly, your off-the-beaten path nominations and suggestions. Things we haven’t covered much or would have no way of knowing about are where you can help most.
I know better than to promise I will use everything you post here, but as we look toward this season’s grand finale — done the right way, on the field … I can’t mention that too many times — let’s look back at the season that was.
Try to refer to previous year in review columns (2005 Parts
Here are a few things off the top of my head … this is just a brainstorm, so feel free to contribute your thoughts, unrefined. As few or as many as you have. And certainly we can come up with a Best X and think of a better one, if we all put our heads together. Thanks in advance.
Best regular season rushing performance: Justin Beaver’s 286 vs. UW-Lax
Best playoff rushing performance: Nate Kmic’s 371 vs. St. John Fisher
Most confusing score triangle: UWW 7, UMHB 3; Wesley 34, UMHB 20; UWW 44, Wesley 7
Most impactful play: Jim Migliore’s OT TD catch for Rowan vs. Cortland in Week 10. The Profs eventually won the NJAC and played 3 playoff games, Cortland missed the playoffs at 9-1.
Best big-time acknowledgements: ESPNews’ Division III playoff selection show, featuring Pat Coleman on analysis, Colby-Bates photo in SI, NCAASports.com playoff videocasts, USA Today’s planned feature on Salem, Va.
Worst big-time acknowledgements: USA Today columnist Ian O’Connor writing that the “lower division” playoffs just test who has the fewest injuries in a column defending the BCS; ESPN’s TMQ calling Mount Union the home of bad sportsmanship for some of their margins of victory (will have to check the direct quotes, but you get the gist)
Best games: Whitworth at UW-Stout, Bethany had a couple of really interesting ones.
Worst playoff score comparison: Millsaps’s 21-0 loss to Carnegie Mellon, which lost 37-0 to Wesley, which beat UMHB but lost to UWW 44-7.
Again, these are tentative and just ideas at this point. Feel free to chip in … don’t worry, there’ll be plenty more come January. You won’t spoil yourself by following this thread/post.
Keith: You might wish to mention that Lebanon Valley went from 2-8 in 2005 to 6-4 in 2006 and lost to nationally-ranked Delaware Valley and Wilkes by a combined total of four points.
The game I most would’ve loved to see in person: Maryville’s 50-48 win over NC Wesleyan, a game that went into 4OTs.
Biggest seesaw team: Salisbury, perhaps? They beat W&J, Widener, DelVal, Newport News. They lost to CNU, Wesley.
(there are probably other good candidates for this category)
Other categories that I can’t immediately think of teams for:
The best trash to treasure story: The team that had the biggest upward swing from 2005 to 2006.
The most likely one-hit wonder: Which team got good this year, but will return to mediocrity next year?
Slow night at work….
The two good teams I would have liked to see play: Wash & Jeff against Wilkes in a Battle of Pennsylvania.
The two not-so-good teams I would have liked to see play each other: Hiram against Heidelberg.
Most puzzling coaching situation: The revolving-door at DePauw. I can’t help but wonder how good they would be with some coaching stability.
Luckiest color: Purple. Mount Union no longer has a monopoly on D3 prominence with that color. Seven playoff teams, more than 20 percent of the field, were sporting purple in the postseason.
A candidate for the trash to treasure team I mentioned in my previous post: Franklin. They were 5-5 last year, and that tied for their best record since at least 1999. This season, they were 9-1, and in the running for a Pool C bid.
Last one tonight, I promise….probably.
Best almost comback: CNU against Washington & Jefferson in the first round of the playoffs. W&J went into the half up 20-0 and then was the first to score after the break to make the game 27-0. To the Captains’ credit, they didn’t throw in the towel, and instead battled back to make the score 27-21 with more than 8 minutes left in the 4th. Points were scarce, thought, the rest of the way, with the only score coming from a planned — yeah, planned — safety that gave CNU 2 points and one last chance in the final minute. But W&J retrieved the onside kick to hang onto the win.
I’d also suggest the flip side of Ryan’s one-hit wonder – was there any traditional power which was bloody awful (or at least downright mediocre) this year that you’d expect to bounce right back next year?
for that one mr. ypsi I would suggest Ithaca… Best new kid on the block…team that went far in the playoffs that has never been there before or teams that have never made the playoffs that made it for the first time
So close, yet so far: N.C. Wesleyan went 6-4 this year. But the team was soooo close to being undefeated. NCW lost its four games by a total of 10 points. It lost one game each by 1 point, 2 points, 3 points and 4 points. Agonizing for the team? I bet that doesn’t even start to explain how they felt.
I think that NCWC is ready to make the playoffs next year.
1) They will have a mature class of seniors who started the program as freshmen.
2) They are in a winnable conference. I believe that it is easier to earn a Pool A bid in a conference like the USASAC than a Pool B bid as Huntingdon is forced to do as an independent.
3) There is precedence for this “4th-year” performance.
UMHB had its first team in 1998. They went to the playoffs in 2001 as a Pool C.
ETBU had its first team in 2000 and made the playoffs as the ASC (Tri-champ) Pool A in 2003.
Shenandoah made it in their 5th year, 2004.
Of course, CNU won the USASAC in its first season, 2001.
There are others that I haven’t mentioned, but I think that NCWC is ready for its break-out season, next year.
I’d call 2006 the year of the maturing Division 3 fan. The hype around certain games, the crowds, the higher availability of Internet broadcasts, and the general interactivity this season seemed to lend to a burgeoning following of what was once kind of a niche arena. For once this year, we saw fans coherently discussed “Quality of Wins” Indices, Pool C, league-wide issues, and most of all, the student-athlete. Even as an announcer for Union College, I felt myself growing in appreciation for the Liberty League, the Empire 8, the entire East Region, and the whole of Division 3. D3Football.com has been around for a good number of years, but its continued quality, when mixed with the fan impact this year, made for a much more fulfilling season that makes the average fan want more, even after their team is eliminated from contention. If you need proof, just look at “Post Patterns” and its postings after the end of the regular season.
To quote Frank Sinatra, 2006, “[i]t was a very good year.” And we still have one game to go!
How about…
Best Quarterback to play mt union six times and never beat them…..
or
Team with the most players to test positive for a banned substance…
or
Teams that actually hung with mt union this year….
or
Teams that actually hung with WhiteWater this year….
or
Team that should have made the playoffs but didn’t….
No.. wait, please don’t start the mess about who missed the playoffs…. OMG what was I thinking..
How about the non-conference records of all the conferences?
Or,
maybe a list of streaks broken or milestones reached by teams, individuals, coaches, whatever…
Or,
Is there a way to judge recruiting classes for next year?
Or,
How many starters will each of the playoff teams lose after this season?
Or,
Who may be the top NFL prospects leaving this year (if there are any)?
Or,
How many teams have won 4 National Championships in a row, and who was it? Sorry, I couldn’t resist – the answer is 1 and it is Augustana!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I LOVE THIS WEBSITE!
Sean, I don’t have any sources on the number of schools in D3 were playing football in the mid-1980’s. I don’t even know the nature of the playoffs and the selection process in that time.
However, the NAIA archives give us an idea of who was contending for the NAIA Division II Championships during that period of the 1980’s and into the mid 1990’s.
http://graphics.fansonly.com/photos/schools/naia/sports/m-footbl/auto_pdf/FB_champ_history.pdf
I see members of the WIAC, the Northwest Conference, and the old Texas Intercollegiate Athletic Association, now American Southwest Conference, going deep into the NAIA Div II playoffs.
Towards the end of the decade of the 1980’s, we also see Bluffton, Hanover, Westminster PA making the playoffs as well as some teams that are now D2’s
It looks like the D3 Championship in the mid 1980’s was a different creature from what we see happening now. 🙂
Looking good so far guys, thanks.
We usually do the top NFL prospects under “brightest futures” and have attempted to enlist some professional scouts to help … this year I should just go directly to Kiper.
We’ve often done one-hit wonders, step forward/step back and predicted breakout teams for next year … so thanks for the category suggestions, but I like it better when you guys are also suggesting who should fill said categories!
The non-conference records usually go with the conference ranking updates … but that’s something anyone can do, just go to the standings page and subtract overall records from conference records … although you could make distinctions for D3 games only, or ignore ECAC bowls.
If you do it SGOP, I’ll find a place for it.
I won’t touch D3 recruiting. It’s too fluid, even by May things are still changing, and I don’t have the HS expertise nationally to judge who would fit in where. I think that’s one place D3 will always be different from I-A, but Gordon and the gang do some recruiting stuff on the blog during the offseason.
Frank Rossi, I kind of had a similar idea … the big strides D3 has made this season. I’ll work on that.
D3Keith,
I’ll work my numbers.
Best games of the year would have to be the Cap vs. Mt. Union game 17-14. The game was tied from the first qtr. til the fourth .Mt. scored 10 pts. due to field position, but Cap answered right back and after stopping Mt. to get the ball back there just wasn’t enough time left. People talk about Cap’s defense and in the last 6 games I’ve been at to hold NK to 168 yards is truly amazing. SJF gave up 371 yds. to NK. Cap’s defense stopped Mt. several times on goal line stands and short yardage situations, only to give the ball to the offense who just missed on several opportunities. Who has played Mt. the best this year it would be the two OAC teams Baldwin Wallace 14-0 and Cap 17-14. Good luck Mount Union!
I don’t think you can leave out a very good St. Johns Fisher team that hung right with Mount Union until that blocked field goal. That seemed to really deflate them, but regardless, they have to be considered in that category. Not that it really matters. The team to play Mount Union the best will be UWW when they beat them in Salem! (yes, I know, completely biased statement). Should be a great game though 🙂
The D3 football wrapup should give out a comeback player of the year, 12th man of the year, unsung hero and scholar athlete.
OK.
To who?
How about doing something with odd facts, like:
-heaviest lineman or lines
-tallest WR
-favorite pre-game meals
-superstitions
-a list of all the big-time rivalry games (ex. Knox/Monmouth for the bronze turkey)
-biggest d3 stadium – smallest
Or whatever…
And here I thought asking for help would make my job easier.
How silly of me.
🙂
If there were a comeback player this year I might propose Mark Robinson.
“And here I thought asking for help would make my job easier.”
Oh, wow, look at all those worms wriggling around. 🙂
How about another topic near and dear to us fans who get caught in the administrative mismanagement.
“SNAFU’s of the year” like the failure of the NCAA D3 Football Championship Committee to be notified that the new msn.mappoint.com “shortest distance possible” database would permit Millsaps to be sent to UMHB, in turning permitting a CMU and W&J game, and possibly moving HSU-UMHB to the second round.
Nice call on the SNAFU idea.
Yeah, I like that one.
Pat’s worms joke … I’m not even sure what that means. 🙄
Maybe it is because when you work really long hours you begin to hallucinate and confuse your keyboard for worms?
Ah. Hadn’t thought of that.
I was more along the lines of people “fish” for compliments, but tend to “ask” for help.
People … you still there?
I hope this kicks the thread up on the Daily Dose … but if not, you’ve already been a pretty good help on the long, winding road to the Year In Review.
All those worms wriggling around were from the can you opened when you solicited ATN suggestions on the front page of the site. 🙂
Oh.
Well participation seems to be very much down from last year when we solicited it by e-mail.
Was it something I said? (i.e. be brief, and we might not credit you)