I’ve been asked this question more this year than any other, and it usually takes one of a couple of forms:
Isn’t it boring if the same team wins all the time?
Don’t you hate that Mount Union wins every year?
Is it boring? Ehh, probably a little bit.
Do I hate it? Nah, not at all. We’re watching one of the greatest dynasties of our day. It’s not like Mount Union 2002 and Mount Union 2005 have anything in common. Each year is a little different.
However, what I don’t like in Division III football is when we enter the season with Mount Union’s championship being a foregone conclusion. Unfortunately, it looks like 2007 is shaping up to be one of those years. Mount Union loses a key piece in Justen Stickley, but the Purple Raiders have proven that offensive linemen are replaceable and Greg Micheli returns, as does Nate Kmic and Pierre Garcon.
Everywhere else you look, teams are losing key pieces. UW-Whitewater loses its coach, its quarterback, three of its four starting defensive linemen, its No. 1 receiver. Capital loses the only quarterback they’ve had during this run of impressive seasons. St. John Fisher loses the best running back in school history and its top tackler. And those are just a few of the key names on the list.
So this is the challenge I throw out to the other 233 Division III teams. Show us something, please. Give us something to be excited about. Move your game to the next level. Otherwise fans outside of Alliance will be hitting the snooze button and waiting for 2008.
Or 2009.
buddy,
MUC plays a home and home with SJF in 08-09
I forgot to add, that yes, UMHB will be playing up here in the beautiful city of Whitewater next year. Not sure about MUC in ’09, but I think mainjack cleared that up.
dedragon,
Well, two factors work against your argument.
SJU and Wesley played a common opponent a week apart. One was in the game until the final minute and one was never in it.
Also, the playoffs are a great gauge for determining rankings. sju’s road was far tougher than wesley’s. dickinson and carnegie mellon just weren’t very good, while sju defeated two unbeaten top-10 teams just to reach the final.
And you can’t just throw out Wesley’s effort against UWW . . . it was a telling effort.
Ryan: So what exactly was the point of the IIAC coaches? SJU’s record against that league is pretty impressive but how much does a team like Wartburg (with its annual playoff ambitions) get by playing Augsburg (even if the Auggies almost beat them a couple of years ago)?
SJU scheduled two WIAC NCs last year and has an OAC and WIAC team on the schedule for next year. While UWRF isn’t great, that UWEC was down this year was a bit of a surprise.
i cant belive these stupid comments…pat coleman doesnt even know what hes talkin about…..bethel is gonna win it all this year and they were way better the LAX…the refs cheated us out so we would of won and then we would of bet whitewater…then we would of beat st. johns cuz we beat them earilier in the year…we would of matched up better with mt. union with our smash mouth football….bethel would of beat mt. union no doubt…watch out for the royals next year…ROYALS 07 BABY!
Pat –
Fair point, but I still see don’t see comparing MUC to UCLA as a valid example. Too many significant differences btw D1 and D3.
Re: D3 lax, The field is certainly smaller (about 130-140 teams), but during 80-94, Hobart did play against a full slate of D1 (50-60) teams as well, so the overall field wasn’t much different.
labart your contention Mount Union’s run is almost over is your opinion. I happen to disagree and time will tell but I have been hearing what you are saying since 1997.
Anyway your contention Mount Union won in Salem because Whitewater did not play well is an argument fans of every sport that don’t know crap fall into to give a reason for a team losing. Maybe instead of Whitewater just missing on 40 yard passes they should have been throwing ten yard passes to the tight end. Maybe instead of trying to run wide on the smaller, faster Raider defense, they should have run at them. Maybe they didn’t have a punt blocked all year because they hadn’t faced a rush like that. After all the Raiders damn near got the one before.
I would contend the score could have been worse at halftime had Mount Union played as well as it did in the second half. The long kickoff return setting up Whitewater’s only touchdown and the fumble inside the 25 on the first drive was a TD each way under the logic you are using.
Mount Union has been winning championships for 14 years, if you go back and watch the past Stagg Bowls they won I’m sure you would come to your same conclusions. My opinion is they are pretty lame.
Purple Crush, do not count wesley out so fast. as D3Keith and dedragon stated they do not lose much and the change at qb is not expected to be as dramatic as some would think. I agree with dedragon, does wesley deserve to drop to 7 based on a bad game. some of the teams that leaped over them lost to someone they should not have during the season, wesley did not. everyone keeps talking about UMHB and how good they are, well wesley dominated that contest. the same excuses that UWW is making about their lose to MUC could be made by wesley, missed receivers and such, but you did not hear that from us. We were beaten by a better team that day. Repete is correct, wesley will be a strong force in the south next year.
???
I wasn’t saying MUC’s run is over. I was just trying to say that MUC is no longer absolutely destroying teams like they did in past seasons. That’s the problem with these posts – you can’t really put things in context w/o someone (esp fans with obviously biased POVs) reading too much into something written by another poster.
I think b/c of the standard of excellence MUC has set, the rest of D3 football has improved in order to play catch up.
Well Pat, I agree with you on one of your points: SJF does lose two great plaerys in Lang and Robinson. However, lets not forget that Robinson replaced a great rb in M. Myers and Lang replaced an All-Amercian in Fox. And I have no doubt that Josh Gottlieb and James Reile will follow in the footsteps of Robinson and Lang. If you remember, last season (’05) Robinson injured his shoulder and missed a good part of the season. And it was Reile who stepped in and rushed for over 1,000 yards.
Also, SJf has the rest of its offense returning next year. Kramer, the entire offensive line and all the skilled players return. Someone everyone has forgotten is a kid named Sean Nowicki. Nowicki was SJF leading receiver in the regular season, but he did not play against Rowan or MUC because he broke his leg in the Springfield game. So the way I see it, SJF offense will be even better next season.
As for the defense, they lose Lang, Greg Pyszczynski (DT) and Matt Maggio (DT). Other than that the rest of the defense also returns. And after allowing Kmic rush for 371 yards last year, I know that the underclassman will be working out hard this offseason to get bigger, faster, stronger, (and I know the other 233 D3 teams will be doing the same) so that never happens again.
I know that MUC will have another great team next season, however I also know that SJF will be better in ’07 than they were in ’06. I look forward to traveling to Alliance again in ’07, but this time I hope the result will be different.
Yep, Jon. All you had to do was win at LAX, at UWW, vs. SJU, at Wesley, and vs. MUC, and the title would have been yours. You should explain to Steve Johnson just how easy it is to win in the playoffs against top-flight competition.
wesleydad, Wesley was simply confounding. When looking at another utterly non-competitive game at UWW, though, it’s hard to blame the voters for thinking that the other five teams rated ahead of Wesley would have beaten them.
dedragon and wesleydad
Purple Crush is just trying to get your dander up. He is hoping that beyond hope that Wesley will fall by the way side next year. Just think if Beavers, rumored to be returning, and Lee, don’t know his situation, come back what weapons Welsey will have!!! I too believe that Wesley deserves a top five spot but I don’t take much stock in final polls. The only one that matters is the last team that wins.
DEDragon and Wesleydad you should come to the ACFC page and post
You really think Robinson and Myers were interchangeable? I don’t. Do you think Reile and Robinson are interchangeable? If so, why didn’t you make the playoffs last year?
I think Robinson is a special, once-in-a-decade player and won’t be just plugged in for.
I agree with Pat. Robinson was a big time player. You just don’t replace talent like that every year. I was very impressed with him when I watched the Mount game. I think he was the only back to gain 100 on the Raiders this year. I wouldn’t assume you will replace him without any problem.
Maybe the problem is labart that you did not clearly say what you meant. I would be the first to agree Division III football is better today than it was 15 years ago overall and Mount Union probably has a small part in that. But your comments about the Purple Raiders winning their most recent championship only because the opponent played poorly is usually made by someone that has very little understanding of the game.
pa wesleyfan
the word is that beavers is returning this semester. hopefully, he has learned a lesson and will do his job in the classroom. he will certainly raise the level of the receivers with his presence. you mention an acfc page for posting, were do i find it?
well – i played d3 ball and have been a fan for almost 20 yrs. i am sure in your eyes however, that doesn’t mean anything.
keep drinking the purple kool aid.
Wow,
Ric came with the fire.
Labart, boards always lack context, and I know you cased it a little bit later, but you did say:
And I think those comments earned you everything Ric gave you.
Good points though, by you and a lot of people. No need to get into responding to everyone, but …
Re: Wesley at No. 7 … there are arguments to be made, but the strongest is that “pull effect,” that UWW’s domination of Wesley boosted some West Region teams who stayed close with UWW. All the teams ahead of Wesley were teams who stayed close with either UWW or MUC … not really sure what the argument is.
As for only having one loss, that could be a legitimate gripe … but they really only played one elite opponent, UMHB, as far as they went, and they won that game fair and square, but I wouldn’t necessarily say they dominated. Any game that’s within a TD in the fourth quarter is a good one to me.
I had Wesley 7th behind MUC, UWW, Cap, SJF, U-La Crosse and St. John’s.
Which of those teams do you think Wesley should be ahead of?
SJU_Nick had a pretty good post on the matter … and he also bothered to respond to crazy Bethel guy 🙂
Also, a lot of you have proposals to add 11th games, mix up the playoff regions, etc.
You’re forgetting that all of this stuff doesn’t come for free. Division III fans, if I’m not mistaken, couldn’t support the teams they root for by their ticket sales. Some places the game is free to get into. And it’s fine that way … but you have to accept the limitations that come with it.
That means there’s no way the Occidental-Whitworth pod plays the winner of the W&J-CNU pod … it’s never going to happen, not at this level.
If we went to the 11th game, BTW, there’s no way they’d allow the five rounds of playoffs.
I do wish the nine-game teams could all get a 10th though.
PA_wesleyfan,
I’m not trying to “get your dander up.” I just don’t think Wesley will be as good next year. Then again, I could be wrong. Warrick will be hard to replace, well, he can’t be replaced, he’s that good. He is the heart and soul of the offense. I do hope for a rematch because UMHB has 2 scores to settle. If Wesley makes it far enough to play UMHB the story will be much different. UMHB will win by 3 TD’S. UMHB has almost everyone back. 10 O AND 7 D. I could be wrong who know’s what will happen. I respect Wesley a great deal. I’ not trying to be a homer here. I predicted W 28 UMHB 10, and Wesley won by 14 instead of 18.
WiWarhawk –
I am late to this discussion. I know how you feel as a Brewers fan…I feel even worse as a Devil Rays fan. The thing is you cannot compare the MLB to NCAA D3 football in this regard. The big market teams of the MLB, the NY teams in particular, have huge financial advantages over their opponents. Whereas all other sports put some kind of cap on the large markets to keep the league competitive (the NFL goes too far in this regard, leaving nothing but parity), MLB just lets the same teams horde the talent every season. You might get different world series winners, but you cannot pretty much pencil in 3 or 4 of the same teams into the playoffs every season. Boring.
Now obviously colleges/universities have inherent advantages over one another. Some might have academic advantages, others large recruiting bases (Texas and Ohio come to mind), some financial advantages (while Cortland and Brockport have nice stadiums, they cannot exactly pump a lot of money into their sports programs as public schools). However none of these advantages are “unfair,” as I feel they are in MLB.
keith –
maybe you’re right, but i’ll stand by my opinion that what i saw was a uww team that played straight up with muc in the first half. they were certainly equals in talent and game planning.
at the start of the 2nd half uww had a chance to keep their opening drive going but their qb – instead of rushing for a 1st down that would have kept things going in their favor, sailed a pass over the head of an open receiver. the qb had the space to get the 1st down on foot and the time to complete the pass, he just chose to throw and flubbed it.
muc got the ball and scored. next drive uww missed hitting wide open throws to wrs who were several yards behind the muc db’s (normally a sign that the offensive team is beating the defense) that should have gone for scores and kept uww in the game. we all know what happened next.
i am not saying that muc wouldn’t have won the game, but uww certainly did not play to their potential based on the number of errors they made (i saw at least 3 open td passes or 18-21 pts that uww should have had if their qb didn’t lob the ball 10 ft above his open wrs).
if i recall correctly, several members of the forum (and not all uww fans btw), agreed (i think even pat did as well) that the qb play really hurt uww in the stagg bowl.
i guess my final point is simply that uww didn’t play as well as they could (and should). i didn’t intend that as a slight against muc – although clearly some muc fans here may (and did) take offense to that.
i am just saying that it’s possible to consider that although muc played a great game, their victory (as is the case in many football games; especially at a championship level when there really is no margin for error) was part them playing a great game and their opponent just played a good (not a great) game.
Sorry,
going back to the very first response to this.
Why? Because they are a North Region team and the 32 teams in our playoff system are chosen, then grouped by geography in four groups of eight.
The powers that be in Division III (schools, ADs and coaches have input — don’t blame everything on the NCAA) have decided that they are all about “fair access” to the playoffs. What that means is they want every team to start the season knowing they have a chance to win a championship on the field. Through the AQ system and the 32-team bracket, every team has that (at least technically, if not realistically), so they are satisfied with how the playoffs are run.
There is no interest that I am aware of of trying to “balance” the brackets/regions … which probably implies that the powers that be believe the best team in the nation would win the championship no matter how you set up the brackets, because they have to earn it on the field.
And there’s some pretty good merit to the ‘cream rises to the top’ theory.
I agree with Keith that you really have to break the D3 season into 2 parts if you want to enjoy it, unless of course you are a MUC fan. I was at the Cortland-Rowan game, with the NJAC (and ultimately the NCAA playoff birth) on the line. It was heart-wrenching, but a ton of fun. The following week the Cortaca Jug actually surpassed the excitement of the Rowan game.
While I was displeased with Cortland’s performance in the ECAC game, I was still thrilled with a 9-2 season. It became obvious once we lost our top 2 quarterbacks that we were no longer a serious national contender. I can live with that. And even if Smith and Miles had stayed healthy, and we were a serious national contender (like Fisher in 2006), the chances we would have beaten MUC are slim. Particularly playing in Alliance. Fisher probably did about as well as anyone in the country (short of Capital) could have done this season.
Yeah I’d love a few teams to step up and make the race for #1 actually interesting for a change. Is MUC’s run boring to a non-MUC fan? Well, to me it is. I watched the national championship game with only marginal interest, knowing it was just a matter of time before MUC pulled away. But it certainly isn’t “unfair.” They are just the best at what they do, by far.
I’m really torn by this topic because I have so much respect for MUC’s program and their coaching staff. I wish I could be a fly on the wall inside their war room for a few days to see how they pull this off every year. But on the other hand I would like to see my favorite team go into a season as a realistic threat to them, and I just do not foresee this anytime soon. And that is saying something, because Cortland has a very respectable program.
I do wonder however, how healthy it is for small college football to have the same team winning championship after championship. Well D3 lacrosse survived despite Hobart winning all but 1 national championship, but lacrosse was a much smaller spectacle back then. I’d think if Hobart were doing the same thing with all the teams that play D3 lax these days, it would turn a lot of people off to the sport. What is the point of following a sport where there is no suspense as to how it will turn out in the end? I ask this somewhat rhetorically, as I will always love D3 football.
Cortland,
I agree that the MLB comparison to D3 doesn’t fly, nor does Yankees to MUC (partly because the Purple Raiders actually finish the job!)
As you noted, there are advantages from one D3 school and conference to another, whether they be roster limits (100 in the WIAC; some elite schools have close to double that), existence/level of JV program, amount of full-time assistant coaches, practice limitations and redshirt rules (many of which have changed in recent years to create a more level playing field), differences in school commitment/alumni who donate/facilities, inherent advantages in recruiting (school cost, academic or athletic prestige, location)
and yet we can pencil several of the same teams in for the postseason each year too.
Part of the reason it’s not necessarily boring to me is the drama in the journey. There’s usually suspense, even for a consistent winner (as opposed to an astronomically consistent winner like MUC), in the chase for the AQ … there’s usually 1-3 rivals they’ll have to beat in close games, and then there’s fun in the early rounds of the playoffs, and some tight competition in the later rounds. In a 32-team bracket, nothing is certain.
Well, nothing except MUC will be one of the final four.
keith,
All true. It should be noted that you don’t need every single one of those advantages to be consistently competitive. Still, it would be interesting to index these and find out what schools come closest to reaching all of those marks and how that corresponds to victories (not that I’m volunteering …).
One of the funniest things I can recall was the ’76 Stagg when there was an event before the game where the coaching staffs were introduced. Towson State introduced about 15 guys all in color-coordinated polyester gear. When it was SJU’s turn, it was basically JG and a couple other guys, including, I think, a brother in a cassock.
Pat- If you recall SJF did not make the playoffs in ’05 because they lost their final game of the season against Alfred 14-6. And Robinson did play in that game.
I am not trying to take anything awat from Robinson. He is without a doubt the best rb in SJF history. However, I do think that Reile will do a great job next season. He is a little smaller than Robinson, but he makes up for his lack of size with quickness and speed. Also, the SJF offensive line did a great job of opening up some nice holes for the rb’s to run through. And since the entire o-line is returning next season, I think Reile will have a phenomenal season.
I do not think that it is getting boring that MUC keeps on winning year after year. I think it gives the other 233 teams incentive to improve their programs. I know for a fact that the ’07 SJF team will be using their loss to MUC as motivation to get better next season.
CortlandFootball – I was not aware that you lost your top 2 qb’s. Is that why they did not make the National Playoffs? Cortland had such a strong team that it baffled me that they did not make the playoffs.
“i cant belive these stupid comments…pat coleman doesnt even know what hes talkin about…..bethel is gonna win it all this year and they were way better the LAX…the refs cheated us out so we would of won and then we would of bet whitewater…then we would of beat st. johns cuz we beat them earilier in the year…we would of matched up better with mt. union with our smash mouth football….bethel would of beat mt. union no doubt…watch out for the royals next year…ROYALS 07 BABY! ”
Jon, you better watch out or you’ll get banned to all the knuckleheaded threads.
Bethel is in the process of developing a nice schedule. They have had some success against St. John’s not only this year but also in the recent past. Their formula for beating SJU is ball control, no turnovers, and forcing a turnover or two by the Johnnies. I think this is the approach most teams should take with SJU but it is not that easy to do. Concordia has had some limited success with it also.
Although your program is coming along, your post is ridiculous and I think you know that. Rather than winning the Stagg Bowl, perhaps the Royals should concentrate first on (1) winning the MIAC, and (2) winning their first playoff game in school history. You’re bringing the MIAC win percentage in the playoffs down.
Bored with MUC?
Apparently SI is after affording the nine time champions a mere 5 lines in this week’s issue. Could Austin Murphy be lurking in the background…. ?
Merry Christmas all!
Well the last time I praised the Mount Union program, I got slamed. One, stop blaming Mount Union for them being so good. I am going to assume that most of the individuals that reply on this site are former players and/or coaches. Now it has been over 30 years since I stepped onto the field in pads but I am fairly confident that the steps to winning a championship are still the same. First of all as a player you need to get off your ass and get in the weight room and don’t just go through the motions. Work out everyday and work on every part of your body. Big chest/neck/arms with tooth pick legs don’t get it. When the 4th quarter gets here, it’s your legs that you will be depending on to carry you to the end of the game and not your biceps. Two, practice, practice and practice in your off time to work on things like speed, timing, form, execution, etc. 3. You must listen, you have to be dedicated, committed, and have that desire to knock the living crap out of someone on every play. I had a coach tell me once that you must play every play with 120% and with reckless abandonment. 4. Your school must develop a winning tradition in order to attract new recruits. (Mount Union does this now without any problem) 5. Your school must have qualified coaches who have that burning desire to win. Again, Mount Union has this down pat. These coaches need to know how to teach players to win, play, analysis, break down film, execute, etc.
I could go on and on, but I think you get the picture. Bottom line every school that plays Mount Union has the opportunity to have the same tools and abilities as MUC. MUC can be beaten, but you have to have your ducks in a row and play on all cyclinders in order to accomplish it.
Complaining & whinnying will not beat MUC. If you want your schools to be as good as MUC, then encourage them to start working now and establish the same standards as MUC has and build the program. There are more than 100 good DIII football players in this country and they are not all in Ohio. If you are good, you don’t care who you play. You obivisouly would rather play the best every game, but that is not going to happen, so don’t use excuses like schedules, recruitment, etc. Excuses are like butts, everyone has one and they all stink..
OK, I have said enough and now you can slap me around, some of you know who I pull for and believe me they are not anywhere near where Mount Union is now, but they want to be and they will play MUC again next year (and probably get spanked hard) but at least they are learning and willing to get on the field with the best.
purple crush
there is no arguing that warrick was a very good qb, he holds all the wesley qb records. he was a great leader, that is hard to replace. the thinking by those close to the team is that the projected starting qb has the ability to do the same things. the nice thing about all this discussion is that it will play out and we will see what the outcome is next year. wesley returns 9 on d and i think 7 or 8 on o, and if as mentioned earlier one of the additions is beavers then wesley will still be very good. i hope we get to play umhb again, it was a good game this year and would likely be a very good game again. as far as winning by 3 tds, i think that is wishful thinking on your part, your team only scored 3 tds this time around and 1 was a fumble return. have a good holiday.
Keith,
You’re right on about the differences in advantages between schools and conferences. Still, it should be noted that you don’t have to have all of those advantages to succeed. Whitewater has done pretty well with the 100-player limit. SJU does it without a JV …
It would be interesting to develop an index of the difference and see how they correlate to success … not that I’m volunteering. Some of the stuff, such as location, is pretty tough to quantify.
Your post did make me think back to a Stagg long ago. When the Towson St. (now I-AA) was at a pre-game function they introduced all the assistants, about 15 of ’em, all dressed in color-coordinated polyester. Then came SJU, JG introduced a couple of coaches — including if my memory — serves a brother in a cassock. Great game, SJU blew 28-0 zip lead to win 31-28 in final second field goal.
Off the subject and probably posted elsewhere … but several Wesley references in a Washington Post story today
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/21/AR2006122101569.html
sorry for the repeat post. didn’t see the earlier version poxst.
In response to Robinson at SJFU, remember we ourselves had a very good running back a couple of years back in Colin Burns and I would say that we were able to replace him when he had to stop playing football. Though I have never seen Robinson play, remember guys, good (or great backs) can be replaced by just as good or even better backs.
SJFC81
The entire O-line is not returning. They are losing their Center and their LG to graduation.
theoriginalupstate – I know that the center and LG are not returning (Sefcik and Todd – both outstanding lineman). However, SJF rotated those positions with underclassmen. So, even though the “starter” is not returning, they do have players that saw as much time as the “starter” coming back.
labart when you wake up from your nap (coma) maybe you will realize Mount Union did not play a great first half, as you mentioned a couple times. For someone that has been around the game as long as you claim you certainly should know there are missed opportunities in every game and you certainly have tunnel vision for mentioning UWW’s and ignoring the fact Mount union fumbled the ball inside UWW’s 25 on its first drive and allowed a kickoff return to the four-yard line for UWW’s only touchdown. By your very, very ignorant logic it could (should) have been 21-6 at halftime. Man, sorry dude but I just call them like I see them. And what I see is a guy that lacks enough focus to actually see what happens in a game. Either that or you are so biased you are unable to see it.
I really cannot blame MUC for being so successful. They are a model program to what everybody aspires to be, and are playing by the same rules as everyone else. That they are good at it is a credit to them.
What I find most impressive is how the North region has not found a way to at least hold in check Mount Union’s dominance over the past 10 years. That nobody in-region has been able to beat MUC in the playoffs is the biggest deal in my mind– they are always championship contenders (deservedly) in part because their region has not yet been able to knock the champions off before they get to the Stagg Bowl– after all, they have had to win 2-3 games over that time per year to get out of the region, and nobody has been able to do it.
In the past four years, while Mount has been champions twice, some very good MUC teams also went home without the hardware twice, so it isn’t as though they are so far above the rest of the D3 elite; but I don’t get why their region, who geographically should be recruiting the same players and fostering the same rivalries, cannot be more consistent in knocking them off. It’s a credit to MUC for being so dominant, but also a knock on the other North Region teams.
I’ll probably catch it for how Capital stayed close in the playoffs the past two years, and their run a few years ago through the North region, so I’m not oblivious to the strength of that region (and we can debate the merits of that, I’m sure). But the North region has essentially 13 chances to knock off MUC every year (regular season and playoffs) while the rest of the country gets two– in the past four years the North region is 1-47 against MUC; the rest of the country is 2-7.
One of the original questions Pat said he was asked a lot was “Isn’t it boring if the same team wins all the time?” What is boring about greatness? If anything is boring it’s parity. Would everyone be happier if we just threw all the D3 football teams in a hat and pulled out a name to determine the champ? That’s what parity is. Everyone with an equal chance. Watching 32 different mediocre teams battle for a National Championship every year would not be exciting in my opinion.
Only a handful of teams can say they’ve beaten Mount Union during this run. And those teams will forever be able to say they beat the best there ever was. And isn’t that what it’s about? Mount Union has obviously been able to stay at the top longer than Augustana did in the 80’s but eventually like all dynasty’s it will end. Watching to see who will dethrown the champ is what makes it so much fun to watch.
this mount fan wasn’t bored, because it was certainly no foregone conclusion mount would even make it to the finals, let alone win. this year’s team had flaws (pass defense, passing game at times, inordinate number of penalties). it had to beat an very, very strong team twice. it had to beat an excellent UWW team in the finals a second straight year, with UWW having the added incentive of winning one for its retiring coach.
this one was not as much of a surprise as last year’s, but i never accepted that it was a given.
sjfc81–I saw Reile play once in 05 against Brockport-he had something like 330 total yards and 3 tds and I remember thinking- wow- if this kid is the back-up how good is the starter.But I’m pretty sure he is a senior and this was his last year.
Go get’um Rick !!
Can “The Mount” do it AGAIN in 07′?? Any thoughts??
6th string, he has Junior eligibility. So he could be back if he wanted to be back.
Ya Ric I guess part of me was trying to be funny but I’ll bet MUC would have been just a bit more nervous facing the Johnnies. I played for John and have been living in Massachusetts for almost 30 years and I get a kick out of the people who profess to know football. Not that Minnesota football can stack up to Ohio football as a general rule. But I do think both St. John’s and Mt. Union would have had a field day with the likes of Springfield, Curry, and obviously St. John Fisher. Good football is good football and there is nothing like D3 football anywhere in the country. I hope Coach Kehres and John G. get their rematch next year. I’m sure MUC will be loaded again and my soureces in Collegeville say they have a good team coming back. Maybe we’ll see you in Salem Ric???
SJFC81 –
Actually Cortland lost its top 3 starting quarterbacks! 🙂 But it was the first 2 that made the difference. In the RPI game, we played a 4th string freshman.
Was it the reason we missed the playoffs? Well, in a roundabout way, it probably was. I don’t think the NCAA committee took our QB situation into consideration, as has been suggested by some Cortland fans. However anyone who was at the Rowan game saw how poor our offense moved the football with our 4th stringer at the helm, and yet it took an OT touchdown to beat Cortland in Glassboro. With our first stringer (Smith) in the game, we probably win, and we make the playoffs at 10-0. Most likely as the #1 seed too, which is quite ironic. Win in OT, and we are the #1 seed. Lose in OT, and we are out completely. Ouch.
In the end, we did not deserve to be in the playoffs, so no complaints here. With the amount of key injuries sustained, Cortland was not the same team in week 11 that they were in mid season. Yeah, we would have smoked the NEFC winner. But after that I have my doubts. We were probably about even with Rowan and Wilkes in terms of overall quality at the end, and that certainly wasn’t enough to win at Fisher.
Keith or Pat, just a quick question, a bit off topic, and mayne not the right thread here, but I signed up for a screen name on post patterns about a month ago and still haven’t gotten a verification email, it still says it’s coming. Is that normal for that to happen or is it just me and my outlandish posts on here that is preventing me from getting verified?
We verify all of them by hand, but the process takes no more than 18 hours.
If you use free e-mail you pretty much get what you pay for. They don’t deliver all of your e-mail to you.
D3Keith – Two NFC East opponents (on the road) down……..one to go!! Look for me behind the Eagles bench at the 50 yard line. I’ll have my Swarthmore sweatshirt and my Eagles hat proudly displayed!!
Some people have no problem sitting on the bench for a few years and possibly starting for a year or two (or never starting!!) for the trade off of being associated with a “winner”. Other people like to take on the challenge associated with creating their own success, attempting to knock off the King and maybe getting the chance to start for three or four years. The Mount’s competitors need to find STUDENT-athletes with the heart and drive of the latter…….not the “plug and play” of the former.
In business, you need to find those individuals willing to take on the huge challenge of going up against the Microsoft’s and the Intel’s and the Yahoo’s (think Google, Red Hat and AMD)………versus those individuals going along for the ride at the dominant company’s!!
We used to have a chant at Swarthmore (our football team was quite poor) which is also common at the Ivy League schools as well…….”That’s alright, that’s ok, you’ll be working for us someday”!!
Step up and take on the challenge of knocking off the top dog and going against convention professionally as well. The rewards are far greater than you could possibly imagine if you’re part of the success!!
Happy Holidays To One And All………..and don’t forget DIII wrestling……where we do “step up” and actually beat our DI competitors quite often!!!
CortlandFootball, your Dec 22nd 11:56 pm (CST) post describes how fine the line is between the top programs in D3.
In 2003, when there were only 3 Pool C bids, East Texas Baptist was the ASC tri-champion and earned the bid by one point on the point differential tie-brekaer. That one point was an OT PAT attempt that was not kicked. HSU and UMHB stayed home.
ETBU beat defending Stagg Bowl finalist Trinity in OT, then lost at (#1 seed and a tragedy-inspired) Lycoming in OT, which lost by 4 to Bridgewater. (That Bridgewater met MUC the next week in another story.)
HSU, UMHB, Trinity, ETBU, Lycoming and Bridgewater, 6 teams, were not separated by a TD. The “take-home life lesson” for our student-athlete friends from this example iand Cortland 2006 is that the team sport of football requires the ultimate of effort from the proverbial “last man” on the roster.
I suspect that Cortland’s off-season will be one of the best in the school’s history.
Merry Christmas to all. “Peace on Earth and Good Will to Men.”
Enough of this MU talk. Whitewater handed them the game with its own mistakes. If UWW gets a solid motivated coach look for them to be a regular in Salem or wherever the game is. With the facilities they have there and the proximity to Madison, Milwaukee, and Chicago there is a rich talent pool that needs to be tapped. There was no excuse for the 5-5 and couple of losing seasons they had in recent years. If I was MU I would savor this success because UWW maybe become the Beast of the West!
Why hasn’t LK tried to make jump up. Wouldnt anyone in that position want to take the next step?
Flush the Johnnies, There are a large number of people in this (D3) community who think that Coach Kehres has reached the pinnacle of amateur athletics/football here in D3.
I think that the next step for him is actually down.
Analyzing the “Behavioral Systems” and/or “Management Systems” that we see in the Kehres method can teach many of us how to do it best. His student-athletes, all 180-200 each year who are going thru the “Kehres System”, are learning incredible life lessons that they can employ when they “turn Pro in life”.