211 thoughts on “Memo to the other 233: Better step it up!”

1. Flush, you have a very good point that with our proximity to those cities and our recent success we should be able to get quality talent. But I actually Coach Zweifel said it best in his public forum yesterday. The only thing holding us back is the numbers. As Ralph just stated, MUC gets almost 200 student atheletes playing football year in and year out, we only get 97 (which is maybe even going down because of title IX). Their freshmen and JV play 10 games a year, ours? We only have one JV team that plays about 3 games a year. It is much tougher to develop players in the system with that working against us. Those couple of things really work in MUC’s (and any other private school for that matter) favor and work against us (and pretty much any public school). We will have to see how the new coach handles this, I think Z had the best plan for it, at least the only one who actually stated it in that we need to get those big play guys who can change the game just like that (ala Stanley, Beaver, Jacobs, Kleppe, Jordan Wells, etc…)
   I still agree with you, judging by the young talent I have seen this year, we are poised to make a bit of a run, maybe not like MUC’s but still respectable.

   PS, Pat, I used my school email when I registered for Post Patterns, and not my hotmail, so I don’t know if that’s the difference that you’re talking about?

2. Contact me via e-mail with details — better than discussing it here in the open.

3. Errata re: Post 10:10 AM CST. Lycoming WR Ricky Lannetti became ill after the ETBU game and died before the Bridgewater game. Sorry.

4. U-Dub-Dub, I would think that a coach can only keep about the Top 100 involved anyway. The loss of redshirting means that there are even more slots open for the offseason program anyway.

   I would also say that the “character” and the motivational charcteristics are the distinguishing feature between #100 and #101 and even “#127” on the roster, and not the 40-times, or the vertical leap or the bench press.

   You cannot deny that the WIAC is an institutional anomaly inside D3. Aside from the NJAC, no other predominantly public college conference is as dominant among the 20+ conferences in D3.

   In the mid 1970’s, the conferences comparable to the WIAC dominated NAIA Division I. These included the Lone Star Conference (whose members are now in D1 and D2) and numerous public schools from disbanded conferences.

   http://naia.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/naia-m-footbl-body.html

   See pages 9, 10 and 11 above.

   The public college institutional peers of the WIAC (WSUC) from the 1970’s and even the early 1980’s are all playing D1 or D2 now. Reviewing those archives demonstrates that the WIAC has sought and executed a strategy that allows it to dominate D3 with all of the resources that it can summon. IMHO, the facilities and alumni/fan base from which the WIAC schools can draw more than offsets any roster restrictions.

   As for Texas, I would hate to be competing against the current D2 and D1AA’s that McMurry, Sul Ross State and Howard Payne played against in the Lone Star Conference in the 1960’s and 1970’s.

5. “I would think that a coach can only keep about the Top 100 involved anyway.” Not sure exactly how you meant this Ralph. If you meant it to say that they can only really play 100 on their JV and freshmen teams. To that, I heard, I believe from Coach Zweifel in his public forum yesterday, that they have 2 freshmen teams and a JV team (or two JV and one Frosh) with all of them playing about 10 games a year.

   Or if you were trying to say that the head coach trying to become personally involved with more than 100 players is tough (which I would have to agree with you), but you also have to remember two things, that 1. you can not replace game experience and competition with another color Jersey and 2. assistant coaches will help alot. I agree that charecter and not intangibles are the difference between #100 and #101 (the guy that doesn’t make the team). But wouldn’t you rather have the guy with charecter AND the guy with the impressive intangibles? Who wouldn’t? What the extra players and JV teams help with is helping that guy with the intangibles build charecter or the guy who has great charecter work on his technique among other things.

   I agree with you that the WIAC is an anomally among public schools in D3 football. And I know that part of that is that Madison is the only D1 school in the state for football. Even though there are other scholorship schools leaking into this state, that is definately a competative advantage for the WIAC when it comes to the rest of D3 football.

6. MUC85…You have to think that as long as LK is around they will be in the mix. I remember going to the 93 game and thinking ”WOW” this will never happen again. Little did I know huh?? When will it end?? Who knows? Alot smarter people than me still don’t have that one figured out! I will say this…I think D3 has really gotten so much better fron then till now. You see alot of the same teams from that time frame but look at all the teams now. I think thats fantastic, and it speaks volumes about the other schools and their commitment to reach the top.. All should be proud!

7. Mount Union does not have two freshman teams plus a JV team. They have a Varsity schedule and a JV schedule and that is it.

   I do think being able to have 200 players to start the season does help, because you are bound to get the diamonds in the rough and the late bloomers that a school with only 100 players can’t afford to keep on their roster. But I think that mattered more in the early years of the “dynsasty”. As of late, the tradition and excellence of the program probably has more to do with better players coming to MTU.

   I have seen quotes from players who say that they are either going to “walk on” at a DI school or come to MTU. But, I guess that probably happens with a lot of D3 schools that are good (JCU, BWU, ONU, CAP in the OAC).

   That is the second time I have seen a coach at UWW make that statement though. Berez did it in the post game conference also.

   Finally, Flush is back. Only took a week to come back after those ridiculous predictions on the Stagg bowl didn’t come true. Did it ever cross your mind that it was MTU causing UWW to make those mistakes? I also agree that UWW had a bad game plan that they didn’t get away from (sweeps instead of downhill running and deep passes instead of underneath routes to that big TE).

8. Flush the king of progronticators is back. ALl hail the king. I think from your statements you must have watched a different game than the rest of us.

9. U-dub-dub, thanks for the response.

   How many teams does UWW have?

   In the ASC, I know that HPU JV, HSU JV, McM JV, plus D2 ACU JV and Cisco JC play 8 games in a double round robin league. This league works very well, because the HPU trip to Abilene in the farthest and is only 80 miles. McM, HSU and ACU all are located in Abilene. Cisco is only 40 miles east of Abilene.

   Texas Lutheran scheduled 5 games this year. They played 2 of 3 with Trinity and had 2 scheduled with UMHB.

   The UMHB website refers to a JV coach but I find no results or schedule.

   Sul Ross State only has a varsity, but seems to accommodate the players who wish to play football. (Alpine, TX is 5 hours from its nearest opponents.)

   ETBU, MissColl and LaCollege do not mention JV programs.

   I have heard complaints/lamentations about the paucity of playing time that the JV’ers get from the parents in some of the larger ASC programs, especially larger than McMurry’s. That was the main concern that I had. How do you get meaningful playing time beyond the first 50-55 on the varsity and then 2 strings for each platoon on a JV (44 players)? There is your 100.

   I will say that the success that the WIAC has is the forward-thinking of the conference to maintain the lineup parity. That probably builds all programs, in turn strengthening the WIAC in general.

10. I think it’s great that there is so much passion for D3 and support for favorite teams.
    It’s fun to play what if, but the reality of it all is that is nearly impossible to claim one team would beat another based on who they played previously, because it’s often the result of match ups. For instance, in my opinion, Garcon is the single most reason that MUC beat UWW the last two years. UWW’s db’s just couldn’t match his speed and athleticism. I’m not saying UWW wins if Garcon doesn’t play, but I do believe we would have been in for one of the all time classic Stagg Bowls otherwise. I asked this in a previous post but don’t know if it was answered- Was Garcon a prominant part of the MUC game plan in the previous playoff games like he was against UWW? My hat is off to MUC as they just seem to be amazingly disciplined. For the record, I am an ex-UWW player and I believe the better team won.

11. Ralph, UWW has just what you said the 55 man and the one 44 JV team. However, they only are allowed to play a certain percent (33%?) of the varsity schedule, which leaves them at three games.
    Kirasdad, thank you for that info on only one team, kinda throws a kink in my little theory; but I think you can agree that those ten extra games by the time one is a Junior can not hurt those players, aside from any kind of injury. I agree with you on the assesment that MUC’s success has certainly helped the recruiting process, and I can only hope that it does the same for UWW. So far, judging by some major contributions we had from some frosh this year (Wells, Gifford, and Hunt) it has.
    Ralph, as far as the lineup parity in the WIAC, I THINK they have it set at 100, but we, as a single university, have had to cut those numbers in recent years because we got into some heat with title IX a few years back, as I learned in coach zweifels class (btw, best class I have ever taken, they need to at least keep him here to teach).

12. U-dub-dub,

    You are welcome “for that info on only one team”, but I don’t have knowlege of other teama and you are the one who posted the mis-information on MTU:

    “To that, I heard, I believe from Coach Zweifel in his public forum yesterday, that they have 2 freshmen teams and a JV team (or two JV and one Frosh) with all of them playing about 10 games a year.”

    Also, I believe that the numbers really work themselves out over time. This years MTU Roster has:

    121 Freshmen
    29 Sophomores
    40 Juniors
    27 Seniors

    So, as the seasons go on, the ones that stay are fairly well shittled down to the true players with passion. I suspect a lot of the Freshmen probably come in thinking they are going to dominate their first year, and find out that the playing level at MTU is a lot more competitive than they thought. It still does give the team the advantage of seeing that many more players and I do agree the more there are, the better the odds of finding a player that was overlooked by others.

    But with that many underclassmen and only one JV schedule, they don’t get a lot of “game experience” to display their talents either.

    I wonder how many players transfer out after their first year to other football schools because they just want to play, and not spend another 2-3 years on the bench?

13. D3Football-

    Garcon is one of the main reasons we are having this thread. Keep in mind Garcon did not start his career at Mt Union. He was a receiver for Norwich, and flat out transferred to Mt Union after his freshman season. Nothing wrong with that of course, as it was his decision 100%. From what I read, he pretty much introduced himself to Mt Union – they did not know who he was when he was at Norwich. However as a fan of eastern football, and someone who would like to see an eastern team give Mt Union a run, it is frustrating to see one of the east’s best players essentially join Mt Union to win some championships rather than stay with the school that recruited him.

14. I wonder why everyone is talking so much about Garcon. I don’t mean to take anything away from him because he truly is a great, great player. It seems like no one is mentioning Micheli who I thought was by far the most impressive player on the field that game. He threw 18-22(81%) for 202 yards 3 tds, no interceptions. Not bad for a guy who was considered to be a running quarterback. He also went on to run 9 times for 42 yards (4.7ypc). Another reason why he was so effective was how elusive he was. I am still haunted by the play where we should have had him sacked in the backfield but somehow he jumped over a pile of people and still got away. When it comes to the single most reason why Mount beat us this year I’m going to have to go with their “running quarterback” having probably what will go down as the best game of his career.

15. I have to agree with Warhawk96 and so does the recent survey. If a quarteback and a receiver have a great game and I have to choose between the two for the MVP, I pick the quarterback 80% of the time.

16. Warhawk96
    Best game of his career….so far. With two years to go, i suspect we will see many more games like that. It’s not like he just fell off the turnip wagon, the guy completed over 75% of his passes all year long. He was just used primarily when MUC when in running situations.

    Cortlandfootball
    I will speculate here that there was more to Garcon leaving Norwich then just the fact that he wanted to win championships. Norwich is a Military University, first and foremost. It’s not for everyone. I had two kids that graduated from Military Academies, and I can say for a fact…..many people leave early, for a variety of reasons. And, outside of that situation, many students leave the schools they first enroll at, simpley because they aren’t happy.

17. Ralph T – UMHB had a 8 game JV schedule. TLU canceled one game and so the CRU played HSU 3 times. The JR CRU finished 8-0 and many of the players on JV will be fighting for playing time on the varsity squad next fall.
    Head JV Coach Jeff Shinn (former CRU fullback) and his coaches did a great job and allowed some excellent prospects to get valuable playing time.

18. Warhawk and Wally, don’t get me wrong, in a previous post I agreed with Micheli winning the player of the game award. However, similar to the qb’s from LaCrosse and St. Johns that were terrifically accurate, I don’t believe Micheli alone was going to be the driving force in a victory. It was the combination of Garon’s actual plays (fade down the sideline, 40 yd TD on 3rd and 7 amongst others) and the threat of him making plays that prevented WW from playing more aggressively. This combination of making plays and big play threat, just like last year, created a game condition where WW just could not make a mistake. Without him, there is room for error (overthrown passes) as WW will force more punts. Bottom line to me is, Micheli is a D3 player that played a heck of a game-but he is D3 and can be contained. Garon is a DI type playmaker that gives coaches and players alike nightmares.

19. sorry kirasdad, I think I could have been more specific, I really was thanking you, just trying to say thanks for the info that MTU only has one JV team.
    As far as those numbers being whittled down, probably as expected, but I do agree with you, and I think a couple of us said this earlier, that the difference between player 100 and 101 is passion, and that just seems to carry on there too, I’m sure that there were plenty more with talent but no passion for the game that ended up quitting or transferring.

20. Mainjack-

    I said “probably”. He will have statistically better games in the future I’m certain, but I highly doubt that he will have another national championship where he scores every touchdown and completes 81% of his passes (one out of his four missed passes I know was batted down at the line). I just think it will be hard for him to have as good of if not a better overall game in a game as big as that one (national championship). We will see though, the bar is set pretty high.

21. Warhawk96
    Yea, you are probably right about that. It will be fun to see where the next couple of years take him. Merry Christmas.

22. U-dub-dub,

    Merry Christmas! and ’tis OK, I probably shouldn’t post at 4:00am anytwy. 🙂

23. dude give the o line credit…none of this would of happened without the o-line for mtunion…i would of gave the award to them…they kept kleppe away the whole game

24. Mainjack-

    Merry Christmas to you too

    141- Kleppe did sack him and he was also flushed out of the pocket and forced to scramble more than a few times. They did do a good job on Kleppe holding him to only one sack and 1.5 TFLs but it’s not like they had him locked down the whole game and that’s also not the only sack UWW had either. Like I said, they did a good job up front but the difference maker was Micheli. We were getting all kinds of pass rush on Jorris which is why he was sacked twice and interecepted once out of five tries throwing the ball. Micheli did a good job of scrambling and avoiding the rush. Without that I don’t know if the the game would have been the same, Garcon or not you have to be able to get the pass off.

25. Haha, I like how everyone is saying we wouldn’t have this discussion if it weren’t for ________’s performance. The bottom line is that in order to win a national championships you have to play together as a team and have some talent in there as well. Yes Michelli and Garcon had pretty darn good games, but without that good o-line Kleppe and his fellow d-linemen and linebackers would have taken over up front. Without the other recievers (sorry, don’t know any names off the top of my head) being pretty good the secondary could have focused more on Garcon. Then there’s the defense, they played a pretty darn good game too. And MTU’s special teams, with their blocked punt, without that, it’s a completely different game because IMHO, I think that other than that UWW’s special teams outplayed MTU’s.

    Kirasdad, no hard feelings, don’t worry. And Merry Christmas to everyone out there who is of that religion.

26. In response to the JV Discussion.

    When you have a school with over 150 players, how many are going to be discouraged by not receiving immediate playing time and leave football altogether? Specifically, players that could have made an impact somewhere else.

    I was recruited by Heidelberg, and I have all the respect in the world for that school. How many 6th string JV’ers from Mount Union could have made an impact at Heidelberg, quit and left football for good?

27. D3Keith – We just got back from Dallas where our Eagles made history by being the first team in the history of the NFL to win three consecutive, in division road games in December. We were about 10,000+ strong and took over the stadium (verbally and physically!!). A real Rocky Balboa story coming to life in front of our eyes……..without our MVP QB and our best defensive lineman!!!!

    I hope that you enjoyed your “miracle” Christmas as well and we will represent on New Year’s Eve at home, and at home and on the road in the playoffs for as long as this Cinderella story lasts. Can the state of Pennsylvania make it two consecutive football miracles in a row?!

    Don’t forget about D3 wrestling……..where we (D3) slay Goliath (D1) day in and day out!!!

28. I have to agree with MUC VA about the uncertainty of the future…

    No one, not a single voice on this site has even acknowledged the fact that the Warhawks might be BETTER with Stan Zweifel as head coach. And I apologize to all who I offend, but, that may be the case.

    Stan Zweifel is the hardest working, most dedicated man, I have ever seen in any profession at any time and that includes my own father and grandfather (God rest his soul).

    I’m behind Coach Z for life.

    It’s just the beginning. Get your eyes open, fellas.

    Graham P. Bartholomae

29. I believe that is a real possibilty but at the very least, if Coach Z gets the job, there will be no “new head coach,” syndrome IMO. The program won’t skip a beat. What may have the biggest effect on the program is the fact that the Warhawks have played for a National Championship 2 years in a row. Last years title run brought in recruits like Jordon Wells, (81 yd punt return in the Stagg,) Jeff Schebler, (D-3football 2nd team AA kicker,) and QB Jeff Donovan, (Wisconsin HS Athlete of the Year,) just to name a few. Can’t wait to see next years class. So THAT is how MUC does it……..LOL!

30. I’m pretty new to D3 but as I understand it they seed the regions, which means Mt. Union is pretty much guaranteed all home games in the playoffs. If this is true their remarkable record of the last 15 years or so is a lot less remarkable. When was the last time they won a road playoff game? Each region should host a semifinal every other year. Let the Raiders travel to the West Region champs home field once in a while and see how they do.

31. I’m biased? Hmm, maybe. In a coma? Possibly – I do have a 2 yr old and newborn baby at home, so I haven’t been sleeping as much as I used to.

    However, the biased perspective could easily be yours – esp considering you run a MUC website (which calls your own objectivity into question but to be fair, you haven’t come across like a homer to me).

    Let’s just say we agree to disagree – and that it is entirely possible to watch a game and walk away with a difference of opinion on what transpired.

32. Just skimming for the first time in a week or so.

    Zwiefel should probably get the UWW job, and he may have the Warhawks up there again eventually, but it should be a rough go next year given all that is graduating … Kleppe, Stanley, Jacobs, Sakellaris, Schmitt, Widuch, Mrkvicka, Reuland, Kostermann, Thompson … ouch.

    I mean, you’ll have Beaver and Borzick and Raebel and a lot of young talent, and some O-Line … but they’ll have to be really good really fast to win the WIAC again, don’t you think?

    I see maybe a year like Linfield had this year. I dunno. The more I look at the roster, the more I see coming back. Maybe another playoff appearance, but no way another Stagg Bowl. Not next year.

    As far as Garcon, he is that good … I don’t know if MUC wins either of the last two titles without him. He had huge Stagg Bowls each time vs. UWW.

    The JV discussion is interesting. Very good point by Bosstone about players who quit … maybe if they’d started somewhere else and caught on, they’d have gone on to be great players. But then again, they’re quitters … I know I wasn’t giving up football until I had no eligibility and no school where I could play. I would have left school in a heartbeat if I couldn’t play, or toughed it out until I broke into the lineup, because I liked football that much.

    labart … your home life sounds like mine. 2 year old and 7 month old. I feel your pain, bruh.

    Dukefin … loving the Eagles season all of a sudden. They were left for dead, and watching that Indy game was hella painful.

    Not really interested in this year’s BCS games, except maybe the Rose, and Rutgers’ game tomorrow night … so I’ll be working on the D3 Year in Review … Keep your eyes peeled, it’s coming out in three parts this year in the first, second and third weeks of Jan.!

33. keith –

    you’re not kidding. a couple of hrs with 2 babies is enough to exhaust even the sturdiest of men.

    constant exhaustion could explain my “tunnel vision”….but since i played db, i tend to notice in games how dbs play – and i will say this, muc db’s were letting uww’s wr’s get behind them in the red zone. uww’s qb just didn’t pass the ball to the open men.

    i also noted how much faster and better garcon was than any of the uww db’s. that kid was something else – and to echo an earlier post – it is a shame on one hand that he bolted from the east region and a school that spent time and resources to recruit him to pick up rings with muc. still, as a former player, i can’t really blame the kid. who wouldn’t want to play on the best program in the country if you could make the team?

    hopefully sometime in the near future a team from our region will give muc a good run for their money.

34. Nasedo,

    Your “new to D3” comment is apparent. Your lack of homework and knowledge of sports even more so. First in sports…you play the game and earn the right for home field advantage. Win all your games and you won’t have a problem with the current system.

    Now to your lack of research…you seem to insinuate that Mount’s success has been largely based upon being successful at home. The statistical facts are that Mount is actually a better road team than a home team. In fact, Mount is currently riding a 62 game road winning streak that dates back to 1994.

    One final point you should consider is that the Stagg Bowl is not a “home game” for Mount..where the Raiders record is currently 9-1.

35. In reference to Bosstones comment about kids having to wait and work their way up at Mount Union instead of playing right away as freshman, I was struck by the comments of Anthony Ursetti, a Senior on this year’s Mount team who struggled for two years as a JV and then one year on special teams before getting his chance as a starter this past season.

    “You need a lot of patience at Mount Union,” he said. “But I never thought of leaving. I always wanted to play here, to be on a championship team.”

    Aren’t we teaching kids how life really works? That you have to set your goals, sacrifiice. and work hard? Anyway, it’s a system that seems to work at every other level.

36. seventiesrider, that’s exactly what I was talking about, thank you for bringing an example from that team. That is the difference between player 100 and 101, passion for the game. I don’t know that you can find that in D1, maybe D2, but it is what makes D3 special.

37. In all fairness, you have to work very hard to crack into any D-3 lineup because the level of play is that high almost everywhere. I would say Mount Union is closer to a I-AA lineup, but thats another story.

    Not all players have the patience of Anthony Ursetti. You cant tell me thats not something coaches for schools like Mount Union and St, John Fisher know- getting high numbers of players just so other teams cant. And if those 6th string halfbacks that could have played somewhere else call it a career in their first winter, what the heck? They’re still Mount Union, they’re still Fisher and they’ll probably win either way.

38. Bosstone
    I am a MUC fan, and someone who has been closely involved in I-AA for the past 20 years, and I have to disagree with you. Mount is no where near the level of even average I-AA teams. All you have to do is look at how many I-AA players end up playing on Sunday, and compare that to D-III, and you will realize that there is a world of difference between the two levels. Occasionally a D-III team beats a I-AA, but it’s an anomoly. The I-AA players are bigger, faster, stronger. That’s why they received scholarships. There is always a ton of talk on this site about how all these D-III players could and should be playing at D-I schools. But then draft day comes, and it’s always the same. No one gets drafted, and a handful of great D-III players get free agent tryouts, and then go on their way. I love the Raiders, but they are what they are…..a great D-III program….nothing more.

39. Responding back to the Robinson-Reile ‘comparison’: I am sure most would agree that the O-Line is not to be forgotten on this topic. SJF had its 3rd string back rush for 100 plus twice this season presumably with back-up lineman going against 1st team D-Lines in a couple of second half blow-outs. Just look at what the Broncos do with RB’s every season….Davis, Portis, Anderson, Bell and Bell. 2 of those guys were not even drafted, the others were low picks I believe. SJF returns most of its O-Line and its Coach (Scachetti) will handling the duties ie:scheme, for his 16th season.

40. OU#25, I guess you missed the points I was making, so let me rephrase them as questions.

    1.) Is it true that the NCAA seeds the regions? I’m not talking about teams in the same region, but the regions themselves. For example, if Mt. Union is undefeated in the North, and any other team is undefeated in any other region, why is the semifinal game always played at Mt. Union? Can’t you see what an advantage that is?

    2.)How does one “earn the right to home field advantage” when the NCAA gives it to Mt. Union every time they win the North? Undefeated region champions are common, but has any team ever hosted Mt. Union in a national semifinal game?

    3.) When was the last time Mt. Union won or even played a road playoff game? How many of those 62 consecutive road wins came in the playoffs? Any of them? Hats off to Mt. Union in any case, but if they get to play every playoff game at home, it’s not a level playing field. I’m not talking about the Stagg Bowl, which is a neutral field, and since they lost there in 2003 I’m sure it’s not included in the streak you mentioned.

41. Keith…Mrkvicka is coming back. Graduated in 3 years and was a redshirt. He is in his 2nd year of grad school……

42. nasedo, you are correct in your questions to how they seed the regions. as far as i can tell it is based on how the teams are ranked. wesley was also undefeated this year and still had to travel to UWW. i am not saying that the results would have been different, but wesley is undefeated at home since they put turf in 2 years ago. i agree that the region seedings should be rotated to balance things out. why is one region given an advantage over another one based on arbitrary rankings. what would it hurt if there was a rotation, if one team is better they will win anyway. all i know is that it was 50 some degress in dover with little wind on semi final day. based on others arguments, wesley earned the right to have a home game that day. i dont think it will change and that is a shame as it seems that region reputation is the determining factor. there is no question that UWW and MU were the best 2 teams, but would it have changed things if UWW had to travel to dover, who knows. we certainly would have liked the chance to host a semi-final game. happy new year to all d3 fans.

43. Nasedo:
    1) Yes, the NCAA seeds the regions. I believe this is done by seeding the top seed in each region against each other. Note that these seeds come into play ONLY if the semifinalists who are meeting each other were the same seed in their region. If, say, the South #1 plays the North #2, the South #1 hosts because they were the higher seed within their region.

    2) The NCAA doesn’t simply give home field to Mount Union every time they win the North. Usually, MUC deserves a #1 seed. But look at even last year’s bracket: http://www.d3football.com/playoffs/05/bracket.htm. MUC lost a game in the regular season last year, and was seeded #2 in their region as a result (among North teams, only Wabash was undefeated). If #1 Wabash had gone to the region finals, Mount would have gone on the road. If Delaware Valley or Union had won the East region, Mount would have traveled there for the semis. MUC was lucky in the sense that their OAC rival and #5 seed Capital beat Wabash in the second round, and #3 seed Rowan came out of the East. But as you can see, Mount has to earn home field, just like everyone else.

    3) I don’t know the answer, and don’t really feel inclined to do the research. But I’d encourage you to do so.

    wesleydad: I’ll agree that, in a vacuum, Wesley had a good enough season to deserve to host a semifinal game. But did they deserve to host over UWW, after the amazing two-year run the Warhawks have had in a brutally difficult conference and through the playoffs? Most importantly, did Wesley deserve to host over UWW after what the Warhawks did to Wesley in 2005? It seems most improbable.

    The rankings aren’t arbitrary. They are the best effort of the committee. One might disagree with them, but we are stuck with imperfect information at this level. You can argue that the semifinal hosts should be rotated; I think we have enough information such that teams should be able to earn home field throughout the playoffs.

    And come on, do you really think there’s any chance of a different result if UWW travels to Wesley? Have you seen the way UWW has made Wesley look like a UMAC team the last two years?

44. mount gets home field because it’s always the highest ranked team in its region. that’s the benefit of being the best team in the nation most every year.

    not counting the stagg bowl, in 1993 they were 3-0 at home, 1994 they went 1-1 away in the playoffs, 95 they were 2-1 at home, 96 they were 2-0 at home and 1-0 on road. in 97 and 98, 3-0 at home. 99, 2-1 at home, in 2000 3-0 at home. in 01-02-03, 3-0 at home each year. 04, 2-1 at home, 05 and 0-6, 4-0.

    so during the run, 37-3 at home, 2-1 away.

45. To all regarding seedings (MUC repeat prevention strategy):
    After watching MUC beat UWW this year, I think all the talk about seeding advantages are a waste of time. As a UWW guy, I was sure last year’s loss in the Stagg Bowl was the result of MUC’s experience in the big game(s). This year, I was sure UWW, with all the returning talent, the tough schedule and the experience of a Stagg Bowl was going to put on a heck of a performance and win. BUT, MUC showed why it is they get all these #1 seeds and championships, they are a great team-top to bottom, coaches included. It’s not just the talent, it’s the attitude. If MUC didn’t deserve to be where they were, this is the year they should have been beat, especially by a team as loaded as UWW was.

46. C’mon, Wesleydad, if Wesley was to get a home playoff game, what team should it have hosted?

    Why would UWW, which had beaten it so badly the year before (and would again), have to travel after emerging from a regional gantlet of top-10 teams?

    Or maybe you were suggesting SJF? That would set up a MUC-UWW semi … seems a lot like the Stagg Bowl a week early.

    Or how about sending Mount to Delaware? Hmm, that’s what some here apparently would like to see.

    Guess what? The results proved the committee 100 percent spot on.

    As for your idea of rotating the semis, why should you seed teams earlier in the playoffs and then stop for the final four?

    When you lose 58-6 and (a charitable) 44-7, Wesley has a lot more to worry about than shoes or hosting playoff games. It was not close to competitive in either and the scores could have been much worse.

    At least 3 West teams could have made that trip to Delaware and continued onto Salem the next week.

47. Last night Paul Plinske AD at UW-Whitewater offered the head coaching job to Lance Leipold because Stan Zweifel failed “to connect with administration” during the interview process. The AD felt intimidated by Stan and decided to hire a coach he could work with rather than the best coach available. It is a shame for UW-W and their prgoram who had gotten to a new level BECAUSE of Stan–he had brought every current coach (except Brez) to UW-W and has recruited 95% of their playres for 16 years (including the 28-2 stretch).

48. acoltfan,

    Where did you get this information?

49. In one imbecilic move Plinske has decimated the Warhawk football program…..Coaches are cleaning out offices and players are looking to transfer…..After 5 years of not missing a game I will not set foot in the Perk again……

50. repete, obviously you did not read my entire comment. i said that UWW and MU were the best 2 teams. my comment was based on a prior comment about why regions get seeded versus a rotation basis. i used wesley as an example since they also went undefeated this year in response to nasedo’s comments. as far as your opinion about 3 teams from the west that could have come to dover and went to salem that is just your opinion. seems that UMHB was highly regarded around the country and wesley defeated them. so if wesley is so weak, then the experts must have really overrated UMHB. the comments are made for discussion purposes and the question by nasedo was legit. d3keith and sjunick explained the process well. as far as who we would have liked to have played in dover, any of the teams would have been welcome, win or lose. the thrill of hosting a semi final would have been great.