ATN Podcast: Wrapping round 1

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If it seemed like all the good games were clustered in one time zone on Saturday, well, yeah, you’re right. The 1 p.m. ET games featured some great finishes, with onside kicks coming minutes apart and a double overtime game coming down to the wire. Hear the end of the Illinois Wesleyan-Wabash game (thanks to Wabash’s broadcast), as well as the Coe player who returned two turnovers for touchdowns and get a report from the Thomas More-DePauw game.

Plus, Keith McMillan and Pat Coleman report on the games they covered and break down the rest of the brackets. What did Case Western Reserve and Monmouth have in common? Who had the biggest letdown of the first round? Where is the success concentrated in the playoffs? And looking further down the road, is there a team that can prevent a fifth Mount Union/UW-Whitewater matchup? There’s that and more in this week’s Around the Nation Podcast.

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47 thoughts on “ATN Podcast: Wrapping round 1”

  1. Not trying to knock the other brackets but wanted to discuss the Mount Union Bracket. Mount Union Clearly is and has been pretty dominate since week 5 and I think they easily handle Montclaire State(I have not seen either of these teams play but on paper, Mount union looks pretty sure to win).

    However, Alrbight v. Del Val is going to be a great game. I was at the regular season game in Doylestown where Del Val absolutely dominated the game. Albright could not muster any type of offense until 6 minutes left and the game already out of reach. However, I think round 2 of the playoffs will be a different story in Doylestown this time. I will be their again. The Aggies ran the ball very well against Albright but their pass game was not very impressive. If Alrbight can force the aggies to throw by playing alot of man, I think Albright has a great chance. On the converse, the Albright run game was no where to be found the last time these teams met and I think the same will be true this time. However, If Kelly is healthy and if not Subers, the Albright Lions air attack will dominate the game and Albright will win, 29-28.

  2. Loved the podcast, as always, but towards the end you talked about conference win percentage. Can the ASC get an asterisk since we usually have to go .500 in the first round. 🙂

  4. AC99

    I don’t know why you think Albright will be able to stop the run this time unless they commit more people in the box! Mike Isgro was 12-19 for 178yds and Del Val put up 248 yards on the ground. Isgro was also not healthy that game, (recovering from a seperated shoulder) If you don’t expect Albrights run game to be found 26 rushes for 16 yards last game, Del Val will tee off on Kelly once again. Sacked 6 times a few weeks ago and hurried all day!

    Del Val by 2 touchdowns!

  5. You guys are doing a great job. This Podcast was a very good listen. I agree the Del Valley-Albright game will be a better one the second time around. But I can’t see Del Valley losing, they are on too much of a roll offensively. MUC is the overwhelmingly obvious choice to come out of the bracket, but I think Del Valley will make them sweat a little bit in Alliance.

    By my computer ratings system, Del Valley is the best team to come out of Eastern Region since St John Fisher in 2006.

  6. Toby — thanks, that’s a good point and it could and should have been mentioned.

    CortlandFootball — out of curiosity, where is Wesley rated in your system and how much of a gap is there between the top teams and the rest of the field? Or how does it stack up overall?

    Also, someone told me this morning that schools now also must exchange the first-round playoff game video. The championships handbook doesn’t say that has changed, but since when has the handbook ever been right? I mean, the handbook mentions seeds.

  7. Question?———–If UMHB happens to beat Linfield, would they host the Coe-St Thomas Winner?

  10. Cru:

    1. We don’t know since the NCAA refused to release seeds this season.
    2. Game video.
    3. I don’t. 🙂

    It seems reasonable to believe that if UMHB wins, it would travel to St. Thomas or host Coe. But the NCAA, which normally would have committed to that by announcing seeds, apparently wants to keep the information to itself.

  11. Pat,
    Thanks————–by the way, you guys do a heck of a job with this site. I look forward to checking the site everyday and the playoff capsules you guys put together are awesome. Keep up the good work!

  12. Pat,

    I’ve got Wesley rated as “the real deal.” The system estimates point differential between teams if played on a neutral field. Whitewater is currently rated #1, with MUC just a field goal behind. Wesley is rated about a field goal behind MUC as the #3 team in the country. So figure 4-5 points for a game played in Alliance, which would make MUC a full touchdown favorite over Wesley. Play the game at Wesley, and it is a toss up.

  13. I really communicated that the TMC defense is strong against the run and was hurt by the pass this weekend against DePauw. The defense has been a strength for the Saints this year —- the pass defense will be tweaked this week.

  14. DVC/Albright Round 2……

    DVC-38 Albright-13

    Just my humble opinion. Albright has been owned in Doylestown in the last 2 meetings. They’ve got a mental hurdle to overcome before they can compete with the Aggies. It could be closer, but I see no reason why. Good luck to both schools.

  15. yurks64 & ZeroMischief – You are absolutely correct with your Round Two calls for DelVal vs. Albright. If Albright can’t run somewhat, it could be a long game for them. I expect a closer game than a few weeks ago but I do think that DelVal will win again.

    AC99 – “the Albright Lions air attack will dominate the game”. Could happen, but I doubt it. You only pass, pass, pass when you can’t/won’t run (see Philadelphia Eagles:) Albright must establish a running game. I saw one during the regular season so it shouldn’t be that hard. The weather (winds) may be interesting as well.

    CortlandFootball – The Aggies ARE the best team out of the East since SJF in 2006. This won’t help David vs. Goliath in Alliance the first Saturday in December but it’s been an awesome year for the MAC with DelVal, Albright and LebVal. Question for you……Is the top three of this year’s MAC better than the top three of any other eastern conference of this decade? It’s got to be fairly close.

    I have to end with a shoutout to a poster named labart (who I haven’t seen around of late…….I wonder why:) He said that the DelVal vs. Susquehanna game would be similar to 2006 with Susquehanna winning by a touchdown. You were only off by a mere 66 points:)

    I was sitting right in front of a few Susquehanna coaches in front of the press box and they were going crazy 13 seconds into the game when they scored. They even yelled from the press box, “DelVal……..here it comes. This ain’t the MAC”!! They were correct, this ain’t the MAC, and here it comes…….66 unanswered points against the best of the Liberty League:)

  16. Brandonio – Yes, I believe the MAC Top 3 is tops in the East in 2009. The Empire 8 had an incredible year too, something like 24-6 out of conference. It helped them to lose Norwich, and it also helped that Utica became competitive. Fisher-Alfred-Ithaca-Springfield is an impressive Top 4. But I’ll go with the MAC in 2009.

    The NJAC had a strange year. The perennial second tier teams like William Paterson became pretty darn tough. But at the same time, the top 3 drifted down toward the rest of the pack. There wasn’t a super power to be found, though for a few weeks it looked like Rowan might be the ticket. The NJAC will probably rebound hard in the next 2 years, though I would love for them to replace Morrisville with Wesley or Salisbury if either want to join a Pool A eligible conference.

  17. FYI – I changed my name from “CortlandFootball” to my real name. I don’t feel comfortable posting opinions under the former, as it could be interpreted I am speaking for the program itself.

  18. Cortland, releasing Morrisville may be an option for the E8/NJAC. Especially if the NJAC wants to pick up Stevenson, too.

    As discussed elsewhere, Frostburg and Salisbury are affiliating with the E8 in 2011 to preserve the AQ.

  19. Brandonio,

    If they yelled that, then they got what was coming to them before halftime when Del Valley scored a “tasteless TD”, as it was said in post patterns.

    That’s bush league. I’m glad Del Valley won like that for my boy PBR. And I think they are physical enough to give MUC a run.. Something all of the east region is rooting for.

  20. 51:27=good work…as a bassist for over 55 years with a pretty good ear for music and sound this podcast was the best audio I’ve heard in a long time and the content was just as good..many thanks….SaintsFan you got that right!! GO BOMBERS

  21. I far as the film exchange goes. Most teams exchange film online these days, so I don’t think that exchanging a first round game would be that big a problem for most teams.

    Having been to enough playoff games over the past five years, I know the NCAA Site rep holds the game DVDs of the next teams opponent and hands it over once they known who they are playing.

    Not sure how it works now, but I’ll make sure I ask this weekend.

    I do know that Coach Fredenburg mentioned in an article in a local paper that UMHB used the same website for film exchange as Central, so that it wouldn’t be a problem when the bracket is announced on a Sunday afternoon. Sure beats the old days of driving halfway or waiting for Fedex.

  22. Thanks Ralph, I actually was not aware of the E8 additions. I’m not on the boards nearly as much as I used to be. Salisbury in given years can be quite strong, so the E8 is going to be a bear. So does that mean Salisbury will be an Eastern Region team? We could use the help, lol.

  23. Brandonio – I was not sitting far from you then, as I too heard all of the hoopla from the press box. But I did not hear specific comments as you did. Wow…”not the MAC”…yeah no kidding. Based on the 66 unanswered points the little ole’ MAC Champions dropped on them, I think FDU-Florham would have no problem handling the Crusaders.

  24. SaintsFAN – Did somebody really say (somewhere in post patterns) that DelVal scored a “tasteless TD” right before the end of the half? You’ve got to show me how to find that comment. The poster is clueless.

    DelVal was up only 17-7 with a few minutes left in the first half and scored 2 TD’s in that time. A bomb at the end of the second half (especially if up by 59 points) would be more than tasteless…………….at the end of the first half when up only 24-7……….tasteful, very tasteful.

    ZeroMischief – The comment by the Susquehanna coach was heard by a few of us and we gave it to the coaches when they ducked out of the press box with a few minutes left in the game!!

  25. Dan, the E8 can appeal to be a multi-region conference to make those games in-region. Salisbury currently is in-region (Administrative Region #1) for teams in the states of MD, “DC”, MD, DE, NJ, and 6 New England states.

    If Salisbury wishes to move to the East Region, then they could appeal for football. Moving out of the South Region would not hurt Salisbury much, because the only South Region teams that are within 200 miles are CNU (152 miles), Catholic (117 miles) and Shenandoah (199 miles). Salisbury would not need to play many South Region teams to fill out the schedule with 7 E-8 conference games. Capital AC members Wesley and Stevenson will gladly fill two of those dates. Wesley and Stevenson are also in Administrative Region #1.

    (Salisbury has filled its schedule with CNU, NCWC and Hampden-Sydney in the last 3 years as non-conference games.)

  27. At the end of the podcast, Pat and Keith mentioned post-season record. We ASC fans will remind fans that the Northwest Conference, the SCIAC, the ASC and occasionally the SCAC must contend with “geographic proximity” when facing early round opponents.

    There have been times when a strong Trinity team has had to face a strong ASC (UMHB) team instead of the natural bracket opponent that I think Trinity would have defeated. In 2007, #6 Trinity went to #4 UMHB (which lost to UWW in the semis) instead of playing #3 Muhlenberg, whom I thought Trinity would have beaten. There should be another win for the SCAC in the table.

    I will let the Northwest Conference fans cover their teams.

    This season, UMHB and Mississippi College went on the road for wins.

    As for the “Texas sub-bracket”, I count the 2002, 2005, 2006 and 2008 as years when an ASC team was forced to play a tougher “Texas” team than the natural bracket mate that would have required a plane flight. Instead of a post-season record of 18-14, I believe that the ASC post-season record is better considered to be “22-14” or “21-14”.

    I have discussed the Texas Sub-bracket on this message board for those are interested.

    http://www.d3boards.com/index.php?topic=5306.15

    Especially post #15.

    In the perfect bracket, #1 – #4 should get a home game. #1-#2 should host 2 games and #1 should get at least 3 home playoff games. That does not happen with “geographic proximity”.

    Thanks to Keith and Pat for a good podcast.

  28. Ryan, thanks for your comments.

    The Centennial is going to 10 teams with the addition of Susquehanna in 2010, which will fill schedules for weeks #3 to #11.

    Although Salisbury could play one of those teams, they have not played them in the past.

    With the MAC-Pres AC match-ups proposed in Week #2 2010, which removes several potential non-conference games for the CC, would a Centennial Conference team choose to play Salisbury in week #1?

  30. CaptainCru,

    Great question… If UMHB wins will they host the next round? I don’t know why the NCAA failed to seed the teams this year. I don’t think anyone predicted that screw up. I hope we can host the next round but remember we are talking about the NCAA. So who knows what they will do next. We may have to travel to Mars.

    First we must get past Linfield which will be a huge task. UMHB must play the best game of the year to win. If UMHB plays the way they did against Central, then it’s time to stack the thigh pads. Linfield and UMHB both played SO and HSU and won, so it should a close game. I predict UMHB 28 Linfield 24, but it could go either way.

    However looking ahead; I think UWW and MUC will be in the final once again. UWW will win the Championship this year. They have it all, running, passing, D, special teams and confidence. I have followed UWW really close this year and they are no question the best team in D3. I don’t see Linfield or UMHB beating them. I hope I’m wrong because I am pulling for the CRU. UMHB is young and they may just win the Championship next year or the year after. I like their chances then more than now.

  31. Yurks 64 and all other Del Val Fans or supporters.

    First, I believe Del Val is a very good team. They are coached well and play solid football all 4 quarters. Their running back runs extremely hard. However, even though their quarterback had decent stats throughout the year, I saw him play Albright. He had one pass for 50 yards that was a lame duck that shoudl have been picked off….I know I know, it wasn’t. I am not saying he is a bad quarterback, I just feel Albright has a better chance of winning by making him beat them as opposed to the run game. I did state that Alrbight woudl have to man up which means put 8 or 9 in the box to stop the run and make DEl Val qarterback beat you. With regard to Albrights run game, I know it was non existent in the first game…it was actaully aweful. Del Val’s line and linebackers move very well in the box. However I believe their secondary is suspect. I do not think if given the time, the secondary can cover Nate Romig and the rest of Albrights receivers. Everybody wants to establish the run, but lets face it, Albright is built around the pass and if they commit to the run just to establish it, they will lose again becuase Del Val has a very good front 8. If Albrights O-line gives Kelly or subers time, Albright Does take this game. Albright is also very well coached and I believe fully that they will be better prepared upfront on both offense and defense. I think this game is going to be so much better than the regular season…If you live close by or like to travel, I woudl recommend stopping by this….unfortuntealy, if you are a Del Val fan, the tides are turning in favor of Alrbight this time, 29-28.

    Second…Pat, keith and rest of the team, this site is very good for D III fans and my comments to you for running such a good site.

  33. …would a Centennial Conference team choose to play Salisbury in week #1?

    Perhaps, especially if the conference’s top teams gain confidence in how they can perform on the field.

    Dickinson has scheduled Hobart during the Statesmen’s playoff-bound year, JHU last week showed it could play well against a very tough H-SC squad, and in the 2007 postseason, Muhlenberg proved that the CC could have success against a team as historically good as Salisbury. Of them all, I could see JHU being the most likely to schedule someone like the Gulls (based on my previous discussions with the JHU coach.)

  35. AC99-With all due respect:

    “First, I believe Del Val is a very good team.”

    Probably a wise belief, especially if you’re an Albright fan.

    “I just feel Albright has a better chance of winning by making him beat them as opposed to the run game.”

    I think the Aggies feel the same way I do: You can put the game in Mike Isgro’s hands any day of the week, not a problem.

    “I do not think if given the time, the secondary can cover Nate Romig and the rest of Albrights receivers.”

    That’s the problem, he won’t be given the time.

    “if you are a Del Val fan, the tides are turning in favor of Alrbight this time, 29-28. ”

    Best of luck with that. May the best team win. What I truly think it will come down to is that the Albright defense is a sieve as of late (The unit has given up 113 points and 1,285 yards of total offense over the last three weeks to Delaware Valley (45 points, 426 yards), Lebanon Valley (43 points, 489 yards) and Alfred (25 points, 370 yards).

    As I said before, it could be closer this time, absolutely. But Albright is just flat out not as good, the last 2 meetings prove it.

  36. brandonio – thx for the shout out. yeah i had my LL blinders on and enjoyed my crow over the past week. you can hear a recap of the year on inthehuddlle.com.

    but to your statement – if you did the math correctly i was off by 59.

    regardless dvc was the better squad that day and so it goes. even gordon mann admitted this was just one of those games that got away from Susquehanna. oh well. The Crusaders will be back in thick of things in the CC and could be back for another NCAA game in 2010.

    ryan – good call re Dickinson/Hobart series. up until this year, hobart had been on a five year NCAA run, so i am not certain which play-off year you were referring to (but assumed 2007 when Dickinson upset Hobart in OT in the season opener but Bart would later qualify as a Pool C team).

  37. forgot to add one more thing – dickinson vs. hobart have played every year since 92. the series has been a good one for both schools in my opinion with the devils holding a slight 10-8-1 edge (the teams played a single back in 1934 then took a 58 yr hiatus).

  38. ryan – good call re Dickinson/Hobart series. up until this year, hobart had been on a five year NCAA run, so i am not certain which play-off year you were referring to (but assumed 2007 when Dickinson upset Hobart in OT in the season opener but Bart would later qualify as a Pool C team).

    Actually, I had in my mind the 2008 season when Hobart made it into Round 2 of the postseason before falling to the Purple Power. 🙂

    Thank you, labart, for detailing that series more deeply. It’s a good, competitive one for both teams, and — since I can speak better to the Centennial — I think it’s the kind of nonconference game that helps in boosting the bigger picture of the conference.

  39. labart96 – No harm meant by my shoutout to you, all in good fun and keeping it in perspective. What I meant by your being off by 66 points (not 59) was that you had Susquehanna winning by 7 and in losing by 59, that was the 66 point difference in your call.

    My cackles were raised a bit when a coach from Susquehanna, from the press box (I was two rows in front of them) yelled, “DelVal, here it comes……..this ain’t the MAC”. I know that he was overcome by the excitement of the first 13 seconds, but it was uncalled for nonetheless (although we are still waiting for “here it comes”:)

    One last question for you. Somebody on Post Patterns said that the touchdown before the end of the first half was “tasteless”. What is your opinion? DelVal was up 17-7, scored to make it 24-7 and instead of running out the clock, Susquehanna was calling timeouts, thinking they would drive down and possibly score. When Susquehanna punted, should DelVal haven taken a knee at midfield up 24-7 and run out the first half clock? I think it was that touchdown which sealed the deal. The Susquehanna kids (who walked right in front of me) didn’t know what hit them as they walked off the field towards the locker room and the game was over at that point as a result of those last two scores by DelVal.

  40. Interestingly, the MAC and the PAC have finally put together a home and home series matching all teams in the conferences (MAC/PAC challenge). Thomas More has opted out because of distance. Therefore DelValley and W&J play a home and home, Albright and Geneva, Etc. I feel that the two conferences are fairly evenly matched. It should be a good series. To bad Thomas More could not sign on but I understand.

  41. Brandonio:

    My honest opinion is that no one should ever be accused of running up the score in the first half. If your team is able to score 35 or 42 in one half, what’s to say that the opponent cant do the same in the second half.

  42. I think the SCIAC teams may have a bigger complaint, as they are stuck travelling to the NWC champion in the first round every year. IMHO the
    NWC has been treated pretty well in terms of seeding and travel. Other than one infamous OT flameout by Linfield, NWC teams have played up to their seeding.

  43. I agree with mille 125 and I’ll take it one more step a teams job is to score when they get way ahead most coaches will put in the 2nd string and their job is to score the other team has a job to stop them!

  45. Whoever makes it out of the West Region bracket alive with-St. Johns, St. Thomas, Coe, Mary-Hardin-Baylor, Linfield, Monmouth, Central, and Cal Lutheran is “The Champion”…..how can you do that.

  47. nathan:

    I am sure that Coe99 ‘ s point is the strength of the West (St. Johns) Bracket. And he has a great point. Any team that wins that bracket will have had 3 very difficult games in a row. Now if you have never played D III football, yourself, then you need to know that it does take its toll on a team and the players to travel 2,000 miles plus, play every week against a strong opponent and then be asked to play both winners of the UWW bracket and the MUC bracket in games 4 & 5, on the road, as well.

    I think that is the point. In the UWW & MUC brackets, (& the Wesley) there just aren’t very many physically tough match-ups for the top teams. Enough said.

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