Huntingdon feels it can win the national championship. That’s an impressive goal. I’m sure many players have this goal, but also sure that most keep it quiet.
Huntingdon has not yet made the playoffs. They’re ranked … well, you’ll have to be a Kickoff subscriber to find out, but it’s not in our Top 30 in the 1-234 ranking of all Division III football teams. The Hawks went 7-2 last year but lost at home to 3-7 Maryville in Week 11 last year, when a win might have put them in the postseason.
So perhaps the Stagg Bowl is a little out of reach. But they’re talking otherwise:
Quarterback Zack Golson to the Prattville (Ala.) Progress: “This is an awesome school, with great academics, and I think we have a solid football program. I really believe we have a change to win a national championship.”
And to the Montgomery Advertiser: “One of the first things that coach Turk said to us during our first practice is that we would compete for a championship if we believed in him. We believed in him and that’s what we’re on our way to now.”
Coach Mike Turk knows a little more about how to couch enthusiasm properly: “Everybody says they want to win a national championship. But with these guys, I wouldn’t put it past them, because they work so hard and have the right mentality to do it.”
Only thing is, they aren’t the only program that works hard and has a good mind-set.
Anyone seen any other bulletin board material out there?
If you want the truth from someone you can trust just ask Trinity(TX) Coach Steve Mohr and the Tigers what they think of the Hawks. Huntingdon played toe-to-toe with a 13-time defending conference champ at their place without the luxury of a senior.
Winning an NC would be nothing new for Mike Turk. Anyone familiar with that fact understands that it is really just a matter of time before it occurs again. The Huntingdon Hawks will win a national title. The real question? How soon.
Call me crazy, but when was the last time Trinity was a real measuring stick?? Trinity hasn’t won a playoff game since before Huntingdon had a program. Should I be impressed by almost beating a team that has gone one-and-out the last three years?
Or it could just be the old “if you don’t set your goal as the national championship, what are you shooting for?” type of thing.
Honestly, I’d brush it off as just that. There’s probably 100 teams who would come out and say this, because you have to think positive.
In reality, very few teams have a shot at beating Mount Union and whoever else they may have to go through to win it all. And that’s just speaking from following the division for the past 12 years. Not to mention that with 32 teams in the field, some good teams lose along the way. Every year a lot of great teams that “had a chance” go home without a title.
But for Huntingdon and whoever else, more power to ’em for aiming high. And if you got it, let’s see it.
As an Ithaca fan, who faces Hungtingdon week 1, I’m with Keith. There’s no shame in shooting for a national championship, and believing in that goal. As this Chicago Cubs fan knows, hope springs eternal.
The Huntingdon/Ithaca matchup will be a fun one… it’ll be the first team I see from the South region in seven years…. goodness knows the east takes a lot of heat come playoff time. This matchup could provide a nice early litmus test for the neverending “does the east stink” debate that abounds.
“There’s probably 100 teams who would come out and say this, because you have to think positive.”
That’s why I asked for more examples. Surely someone has some if this is the case.
I know what you mean, Pat. Expectations are high for the Hawks this year and it’s good to set those goals high, but to be talking about it before you’ve even played a game? That does make me a little nervous.
Need to keep it real here. Huntingdon will make little noise and be watching UWW and Mount Union battle it our for title again like all the other team this year.
D3knowitall:
I agree that Huntingdon is not a factor, but I think you’re premature in picking a MUC/WWW rematch.
I’m as big a MUC fan as can be, and I think MUC has a very good shot at playing for title #9, but I wouldn’t buy tickets to Virginia just yet. It’s a long season and many things could happen that eliminate both the Raiders and Warhawks from a repeat matchup. First and foremost is injuries to key players. If Mount would have lost Garcon in the playoffs instead of mid-season, then they probably finish the regular season 10-0, but loose in the playoffs to Capital and never make it out of the North Region. And what happens to WWW if Beaver gets hurt?
Also keep in mind that neither MUC nor WWW had a cake walk to Virginia last year. So one of those close wins could easily be a close loss this year.
There’s no doubt that MUC and WWW are the favorites to be in the Stagg, but when was the last time the pre-season #1 and #2 teams played for the title?
Agreed.
And besides, the way the semifinal matchups shake out hasn’t even been brought up yet. Suppose Rowan plays, say, Bridgewater or Hardin-Simmons in one semifinal and MUC plays UWW (or SJU or Linfield or whoever) in the other … then we definitely won’t have a repeat.
In the Kickoff ’06 picks, I nearly picked Rowan to win it all because of this. But I have no cohones.
That is bad that UWW and MU will play in semifinal. If they both run the table then UWW will be on the road for that. Rowan doesnt have what it takes. Their offense is pathetic in that they cant throw the ball down the field. Teams like Bridgewater are a joke. Case in point Wesleys perfromance in the Semis at UWW.
Rowan couldn’t throw the ball down the field last year because their starting quarterback was out with a broken wrist. Historically the vertical game has been a big part of the Profs’ offense.
And there are a lot of teams who look meager offensively without their starting quarterback.
“That is bad that UWW and MU will play in semifinal.”
That is not guaranteed, D3knowitall. The brackets are not predetermined. It was simply thrown out as a hypothetical.
Don’t call yourself knowitall and know so little.
Profs lost their starting QB midseason and lost their top 2 RBs in the playoffs. If you’re going off the 19-7 score against MUC, that’s sort of an anomaly, especially since MUC is in a class by itself.
As far as Bridgewater and Wesley, dissing them is relative. Sure, they both got bounced from the playoffs unceremoniously last season, but plenty of top 25 teams did. St. John’s got manhandled by UWW too. Wesley beat Mary Hardin-Baylor, which won at Mount Union to get to the Stagg the year before.
Without looking it up, I bet Bridgewater has a better playoff record over the past five years than any team this side of Mount Union. Certainly better than the collective WIAC champs. That may not affect this year at all, but it’s a little perspective.
All of the info from the past doesn’t mean any of those teams couldn’t make the Stagg Bowl THIS year. One of the beauties of such a big division, especially the past few years, is that as soon as you think you have it figured out, someone else rises up.
There are a lot of semi-legitimate contenders that could put it together given the right road to the Stagg Bowl or simply surprise us, like SJU in ’03 or UMHB in ’04.
Unlike in the past, when the region champions were pre-matched and rotated on a year-by-year basis, higher seeds now host even in the semifinals. If two equal seeds meet, then there is a pre-determined host region. But if there are two 1 seeds and two 3 seeds, both the 1s host, if I remember how it was done last year correctly.
So right now there’s no way to know if UWW and MUC would meet in the semis or Stagg if they were to run the table, which is far from a guarantee anyway.
Seriously who is gonna beat UWW or MU this year. It is lock both of them will meet each other. These other teams jsut dont have the talent and skilled players too match them. It is as big a lock as you can find. I want to watch a rematch on ESPN this year and not some semifinal game in the middle of nowhere that is for sure.
Just like Linfield was a lock last year, right?
How about Mount Union in 2003? Trounced my Eagles from the playoffs, then lost in the Stagg pretty bad (for them, at least).
That’s the great thing about NCAA football playoffs … sure, there will always be those favorites … but then there are also 26 to 30 teams that have the opportunity to upend the big boys. That’s why we watch – there’s that opportunity.
Easy Gordo!!!! No…that is why the playoffs are great. You have to earn it on the field. You never know who might bite you even if you are the favorite.
Knowitall,
You’re funny.
A lock? I’ll take that action! I’ll give you 2-1 odds, even.