Hello everyone and welcome to Salem Stadium. This is John McGraw for D3football.com and I’ll be blogging throughout today’s game between Mount Union and UW-Whitewater. Pat Coleman and Keith McMillan are broadcasting live on NCAASports.com and Pat Cummings is down on the sidelines. Gordon Mann and I will be handling the half time show and already hosted the opening part of the pre-game show.

Kick-off is officially scheduled for 4:13 PM EST. The stands are just about completely full on the home side of the field, full of purple and black clad Mount Union fans. UW-Whitewater will be the visitor and their fans take up about 2/3 of the bleachers on the other side of the field. Fans are still making their way into the stadium from the tailgate. There was a great turn-out at the Stone Station tailgate and we thank the Bridgewater folks for their great hospitality.

It’s a gorgeous afternoon for football. Temperatures right now are in the 60s and there’s not a cloud in the sky. You couldn’t pick out better weather for a football game in mid-December.

For Mount Union, Pierre Garcon was warming up without any type of protective cast on his hand. He looked good in warm-ups catching passes, so we’ll see how he does once the game begins.

Don’t forget, later on tonight, the D3football.com All-America team will be posted on D3football.com. We made the official announcement during the pre-game show. Congratulations to all of those selected.

More from Salem to come. We’ll have scoreboard updates on the front page of the web site.

It’s nine and a half hours to kickoff as I write this. And as the painful memory of nearly seven hours’ drive time on I-80 alone melts from my eyes, it’s time to throw out my predictions. I have Keith’s predictions in my inbox and have tried not to read them so far.

What will we see tomorrow? I hope we’ll see two good games. I fear we’ll see two blowouts. So maybe we’ll get something in between.

Mount Union 35, St. John Fisher 17
There’s been some question as to which players will be available and play for Mount Union tomorrow. In the end, it’s not going to matter. As long as Nate Kmic can play, this is going to be a quick game and a Purple Raider win.

UW-Whitewater 35, Wesley 17
Is Justin Beaver 100%? Can Mario Harris, et al, shut down Derek Stanley and Neil Mrkvicka? Will receiver Michael Clarke be able to get open and pull away for his yardage after the catch? Can either team stop Ryan Kleppe or Bryan Robinson?

Hmm, that’s a lot of questions.

Here’s Keith’s take.

Mount Union 28, St. John Fisher 14: If the Cardinals score more than 17 against the Purple Raiders, they’d be the first to do so this season.

UW-Whitewater 28, Wesley 21: The Wolverines keep it much closer this year, but the Warhawks find a way to win again, preserving a chance to send coach Bob Berezowitz off into retirement with a championship.

Check for updates on the Scoreboard, not to mention our live broadcasts.

OK, so I only picked one score for both games. So sue me. 🙂

So here I am for the annual trip to Alliance where the weather is about 30-something degrees and there’s a good wind blowing across the field.

I feel a little silly wearing a Linfield sweatshirt, which I brought to have some fun with the SJU and Whitewater fans before the flight got cancelled. I need to buy some OAC wardrobe for these trips since we make enough of them.

Ric Brienza and “HS Coach” gave me a very pleasant surprise, printing me copies of their game charts which we have named “Brienzas” in honor of Ric. They combine all the players’ vital information in a shell that’s easy to complete for a new team and even easier to update for a team you’ve seen before. Bless their hearts for the help since this was a late change in travel plans.

A few Capital players were milling around at about 10 AM and seemed in good spirits. If nothing else, they won’t be intimidated playing in this Stadium. QB Rocky Pentello and the other four-year seniors are playing their sixth game against Mount Union.

As for the Purple Raiders, they are always good for some stunning stats.

– Nate Kmic averages 7.43 yards per carry and is within striking distance of Chuck Moore’s school record (7.46).
– The Purple Raiders are holding teams to 0.9 yards per carry. That’s about what you should get if your quarterback takes the snap and collapses forward.

The two guys I most look forward to seeing are Pentello to see how he stacks up against other OAC playoff quarterbacks in the past few years (Arth, Adamson) and Matt Kostelnik. A junior safety for the Purple Raiders, Kostelnik has amazing numbers — 44 tackles (fourth on the team), 11.5 TFL (2nd), 7.0 sacks (1st), 4 INTs (1st) including two for TDs. Hello, All-American team.

I’ll post some thoughts at the half and after the game, but the floor is certainly open for other thoughts from Wisconsin, Delaware, New York or wherever else you may be.