Linfield athletics photo

By Keith McMillan
D3sports.com

If Jay Locey had his druthers, he wouldn't be taking his second-ranked Linfield squad 1,600 miles to Stevens Point, Wis., for Saturday's game with the seventh-ranked Pointers.

If it had been up to him, Willamette coach Mark Speckman would have kept the Bearcats on the West Coast last weekend, instead of traveling to Belton, Texas, a place he says "you have to tape your ankles up just to get" to.

Neither coach minds the stiff competition. But when stuck on the Division III island known as the Pacific Northwest, taking games 2,300 miles away (the distance to Mary Hardin-Baylor from Willamette) eats up significant chunks of football budgets and leaves coaches wishing for contests closer to home.

"It really is harder than it looks," says Speckman of scheduling games for a team based in Oregon's capital city, Salem, about 50 miles south of Portland. "The better teams kind of feel like the ugly guy at the dance, where nobody wants to come talk to us. I've been here seven years, and nobody's ever called me for a game."

That, admittedly, for a program with less prestige than Linfield or 1999 national champions Pacific Lutheran.

The situation is much the same in some of Division III's other outposts. Either there's no one nearby in the division with available dates, or the teams nearby would rather play different opponents.

"The first thing we tried to do was stay in the region, in terms of finances," said Locey, explaining how Linfield and UW-Stevens Point eventually hooked up. "We consider the West Coast basically our region."

But without many options, and with a team that had run out of options in Wisconsin, the Wildcats and Pointers agreed to a home-and-home series.

"I think it’ll be a great test for both of us,” Locey said. “(But) it’s kind of a byproduct of the circumstances.”

Those circumstances may make team budgets take a big loss once every two years, but they also make fans of Division III football big winners. 

Mary Hardin-Baylor needed a few strokes of good fortune (or good play, depending on how you look at it) to get past Willamette 25-22 last Saturday. The double-overtime affair was perhaps Week 2's best game. Saturday’s Linfield-Stevens Point game could earn the same distinction.

But Speckman, who told his team that the Mary Hardin-Baylor trip would be like a playoff game for them, wishes the Bearcats didn’t have to go to such extreme measures to play Division III opponents. Last season was the first year Willamette was able to schedule 10 Division III opponents, Speckman said. But this year the Bearcats reverted to playing Division II Western Oregon and NAIA Southern Oregon, each considerably closer than the teams they replaced on the schedule (Redlands and Chapman).

Likewise, Linfield was able to schedule just nine games this year, including its five Northwest Conference opponents.

“I’m not sure there’s an easy (solution),” said Speckman, making an effort not to sound like a complainer. “I’m just glad (UMHB coach Pete) Fredenburg will play us.”

But Speckman raises some good points. It’s hard for Willamette to respect the 28-team playoff system following two seasons in which Redlands has made the playoffs, once as the SCIAC's automatic qualifier. The Bearcats have stayed home despite beating the Bulldogs those years by an average of 22 points. The Northwest Conference does not have the required seven schools for an automatic playoff berth for the champion. This season, there are just four bids up for grabs for leagues like the NWC.

“Everybody wants to get to the playoffs,” Speckman said.

The automatic qualifier gives teams in those conferences two basic scheduling choices: Schedule tough out-of-conference competition to prepare you to win the AQ, or avoid tough out-of-conference competition since it doesn’t affect your chances at making the playoffs.

Among the 16 Division III schools in the Pacific Time Zone, Speckman feels that the majority with open dates employ the latter strategy. “People don’t have to play you, so they don’t,” he said.

“I suppose if I were in their shoes I’d do the same thing,” Speckman said. “I’m not better than anybody. It’s just frustrating.”

One of the reasons Speckman is so bothered is because it changes the experience his team has. After reading a book by Bear Bryant, Speckman says he tries to emulate the legendary coach’s idea of scheduling one team you think you can’t beat, one that’s a toss-up and one you can win.

“The kids don’t have that luxury of losing and learning,” said Speckman, who knows a little something about taking on a challenge. When he was head coach at Merced High School in California, his teams played powerhouse De La Salle. The loss on Sept. 11, 1992, was the first in a streak of 151 wins for De La Salle.

With so few prospective opponents out west, perhaps not being able to find games is just a regional problem. 

“People play Mount Union. People play St. John's,” Speckman said.

Speckman said an NWC proposal to create home-and-home series with SCIAC teams (matching first place against first place, second against second, etc.) has never gotten off the ground. Speckman would entertain the idea of a “superleague” with north and south divisions, or even a national “czar” who would create all of the schedules in Division III. More realistically, he hopes that the NCAA and American Football Coaches Association could step in and help – perhaps matching institutions with similar student bodies.

“It’s frustrating when you’re flying over schools that you know need games,” Speckman said. “Linfield’s success should not keep them from getting games.”

But as long as schools in Wisconsin and Texas are stepping to the plate to play the Pacific Northwest schools, we might as well look at the bright side.

“I think the cool part is being able to play in the different regions,” Locey said. “It’s something that happens on the Division I level, and when it happens for us it allows us to get a better feel for the people around the country. It’s kind of a neat opportunity.”

“The player experience is really rich,” said Speckman, recalling a team photo in front of the Alamo from when the Bearcats played at Trinity (Texas). “I think there’s some value to it. On the other hand, it’s a pretty big chunk of our budget.”

In 108 years of football, Linfield has never played a game in the Badger state.

“It’s exciting for us,” said Locey. “Very few of us have been back to Wisconsin. I asked our team earlier in the week, and about five kids raised their hands.”

Locey said Linfield flies to Madison Friday at noon and arrive in Stevens Point about 10:45 p.m., Central Time. He hinted that there could be a Wildcat walk-through in the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport during a layover.

“We’ll get to see what that part of the country looks like. It’ll be dark, but we’ll see Stevens Point in the daylight,” Locey said.

The Wildcats certainly will see Stevens Point. If it turns out to be anything like Willamette’s game in Texas, Division III football will be all the better for it.

Another crack at it
North Carolina Wesleyan will be looking for the first win in program history when it hosts Greensboro on Saturday in its home opener.

The Battling Bishops’ Sept. 4 debut was actually pretty impressive for a first-year team. They lost 24-7 to a Shenandoah squad that went 8-2 last season.

The first game for startups has been traditionally rough. In 2003, Huntingdon lost 47-0 to NAIA independent Webber International. In 2000, Averett fell by the same score at Ferrum. In 2003, Endicott lost 55-14 to Worcester Polytech.

Husson kept its 2003 opener close, falling to Mount Ida 35-28, while Christopher Newport lost 21-6 to Salisbury in 2001.

Eye-opener of the week
Eye-openers can certainly be hair-raising statistics, gutsy coaching decisions or on-field stunners. But in the first two weeks of action, the biggest eye-openers have simply been final scores.

Salisbury earned respect this week by pounding Brockport State, a playoff team last season. The week before, UW-Whitewater beat St. Norbert 41-9 though both were at the edge of the Top 25 at the time.

This week’s best eye-opener comes from some Jersey Devils. FDU-Florham didn’t win until Nov. 8 last season, but kicked off 2004 with a 20-14 victory over Lebanon Valley. We tip our hats. 

Five other games to watch…
… Besides No. 2 Linfield at No. 7 UW-Stevens Point, of course.

Redlands at No. 13 Trinity (Texas): Two playoff teams from the past two seasons go head-to-head in San Antonio. Both teams rolled up more than 500 yards of offense in their most recent game, but each defense surrendered something in that neighborhood as well. 

Wilkes at Lycoming: We hate to use the words “elimination game” in September, but each already has a MAC loss and can’t afford another if it wants to hold on to playoff hopes.

Washington and Jefferson at Allegheny: Two of western Pennsylvania’s best clash in an out-of-conference matchup. After splitting with Baldwin-Wallace and Westminster (Pa.), this is the Gators’ final tuneup before the NCAC slate begins. Washington and Jefferson’s PAC schedule starts Oct. 2. Allegheny leads the series 20-19-1.

Hanover at No. 19 Bridgewater (Va.): The Eagles rebounded from a loss to McDaniel in the opener, and surely want to keep that momentum going as the Oyster Bowl against Christopher Newport looms. The Panthers, meanwhile, have assembled perhaps the toughest non-conference slate in the country. Hanover is already 0-2 with the Eagles and Waynesburg still to play before HCAC action begins.

Also keep an eye on: John Carroll at No. 1 Mount Union, Ohio Northern at No. 18 Baldwin-Wallace, No. 20 Rowan at Western Connecticut, No. 21 East Texas Baptist at Howard Payne, Central at Simpson, Washington U. at Wabash, Hope at DePauw, St. Norbert at Monmouth.

Who are those guys?
Teams playing out of division this week:

Against Division I-AA: New Jersey at LaSalle

Against Division II: No. 3 UW-La Crosse at South Dakota

Against NAIA: Northwestern (Minn.) at Principia, St. Paul’s (Va.) at Maryville (Tenn.)

Of course, one of those Division III vs. NAIA games is an Upper Midwest Athletic Conference game, which is confusing enough. 

The UMAC is a two-division conference of teams who are Division III, and some who are still NAIA. Crown enters the four-year provisional period this year (along with Presentation, which is in the UMAC but does not offer football). Northwestern enters the provisional period next year (along with Bethany Lutheran and North Central (Minn.), which also do not offer football). Once those schools become full members, the UMAC would qualify for an automatic bid — assuming the rules haven’t changed by then.

The UMAC would also likely have to cut Trinity Bible loose, as it is not an NCAA member. But they can maintain a two-division setup and do not have to play a full-round robin in order to qualify for an automatic bid, as long as they can crown a champion, similar to the way the MAC did in 1999 and 2000. They just can’t play 10 games plus a championship game unless they have 12 members or more. 

In a future ATN, we’ll tally Division III’s record against opponents from Division I-AA, II and the NAIA.

Feedback
Not many of you were brave enough to put your final four picks up against the ones we made in Week 1. Some of you gave your reasoning, some just the final four … so to keep it uniform, we just provide the four:

Justin Fossum, Aloha, Ore.: Mount Union, Springfield, Linfield, Mary Hardin-Baylor

Clinton Greenebaum, Hartland, Wis.: Mount Union, Rowan, UW-La Crosse, Hardin-Simmons

Albie Battaglia, Atlantic City, N.J.: Mount Union, Rowan, St. John’s, Bridgewater

Jesse Cazakoff, Stone Ridge, N.Y.: Mount Union, Ithaca, Linfield, Hampden-Sydney

Next question
The issue on which we'd like your feedback this week: Have you seen a high school player who is not a blue-chip prospect but has the talent to play in college choose to try to walk on in Division I-A or try to earn a spot on a I-AA or II team when you feel he'd be a good addition to a Division III program? How do you react? Can you blame a player for pursuing a scholarship, or do you think he is missing the point of playing for a college football team, by perhaps not maximizing his athletic potential?