Will Hiteshue had a big impact on the Wesley offense, with two takeaways on Saturday. (Photo by Dan Poel, d3photography.com)
Making too much of one result, or one big score? Well, we probably won’t know enough about that until sometime on Friday night. But what we can tell you is what to read into and what to ignore from Mount Union’s dismantling of Wesley. Plus Keith spent some time in a little town called Whitewater, Wis., this weekend, and takes us through the much more interesting semifinal.
But hey, we know what you’re thinking. How can this outcome, UW-Whitewater vs. Mount Union Part IX, possibly be good for the sport of Division III football. There’s no sugar-coating at this point and Pat and Keith give it to you straight.
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Nice Podcast….As a Whitewater fan, I’m obviously very pleased to see the Warhawks in the Stagg Bowl again and I’m not disappointed that the opponent will be Mt. Union for the ninth time in ten years. Both teams have earned their opportunity to play in this game by winning 4 straight weekends against good Division III competition. If both teams play to their potential,, this should be a very good matchup on Friday night.
Stagg Bowl prediction: Warhawks 28 – Purple Raiders 24
Best of luck and safe travels to both teams and fans attending the game on Friday.
I really get tired of hearing all the complaints about the same teams being in the Finals…perhaps Divlll should have a BCS type system where all the popular teams play and the winner is voted on..Perhaps that will shut up some folks….Go Raiders…payback time….
As a faithful Cru fan, I hate it, but have no problem with this outcome. I mean, we want the best, and these two ARE the best. I’d love nothing more than to be asking my boss for a day off Friday so that I could be in Salem, but hey, if the other teams want something to be done about it, then do something about it. UMHB had its chance last year and blew it. Other teams had their chance this year and blew it. Hey, at least we aren’t the only ones! Anyways, since UWW was in our side of the bracket, I root for you. Go Warhawks!
Weather wise, it should be a pretty good game. Friday’s high in Salem will be just under 50F and game time will be in the upper thirties with a slight breeze out of the West.
I’ve been rooting for underdogs these past couple of weeks to break through to The Stagg Bowl and at least one of them, Wartburg, gave the Warhawks a real scare.
It’d be great if the Warhawks can give their coach a win as they send him off to D1 but in my mind this game is too close to call. Both teams are deserving, that’s something no one can deny.
Wish I could tune in to catch some of it, but I’ll be winging back to MN from AZ after watching my eldest son pick up his master’s degree. Maybe during the lay-over in Denver – who knows.
Good luck to both teams!
Since umhb2001 seems to be the only representative of the other 242 teams, I couldn’t let him standalone especially for the remaining 242 being repressed to shut up by ohioman…
In my humble opinion, 9 of 10 years are too much for the same teams.
I totally agree that the two best teams should represent D3 in the final championship game. However a cursory look back at what I consider a good pre-playoff standing of the teams (week 11 d3football.com top 25) could be a close representation of how the four sub brackets get paired for the semi-finals. If you are “considered” a 1 or 2 seed, opposing sides of the bracket are where you would expect those teams to be placed. In reviewing the d3 football Playoff FAQ, it seems there is no criteria to pair the semi’s, so a super easy solution would seem to be to put the two purple powers on the same side of the semi’s bracket when they are seemingly not 1 or 2 at the end of the regular season. I think a (UMHB vs. MU) or (UWW vs. Wartburg) in a Stagg would have been just as exciting as what we will get Friday night.
As Pat’ marketing ears perked up in the pod cast, how would you ever make money selling to 1/121th of your market?
The argument that these are the two best teams in D 3 is meaningless. Who cares ! Since this monopoly has occurred, D 3 football keeps getting placed on the back burner by ESPN. A few years ago the bracket show was televised, then it was moved to the Internet, now the brackets just pop up on the D 3 website. The championship game was moved from Saturday to Friday, the semifinals were live broadcasts last year, now they are delayed broadcasts on at Thursday and Friday at noon (central time). This monopoly is tedious and boring. The NCAA does not help either. When was the last time Mt. Union had a playoff game on the road ? Mt. Union is in a cream puff conference that assures them undefeated seasons with 9 home games a year. If you are a good football player in Ohio and choose D 3 where else would you go ? I hope the huge television markets and fan base in Whitewater and Alliance enjoy the game. They are the best but who cares ?
d3fanatic — it’s the NCAA that pulled the plug on the selection show, not ESPN. (And there is still an Internet show.) And the semifinals were not broadcast live on ESPNU last year — it was the same setup as it is now.
We didn’t have ESPN broadcasts of semifinals until a few years ago. This is an improvement. There’s obviously some debate as to whether Friday night is better but I do think Friday night is better than 11 a.m. Saturday morning, which is generally the alternative.
Their dominance may be what you say it is, but honestly, most of your other statements are just untrue.
Mt. Union should be embarassed. They out scored there first 9 opponents 577 to 54 before they had a tough game against John Carroll. Then the NCAA comes along and enables them further by giving them 4 home playoff games. I watched the NCAA game vs John Carroll and felt that John Carroll got homered by the refs. Unfortunately watching via the Internet does not lend it self to replay. I have followed D3 for years. I have seen a lot of really good teams play and get hurt by by injuries that weakened there teams. A lot of teams have good players but lack depth. If you play in a competitive conference and and have a deep run in the playoffs it takes it’s toll. Next year I hope the NCAA puts both WW and Mt. Union in the same quadrant and ends this stupidity.
D3fanatic- Had John Carroll been placed in the other half of the bracket, we very well may have had an All OAC Stagg Bowl!
There have been other years where Mount would have had to go on the road, but the higher seeded team lost before that could happen.
Shame on you for showing your jealousies of a proud and successful program @ Mount Union!!
D3fanatic….”Since this monopoly has occurred, D 3 football keeps getting placed on the back burner by ESPN” Are you serious, D3 football has always been and always will be a back burner item for ESPN. I would argue, the UWW and MU dominance and 10 year rivalry has given ESPN a UNIQUE reason to even talk about D3 Football. Also, for you or anyone to suggest that the NCAA put UWW and MU on the same side of the bracket to let another team make it to Salem is crazy. In D3 football 30 other teams get selected to a 32 team single elimination tournament to crown a champion….there is not a more fair approach to declaring a champion in all of NCAA Football. Obviously you’re tired of seeing UWW and MU in Salem every year…..then don’t watch the game. ESPN will not miss your viewership however you will more than likely miss a very good football game. In your own words you admit UWW and MU are the two best teams, so why would want a format that wouldn’t allow them the opportunity to meet in the championship game? It will be interesting to hear your answer….and “I’m just tired of it” isn’t a good answer.
Warhawk47 – Just to be up front here… I am not affiliated with D3fanatic and I have no issues with ESPN.
However, I am not crazy as you suggest.
Let me explain using an example… I think D3Football.com is the most intelligent resource for knowing who the best teams in all of Division III are. In week 11 – the week before the playoffs, D3Football.com has let everyone know what the current thought is for the best 25 teams. Five of the last 10 years it has been UWW and MU at #1 and #2. Those years I would expect those teams meet in the final game and be positioned in the bracket to make that happen. In years where they were not #1 and #2, they could have been very easily put on the same side of the bracket. Those are years where a team that was beat by the eventual champion in the course of the playoffs might have been able to beat the looser of that Stagg bowl. Could it have been some other looser other than UWW or MU in that Stagg? I think it could and 30 other teams might agree.
UWW and MU arrogance is overwhelming the logic and fact that those might not have been the two best teams to represent Division III in a final game. The format of the playoff bracket is fine. Given no criteria on who meets who in the semifinals, hindsight shows that half the time, UWW and MU could have played each other there instead of the Stagg bowl. If that would have been the case we probably would not be having this conversation and 30 other teams’ (or remainder of DIII) fan base might actually pay attention to the outcome of the Stagg and not dislike UWW and MU so much for their perceived entitlement.
These posts make me laugh.
Everyone wants UWW and UMU to play each other, like that will make you happy somehow. Guess what? Your just going to lose on a bigger stage, congrats. You can’t beat them any other time of the playoffs, and you want to play them on the big stage? The stage they are used to and you’ve never seen. Salem is practically a home game for both teams anyway. What is magically going to change? Stop whining and go out and earn it. I applaud JCU, they came to Alliance and brought it, twice. Wesley falls flat on their face and suddenly that is Mount’s fault? You think a 70-0 in 3 quarters changes that much if the game is played in Delaware? There was no doubt who was better, yet your still complaining about home field. Come to Alliance, no one really cheers till the 4th quarter. The student section is empty at halftime. Everyone wants things handed to them now-a-days. It’s disgusting the jealous and hatred that comes to good kids who work their asses off every year to watch a bunch of grown man complain that their little school can’t hang. Whether it’s UMU vs UWW or anyone else, no one outside D3 football is going to tune in because some small school in New York made it. No one on the east coast is going to suddenly care when Linfield is in. So stop acting like it’s 240-whatever vs 2.
And to the guy who said OAC is a cream puff conference? Did you see JCU-UMU part 1, or part 2?? If UMU wins tomorrow night, you could make a case for the OAC having the two best teams in the entire country. I think at the very least JCU should have been in Wesley’s bracket. The middle of the OAC may have been down this year, but the league routinely has two playoff teams.
As for the “Perceived Entitlement”, when you do it for this long, and you haven’t lost, you ARE entitled. And it’s not just “perceived”, Mount Union backed it up by destroying a team that many thought could finally end the run. By scoring 70 straight points! 56-0 at halftime. Give me a break. No one is crying in the NFL that it’s unfair because it’s hard to play in Seattle. BECAUSE THEY EARN IT. Mount did nothing to suggest they deserve to play on the road THIS season, unless the NCAA puts The CRU at the top spot. But guess what, Linfield would have ended up in Alliance anyway. Decades of hard work earned those home games year after year. You don’t make 18 Stagg Bowls because of perception, you earn them with perspiration. Your “Perceived Logic and Fact” are complete b.s. and reeks of sore loser. You want facts and logic, Lance Leipold is 108-6. Vince Kehres is 28-1. Larry Kehres was 332-24. Those are facts.
I don’t know what footballs games you guys are watching but the final four this year were the best teams in the country (maybe with the exception of JCU not being there), playing the games where they should have been played. The road was plenty hard enough and they both EARNED this trip.
Purpleoutwest – If you feel the D3 Football ranking as of week 11 should be used for the playoff bracketing, then we would expect the #1 ranked team to eventually meet the #4 ranked team, along with the #2 ranked team eventually meeting the #3 ranked team. I’m trying to use Logic, not arrogance. Even with that approach, (which the NCAA will never adopt) the only two years UWW and MU would have met before Salem would’ve been in ’08 when MU was #1 and UWW was #4; and last year (’13) when MU again was #1 and UWW was only #5. D3 Football does a nice job of ranking teams, but without common opponents, it’s hard to be entirely accurate. Take last year for example, UWW was ranked #5 in the Week 11 poll. Then, during consecutive weeks in the playoffs, knocked off #2 (Linfield), #3 (UMHB), and #1 (Mt Union). Was UWW underrated or was Mt. Union, Linfield and UMHB slightly overrated? There is never going to be a perfect system. I still feel strongly that this issue needs to be settled on the field and until someone beats either MU or UWW to earn their way to Salem, the NCAA shouldn’t artificially set it up to make it happen. NOTE: That is only if both MU and UWW are undefeated at the end of the regular season.