|
| Could Trinity end up hosting more playoff games this season? Trinity (Texas) athletics photo |
By Greg Thomas
D3sports.com
Each and every week before Pat Coleman and I settle in to the Around the Nation podcast studio, Pat reaches out to our Twitter followers for questions, one of which we take and answer in the mailbag segment. Mailbags were born in the written medium -- I’m taking it back this week!
We can’t answer all of the great questions we get on the podcast, so this week, I’ve rounded up some of the questions we’ve received that didn’t make the podcast and answered them here in a very special Mailbag Edition of Around The Nation. On to the questions!
With many two loss teams probably being regionally ranked and possible Pool A and Pool C teams, do you suspect to see teams that traditionally host end up on the road? - @Cuffycakes08
Over the years, we’ve certainly come to recognize certain stadiums as postseason hubs. Perkins Stadium in Whitewater, Wisconsin. Crusader Stadium in Belton, Texas. Clemens Stadium in Collegeville, Minnesota. UMHB is unlikely to collect a second loss before the tournament begins, but with undefeated Trinity in Region 3, and the geographic constraints that teams in Texas typically face in the postseason, it wouldn’t surprise me to see a rematch of the 2021 first round matchup between these two teams in the first or second round this year, only this time in San Antonio.
UW-Whitewater already has two losses and will almost certainly hit the road, perhaps in the first round. The last time the WIAC produced a two-loss champion, UW-Oshkosh played at Central in the first round of the 2019 tournament -- and lost in overtime.
The MIAC runner up -- most likely to be either Bethel or St. John’s, has a good chance at being invited to the postseason with two losses. Bethel qualified for the postseason in last year’s tournament in exactly this fashion. Interestingly, the Royals were sent to Central, where they lost. Two loss teams from the upper midwest can perhaps breathe a sigh of relief that Central won’t be in the field this season.
What do you guys think of Ripon College right now? - @cole_hitner
What’s not to like about the Ripon Red Hawks in 2022? In Ron Ernst’s farewell season, Ripon is 7-0 for just the fifth time in the 127-year history of the program. Ripon has knocked off two of the favorites in the Midwest Conference- Lake Forest and Chicago- and stand one win at Monmouth away from one of the more unexpected undefeated seasons we’ve seen. All signs point right now to Ripon playing in the NCAA playoffs or in the Cousin’s Subs Lakefront Bowl -- either would be a fitting and deserved curtain call for Ernst.
Aurora Football opinions? - @Djrichko0614
Short and to the point- I love it. Aurora isn’t likely to be in the Lakefront Bowl- the Spartans are well on their way to a third straight trip to the NCAA tournament. Count me among those who thought the Spartans would slide back to the NACC pack without All-American and Gagliardi Trophy finalist Gavin Zimbleman. I was wrong. Josh Swanson has taken control of the Aurora offense and not missed a beat. Swanson’s numbers aren’t quite as eye-popping as peak Zimbleman, but still, nobody in the nation is responsible for more points (198) than Swanson. The Spartans are scoring 53.0 points per game; the second highest scoring offense in the nation behind only North Central. If not for a big second half comeback by Hope in Week 1, Aurora would almost certainly be in the Top 25.
The question with Aurora will be whether or not the offense can remain productive in a postseason game against an opponent from one of the power conferences that surround them (CCIW, WIAC, MIAC) and whether or not the Spartan defense, which has been quite opportunistic with takeaways this season, can hold up just enough to give that offense a chance in the fourth quarter. There are plenty of teams that will be happy to not see Aurora in their pairing on Selection Sunday.
What is one team right now who you think could sneak in and take a one seed? Ithaca perhaps? Could make the #Cortaca Game a possible top 10 matchup at the end of the year with massive playoff implications. - @JohnathanThous3
Getting one of the top four seeds in the tournament is a big deal- it means home field advantage through the first three rounds, and quite possibly home field advantage until the Stagg Bowl in Annapolis. If we assume that being undefeated is a prerequisite for one of these four top seeds, my top candidates right now are:
North Central
Mount Union
Linfield
Trinity (Texas)
Cortland/Ithaca winner
Delaware Valley
Wartburg
Johns Hopkins/Susquehanna winner
Carnegie Mellon
One thing that I’ll be watching for next week is how many teams from either the Empire 8 or Liberty League get regionally ranked. Region 2 is incredibly deep -- deep enough that it may be difficult for Cortland or Ithaca to get three teams regionally ranked, whereas Mount Union’s poor SOS (currently 176th best in the division) could be offset by a third ranked OAC team in a much less robust Region 4. Mount Union is likely going to be one of the top four seeds regardless, but if a team was going to “steal” a top seed from Mount Union while the Purple Raiders are experiencing a bit of SOS vulnerability, it would probably be one of these teams.
Linfield, as the only remaining undefeated team in Region 6 (the region that contains ATN’s top two ranked conferences), should get a top seed if they finish undefeated.
Delaware Valley is probably too far behind the other contenders in the Eastern part of the division to receive a top seed, but they are worth noting here as the likely top ranked team in Region 1. I’m also making a note of Wartburg -- I believe the selection committee will be much higher on the Knights than our Top 25 voters have been and could be a sleeper if the national committee eschews making one of the Region 1 or 2 teams a top seed.
If I were picking top seeds this week, my top four would be: North Central, Linfield, Mount Union, and the Cortaca Jug winner.
Who is the sleeper team of this season? -@The3rd_Division
We mentioned Ripon previously, and they certainly count here. If we’re talking about other teams that are in position to win their conferences and be surprising playoff entrants, Mount St. Joseph is at the top of the list. HCAC coaches had an idea that the Lions would be very good, but early season wins against Baldwin Wallace and Hope should have opened eyes to the special season the Lions are enjoying this season.
UMAC-leading Minnesota-Morris was picked to finish third in their conference. The Cougars are currently on a five game win streak and will host preseason favorite Greenville at Big Cat Stadium in Week 11 for the UMAC title.
One more sleeper is a team that plays most of their games after most of Division III has logged off on Saturday nights. Pomona-Pitzer is off to a 6-1 start, 4-0 in SCIAC play. The Sagehens have a big test on Saturday at Redlands, and again in Week 11 in the Sixth Street Rivalry against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, but the Sagehens are far outperforming their predicted 5th place finish.
With Wheaton losing a 2nd game, does that fully knock them out of Pool C contention? Should they regret playing against Trinity, assuming that having only one loss to NCC gives them a better shot at making the playoffs? - @jscren24
Wheaton is definitely not out of Pool C contention. It seems likely at this point that Wheaton will have notched the best result against the very likely top ranked team in Region 5 (North Central) and they will have a second loss, in overtime, to the team likely to be the top ranked team in Region 3 (Trinity). Some readers will remember that in 2021, Wheaton’s position in Pool C as a 9-1 CCIW runner up was in question -- largely due to a poor strength of schedule and a seeming lack of regionally ranked opponents. WashU turned up on the final regional rankings -- a ranking that may have been needed to secure Wheaton’s place in the tournament. Interestingly, I think Wheaton’s position is probably better this year with a presumptive 8-2 record than it was last year. WashU’s place in the rankings should be less controversial this time around, Wheaton’s SOS is much better, and their results against ranked opponents indicate a team that is playoff worthy. We don’t know that that means Wheaton will be selected, but they’re definitely not out as the season heads into Week 9.
They should not regret playing Trinity! That was playoff caliber football in Week 2 featuring teams from different regions. It was an absolute treat to watch as a fan, and I do believe Wheaton’s 2022 postseason chances are perhaps enhanced by that game.
With all of the great non-conference matchups this year, do you think this will be a trend? Also, who puts out the best tv game coverage in D3. - @jtdiehl74
I can’t be more clear about this. 2022 Division III football has not been just good -- it has been GREAT. The schedule has delivered exciting games with regional and national implications week after week after week. Wheaton’s trip to Trinity was definitely part of that. Whitewater vs. UMHB was as thrilling a game as you can hope to see in September (or December). My hope is that this does become a trend and there are some signs that aggressive scheduling is catching on. We’ve seen reports of a home and home series on the way between Wheaton and UW-Oshkosh (double kudos here for somebody in Division III within 1,000 miles of Oshkosh agreeing to play Titans). Johns Hopkins and Ithaca announced a home and home series this week as well. Division III athletics focuses on the experience of student-athletes and giving student-athletes the opportunity to compete against some of the best teams in the division is a win for all of these programs and for fans of Division III football.
Broadcasts for Division III football have gotten quite good in recent years. As somebody who watches most of my games on streaming devices, there are some characteristics that I associate with some of the better broadcasts in the division. A functional score bug is a must. Being able to see the score, time, down and distance at a glance is key. The main, or sometimes only, camera staying with the play is important. Multiple camera angles for replays is another sign that you’re watching a sophisticated production. Many Division III broadcasts have professional announcers, but that’s not a must for me. I’m excited to hear a student broadcast booth that stays with the action and doesn’t go too overboard with homerism. A mini honor roll for broadcasts that I’ve seen this year are (in no particular order): Trinity (Texas), Hardin-Simmons, North Central, Illinois Wesleyan, Wabash, Central, Ithaca, and UW-Whitewater. There are so many more that are doing great work -- it is really impressive to see how far web streams for Division III football games have come in a relatively short time.
Remembering Lenny
When the news of former Mount Union sports information director Lenny Reich reached the D3sports.com family, the outpouring of emotional responses struck me. Unfortunately, I did not have many opportunities to interact with Lenny in the short time that I’ve been writing Around The Nation, but those who have worked with the sites much longer than I have, have had a decades long relationship with Lenny. Pat has talked about Lenny on the podcast. Several tweets from Pat, Dave McHugh, and Keith McMillan also tell us how much Lenny contributed to the work we do at D3sports.com and how much Lenny will be missed.
Lenny’s legacy lives on, however, with the many people he has mentored. I reached out to Pomona-Pitzer Director of Athletic Communication Sam Porter, a Mount Union graduate, to share his memories of Lenny. Sam talked to me about Lenny for about 30 minutes -- only cut short by his need to get ready for the afternoon’s soccer and water polo matches -- but the swiftness with which he made time told me all I needed to know about how important Lenny has been to his life. We were in a conference room talking about Lenny within 10 minutes of my reaching out.
“I can talk for days about Lenny and his impact on not only myself and others, but just Division III and sports information as a whole,” Porter said. “He was inducted in the CoSIDA Hall of Fame last year, for his contributions to the sports information world. He's a legend in this industry and I'm so thankful that I got the opportunity to meet him and work under him and learn from someone with that skill set and that type of professionalism within this industry.”
Like many college students, Sam wasn’t quite sure what would await him after college, but he found sports information, and inspiration from Lenny. Sports information started as a campus job for Porter as a student, but blossomed into much more.
“I started to think, it's my senior year. I don't exactly know what exactly I want to do, and Lenny says, ‘You know, you've been working for me for four years. You've taken on a lot more responsibility than anybody else has as a student worker, I think that you can do this and I can help you.’ ”
Lenny mentored Porter through his senior year, exposing him to more of the day to day mechanics of the job and what it looks like to do sports information as a career. After graduation, Lenny helped Porter get his first sports information job through the wide network of professional relationships he had built over the years.
“Lenny kind of held my hand essentially through the first six months of that process. Here's some tricks on website maintenance, here's some things about social media. Here's how to write these recaps and format them,” Porter recalled. “Fast forward and I've been doing this for eight years now and even still connecting with him about how to handle certain situations, how to deal with media, how to deal with the bigger aspects of this role.”
“Soaking in as much information and knowledge as I could from him was so valuable,” Porter said. “Just to see how he interacted with different coaches and administration and how he was professional in all aspects of what he did. It's really amazing to see someone who is in the top, basically one percent of their profession.”
Porter was unequivocal about Lenny’s impact on his professional choice. “I've made a career out of this. I wouldn't have done this if it wasn't for him. If I never met Lenny Reich, I wouldn't be here. I wouldn't be in this room today. I wouldn't be a Director of Athletic Communications at Pomona-Pitzer Athletics. I just, I simply wouldn't have,” Porter said.
“And my story is not unique. We have a group text of all people who have come through Mount Union who were assistants under Lenny or student workers who have come on to become directors of athletic communications or sports information directors.”
“I can't say enough about him. He was the best boss I've ever had. He was one of the best friends I've ever had. He would call you out of the blue just to talk, just talk with you about anything that was going on,” Porter remembered. “Any questions that you had about anything and just talk about Division III gossip and Mount Union football and OAC football. He was just great.”
Near the end of my columns, I always take time to thank the individuals in sports information and communications that coordinate interviews and provide other information that helps this column come together each week. That isn’t a perfunctory exercise -- we truly could not do the work that we do at D3sports.com without the tireless efforts of the people working in sports information. Lenny won’t be missed just at Mount Union, but throughout the sports information industry. I do take comfort though, that Lenny’s memory and legacy live on through the many people that he mentored like Sam Porter, throughout his career.
Around The Nation would like to extend our condolences to the Reich family, Mount Union, and all of the people across the sports information world that had the privilege to know and work with Lenny.
On tap
Week 9 is the last opportunity for teams to make an impression on regional advisory committees before regional rankings come out next Wednesday. Week9 may also see our first team(s) qualify for the postseason. We’ll have it all covered this week on D3football.com! Here’s what you can watch for every week at D3football.com:
Tomorrow: Quick Hits featuring our panel’s predictions and insights into this weekend’s games
Saturday: Game day. The D3football.com Scoreboard has all of your links for stats and broadcasts.
Sunday: New Top 25 poll
Monday: Around The Nation podcast. Pat Coleman and Greg Thomas recap the weekend that was and preview the weekend to come in Division III football.
Tuesday/Wednesday: Team of the Week honors, features columns
Thursday: Around the Nation column
I’d Like To Thank ...
Special thanks this week to all of our Twitter followers who keep asking great questions and to Pomona-Pitzer Director of Athletic Communications Sam Porter for taking time to share his story with Around The Nation!
Read options?
Small college football is actually pretty massive. Division III is home to 240 teams, many thousands of student-athletes and coaches. There are so many more stories out there than I can find on my own. Please share your stories that make Division III football so special for all of us! Reach out to me at greg.thomas@d3sports.com or on Twitter @wallywabash to share your stories.
