By Keith McMillan
D3sports.com
With due apologies to independents from Brockport State to Eastern Oregon and Chapman to Husson, the conference championship chase is one of the great joys of college football. More than halfway through the 2003 season, let’s take a peek at some of the nation’s most exciting conference chases.
The WIAC always ranks at the top of the list when it comes to championship races to watch, so why would 2003 be any different? Around the Nation wrote about why the conference races are always so close back on Sept. 5, 2002, and we can’t tell you that much has changed. Two games into conference play, there’s no clear-cut leader. Two of the expected contenders (UW-La Crosse and Stout) are 1-1 in conference play, and another (Stevens Point) is 0-2. Whitewater and Eau Claire lead the race at 2-0, but Oshkosh and Platteville are each 1-1 in conference play as well. Here’s what we can say: It would take an intense tiebreaker for a team with two WIAC losses to take the title and AQ, so let’s operate under the assumption that two-loss teams are done. That means the race will lose a team when Oshkosh and La Crosse meet this weekend, and could lose more each week. As it stands, 0-4 River Falls is the only WIAC team that isn’t 3-2 or 4-1 overall. Just because Stevens Point has two WIAC losses doesn’t mean they’re not a factor, and I guarantee they haven’t given up hope. Say, does the WIAC have a tiebreaker for when eight teams finish 3-3 in conference?
The NCAC got real interesting when Oberlin beat Tony Sutton-less Wooster and Wabash smacked Wittenberg. Now the conference leaders, Oberlin and Allegheny, are each 2-0 NCAC and 2-3 overall. All but Hiram have just one conference loss, so there’s a long way to the AQ. If Sutton returns to Wooster as expected, the Scots’ Nov. 1 showdown against Wabash could be the most important game in what shapes up to be a five-team race. It gets trickier. The now nine-team NCAC played seven-game conference slates before Kenyon took a hiatus. Now some teams have six conference games, some seven. Wooster has the toughest remaining schedule, with Allegheny, Wabash and Wittenberg left. Oberlin, once the not-so-proud owner of Division III’s longest losing streak, closes out with Kenyon, Wabash, Earlham, Ohio Wesleyan and Denison. The Yeomen could make the playoffs!
The Centennial is the next most interesting race to watch. Johns Hopkins is 6-0 and giving up just five points per game, yet they close with 4-1 Gettysburg, 3-2 Ursinus and two preseason favorites in McDaniel and Muhlenberg, none of them with more than a single CC loss. One Blue Jays loss, and it’s a free-for-all. McDaniel’s beaten Muhlenberg and Ursinus, and lost to Gettysburg. Using the two-loss formula, one team will drop from the race when Muhlenberg and Ursinus meet on Saturday, a day after one team takes command of the lead when the Blue Jays and Bullets hook up in Baltimore.
With Mary Hardin-Baylor, East Texas Baptist and Hardin-Simmons each 4-0 in the ASC, that race could be a fight to the finish. Many thought Howard Payne, a preseason No. 5, would contend as well, but they’re just 2-2 in the conference, having lost to two of the unbeatens. Viewing it as a three-team race, the Tigers visit the Cowboys on Oct. 25 and the Crusaders on Nov. 8. In between, on Nov. 1, Hardin-Simmons hosts Mary Hardin-Baylor. So that should settle it. And if Hardin-Simmons runs the table, two ASC teams could make the playoffs, making Texas a three-team bracket with no byes.
Wartburg left no doubts against Loras, basically narrowing the IIAC race down to the Knights’ game with Simpson on Saturday. Someone will take the lead, but in a conference that had two playoff representatives and tri-champions last season, it’s not over until the final week. Simpson would still have to go through Buena Vista and Loras if it wins, while defending champ Coe and perennial champ Central should close with more than a whimper.
Wheaton held off Millikin 43-29 to stay on top of the CCIW standings, but 2-0, 3-2 Augustana still controls its own destiny. The Vikings will face the Thunder on Nov. 15. Elmhurst is surprisingly stout, and will have to be against Millikin on Saturday. Augustana has all three contenders left on the schedule.
The College of New Jersey leads the NJAC after defeating Rowan, but co-leader Montclair State lies ahead. The Redhawks also have their annual clash with the Profs, who will not fold easily, on Nov. 15.
In the SCIAC, Pomona-Pitzer is 3-0, 5-1 but has to go on the “road” against Redlands and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps in its final two games on the road to the conference’s first automatic bid. None of the three contenders, all unbeaten in conference play, have played each other yet. November in Southern California? Sounds like fun.
In the NEFC, Curry and Nichols play Saturday for control of the Boyd Division, while Bridgewater State and Westfield State do the same in the Bogan Division. After that, it’s the winners’ division races to lose. The division winners meet Nov. 15 in the NEFC championship game.
What to make of Albion, Hope and Adrian in the MIAA? Alma could still be a factor too, even though they were blanked 21-0 by Hope. Adrian and Hope clash Saturday, as do Albion and Alma. One more week, two steps closer to an AQ front runner.
Some are inclined to believe Linfield is the class of the NWC, but finishing at Whitworth and at Willamette could spell trouble. Pacific Lutheran has yet to hit its stride.
Lycoming controls its MAC destiny, but a loss brings Delaware Valley and Susquehanna back into the fold, not to mention two-loss King’s, Wilkes, Albright and Juniata.
In the OAC, it’s not so much a race for first as it is for second, because that’s often a certain Pool C slot. Baldwin-Wallace is a deserving front-runner, but Capital should challenge, and former power John Carroll will factor. And Mount Union could falter. Theoretically.
Division III’s hotbeds
Recently we asked which state was home to the most Division III schools. For folks who are interested in such minutiae, we’ll not only give you an answer, we’ll give a full breakdown.
Pennsylvania is home to the most Division III schools, 22 to be exact. That’s one more than Ohio and two more than Illinois, the division’s top three hotbeds by state. Massachusetts and Wisconsin (18 each) round out the top five, followed by New York (15), Minnesota (12), Virginia and Iowa (10), Texas (9), California and Indiana (8), New Jersey (6), Maine (5), Maryland, North Carolina, Connecticut and Oregon (4), Washington and Tennessee (3), Washington D.C., Mississippi, Vermont, Kentucky and Missouri (2). Delaware, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Alabama, Louisiana, Colorado and West Virginia are home to one Division III school each.
18 states have no Division III teams, most surprisingly football-happy Florida. This is why some eastern coaches have tried to make it a priority to recruit what’s left of Florida after the Division I and I-AA schools snap up most of the talent. There’s also no Division III football in Georgia, South Carolina, Arkansas, Nevada, Arizona, Montana, Utah, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Idaho, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota and of course, Alaska and Hawaii. Imagine those road trips. Of those states, only Florida, Georgia and Nebraska have any D-III schools at all.
We’ve always understood that the South Region covers the biggest swath of the country, from New Jersey to Texas. It’s also the region populated by the most schools, and in the most states. The South’s 63 schools are in 15 states plus D.C. By comparison, the North’s 57 schools are in eight states, the West’s 55 in eight states and the East’s 50 in eight states. That could all change as the MAC attempts to move east, a move which is all but approved for 2004.
One way to judge the hottest hotbed is by using the D3football.com Top 25. In the Oct. 5 poll, Ohio led the way with five ranked teams, followed by Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin (3), Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Minnesota (2) and Massachusetts, New York, Illinois, Iowa and Oregon with one each. Factor in all 52 teams that received votes in the poll, and we paint a different picture. Seven Wisconsin teams are acknowledged, as well as seven from Ohio. New York, Pennsylvania and Texas follow with four, then Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Virginia and New Jersey with three. Massachusetts, Michigan, Maryland, Connecticut had two each, Indiana, Washington and Oregon one. I’ll let some other brave soul(s) work out which state is best by percentage of teams ranked (Three of 10, or 30 percent in Virginia, for example. Or half of the schools in Maryland and Connecticut received votes).
Speaking of hotbeds
D3football.com publisher Pat Coleman recently visited another Division III hotbed, Abilene, Texas. Although I was able to accompany him to Jackson, Miss., and Menomonie, Wis., this season, he made this trip solo. So since I wasn’t able to write about it for this column, I asked Pat to:
“You ask what’s unique in people’s corner of the Division III world, well, I found a handful of them this weekend.
“First of all, the best steak I’ve ever had. But football-wise, I wonder if Abilene could be another Salem, Va., or Wilkes-Barre, Pa. I say Salem because the local folks and local media sure support and cover the two schools, McMurry and Hardin-Simmons. I think of Wilkes-Barre because of the pair of campuses in close proximity (though not quite across the street from each other).
“I’m not saying Abilene is ready to host the Stagg Bowl. Their municipal stadium is a little large for that. It has to be to host high school football games. But there’s a community here, one that seems to want to learn about Division III.
“These folks, at least the coaches, know they’re on an island, and I’m glad they look to us for insight into how the rest of Division III works. And by taking non-conference games in Wisconsin, California and Oregon, eventually they’ll all get to see it in-person.
“Games in the ASC are pretty universally at 2 p.m. so that people can drive from far and wide to get to the game. I think most people know Texas is pretty big, and a three-hour drive there doesn’t mean anything. But for comparison’s sake, in the time it will take Mary Hardin-Baylor to drive to Hardin-Simmons for their game in a couple weeks, someone at Dickinson or Franklin & Marshall could drive to about half of Division III.
“Thanks to everyone in the American Southwest Conference and Abilene for making me feel welcome (such as the person who saw me on the McMurry sidelines who said, ‘Welcome to Abilene!’), and thanks to the McMurry Athletic Foundation for making the trip happen.”
Two’s news
Mount Union is firmly planted at No. 1, with all 25 first-place votes. UW-La Crosse, on the other hand, a 24-21 loser to UW-Eau Claire last week, got uprooted from its No. 3 spot. And since that 25 next to the Purple Raiders is a weekly given, let’s look at where those four No. 2 votes that La Crosse got in the last poll went.
No. 2 votes, this week: St. John’s 20, Linfield 2, Baldwin-Wallace 1, Brockport State 1, Wheaton 1.
No. 2 votes, last week: St. John’s 17, UW-La Crosse 4, Baldwin-Wallace 1, Brockport State 1, Linfield 1, Wheaton 1.
Pool C watch
Last week, ATN introduced you to the Pool C watch, which should help you keep an eye on the likeliest playoff participants who are runners-up in automatic qualifier conferences. Here’s our top-to-bottom rankings of teams with the best Pool C chances, on the condition that they do not win their conference:
1. Baldwin-Wallace/Capital. The winner of the two OAC teams’ Nov. 1 showdown is in very good shape. The Yellow Jackets lost to Mount Union but topped John Carroll, while Capital has hardly played a close game.
2. Bethel/St. John’s: Both have beaten WIAC co-leader UW-Eau Claire, and they meet Nov. 8. The Royals’ win against Whitworth looks much better than St. John’s Nov. 15 finale against Crown.
3. Mary Hardin-Baylor: The Crusaders have the best insurance for an ASC loss, a non-conference win at Willamette.
4. East Texas Baptist: The Tigers’ loss to Southeastern Oklahoma State won’t factor into a decision on a playoff spot, but an 8-1 ASC record would.
5. Wheaton: If the Thunder were 9-0 then lost the finale to Augustana, they’d make a good candidate.
6. Millikin: Going 9-1 with 14-point loss to 10-0 Wheaton could get the Big Blue in. But their remaining schedule is far from easy, though their non-conference wins were convincing against average competition.
7. Wartburg: A 9-1 record with a loss to Simpson and a win over NAIA Peru State makes a decent case.
8. Simpson: A 9-1 record with a loss to Wartburg and a win over Washington U. also makes a decent case. All IIAC teams also play former conference member Upper Iowa, a provisional D-II member.
9. Hampden-Sydney: Going 9-1 with a three-point, final-minute loss to Bridgewater could rank as high as third on this list. Problems are, Bridgewater has a loss and Tigers non-conference competition is underwhelming, unless Gettysburg continues to surprise the Centennial. But all they can do is win the games that are scheduled.
10. Hardin-Simmons: A team should be rewarded for scheduling an out-of-conference game against a team like UW-Stout, but that 31-21 loss and an ASC loss would put the Cowboys in a tough situation.
11. Johns Hopkins: The Blue Jays are the only Centennial team that can afford to lose and still nurture playoff hopes. Four non-conference wins came in impresssive fashion.
12. Elmhurst: Still a viable candidate, with just a four-point loss to Wheaton. Their out-of-conference competition doesn’t look great, but anyone with nine wins deserves a mention.
13. WIAC, SCIAC, NEFC runners-up: Need to sort those pictures out some, but none look likely. Two teams would need to dominate the WIAC. Other conference leaders have weak out-of-conference performances or competition.
14. Lycoming (based on past experience), Augustana, Albion, Hope, Wabash, Wittenberg, Allegheny, Wooster and everyone else: Playoff chances appear slim aside from winning the automatic qualifier.
Gagliardi watch
We’ve asked readers to share their memories of St. John’s coach John Gagliardi as he approaches the victory milestone. Here’s our latest:
“I thought I’d share my thoughts/experiences with John Gagliardi.
To say I caught the tail end of Gagliardi mania would be an understatement. I’m only a junior at St. John’s now, and he has been here for 50 some years. Luckily for me, I was able to take his “Coaching Football” class last semester as part of my coaching minor that I’m working towards here at SJU.
Much to my amazement, the class contained little information about football, but rather information about life. Coach Gagliardi forced us all to sit boy/girl in his class, and would interrupt class at anytime to quiz the men in the class on the female’s names. If you did not know a particular girl’s name, you would be verbally probed by John:
‘Why don’t you know her name?’
‘How can you get a date if you don’t know her name?’
‘Go over and introduce yourself!’
Students would walk across the room.
‘Hi I’m so and so, I major in whatever’
John would continue: ‘Well, get her last name. How can you call if you don’t know her last name? Can you spell it? Did you get her phone number?’
The entire class would be in stitches, and quickly our class would turn into a discussion about how we should go about finding our soulmate. John would remind us all that nurses are caring and wonderful people, and that the College of St. Benedict (our sister school) has a great nursing program. Maybe, he would remind us, we should all keep that in the back of our minds.
It was a great class. I think every year he teaches the class there are more than 50 students who sign up. Absolutely amazing. I learned more from that class about getting along with a potential wife than I did about football, but hey, it never hurts to know those little things.
Finally, I took the class for a semester and hardly spoke more than 10 words to John and he still remembers my name to this day.’
— Dan Genck, St. John’s junior from Kent, Conn.
Stat of the week
Shootouts are fun. So we like 95 points, 964 passing yards and 1,247 yards of offense from Hampden-Sydney and Emory & Henry. The best stat is that both quarterbacks broke the ODAC single-game passing record of 462 yards. Wasp freshman Todd Woods went 32 of 51 for 488 yards and three scores, and his team lost. Sophomore JD Ricca led the Tigers by going 27 of 40 for 476 yards.
National games of the week
UW-Oshkosh at No. 8 UW-La Crosse, UW-Whitewater at No. 17 UW-Stout, No. 25 UW-Eau Claire at No. 23 UW-Stevens Point: These are games of the week, simply because we need to find out what’s up in the WIAC.
Honorable mentions: No. 1 Mount Union at John Carroll, No. 4 Mary Hardin-Baylor at Howard Payne, Simpson at No. 6 Wartburg, No. 9 Brockport State at Ithaca, Delaware Valley at No. 11 Lycoming, Gettysburg at No. 24 Johns Hopkins, Allegheny at Wooster, Albion at Alma, Adrian at Hope, Curry at Nichols, Elmhurst at Millikin, Whitworth at PLU.
Your feedback
As always, Around the Nation is interested in your thoughts on certain subjects. When you write in, please include your full name, age, hometown and school you root for.
1. We’re interested to hear why life is unique in your corner of the Division III world. Take a minute and share what’s great about your campus, your state, your team and the people you know.
2. ATN will always take your fondest memories of longtime St. John’s coach John Gagliardi.
3. ATN is still looking for the most unique player names in Division III.
4. ATN wants to know what you think the spirit of Division III is, and what it should be.
5. ATN will consider your story ideas, so long as they are not simply "feature my alma mater/friend/son/self," and will also answer your specific questions in future columns. Do you want to know why Division III teams don’t have spring practice? Ask Around the Nation.
Attention SIDs
Around the Nation is looking for new directories, media guides, record books and other helpful tools from both conference and school SIDs. The information is used when compiling Around the Nation, and is a great help for feature stories. SIDs can also add keith@d3football.com to football-only release lists or e-mail us the Web address of online guides, but please label correspondence as such in the subject line. Snail mail to Keith McMillan, 14010 Smoketown Rd., Woodbridge, Va., 22192.
