|
| When UW-Eau Claire and UW-Stevens Point started conference play this week, it was a matchup of the 2-1 Blugolds (only loss to MIAA favorite Albion) and the 2-1 Pointers (only loss to UW-Stout, a WIAC team, in a non-conference game). Photo by Doug Sasse, d3photography.com |
By Greg Thomas
D3sports.com
UW-Platteville head coach Mike Emendorfer calls it the Truth League. Last week, Around the Nation called it the top Division III football conference — a distinction it has held since 2004. What is it about the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference’s DNA that makes it the clear top choice year after year in our conference rankings?
“It tells the truth every Saturday,” Emendorfer said. “It’s just a very competitive league where it seems like every week you’re playing a top ranked team in the nation.”
UW-Whitewater head coach Kevin Bullis is also quick to point to the depth of quality in the conference. “Every week you can play a team in our league that is .500 or under .500 and you know you’re going to have a fight on your hands,” Bullis told Around the Nation. “Having that each week does nothing but raise the level of play. It pushes teams to develop during the course of the season.”
Bullis knows well what he speaks. The Warhawks coach has been coaching in the league dating back to 1990. Before the current Whitewater and Oshkosh dominance, UW-La Crosse was a national powerhouse, winning two championships in the 1990s. UW-Eau Claire was a national semifinalist in 1998.
“Whoever wins our league, whoever wins the AQ, they have a very good opportunity to make noise in the national playoffs,” Bullis said. Indeed, as Whitewater proved in 2019 with a run to the national championship game, sometimes an at-large from the WIAC can also make a reasonable amount of noise in the postseason.
|
| UW-Stout entered Saturday 3-0, and UW-Whitewater entered 3-0 as well, including a win at current No. 13 Salisbury. Photo by Larry Radloff, d3photography.com |
So what makes the WIAC’s teams so good? It’s the players, according to UW-Eau Claire head coach Wesley Beschorner. “It’s a players game,” the Blugold head coach said. “Who has the best, toughest, deepest roster is going to win.”
Competition for those deep and talented rosters is fierce among teams in the WIAC. As with most Division III football teams, the bulk of rosters come from the area surrounding the institution. In Wisconsin, the only scholarship football resides in Madison — leaving the bulk of Wiscosin’s prospective college student-athletes the WIAC’s non-scholarship option for staying close to home.
A survey of Division II rosters for schools in neighboring Minnesota and Iowa shows a total of 181 football players from Wisconsin crossing the border to play at that scholarship level.
The University of Wisconsin system does have recruiting benefits for the WIAC, particularly in their home state. Tuition costs in the UW system are extremely competitive when compared to private institution options. At UW-Eau Claire, Beschorner believes his school appeals to the practical values of communities from the region.
“It’s return on investment. The cost to go to our university and the type of education that you get is second to none,” Beschorner explained. “I think that is a huge selling point to people in the upper midwest.”
Fortunately for the teams in the WIAC, and perhaps the biggest reasons why the WIAC has separated itself from the rest of the division are a combination of unsaturated recruiting areas and Wisconsin’s abundance of quality linemen. “That’s the position group, if you compare to the rest of the country, that is a strength area for the WIAC,” Bullis said.
The WIAC’s strength has drawbacks. Scheduling Division III opponents is difficult for most teams in the league. The current postseason selection format is largely intolerant of non-conference losses. This discourages teams from playing September games against WIAC teams.
The WIAC has adjusted historically, and for the better. Whether it is Whitewater’s series with NAIA powerhouse Morningside or this season’s matchup between La Crosse and Division II stalwart Grand Valley State, teams in the WIAC have found ways to challenge and prepare themselves despite the lack of willing dance partners within the division.
“We want to play a Division III opponent for at-large bids and all of that stuff,” UW-La Crosse head coach Matt Janus said. “But the reality is to get in the playoffs, we have to win our conference. That’s the deal. Even a loss to Grand Valley helped us expose some of the things that we thought we were ok with but that we actually need to fix to be OK moving forward.
“We’re going to see that size and speed and talent again, but now we’ve seen it already before we move into league play.”
|
| UW-La Crosse entered with a loss Grand Valley State (4-0, ranked No. 6 in NCAA Division II), while UW-River Falls entered conference play at 3-0. Photo by Ryan Coleman, d3photography.com |
The WIAC recently completed their non-conference slate of games with an astounding 17-4 record, which made us wonder here at Around the Nation — is the WIAC actually better in 2021 than they’ve ever been? The conference did not play in the spring. Is the conference not disadvantaged by the time off?
“I do think the league is stronger,” Janus said. “There are some teams that have made some major improvements. You can see how teams have used that COVID year — whether it is strength and conditioning or adding new pieces to their team — to improve. There’s a lot of schools in our league that came out of it stronger.“
For Beschorner’s 3-1 Blugolds, the year off has helped immensely for a team trying to catch up to the top two or three teams in the WIAC. “We kept everybody healthy and going into this season we have a little more depth,” Beschorner said.
At Whitewater, Bullis and his staff were worried that practice programming in the fall and spring might have diminishing returns. “Our biggest concern during that time was that we didn’t have the carrot of a game at the end of the week. Would this get redundant and boring?” Bullis continued, “This is about having a positive experience and the joy of the game. We don’t want to diminish that.”
Bullis’s concerns never materialized. Armed with perhaps a fresh coat of perspective after remote classes during the pandemic quarantine, Bullis found his team with a new energy. “When we did get out onto the football field and do training, they were so excited to be with their teammates, close friends, and just other human beings. Being together ended up being the carrot.”
With healthy teams, deeper teams, more mature teams — teams are playing with what amounts to one and a half or two senior classes, remember — it does seem that the WIAC has returned from the pandemic hiatus even better. In the end, the league’s coaches and their players wouldn’t have it any other way.
At Platteville, games take on a certain November feel as soon as WIAC play starts. “Young men are looking for great opportunities and great competition,” Emendorfer said. They know if they come to the Wisconsin league they are going to have an opportunity to play in a playoff game kind of atmosphere every week.”
|
| UW-Oshkosh couldn't find a third opponent and entered conference play at 2-0, while Platteville was the owner of two of the three WIAC non-conference losses, one of them being to current No. 16 Bethel. UW-Platteville athletics photo |
Beschorner likened coaching in the WIAC to the kind of parity he experienced as a quarterbacks coach at Maryland. “The parity is really, really close. Everybody is good and if you’re not playing well you’re going to lose,” Beschorner said. “If you’re playing really well, you could potentially still lose. Whether they end up being a top 20 team at the end of the season or not, you’re going to see a top 20 level talented team every single weekend. There’s nowhere to hide.”
For Janus, part of what fuels his passion is the competitive nature of the conference. “I love that there are no easy games. There are no 62-0 games in this league regardless of who you play or what place you’re in, Janus said. “Every coach in the league is going to have their team ready to play on Saturday afternoon.”
The 20th ranked Eagles will need to be ready this Saturday afternoon as they host No. 8 UW-Oshkosh in the headliner to what promises to be another telling weekend in the Truth League.
Rising/falling
Every now and then it happens that a week in Division III does not produce headline-making Top 25 upsets and we wind up rolling the same ranked 25 teams over from one week to the next. Week 5 was that week. There were some subtle, but telling movements in the poll even if we didn’t have teams dropping out. Hardin-Simmons and Washington & Jefferson have both had some closer than expected results and each slid a spot in the poll this week despite winning games. The signal is likely that these two teams may be starting to empty their benefit-of-the-doubt accounts with voters. This is something to keep an eye on as both of these squads continue through conference play.
Linfield, Central, and Susquehanna each rose two places this week. Central was a big mover on my ballot. I am admittedly a late adopter on the Dutch and wanted to see them perform against a chief ARC rival. The Dutch passed every test with Saturday’s lopsided win over Wartburg and moved up five spots on my ballot.
We’re going streaking
Longtime Around The Nation readers might remember Keith McMillan’s occasional segment tracking some of the division’s longest streaks. I’m bringing it back! Here’s a quick look at Division III’s longest current win streaks:
- North Central, 15 games (last loss 35-21 at Wheaton, 10/5/2019)
- Susquehanna, 13 games (last loss 24-17 at Muhlenberg, 9/21/2019)
- Albion, 12 games (last loss 52-33 at Hope, 10/12/2019)
- Mary Hardin-Baylor, 10 games (last loss 26-7 vs. UW-Whitewater, 12/7/2019)
And the Division’s longest active losing streaks:
- Thiel, 32 games (last win 28-13 at Bethany, 9/16/2017)
- Finlandia, 25 games (last win 27-21 vs. Trinity Bible, 10/14/2017)
- Sewanee, 16 games (last win 27-14 vs. Rhodes, 10/27/2018)
- Bowdoin, 13 games (last win 31-14 vs. Bates, 11/3/2018)
I’d like to thank ...
Special thanks this week to head coaches Wesley Beschorner (UW-Eau Claire), Matt Janus (UW-La Crosse), Mike Emendorfer (UW-Platteville), and Kevin Bullis (UW-Whitewater) for spending time with Around The Nation this week as well as UW-Eau Claire Assistant Sports Information Director Nick Hoven, UW-La Crosse Assistant Athletic Director for Media Relations David Johnson, UW-Platteville Assistant Athletic Director for Strategic Communications Lindsey Dietmeier, and UW-Whitewater Assistant Athletic Director for Strategic Communications Chris Lindeke for helping to coordinate this week’s conversation!
On tap
We’re at the halfway point of the regular season, but if you’re just finding us, welcome! 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. Get thee to the scoreboard and feast.
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 - D3football.com Team of the Week and features columns
Thursday - Around the Nation column
Read options?
Small college football is actually pretty massive. Division III is home to 239 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.
