No offense to Mr. Mullins but he may be leaving for more than one reason.. 6'5" 250 lb Will Mcklintok seems to be the guy at that position.

Wouldn't be shocked if that is part of the reason, I assume all returners have a good idea of what the plan is but it is going to be really interesting to see what players turn into big time contributors after living in the shadows of Jordan, Miller and King.

Bottom line:

Last years UMHB team had some of the best defensive players to ever play D3 football.  UMHB was fast and physical team. You cant compare this year, you dont have the same playmakers on the field.  Last year UMHB was loaded with 2 deeps as talented as the starters.  The MVP of the stagg bowl was even a backup part of the time. 2021 UMHB was one of the greatest D3 teams ever assembled, its not fair to compare the 2 ….last year’s defense was Elite!  They will have to rebuild going forward, the run was fun but there will have to be some new playmakers to get back to championship form.

Absolutely, we as Cru fans have been spoiled for a number of years now but in particular on defense. Across the country there have been a number of programs that put up the offensive numbers we have but starting back in 2016 until now our defenses have been unbelievable. This years defense was not bad at all but in comparison to last year and the last few in general it didn't have that dominant unit or units that was so good they frequently outscores the opponents offense.

Quote from: TheChucker on December 12, 2022, 10:05:09 am

Quote from: Next Man Up on December 11, 2022, 10:35:23 pm

Don't know about other NCC'ers but going in, it seemed to me that UMHB was the scariest (is that a word?) team we would go up against. Much of that feeling was based on last year when the Cru looked like the biggest/toughest D3 team I'd ever seen. I expected more of the same this year. And, while I thought for a variety of reasons, that NCC would win, I never dreamed they would win by 35 points! I think anyone who says they did is telling a little, or more likely big, fib. 

So, have we seen the end of the top dogs in D3 scheduling each other in non-conference play? It seems like the UMHB close road loss to UWW and the UWW road loss to SJU dogged both of those teams this year in ranking and ultimately playoff seeding. There didn't seem to be an upside to playing those games for a team with national aspirations. Fan enjoyment was a big plus, of course.

UWW played at home with an 8-2 record, so I'm not sure their draw was really negatively impacted by losing to St. John's.  The SOS bump probably enhanced their position, if anything.  I was actually mildly surprised that UWW got a home game- the last 8-2 WIAC champion went on the road.  UMHB's losing at UWW did cost them at least one home game (2nd round), but that's also a game they probably should have won, no? 

The team that very notably did not play a big time non-con game is Mount Union.  Mount Union was directed to play their QF game on the road.  I think the committee properly rewarded the teams that played legitimately strong schedules with at-large invitations and home assignments to the extent that was reasonable.  I wouldn't at all say that those games were detrimental.  Maybe UMHB has a small regret? But I think they much more regret not punching that thing in from five inches away than playing the game in the first place.

Do you think what happened to Mount Union will become the norm in the future? By numbers it absolutely made sense that they went on the road but we all were surprised for good reason that they went on the road.

Pat,

D3Football did stories on 3 out of the 4 semifinalists this week.

Why no story on Mount Union?

Thanks,
K&J Dad

I have always taken stories about teams during the week of their playoff games as the kiss of death haha, seems like there is high correlation of feature stories about teams that seem to have hit their ceiling for the season. They don't need to write stories about the powers early because they will have time later in the playoff rounds.

Quote from: emma17 on December 03, 2022, 11:45:04 pm

I don’t know Bleed, when I was there in 2018 I felt every UMHB was as mean as a snake (in a good way). 
I agree though- very nice people out there.

Congratulations to UMHB, played like champions when you had to.

I agree with this as well.  Congratulations on the win against an excellent Bethel team.  It's the "when you had to" part that would really good to change by next week.

I mean when does UMHB ever do things the easy way, other than the last 3 weeks of last season which I still can't quite believe.

Mike Craven of Dave Campbell's Texas Football suggests Jerheme Urban as a "home run" candidate to replace the recently departed G.J. Kinne at D1 FCS UIW.   I don't see TPTB at UIW considering someone lacking a D1 coaching pedigree. 

[crossing fingers that this post doesn't come back to bite me]

With all the improvements that Trinity seems to have done for the program and Coach Urban's connection to the school I would think the only way he leaves is if wants the challenge. I would agree thought that I would assume UIW won't want anyone to see them taking a step back by going after the local D3 guy.

Quote from: Ralph Turner on November 29, 2022, 12:59:11 pm

Who is this clean-cut All-American kid? 

https://gophersports.com/sports/football/roster/jaran-roste/1233

Looks like his younger, nerdier little brother lol

Gonna be weird when the COVID generation is fully gone and we can only expect guys to be here 4, maybe 5 years haha