The Top 10 South Region teams of the D3football.com Era

[Toby Taff]

Here is the update on Top 10 South Region teams since the creation of the Pools system in 1999, through 2019.  Only 2 schools are left.

I will leave the board to knowledgeable Region 3 fans to fill it out.


2, 3) 4)  2001 Bridgewater -- (13-1)  #1 South Region seed.  Made the trip down to Salem and lost to MUC in primetime on Saturday night, 27-30.  That night, who would have thought this to be the pinnacle of ODAC football for the next decade plus?  (Thank Heaven for Stone Station!)

3, 4, 5, 7, 8) 9)  2002 Trinity -- (14-1)  Beat UMHB 48-38, W&J 45-10, won at Bridgewater 38-32, beat St John's 41-34.  Star QB celebrates too hard on Paseo del Rio and Stagg is history.  (MUC wins 48-7, on a very windy day).

4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 12)  1999 Trinity -- (12-1) #1 Seed and gets bye.  Beat Western Maryland and  HSU (40-33) before losing to Stagg winner Pacific Lutheran, 28-49 in Semis.

10, 11, 13, 14, 16, 18, 20)  2003 Bridgewater -- (12-2) Squeaked out of a weak but very balanced South Region and then lost at MUC 0-66.

(Revised after the 2018 Stagg Bowl.  No South Region team made it to the Semifinals in 2019, usually a criterion for inclusion after 20 years.  Wesley is gone. UMHB and HSU were shipped to Region 6. Trinity is an affiliate member of the SAA. Thanks for reading.)

you going to update this with the 2021 team, ralph?

[Ralph Turner]

Yes, Toby. Where does this team compare with the other 2 winners of the Stagg Bowl game?

[Toby Taff]

Yes, Toby. Where does this team compare with the other 2 winners of the Stagg Bowl game?

That's a hard one. I was just following a twitter thread where a cru fb Alumnus asked the question of former cru players. This years team is just so different. 2021 is the deepest team talent wise I remember. You have the "super seniors" but you also have 2 d-lines that could be starters...no drop from 1-2. Young O Linemen that bc of the spring season stepped in unphased if a starter went down. A QB3 at years start that became qb2 when qb2 moved to safety, who the Oline took a half to get used to cadence wise and then played like a qb1. Then you have a reciever corps that when it came time to fly CruAir no team had the Db's to stop. 2021 KJ Miller was off the chain money! I spent half of the stagg bowl yelling, "you can't cover him!" King was amazing at QB with crazy accuracy and the WRs made him look even better. That's just scratching the surface.

I think if you look at the whole season's body of work, I probably give the nod to 2018. The defense was Filthy from day 1. HSU would never have been up on that team like they were in the 1st half this year. Had 2 quality QBs, Markieth. 3 great WRs. Baylor Mullins, Fritz.....At the Stagg that year when UMHB scored their 20th point I looked at umhb2001, who was sitting behind me, and said ball game. No team has scored over 20 on us the whole year.

If the comparison is the team as constituted when the Stagg hit double zero's I might lean 2021. What I saw in Canton, was not a surprise to me from an offensive perspective. 2021 KJ compared to 2018 KJ at WR is steps up, and 2018 KJ was no slouch. Jordan was a beast when he was focused and looked like he wanted to play. There were times when  it looked like he was as invested, but when fully vested a herculian task to stop him at best. I think with the skill position guys and the opening up of the offense I give the Offensive edge to 2021 and I think by seasons end the defense was at least equal to 2018.

2016 is special for different reasons, but 2018 or 2021 play oshkosh that year and that is not a super close game.

Just my 2 cents

[D O.C.]

Thanks, Ralph. Informative. Enjoyable.
I miss Wesley.

[Etchglow]

Yes, Toby. Where does this team compare with the other 2 winners of the Stagg Bowl game?

That's a hard one. I was just following a twitter thread where a cru fb Alumnus asked the question of former cru players. This years team is just so different. 2021 is the deepest team talent wise I remember. You have the "super seniors" but you also have 2 d-lines that could be starters...no drop from 1-2. Young O Linemen that bc of the spring season stepped in unphased if a starter went down. A QB3 at years start that became qb2 when qb2 moved to safety, who the Oline took a half to get used to cadence wise and then played like a qb1. Then you have a reciever corps that when it came time to fly CruAir no team had the Db's to stop. 2021 KJ Miller was off the chain money! I spent half of the stagg bowl yelling, "you can't cover him!" King was amazing at QB with crazy accuracy and the WRs made him look even better. That's just scratching the surface.

I think if you look at the whole season's body of work, I probably give the nod to 2018. The defense was Filthy from day 1. HSU would never have been up on that team like they were in the 1st half this year. Had 2 quality QBs, Markieth. 3 great WRs. Baylor Mullins, Fritz.....At the Stagg that year when UMHB scored their 20th point I looked at umhb2001, who was sitting behind me, and said ball game. No team has scored over 20 on us the whole year.

If the comparison is the team as constituted when the Stagg hit double zero's I might lean 2021. What I saw in Canton, was not a surprise to me from an offensive perspective. 2021 KJ compared to 2018 KJ at WR is steps up, and 2018 KJ was no slouch. Jordan was a beast when he was focused and looked like he wanted to play. There were times when  it looked like he was as invested, but when fully vested a herculian task to stop him at best. I think with the skill position guys and the opening up of the offense I give the Offensive edge to 2021 and I think by seasons end the defense was at least equal to 2018.

2016 is special for different reasons, but 2018 or 2021 play oshkosh that year and that is not a super close game.

Just my 2 cents

That was a fun twitter thread lol.  I'm kind of like you.  The 18 team played consistently at a higher level than the 21 team did while the 21 team may have peaked higher than the 18 team did.  Numbers wise, KJ Miller and Aaron Sims were way better in the return game in 18 than 21.  Avila had a better year in 18 as well.

[Toby Taff]

Yes, Toby. Where does this team compare with the other 2 winners of the Stagg Bowl game?

That's a hard one. I was just following a twitter thread where a cru fb Alumnus asked the question of former cru players. This years team is just so different. 2021 is the deepest team talent wise I remember. You have the "super seniors" but you also have 2 d-lines that could be starters...no drop from 1-2. Young O Linemen that bc of the spring season stepped in unphased if a starter went down. A QB3 at years start that became qb2 when qb2 moved to safety, who the Oline took a half to get used to cadence wise and then played like a qb1. Then you have a reciever corps that when it came time to fly CruAir no team had the Db's to stop. 2021 KJ Miller was off the chain money! I spent half of the stagg bowl yelling, "you can't cover him!" King was amazing at QB with crazy accuracy and the WRs made him look even better. That's just scratching the surface.

I think if you look at the whole season's body of work, I probably give the nod to 2018. The defense was Filthy from day 1. HSU would never have been up on that team like they were in the 1st half this year. Had 2 quality QBs, Markieth. 3 great WRs. Baylor Mullins, Fritz.....At the Stagg that year when UMHB scored their 20th point I looked at umhb2001, who was sitting behind me, and said ball game. No team has scored over 20 on us the whole year.

If the comparison is the team as constituted when the Stagg hit double zero's I might lean 2021. What I saw in Canton, was not a surprise to me from an offensive perspective. 2021 KJ compared to 2018 KJ at WR is steps up, and 2018 KJ was no slouch. Jordan was a beast when he was focused and looked like he wanted to play. There were times when  it looked like he was as invested, but when fully vested a herculian task to stop him at best. I think with the skill position guys and the opening up of the offense I give the Offensive edge to 2021 and I think by seasons end the defense was at least equal to 2018.

2016 is special for different reasons, but 2018 or 2021 play oshkosh that year and that is not a super close game.

Just my 2 cents

That was a fun twitter thread lol.  I'm kind of like you.  The 18 team played consistently at a higher level than the 21 team did while the 21 team may have peaked higher than the 18 team did.  Numbers wise, KJ Miller and Aaron Sims were way better in the return game in 18 than 21.  Avila had a better year in 18 as well.

Ruck's quetion popped up on my twitter timeline and I followed it there. Then I went to Campetelli's twitter and followed a thread from a Haston Adams comment and it was highly entertaining. Dudes from 2016 hyping that defense (rightly so). Dudes with 2 rings comparing their teams... My favorite exchange:

Haston: 18 not scoring on 16...big Con, Jenk, and Corbin gonna get Blake in for 7 some type of way. That's all we need

De Jackson:  Y'all had Blake but we had DenerianT

Haston: We had ALL of y'all on 16 too  like cmon

Reggie Rashad Cole: But we weren't playing then 

Haston: And why weren't you playing?

So, Ralph, the teams are discussing it on twitter all because of gary Ruckman.

[UMHB03]

I think the 2018 team was more consistently great, game to game. Along with the previously mentioned better special teams play in 2018, that teams defense was also more opportunistic when it came to defensive scores. It seemed like that team had a pick 6 or fumble return TD almost every game.

However, I think the 2021 team's ceiling was higher than the 2018 team's ceiling, mainly due to the passing offense.

In other words, 2018 would not have struggled against Trinity or HSU, but they also wouldn't have curb stomped this year's Linfield and NCC teams the way the 2021 team did. As good as the 2018 Mount Union team was, I honestly think the end-of-season 2021 UMHB team would beat them by multiple scores.

[Ralph Turner]

While UMHB fans and former players are debating the best UMHB teams, let's revise the list.

2021 UMHB beat #16 TUTx 13-3; #19 BSC 42-7; #7 Linfield 49-24; #3 UWW 24-7; #1 NCC 57-24.

I want to consider where this year's Trinity team should go. It is awfully hard to knock the 2002 Trinity team that made the Stagg without its star QB who partied too hard on the Paseo Del Rio. The wind that day was also horrendous.

But most of us consider the TU-UMHB to be the best game in the UMHB playoff run, and suitable for semis or the Stagg. This was a 6-3 game until 58 minutes when UMHB finally scored a TD. In the other 4 games, UMHB 172, Opps 62!

I put 2021 Trinity after the 2002 Trinity team and ahead of 2010 Wesley.

When you consider 22 years of teams, it gets hard to limit the "Top 10".

I am happy for TUTx's resurgence. I think that it is good for D3 football in this part of the country. You wonder if/when BSC takes off. There have got to be a bunch of good D3 types in the South who are a half-second too slow, 30 lbs too light and 3 inches too short, but will work their hearts out and make very few mistakes. You can root for BSC and Auburn or that team in Tuscaloosa (    War Eagle!) at the same time.  (For those who do not know, I sent 2 daughters to Auburn and got 4 grandkids from it.)

[Cowboy2]

I think you said it best in that 22 years of teams, lots of good teams, hard to get them all in.

Like comparing the UMHB teams, Trinity had a lot of great teams as well, just haven’t had the yearly dominance they once had back in the 90s-early 00s.

After the former president went away from sports, with a focus more on arts and academics,  they became stagnant. Rising tuition and admission requirements made it hard when the school didn’t have the focus they did in the 90s. Now however, they’ve been competing and very successful in all their other sports. The  new president has been a huge success. With new improvements and facility additions the past three years, turf field, Jumbotron, stadium etc. the Tigers are entering a new era.

The 2002 Trinity team was very, vvvvvvery good. Lots of good players from top to bottom on that roster. I think they had something crazy like 5 all Americans on offense and 1 or 2 on defense. Not having Roy Hampton (RIP) in the Stagg Bowl hurt. I know the critics may think otherwise, but I think they could have won or made it close that game;  had he been allowed to play. He was very special and could run, and is possibly the best passing QB the south has ever had...including Mike Burton. The ‘02 tigers franchised at half of Most games. I remember being there at the stagg bowl. MU was huge. They wore down the Black Flag defense. Mount Union would just run play after play with Dan Pugh. Offense couldn’t do anything but they didn’t have their QB which hurt - so it’s hard to really put that last game as a way to remember them.

This year’s Trinity team was very good but underrated. They had a chip on their shoulder after the spring and a strong group of seniors that wanted to win the SAA. I’m not sure if they realized how good they were until after the UMHB game performance. This includes not having  their Pre season all American running back and prior starting QB. Crazy thing is that they had a very young team. I don’t think many outside of SAA knew what to expect. It will be interesting to see how they respond next year and if they gain confidence from 2021.

The 2002 Tigers were made up of a lot of players that traveled as freshman with/on a strong 1999 team that lost at home in the semis to Stagg Bowl champs PLU. Majority started or traveled as sophomores in 2000. They had three years to build chemistry and grow. They didn’t  experience losing much and the foundation was there from the prior decade of excellence.

This years Trinity team reminds me a lot of how the 2000 Tigers were when they lost to HSU in Abilene in the playoffs. They didn’t have a kicker that game and lost to the Cowboys on a last second incompletion in the end zone. Then next two years they grew and kept pushing further into the playoffs and were dynamite in 2002.

I think this years team could play with anyone this year, HSU, UWW, MU NCC  because they had nothing to lose. Trinity has had a lot of great players, but not the depth to compete into the playoffs since 2007 or 2011.

I’d give the 2002 team the nod in apples to apples for south region top
10.. Then maybe the Burton led tigers of 1998 or 1999. The 2021 Tigers after that. But since they played so well against this years stagg bowl winner, a UMHB that destroyed all other playoff completion, it’s hard to not include them somewhere in the list either.

[Ralph Turner]

Here is the update on Top 10 South Region teams since the creation of the Pools system in 1999, through 2021.

1) 2018 UMHB -- (15-0) Toughest run to the Stagg since the 2004 team. UMHB never left the state for the playoffs. The rankings are from Week #11. In consecutive rounds, beat #7 HSU by 21; #20 Berry by 66 points, #3 St John's by 3, #5 UW-Whitewater by 17 and #1 Mount Union 24-16 in Shenandoah TX.

2) 2021 UMHB -- (15-0) 2021 UMHB beat #16 TUTx 13-3; #19 BSC 42-7; #7 Linfield 49-24; #3 UWW 24-7; #1 NCC 57-24. Please see the comments above about the 2018 vs 2021 UMHB debate. The #16 TUTx team leap-frogged to #12 in the final poll. IMHO Trinity TX was a Top 8 to Top 10 team. Most of us consider the TU-UMHB to be the best game in the UMHB playoff run, and suitable for semis or the Stagg. This was a 6-3 game until 58 minutes when UMHB finally scored a TD. In the other 4 games, UMHB 172, Opps 62!

1, 2) 3)2016 UMHB -- (15-0) Beat UW-Oshkosh 10-7 in the Stagg. Had a good run to Salem beating (unranked in Week #11 Top 25) Redlands, #8 Linfield, #13 Wheaton IL, #7 Mount Union in the CRUthedral.

1, 2, 3) 4)  2004 UMHB -- (13-2) Did it Ginger Rogers style.  (Refers to the old joke, who was the better dancer...Fred Astaire or Ginger Rogers?  Rogers did everything that Astaire did, backwards and in high heels.)  Was a Pool C bid, back when there were only 3.  Beat #7 Trinity by 29, #3 HSU by 14, #5 W&J by 36 and #1 Mount Union by 3 on the road.  Lost to Elliott's #2 Linfield in the Stagg, 21-28.

2, 3, 4) 5)  2001 Bridgewater -- (13-1)  #1 South Region seed.  Made the trip down to Salem and lost to MUC in primetime on Saturday night, 27-30.  That night, who would have thought this to be the pinnacle of ODAC football for the next decade plus?  (Thank Heaven for Stone Station!)

4, 5) 6) 2013 UMHB -- (13-1) Lost 16-15 in the CRUthedral in the Semis to ultimate winner UWW who blew out Mount Union the next weekend. (Ouch!)

6) 7) 2017 UMHB -- (14-1) Shutout by UMU in the Stagg, 12-0. A roughing-the-kicker penalty took a UMHB punt return for a TD off the board. That would have made the score 7-0.  A 4th quarter safety was called the play of the game.

3, 5, 6, 7) 8)  2012 UMHB -- (13-1)  How close was this team to being the finest South Region team to date?  How about a grind-it-out/smashmouth Cru-style clock-consuming scoring drive in the late 4th quarter at Alliance OH?   The team that "had the ball last" won. UMHB had 1st and 10 on the UMHB 22 with 3:34 left in the 4th quarter with the score tied 35-35.  UMU forced a 3-and-out, got the ball "last" and then scored on a 6-play 71-yd drive to go ahead 42-35 with 0:05 left in the game.  UMU got a 25 yd fumble recovery on the kickoff for the final score. The 48-35 final score misrepresents the closeness of this game.  (This game was hailed as the "true #1 vs #2" when the brackets were released.  UMU and UMHB finish 1-2 in the Final Top 25 poll.  UMU beat St Thomas 28-10 in Stagg XL.)

3, 4, 6, 7, 8) 9) 2007 UMHB -- (12-2) #4 South Region seed only because they had the "cojones" (a little Texas lingo there) to schedule a home-and-home with the 2005 Stagg Bowl runner-up two years before the game was played.  Defeated a strong #6 seed (sic) Trinity team for the "Barbed Wire and Mesquite" (unofficial title of the Texas Sub-bracket), and annihilated a #8-seeded NCWC team that won its first playoff game ever at #1 seed Washington and Jefferson.  (NCWC was only in its 4th year of play!)  The Cru avenged their losses at Wesley, 27-10, in the Regional Finals.  In the semi-finals, UMHB dug a big hole in losing the regular season UWW game and then lost to the 2007 Stagg Bowl champs, 16-7 in a great game notably for the "Texas unfriendly" conditions in Whitewater in the semis.

3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9) 10)  2002 Trinity -- (14-1)  Beat UMHB 48-38, W&J 45-10, won at Bridgewater 38-32, beat St John's 41-34.  Star QB celebrates too hard on Paseo del Rio and Stagg is history.  (MUC wins 48-7, on a very windy day).

11) 2021 Trinity (9-1) SAA conference Pool A champion. My bracket suggested this was a #1 seed UMHB versus no-worse-than-#4 seed TUTx team; another "Bracketgate" scheduled for "geographic proximity". I want to consider where this year's Trinity team should go. It is awfully hard to knock the 2002 Trinity team that made the Stagg without its star QB who partied too hard on the Paseo Del Rio. The wind that day was also horrendous. It is hard to rank this TU team above the 2002 team. If the 2002 team had had their starting QB, what would have been the score against Mount Union? I think that this pair of TU teams would likely be higher.

5, 6T, 8T, 9, 10T) 12T) 2010 Wesley -- (12-1)  #1 Seed overall.  Beat Muhlenberg 53-14, Montclair State 44-14, and UMHB 19-9 before losing to Champion UW-Whitewater 7-27.


6T, 8T, 10T) 12T) 2011 Wesley -- (12-2)  An early season loss to NJAC champion Kean 31-28 put Wesley into the #2 South Region seed. The Wolverines hosted Hobart 35-28 and Linfield 49-35 and then came to Texas and beat UMHB in the Region Finals, 27-24.  Wesley lost at Stagg runner-up Mount Union (UMU), 28-21.  Were their playoff opponents in 2011 better than 2010? I think so.  Too close for me to call between the 2011 and the 2010 Wesley teams.

4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 12), 14)  1999 Trinity -- (12-1) #1 Seed and gets bye.  Beat Western Maryland and  HSU (40-33) before losing to Stagg winner Pacific Lutheran, 28-49 in Semis.

5, 6T, 7T, 9T, 11T, 13T), 15T)  2000 HSU -- (12-1)  Had the bye and #1 seed in South and is #2 in the playoffs.  Beat Western Maryland 32-10 and Trinity 33-30.  Lost to Finalist SJU, 14-38 in Abilene.

6T, 7T, 9T, 11T, 13T), 15T)  2008 UMHB -- (12-2) #2 Seed in the "Millsaps" (South) Region.  Defeated HSU 20-18 in Belton in the regular season and then third team All-American Alan Munoz kicked a last-minute FG to defeat #3 seed HSU in another "Bracketgate" game, 38-35.  UMHB then disposed of Wesley 46-14 and W&J 63-7 in the next two rounds.  The Semi-finals will be forever remembered for the south wind that dramatically impacted the game.  UW-Whitewater kicked off in the first half and netted a safety and field goal.  A UMHB kickoff into the estimated 30+ MPH south wind to start the second half touched the ground at UMHB 41 and then was blown back to the UMHB 24, where UMHB covered it.  This "legal kick" was missed by the officials. They gave UWW the ball at the UMHB 24.  UWW quickly pushed the lead to 18-10 with 14:53 left in the 3Q, and the course of the game was changed.  Stagg finalist UWW won 39-13.

8, 9, 11, 13, 14, 15), 17)  2008 HSU (9-2) I believe that I must slip #3 seed HSU into this slot, by virtue of the games that they gave UMHB on the road.  UMHB's special teams made the difference in both games, and the margin of defeat is in the realm of "HFA", Home Field Advantage.  I slip HSU ahead of the 2005 Wesley team because of how dominant UMHB was versus the rest of the bracket.
 
6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 14, 16), 18)  2005 Wesley -- (12-2)  Cinderella.  Gets a Pool B bid.  Beats Ferrum, wins at UMHB, beats Bridgewater and then messes up the shoe thing on the snow/ice at Whitewater, 6-58.
7, 8, 10, 11, 13, 15, 17), 19 )  2006 Wesley -- (13-1)  #1 Seed. Beat Dickinson, CMU and UMHB before losing at UW-W (7-44) in the proper shoes.

8, 9, 11, 12, 14, 16, 18), 20)  1999 HSU -- (12-1) Beat WashU and W&J before losing (33-40) at Trinity in South Region finals.

9, 10, 12, 13, 15, 17, 19), 21)  2002 UMHB -- (10-1)  "Bracketgate" game.  UMHB is #5 in polls and #3 South Region Seed.  Sent to Trinity (#4 in polls and #2 South Region seed) in the first round because of geographic proximity.  Loses at Trinity 38-48.

10, 11, 13, 14, 16, 18, 20), 22)  2003 Bridgewater -- (12-2) Squeaked out of a weak but very balanced South Region and then lost at MUC 0-66.

(Revised after the 2021 Stagg Bowl.  Thanks for reading.)

[UMHB03]

4, 5) 6) 2013 UMHB -- (13-1) Lost 16-15 in the CRUthedral in the Semis to ultimate winner UWW who blew out Mount Union the next weekend. (Ouch!)

That one still stings. We were so close that year, and I still maintain UMHB wins if they go for it on 4th & short rather than settling for a FG so late in the game.

[crufootball]

4, 5) 6) 2013 UMHB -- (13-1) Lost 16-15 in the CRUthedral in the Semis to ultimate winner UWW who blew out Mount Union the next weekend. (Ouch!)

That one still stings. We were so close that year, and I still maintain UMHB wins if they go for it on 4th & short rather than settling for a FG so late in the game.

So many things about that last few minutes could have got us back to the Stagg Bowl a few years earlier. Everyone remembers kicking the field goal, I remember on 3rd down Zach Anderson hitting an open receiver in the end zone who couldn't come up with the pass.

Knowing Coach Pete I wasn't surprised when we kicked the field goal because it still put us in position to win with another field goal or touch down. Then the last turning point after we kicked off, 3rd and 6 with still 3:12 left in the game and UWW converts to essentially seal the game.

[UMHB03]

4, 5) 6) 2013 UMHB -- (13-1) Lost 16-15 in the CRUthedral in the Semis to ultimate winner UWW who blew out Mount Union the next weekend. (Ouch!)

That one still stings. We were so close that year, and I still maintain UMHB wins if they go for it on 4th & short rather than settling for a FG so late in the game.

So many things about that last few minutes could have got us back to the Stagg Bowl a few years earlier. Everyone remembers kicking the field goal, I remember on 3rd down Zach Anderson hitting an open receiver in the end zone who couldn't come up with the pass.

Knowing Coach Pete I wasn't surprised when we kicked the field goal because it still put us in position to win with another field goal or touch down. Then the last turning point after we kicked off, 3rd and 6 with still 3:12 left in the game and UWW converts to essentially seal the game.

For sure. The 4th down FG always sticks in my mind because there was no reason for it. Even if the Crusaders hadn't converted on 4th down, UWW would have been pinned inside the 5 yard line, and if we get the defensive stop (which we'd have to do either way), we get the ball back with great field position.

I guess the one thing you can say is that Fredenburg learned from the experience and managed to get the job done a few years later.

[Ralph Turner]

Looking back on this year's playoffs, I was ready to talk about how strong the Texas sub-bracket was until the semi-finals. Yes, NCC probably had a chip on its shoulder the size of a railroad tie, but after watching the 2022 Semifinal games, the 49-14 "Monkey-Stomp" that NCC put on UMHB causes me to re-assess this year's team.

Here is the season wrap-up by Keith McMillan and Greg Thomas
https://www.d3football.com/playoffs/2022/we-are-all-mount-union

Had UMHB handily defeated the opponents outside the Texas Sub-bracket, I would be talking about
1) how much HSU needed to be boosted in the rankings from their #9 ranking in Week 11, and
2) how about boosting #6 Trinity to the Top 4. After all, was not that San Antonio rematch a "semifinal" quality game?

Last year, I talked about how good the 2021 Trinity team was in comparison to the turn-of-the-millennium teams. This TUTx team seemed just as good as last year's.

I just cannot rank this year's UMHB team higher than the current #10, the 2002 Trinity Stagg Bowl team.

Thanks to all of the Region 3 fans who contribute so much enjoyment to these boards each fall.