Division I vs. NFL ---- Division III vs. High School

Started by tigerguy, November 01, 2012, 02:47:51 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

K-Mack

Quote from: smedindy on December 10, 2012, 08:53:46 PM
Quote from: K-Mack on December 10, 2012, 08:40:06 PM

The comment was made a couple times this week about UMHB at UMU that it was more like a regular college game and less like what people expected a D-III game to be, which you can take as a compliment or insult or both.

Well, it IS a regular college game. The players at Mt. Union and UMHB are just a few inches and pounds and ticks of the watch away from D-1A or D-1AA. That is the elite of our division, and we're proud of them. But the football is best if the teams are evenly matched.  Earlham / Anderson or Knox / Lawrence weren't elite matchups, but they probably were entertaining games with some talented players.

BTW, I think the Seahawks acted like they were the Top Seed in the first round of the D-3 playoffs with the number they put on Arizona!

You know that, and I know that. I think people who don't follow but tune(d) in just to get a glimpse of D-III were pleasantly surprised, as they should be, and Mount Union fans who are used to slaughtering teams had their hearts skip a beat, and they liked it.

So far the UMU-UMHB series has been incredible. Can Mount un-sign Bethany for 2014-15?
Former author, Around the Nation ('01-'13)
Managing Editor, Kickoff
Voter, Top 25/Play of the Week/Gagliardi Trophy/Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year
Nastradamus, Triple Take
and one of the two voices behind the sonic #d3fb nerdery that is the ATN Podcast.

Pat Coleman

That UWW/St. Cloud State game is a lot like this year's St. Thomas/UWEC game -- a team with a lot of new players figuring their roles out, etc.
Publisher. Questions? Check our FAQ for D3f, D3h.
Quote from: old 40 on September 25, 2007, 08:23:57 PMLet's discuss (sports) in a positive way, sometimes kidding each other with no disrespect.

Ralph Turner

With one class of scholarship athletes, McMurry went 9-3 including an exhibition against University of Mexico.

McMurry lost in the first game to crosstown D-2 rival Abilene Christian and lost to D-1FCS McNesse State and Lamar and then beat D-2's Oklahoma Panhandle State, and Incarnate Word plus D-2 provisional Southern Nazarene.

The best example was in a bowl game sponsored by a foundation headed by RG-III's former high school football coach, the C.H.A.M.P.S. Bowl and beat Southern Arkansas (9-3), a credible D-2 opponent that was 3rd in its conference to two D-2 playoff teams. McMurry scored in the last minute, made the 2-point conversion and then blocked a FG in the final seconds to win 36-35. 

I thought that McMurry made excellent progress this season.  This team was just "another year older" than the 2011 team, which I thought was a top 10 team. We beat #15 Trinity in the first round in 2011 with our second team QB, and then a gimpy first team QB lost to UMHB the next week. 

As several others have said, I think that Massey gives us an excellent assessment of a team's relative strength, within the statistical standard deviation that is necessary in an index like this.  McMurry was 69th of 167 in D-2, and 303 out of all of 663 NCAA schools. McMurry's Massey rating would be good for #8 among non-NESCAC D-III schools.

Pat Coleman

Quote from: Ralph Turner on December 11, 2012, 01:12:11 AM
McMurry's Massey rating would be good for #8 among non-NESCAC D-III schools.

So, a pickup of six spots? It's a start.
http://www.d3football.com/top25/2011/final
Publisher. Questions? Check our FAQ for D3f, D3h.
Quote from: old 40 on September 25, 2007, 08:23:57 PMLet's discuss (sports) in a positive way, sometimes kidding each other with no disrespect.

mattvsmith

I'm coming in very late to the discussion, but I've been trawling (not trolling) the boards looking for something football to think about.

By buddy was an all-American soccer player in high school, played D-I soccer in college, and started kicking. He spent years trying to get into the NFL. He played for various levels and I think the closest he came to being in the NFL was NFL Europe, and I don't remember him ever playing.

This is a guy who was at one time one of Americ's best soccer players, probably could have played MLS if he had stuck to soccer, but he couldn't even suit up in NFL Europe.

What's that tell us about how stiff the competition is to make it to the top? I can't imagine even the best D-I schools beating a pisspoor pro team.

Another brief anecdote: I was taking a class at Arizona Western College, a community college in Yuma, AZ (I was bored.) and a kid from the football team was in there. I started talking to him and he was telling me how hard it is even for the best players in a junior college to get picked up to play for a D-I school. I asked him if he considered playing D-III. He snorted at me. I never talked to him again. No one disses D3 to The Rev and stays within my circle.

D O.C.

Reiterating what PC said, I have often thought this question after watching the very best DeLaSalle, Mater Dei and Long Beach Poly high school teams who were full of D1 players.

JahEazy

Football, I don't think so. Maybe other sports but football is too much of an actual team sport

olddog

Quote from: tigerguy on November 01, 2012, 05:33:15 PM
Wabndy I think you bring up a great point about the Offensive (and defensive line). At Trinity University in San Antonio I know they play 7 on 7 against UTSA (Division I) and Incarnate Word (Division II moving to DI) and routinely do quite well and sometimes win. If it was just skill positions versus skill positions I think this whole article might be a completely different story. Not saying Alabama would beat an NFL or a Top High School team would beat a D3 team in a 7 on 7 game but I think it would make the games much closer.

The real difference comes in the offensive and defensive lines where "the games are won."

There is no way any high school team would beat a top 25 D3 team. Of course it will never be proven, but I will take a 250 pound 21 year old over a 16 year old, all day long.
California, Where no cares who is in charge and zero accountability