Wesley has been turned down by no less than 5 teams to play a game on the same open date... Two of which are within a 2 hrs drive and two that woudn't be in region games. There are a few other schools who haven't even acknowleged the offer and some prefer to play a nine game schedule. Wesley has even gone to extreems to get the games with no still being the answer.
Last year they had to play 4 non-D3 schools to fill out their schedule. I know that some of the schools in the extreem south have had similar problems getiing a full slate of D3 games. So maybe it's time for the NCAA to come up with a way let those games count for something toward strength of numbers.
I took a lot of static last year for saying teams were dodging Wesley. IMHO , when a team declines a game when they themselves don't have a full schedule that's dodging.
It ain't gonna happen. I sympathize with your school's predicament, but its (and your) energies would best be directed elsewhere as far as solutions to the program's scheduling predicament are concerned.
Quote from: Gregory Sager on February 24, 2009, 05:00:59 PM
It ain't gonna happen. I sympathize with your school's predicament, but its (and your) energies would best be directed elsewhere as far as solutions to the program's scheduling predicament are concerned.
I don't know what you do when teams absolutely refuse to play. Especially teams close enough to create regional rivalries. Two of the teams that are on the list backed out of agreements to begin with. The MAC schools have three open dates to fill and you would think they would welcome some tougher competition to get ready for league season. Maybe you open all D3 games to strength of schedule. Wesley and Salisbury are both on an island when it comes to travel for non football sports which doesn't help when trying to get into a conference
Quote from: PA_wesleyfan on February 24, 2009, 05:53:55 PM
I don't know what you do when teams absolutely refuse to play.
Welcome to the club!
Sincerely,
The WIAC
Maybe the asker should ask some teams which are likely to be better than the asker - say teams in another division.
It may cost some airfare, but I think there are teams out west that could always use another game.
Only one WIAC team offered a game and that is for (a maybe) next season. Wesley had an agreement to play Pacific Lutheran but are playing an in region game with LaGrange on that date instead. I know that there are other team in areas that have logistic problems with scheduling, but these teams have open dates and are within a two hr. drive .Hartwick declined for the second straight year and Springfield also from the great E8 also declined, Springfield would be an in region contest but Hartwick would not. None of the New York schools are close enough to be within the 200 mile range Wesley has offered to play both on the road and given other considerations also. Widener and DelVal have also decided not to renew even though they have open dates. DelVal and Lycoming had both backed out of commitments. Wesley has also contacted D2 teams for games and in the past has played 1AA teams... Maybe they should contact Michigan or Florida!!!!
Another opportunity for me to chime in. Do away with the in-region game farce.
A big part of the problem here is that the sport PA_wesleyfan is discussing is football. That's a sport that has some specific scheduling problems built in, because vastly fewer D3 schools offer football than offer basketball, soccer, etc. The number of non-conference scheduling options is therefore significantly lower in that sport.
It might be a good idea of getting rid of the regional game criteria for football.
Quote from: frank uible on February 25, 2009, 11:07:13 AM
Maybe the asker should ask some teams which are likely to be better than the asker - say teams in another division.
That strikes me as a pretty good idea, but do D-2 and FCS teams have strength of schedule considerations when their playoffs are being selected. If so, I doubt that they would want to schedule a D-3 team, even one like Wesley that would not be perceived as "weak".
What about the non-scholarship FCS teams like Towson or (from my area) Davidson? It's doubtful that they would make their playoffs in any case so maybe they would be willing to schedule D-3 teams. Not really sure, just a thought.
Quote from: Just Bill on February 25, 2009, 09:37:23 AM
Quote from: PA_wesleyfan on February 24, 2009, 05:53:55 PM
I don't know what you do when teams absolutely refuse to play.
Welcome to the club!
Sincerely,
The WIAC and some members of the ASC and NWC*
*fixed
Again, I want to thank Hardin-Simmon's for the 2-year deal with Linfield from 08-09. Granted, the 'Cats took the loss this past year at HSU (and is 1-2 vs HSU) but at least we had one non-conference DIII game last season. This is just a fact of life for top tier DIII teams when trying to fill multiple non-conference games. The only reason why Linfield has been able to get some SCIAC teams back on the schedule is that Linfield has been stuck on 6-3 for the past few seasons and these schools are now more willing to play.
The fact is nobody is going to feel bad for Wesley, Whitewater, HSU, UMHB having a hard time trying to find games so I doubt much if any will change.
Looks like the NCAA may be considering some "football only" adjustements to the criteria based on the comparatively low number of contests per year compared to other sports.
http://www.ncaa.org/wps/ncaa?ContentID=46929