Beats the hell out of Garnet Chargers in my very humble opinion.  Then again Cardinals isn't exactly original.  Certainly not badass.  Golden Tornados, Red Dragons, Green Knights, Vikings.... small birds.

It was kind of disappointing that Thornton didn't have any pro talk around him.  He was so, so good at center.  Mr. Automatic.

All the talk about D2 Ferris State has me wondering if D2 opponents should count for NPI in some way.  If anything, results against D2 ought to have a positive impact on your rating.  I wouldn't want D3 vs. NAIA, but D3 vs. a higher level of NCAA competition should count for something.  If that were the case, perhaps it would allow teams to fill in their schedules with some quality opponents.

A few points:

We have FBS teams playing FCS teams and winning, becoming bowl eligible because of it (I'm looking at you, NIU).

If you take an AP course, you're sometimes graded on a 5-point scale instead of a 4-point.  Why not have a win (or a close loss) vs. a higher division team count for something rather than not at all?  (Looking at you, UWLax)

The way the system is set up, no one will want to play a team just to be, for all practical purposes, disqualified from the tournament in week 1.  We've got plenty of creative people in this country.  Why can't this be a thing?

I know, I know, we've got NPI as it is for 5(?) years.  The dials as they are for another year.

Quote from: robertgoulet on January 06, 2025, 01:55:35 PMyep. If you have a couple of schools with home stadiums of 100K each go somewhere "nice" and pull in 40-50K, it stands to reason that if you send 2 schools with 4-5K attendance each somewhere not nice they're only going to pull 2-3K.

Them's fight'n words, cowboy!  ...But you're not wrong.  Austin > Houston.

Another attendance booster idea [that will never happen because of $$$] would be to have a 3rd place game in the afternoon.  Two games, one ticket, more fans.

There was a good conversation about Stagg Bowl attendance going on over in the OAC board.  I wish the NCAA would just schedule this game on a Saturday, for crying out loud!  The Friday and Sunday night games make it really hard for a lot of people to make it out there.  As a teacher I can tell you it's not a good look to have a substitute in your classroom for the last day before the winter break or the first day back from it.  Ok.  That's just me complaining, but...

One thing that got me wondering a little was this: Wheaton.  If Wheaton were to make it to the championship game and the game was on a Sunday, would they have played? DIII has a few schools that have policies prohibiting athletic competition on Sundays, right?  WWWD?

Here's ESPN's box score.

https://www.espn.com/college-football/game/_/gameId/401741208/mt-union-n-central

Well hopefully no one, but they've certainly got some big shoes to fill.

Quote from: CardinalAlum on January 03, 2025, 09:05:14 PMCongrats to Luke Lehnen on his back to back Gagliardi trophies!!

D3fanboy's gonna have an aneurysm with this news.

Um, NCC's on pace to drop 80+ on the #6 team in the nation.  This is absolutely crazy.  And the defense. Damn.

Who all's going to the game this weekend?

The atmosphere was awesome for the UMHB game. Hoping for the same on Saturday.

Little Giant 89, the quote you have in the signature line is the best.  And kind of topical...

"Bringing you up to speed is like explaining Norway to a dog."
    Jackson Lamb, Slow Horses

"Bringing an ESPN announcing crew up to speed on all of the nuance in a DIII game in less than one week is like explaining Norway to a dog."
    DIII Football Fans, Everywhere

Quote from: wally_wabash on December 17, 2024, 10:48:33 AMI don't want to pile on the ESPN crews that do the semis and the Stagg Bowl. No, they haven't followed the teams closely for 14 weeks, they will botch some names, and they miss some nuances of Division III, but I don't ever get the sense that they don't care.  They're generally pretty enthusiastic about the event. 

By saying "my sentiments exactly" and then saying what I said and how I said it, I put you on a side of the issue.  I had no business doing that.

For me, I need to practice what I preach and assume other peoples' best intentions.  No, they don't have an intimate knowledge of our division and its beloved players, but they're professionals who do the best with what they have.  In a perfect world they would contract out announcer responsibilities to someone with that sort of knowledge, but here we are.

Pat and Greg,

Just listened to your podcast.  Always fun to get my D3football fix on a Monday morning!

Regarding the announcers, my sentiments exactly.  It's a shame that we D3 fans have knowledgeable announcers pulled away from us just to have some dispassionate underling from ESPN Ocho stand in their rightful place.  Then, for the next three hours we get to listen on as they mispronounce everything - players and school names alike - and blurt out the one stat that they learned Saturday morning, over and over and over...  Thankfully I will be at the game.  For the rest of you, think fondly of Alex and Grant.

And now on to more important matters...  Pequod's Pizza is the best.  It's like the first team AA QB of pizzas.  It's #1 out of 237 pizza places in Chicago.  While Uno's and Malnoti's have the College Gameday hype like Amhurst/Williams, Pequod's is the real deal. The caramelized cheese crust running circles around the field.  An overwhelming layer of cheese, daring you to go a full 60 minutes.

Quote from: Pat Coleman on December 15, 2024, 04:06:02 PM

Quote from: The Third Division on December 15, 2024, 11:59:35 AMCouldn't he have just hopped on a zoom call or something?

Hopped on a Zoom call for what?

To be told that they were giving the award to a guy from Alabama.  Doesn't matter.

Interesting fact:  An Alabama transfer named Luke ended up helping NCC win a few track & field  national championships while winning 7 individual pole vault national championships.

If your name is Luke, consider a small DIII school in the western suburbs of Chicago.

Go Cards!

Congratulations to all of our CCIW student athletes recognized in Region 5!

Offense           
Pos.   Player   School   Yr.   Hometown
QB   Luke Lehnen   North Central   Sr.   Chatham, Ill.
TE   Reed Breckheimer   Carroll   Jr.   Hilbert, Wis.
WR   Ben Bonga   Wheaton   Sr.   Brentwood, Tenn.
T   Jeske Maples   North Central   Sr.   Moweaqua, Ill.
G   Sam Pryor   North Central   Sr.   Sugar Grove, Ill.
C   Brendan Mayo   Washington U.   Sr.   Merritt Island, Fla.
RB   Mike DiGioia   Augustana   Sr.   Schaumburg, Ill.
RB   Giovanni Weeks   Wheaton   Sr.   Kent City, Mich.
K   Joren Clem   Augustana   Sr.   Columbus, Ohio
RET   Breyden Smith   Augustana   Jr.   Arlington Hts., Ill.
QB   Mark Forcucci   Wheaton   Jr.   Winfield, Ill.
RB   Joe Sacco   North Central   Sr.   Bartlett, Ill.
WR   Jereme Ombogo   North Park   Jr.   Houston, Texas
TE   Bobby Behmer   North Central   Sr.   Rockford, Ill.
G   Nick Fehrle   North Central   Sr.   Rockford, Ill.
T   Aidan Kingsbury   Wheaton   Sr.   Roseville, Minn.
RET   Jahari Scott   Illinois Wesleyan   Jr.   Lake Bluff, Ill.
               
Defense           
DE   Peter Johanik   Wheaton   Jr.   W. Chicago, Ill.
DT   John Sullivan   North Central   Jr.   Lake Villa, Ill.
LB   BJ Adamchik   North Central   Sr.   Raleigh, N.C.
LB   Luca Torti   Wheaton   Jr.   Carlsbad, Calif.
LB   Zack Orr   North Central   Sr.   Mokena, Ill.
CB   Rahmareon Roby   North Central   Jr.   Lena, Ill.
DT   Cortez Jones   North Central   So.   Lansing, Ill.
CB   Max Wilson   Wheaton   Sr.   Wheaton, Ill.
S   Brayden Garrigan   North Central   So.   Lemont, Ill.
P   Noah Streveler   Carroll   Sr.   Stevens Point, Wis.
ST   Matt Hansen   Illinois Wesleyan   So.   Chicago, Ill.
DT   Josh Hlavacek   Illinois Wesleyan   So.   Plainfield, Ill.
LB   Jaydin Miller   North Park   Sr.   South Bend, Ind.
S   Ben Butler   North Park   Jr.   Kenosha, Wis.