Quote from: lumbercat on Today at 01:01:53 PM

Quote from: TheJeff on Today at 11:10:48 AMCould Amherst go 5-4? Yes, but I don't think they've played their best football yet.

The offense is yet to piece together a complete game and Marek Hill has proved to be a legit QB with serious weapons at receiver. I felt offensive play calling restricted him vs Colby as they never went for the deep shots like they did in Middlebury. The lack of run game will hurt them against teams like Trinity and Wesleyan, but I think they can manage against Williams and Tufts.


The defense has been great to the run for the most part and seems more susceptible to the pass (concerning with Wesleyan on the horizon). As an alum, I trust Coach Mills and Coach Bussard will be able to game plan for the stronger offenses the next few weeks. With all that being said, I don't see Amherst winning a rock fight in the back half of their schedule.

Overall, they have not played a complete game on their way to 5-0. Question is: can they? Time will tell... my prediction is 7-2

Pretty easy schedule so far for Amherst. They were lucky to beat Bates and Bowdoin. Williams is the better team but anything can happen in The Game. If Shapiro is healthy they will struggle with Tufts.
By the way, what happened to Coach Ballard?

Amherst had no trouble on defense against Bates and Bowdoin. Let's keep in mind, Amherst had to start their backup QB against Bowdoin and started off down 10-0 minutes into the first quarter. Props to the backup, Livatino, for filling in, but let's not act like it wouldn't have been a different game with Hill. I have acknowledged their easy schedule thus far.

Williams will always be a tough game, but I can't agree that Amherst will have trouble with Tufts just because of Shapiro. Their run defense is #1 in the league (easy schedule, top 3 regardless) and I don't see them having trouble scoring on Tuft's defense. Shapiro was a non-factor against Amherst last year and if he's already dealing with injuries, I think they can contain him.

Quote from: MCScots2013 on Today at 02:05:54 PMTrinity to the SCAC could put the USA South in a pickle and give the CCS a reason to sponsor football.

Hear me out:

Football...
Maryville
Centre
Sewanee
Berry
Rhodes
Belhaven
Huntingdon
LaGrange

Non-football...
Oglethorpe
Asbury
Piedmont
Covenant
Agnes Scott (2027)

I guess. You could also do it this way and have a north/south division, since there aren't quite 12 without Rhodes and Centre, which I think would have better options. Play your division every year, 4 games, play 4 from the opposite division, leaving 1 OOC game at the start of the season and 1v1, 2v2, etc. to decide the championship and play out the last weekend. Very manageable for an area of the country that struggles to find reasonable OOC games.

North Football:
Brevard
Maryville
Greensboro
NC Wes
Southern Virginia

South Football:
Berry
Belhaven
Huntingdon
LaGrange
Sewanee

Once football is squared away, which is the hardest, just keep the CCS/USASAC split where needed for the other sports.

National - Poll 6 - October 20, 2026
Rank    School    Prev    W-L-T
1    Middlebury College    1    9-0-3
2    Rowan University    3    10-0-3
3    St. Olaf College    2    13-0-2
4    St. Lawrence University    4    10-0-3
5    Case Western Reserve University    5    10-0-2
6    University of Lynchburg    6    10-1-3
7    Williams College    7    9-1-2
8    Kenyon College    14    11-2-0
9    Hobart College    11    10-2-2
10    University of Chicago    9    10-3-0
11    Southwestern University    13    11-1-1
12    University of Scranton    16    10-1-3
13    Connecticut College    15    9-2-2
14    Calvin University    12    11-1-2
15    Montclair State University    19    12-2-2
16    Messiah University    20    12-1-1
17    Emory University    NR    11-1-2
18    Washington & Lee University    8    9-2-2
19    SUNY Cortland    18    11-2-1
20    Tufts University    23    7-2-3
21    Catholic University    10    9-1-4
22    Saint John's University    21    13-1-2
23    Roger Williams University    25    9-1-5
24    Salisbury University    22    11-1-3
25    Colorado College    NR    11-2-1

Records shown are through games of October 18, 2026

Also receiving votes: SUNY Oneonta, Babson College, North Park University, Bowdoin College, Ithaca College, Carnegie Mellon University, Wesleyan University, University of Redlands, Luther College, Denison University

I was thinking a current.

After sitting at 24 all summer, UW-Oshkosh adds 25th game at home vs Buena Vista December 2. Actually not as bad as you game as you might expect. Beavers had 16 D3 wins last year. It probably doesn't make Oshkosh's top 15 counting wins for this season, but you never know. Maybe Scott or Ryan could add details on what to expect for this game?

RB Depth Chart:

Starter: Minner
Backup: Bokman

I don't disagree, and also, on a relative basis, the CCIW was the 12th best WBB conference last year out of 43!

Quote from: Jbothe on Today at 09:39:19 AMWBB in the CCIW is pretty rough right now.  Even in a rebuilding year I think IWU is way out in front.  Just from my observing over the years they general level of athleticism seems to have gone down. 

My thoughts exactly.

Quote from: Kuiper on Today at 10:36:39 AMRegion V - Poll 6 - October 20, 2026
Rank   School   Prev   W-L-T
1   University of Scranton   NR   10-1-3
2   Messiah University   NR   12-1-1
3   Catholic University   NR   9-1-4
4   Johns Hopkins University   NR   9-3-2
5   Haverford College   NR   11-3-1
6   Neumann University   NR   10-3-1
7   York College (Pa.)   NR   9-5-2
8   Moravian University   NR   7-3-5

Messiah's next two matches are against two regionally ranked teams (York and Neumann). Good to see a few other MAC teams in the rankings at this time of the year.

Coach Ballard and his family moved to Cape Cod, and is now on the coaching staff at (the undefeated) Massachusetts Maritime.