Trinity 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)

Mount was picked as the favorite in the preseason coaches poll.  Not sure what's going on with Etta and Berg.  That surprised me, but the coaches know far more than I do obviously.  Taking a quick look at the All-OAC teams from last year it's safe to say that we're going to see some new names filling up the box scores.  Farrington is the lone returning 1st teamer in the conference.

1. Mount (6)
2. Ott (2)
3. ONU (1)
4. Cap, Muskie
6. Wilm
7. Berg
8. Etta
9. BW

National Poll(10/20) has SLU at #4, Hobart #9 and Ithaca RV.

Big weekend for the Berg, two week stretch of ONU and Etta, which both I think have good chances of giving the Berg a second lost.  You Mount fans gotta be Polar Bear fans this weekend.  If the berg wins these two, I dont think Cap or Wilma will be taking us down, giving us hopefully our second playoff bid ever, and closing your chance at least for the OAC title.  Good news for ya'll, is it seems like Heidelberg always falls apart on big games when the season seems to be going well 

Here is the USC rankings for National - Poll 6 - October 20, 2026

Quote from: Patrick Coleman on Yesterday at 04:13:06 PM

Quote from: Redtooth on Yesterday at 03:48:30 PM

Quote from: hazzben on Yesterday at 11:01:22 AM

Quote from: Patrick Coleman on October 18, 2026, 07:39:08 PM

Quote from: sju56321 on October 18, 2026, 06:47:24 PMWonder why we don't opt for review-is it home team that decides or both teams have to agree? The refs were horrible, especially that CC first touchdown, but SJU D didn't do themselves any favors in the first half-seems too often that is the case.

The conference had to vote for it and I believe that schools in the league were afraid that it would benefit the schools who put resources into broadcasting (Bethel and St. John's), enough of the others voted against it.

That perfectly sums up the current state of the MIAC. St. Olaf's broadcast Saturday was really good. Lots of replays, great camera angles, solid announcers doing their best with a blowout. The only struggle was not realizing when Bethel went with pace they needed to cut out replays or they'd miss the next play.

Half of this league wants to invest in their programs and put a good product out, on the field and production-wise, the other half is stuck in neutral and content to stay there.

It's such a short sighted decision. How does replay benefit SJU and Bethel any more than other schools? It's goal is to get the play correct. If anything, it would help lower tier schools when they play in environments where there's a large crowd pressuring the refs.

The bigger issue, is that it would ensure MIAC refs are prepared for late round post-season games when replay is available. Bottom line, a lot of D3 crews are out of their element come the quarterfinals and semi-finals when replay is on the table. They aren't familiar working with it, are uncertain on the types of plays that are reviewable, etc. You can't blame them when it's a tool they never use in the regular season.

I would love to see replay in the MIAC to improve the calls made/missed on field, but can assure anyone hoping for replay that the version we would get would not be worth it.  The lack of quality equipment and personnel would make it functionally useless.  When I was a replay official for an FCS team we had 16-24 cameras all staffed by professionals with 4 of us up in the booth working with a TV production truck to get what we needed and sometimes that wasn't enough.  Certainly no one in the MIAC has the production capability to make it worthwhile.

Nonetheless, even a basic system that includes the main camera in the box and the end zone cameras for coach film can correct some errors. Is it only worth having replay if it can make the game perfect?

To me it's a classic case of don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Every school has video, some have 2 or 3 camera angles. Regardless, at any given game both teams have the same camera angle access.

Case in point. Against Olaf they had a catch to their sideline, the receiver on their field level replay was clearly out of bounds when he caught it. Field Judge came running in from 10 yards away and signaled catch. Replay was looked to be out of bounds. Later in the same quarter, Bethel had a beautiful pick. DB got one foot down with clear control, foot was in by a good 2 feet. Same Field Judge ruled it out of bounds. Even the main camera angle showed an obvious catch. Every camera in the conference would have caught it. But the field level replay at Olaf made it unquestionably a pick. Bottom line, the ref blew both calls, and IMO was probably influenced by the fact that both were made directly in front of the Olaf bench.

It was a meaningless call in a blowout. But in a key game for an auto bid or to keep at large hopes alive, that matters. It's also an immediate point of feedback for the Field Judge and officiating crew.

The Battle of Kevin Burkes has game notes:

https://athletics.mountunion.edu/documents/2026/10/20/2026_Football_Game_Notes_Wilmington.pdf

Wilma lists a starting fullback...hell yea

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?

Quote from: Ron Boerger on Yesterday at 09:25:08 AMUnsurprisingly, Maryville's upset of Trinity is the second game featured in this week's D3football.com Around the Nation podcast.

Sorry for the tardy game-reaction. First game of the season I was unable to watch and sounds like I would have been yelling at the screen the majority of the game. From what I can glean from the box score, looks like the inconsistent offense finally caught up to them and the running game wasn't able to do anything, even though they outgained Maryville by almost 100 yards overall. This team reminds me of my senior 2011 team when we had a spectacular defense, but couldn't do anything consistently on offense.

As I've noted previously, special teams is another confusing problem area for this team and I do not understand why the staff has not figured out the holes that are leading to blocked/tipped FG/PATs. Urban needs to get this team reoriented, because if the same team shows up against Millsaps this week, they can kiss the playoffs goodbye.

Quote from: Ron Boerger on Today at 11:27:16 AM

Quote from: scottiedoug on Today at 10:53:09 AMIt is a long trip from Maryville to San Antonio and there are many trips required over and above the huge football group....

Pat made a comment on the D3football ATN podcast yesterday about the football team not having returned by the time they recorded the podcast which makes me wonder if they bused, which certainly would cut down on the cost, if not the lost time for their students. 

Two (maybe three) busses over that distance in this economy might cost more than flying.  I know the numbers work out better for football than basketball, but a lot of basketball coaches tell me flying is cheaper than bussing at a surprisingly short distance.