FB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[Crawford]

. I spent some time at Saint John's University in Collegeville, MN. JCU reminded me of the size and athleticism of the Jonnie's.

The MIAC is always a bit of a mystery to me. The top end of the conference (St. Johns and Bethel currently, and St. Thomas historically) are usually quite competitive on the national scene. But the bottom of the conference is so bad, it's really hard to get a feel for how good they really are. It's not all that different than the NCAC in some ways. I trust your gut on the size and athleticism of the team, but comparing them to Hamline or Augsburg is tough. Either way, if I were a betting man, I'd bet the Johnnies will be in the playoffs this year. They've got a tough matchup of their own this week against Bethel, maybe their only tough game this regular season.

That is definitely true about the disparity of the teams in the MIAC (and the NCAC).  I was in Collegeville, MN when the MIAC forced St Thomas out (that was quite the controversy).  I also was at the St John's - Rose Hulman game in 2019. On paper it looks like Rose played as well as most of the Jonnie's MIAC competition but in person St John's "looked" bigger and more physical. 

[Crawford]

Oh my Depauw was up 14 - 0 before they had an offensive play and up 42 - 0 after about 14 offensive plays!   I fear for the safety of the Oberlin students.

[Whitecarrera]

Wooster beat Wittenberg?
... and wow, Wooster is not very good!

[Crawford]

Just watched the second half of the John Carrol vs Wabash game on JCU's web site.  Disappointed in Wabash's loss but Wabash played well in the second half.  Will be interesting game in two weeks with JCU at Depauw.

[JCUStreaks70]

Just watched the second half of the John Carrol vs Wabash game on JCU's web site.  Disappointed in Wabash's loss but Wabash played well in the second half.  Will be interesting game in two weeks with JCU at Depauw.

Every year, JCU has one of these "go up big, and find a way to almost blow it" games. To be honest, I am actually really glad that they did almost blow it, because an "easy win" against a good brand, such as Wabash, can make you read your press clippings. However, now you see that this not a conference that you're just going to "roll through".

[Axe and Paddle]

https://www.depauw.edu/stories/details/depauw-university-announces-an-80-million-gift-to-build-new-athletics-performance-center/

DePauw receives $80 Million dollar gift to build new stadium/Performance Center

[Dr. Acula]

Wow.  That should be amazing.  What a win for their student athletes.  And in the article it mentioned that the $80MM is part of $365MM already raised for their fundraising campaign for 2027.  Always great to see alumni investing in their alma mater.

[WabashBob]

This is getting ahead of ourselves quite a bit, but I found myself thinking about this in the wake of the Wabash/JCU result.  It is not unfathomable that the top three in the conference each end up with one loss and a tie (DePauw beats JCU, Wabash beats DePauw): if that happens, I assume the NCAC tie break rule is still "tie goes the team that hasn't been to the playoffs most recently," so would that be automatically JCU even though they are a new member?  Or has the tie-break rule changed to something a little more practical? This also rules out the possibility of the NCAC getting two teams in, which hasn't happened in some time.

[maripp2002]

I think that a one loss team from the NCAC has a great shot at getting an at-large bid in this year. JCU's NPI is 43, DePauw 29, and Wabash 27, looking at the teams that are ahead in the NPI there seems like there could be a fair number of losses still coming from them. At least 5 WIAC schools are ahead, and we know they'll all beat the sh*t out of each other and take some losses.

I can't answer your tiebreaker question, but I can say don't sleep on the NCAC's ability to get a second team in this year.

https://d3datacast.com/npi/fb/

[wally_wabash]

This is getting ahead of ourselves quite a bit, but I found myself thinking about this in the wake of the Wabash/JCU result.  It is not unfathomable that the top three in the conference each end up with one loss and a tie (DePauw beats JCU, Wabash beats DePauw): if that happens, I assume the NCAC tie break rule is still "tie goes the team that hasn't been to the playoffs most recently," so would that be automatically JCU even though they are a new member?  Or has the tie-break rule changed to something a little more practical? This also rules out the possibility of the NCAC getting two teams in, which hasn't happened in some time.

In the 40-team tournament, nearly all 9-1 teams are essentially locks for the playoffs so two teams from the NCAC looks incredibly likely right now. John Carroll needs to beat DePauw to be totally safe, but if a three-way tiebreak falls in favor of JCU, three teams is possible (barring any upsets of course). 

[WabashBob]

I forgot about the expanded field!