FB: Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[D3fanboy]

I think D3fanboy is likely correct that the WIAC doesn't have a team that would knock off either of the big two. However, I don't think there is a "dramatic drop off", depending on how he defines it. When I think of a dramatic drop off, I associate it with a blow out type of game if they matched up. Thinking of UWW vs either of the big two, I think the Warhawks have a defense that keeps the game close. UWW does not have the offensive weapons of the big two, but they could slow the game down with a ball control offense.
I don't know what to think about UWL- other than they are a tough, gritty team. UWW did almost nothing offensively to test UWL.
In thinking about the UWO-NCC game result, there was no game film for UWO to watch since it was NCC's first game, with many new players. I'm not suggesting UWO would have won, just that it's reasonable to assume they would have been better prepared for what NCC brought.   

I think that there are two teams that can win a national title, Mount and NCC.  Then I think that there are 10 or so teams that could make it to the semis.  I don't see much difference between #3 JHU and #14 UW-RF.  Could any of those teams knock off Mount or NCC in one game? Sure, but it would take a fantastic performance and a bit of a downer from the favorite.  I think that the top 2 teams beat all of those others 8 or 9 times out of 10.

[USee]

Emma, I hear you on UWO/NCC on not having a film. But NCC's playbook is almost exactly the same. The people are different but their run scheme (which is 70% of their offense) is the same as it's been under Coach Spencer. And the pass concepts are also the same. Their defense hasn't changed and many of the people are the same from a year ago. The biggest change for NCC isn't scheme, its that their defense is playing at a dominating level where most of their Stagg Bowl teams have had dominant offense (OL and 3 Gagliardi players) and good defense. As D3FB has said, I think UWO loses by that margin 9 out of 10 times against NCC.

[emma17]

USee and Pat,
My point specifically about UWO and no film was "it's reasonable to assume they would have been better prepared for what NCC brought". I stand by that statement.

I think you are both saying - no matter how much preparation UWO had, they were getting a beating. I agree UWO is losing that game most every time. As for the point differential remaining the same (I'm going with 45-7 since I assume UWO's last TD was backups) I have a hard time swallowing that pill. Film isn't just about identifying scheme, as you know, it's about game planning strengths and weaknesses of specific players, which comes from film study.

Who knows in the end.   

[UWO Titan 78]

USee and Pat,
My point specifically about UWO and no film was "it's reasonable to assume they would have been better prepared for what NCC brought". I stand by that statement.

I think you are both saying - no matter how much preparation UWO had, they were getting a beating. I agree UWO is losing that game most every time. As for the point differential remaining the same (I'm going with 45-7 since I assume UWO's last TD was backups) I have a hard time swallowing that pill. Film isn't just about identifying scheme, as you know, it's about game planning strengths and weaknesses of specific players, which comes from film study.

Who knows in the end. 

I've followed the WIAC since I played in it as the WSUC. I've followed the CCIW closely the last 5 years since my son played and now coaches in the league.

The problem here is North Central's defense. It is elite. Oshkosh's first score came on a blocked punt that they recovered inside the five. North Central will (and has) clean that up. I'm not sure this NC offense is as good (yet) as they have been in the past, but the defense might be better than ever. They just held a potent Wheaton team to 148 yards of total offense (-2 rushing). Wheaton would compete in the WIAC. North Central didn't even have to do anything special to beat Wheaton 35-0. North Central ran for 279 yards and completed 15 of 16 passes. It was a ho-hum performance. They easily could've hung 50+ on Wheaton. The talk on the CCIW message board is that NC is using the regular season to just ramp up for the postseason. CCIW teams know they don't have a chance. I'd like to think the best the WIAC has to offer has a legit chance at beating NC, but I'm not sure. Weather, turnovers, injuries, etc play a part in football and NC will have to navigate all of those things. Nobody in the CCIW will give them a game. They won their semi-final last year 66-0. They likely won't get tested until deep into the playoffs. Will a WIAC team still be around then? 

[emma17]

I don't understand why NCC doesn't move up to D2.
Muhahahaha

I work off a base assumption that D3 teams are made up of D3 players. Too short, too slow, not strong enough, not this and not that. So I ask myself, is the difference between an elite team and a very good team a matter of one, two or three super elite D3 players or is the average "grade" of all the players on an elite D3 team well above that of a very good D3 team.

[USee]

USee and Pat,
My point specifically about UWO and no film was "it's reasonable to assume they would have been better prepared for what NCC brought". I stand by that statement.

I think you are both saying - no matter how much preparation UWO had, they were getting a beating. I agree UWO is losing that game most every time. As for the point differential remaining the same (I'm going with 45-7 since I assume UWO's last TD was backups) I have a hard time swallowing that pill. Film isn't just about identifying scheme, as you know, it's about game planning strengths and weaknesses of specific players, which comes from film study.

Who knows in the end. 

I've followed the WIAC since I played in it as the WSUC. I've followed the CCIW closely the last 5 years since my son played and now coaches in the league.

The problem here is North Central's defense. It is elite. Oshkosh's first score came on a blocked punt that they recovered inside the five. North Central will (and has) clean that up. I'm not sure this NC offense is as good (yet) as they have been in the past, but the defense might be better than ever. They just held a potent Wheaton team to 148 yards of total offense (-2 rushing). Wheaton would compete in the WIAC. North Central didn't even have to do anything special to beat Wheaton 35-0. North Central ran for 279 yards and completed 15 of 16 passes. It was a ho-hum performance. They easily could've hung 50+ on Wheaton. The talk on the CCIW message board is that NC is using the regular season to just ramp up for the postseason. CCIW teams know they don't have a chance. I'd like to think the best the WIAC has to offer has a legit chance at beating NC, but I'm not sure. Weather, turnovers, injuries, etc play a part in football and NC will have to navigate all of those things. Nobody in the CCIW will give them a game. They won their semi-final last year 66-0. They likely won't get tested until deep into the playoffs. Will a WIAC team still be around then? 

This is a bit over the top. If NCC could have hung 50, they would have. Unlike Mt Union, they didn't sub out any starters. This was a 21-0 game until 10min left in the 4th quarter. I guarantee you NCC was trying hard the entire time.

NCC's defense is elite in my opinion. Their shutout of Wheaton, a top 15 team, is the most impressive defensive result I have seen among the top 20 teams. Their offense will face some much tougher defenses in the playoffs. They haven't really faced any top 25 defenses to this point and, to your point, they won't until the playoffs.

But let's hold off on crowning them just yet. I have a lot of respect for the WIAC and the physical style of football they play. NCC beat a middle of the pack UWO team (statistically #5 in Off and #7 in def). That doesn't mean Platteville, UWW, etc are gonna get rolled (e.g. see UMHB/UWW result) if/when they face NCC.

I am surprised by the result vs Wheaton as I expected a 10-20pt margin and certainly not a shutout. That may be more attributable to variance than to relative strength (Though DT JP Sullivan is a D3POY candidate IMO).

[D3fanboy]

I don't understand why NCC doesn't move up to D2.
Muhahahaha

I work off a base assumption that D3 teams are made up of D3 players. Too short, too slow, not strong enough, not this and not that. So I ask myself, is the difference between an elite team and a very good team a matter of one, two or three super elite D3 players or is the average "grade" of all the players on an elite D3 team well above that of a very good D3 team.

Weird how that "NCC must move up!!!" stuff hasn't really come up much, ever really.  Mount and UWW used to get that over and over.  Is it that D3fb has taken a step back? is it all the 5th-6th year seniors?

[emma17]

I don't understand why NCC doesn't move up to D2.
Muhahahaha

I work off a base assumption that D3 teams are made up of D3 players. Too short, too slow, not strong enough, not this and not that. So I ask myself, is the difference between an elite team and a very good team a matter of one, two or three super elite D3 players or is the average "grade" of all the players on an elite D3 team well above that of a very good D3 team.

Weird how that "NCC must move up!!!" stuff hasn't really come up much, ever really.  Mount and UWW used to get that over and over.  Is it that D3fb has taken a step back? is it all the 5th-6th year seniors?

It's hard for me to answer this objectively because I'm UWW centric. To me, D3 took a step back starting in 2015 😁
My best guess is to say it's all about the offenses- across all levels. There is such an emphasis on the passing game, I have to believe the great D3 receivers of the past (all those Mt guys), Kumerow and a couple others from UWW, like Rusch, Kaminski (sp?) from NCC, would have been tempted by the portal, maybe NIL and the promise to play high level- and maybe they end up not being D3.

[D3fanboy]

I don't understand why NCC doesn't move up to D2.
Muhahahaha

I work off a base assumption that D3 teams are made up of D3 players. Too short, too slow, not strong enough, not this and not that. So I ask myself, is the difference between an elite team and a very good team a matter of one, two or three super elite D3 players or is the average "grade" of all the players on an elite D3 team well above that of a very good D3 team.

Weird how that "NCC must move up!!!" stuff hasn't really come up much, ever really.  Mount and UWW used to get that over and over.  Is it that D3fb has taken a step back? is it all the 5th-6th year seniors?

It's hard for me to answer this objectively because I'm UWW centric. To me, D3 took a step back starting in 2015 😁
My best guess is to say it's all about the offenses- across all levels. There is such an emphasis on the passing game, I have to believe the great D3 receivers of the past (all those Mt guys), Kumerow and a couple others from UWW, like Rusch, Kaminski (sp?) from NCC, would have been tempted by the portal, maybe NIL and the promise to play high level- and maybe they end up not being D3.

Garcon, Shorts, Kumerow, a bunch of UWW OL, and many more would have all been making six figures in today's college football.  Hell, Kmic would have likely been an FCS kid and Coppage could have really funded his off-the-field business opportunities.  What a golden era of D3FB.  ESPN needs to make a 30 for 30 about the Mount-UWW rivalry, it will never be duplicated

[Bofadeeznuts]

Lol. Every thing you 2 dopes just said is so far fetched.
Gotta be sarcastic, right?
Even before NIL, if a D1 school thought a D3 kid was talented enough to play at that level they would come to them with a scholarship. And a D3 kid can leave at any time and try to walk on somewhere else.
The kids of the past in D3 would be making 6 figures today?!? Good lord.
I'm willing to bet Blaha didn't come back for his 12th season because some donor tossed him some money.

FBS-Varsity football
FCS-Junior varsity football
D2-Freshman football
D3-Junior high football

You 2 are obviously drinking too much purple kool-aid.

Glory Days by Bruce Springsteen

[D3fanboy]

in the old days, transferring up divisions would have resulted in sitting out a year.

You're high if you dont think that the NFL saw Garcon/Shorts as draft picks (6th/4th), but upper level CFB teams wouldn't have offered them a good deal in today's NIL marketplace

[WashedUp]

The kids of the past in D3 would be making 6 figures today?!? Good lord.

There is a D3 kid starting for the Badgers right now that is making 6 figures.

[emma17]

The kids of the past in D3 would be making 6 figures today?!? Good lord.

There is a D3 kid starting for the Badgers right now that is making 6 figures.

Awesome. There's also a D3 guy that made All Pro last year at Right Guard w the Denver Broncos.

Hey BofaNuts, didn't you say you're somewhat of a late comer to the D3 world? If you had seen Garçon doing his thing at Mt from 2005-2007, you might have a different opinion.

[Bofadeeznuts]

Been following it for 24 yrs. You guys gave 3? 4? guys from 20 years. I'm sure there's a few more, but to say there's ALLLLL these from the past would make all this money is delusional.
But yeah, I smell what you're stepping in.

[DriftlessDuhawk]

FBS-Varsity football
FCS-Junior varsity football
D2-Freshman football
D3-Junior high football

If this is truly what you think of d3 football, I'm sure there are other message boards that you can post on because clearly you don't know what you are talking about.