FB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Redtooth]

I saw Logan post that Wart got done a diservice, essentially treated like a 2 seed in their own quad. He might be right, but aside from NPI Wartburg just doesn't looke like a very elite 1 seed IMO given the stats above.

That said, the MIAC finds itself in 2 of the 3 toughest quadrants ever according to Logan's numbers. If we get anyone to the quarters or beyond we'll have earned it, great chance to reset the recent national narrative about the conference.

The success that SJU and Bethel have in this tournament will do very little to change the legitimate narrative that the MIAC has two very good programs that see very little competition other than their now once a year regular season meeting...prior to the playoffs.  It has been over 20 football seasons since a current MIAC team not named SJU or Bethel won the league title. 

The reality is most schools in the conference are waffling(at best) in their support and commitment toward building competitive football programs......words but very little definable action.  The recipe needed to build requires a level of institutional interest in doing so that just frankly doesn't exist beyond the two schools mentioned above.

The switch to playing everyone in conference also took away two additional competitive games (one NC and the conference title game) for both SJU and Bethel......that hurts nationally.

Both teams will be tested in their respective brackets and I hope both advance deep in the playoffs.

[faunch]

Listening to today's podcast, it sounds like the consensus is one and done for St John's. Can anyone let the team know in case they need motivation?

Johnnies are 3-3 in their last 3 post season appearances. They really need to make a prolonged run (2-3 wins) and maybe have a trip to the semifinals to stake a claim to being top a 5 team in D3.
The last 3-4 seasons they've been in that 10ish range (maybe even outside of that).

From my calculations the Johnnies are 10-8 in the playoffs since 2014 (9 appearances). Take out the 2018 (2-1) and 2019 (3-1) playoff runs the Johnnies are 5-6 (if I'm math-ing correctly) . I get that it's really difficult to win in November and December however the playoff record is what it is. Will having one "competitive" regular season game make it more difficult to to have success in the post season? At this time of the season it's about winning games.

FWIW...my pick is NCC to win the whole thing again. IMO they've got something really, really good going.

[art76]

Just finished listening to the podcast - had to work today. I started listening this morning before work and my wife pokes her head into my "den" and asks out loud, "What are you listening to?" I told her it was a parody song the the guys at D3 made up - they've done it before. She asks me if I know that the tune is from Wicked - I confess that I did not. We both laugh.

This playoff bracket is not too bad compared to some we've had in the past. BU has a tough draw, that's for sure. Old history is that BU has both lost and won playing North Central in the playoffs, so if it comes to that, it'll be a pretty good game - shoot, it might even be the "Stagg Bowl" game, depending on how things go from there.

Won't be able to get to any of the playoff games BU has at home because of work - kind of bummed by that. The last BU playoff game I was at was when they beat the Tommies at St. Thomas, like 8 to 10 years ago...

[faunch]

I saw Logan post that Wart got done a diservice, essentially treated like a 2 seed in their own quad. He might be right, but aside from NPI Wartburg just doesn't looke like a very elite 1 seed IMO given the stats above.

That said, the MIAC finds itself in 2 of the 3 toughest quadrants ever according to Logan's numbers. If we get anyone to the quarters or beyond we'll have earned it, great chance to reset the recent national narrative about the conference.

The success that SJU and Bethel have in this tournament will do very little to change the legitimate narrative that the MIAC has two very good programs that see very little competition other than their now once a year regular season meeting...prior to the playoffs.  It has been over 20 football seasons since a current MIAC team not named SJU or Bethel won the league title. 

The reality is most schools in the conference are waffling(at best) in their support and commitment toward building competitive football programs......words but very little definable action.  The recipe needed to build requires a level of institutional interest in doing so that just frankly doesn't exist beyond the two schools mentioned above.

The switch to playing everyone in conference also took away two additional competitive games (one NC and the conference title game) for both SJU and Bethel......that hurts nationally.

Both teams will be tested in their respective brackets and I hope both advance deep in the playoffs.

Do you think there's a chance that any MIAC schools drop football? Do schools like Hamline, Macalester, CSS benefit in enrollment numbers by having football programs? What other reasons are there for continuing their programs?

[Retired Old Rat]

For the SJU faithful:

Sorry if I'm rehashing something previously discussed, but genuinely curious about your opinions of the blue, alternate home jersey. I know it's one of the school colors, but it hasn't really had a place in the football uniform until recently.

I really like them as something different. Honestly, I think they are more attractive than the red jerseys. I'd like to see them at least once a year. We're not worn even once last year.