The Spreadsheet: (Excel2003, 385 kb)
If This Was Division I, You’d Have Been Watching:
Imagine, if you will, that last weekend had featured Oregon at LSU, Michigan State at Oklahoma, and you heard Alabama was only beating TCU 3-0 with two minutes to play. That’s what happened in Division III last weekend.
D-III Game of the Week:
When the Warhawks of Wisconsin-Whitewater scored on a 21-yard Eric Kindler field goal with 2:58 to go in the first quarter to take a 3-0 lead over lightly-regarded Buffalo State, most people started writing their “Whitewater wins 48th straight game” stories. After all, Whitewater’s defense had absolutely refused to allow Washington (MO) to get on the board in the season opener, and surely the offense had to open up.
Almost 46 minutes later, Kindler hit a 29-yarder with only 1:35 left. Of course, by that time everyone covering the game had started a secondary file, one with a completely different narrative, just in case. Why? Because that field goal made it 6-0, and Buffalo State had been banging on the door most of the second half. In the third quarter, Nate Benoit missed a 38-yard field goal which would have tied the game, and a Casey Kacz fumble at the Whitewater 13 had ended the Bengals’ first drive of the fourth quarter.
Buffalo State took over on their own 25, and immediately Kacz hit Sherman Nelson for a 14-yard gain. Two incompletions, a false start, and a sack later, the Bengals were facing 4th-and-19 from their own 30, and, well… here.
That was a hook-and-lateral from Kacz to Ryan Carney, then Rich Pete, then Brooks Estarfaa for 34 yards. Not shown in between that and the touchdown pass: an 8-yard run by Kacz, an incompletion, a 33-yard strike to Manny Brooks, and two more incompletions before Kacz found Carney for the game-tying score. When Nate Benoit split the uprights with the PAT and only three seconds remained on the clock, Twitter exploded. Whitewater’s Lee Brekke uncorked a desperation heave — 57 yards in the air — after the kickoff, but when Chris Hall came down with the interception at his own 10-yard line, pandemonium struck. Whitewater had fallen for the first time since Mount Union defeated them in the 2008 Stagg Bowl, and it was only their second regular-season loss to a D-III school since 2004. Meanwhile, Buffalo State — a team nobody considered better than third or fourth in their own conference — finds themselves ranked #19, for now.
Oh, I Guess We Got Upstaged, Huh?:
A titanic matchup in Dover, which should have been the biggest story of the weekend, had #3 Wesley (DE) hosting #4 Mary Hardin-Baylor. In each of the last two years, Wesley has ended the Crusaders’ season in the quarterfinals of the playoffs. Things looked out of hand in the second quarter when LiDarral Bailey hit Darius Wilson for a 16-yard score to put the Crusaders up 19-6, but Wesley fought back. First, they scored on a Justin Sottilare pass to Steve Koudossou from 22 yards out with just over a minute to go in the half, and then tied the game at 19 when Chris Cummings plunged in from the one early in the third.
The Cru answered on the next drive, though, Bailey finding Wilson for another 13-yard score, and late in the third Bailey scored on a one-yard carry to put UMHB up 32-19. They left the rest up to the defense, and that plan worked out okay. The Wolverines did score midway through the fourth on a 15-yard hookup between Sottilare and Matt Barile to make it 32-25 after the PAT was blocked, but even though the Crusaders went three-and-out on the next possession, the defense all but sealed the game when they sacked Sottilare on third and ten from the Wesley 47, a loss of 19 yards which forced Wesley to give up the ball. The Cru then killed all but fifteen seconds.
Little did the Crusaders know when this ended that they were definitely going to move up in the polls rather than having to hope for Mount Union fatigue. This leaves Mary Hardin-Baylor in uncharted territory, at least in recent years; they’re now ranked #2 (even picking up some first place votes) for the first time since the Whitewater/Mount Union hegemony began in 2005; more importantly, they’re looking down at Wisconsin-Whitewater. If the situation holds, that’s going to be very important come playoff time; if the selection committee agrees in principle with the rankings, it’s entirely possible that a Whitewater/Mount Union Stagg Bowl will be an impossibility as the two titanic powers might end up in the same semifinal. On the one hand… about damned time. On the other, I think we’d all feel a lot better about it if someone knocked one (or both) of them out of the playoffs under their own steam.
I Think I Watched This Game in November:
Linfield and Cal Lutheran last met about ten months ago in the first round of the playoffs, a game won 30-27 by Linfield. Saturday they hooked up again, and basically they each added another field goal to last year’s result. Unlike last year’s playoff meeting, however, this game was not a matter of Cal Lutheran furiously trying to catch up. Indeed, at no point in this game did either team lead by more than a single score, only twice did the same team score without being answered, and there were seven lead changes. The final one was a 39-yard Josh Kay field goal (his fourth of the day) with five seconds to go which gave Linfield the win (their fourth in a row over the Kingsmen). The voters were so impressed that Linfield moved up two spots from #5 to #3… and Cal Lutheran moved up a spot from #9 to #10. How often do you see that happen?
This Week’s ECFC Update:
It was not a good week out-of-conference for our pet conference. Only Norwich was able to pull off a victory, but perhaps more importantly all four teams which lost out of conference were mostly respectable. Mount Ida and New York Maritime both lost by a touchdown or less, and Becker and Castleton State combined for 76 points even though both lost; that’ll happen when you give up 109 points between you, I suppose. Still, the conference now stands at 10-10 out of conference with two games remaining; both are winnable, and one is exceedingly likely (that being this week’s visit to Gallaudet by the shipbuilders of Newport News Apprentice). For a conference which was sixteen games under .500 in non-conference play last year, it’s already a victory.
About Time You Got Here:
The NESCAC finally starts play this weekend, and we probably won’t have much to say about them until mid-October as things start to shake out.
Good Lords:
Kenyon lost almost three seasons worth of games in a row, and now they’re riding a two game winning streak after knocking off Hiram 24-7. Saturday they travel to winless Washington (MO), and things are suddenly starting to look particularly curious up in Gambier.
Two other teams broke long losing streaks on Saturday, too: Thiel, losers of 24 in a row, beat Geneva 21-14 in overtime at home, while Rockford snapped a 23-game skid with a 28-12 win at home over Olivet.
The New Top 25:
at #1 Mount Union 57, Muskingum 0
– Back on top for the Purple Raiders. This week, they’ll visit Marietta; it’ll be a rout.
#2 Mary Hardin-Baylor 32 at #6 Wesley (DE) 25
– For the first time in a long, long time someone other than Mount Union or Whitewater is in the top two. The Crusaders earned it (and even got some first-place votes). They will stay on the road Saturday, visiting de-ranked Trinity (TX); Wesley will travel to 2-0 Louisiana for a potentially difficult test.
#3 Linfield 33, at #9 Cal Lutheran 30
– Both teams are idle this week. Linfield visits rivals Pacific Lutheran on the 29th, while Cal Lutheran hosts Pomona-Pitzer.
#19 Buffalo State 7, at #4 Wisconsin-Whitewater 6
– Honestly, I’m baffled; Whitewater should have fallen further. The Warhawks will host Wisconsin-Stevens Point Saturday; they’ll be out for blood and will likely get it. Buffalo State, meanwhile, enters the poll; the Bengals host Alfred and I expect them to come out on top.
#5 Saint Thomas (MN) 43, at Saint John’s (MN) 21
– The Tommies dispatched their arch-rivals with alacrity, and slid up one spot in the poll. They’re off this weekend, waiting to host Saint Olaf on the 29th.
#7 Wabash 35, Denison 2
– It’s always fun to beat someone, anyone, X to 2. The Little Giants move up a spot, and host Allegheny this weekend. They’ll manage.
at #8 Salisbury 69, North Carolina Wesleyan 6
– The Sea Gulls recovered quite nicely from last week’s loss to Wesley. They’re off this week before visiting Buffalo State on the 29th.
at #10 Saint John Fisher 20, Rochester 16
– Tough sledding for the Cardinals, who slip a notch. They’ll host 3-0 Hartwick on Saturday, and should take care of business if they can slow down Hartwick’s offense.
at #11 Bethel (MN) 56, Buena Vista 7
– A blowout win for the Royals moves them up one place. This week, they host 2-0 Carleton; piece of cake.
#12 North Central (IL) 37, Wisconsin-Stout 10
– The Cardinals slide up a place, and take the week off; they’ll host 3-0 Elmhurst (also idle this week) on the 29th.
#13 Hobart 45, at Utica 26
– Hobart moves up a spot; they host Merchant Marine this weekend, and should prevail.
#14 Baldwin-Wallace 32, at John Carroll 28
– It was expected to be close, and so it was. Baldwin-Wallace, after moving up a spot, visits Muskingum on Saturday. They won’t have any problems.
#15 Illinois Wesleyan idle
– The Titans visit Hope this week, and shouldn’t have too much trouble there.
#16 Wisconsin-Platteville idle
– Platteville hosts winless Eau Claire on Saturday, and will roll into next week’s clash with Whitewater unbeaten and in first place in the WIAC. Horrors.
at #17 Brockport State 41, College of New Jersey 17
– Finally, an NJAC team looks like a threat, as 3-0 Brockport enters the poll. They’ll visit 0-2 Kean this weekend, and one might expect a win but Kean did make a playoff run last year…
at #18 Birmingham-Southern 61, Ave Maria [NAIA] 14
– Beating up on an NAIA independent doesn’t get you bumped up in the poll. However, it also doesn’t get you knocked down. BSC travels to 2-0 Rhodes Saturday, and will likely stay unbeaten.
#20 Wheaton (IL) 53, at Luther 7
– Big blowout win, and the Thunder were rewarded… with a one spot drop in the poll. Go figure. They’re off this week before visiting Augustana (IL) on the 29th. They should handle that test.
#21 Widener 67, at Misericordia 0
– Splat. The Pride move up a notch with the win, and host Wilkes this week; they’ll win.
#22 Hampden-Sydney idle
– Up two spots after a week off, the Tigers host Huntingdon on Saturday. It should be a good one, but Hampden-Sydney will probably tough it out.
at #23 Thomas More 27, Westminster (PA) 23
– Thomas More had a bit of a time here, and they slip two places despite the win. They’ll visit 3-0 Waynesburg this week, and we’ll see if it’s time for a changing of the guard in the PAC.
at #24 Johns Hopkins 49, Moravian 15
– The Blue Jays enter the top 25 after a solid win. They’ll visit 3-0 Muhlenberg Saturday, and are slight favorites.
#25 Franklin 48, at Manchester 27
– I don’t think they should still have been ranked as it was; a 21-point win over Manchester cost them five spots they should have already lost. They’ll host 0-3 Earlham this week, and the tragic thing is that they’re going to destroy them and stay ranked at the expense of some other deserving team.
at Sul Ross State 62, XX Trinity (TX) 35
– Trinity falls all the way from #11 to out of the poll, and has to host #2 Mary Hardin-Baylor Saturday, and they’re pretty much toast now since they have no autobid to reach for. Sul Ross, on the other hand, gets their first win of the year after losing to two full-scholly D-II teams by a total of 13 points, and may be a quiet threat in the ASC.
at Washington & Lee 34, XX Centre 16
– The Colonels were #23, and now they are gone. This week, it’s a date at home with 3-0 Kalamazoo, and someone’s going to watch their season fall apart. (Probably Kalamazoo.)
Pacific Lutheran 28, at XX Redlands 14
– Redlands, formerly 25th, falls out of the poll after their second straight loss. They’re off Saturday, and host Occidental on the 29th.
More scores of mild interest:
Nail-Biters:
at Ithaca 27, Union (NY) 24 (OT)
Augsburg 26, at Gustavus Adolphus 24
Frostburg State 17, at Case Western Reserve 16
at Aurora 24, Alma 21
Eureka 17, at Crown 14
Minnesota-Morris 24, at MacMurray 21
at Hanover 28, Mount Saint Joseph 24
at Benedictine (IL) 32, Albion 28
Saint Norbert 35, at Ripon 31
at Merchant Marine 19, New York Maritime 14
Lesser Blowouts:
at Cortland State 72, Western Connecticut State 14
at Rowan 51, William Paterson 0
at Menlo [NAIA] 56, Occidental 6
Huntingdon 62, at LaGrange 17
Otterbein 54, Wilmington (OH) 10
at Macalester 49, Maranatha Baptist 6
Carroll (WI) 48, at Knox 6
at Saint Scholastica 45, Greenville 3
Defense Is an Optional Package:
at Concordia (IL) 63, Hope 47
at Hartwick 53, Becker 41
at Springfield 49, Mount Ida 42
Rensselaer 56, at Castleton State 35
at Randolph-Macon 49, Bethany (WV) 33
Guilford 45, Averett 35
No Offense, But No Offense:
at Montclair State 7, Morrisville State 0
Plumouth State 13, Maine Maritime 7
at Capital 13, Marietta 7
at Concordia (WI) 13, Trine 10
at Wisconsin-Oshkosh 16, Wisconsin-La Crosse 7