As of this moment, no team has actually officially clinched a berth in the post-season in any of the lower divisions, but that’s about to change. To save me discussing the ins and outs of playoff selection for each division every week, I’m providing you a handy summary of the process right here, after the jump.
Archive for category NAIA
Playoff Primer 2011.
Oct 25
One team can clinch their conference title this week, although that title no longer carries with it an automatic bid to the NAIA playoffs. An NAIA coaching legend notched career win #250, and a couple of undefeateds were upset as the season tips into its second half.
Five games entirely within the top 25 this week, plus another big game involving a top-5 team facing a pesky foe:
#2 Marian (IN) at #6 Saint Francis (IN)
#21 Rocky Mountain at #3 Carroll (MT)
#4 Missouri Valley at #9 Benedictine (KS)
#5 Georgetown (KY) at 4-2 Pikeville
#15 Southern Nazarene vs #7 MidAmerica Nazarene (at Cessna Field, Wichita KS)
#8 Morningside at #13 Dakota Wesleyan
Big games last week were of course headed up by the #1 vs #2 matchup between conference-mates Saint Xavier and Saint Francis (IN). Xavier prevailed, and the new #2 is also an MSFA member, Marian (IN). This week, there’s a relative dearth of hot matchups in the NAIA:
3-1 Taylor at #2 Marian
#4 William Penn at #15 Saint Francis (IL)
#13 Doane at #9 Morningside
#25 Cumberland (TN) at #22 Shorter
Since we’re actually (gasp) caught up, and I got all four previews up before a single game had been played at any level this week (oh, my), I actually have time to tinker with ideas. So today, I thought I’d take a peek at the differences between the divisions on paper. I’m using the Massey Ratings for this, since Richard includes every team down through the NAIA, and has a formula separate from the one he provides to the BCS in which he does include margin of victory.
Naturally, there’s not really anything surprising here. I will argue as to the aesthetic superiority of the lower divisions in certain respects until I’m blue in the face, but none of those respects includes “quality of play”. Mostly, this is just a fun look at how things compare both on average and on the margins.
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The truly important news is on the very next line, in bold, among the games of the week:
#1 Saint Xavier at #2 Saint Francis (IN)
#22 Montana State-Northern at #4 Carroll (MT)
#11 Southern Nazarene at 3-1 SW Assemblies
#25 Evangel at #12 Benedictine (KS)
#14 Midland at #17 Doane
3-1 Pikeville at #19 Campbellsville
A relatively placid weekend in the NAIA, although the #3 team in the nation stumbled.
Big games to note:
#18 Shorter at #7 Georgetown (KY)
#22 Baker at #6 Missouri Valley
#11 Morningside at #9t Midland
Montana State-Northern at #17 Rocky Mountain
And now, the good stuff:
Since the NAIA didn’t release their first in-season poll until this week, there were some “upsets” that really weren’t (I’m looking at you, pre-season #7 Dickinson State).
But there was one that most definitely was: #1 Carroll (MT) has been knocked off their throne. Details, and our first real look at the NAIA this year, after the jump.
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I know I said I was holding off on the NAIA this week, and I am, but I did want to tip off a few games of interest. (One reason I held off was that there still weren’t updated rankings, but I figured out today, stupid me, that they’re not releasing the first post-preseason poll until next week.)
So after the jump, a list of games this week involving ranked teams, with the caveat that at least one of these teams would not be ranked this week had there been a poll. (I’m looking at you, 0-2 #10 Ottawa, although to be fair they did lose both games to other ranked squads.)
All games Saturday Eastern Oregon (1-0) at #1 Carroll (MT) (1-0) #2 Saint Xavier (1-0) at #24 Saint Francis (IL) (1-0) #3 MidAmerica Nazarene (1-0) at #11 Missouri Valley (1-0) #4 Saint Francis (IN) (0-0) at Saint Ambrose (1-0) #5 Morningside (1-0) at #14 Northwestern (IA) (1-0) Quincy (1-0) at #6 Marian (IN) (2-0) Valley City State (0-1) at #7 Dickinson State (0-2) #8 William Penn (2-0) at Luther (0-1; D-III) #21 Kansas Wesleyan (0-1) at #10 Ottawa (0-2) Bethany (KS) (1-0) at #12 McPherson (0-1) #13 NW Oklahoma State (0-1) at Colorado State-Pueblo (1-0; D-II) #15 Azusa Pacific (0-1) at La Verne (D-III; 0-0) Virginia-Wise (1-0) at #16 Cumberlands (KY) (1-0) #17 Midland (1-0) at Nebraska Wesleyan (1-0) #18 Cumberland (TN) (1-0) at Campbellsville (1-0) Haskell (0-2) at #19 Southern Nazarene (1-0) Shorter (0-0) at #20 Webber International (0-1) #25 Grand View (1-1) at Drake (0-1; FCS)
After that infodump, it’s time to take a look at changes in Division III and the NAIA. There’s not too much shuffling in D-III, aside from chaos surrounding two conferences in particular; the NAIA, on the other hand, is losing a ton of teams, and therefore its conferences are being impacted quite a but.
Oh, Look, It’s 2011.
Sep 2
Before we get started on a new season of hijinks here at Those Other Guys, I have some mea culpas to offer.
I disappeared right after I posted the previews for the FCS semifinals and the championship games in the other divisions, meaning I never wrapped the other divisions, nor did I preview or wrap the FCS championship game or wrap the semifinals.
I think we can all agree that this was bad.
There were things going on here at home that ate up a great deal of my free time, and said things also contributed to a severe case of writers block. No excuse, but it wasn’t just because I stopped caring all of a sudden.
So, with that, congratulations to Eastern Washington (FCS), Minnesota-Duluth (D-II), Wisconsin-Whitewater (D-III), and Carroll (MT) (NAIA) on winning their respective national championships last December.
Last season, I picked a format and rolled with it, but I was never satisfied WITH that format. I felt like it worked against the very purpose I had in mind with this site; it was too stiff, too wordy, and was pretty much just as thick and hard to swallow as simply going to dedicated sites would have been. This year, I’m going to toy with things and see if I can’t land on something that feels organic and entertaining.
I also never did figure out what to do about basketball (despite actually having a couple of offers from people interested in helping cover it), and thus never even started it. Congratulations go out to Bellarmine (D-II), Saint Thomas (MN) (D-III), Pikeville (NAIA-I), Cornerstone (NAIA-II), Azusa Pacific (NAIA-I women), and Northwestern (IA) (NAIA-II women). I cannot guarantee that I’ll get to basketball this year either, but if I do manage to come up with a format for football which I’m comfortable with, I might manage it.
Next: what changed over the summer.