By Clyde Hughes
D3sports.com
The problems with football are also the things that make this game great. Some things about the game comes across very simple, but for those challenging minds, there are times when you’re faced with mind-benders as well.
Take the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference, Illini-Badger Conference, and the Midwest Conference, for example. All three have determined their automatic qualifier for the playoffs this year. Welcome to the Big Dance, No. 21-ranked Mount St. Joseph, Concordia (Wis.), and St. Norbert. They did it early with game left to play in conference. It was nice, neat, and simple.
Not so in the Collegiate Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin.
North Central’s 27-0 victory over Augustana last week has knotted up the CCIW’s leader board with No. 24-ranked Wheaton, North Central, and Augustana all sporting 4-1 records with two conference tilts remaining.
If the three teams remain tied, then you may have to call in that guy from NUMB3RS, to figure out a conference champion. From reading the D3football blog, it’s my understanding that there are several tie-breaking scenarios, that goes like this (if I’m wrong, please tell me and I’m sure you will): head-to-head competition, head-to-head competition against the next best non-tied team, point differential, yards allowed vs. tied teams, and random draw.
Assuming the first two are equal, and there is a possibility they will be, North Central’s big win last week would give the Cardinals the edge, with a point-differential of plus-15, followed by Wheaton with a plus-9, and Augustana with a minus-24.
Head spinning yet?
A spoiler that can make things a little simpler in this conference race is Carthage. The Red Men are 6-2 on the season and 3-2 in league play, losing to Augustana and Elmhurst. Carthage plays at home against Wheaton Saturday and closes out the season at North Central on Nov. 11. Carthage lost to both Wheaton and North Central last year but earned wins over both in 2004 during its 11-2 playoff run. Needless to say, it will make scoreboard watching a lot more interesting in the CCIW in the next two weeks.
Before I get too far, it is always a great accomplishment for a team to wrap up a playoff spot before the season ends, so it speaks well for Concordia (Wis.), Mount St. Joseph, and St. Norbert. Concordia and Mount St. Joseph did it the hard way in its games against Greenville and Defiance, respectively.
The Falcons (9-0, 6-0 in IBC) had to come from behind to beat Greenville, thanks to a Taylor Siolka touchdown catch from backup freshman quarterback T. J. Paccholi on a fourth-and-goal play in the final quarter to tie the score at 7-7. In overtime, Paccholi connected with Jon Collier for the game winner. Concordia’s leading ground gainer Aaron Gillespie, who was averaging 121.3 yards per game going into the contest, gained 107 yards on 26 carries.
"The sloppy field conditions really made it tough on both offenses," Concordia coach Jeff Gabrielsen told the media after the game. "They swarmed to the ball and kept us from getting any big plays until ... well until we absolutely had to have them. We do not want to share this title. Benedictine will have our undivided attention."
A Concordia victory vs. Benedictine on Saturday will give the Falcons the conference title outright, even though if it loses, it would win in a tiebreaker with Lakeland because of its earlier victory vs. the Muskies. It will be the Falcons' first playoff appearance since 2003 when they went 9-2 before losing to UW-La Crosse.
Mount St. Joseph (8-0, 6-0) capitalized on seven turnovers ending Defiance (6-2, 4-1) six-game winning streak as the Lions held on for a 20-6 victory over the Yellow Jackets on the road. Mike Lovell rushed for 106 yards on 32 carries and two touchdowns. Two of the turnovers early gave Mount St. Joseph the short field, enabling the Lions to leap out to a 13-0 lead that they never relinquished.
A victory over Bluffton on Saturday and Thomas More Nov. 11 in an non-conference matchup will give Mount St. Joseph its second undefeated regular season in the past three years, a far cry from the 0-10 campaign it posted back in 2001 when coach Rod Huber began to turn the program around. A win Saturday will give Mount St. Joseph its third straight outright HCAC title.
For St. Norbert (9-0, 8-0), it was a return to domination in the Midwest Conference, capturing the title back from Monmouth. The Green Knights has won the MWC title outright or shared in now in seven of the last eight years. In fact, it was Monmouth that helped St. Norbert clinch the title. While the Green Knights were rolling 37-7 over Beloit, Monmouth beat Illinois College 17-7, leaving both teams at 6-2 in the conference race.
If the Green Knights can beat Illinois College on Saturday, it will be St. Norbert’s first undefeated regular season since 2003 the year it went 11-1 and reached the second round of the NCAA playoffs.
The high-scoring St. Norbert offense is run behind quarterback Cody Craig, who went over the 2,000-yard mark in passing against Beloit. He has passed for 2,095 yards this season and is averaging 232.8 yards per contest.
