Final Power Rankings

I know that these are later than everyone expected, but I have other things to do and frankly it was nice to let these power rankings marinate for a little bit before throwing them out there. I can’t stress enough that the season was a good season for the UMAC. However, the quality of competition was down starkly from the past couple of years. Nobody had a quality win outside of the conference or even played a close game with a good team from another conference. The loss of marquee players such as QB Alex Thiry, WR Carl Givens, LB Sean Graskey, as well as many others really hurt the conference as far as the quality of play. That won’t really matter in the long run because the nation already perceives, correctly I might add, that the UMAC is the worst conference in all of college football. Why do I mention all of this? I think this simply means that everyone has to get better and improve to make the UMAC a respectable conference. Facilities, recruiting, coaching, and athletes have to improve. It’s hard to do with limited budgets, but if the UMAC wants to make some noise on the national level in football in the future there is going to have to be commitment by the entire school to put in the resources and hard work. On a brighter note, the season was good and a lot of fun because the mediocrity of the conference resulted in a lot of close games and exciting finishes. Congratulations to all of the teams and players that contributed to another great year in UMAC football. Without further ado, here are the season’s final power rankings.

    1.     Greenville. Everyone, including myself, considered Greenville to be out of the race after that 45-3 loss to St. Scholastica. After two consecutive victories over Northwestern, I really believe if St. Scholastica and Greenville played again it would be a very different game that the Panthers would win. Co-conference champions and Victory Bowl champions is quite the accomplishment for this team that was predicted to finish as the top team. I know people will say that they all finished in a tie in the conference, but let’s be honest; this team was the best team in the conference by the end of the year. They really shored it up on defense and for the most part stifled a powerful Northwestern offense twice. It only gets better for Greenville with QB Brendan Chambers and RB Manny Gamble coming back for their senior season. Next year, they should be primed to finish as outright champions and get their first trip to the NCAA playoffs, which by the way, I believe they deserved this year.

   2.      St. Scholastica might not have played like the number two team in the conference at times though the latter part of the season, but besides the hiccup against Northwestern ended up winning the rest of their conference games and representing the UMAC in the D3 playoffs. I want to clarify my statement about them not playing like the number two team in the conference.  Going to OT against Presentation? Beating Morris by 7? Not the signs of a dominant team. They did have a top ten defense in the nation for a while, but in the UMAC. Come on people...wake up to reality. I promise you that they wouldn't have been in the top 30 if they had played in a good conference. Do you want more proof? A true top ten defense would not have given up 55 points to anyone.  But this was still a good season for the Saints. Heck, they even were up 10-0 over UW-Oshkosh before getting “sloshed” 55-10. This team weathered the loss of a lot of pivotal seniors and had a good season even though they were nowhere close to as good as last year. They could return to dominance if they can get more out of the QB position by either more development from Tyler Harper or (and this is what I would want to happen if I were the head coach) hopefully another guy can step up and then you can move Harper to WR or RB. Overall, this year’s team can’t complain too much. After all, this team was one lucky/spectacular play away from winning the conference outright.......
     *The Saints finished 28th in total defense and 25th in scoring defense...just in case anyone got confused*

   3.  Northwestern. Yeah I know, can you believe that you lost twice to Greenville? What is that, 5 or 6 in a row? Oh and about the St. Scholastica win…I don’t know that you could beat them again. It really was a spectacular/lucky play that QB Josh Balzer somehow connected with RB Josh Sinnen who decided to turn on the inner Rambo and do everything except score on the play. The question I faced when doing these power rankings is realistically how good were you this year? The conference was a dump this year compared to other years and that’s saying something. The competition really took a tumble this year, and I’m not sure this year’s Eagle’s team was much better than last years. Obviously an 8-3 record is better than a 6-4 record, but still you have to wonder if this year’s team could have done much better facing last year’s competition. Greenville and St. Scholastica, in my humble opinion, were much better last year as was Westminster. What am I getting at here? Well, I guess what I am saying is that we at the UMAC Central really shouldn’t have been too surprised that Northwestern lost twice to Greenville. What’s next for Northwestern? I have to say that it’s not looking very promising mainly because they have to replace QB Josh Balzer as well as WR Brian Lecheler and DE Josh Swore. The two losses against Greenville might be the start of some tough seasons upcoming for the Eagles.

   4.      Minnesota Morris had a pretty decent season all things considering. Despite the 2-QB system, the Cougars managed a 6-4 season and played especially well down the stretch even pushing St. Scholastica to the limit in their season finale. This team is losing both of its starting QB’s which leaves a lot up in the air for this team. WR Brendon Foss is returning but it might not matter if he doesn’t have anyone to give him the football. By the way, Foss could have had an amazing statistical season if he had played every game. On defense, this team should be better with returning LB’s Cody Hickman and Zeke Miller. Overall, I see this team struggling next year probably because they try a 3-QB system.

   5.      Martin Luther really improved as the season progressed. QB Luke Rothe and RB/WR Matt Olson should provide the offensive firepower next season and that defense should improve which is scary. I stand by my way too early prediction that Martin Luther will finish as the 3^rd best team in the conference next season, and since I won the pick-em challenge this year my predictions carry a lot of weight—mostly dead weight. For example, I was high on Eureka to start the season, so what the heck do I know. Still, I like the makeup of this team going into 2013. Oh and by the way, there are these things called wristbands that can be used instead of the ever faithful “index card in the pants” method of play calling. Just a friendly heads up.  

   6.      Eureka. This could be titled the QB Sam Durley rant. I think he is a solid QB and is probably a nice guy, but for all of the all-star game invitations and scouts he has had as a result of the record setting day, he has tossed so many more interceptions and lost four straight games to end the season. Obviously, some of Durley’s problems are the result of an atrocious offensive line but still I can’t let Durley off the hook. Durley is deserving of his 2^nd team all-conference award and nothing more. He couldn’t will his team to victories over good competition and threw very untimely interceptions. In conference play, he was a very average QB throwing 13 td’s to 10 interceptions. While throwing 700+ yards is impressive, Knox finished 237^th  both in passing defense and in total defense. Out of 239 teams. It’s about as impressive as the guy from Grinnel shooting 100 times in basketball and getting 138 points a while back. It’s impressive, but you shot 100 times and let’s just say he probably wasn’t being guarded by the D3’s equivalent of Scottie Pippen or Ron Artest. Ok enough ranting about bad teams setting records. Good luck to you Mr. Durley, and I hope that someday I will be famous as this power ranking will be aired on 60 minutes as the reason that you have such a chip on your shoulder and also the primary reason that your career took off in the NFL.

   7.      Westminster was the season’s greatest disappointment. I had no idea that WR Carl Givens meant so much to this team. Actually, they started to fall apart last year towards the season’s end and haven’t really recovered. Here’s a stat for ya. Westminster averaged 24.3 rushing yards a game. Awesome job. Ineptitude at its finest. Shout out to DL Rodney Lyles for dominating the trenches, but that is the only bright spot I see and that bright spot is graduating.

   8.      Crown. Let me begin by saying that I really did enjoy the way that this team battled week in and week out. And then I noticed the jerseys…very nice. But then I figured out that they only have one set of jerseys. Listen, I understand you can’t afford to be like Oregon and play with a different set every Saturday but seriously? You don’t even have the old jerseys? What did you do with them? Sell those so you could buy the new ones? Anyway, 35 of the 53 guys on the team are freshmen or sophomores this year and it showed. This is a very young team that returns QB Wes Safford and RB Amos Schmidt and on defense DB Cheepheng Her. By the way, Mr. Her (that’s ironic) is listed at 5-9. If that’s true, then I am 8 feet tall and I’m going to be getting a huge bonus from UMAC Central.  Things could be looking up for myself as well as the Storm.

    9.      MacMurray. There can only be one Highlander…and there can only be one last place team in my power rankings. Coincidentally, the Highlanders will be keeping last place pretty snug for the winter. Really, I think MacMurray probably was missing last place just a little bit. On a serious note, QB Cody Hussey played pretty well down the stretch of the season. If MacMurray doesn’t turn the ball over as much, they could have really put together a string of wins. The program itself needs to be overhauled with a different pattern of thinking that promotes a winning attitude. It’s tough to turn it around when all these players have known is losing. It’s really easy to get into a tough game and get the feeling of “here it goes again” and let a game slip away. MacMurray has let itself get mired into a pattern of losing behaviors and they just need to snap out of it. Also, they need to get all four legs of the visiting bleachers on solid ground, put real grass on the field, put a net behind the field goal post near the road so kids don’t die trying to catch footballs that are kicked, and finally extend the field so that people don’t fall out of the endzone. If they can do all that and get someone sober to paint the field lines, then at least the field will be safer for both players and fans alike and MacMurray will be headed in the right direction.

Finally, here is my way too early predictions for how the teams in the UMAC will finish next year:

 1.    Greenville- You thought they were explosive on offense this year? Just wait…

      2.      St. Scholastica- QB situation needs to be resolved, but they just reload.

      3.      Martin Luther- Young studs on offense make them huge players in the conference.

      4.      Westminster- QB Plassmeyer will make huge strides this offseason.

      5.      Northwestern- Losing the QB. Enough said

      6.     M innesota Morris- All depends on how many kids are playing QB next season. 2? 3?

      7.      Crown- Young guns make it interesting, but I think they are still two years away.

     8.      Eureka- The fighting Durley’s are replacing Mr. Durley.  

      9.    MacMurray- Field improvements not enough.