The smell of football is in the air and all of your hard offseason training (or lack of) is about to come to fruition as most of you are just starting training camp. But we at UMAC Central have just wrapped up a training camp of our own. We took a long look at last year and then researched all the changes from last year to this year that could affect the outcome of the season. Between all of the graduated players, incoming players, coaching changes, conference additions, program updates, and field upgrades there has been a lot of work going on here. But I believe we have put in the blood, sweat, and tears necessary to make this a successful season for UMAC Central. Now we just need all of you to do your part and make yourself and your team better in the next few weeks.
By now, most of you have probably read the UMAC Football Coaches' Poll that came out last week. However, the problem with coaches' polls is that the coaches are busy getting their team ready for the upcoming season, as they should be, so they do not have as much time as we do to research all of the little details which could affect the outcomes. They may just quickly scribble out their choices without much thought to get it over with or just rank teams they dislike playing against lower than the teams they like. Let's be real though, unless Crown has an "Angels in the KleinBank-Field" experience this season or UM-Morris secretly brought Tony Romo back to college to prepare WR Brendon Foss for his Cowboys career, neither team (along with half of the rest of the UMAC) has much of a prayer to take home the UMAC championship this year.
So after much deliberating, the writers here at UMAC Central met to cast our ballots to determine who we believe will have a chance at having their name pulled out of a hat and announced as the UMAC champions for the 2013 season. Using a very complicated ranking process and all sorts of algebraic formulas and statistics, we bring to you, the first annual UMAC Central Writers' Poll.
1. Greenville College – 30 Points (3 first place votes)
2. College of Saint Scholastica – 27 Points
3. University of Northwestern - Saint Paul – 23 points
4. Iowa Wesleyan College – 21 points
5. Martin Luther College -17 points
6. Westminster College – 15 points
7. University of Minnesota - Morris – 12 points
8. Crown College – 10 points
9. Eureka College – 5 points
10. MacMurray College – 4 points
Now that you are upset about where we placed your team, feel free to let us know why and how your team is actually going to finish better than we predicted in the comments below or through Facebook and Twitter. Also, be on the look out in the coming days for our team-by-team season previews which will show why we believe each team will finish as we predicted in the above poll.
Really though, we enjoy your comments.
Its hard for to say the greenville will finish first in the UMAC since they've struggled at the start of the season for the past 3 years, it may only take one or two conference losses to be considered out of the race. Scholastica is returning a very experienced defense from last year that was by far the best in the UMAC not necessarily on a national stage but in conference they were a dominant defense, only questions I have about them is replacing the defensive line, which as a group was the best in the conference no one could compete with what they had there. Putting a very young and inexperienced Iowa Weselyan team up so high is also a head scratcher.
ReplyDeleteAs an avid Division 3 and especially UMAC football fan I would like to thank you for your blogs and write-ups. I thoroughly enjoy reading the articles.
ReplyDeleteWell here’s my take on this year’s 2013 season as well as some other notes.
I believe Iowa Wesleyan will surprise more teams than you think. If I am not mistaken I believe there are still two classes for IWC that are still under scholarship. Yes I know there is a two year buffer that filters out these players to make IWC playoff eligible but I think this may be a year where IWC turns some heads and might even finish in the top two if St. Scholastica has a down year as many might predict due to losing a whole WR corps and whole DL corps except one All-UMAC selection at defensive end.
I believe this year’s title is Greenville’s to lose. After getting clobbered, and I mean clobbered by CSS they rattled off 8 straight wins and technically have the longest winning streak behind Mount Union dating back to last year in D3. I think Mr. Brendan Chambers puts up huge numbers this year. “EMAP” nation will welcome the Saints in the last week of UMAC play as I think that could be equivalent to last year’s NWC vs. Greenville game. I just don’t see Greenville getting beat by anyone except NWC who wants to avenge last year’s loss that “ultimately” cost the Eagles a birth in the NCAA playoffs. IWC might have something to say about that as well!
Brendon Foss of Minnesota Morris is getting NFL looks? I congratulate the kid but really? Two years ago a WR named Carl Davis from Westminster was supposedly getting NFL looks, but I don’t see him anywhere. Cecil Shorts III and Pierre Garcon of the Redskins are the only D3 Wide outs that I know of (Please correct me if I am wrong) in the NFL who have actually seen time on the field and made an impact for their respective teams. Mr. Foss I congratulate your achievements and accomplishments though.
Crown College built a beautiful stadium as I have seen it first-hand. A great feat for a school of that size. Rumor has it that with the building of the new stadium, Crown had several individuals de-commit from Northwestern, CSS, and Gustavus just to play at this brand new facility.
This year’s mystery team is Eureka College. Losing Mr. Sam Durley obviously will be major blow to the passing attack but I hear the new QB will fit right in where Durley left off. I can see the Red Devils finishing in the top 5 sneaking under the radar thru the whole season.
Did I mention Iowa Wesleyan comes to Duluth on Sept 14 to play CSS? This is a great matchup because not only will we find out what IWC is all about but the former Defensive coordinator of the Saints, now head coach, Tom Parkevich faces his old team. Not to mention he knows CSS’s offense and defense as it has not changed that drastically. The only major change was the defense switching to a 4-2-5. Coach Parkevich could have a field day if his team’s comes to play and unlike Greenville we could see a 45-3 victory for IWC this time!
Here are my 2013 predictions:
1. Greenville
2. Iowa Wesleyan
3. St. Scholastica
4. Northwestern
5. Morris
6. Eureka
7. Martin Luther
8. Crown
9. Westminster
10. MacMurray
Grant Olson should write these articles.
ReplyDeleteInteresting insights, to be sure. I appreciate the many different perspectives on this blog.
DeleteGrant, thanks for the insight on what I hope to be a spectacular season.
As a Northwestern Player, I'm excited to see how this year's conference plays out, and look forward to another year of surprises, twists, and turns. I'll spare you the ordinary drivel about how I think our team should be ranked higher because of two dynamic RB's in Chris Wallace and Josh Sinnen, as well as junior/senior QB Jacob Fletcher, and strong returning DL and secondary, but I look forward to a well fought year from all the competitors in UMAC.
Keep up the pithy articles gentlemen! To the other players of the UMAC conference, good luck, play hard and remember to keep your head up! Lets make this a year to remember!
Just a fan of football that's all! Good luck to all the teams this year.
ReplyDeleteJust got word St. Scholastica RB Jake Jensen will be out for the season with a severe ankle/foot infection. Sounds like he got a major "staff" infection that has caused him to be hospitalized for the past few days. Got this information from a former CSS player.
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