December 10th, 2013 12:00am
The NCAA made it official on Tuesday: they have named Kansas City, KS and Sporting Park as the new host of the D2 championship game, starting with the 2014 season.
This of course means that the 2013 championship game will be the last played at Braly Municipal Stadium in Florence, AL. It has been quite a run as next week*s game will be the 28th consecutive D2 championship game played there.
Florence has been a fine host and the Shoals National Championship Committee has done a great job over the years. Florence is also home to the Harlon Hill Trophy and the Division II Football Hall of Fame, and those two things would not exist if not for the efforts of many people in The Shoals.
But as I mentioned in my column earlier this fall, it was time for a change. 28 years is a long time and in my opinion the event has gotten a bit stale. Braly Municipal Stadium is showing its age and in need of major upgrades to adequately host a championship event. Although Florence is actually not bad from a location standpoint in comparison to where most D2 schools are located, the closest major airport is two hours away.
Then there is the elephant in the room: the fact that North Alabama has been actively pursuing Division I membership. I do not think the powers that be in D2 wanted anything to do with their most visible championship event being hosted in the home stadium of a school that had just left the division.
I firmly believe Kansas City will make a fine host. Sporting Park is a beautiful 18,000 plus seat stadium that the teams and fans should enjoy. There are plenty of hotels and restaurants in the immediate area of the stadium and having a major airport 15 minutes away will be a big plus. The MIAA has placed a team in the championship game seven of the last nine years and if that trend continues the fan support should be very good.
The biggest drawback to having the game in Kansas City is weather. Although the average high temperature in Kansas City this time of the year is only about 11 degrees lower than Florence, the variability in weather could be a problem. In Kansas City you could just as easily get a nice 45 or 50 degree day in December as a 15 degree day with snow and wind. It is likely that one out of every three years or so there is going to be a problem with either the weather on game day or the weather for fans trying to get to the game.
But as I have said many times over the years, I do not believe an ideal place exists to have the championship game. For at least the next five years, we will have the opportunity to see if the advantages of having the game in a place like Kansas City outweigh the disadvantages.
Observations from Last Week*s Regional Finals
-The only result that really surprised me was West Chester beating Shepherd 28-7. The Shepherd defense did its part but the offense was inept, managing just 271 total yards. Quarterback Jeff Ziemba threw three interceptions, two of which were returned for scores. I did not give WCU much of a shot of winning the region, but they will be back in the semifinals for the first time in nine years.
-Lenoir-Rhyne only completed one pass in its 42-39 win over North Alabama in Super Region Two, but that pass may have been the biggest play of the game. UNA had scored 18 straight points to cut the LRU lead to three with about nine minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. Facing a second-and-17 from their own 40, Bear quarterback Josh Justice connected with Greg Baker for 19 yards and a first down. The Bears went on to score on the drive, which stretched the lead back to two scores and essentially put it away.
-St. Cloud State is a 12-win team that had already won two road playoff games against unbeaten teams… and the Huskies were dominated by Northwest Missouri State. The deeper we go into the playoffs the more it appears that Northwest is just "that good" and everyone else is merely battling for second place.
-After allowing touchdowns on four straight possessions to start the game the Grand Valley defense made some adjustments, tightening up their coverage and coming after West Texas A&M quarterback Dustin Vaughan. The Lakers completely flipped the game as they shut out the Buffalos the rest of the way in rallying for a 35-28 win. Penalties and a lack of a running game finally did in WTAMU.
Harlon Hill Finalists
The top three vote getters for the Harlon Hill Trophy were announced on Tuesday and those three players will be at the banquet in Florence when they announce the winner on Friday, December 20th. As expected, they are West Texas A&M quarterback Dustin Vaughan, Bloomsburg running back Franklyn Quiteh and Henderson State quarterback Kevin Rodgers. I will have more thoughts on this next week.
National Semifinals
West Chester (13-1) at Lenoir-Rhyne (12-1)
12:00 Eastern on ESPN3
West Chester will be making its second trip to the semifinals. The Rams* first trip occurred back in 2004. Lenoir-Rhyne has never advanced this far in the D2 playoffs; in fact this is the first time in over 50 years that the Bears are playing football in the month of December.
I think WCU has enough offensive firepower to hang in this game and even win it, but they must not fall behind early like North Alabama did against the Bears last week. The Rams also must take care of the football and take note of how UNA was able to be successful throwing the ball down the field at times against LRU last week. The Rams did a better than expected job of getting Rondell White going in the running game in the quarterfinal win over Shepherd last week and that would be quite helpful as well. The Bears are going to get some yards with their option running game, but another big key will be whether the Rams can limit the number of big plays. I think the Bears a slight favorite because they are playing at home, but this is a game that could really go either way. Lenoir-Rhyne 30 West Chester 27
Grand Valley State (12-2) at Northwest Missouri State (13-1)
3:30 Eastern on ESPN3
What a match up between what most people would consider the two heavyweight programs in D2. This will be the fifth playoff meeting between the two teams. GVSU beat NWMSU in the 2005 and 2006 national championship games while the Bearcats turned the tables and beat the Lakers in the 2007 semifinals and 2009 national championship games.
To me this game really comes down to one stark reality: This NWMSU team is very similar in overall quality to previous Bearcat teams that have reached this point, while GVSU is not the GVSU of old. The Bearcats have two of the best defensive players in all of D2 in senior cornerbacks Brian and Brandon Dixon and their presence allows the rest of the defense to put tremendous pressure on opposing offenses. The Lakers, on the other hand, are pretty average defensively and I just don*t see them having much success in slowing down a NWMSU offense that has several quality weapons. Northwest Missouri State 42 Grand Valley State 21
Mailbag
[Q] What kind of advantage do teams like Lenoir-Rhyne have based on the fact that it*s nearly impossible to simulate their offense when preparing to play them?
Kyle
[A] You are correct in that LRU*s unique option offense can cause some preparation problems for an opponent, particularly on short notice. However, my philosophy on this more resembles the old football saying that it is "more about the Jimmies and Joes than the X*s and O*s".
For example, the teams in the SAC were extremely well versed in what LRU is doing offensively and none of them had any success in stopping the Bears this year either. If LRU had lesser talent on offense and the SAC opponents were successful in slowing them down, it would have appeared as if they "prepared" better.
The same thing goes in the other semifinal game. It is impossible for Grand Valley State to really prepare for the fact that Northwest Missouri has two NFL caliber corners since there isn*t anyone on the Laker roster that can replicate in practice the abilities of those players.
Contact Me
Feel free to contact me with any comments or criticisms or if you have a question you would like answered in the Mailbag.