Hey Gang. My apologies for not "being around" as much of late. Dadgum adulthood is killing me...no complaints, of course, as there are far too many out there who can't find good work and my blessings in that regard are ones for which I am absolutely grateful. That said, I'd sure love to be able to carve out some extra time to post a little more often and yap on the message boards more. Hopefully we can get some of that on the uptick here soon. After all, there is TONS to talk about:

- For one, I noticed recently that my post immediately after the playoff bracket was announced got cut off. I had tried to cut/paste some content in and that seems to wreak havoc when you're creating web content, and of course the couple of hours I put into sharing my thoughts were for not as everything I wrote after I pasted that item got erased. Trust me when I say I wasn't pleased to figure that one out. In short, I gave my thoughts on who from the GLIAC made it and my takes on why and how. I'll try and reprise that some time soon, as I'm sure that some of you diehards would like to keep that topic alive. Maybe over Christmas Break (my wife is a teacher so yes, I still consider the Holidays "Christmas Break").

- GLIAC Expansion is another hot topic. The Walsh and Malone announcements were long awaited, but shortly thereafter Notre Dame College came into the mix. I have known for some time that this was coming, but am still sorting through how I feel about it...plus, I wanted to make sure the league had announced it prior to making a topic of it. We'll dive into that and what impact it will have on football scheduling...and the ever-hot topic of what these additions may or may not do to the playoff resumes of GLIAC members.

- Coaching changes are afoot, as Ferris and Northern have already dismissed coaches Pierce and Anderson respectively. This had to be even more difficult for the administrations at these schools as both coaches were alums. Moving in a different direction is tough enough, but having to do so at the expense of one of your own is brutal. We'll talk coaching dismissals and replacmentes as well, in addition to seeing what happens with Wayne State's Paul Winters who is the rumored hot pick to take over at his alma mater, Akron. That one will sort itself out in due time as the Warriors are still playing...speaking of which...

A major congratulations to Wayne State and Coach Winters for claiming the SuperRegion 3 Championship this past weekend. I have to hand it to the Warriors...the path of the six-seed isn't an easy one in a lot of respects. In some cases, there's the question of whether or not they are in the field at the expense of someone else (although I'm not sure I subscribe to that here). There's also the fact that as the six seed everyone perceives them as the underdog every week. Perhaps the toughest part of being "the six" is having to be on the road for as long as they stay alive. For Wayne to have played this well in other people's joints every week is remarkable and it might even make their run that much more impressive...although I did mention that WSU seemed to play better away from home during the year as well so while the road success is remarkable it may not be entirely surprising.

The Wayne run continued on Saturday when they knocked off the defending National Champs, Minnesota-Duluth. While this Bulldog outfit had more losses this year than it had the prior three, they were still a tough outfit and the Warriors got it done by playing with discipline and heart. Most importantly, they were +3 in the turnover battle. Winning that aspect of the game is always crucial in football, but is even more so during this time of year.

SR3 Champion Wayne State (11-3) at SR1 Champion Winston-Salem State (13-0)

After traveling west each of the past three weeks, the Detroiters will now trek East to tackle the CIAA Champion Rams. Winston-Salem State was the top side in SuperRegion 1, and didn't disappoint by knocking off Cal (my pick to win the region) and New Haven over the last couple of weeks to reach the semis.

Both of these clubs are on foreign ground. The eleven wins Wayne has posted this year are a school record, and it wasn't that long ago that I had a GLIAC Trivia question or two centered around the futility that Wayne has endured as a program for nearly the last 100 years. Perhaps trumping all else is that this is WSU's first ever playoff appearance. Gotta hand it to'em, they're sure making the most of it. Despite having posted an unblemished record thus far, WSSU isn't exactly known as D2 royalty. The Rams have only made a handful of playoff appearances, with this year's entry being their first in twenty years. Add to that the fact that they are only two years removed from a one-win campaign, and these two teams are actually both making their way into uncharted territory.

Winston-Salem pretty well shredded the CIAA this year, ranking atop the league in scoring offense (41.5 ppg) and defense (15.6 ppg), and either leading or finishing near the top of the league in several other key statistical categories. The Ram offense runs (literally) through running back Nicholas Cooper. Cooper has notched over 1,700 yards on the ground, finding the end zone 21 times. Kameron Smith directs the offense from the quarterback position, although throwing is not the Ram specialty. Smith typically carries the ball about ten times per game, and while he attempts about 25 passes per game no Ram receiver has more than 411 yards on the season. When WSSU does put it in the air it's not their preference and it doesn't often go very far down field. For Wayne to win, they're going to have to shut down Cooper and the running attack.

Defensively, the Rams are led by defensive back Alton Keaton who has notched 97 tackles (including thirteen for loss) on the year. I'm not sure what it means that a DB is leading the team in tackles...in some cases it's a sign that too many plays are getting to the second level, and in others it means that teams like to move the guy around because he's a playmaker. Given that the Ram defense hasn't really struggled to stop most folks, I'm going with the latter. We'll see how they decide to use Keaton in this one as it may be a "pick-your-poison" deal for the Ram defense...do they take away Davis and Renel, or do they put Keaton on Troy Burrell who ate Duluth's lunch last week with 11 grabs for 163 yards and two scores?

I think the underlying component of everything that isn't a popular topic is the fact that SuperRegion 1 (or, the artist formerly known as the Northeast Region) has a rap for not playing the same caliber of ball as the other three regions. This region hasn't won a semi-final contest since 2003, and that was won by Grand Valley when the GLIAC was still a part of the Northeast. I'll admit that I've been guilty of a similar bias, and typically would take my chances with any team from the middle of the GLIAC against darn near anyone from SR1. With that said, WSSC isn't here for no reason. Going undefeated is no joke, and the Warriors are going to have their hands full on Saturday. With that said, it's hard in my mind not to have Wayne as the favorite.

Prediction:
Predicting games at this point is kinda silly for me to try to a certain extent. I mean, at least within GLIAC games I can say that I follow the clubs closely and have seen all of them in person at least once in the last year or two. To try and handicap a game like this against a team I've never seen isn't exactly easy. With that said, I'll just be frank: The teams that I have seen from SR1 over the last couple of years often struggle with run defense. While WSSU statistically doesn't have that issue, I'm willing to wager they haven't faced an O-line like they'll see Saturday. Add to that a pass defense that has been shaky at times (sure, they were ahead a lot but nevertheless) and Wayne should have multiple ways to move the ball. If Wayne continues its pattern of taking what the defense gives and winning the turnover battle, I like the Warriors to hand the Rams loss number one on the year. Wayne 37, Winston Salem 27.