The Sky is Falling

[UCObluejay]

With Harding winning the natty, is the whole idea of MIAA supremacy in shambles? SILOs are proven right! The SEOSUs, ECUs, and OBUs of the world are in a conference with the big dawg! The kitty cats in Maryville have been spending their December watching basketball with the rest of us. The Gorillas are little more than a zoo exhibit. (I will admit the Bronchos have been tamed for 20 or so years.)


Or.... Does this just prove that the whole idea of conference pride is a bunch of Mule fertilizer? *Looking at you non Bama-Georgia-LSU SEC fans.*

[Gorilla John 92]

The challenge is going to be having defenses that can stop two dynamic offensive styles. You have to survive the air raid styles of ucm and esu in conference play and then have the talent, scheme and discipline to stop the flexbone of harding.

[AllGriffedUp]

With Harding winning the natty, is the whole idea of MIAA supremacy in shambles? SILOs are proven right! The SEOSUs, ECUs, and OBUs of the world are in a conference with the big dawg! The kitty cats in Maryville have been spending their December watching basketball with the rest of us. The Gorillas are little more than a zoo exhibit. (I will admit the Bronchos have been tamed for 20 or so years.)


Or.... Does this just prove that the whole idea of conference pride is a bunch of Mule fertilizer? *Looking at you non Bama-Georgia-LSU SEC fans.*

The whole idea of conference pride is mostly a bunch of fertilizer. It's allowed generations of Arkansas Razorbacks fans to believe they've got something special because Alabama has won a national title while they were alive.

With that said, there's truth to the notion that the top of the MIAA has traditionally been stronger than the top of the GAC and the bottom of the GAC has traditionally been far worse than the bottom of the MIAA. And there's no disputing that the folks at that school up north have had an impressive run. But impressive runs do not equate to birthrights, and our Bearcat friends probably would have been a fifth-place GAC team this year, too.

The part where it *isn't* a bunch of fertilizer? The bottom of the GAC is still far worse than the bottom of the MIAA, in my estimation. Northeastern probably knocks off the Monticellos and the non-Southeastern multi-directional Oklahoma schools without a problem, and isn't finding a way to make an exit from that league. But the top of the leagues? That difference doesn't exist anymore. Any of the top four teams in the GAC probably have a good shot at a similar record in the MIAA this year, and the trend - at least between the top of both leagues - is toward parity. The separation is at the bottom, and until those schools at the very bottom of the GAC frankly lack the institutional commitment to athletics that the schools on the lower end of the MIAA have.

[Brandon]

Bearcat friends probably would have been a fifth-place GAC team this year, too..

No.

[Brandon]

With Harding winning the natty, is the whole idea of MIAA supremacy in shambles? SILOs are proven right! The SEOSUs, ECUs, and OBUs of the world are in a conference with the big dawg! The kitty cats in Maryville have been spending their December watching basketball with the rest of us. The Gorillas are little more than a zoo exhibit. (I will admit the Bronchos have been tamed for 20 or so years.)


Or.... Does this just prove that the whole idea of conference pride is a bunch of Mule fertilizer? *Looking at you non Bama-Georgia-LSU SEC fans.*

The MIAA was the best conference this year top to bottom. It did not have the best team. It had one of two teams that lost to the by a point on the road.

[the Northeasterner]

There are two things hurting m i aa supremacy. The region that we're sharing with gliac is killing us. Gliav isnt estricted by The silo and so they can have multiple good teams. Like last year when they had three 11 win teams in ferris Davenport and Grand valley. Traveling to Michigan to play in the second or third round is not to the advantage of a team from Missouri Kansas or Oklahoma or Nebraska. The second thing that's hurting us is the silo in this conference. Now The silo in the GAC is helping them. It allows Harding and OBU to maintain their dominance with 9 10 and 11 win seasons seasons . But the MIAA is so competitive there are no teams alive that can win all 11 games. Pitt State had themselves set up for a first round by and home field. I promise they would have hosted a semi. But then they lose to Missouri Western and the whole conference is thrown for a loop. The only people who benefit from the silo in the MIAA is northwestern 10 years ago when they couldn't get a non conf. A conference must take care of its weakest members or those weakest members will die on the vine. Southeastern conference always takes care of its teams. That's why they will never leave the eight game schedule. The GAC takes care of its teams. The poor programs Northwest Southwest Southern Nazarene Nazarene UAM. Stu. Constantly compete for which one of them will finish at 500. If you finish at 500 every season or so you sell tickets you get attendance you pick up alumni money. But if you can't get past the two end up your program slowly dies. The silo in the MIAA has cost the conference in so many ways. You've lost Truman msst Southwest Baptist now northeastern. So who's all that's left. Teams tearing each other's throats apart every week. There's a third new situation I think is we're just now seeing. There's no longer going to be a trickle-down of division 1 talent to division 2. The transfer portal allows division one athletes to move horizontally in order for New opportunities instead of having to move down like they've always had to before. But this is a new trend so I don't know. The Harding deserves their championship. They beat a lot of good teams to get there. They have been in the in the playoff for over a decade. But the days of the MIAA calling itself the elite conference need to end.

[the Northeasterner]

Also I predicted all this back in 2014 when we first were doing this silly silo. Northeastern and UCO join they should have gone to divisions. Kept some non conf

[GorillaTeacher]

Gliac had one 11 win team last year. And it took a playoff game to get it. The silo isn’t what kept NSU down, although it sure didn’t help. Why is losing Truman and SWBU a loss? Scheduling excuses is one of the reasons NSU has been bad for so long, excuses. Leaving the conference may allow you guys to get a couple more wins, but it isn’t going to make your team better. I mean, look at Truman- they were nearly in the playoffs, but they weren’t a playoff caliber team except in SR1, maybe.

The scheduling method never really hurt any conference or helped them, clearly. We have had 10 years of it. NW has won the champ twice, Harding has won it for the first time. In the last two years, two MIAA teams lost by a total of 4 points to the national champ. I’d argue, that had Pitt come away from Allendale victorious you would have seen them in the championship game instead. I think we would have beat harding in close but never in doubt game. I felt like we matched up better than GVSU
it took them scraping by on a blocked extra point to come away with the win against UCM.

NSU has left the conference, but the conference didn’t kill their program, the administration did. They didn’t(couldn’t) invest like a program needs to be competitive. Good luck, wherever you end up, may your JUCO coach have what it takes to convince your administration that he needs more money. Hopefully the excuses don’t follow you to whatever conference invites you (GLVC, rejects).

[the Northeasterner]

I'm not talking about nsu. I'm talking about what's hurting MIAA. If we are claiming to be the best conf. We haven't eaten won the region in five years. Or made it out of second round in three years. Silo hurts that. Lol of sos bonus that gliac gets, the brutal nature of schedule and the make up region 3 are reasons. The silo and NSU is a different conversation I've had many times before. Losing Truman Southwest msst is bad for conference because you loose traditional rivals and fair competition for the lower end of conference. This is where gac and nsic is doing better than us with silo. It allows the middle and lower teams the ability to get the wins needed to keep program supported. Look at Truman a public liberal arts school in middle ifnowhere. They have had three successful years in a row wanna bet that helps University fundraising You don't win you don't get the financial support from alums. The reason they play football in D2 is because it's your "front porch" to your University. If you can't get the wins nobody's going to come to your front porch or want to come to your University or support the University. All those schools that have left have left because they just basically got crushed. The system was designed to help pit and Northwest. And now it's hurting our biggest programs because it's getting them lower playoff seeds. Which means driving to Michigan.

[GorillaTeacher]

Nowhere has the silo hurt the MIAA in the last 3 years. Had Pitt taken care of business against MOwest, the championship would have ran through css. Just like Harding did, a silo conference. 2021 NW lost to the national champ, 2022 Pitt lost to the national champ, 2023 UCM lost to the national champ, from a silo conference. Just because we have had the “best” team doesn’t mean the conference isn’t top to bottom one of the toughest. But if your definition of success is getting 9 wins, begging for a shot in the playoffs to be boat raced, then you should be easily convinced that the GLVC is the toughest conference.

The only thing the silo did was kill any sort of speculation about interesting games and excitement for different opponents. It made scheduling much more simpler, predictable and affordable for the schools. I imagine if the GLIAC had the ability to be SILO they would, as they do nothing but talk about how difficult it is to fill a schedule each year.

[Predatory Primates]

Nowhere has the silo hurt the MIAA in the last 3 years. Had Pitt taken care of business against MOwest, the championship would have ran through css. Just like Harding did, a silo conference. 2021 NW lost to the national champ, 2022 Pitt lost to the national champ, 2023 UCM lost to the national champ, from a silo conference. Just because we have had the “best” team doesn’t mean the conference isn’t top to bottom one of the toughest. But if your definition of success is getting 9 wins, begging for a shot in the playoffs to be boat raced, then you should be easily convinced that the GLVC is the toughest conference.

The only thing the silo did was kill any sort of speculation about interesting games and excitement for different opponents. It made scheduling much more simpler, predictable and affordable for the schools. I imagine if the GLIAC had the ability to be SILO they would, as they do nothing but talk about how difficult it is to fill a schedule each year.

I disagree. It definitely hurt Pitt in 22, making them play really champ at their place instead of CSS.

That aside, I think you're looking at it wrong. Playing the same teams in a tiny bubble, year after year definitely hurts you from a gameplanning standpoint. Players not having to learn new techniques, reads, etc.. like you have to do when you face new teams hurts them from an experiential standpoint.

It's a cheat for lazy administrators, and it cheats the team and staff out of knowledge gained from experience.

Beating me at basketball 9 out of 10 times doesn't mean you are good at hoops. It just means you are good at beating me.

[northwest missouri state]

There are two things hurting m i aa supremacy. The region that we're sharing with gliac is killing us. Gliav isnt estricted by The silo and so they can have multiple good teams. Like last year when they had three 11 win teams in ferris Davenport and Grand valley. Traveling to Michigan to play in the second or third round is not to the advantage of a team from Missouri Kansas or Oklahoma or Nebraska. The second thing that's hurting us is the silo in this conference. Now The silo in the GAC is helping them. It allows Harding and OBU to maintain their dominance with 9 10 and 11 win seasons seasons . But the MIAA is so competitive there are no teams alive that can win all 11 games. Pitt State had themselves set up for a first round by and home field. I promise they would have hosted a semi. But then they lose to Missouri Western and the whole conference is thrown for a loop. The only people who benefit from the silo in the MIAA is northwestern 10 years ago when they couldn't get a non conf. A conference must take care of its weakest members or those weakest members will die on the vine. Southeastern conference always takes care of its teams. That's why they will never leave the eight game schedule. The GAC takes care of its teams. The poor programs Northwest Southwest Southern Nazarene Nazarene UAM. Stu. Constantly compete for which one of them will finish at 500. If you finish at 500 every season or so you sell tickets you get attendance you pick up alumni money. But if you can't get past the two end up your program slowly dies. The silo in the MIAA has cost the conference in so many ways. You've lost Truman msst Southwest Baptist now northeastern. So who's all that's left. Teams tearing each other's throats apart every week. There's a third new situation I think is we're just now seeing. There's no longer going to be a trickle-down of division 1 talent to division 2. The transfer portal allows division one athletes to move horizontally in order for New opportunities instead of having to move down like they've always had to before. But this is a new trend so I don't know. The Harding deserves their championship. They beat a lot of good teams to get there. They have been in the in the playoff for over a decade. But the days of the MIAA calling itself the elite conference need to end.

*writes the conclusion he wants and then works his way back*

[GorillaTeacher]

I disagree. It definitely hurt Pitt in 22, making them play really champ at their place instead of CSS.

That aside, I think you're looking at it wrong. Playing the same teams in a tiny bubble, year after year definitely hurts you from a gameplanning standpoint. Players not having to learn new techniques, reads, etc.. like you have to do when you face new teams hurts them from an experiential standpoint.

It's a cheat for lazy administrators, and it cheats the team and staff out of knowledge gained from experience.

Beating me at basketball 9 out of 10 times doesn't mean you are good at hoops. It just means you are good at beating me.

You get 11 games, no matter what. I think the “experiential” aspect is over complicating the scheduling. I doubt there is an AD in the country that is scheduling opponents to experience an offense or defense they haven’t seen much before. Coaches are largely film buffs, and they get three days, generally, to teach the game plan and scout the looks and how they are going to defend them.

There is an argument that had Pitt plays USF in 2022 they would have been a at least # 2 in region, but the floor of silo is higher than the SOS of the top team in the GLVC in 2023. I think it was also higher than the many of the playoff teams in in any region. It’s the MIAAs and GACs and NSICversion of gaming the system.

[Predatory Primates]

You get 11 games, no matter what. I think the “experiential” aspect is over complicating the scheduling. I doubt there is an AD in the country that is scheduling opponents to experience an offense or defense they haven’t seen much before. Coaches are largely film buffs, and they get three days, generally, to teach the game plan and scout the looks and how they are going to defend them.

There is an argument that had Pitt plays USF in 2022 they would have been a at least # 2 in region, but the floor of silo is higher than the SOS of the top team in the GLVC in 2023. I think it was also higher than the many of the playoff teams in in any region. It’s the MIAAs and GACs and NSICversion of gaming the system.

I strongly disagree. If you are "planning" for the same opponent over and over, you aren't really planning. You are just regurgitating and tweaking the same old crap.

And no. I'm not saying they schedule a team because of the scheme. I'm saying that playing new teams better prepares both staff and players. It provides opportunity for growth and learning in areas of scouting planning, and execution that conference inbreeding does not provide.

Most fields try to avoid entropy and inbreeding at all costs.

[GorillaTeacher]

I strongly disagree. If you are "planning" for the same opponent over and over, you aren't really planning. You are just regurgitating and tweaking the same old crap.

And no. I'm not saying they schedule a team because of the scheme. I'm saying that playing new teams better prepares both staff and players. It provides opportunity for growth and learning in areas of scouting planning, and execution that conference inbreeding does not provide.

Most fields try to avoid entropy and inbreeding at all costs.

that would be true if it was a closed system, but it’s not. New players, new coaches, new looks. I don’t believe the 2-3 different opponents every year is offering nearly as much critical feed back to the team as it does the fans and regional committee. Look at any level of football, the majority of opponents are teams you play yearly, or on a short cycle.