October 29th, 2023 3:00pm
YouTube Auto-Generated Transcript:
hello everybody and welcome to inside D2 football along with Justin pizzy Tony
Nicollet Matt wh Wiki Chuck Bitner Chris Ferguson and special guest tonight Antonio Clark I am Brandon Meisner it's
pleasure to have you with us so what's going on tonight uh we'll talk about the top 25
battle between Western Colorado and Colorado Mines the GSC had a top 25
Battle of its own Basta state was at West Florida overall four teams lost to
unranked opponents we'll talk about that and more in our top 25 review and we'll
do a deep dive into tomorrow's Regional rankings what could they look like well you'll stick with us you'll find out
we'll also do our pick segment answer questions and criticisms in the overtime period and all that and more so we're
getting close to crunch time at the end of the regular season what a great time of year so thanks again for watching
inside D2 football tonight we start with a battle of undefeated teams as Western Colorado traveled to Golden to try to
establish our Max Supremacy but the or diggers reain Supreme with a
42-7 win a a good win by the iggers Matt yeah a game I thought we were all kind
Game Recap
of waiting to see and you know I'll tell you right now was kind of the main game I was really most intrigued about 5,500
sellout crowd and uh you see kind of right away uh mines gets after it Max
McLoud with the with the score from Maka then uh you know get they're getting after the quarterback right away
and uh mines was really control in the first half despite the fact that the
score was not really changing a whole lot here's Maka getting loose this guy's got the guts of a burglar I mean just
look at him and then get he gets pushed out of bounds just gets right back look like nothing then we you know we got
rooper here for the score and mindes is up 14 nothing and it's they're in
control kind of the whole way and then you know you get get a touchdown pass right here you know from Western and
they're right back in the game then we get to the second half and the snow's coming down and mines is running
the football real good and not allowing much in the run as you can see here as they kind of gang up a little bit uh
Moko rolls right finds his man and this game is starting to change a little bit we got a 21 you know Point deficit they
picked off uh you know two passes five sacks I mean they're they're they were really getting after uh Western up front
and then you see here he finds his man the back Maka does and yeah this is just
kind of how things were going as the game continued it it kind of felt like Western lost a little bit of their
Spirit once the score really started to turn fumble here and uh then mine scores
again to kind of close out the action in a 42 to7 contest and you know if we're
gonna be real honest I it was a little bit of a let down I thought Brandon for us because we were expecting really a
knockdown drag out game and uh got a feeling my guy Antonio was thinking the same thing yeah um I I I understood that
mind's front seven and I I knew I knew how serious they were but I also thought
Western's was and I think M's kind of kind of put that notion to bed throughout the game it maoka he did his
thing as he always does but uh how how they pushed around Western as the game
went on as the snow came down it was really crazy to see up close in person Antonio let me ask you as as our guy who
covers the armac um You' got a chance to obviously be at be at a whole lot of big
armac games uh how would you rate this one in terms of the environment with it and everything else and did it kind of
have a a big game feel oh it was a huge game like um it it drew me back to some
of my playing days like we played mindes in 2016 when they had Justin dvor who won the Harland Hill that year and we
ended up beating him um we were ranked in the teens they were in the top 10 it
was it was insane but it was bigger now because they've done Renovations the stadium is huge the energy the Western
fan showed up the Western sideline was packed out like the tailgate before was awesome it was a great environment and
the attention that the RAC got this week I think it bodess well for the conference as they try to become more
and more competitive at the national level yep very good well tell you what let's go ahead and get it from uh the
point of view for the man on the sidelines Pete cic head coach at Colorado School of Minds joins us Pete
thank you very much for being here tonight you bet thanks for having me appreciate it coach uh first off congrats on your
big win uh as we just mentioned we kind of weren't expecting it to go exactly like that um heck even a few of us dopes
here on the set might have even picked Western I don't know who I could be speaking of but uh you know the game got
going you know all of a sudden it got pretty one-sided after we thought it was going to be really a tight match and you
know what were some of the things that really gave you the impression that things were going well for your squad uh in that first half well we were able to
come out that that first series and we had a 16 play Drive um that we ended up not scoring on but the fact that we were
just able to kind of do what we had planned on doing which isn't always the case um right and then you know we
turned it over and our defense kind of made him go backwards um you know and then we got to a fourth down in the Red
Zone the next Drive and um you know defense did the same thing got it back to us and we were able to score after
that but our defense coming out and just being relentless to the ball I mean that's just it's kind of our kind of our
our Mo and our staple and our identity is populating the football and um trip Thomas our D coordinator does a great
job and he had those guys really ready and you know it's it's interesting with with the coverage like Antonio like you
were talking about sh showing a pretty good light on the armac but our guys hearing about Western and hearing that
people were thinking they were on our level um I think our kids kind of took offense to that and um it probably just
added to the you know the fuel of the fire and as much fire as we already have intrinsically it only helped us and um
you know so early on once I saw our defense playing like that I knew we were going to start scoring some points and a
little later than I would have liked but you know we got rolling pretty good and and uh it was really fun to just see
things go according to what our plan was coach how important was it
establishing and just winning the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball in this one it was big time you know
anytime you can get on a quarterback's toes early um and put some some contact to him it's going to make him question
himself um you know they have some good receivers they have some guys with some speed um but you know to to take
advantage of that speed you got to give your quarterback time and so those receivers can get separation and they just didn't have much chance of that um
you know and then our ability to spit the ball in the perimeter make them run sideways and um pick up first downs that
way but also hand it off and change up our personnel as we went along and our Line's pretty good um and we were able
to lean on them off and on throughout the game and pick and choose when we wanted to throw and so that was that was
absolutely huge for us coach you might have noticed but people tend to focus a little bit when
it comes to Minds on your offense that Harlem Hill winner you got um you know I
couldn't help but notice yesterday how much juice your defense was playing with you know you guys play with a lot of
energy and I know you're an offensive guy but you know you probably couldn't help but notice how your group was
harassing Drew Nash and you know making him really uncomfortable you know five
sacks probably speaks to that but what were your observations on the defensive effort yesterday yeah I mean that's just
an identity thing for us our guys fly around they love to play ball um trip has them ready every week and you know
we off of it you know being an offensive guy and call plays um we like to be able
to keep ourselves you know both sides of the ball really when the defense is playing well then we can keep doing offensively what we have planned and
then when we're playing well when we're scoring when we're in drives with touchdowns it allows trip to to keep
pulling the trigger on those blitzes and mixing things up and keep people on their heels um and we like everybody
calls it team football but when we can really feed off of each other it's just it's a blast I love seeing those guys
fly around on defense and keep getting the ball back to number 10 yeah you know your your team hasn't
played a ranked opponent in over a month and you kind of touched on this a little bit earlier that you guys are kind of
Juiced for the game because of perceived whether real or is not real disrespect
um did that light how did that light a fire under under your rear ends and and
is it is it real disrespect or is it just like a case where Jordan would always find something to get him
motivated it's funny you bring yeah it's funny you bring that up um because I I read that book Relentless and um we talk
about we we actually had our seniors read that book and he would I kind of identified with that you know always
looking for extra motivation um you know I don't I don't know how real it is I don't I don't know that we truly felt
disrespected but we wanted to just prove what we thought was the difference between us and them um you know
obviously we started out playing Grand Valley and Angelo and and we get into conference play and I I think there's
definitely some good challenges in our conference but yeah we hadn't played a ranked opponent in a while and you know
we were excited to go do that here at home and love the idea with them coming in with you know in one of the polls
being top 10 and and Jazz has a great program I think they are a really good team um we just liked our chances going
in we felt like there was some matchups for us that we could take advantage of and fortunately it came to
fruition you know it's kind of wild that if we look back coach to even preco 2019
okay you're you're the OC there you know you're just starting off with Minds got
a what a a true freshman John Mata mind this is before
Co he ends up being your starter you guys go 12 and one you win a playoff game over some sou fallam that I'm
familiar with and I mean it's crazy to think we're now talking about
2023 and he's still your quarterback um what is your relationship with John and
you know is he kind of like having another coordinator on the field at this point yeah he's definitely come a long
ways in that regard um you know in 19 the first game we played was against Adam State we just didn't have the
production that we wanted um offensively we got the win and we decided to go with
JN over a couple older guys um and so early on I mean he hadn't taken a lot of
reps in Fall camp but he had shown enough where he knew there was something special there plus is just the type of person he is if you meet him you can
just get that sense he just he has that Moxy and that presence um but the game
plans were I mean not not unbelievably simple I was I was up in the Box it's not like I came down on the field so I
could communicate with them um I trusted him but as we've gone along things have gotten more expanded in the game plan um
you know and he he made some checks the other day that were real veteran type checks just little things and they were in the Run game um which was just
awesome and we you you know the two or three times he did it we got first downs on short yardage and um so yeah it was
it was really cool and you know when you get to that point with the quarterback he's GNA have you know a certain amount of recall things to revert back to
things you've experienced together I think his anticipation of what I'm gonna call probably more than anything you
know he tells me I knew you were GNA call that on that you know when we're on the 12 yard line on third down or what whatever it is um and it's hard to fake
that you got to build it um so it is definitely pretty special at this point and we have a great relationship I mean
it's we we're both competitive and fiery and you know me coming down to the field and calling it obviously as the head
coach has been you know a little bit of an adjustment but honestly I think it's made our communication better um maybe
he doesn't feel that way sometimes if he throws a pick or something he's gotta I'm right there instead of having to ignore getting on the headphones for a
couple minutes but but it's been great he's he's a a real special player you kind of almost answered my
question for you there coach but what what have been some of the challenges of going going from the booth being just an
offensive coordinator to being a head coach and all that that encompasses not only just you know on the field but all
the off the field stuff like what has that transition been like for you you know I I had done it before I was at
mcferson College in 2012 and 13 um with less resources so I mean I I was
coaching two positions and calling it and doing all that kind of stuff and our staff has been I mean Tim Brandon has
the offense coordinator title and he has a heavy heavy INF on the game plan coach Anar lion he's right with me on the
sideline and um I really lean on him a bunch and then Ryan dedrick's up in the booth he's a receivers Coach and he's
great with the pass game so you know I might be the one making the calls but those guys they car of me a lot of the
times and making suggestions even if it's on Sunday Monday Tuesday as we're as we're getting into the week um so
that's been huge but it's been different you know you deal with with meetings and different things that you know you just
weren't dealing with before and that's just that's how it goes but for sure having done it before for a couple years
um has definitely prepped me and then you know when you have a veteran team there's probably a lot of things I'm not
great at within being a head coach yet that hopefully I can get to that point but we have so many veterans around us and they're probably masking some of
that so hopefully they can keep carrying me along you know I've got one final question for you and kind of piggies
back on everything we've talked about and on AC's question that he just had but I want to tell you a story about a
friend of mine coach Mel Churchman from Northwest missou in the College Football Hall of Fame one year his team had to
play Early they had to play like Arkansas Tech and I could be getting this wrong but I remember his his
statement then like pit State and Nebraska Omaha were like the first three games and he you know he survived that
and he talked about now we can breathe and we can get along to the business of developing this team and I kind of
laughed that you know he felt he had to survive an early punch and then he could develop the team do you and again feel
free to tell me if I'm wrong but does do you do you do does that resonate with you this year because of the early
schedule and then some great games at the back end yeah it was interesting when I got the job was which was
obviously a lot later than a lot of people get a head coaching job is at the end of April um then May 3rd officially
and one of the first things I told our guys that that and I wasn't going to depart from what Coach Moore had planned
for us you know I was a part of this and but I wanted to make sure we started from the start you know and we talked
about national championship last year all the time and and and that was great but we started 0 and2 and we had to
climb back every week and and backs against the wall and that was great that we did that but we didn't you know I was
I told the guys I don't want to be 0 and2 you know let's so let's really lock in early um so that was a huge Focus for
our guys I me we didn't overemphasize it but at the same time you know that was something that we wanted to get off on
the right foot um so yeah once you get past we got past those first two games there probably was a a brief sense of
God dang we we did what we planned and and what we talked talked about doing and our guys just were did a great job
executing both those game plans and coming through and you know then you get into a conference and that you know your next goal is just week by week staying
in it and I always say each week's kind of like its own case study that's how we treat it you know we don't change
anything you know like extensively but you know you cater it to who you're playing and and just try not to get
ahead of yourself and you get to this point you got a couple games left and we got we got to handle our business but
it's uh it's pretty awesome to be to this point and just with a great group of kids and we got a lot bigger goals
ahead and we just got to keep rolling very good well Pete we really thank you for joining us tonight wish you the best
Bosses Pizza
of luck the rest of the way out yeah thanks so much for what you guys do for D2 really appreciate you guys thanks a lot thank you very much that was Pete
sturing the head coach at Colorado School of Minds uh let's go ahead and talk about Bosses Pizza and Chicken Whit
um we obviously failed our eating contest but uh I don't think we need to keep bringing
that up even though I just like up the fat guys right there I like the way you did what's that what' you say I'm sorry
you up the fat guys let's go in any case uh uh there was something
that resonated with me um in their advertising as I was looking at the website and uh they had mentioned
something and a quote from the website says an independent pizza delivery restaurant that goes to battle against
all the change we often aren't able to do all the marketing that the big boys can do and to get new customers to try
our product and that very much resonated with me and what we've done on D2 football for 20 uh 24 years now and uh I
just uh would hope that anybody who lives in an area where there is a boss's pizza and chicken would uh try them out
and of course last week we talked about uh their first in tenders which is a
different uh a different menu item than than people are used to and Whit had them on the show ate them on his show
and felt that they were good so we' invite you to check those out as well uh also if you look uh at the upper right
hand corner of the image that's on the screen right now you can see the link to franchise so if you're a business person
if you are interested in uh partnering with boss's uh pizza and chicken click
on that link tell them you heard about it from us I think it's a wonderful business opportunity there are lots of towns in my neck of
the woods in the MIAA where I think it would be perfect uh in fact one of them might be where my alma M's located I
think that would be just a home run in that town as a sports bar with the with
the pizza and chicken but if you are interested in that please click on the franchisee or the franchise link and
join the bosses uh chicken and Pizza team well let's go ahead gentlemen and
Valdasta vs West Florida
let's talk about the top 25 uh the results from that let me get
the right orientation and we'll bring up uh the scores from the top 25 and let's
start with h West Florida a hosting valdasta State and valdasta was able to
come away with a 3128 win an exciting win for uh the
Blazers Chuck yeah well a couple of us took a flyer on uh on taking valdasta for the win in this one and I was I was
one of them the funny thing is I I actually thought that was a bigger reach than than picking Western Colorado uh so
I was proven wrong on both fronts but um no this was a very interesting game because you know I spend a lot of time
digging through stat sheets and box scores after I watch a game because of all the stuff that we do and this is
definitely one of those games where if you showed me the stat sheet afterward I would have said well you know better
luck next year alasta because there's no way that that's a winning stat sheet um but they were opportunistic they made
some stops when they really needed to um and they were very resilient in this game you know valdasta was down 14 to
nothing and when they fell behind I thought boy this this just kind of feels like where things have gone wrong for
them uh over the last year or so just kind of falling behind and playing from behind and just not being able to catch
up well the defense really kind of caught fire made a couple stops they got a defensive score in this game which was
big and then they really were able to start working their passing game the interesting thing that I thought was you
know a huge Factor in this game and I actually thought it would be Peewee Jarrett rushing the ball was a huge X
Factor and that's not normally a big part of West flor's game plan uh but they really needed him because we know
that if you're going to beat valasta you attack straight at them you run the ball downhill at them that's their weakness
and they really used Peewee Jarett to do that but in the end it wasn't quite enough the Blazers did hold up to their
passing game really well uh and you got to give a lot of credit to vasta State they made plays when they really had to
including the the touchdown pass we saw at the start start of that highlight reel so this is a really really big win
for for valdasta I think it takes some pressure off the coaches takes a little bit of pressure off the team probably
restores a little bit of confidence and in everybody there including the fan base so you know there's still work to
be done there's still tough games ahead but this is a really really big win that vasta had to have right uh another team
Lenor Ryan vs Wingate
or a team that fell from the ranks of the unbeaten was Lenor Ryan the Bears
fell at wing it uh 34 to 30 a real real fun ending to that one Justin yeah it
was uh you know this game was a phenomenal football game when you looked at it in the pregame it was two of the
best defenses not just in the sack but two top 10 defenses in the country and that's kind of what you were thinking it
was going to be was a defensive Showdown uh and and that really wasn't the case you know Wingate got the scoring started
early um and and every time Wingate scored or Leno Ryan scored the other team had the answer it was score for
score pretty much the whole game it was phenomenal and and it's not really what you were thinking it was going to be
again with those top 10 defenses but it really came down to to the fourth quarter in the last couple possessions right so uh wingit or Leno Ryan rather
uh they take the lead with 101 to play okay they score they they go up and it's 30 to 27 Wing gets the football back and
it's a 75 yard touchdown pass to take the lead with 50 seconds left so it's back and forth Leno Ryan has the
football they're down to the Wingate 20 uh in and Wing get um about 25 yard line
with about four seconds left and have a shot for the End Zone ultimately Ferguson's pass gets picked off in the end zone but it was a back and forth
football game and it was a game that you really kind of felt like whoever had the football last had a really good chance
of winning that football game and and just some some stats kind of from the game that really stuck out to me and
again like you said Chuck it was one of those things that uh when you looked at the stat sheet it really didn't tell the tale of the tape um you know these games
the last two games have been decided by one possession and that just talks about how good these teams are and what's
interesting is Lenor Ryan uh had 483 yards of offense that's the most on the
winggate defense in over two years so that's a phenomenal job just you know it was a shootout and uh and actually you
know it it it really the de and actually there was it was I'm trying to find the number right here guys it was 922 yards
of total offense between both teams on a game we thought defense was going to talk about it for their day but uh
either way it was a great football game Leno Ryan just fell short uh and and falls from the ranks of the unbeaten and and I'll say this we we kind of rote off
Wing get at six and three five- two in the league and they've clawed their way back into this thing so uh kudos to
coach Reich and Coach Reich and his staff you know it's been mentioned a couple times that the stats don't always
Wayne vs Augustana
tell the uh the story of the game and I think we've got another one just like that Whit a 14-2 win over Augustina as
the Vikings fall from the ranks of the undefeated yeah kind of a wild deal I saw him a week ago really have their way
with Mano and then all of the sudden they find themselves in this uh and you
know uh all of a sudden they they're trying to move the ball and Bowman's getting sacked and uh Wayne's kind of
getting after him a little bit uh Wayne scored on a on a deep pass then all of a
sudden they get a pick six here and it's a 14-2 game after a series of bad snaps
by Wayne which uh weren't exactly easy to Corral in the snow everybody seems like they're
having a lot more fun than they're really having and um then uh erson with the fumble who had an otherwise very
productive day I mean Augie had a had you know almost 300 yards offense but
they turn the ball over three times through the air one time on the ground there and they they kind of finish with
a pick here on the sideline and it uh it was kind of a wild deal Brandon because
Wayne finishes with 20 yards of offense okay now they had you know they
they they had positive yardage but they had almost 80 yards in bad snaps and
well that counts so it's not like that that doesn't count and uh so just kind
of a wild deal they got themselves up 14-2 Auggie tried to dig back but just
it was too hard to execute offensively especially in the passing game with that kind of weather Matt let's stay with you
Minnesota Duluth vs Bethany
and talk about one more Northern Sun game tremendous comeback attempt fall
short but midy state with a 38 31 win over Minnesota duth on the road yeah and
and Bal me good weather up at duth of course um you know go go figure but uh
bidi got after duth right away and uh alt was hitting targets all over the
field uh they were complimenting that with rushing and this was a 28-10 ball
game by half and uh you know Kyle wall Jasper the the linebacker quarterback
for for duth uh was still able to go ahead and and and Lead his group back
and and they battled and battled and battled and got this all the way to within a touchdown at the end but uh you
know you see him here hitting a wide open Target just kind of a blown cover there and bidi was able to hold off Toth
but duth kind of proves that they're that team that could be dangerous if they somehow got themselves into the
dance but at the end of the day bigi still proves that they are one of the top
teams in the northern sub very good pretty good weekend uh
Upsets
with a lot of upsets and surprises couple other things to mention uh two monster upsets in the top 2 Bloomsburg
beats number 21 Shephard and Southwest Baptist beat number 22 Truman State uh
one of those will certainly have an effect on the regional rankings uh two
unbeatens came back after being down two scores in the second half to win against
unranked opponents Davenport over s Sagen Valley and
Central Washington over Kingsville couple other notes John Maka
set a new division 2 record for total touchdowns in a career passing the previous Mark of 171 set by Tyson bent
last year and the PAC Championship matchup is resolved one week early
Slippery Rock and Kutztown won the divisions with a game to spare and will meet for the psac
championship more to come on inside D2 Football October is Breast Cancer
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searching pink Clover Foundation well I have to imagine that
Regional Rankings
uh let me pull that down first folks I have to imagine that a lot of people are here here um so that they can hear what
we have to say about Regional rankings uh it's exciting time of year in a time to really dive into them uh let's go
ahead and take those rankings in order switch back to that I'm going to start in super region one tonight um thanks
for Inc blot for the use of his data um as you see with the sort by the Numbers
it's slippery rock tiffen Charleston East sturg Frostburg State Kutztown and
Cal would be the top seven now that's just by the uh raw
numbers and we took a deeper dive and we're going to try to predict what we think they might be tomorrow so uh Chuck
super region one what are your thoughts on the way they might look tomorrow I
Rankings
think the top three are are pretty well set and pretty easy I think you've got obviously you got two nine and0 teams
you start there slippy Rock has the advantage over tiffen with in all the metrics so you're going to have slippy
rock at one and tiffen at number two I think Charleston's a pretty clear number three based on the record the strength
of schedule the wins against teams over 500 I think that they are a very clear number three where it gets interesting
is when you get down to number four when you look at the the records that would
suggest e Stroudsburg is going to be number four and I won't be surprised if they land on the four line it's very
possible that the committee is just going to group these teams by the zero loss teams the one loss teams and the two loss teams and then rank them within
those groups it's very possible that they will do that but I think if you really dive a little bit further I think you have a
good case to move Frostburg State up to the number four position right behind Charleston who they lost to yesterday
Frostburg has three wins against teams that are over 500 they have vastly Superior SOS to East stoutsburg and I
think if you put them at four you have to remember that Kutztown has a head-to-head win over East stoutsburg so
you know typically head-to-head only comes into play when when two teams are very close to each other and the records are equal but I think it when you look
at the SOS um the win's over 500 and that head-to-head I think you could put Kutztown ahead of them but then you also
have to put California ahead of Kutztown um so I go Frostburg for California five and Kutztown at six unfortunately that
bump SE Stroudsburg potentially all the way down to number seven uh now that's not saying that this is how it's going
to go I I will kind of be surprised if the committee does do it that way but if I was ranking that's probably how it
would come out um keep in mind guys we still have a lot of football to be
played even just among the group of teams that I'm talking about this week you've got East Stroudsburg at Shepard
huge matchup Finley at Ashland that's going to be a a big factor here because Finley is a team to to not o Overlook if
there's somebody who could jump into the picture who's not even on this page potentially could be Finley because they
have OPP well they've got two uh quality opponents coming up so they've got um
they've got Ashland and they've got tiffen coming up at the end of the year so if they win both of those games that
really changes the picture here quite a bit I think uh so Finley really could be a team that jumps into the picture uh if
they win both of those games and obviously that would also then give tiffan a loss so it really would Shuffle the order here quite a bit um and in the
last week of the Season you've got several games we already talked about slipy rock and Kutztown K and E strawsburg play in that last week of the
Season Frostburg and Fairmont State play in the last week of the regular season so there's still a ton to resolve in the
super region just with the teams that are that are uh that are in play right let's go ahead and transition to Super
Super Region 2
Region 2 where Chris is our expert uh as you see by sheer data Benedict is one
valasta is two Delta is three Leno Ry is four Mars Hills five West Florida and
Virginia Union round out the top seven what are your thoughts on super Region 2
CHR CH well I mean certainly a huge jump up
for valasa state after Lenor Ryan uh you know takes a loss and I think that's the
kind of chaos that I I was certainly concerned about with super Region 2
going into this week um and so the way that Vasa kind of kind of vaults up like
that I mean that is a huge jump um you know certainly what's also interesting
is that we talk a lot about um potential rematches in the first round if if
things were to end today you kind of looking at like a Lenor Ry fav State part two who wants to see that um I'm
not very fond of that and I actually wanted to ask Chuck that but my internet start acting crazy about super region
one a little bit because something that's kind of unique is a USC pimbrook
that is on the 10 line in super region one but they are just flat out right right in the super Region 2 footprint
and and that could certainly present a really unique scenario for the committee um you know also pretty big
jumps um Virginia Union uh now really in the mix Virginia state right there right
behind them and and basically you have like this just log Jam of CIAA teams um
right there at the very bottom of the of the ranking so you know somebody got to
win right and you know baring an upset by W hel state which I just let's not
even talk about that or I have to grab my wine glass uh you've got a pretty big rivalry
coming up and then you've got the the championship game so um just a lot to really look into or or look forward to
this weekend probably the one team that's not on this list to to really think about is wing it uh they're sort
of sort of on the outside looking in just because they are three losses but you know if if uh super Region 2
continues to be as chaotic as it's been um then certainly uh I think that they're probably right on the outside
looking in to get into the top 10 very good all right let's go ahead and move to Super Region 3 and I'll
Super Region 3
actually take this one um I think that the teams could be grouped in as many as
four groups but to keep it simple do three groups um with the help of Matten
shuck uh you take the first two they're clearly Harding and Pittsburgh
state now there's a question that will be answered tomorrow because it is known and we've
known this since we've been doing this show and trying to predict these things that a GAC team and an MIAA team will
finish with 500 strength of schedules that's not the case this year because of Pittsburgh's game against Sue Falls
yesterday that's going to give Pittsburgh state um a slight or maybe
not so slight SOS advantage over Harding uh so the question is tomorrow
it should look at like Harding over pit State as you see on the screen uh but at
the end of the at the end of the season if both remain undefeated there would be
a flip and pit state would be in the number one spot um and the question is
do they does the committee want to have to deal with answering those questions so it'll be interesting to see where
they land uh tomorrow I got a question for you yes
like how big of a deal is it to see Harding in that number one slot because I don't think we've seen that in a long
time if ever well they might I don't know if I can recall it but it's not surprising because of the way their
schedule set up you know that they've played the the teams that give them the strength of schedule boost and as you
see it's 522 over 516 and otherwise everything else is kind of just the same
is exactly the same we're used to a Gak team on the top though what's
that we're used to see a Gak team I I got we don't have we don't have Ferris Grand Valley at the top we don't have
Northwest Missouri State in there so I got you okay just a different picture okay hey fair enough good observation
Chris um all right uh speaking of gak team uh Grand Valley and Indianapolis
are in the next group now if you look on the screen Indian Apolis would be ahead of Grand Valley but I think uh we think
that this Grand Valley strength of schedule is 100 points better and they're also three in one versus teams
over 500 so even though there's one loss flip Grand Valley and Indianapolis making Grand Valley three Indianapolis
four now now we've got five through nine Truman made this a little easier by
losing so um we have uh you know one fewer one lost team but Central Missouri
uh probably at six their strength of schedule's better marginally and three in one versus 500 Davenport is
undefeated now um they're hard we got them at six you know from I was looking
at him it's hard to evaluate uh the strength of schedule and winning percentage because they really haven't played anybody it's really hard to
evaluate them but it's better than uh the rest of the group watah uh Ferris
Southern Arkansas and then that's the order watto would be seven Ferris would be eight Southern Arkansas
uh would be nine um anyway that that's kind of the way that it could come out
tomorrow no guarantees uh as you know Ferris I'm sorry did you have
Ferris 10 uh Ferris at eight feris at eight yeah oh okay I'm sorry trumman 10
then okay yes I didn't even go to 10 uh yes yeah I didn't I just stop I stopped there I I've been saying that you know
one lost team is going to get left out obviously that's not going to happen because my inability to predict the the
Southwest Baptist upset of Truman really still a wrench in those plans but um I I
think you know the two lost Southern arkans has a chance I don't think there's any chance that a 10 loss Truman State or a two loss Truman State with
their numbers would would be in that so we don't have Ferris in the top seven
right now do you have any if you're a ferris fan watching this do you think
there's any fear of them not getting in the top seven no can't come the end of the season no I don't think so well well
there would be lose to Davenport right you know I mean they beat Davenport they're gonna have a head-to-head and
and obvious I obviously think Davenport's goingon to lose the Grand Valley as well but let's say that they
pull some upset and somehow beat Grand Valley they have to Lo they have to beat Davenport or they should be out anyway
the numbers and and all the criteria won't matter they should be out it that's that's the way I see it I I I
just I just want to mentioned that basically the gleak has the GSC problem
you know it's hard to schedule games to begin with you get games on there and you kind of see Fair six and one right
and that makes it a bit challenging when you've got teams that have a little bit more um body of work to show for it so
now so now they're basically in a win or go home scenario they're already in the playoffs
here and they've got to beat Davenport to sort of get in as y'all have mentioned so I just find that really
interesting to see and I think a lot of viewers are seeing that feris at 9 is just really really surprising but it it
makes sense yeah I've complained about the scheduling issue how it affects the gak teams how the MIAA would have the
insular schedule and not the inability to schedule gak teams and they would have nobody to play and then they would
try to use that against gak teams at the end of the year and I just
that's not not fair I mean quite frankly so it happens with the CIAA quite a bit
as well so it's uh it's kind of sobering to see it happen to other conferences as
well but I just think that's just kind of where we are as a as a division quite
honestly it happens on the edge I mean anything on the outside of the circle is what it is it's easier to schedule in
the middle which is one of the reasons that the schedules of the northern Sun the G and the MIAA have been an issue
over the past few years but I save all my rants now for the overtime so let's
Super Region 4
go ahead and get to Super region four and Matt take it away on that one please
yeah super region four uh M's obviously kind of made the path to number one I
think Crystal Clear uh you see them right there they they're probably the number one overall seed in the land when
you take a look at their Factor 9 and0 with a 628 SOS five wins over 500 better
good Governor um so when the question becomes okay what's it look like after them and Central Washington
has 72 games uh their strike the schedule isn't good in the company of
the teams chasing them and then from there they've got two wins against 500
or better also not a great number so I think Western Colorado ends up on the
two line tomorrow because of the fact they have 100 Point higher strength to schedule they've got another win over
500 um if we had to go all the way down to Performance indicators they even have
that so I think unless there's a judgment placed on Western Colorado
getting blown out against mines which there could be uh I think that we'll still see Western Colorado on the two
line uh then as you kind of move down the page from there uh peran Bas and I think is a is a strong four and then you
get into the 567 thing where we have one lost teams from the northern Sun kind of
vying for who's next well 567 for what it's worth doesn't matter all that much
anyway because 567 are all on the road if the playoffs started tomorrow so uh I
right now five should be Augustana because of the fact they have the head-to-head over uh Mano and mano's got
a head-to-head over mid midi and if you take a look at them left to right they're pretty similar so I thinking
Augustana mano beiji then we have kind of a distant eighth um and I I wouldn't
doubt that these top seven you see right here Brandon are going to be the seven okay because eight nine 10 are G little
ways to go so if we're taking a look here Wayne State let me let me interrupt
let me interrupt for a second just to be clear is is the gap because of the number of losses is it that simple the
yes and because the teams that are being chased all have good strength of schedule already okay so it's not like
the there we're we're chasing somebody at 567 who have weak numbers okay okay
um Wayne State is who I would have next on the eight line because of the fact not only do they have strong strong
strength of schedule but they got three wins over quality opponents there okay
Angelo's only got one so I would have Angelo then on the next line which is
nine and then I actually have Minnesota duth on the 10 line who's just below peblo there uh only because they have
one less loss but uh that's a crapshoot and and either Pueblo or duth really has
a long way to go even if they're on the page to be real for okay very good all
right well that's a look at what we think will happen um tomorrow or what
could happen tomorrow in terms of the regional rankings we will look at our picks when we come
Thank You
back just wanted to take this opportunity to thank those who have supported D2 football this year D2
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again thank you for supporting D2 [Music]
This Weeks Games
football very good let's go ahead and look at how we did last week our picking
results uh not not a bad week lots of green um had
some uh issues 50-50 on the West Florida valasa game that's good overall not a
bad week uh you know what we were all looking really bad when it came to New Haven until they pulled it out at the
end and then those of us who uh picked mines were feeling comfortable
throughout the entire game I was one of those dopes who took Western and otherwise I had a perfect slate
well then it's not perfect I mean if it wasn't for all the calories I've eaten I'd be thin so let's go ahead I
regretted that decision before the first quarter was over all right let's go ahead and look
at the ones to watch uh this week we're g gonna touch on those Fort Hayes at
Central Missouri Allen is at Benedict Delta is at West Georgia Tuskegee at
Miles and uh pit State at Missouri Western Ferg I want to ask you about the
two siac games uh what are we going to learn
what what what are going to be the results of these outcomes oh man this is a pretty heavy slate um so you know
Allen went up against Edward Waters and I thought that would be a lot closer than it did and you know Allen's
quarterback David Wright's actually one of the one of the um really really really good signal callers not just an
SI but but the in division two in my opinion and he but he's known for
throwing interceptions and he didn't and I was just thinking if if he could stop throwing interceptions I think Allen has
a really good chance to like really just taken off and they did against that water so um you know Allen and benedict
for those who don't know basically they're both in the Columbia South Carolina area so this is a rivalry game
and uh and it should be fun U Allen's offense against Benedict's really strong
defense especially defensive line um you know Benedict started off slow against
uh Savannah State but they showed why they they blasted the third quarter and
and you know I mean it was easy game after that but so so I I think Benedict's going to carry this one going
into the championship game Conference Championship game but uh I I think that it does have the opportunity to be uh a
bit uh entertaining uh as we get there now Tuskegee and Miles uh you know miles
fell to alinny uh you know that was kind of a 50 5050 game uh and so I wasn't
necessarily Blown Away by it but you know I thought miles would kind of you know find a way to win and uh it
certainly shuts them out of the playoffs most likely at this point um but uh you know pretty pretty huge game for these
two these two teams I I do think miles is gonna bounce back against Tuskegee in
this game but uh still there's a very exciting finish huh it was surprising
that outcome yesterday yeah right right right uh but I think
it's going to be pretty exciting finish in the SI for sure it's very entertainingly this year that Allen
Benedict rivalry is is really interesting because you mentioned that they're in Columbia the downtown
Columbia they're literally across the street from each other and we have we have a couple of rivalries that are like
that in D2 and that's one where like you could stand in intersection and you look to your left and that's Benedict and you
look to your right and that's Allen like they're literally right on top of each other other um I think when Allen first started up the program they played their
games in Benedict Stadium while they did so this is one where they like they literally see each other like all day
every day so it's it's it's pretty cool and obviously Allen's never had this good of a team to bring to the fight so
I think that could be a pretty good one um I think the favorites are gonna
win in the MIAA the Fort Hayes uh will or Central will for Hayes will put up a
fight but Central's going to win that one Missouri Western having a great year well you know what for Haz is having a great year too a bounce back for them
after a couple down years but I think the favorites are going to win in the miaaa Justin um what threat does West
Georgia pose to Delta State so I'm G tell you what this game is really intriguing to me for two reasons
one West Georgia and we haven't really talked about it we didn't talk about them when we're talking about Regional rankings guys they have two losses right
they're their last two games are Delta State state so we haven't mentioned them in the playoffs but let them win those
last two games and then see see where it goes from there right right but on the flip but on the flip side of that the
other thing that's intriguing to me is coach KY Patrick shog and Company they've had two weeks now to Fest around
a 2421 loss to West Florida right give them two weeks yeah let let it sit there
and and fester and stew for two weeks and see what happens they're on the road this week at West Georgia this is going to be a classic
game I I think it's just it's going to be exciting to watch I think Delta State
if they come out firing like we think that they can I think it's going to be an offensive shootout you know West Georgia can score points but uh this
game is gonna be exciting I I'm really excited to watch this one very good let's move on to our pick them this week
Pick Them
where we see East rburg at Shepard Limestone at Barton Ferris State at
Davenport Finley at Ashland and Virginia State against Virginia Union
uh we'll start in the order you see him e Stroudsburg at Shephard and Ferg you get to go
first well um you know East stosur's coming up where they what their one
losses to cown and uh you know it's going to make things really interesting
going against a shepher team that you know is coming off of a very shocking very disappointing loss to the fighting
Chu biters uh ah I I don't know if I'm really sold on ESU
right now I just feel I don't know I just feel like when they go up against
teams like this that they just really let me down so I'm not sold I'm gonna go with shephard I kind of agree with you I
had that same gut feeling about East rowsburg that they kind of let you down a little bit Whit your
turn well I'm gonna bring some hate um for if anybody wants to send in their
mail to me feel feel free too I haven't had Shephard rank the entire season not one week I didn't believe in
him and uh I felt like I was kind of proven right a week ago and I think they've had
a softer schedule I think Stroudsburg is defense is good enough to win not sure if they're gonna have enough on offense
but uh I'm riding the East Stroudsburg train here very good uh
Justin I'm GNA Cur I'm gonna put the curse on wit I guess because I was gonna take East straussburg on the road right
instantly I'm questioning my pick yeah too late get ready to really want
to take a Pepto boo Mall because I think I'm taking eastburg too I guys
I shephard I you know having been to that stadium and seen how that Community
comes out after they coming off a tough uh you know disappointing performance a week ago you just think they're going to
come angry but when I look at the fighting Jimmy ters man they're more consistent the defense is better I don't
I just I'm just playing a gut call here and just taking East Stroudsburg very good Chuck well I actually saw both of
these teams play Kutztown in back-to-back weeks and um I kind of came
out of that Kon won both those games but I came out of that thinking that East stoutsburg was a really good football
team uh Shephard's good too but they have some warts they have some problems we certainly saw that yesterday um you
know Shepard's tough to beat at home but I I actually just think e strawberg is the better team right now so I'm going with the Warriors all right very good
Limestone at Barton Limestone six and three Barton five- two I'm going to pick Limestone to
move to seven and three with oh
uh I you know I've had somebody on the panel here coach po telling me for weeks
that limestone is the best three lost team in the country country which it's an interesting comment best three lost
team I didn't know he lived in Allendale I thought he lived on the East Coast yeah only insiders will know that one
so I uh I like Limestone I I I think they could have been a playoff team and
because I don't think they're gonna make it but they just tripped up a little bit too much early in the season I'll take
Limestone here okay and
Chuck yeah Barton's just been a little up and down uh this year they've kind of
they've had they've had some good weeks they've had some bad weeks I think Limestone You know despite having the the three losses I think they've played
at a more consistent level so I'm going with the Saints and Justin well you know what no
let's go to Tony first well and I maybe I'm missing something is isn't Barton five and
four yeah one of yes yeah for the rankings but yes Tony what would
be these Graphics if we didn't have one that was a mystery oh well that's I'm
not yeah I'm not I'm not criticizing the graphics again that's you know that's part of our weekly quiz for the viewers
so that they can say oh that's not right which one which one did Brandon mess up in a rush to get this crap
up actually they're actually nine and0 no and so to me again I mean I take
a look at that I've heard similar things about limestone and for me Barton's lost three straight I mean you got two teams
going in different directions I like Limestone okay uh
Chris yeah as much as like I like Barton um when you look at who those four
losses too I mean it's the top half of the sack and and limestone is certainly
one of those teams that belongs in the top half of that conference so uh I'm going to go with the Saints okay and
Justin yeah so this is this is going to be I think um it's going to be interesting
because limestone's got to be able to stop that Bart and rushing attack if they can do that I think their offense is is a little bit too powerful for the
bulldock defense and so I think limestone's going to win assuming that they they're at full strength and they have uh you know everybody there on
Saturday I think I think Limestone will uh win all right uh next first state of
Davenport wh um watched fair amount of the Davenport
game the other day I think they have some weapons offensively that can hurt Ferris um I just think if Ferris is
focused and if they are hungry to make the playoffs I like Ferris to win this
game okay chck yeah Ferris is certainly the more talented football team but you know it's
going to be interesting to see what their approach is to this because I think that they're going to be a little shocked and pissed off when they see the rankings tomorrow tomorrow and does that
really Inspire them and they want to go out and prove who they are and what they are or you know are they a little bit
dispirited um regardless you know fah State's the better team I gotta go with them
Dustin fah State uh
Chris you know I I had the opportunity to see Davenport in in person and I
think they're a great team but I I I just don't know if I'm ready to elevate
them above Ferris in a game like this I just don't see it I'm going to go with
the Bulldogs well I think I think Davenport got lucky yesterday and or
Ferris State
fortunate however you want to look at it and I have been since about week two
I've been telling everybody how they're going to lose the last two so how could I uh pick anybody but Ferris but Tony
you get the last word yeah well and guys I mean we saw this a similar scenario last year right where Davenport was
undefeated going into the last two weeks of the season um and you know struggled
against Ferris and then really had a tough goal against Grand Valley in week 11 so uh this is a similar uh story path
that we're on here again and I don't think any this is nothing revelatory I think everybody said it I think at this
point when you look at I mean Fair David Port strength the schedule those far again they've been playing teams that I
don't think they have any wins or anybody who's got a 500 or better record and that kind of speaks volumes especially when you look at how close
they've made some of these games I'll give them credit for finding ways to win uh I think Brandon you're you're dead on
that they've got some weapons um I was a little surprised to see how uh little or
in little they used or ineffective myON Harris was against sagov valy yesterday I don't think you'll see that again I
think they'll try and get him the ball and and and see what they can do with him um I think to me the biggest key is
you know Davenport's a 16 17 point a game allowed defense which is you know
really good defense nationally surprising yeah can they get stops uh
against Ferris and can they get pressure on those quarterbacks and make them uncomfortable that's the key to keeping this close uh at the end of the day you
know again I got to go back to the Missouri the Missouri uh axom and until
I see it it's tough it's tough to pick against FIS state so I'll take feris right H moving on to Finley at Ashlin
Chuck go first please uh Finley they have the best defense in the GMX um was
very impressed with what I saw from them yesterday you know their offense isn't explosive but they can be sneaky good um
really good offensive line and that you know they've got size they've got strength um they tend to make plays when
they really need to have them um Ashland has won five in a row so this is definitely a tough game but um I'm going
Finley okay
Justin Finley other than I like the are they the Oilers yeah they are they are the
Oilers well that's why [Laughter] Tony boy I I really struggled with this
one guys um again you know I mean a Ashlin you gotta think on it face
probably came into the season with a little more talent and but you know Chang the coaching staff had to get everything figured out they did lose a
couple of all-timers um you know on both sides of the ball uh but they've wred the ship I like their momentum man I'm
still struggling with what to do with this one uh I'm gonna I'm gonna take Ashlin I don't
know why um everybody's points about Finley are are strong and and it wouldn't surprise me either way but
again I'll play the gut call and go with Ashen
B well you know neither one of these teams really blow me away and I think
I'm more excited about this game because it's Ashlin and I'm always interesting to see what Wht has to say so
there's that piece of it um but I think in the end I I think Finley um may have
a little bit of the edge give me the Oilers as well all right I will pick Finley as well and Whit you get the last
one fin well despite the fact that Ashlin threw shade my way last year in the playoffs before they departed um I I
am going way did they tell you congratulations on getting this last prediction correct or they just fade off
no for for those who weren't around for it um I think they they kind of clapped
at me a little bit and um that was okay because um you know uh the end was near
nonetheless and um so as I take a look at this here I I want to take Ashland I
really do for the same reasons Tony was mentioning but you know what I think Finley's just been a better team this
year I'm taking the oil this year right in one last game Virginia state at
Virginia Union and uh we'll start with
Justin Virginia state and I don't know that it's going to be close
Okay uh Tony it's a D2 game of the week here guys I mean a couple eight1 teams
man awesome uh yeah I mean you look at just week in week out what the
expectations are of these teams I get what Justin's saying Virginia State I just I don't know man sometimes sometimes you just got to do what you
got to do against the teams you're supposed to be Virginia Union had Virginia Union has not scored fewer than
42 points in five weeks and they've dropped three straight 50 burgers and I
get it may not be against the stiffest of competition but I something about that offense I don't know I'm I'm I'm taking
Virginia Union here I maybe I'll be proven silly but that's my gut I'm going with that Ferg I got a question before I
make my pick is that no way you can't do that there's no there's no on the- fly
research what is this yes there is yes yes is the is the winning streak does it
coincide with J buyer's return I'm just curious yes okay well well well except
for the first one right first yes the win streak is is with his return Yes okay I'm picking Virginia Union uh
Whit uh I like what Virginia unions rules doing and uh I'm gonna take I'm
taking Virginia Union despite you're cheating there Brandon
Chuck uh I like Virginia Union uh I think that they're you know one play
away from from being an undefeated team you know on a sloppy night you know they just had a really tough day and bad
weather against feville State you know last year they lost the one game that kept them out of the CIAA championship
game and and they were the best team in the CIAA last year I'm convinced of that lost the one game that kind of kept them
out of that I don't think they're going to let that happen this year rivalry game at home for them I'm going Virginia
Union all right and Chris you get the final word well let me just make this
about not either of these two teams for a brief second you know the fact that faval state has already wrapped up the
CIAA South for like what the seventh straight year or some some ridiculous number plays into this game a little bit
because the fact that now we've got two teams that are looking to face them in
the CI League championship game two weeks from now and honestly I wish they would just
end in a tie but unfortunately the rules don't allow that um so here you've got
Virginia state who's two weeks away from in the past from losing to a one win
team at a time and going through a lot of of injuries but a very resilient
bunch and then you've got Virginia Union who's had their own injuries and try to
figure things out at at quarterback but they continue to play the two quarterback system and they've got you
know JS one of the best running backs in division two and and depth behind them overall to
me um it's a very exciting game because I think that there's gonna be quite a
bit of offense in this game because Virginia Union is definitely can be exposed in the passing game and that's
the strength the Virginia state but in the end uh I really think
that Virginia Union is probably looking forward to a rematch against faval state
in much better weather conditions than the seven and0 game that we saw in which
you know remember like Wayne Wayne stay and Auggie and Wayne wins with 20 20
yards of offense they're gonna they're gonna play I I hope not because if I I'm not
going to the game if that happens but but remember you know faal State won
that game with less than 100 yards of offense and I think Virginia Union is looking forward to a rematch in much
better condition so they just got a lot to play for here and I I just think that Virginia Union is is going to come out
with just enough to take this game all right very good all right we'll see how
uh how the games how they come out next week so well you're all wrong
probably all right for the rec I'm out one thing if it does snow on Saturday I know Chris if you're going you're not
going if it snows on Saturday I'm done like I live in this region and it's 70 degrees today if it snows on Saturday
you're not gonna see me for a while dude it's like it's like 80 it was like 81 today where I live and it's gonna be
like 29 in a couple days I know
quit I'm out back weather patterns over here
moving way we're pushing that cold air
down yeah share it with the rest of you hey don't forget to tell your friends about us we'd appreciate that you are
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minute [Music]