November 5th, 2023 1:00pm
YouTube Auto-Generated Transcript:
everybody and welcome to another edition of inside D2 football along with Justin
pizzy Matt wi wikii Chuck bner Chris Ferguson I am Brandon Meisner Tony
Nicollet will be in and out tonight but hopefully he will join us uh tonight so what do we have tonight uh big results
from Super Region 3 lots of unexpected results really shakes up the seating for
the playoffs we'll talk about FIS State's game with Davenport we'll talk about mchenry's upset of Indianapolis
and Missouri Western's defeat of Pittsburgh state we'll also of course take another Deep dive into what
tomorrow's Regional rankings uh could look look like and we will have our ax
segment in the overtime period we will answer your questions and criticisms and
uh have our own little bit of snark ourselves so again thank you for
watching inside D2 football well tonight we're going to start with our coach of
the week uh Chris McCulla started coaching uh at as a student assistant at
Henderson State for a move to Old Dominion then he returned to division 2
at East where he C quickly ascended from quarterback coach to head coach in a
four-year period he led ECU to a nine and3 record last year but over the
offseason took the job at perum Basin and the first year head coach at UT
perum baseman has the Falcons at nine and one and in contention for a playoff
burst so please uh join me in welcoming Chris MCA to inside D2 Chris thank you
very much for joining us tonight Brandon appreciate you guys having me man what you guys do for you know the D2 football
world man we appreciate it a lot you put a lot of Spotlight on this uh this
football community and it's special so I appreciate it thank you Chris very very much coach love getting you on uh
there's been a buzz about your program coach pretty much all year um and and
you guys have really been able to see this through uh you guys are nine- one right now you guys are playing for a a
lone star conference tile in your first season there uh what do you feel have been kind of your keys to success yeah
well first I need to start Tony pck this Tony picked this in the beginning so uh
Tony knew it before we knew it um it seems like but no um instilling a culture right I mean we went five and
six uh last year and then the coaching changed and that's when I came in but um
you know there's a lot of talent here and we're starting about 15 guys from last year's team um yeah we got a lot of
transfers and had the number one transfer uh portal class in the country for division 2 but we just had to change a
culture and give them Something to Believe In so you kind of break it up into two or three different segments of
um how you take over a program and get it to the level we got it um the first 90 days right you got to instill the
culture um you have to weed out the bad and then you have to kind of establish what you want to be offensively
defensively um special teams just all the football stuff and then the next 90 days is more of just jelling the team
right you bring 60 returners back you bring in 30 transfers and you have to
try to get all these guys who don't really know each other to gel and mesh not with just each other but believe in
the program Believe in the coaches believe in one another um and it's you try to cram all this that usually takes
about a year year and a half into six months and you don't know if it's going to work out or not and then the third
phase is truly going through the moments and going through the adversity of what happens in a football season because
until that Western Colorado game we really didn't know what we had we we won big in the first game and then we go on
the road to a top 10 top 15 team um and we played from behind most of the game
we just turned the ball over too much and we fought through the adversity and found ourselves with a chance to win the
game with three seconds to go on the eight yard line and I think that loss helped our guys realize that if we stay
together we have a shot in every game no matter what and then the west Texas game comes we get in a dog fight and find a
way to win in overtime and since that moment I knew we had a special team a special culture and ability to win a
conference Championship which we're competing for this week coach along the way you've
referred uh to you guys going kind of a little bit from the hunter to now being a little bit more of the hunted and um
is there kind of a challenge with that right now keeping your Edge making sure your squad kind of has their attack
mentality on yeah the thing about our Squad is we're just not used to this all these kids with different backgrounds um
a lot of the kids that stayed here right they're not used to winning at this level they're not used to being the team
with the Target on their back so seeing them respond every single week and just we have a mentality a one and0 mentality
every single week just focus on your assignment your job uh do whatever it takes for you to go one and0 we're we've
adopted that and we're doing it every single day no matter who we play you know we play Angelo who is the the team
to beat every single year right now in the Lone Star we played them well and offense defense special teams all found
plays to win that game um and then after that game now you are the Target and we
go to Western New Mexico this past weekend and take care of business and Western Oregon we took care of business so we're right here in longar Conference
Championship this week right you know UTPB is a new program especially to Old
Folks like me who've been around uh for a long time it's a it's a new name it's something building uh not everybody
might be familiar amiliar with it h you have a quarterback in Kenny hearer that
was at East Central with you he's now at UTPB with you again yeah tell me about
your relationship with him yeah so we actually didn't find him till about a week and a half before Signing Day in uh
2018 or excuse me 2019 so um we knew we were going to have a complete rebuild in
2019 we were probably going to start 15 plus freshman we started 17 true freshman that year and from day one he
stepped foot on campus he was we knew he was going to be the guy we just knew it would take time to develop and every
single year he got better in every category when it comes to uh quarterback and Leadership and then you know he
actually went to school and wink about an hour from here up until his junior year of high school and when I got this
job he wanted to bring the family back close to home um so he came with me and
since he's been here he has been Head and Shoulders the best leader I've ever been around Head and Shoulders one of the best workers and uh one of the the
guys who bring the locker room together I don't think our culture is as good as it is today if he doesn't be the head
coach in the locker room he's the guy preaching the message that he's heard for the last four years um and that
helped tremendously and then the way he's playing right now you know I think he's one of the best three quarterbacks in division too uh when you take ucm's
quarterback zabowski and then you take Maka from school of minds I think those three are the best quarterbacks in the
country so you know looking back on them the last calendar year uh and and I
mentioned you know your rapid Ascension at uh East Central but uh you left East
Central to go to UTPB what did you see there that that made you say hey I want
to go be the coach there yeah um you know after we won that bowl game against Texas Anon Kingsville who was a lone
star uh Team I didn't know if I wanted to leave um we had just beat one of the
PowerHouse schools in the Lone Star and you know we had something going at East Central that was pretty special we had
17 starters coming back and I could have stayed there for five or 10 years and been very very comfortable me and my
wife would have been closer to home um because we just had a we have a six-month old son but when I came on the
visit here or the interview and saw everything obviously the facility is some of the best in the country um the
plans for the future here we have an awesome athletic director awesome uh donor base but when you truly meet the
people in this community obviously Friday Night Lights was something huge but you see it's a football driven town
and and an athletic driven town with a lot of oil money um but you get to meet
these people and you're like okay this is a place you can raise kids this is a place that you can win a National Championship if we do things right and I
just didn't feel like we could win a National Championship um at my previous institution so coming here that allowed
us to compete at a higher level um if you would have told me we'd be competing for a lone star championship year won I
probably would have told you you're crazy um but all the stars aligned and everything worked out perfect perfect to be in the situation we are
today you know coach there was a a lot of talk on Twitter um in regards to you
guys having uh the top portal class in division two you you made reference to
it earlier uh coming to a new program that was you know under 500 the year
previous what was the mindset uh coming in with regard to getting needed pickups
and you feel what you know kind of what what role you think the portal played uh in your success with all that yeah F I
mean first we had to win the locker room here over uh there's a lot of kids that were in the portal or were discussing
entering the portal until they saw uh we got the job and they still didn't know what they wanted to do right you have to
build trust and earn trust and over time uh get these kids to buy into what you're doing um and that's literally
what I said I said give me six months to prove that this staff and this program is right for you and if not you can
leave um but when we looked at the portal we knew certain spots we needed to get better at and we attacked that
and um I think we have one of the best receiving cores in the country and most of those guys are transfers um but I
think any coach will say you have to look at the right pieces what are you missing what can you get right now to
help you win um but still develop High School talents in other positions and we did that I think you know quarterback
receiver o line dline you have to get some transfers to fill in some voids every single year um but as long as I'm
a head coach I want to be around 50-50 transfer and high school I still am a huge admirer of developing High School
talent especially local high school talent but at the end of the day I don't think you can win conference championships and national championships
anymore without going to get some transfers to change to change your team so you're in a part of the country
that ever is well known for loving High School football uh how how's the
community embraced your program and what challenges exist in an area where High School football is so important yeah um
I mean we're still relatively a new program uh us and West Florida started at the same time and it's almost like
both schools took a different approach to it I think West Florida was more prepared and had a better layout and
game plan of how to get to the point where we are now and where they've been the last few years um it took us a
little bit longer to do that um but the community is starting to realize how special this progr prr is now and I mean
they're just so used to being right at average um so now that we're winning they're finally coming back out to the
games I mean we played WT this year and we had over 7,000 people in the stands it was the most people in six years at a
game um so it's a slow process to change that because like you said High School football is everything out here I mean
literally two weeks ago right uh Midland plays um M Midland and Midland Legacy
play and there's 12,000 people in The Stance well the next morning we have 4,000 people at our game um so you're
still trying to change the dynamic of high school football is everything here they're just not used to winning at the collegate level so you know as we
continue to win winning cures all right as we continue to win the support grows
uh the facilities grow and this this University just gets better every single year we
win coach up next for you guys uh Central Washington uh we've gotten a
chance to watch their last few games and looks like they're kind of transition to a freshman signal caller who's a really
good athlete they mix up the run in the pass both um what else are you seeing on
film when you throw it on for for what you have up next I I think they're just a really really great coach team they're
not going to make a lot of mistakes I think when you turn on the tape and you see the big games they played this year
Kingsville uh Angelo they just played consistent football and allowed those
teams to beat themselves you know Angelo with critical errors on special teams um
cost them the game Kingsville critical errors in the red zone and turnovers cost them the game Central Washington
just finds a way to hang into these games and then when you make a mistake they're going to capitalize and win the
game and that happens when you have a great coach team um we fought fought
some of that adversity early in the season and we were able to come out on top too um but they're very very
physical and I think up front o line dline they're going to be one of the more physical groups that we've played
so it's going to be a dog fight from start to finish well Chris congratulations on the season
you've had so far best of luck against Central Washington this week appreciate you Brandon thank you thanks that's
Chris thanks that's Chris MCA head coach at the University of Texas at perum
Basin all right so uh a great season uh so far for coach and obviously you can
tell that he is somebody who's familiar with the show and familiar with what we do so I wanted toh go ahead and
assume that he would know all about boss's pizza and chicken which we have as our uh main sponsor there are two
things I want to talk about tonight um you know I'm gonna switch back to this layout Chuck and then bring up to two
things I want to talk about uh the first was of course um that I wanted to
mention that you can get on their website and in the upper right hand corner click the link and become a
franchisee of boss's uh pizza and chicken and they're very interested in
teaming with uh schools or I'm Excuse me like you know communities all over the
Midwest uh the second thing that I would like to talk about uh wh was something that you showed me today uh share the
story with me please yeah funny deal so so last evening uh I get a text message
from the head coach of of Wayne State uh Nebraska and um they sent me this
screenshot uh saying hey they' picked up boss boss's Pizza after their game against sou Falls and uh what What's
nice about B and obviously that that says other people are paying attention to the show but yes F furthermore
Brandon um you know we can take a look at the fact that if I go to an a Augustana game or a USF game they
actually have bosses up in the Press Box and so forth so I I I think there's
something to be said for the fact that our sponsor isn't just our sponsor but there's somebody who goes and supports
division 2 football at a lot of in different locations and so forth as well
absolutely I think it's a an important illustration of how we uh all need to
support each other when you see somebody support Grand Valley financially you should support their business so on and
so forth I was just uh uh I really enjoyed when you sent that and I wanted to make sure we talked about uh that
tonight well uh lots of exciting results
this weekend let's go ahead and start in super Region 3 uh where some crazy things happened uh
and uh let's go ahead and switch back to this layout look at some of the scores
first and bring up top 25 results Chuck did we say there we go
okay and um I'm gonna go ahead and start uh with a game from the
MIAA where uh Missouri Western came away with a 31-30 win over Pittsburgh state
certainly a game that uh was two evenly matched teams we weren't sure uh it
wasn't out of the realm of possibilities that Missouri Western could win but certainly we favored pit um it but it
was a game with with with both teams answering each other now Missouri Western started the game uh with a field
goal LED three nothing and then um excuse me pit did and then Missouri Western uh had a beneficiary there on
that touchdown you just saw of a of a fumble deep in their territory in
Pittsburgh State's own territory so it was a three- yard uh touchdown and that proved to be pretty big in this game
Missouri Western did a good job getting to the quarterback but Chad Dodson had a wonderful for wonderful day uh for uh
pit State again the teams just you know kept answering each other uh there the
biggest lead was seven in the game at at any point and uh here again Missouri
Western goes ahead with rean Jones run ties it at 17 and then Seth Cromwell has
a a run to give Missouri Western the lead now there are two things I think
you're GNA take from this game uh that one is that we not sure that pit
played uh a complete game we talked about that last week I don't think that was the case in this one and then the
the other that is that well let's say three because Missouri Western uh proved that they're a team that certainly
belongs in the top 10 of the regional rankings and the other thing to take from this game is that pits really going
to be kicking themselves Missouri Western as I said had the the three yard touchdown drive and that's the the
that's the sack the ended the game uh but they had a three- yard touchdown drive and then as you see is a 31-30 win
for Missouri Western the game tying
Pat was hit the back of the lineman and that was the difference so pit will be
thanking and and kicking themselves saying we made too many mistakes and that's why we lost that game so you know
maybe the gorillas haven't yet played a complete game or maybe Missouri Western's an improving team don't know
what the which the case is or maybe that's the case of both but uh it was a interesting result certainly shakes
things up in super Region 3 we'll talk about that later is pits state was the number one ranked team uh going in to
this week uh Tony want to talk to you though about uh Ferris State's game
against Davenport we I we've taken it for granted all year that Ferris would
win the game and Davenport would end the season with two losses but you were there in person uh tell me what you saw
at the game yeah well Brandon first I want to thank Ryan Thompson and his staff for having me out to the game um
beautiful beautiful fall Saturday in Michigan for this one and honestly you know looked like a couple of teams that
were well prepared for each other I mean uh defensively was really both teams were really strong defensively early uh
in the game and throughout most of the first half you see a couple of turnovers here that they basically traded uh both
had uh essentially two good two good scoring drives each in the first half
both of them got a touchdown on one drive uh Ferris missed a field goal on one Davenport got a field goal right at
the end of the half on the other and that gave the the Panthers a 10-7 lead going into the break and then uh Ferris
right here you're going to see Returns the opening kick of the of the third quarter uh back for a touchdown and man
that was a hay maker that Davenport just never really seem to recover from um
they really only got uh one decent drive into into fairis State territory the rest of the game and you know Jason
Whitaker's had a fantastic couple of years uh at Davenport but boy just did not have his best day four
interceptions um and that really kind of set the stage for the final result here
um especially with a pick six that he throws on this play coming up um you know it just it was just one of those
things where you looked like both teams were ready for each other Davenport's defense actually acquitted itself quite
well in this game and you over the course of the four quarters just didn't have enough offense really to hang with
uh Ferris especially in light of having to overcome the giveaways Tony one question I have for you though
uh did he leave the game with an injury yeah that's a great question Brandon and
late in the game and I think his last pick was probably compromised or it was because because of his compromised State
uh and they had to go to the Wildcat for a little while with myON Harris kind of running it and then their number two came in and engineered the last drive
drive and a half so he definitely um coming back onto the field looked uh
pretty hobbled and so his health for next week uh against Grand Valley with everything on the line for Davenport in
terms of a share of the gak championship and and a CH a shot at a playoff birth is all gonna be pretty heavily hinged on
whether he's got uh what kind of Health he has yeah that that came to my mind
because I forgot to mention that Chad Dodson got hurt in the pit State game although you know they run two
quarterbacks so it's kind of like 1 a and 1B but Chad Dawson had a great game but left the game at the end and was not
in at the end of the game so yeah that's definitely not the case for uh for Davenport and and you know and talking
to some of the staff and whatnot going into the week uh they knew that they needed to have a big game out of
Whitaker and so you know obviously their their their hopes for this Saturday are going to be pretty heavily tied to him
as well and if they don't have them uh or even if they have them in a compromised State it's it's gonna it's
definitely gonna hamper their chances all right uh also want to mention that uh uh mckendry for the
first time in uh program history uh beat a ranked opponent they beat Indianapolis
216 what you're seeing on the screen was indianapolis's Final play on offense and
then uh the mckendry celebration but that throws a big loop in the in the
super Region 3 power or super Region 3 rankings and we'll talk about that a little later in the show uh let's go
ahead and transition though to outside of super Region 3 let's go to super region two Justin tusum with an overtime
win over Mars Hill 2927 yeah this this game's a rivalry
both these teams you know pretty much uh across the mountain from each other and every time they get together it is
physical and they don't like each other 21 penalties in this game between both teams uh Mars Hill got out to an early
14 nothing lead in the by Midway through the third quarter tuscum came back tied it up late in the fourth uh and then
ultimately uh scored uh the two-point conversion in double overtime to win the ball game uh in a in a pretty big upset
if you will for that pedmont or for the mountain division rather in the South Atlantic conference tuscum now um will
host Leno Ryan for their championship game this weekend and and we talked about it on the show last week you know it's a big game and a lot of pressure on
uh in this one but again a big win for tuscum at home um they just made more
plays when when the dust settled than uh than Marcel did all right and there are so many games we
could talk about we have to cut it off somewhere let's go ahead and mention one though Ashlin after a slow start to the
season has rebounded Chuck they came away with a 3735 four overtime win over
Finley yeah this ended up actually being one of the best games I've watched all season you know we kind of end up really
shifting our Focus towards the teams that are in the national rankings or the regional rankings and neither one of those teams was in the Super region won
Top 10 but we kind of felt that there was a path in there for Finley if they could win these last two games uh coming
out of this game now it's really Ashland who still has a shot to at least earn a share of the great Midwest Championship
unfortunately the result knocks Finley out of it but the game itself was was really just phenomenal I mean the final
score was 37 to 35 in four overtime so I think that alone tells you just how competitive and hardfought it was but it
really was just an extremely competitive game but it was kind of interesting because I I felt that Finley was
probably going to be the better team but unfortunately they had to erase a an early deficit they fell behind 14 to
nothing managed to get that back and tie the game at the half and then for the whole third quarter it was just back and
forth and just so many great individual plays and I mean guys it was just one of those games where you could tell both
teams really really wanted it and every player was given everything that they had just so many great individual plays
a lot of emotion uh and also a very clean game not many penalties it is a rivalry uh especially the Finley side
from what I understand it it definitely is a rivalry um but not very chippy not a lot of penalties nothing dirty just a
a really really good game to watch um wanted to mention uh Desmond laberis
wide receiver for Ashlin just an enormous game for him really the Difference Maker ended the day with 11
catches for 220 yards and a pair of touchdowns also cam chers from Finley uh
most weeks he would probably be the conference player of the week with 10 catches for 174 yards in a pick but I think Desmond's probably going to get it
this week so huge win for Ashland and they do still have a shot to uh to get a
share of the GMAC if Finley could go beat tiffen this coming weekend so still a lot of drama here in the in the last
week of the season in the great Midwest all right uh chuck would you go ahead and take care of the some news and
notes for us yeah so we've been looking for some additional things that we could go through there's actually some really
uh exciting coaching news to share uh westchester's billan announced on
Saturday night that he is going to be retiring at the end of the season he actually announced us that westchester's
uh annual Hall of Fame banquet told the crowd that he would be stepping down this is his 21st season at Westchester
overall record of 162 and 76 in 2021 Seasons with the golden Rams won six
pack East titles won the 2018 pack Championship overall and made 10 trips
to the NCA division 2 playoffs so just a phenomenal career one of the the best to ever do it in the
psac uh certainly will miss him as somebody who's been close to the league and and kind of close to that program uh
as many of the others um I've been close to as well certainly will miss him um uh definitely a big uh big hole to fill at
Westchester and actually in division two as well at Shepard the playing field was
R renamed in honor of Monte Kar so it's now coach Monte kater field at Ram
Stadium again one of the best ever do it going back to the wiyak days and of course in the mountain East as well uh
certainly one of the best we've had in division 2 he's going to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame uh so a very appropriate honor for the
field to be named after him at Shepard University so congrats to coach CER and it was great to see that he was at the
game a lot of former players were there some family was there so some great photos um and a great celebration for
him and his career uh on what was also a great day for the Rams on the field with active coaches Chris rer at
tiffen with Tiff's 44-10 win over Ohio Dominican Chris rer is now the all-time
winningest coach at tiffen with 39 career wins he passes Gary Goff of course went on to valdasta State and now
at MCN so congrats coach ryer uh I know he's looking for another big one this coming weekend with Finley coming in and
I know he wants to add a few more before the season is over as the dragons are going to be looking towards the playoffs
here uh very shortly so we congratulate Chris rer I'm becoming the alltime winning coach at
tiffen right very good thank You Chuck and a preview of tomorrow's Regional rankings are up
next 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]
football well the regional rankings will be out again tomorrow one of the most exciting times of the year we're going
to give you a preview of what we think they might look like and we'll take them
in numerical order again let's start with super region one and Chuck what were your thoughts on
that well we can start at the very top so last week Slippery Rock was the
number one team in super region one and you know I've been saying for weeks I think slippy rock is the best team in
the region and I still do believe that however this week uh there is a good
argument to be made that tiffen should be the number one team when the rankings come out on Monday uh the metrics
actually do favor tiffen a little bit they have the identical 10 and0 record with slippy Rock they actually have a
slightly better SOS but but it's pretty negligible when you look at those numbers I think the additional win
against a team that's over 500 uh should carry some weight uh so I think Tiffin should be number one however I won't be
shocked if they are not um I think if the committee is also kind of playing this out potentially into next week it's
very possible that things would kind of shift in the favor of slippy Rock after next week uh one of the reasons I say
that of course they're playing Kutztown in the championship game but so slippy Rock currently has I think four
opponents on their uh schedule that are currently right at 500 so there is a potential that they could have an influx
of of wins against teams that are over 500 by the time we get to the end of next week so I won't be shocked if it's
still slippy Rock one and tiffen number two in fact I'm kind of expecting that that's what we'll see but I think it
should be tiffen uh in P1 at this point Charleston should be number three um
based on the data what you see here Kutztown fourth and and California 5 of course we know that that would be flipped because California won the
head-to-head matchup so it' be California at four Kutztown at five I actually have Shepard moving up to six
with their big win over East Stroudsburg on Saturday then it could get a little
bit murky so I said in my column last week I thought the big thing I was curious about is where does the
Stroudsburg land um even before the weeks uh uh before this past weekend's
results I found Pathways to put them as high as four and as low as seven the committee actually put them up in
fourth I didn't have them that high in my personal rankings now I'm really
curious again to see where they're going to land because they still have a good record uh but the SOS is not quite as
good they currently have no wins over teams that are above 500 I think that that really hurts a bit so I wouldn't be
shocked if they still fall in line at seventh based on the record um and the SOS being over 500 I I won't be
surprised if they land at seven uh I think I think you could have Fairmont State up there they've got two wins over 500 teams um so I think that there's
going to be a little bit of debate there and I'm very curious about that um So currently I would have stalsburg seventh
Fairmont State eth I actually have New Haven at Ninth and I think 10th at this point probably doesn't matter very much
but IID have Frostburg State in the number 10 position very good Chris let's look at
uh super Region 2 where uh we have one undefeated team and that is Benedict
tell me about Sr two yeah so Benedict being that number one kind of a clearcut
if you're just looking strictly at the record um there you know a slightly softer SOS but that doesn't seem to be
as much of a factor this year super Region 2 as it has been in Prior years
uh you know after that things get I think quickly very interesting with uh
Delta and and valasta and really you've got the head-to-head there uh with Delta
having the head-to-head over Val all stuff uh you know then you've got Lenor
Ryan Virginia Union Virginia Union is probably the biggest mover up uh after their win over uh what was a a nine- one
or eight- one um uh team in Virginia Virginia State uh so you know after that
you've got some pretty really really interesting Dynamics here um Fable State
got got lead frogged um by Virginia Union so they're kind of in that seventh spot right now West Florida kind of
sandwiched between them uh you know I I think that's a little bit of a surprise
to see Virginia Union a little bit higher than West Florida right now um and you know Virginia Union basically
going into this uh particular weekend is basically doing a rematch against Fable
state that could actually like be a bit of a boost uh if if uh they actually
went out uh this weekend yeah so Chris and or Justin I don't care which but I
am curious you know I'm looking at the numbers and I see West Florida with a a
554 SOS Virginia Union with the 436 that's a a big difference Virginia Union
has won uh less lost is there a chance that those two would be flipped based
upon that strength of schedule this week um I I think so I think that there's a chance I think the other piece of this
is 567 does it really matter because they're all going to be on the road too
so um just for pro you know you know Pro ah can't think of the word I wanted to
use prity yeah you go Prosperity yeah I mean yeah you could dud you're the one with all the degrees very true very true
yeah the 567 you know probably would be more of a West Florida Virginia Union
faal State in that order but um really doesn't matter from from a playoff
perspective you know I I think after that you've got this really interesting
mix of Marsh Hill miles Limestone Windgate and of those I I feel like
limestone is the one that's kind of pulling a limestone from last year kind of come out of
nowhere um and and take a spot um you know because SOS is high yeah and
there's is's a good chance that the both CIAA teams won't make it so um that could
possibly put you know do you reward you know the CIAA for you know going against
each other and these are the top two teams and they kind of end up in a rubber match do you put somebody else in
like a limestone who looks kind of favorable in in that spot or or Mars
Hill so and and to that you know Chris you make a good point that with Virginia
un climbing like that it it doesn't matter what that order is I have a hard I I think they need to I don't know that
the committee would put them above a fville state because fville state has the head-to-head from earlier this year they have to win this week but I mean
the the strength of schedule uh but the one loss you know offsets that strength
of schedule a little bit there so I'm with you on that but um at that point I think when it's you know when you're
talking seven six and five you're really talking about matchups at that point right like who's a better fit for you the playoffs I know it's about pride and
you want to be higher but at that point in any of these super regions right like it's all about your matchup and what that path looks like so I'm more of a
path person like I want to have a good favorable matchup first second round than I do necessarily uh than the
numbers you know what I mean sometimes you got swallow your ego a little bit on that but hey Justin um you and Ferg
obviously have been talking on on the on the coach po show for those who haven't gotten a chance to see it uh guys check
it out uh you can just find uh you know Justin on Twitter and come up with the
video but you guys have been kind of discussing a little bit about you know West Florida for example it looked like
maybe they were getting a bit of a favorable shake a week ago at four in my opinion um do you think Lenor Ryan does
end up passing them this week um and then furthermore is there a chance Virginia Union
does um that answer well what' you say Chuck I said I'll
take a shot at that answer well I think you and I are gonna have the same answer but go ahead Chuck I'll let you answer it no I don't I I don't think so um I I
don't think that much has changed since last week and West Florida was ahead of them last week I I don't see a lot
that's changed I think West Florida still has a pretty sizable Advantage there in the
SOS um they still have an extra win over a team that's above 500 so you know
there's actually a comment that put that was put in that that said I guess strength of schedule doesn't matter in super Region 2 I completely disagree
with that yeah I think it was shown last week the strength of schedule mattered a lot um that's what I said on the coach
post show is that we saw that West Florida really got the benefit of a strong
SOS um I didn't think that West Florida should have been as high as they were as much as we think of that program I
thought that they were ranked too high um and I don't see why the committee
would reverse that this week unless you Whit are you seeing anything in the data that I'm missing I don't think that they would reverse that this week uh I was
wondering if they get it right this week and just have lru on on line four I mean because I'll be honest I when I look at
that I think they should be yeah I agree yeah I mean I I I tend
to agree with you but I don't see enough that's changed from this week yeah compared to last week that would make
them make that change I think one through five is going to be the same in this super region I don't know that
there's enough justification to move anybody this point um I think it's going to come down to this week just my
opinion I mean because I think the Virginia Union and fville state winner
is is gonna Shuffle some stuff around um sure Lenor Ryan I I think you know they have to
obviously beat tscum but to to to kind of hold to hold steady but um I don't
know that that I just I don't know I don't know if that number is going to help him you know I don't know if that's
going help them climb or Leap Frog it it remains to be seen I guess yeah I think
I think Mars Hill and the loser of the CIAA championship game are really vulnerable here to the point that we
could see like Ferg mentioned Limestone might get in to the bracket on the last weekend by virtue of having good SOS um
and Limestone has some some um head-to-head wins that really work in their favor as well Limestone could
sneak in there I I mean is West Georgia completely out of it if they come back and upset vasta State this weekend good
great question I don't think so I mean they're in the conversation then right at at a three loss team with a head-to-head over Limestone
too well but I think it's gonna see what what is the committee value right like let's say it came down to that Mars Hill Limestone you've got Mars Hill that has
one less loss but you've got Limestone that has a has a little bit higher winning or strength schedule rather so
what yeah and the head-to head win so what what is the criteria they're using to to make that final selection I don't
know I'm glad I'm not in that meeting because that's that's a miserable decision to have to make but I I don't I
don't think we'll know and I I don't know well guys still uh
still plenty to play there and sr2 uh Brandon if you can bring up sr3 for us
uh obviously you know that we just talked about you know the other guys having their show Brandon's got uh MIAA
weekly that he's been doing and uh talking each week about this very page
and uh Brandon with the new developments kind of how you seeing this well uh I
think that last night before we looked at it we thought it was
going to be way more confusing than it actually turned out to be and uh uh
today um if you look at the numbers I think it's clear that Hardings one grand
Valley's 2 they're might be an interesting
conversation in the future maybe that'll be reflected today or tomorrow uh about
strength of schedule because Grand Valley is going to be through the roof and Hardings is going to be at
500 and it'll be interesting to see if a decision is made tomorrow regarding that
uh I kind of think if if Grand Valley's won tomorrow uh they're going to go
project for the end of the year by uh what we see tomorrow uh three and four is simple too uh Pittsburgh State's
going to be three Central Missouri is going to be four that's based upon the head-to-head of their win uh at Central
earlier in the year and uh Ferris State spite being on the bubble a minute ago
um is now looks pretty good at number five now what gets really interesting to
me is when you look at six and seven uh that's watch Baptist Missouri
Wester uh it's probably going to be the most important decision of these playoffs um now uh watto
Baptist has a better record they're nine and one but Missouri Western has higher
strength of schedule they're three and two versus teams over 500 and they're going to have uh win versus regional
ranked teams however this week watchop Baptist
is has Henderson State waiting so their strength of schedule will go up to 500 uh and it will be interesting to see how
that plays out now why the 67 in this is so important
for watchop Baptist or Missouri Western will be because Indianapolis is sitting there at 8 and Indianapolis is
going to get in unless some unless a mckendry happens to him this week uh Indianapolis is going to get in Via
earned a meaning that team on the seven line is out they will not be in the playoffs um
there are two reasons that becomes a big factor uh you know aside from one of
those teams getting left out is that the number seven if in Via earned access by
rule has to go play the number two and it will be interesting to see if
maybe the committee just puts Indianapolis at number seven maybe even
if they don't deserve it knowing that they would get earned access so that they won't have to deal with those
scheduling rules now uh I'm not going to be a conspiracy theorist but it it is
something certainly to pay attention to and and see how that uh plays out and
then after that you have Davenport and Southern Arkansas and Southern Arkansas is obviously at the end I I think it's a
product of their two blowout losses so uh that is the way that I see super Region 3 right now Tony uh obviously
you've got a ton of experience with this in the super region you know obviously we're looking at teams like Grand Valley
and what Brandon had just mentioned a moment ago do you think there's a chance that we could end up seeing them on the
one line and and what other other observations did you have when h b was kind of run through that no I I think
Brandon and funny thing is he and I were talking about this earlier today I think pretty much everything he said is relatively spot on is there a precedence
to show a Grand Valley or a Gak team or somebody with a big I think maybe the
more appropriate way to say it is with a large strength of schedule Delta to be moved up uh into those positions I mean
you don't have to look a lot further than last year you know there were how many undefeated teams I think wah and
pit State and Ferris was still on the two line ahead of both of them now F's
strength of schedule last year was astronomical um and is going to be a lot
higher than what it was a lot higher than what Grand Valley is going to be by the end of next Saturday but the Delta
is going to still be pretty sizable I mean Grand Valley's could be inching into that 600 range and when you get
those 100 basis point differentials in my conversations with committee members
in the past that has usually been relatively equal to something that would
erase a a loss and so that's typically what they're looking for now that said
when you've got one unbeaten team in the region it's it's hard for me to see the
committee not giving them the nod for that especially if their strength of schedule is still going to be at least
500 or better um but I I I've seen enough stuff over the years where if
Grand Valley ends up on the one line I wouldn't plan on it but it wouldn't surprise me
either okay right uh let's go ahead and look at Super foran um Whit take that take it
away well I think mine might be the one with the least amount of drama or interest or whatever word you want to
throw at that but uh skip it then no goad yeah right right um so you know
realistically guys when when I take a look at it I made mention that I thought
the top seven was pretty much locked in a week ago unless something major
happened and nothing major happened in my super region at all to change any of that so right now it looks like if we
take a look on that leftand column all the way from Colorado mindes you know down to Augustana those are the teams
that that would be in the playoff field unless something really big comes up and I really don't see even what that could
be you would have to look at something like a mano losing to a duth and somehow
people favoring that win you know more than I would have expected but realistically I think tomorrow you're
GNA see Colorado Mines at one and then from there you know I I think we may see
a few little bit of shuffling after mines I think Western Colorado stays as
the two even though they had a 50p point drop and strength the schedule um I
wouldn't be shocked to see Central Washington uh at three because uh UTPB
took a uh you know about a 35 Point hit in strength the schedule and I would then expect bigi at 4 uh UTPB at five
then down from there as we continue Augustana at six and Mano at s because
of a head-to-head between them where they're looking pretty similar otherwise and really you know Brandon the the
who's going to get home games and everything there's GNA be a whole lot of impact to that this last week in my conference because the fact that we have
games like Mano hosting theth and have games like Augustana uh
hosting the miji and then as coach mentioned earlier Central Washington you know playing
UTPB uh those results are going to have a whole lot to do with where people are in that top seven um it would seem like
mines is pretty much locked in at the one um but some of the other things certainly seem like they're in play and
uh you know it's kind of quiet I think a little bit in my super region for this
week and once we get to the results of so next week I think it's going to change a fair amount but still the same
top set well it's it's about time we had one that was easy to figure out
right all right awesome all right uh that'll be uh that's a look at what we
think the regional rankings will be um tomorrow and of course you can view
those Regional rankings we'll put them on D2 foot.com and you can check them out there uh Gentlemen let's go ahead
and move to the pick them results
and I'm seeing lots of green I don't know whether that's staff engineered or whether that's a fact that we're we're
really smart but uh lots lots of green on there maybe we should just schedule
or pick games that are easy to pick but uh Tony wanted to congratulate you on that Ashlin pick only one that went off
the you know yeah and out in left field and picked it uh picked it correctly
ancient gleak knowledge pays off once in a while I suppose hey Justin would like to
congratulate you on not even being close to the right call on the CIAA game
between Virginia Union and uh Virginia easily swept under the rug is easily swept under the rug yeah at least the
internet doesn't even know about it yeah nobody knows and Chris once
again I would like to congratulate you and I on being probably the smartest people in this room uh by picking
Shephard over East Stroudsburg congratulations to our greatness all right let's go ahead and look at uh the
ones to watch this week and there are a lot of them uh first we got two pages of these
things so uh let's look at uh Slippery Rock at cown Chuck uh tell me your
thoughts on that well Conference Championship game for one so you've got the West Champion slippy Rock and the East Champion Kutztown this matchup was
actually determined a week ago uh both wrapped up those divisions uh a week early so this is I think the third time
that they've played for the pack championship and uh you know I've been saying all along slippy Rock's the best
team in the region but Kutztown has had success against slippy Rock Jim Clemens and his team at Kutztown know how to
prepare for the rock they they've gotten very well acquainted um home game for Kutztown I think that they'll draw very
well for that should be a packed house so you know don't look at the records I think this is going to be an extremely
competitive game I know we're going to have to pick it uh or at least I'll have to pick it in the column and I don't know which way I'm prepared to go yet
it's going to be a really good game um I think you also have another one on that page California and East stoutsburg I
think that's very possibly a playoff elimination game um I may actually even go up and see that one because our good
friend Carrie will be in Kutztown for the championship uh that's going to be most likely a playoff elimination game
and California is already uh in good position I think that they're solidly and if they win that East Stroudsburg is
vulnerable able but you know they can get in if they win this game so a lot to play for there for both of those teams
right Chris I mean just like everybody expected Albany State and Benedict in
the SI Championship wow the the amount of drama that it took to get to this point um
with uh you know Al Benny being for Valley tuski uh tus losing at the same
time I mean what what drama uh you know essentially you got two teams who are
number one and number two in uh in scoring defense in in the
conference um but you know uh Benedict has his head and shoulders off uh
offensively better than Albany State so it really will take an off day um for
Benedict to uh not claim the crown in this particular uh
game and we also have Minnesota duth at Minnesota state yeah I mean this is always a a
great matchup in the northern sun has been for a long time uh duth having the two setbacks isn't their biggest issue
it's really more the fact that their strength the schedule is very very low and uh even if they were to beat Mano
here um Mano strength of schedule's gonna be quite a bit higher where I don't even know if they really get
compared Brandon like in a head-to-head ma fashion um because duth is probably
going to cap out of a strength of schedule right around 450 460 which is
pretty low when they're trying to get in the playoffs at that point um I expect a
very good game here um I think Manos look a little bit vulnerable as someone
just mentioned a moment ago as well um so I could see this one going either way and let's move to the second slide
of ones to watch uh Chuck tell me about tiffan and Finley well a little bit of
luster came off of this one with Finley not winning the the big battle with ashle this past weekend but this is
still a really tough game for tiffen to get through we we've talked about them possibly having a path to the top seed
in super region one uh and an Undisputed GMAC Championship but this is not going
to be an easy way to close the season uh unless Finley's a little bit deflated after that loss at Ashlin but I I was
really impressed with Finley in that game I've seen them a couple times this year we know that they're good defensively their run defense came to
play against Ashland um they have a few things they need to tighten up pass defense ashin threw the ball really
really well against them um so they have a few things that need to work out there but Finley's offense has just
continuously gotten better throughout the season so I think they bring a lot to the fight given the upsets we saw
over the past couple weekends guys don't overlook this game don't don't put this down on the wi column for tiffen just
yet this will be a very difficult game right Justin after a disappointing year last year valdos the state has a
chance to make the playoffs they have to get through West Georgia to help
solidify their resume yeah and that's not going to be an easy out for valasa it's great to see him back this year uh
you know we kind of talked early that we wanted to see see them you know with some statement wins and they've kind of they've done that throughout the season
so um a great opportunity in front of him West Georgia uh lost to Delta this past week UM quarterback got hurt in the
third quarter and that's when it kind of fell apart it was about a one- score game going into the third for West Georgia and then Delta was able to run
that score balloon that thing up a little bit there but you know it's we talked about it
when we talked super regions you know opportunity for West Georgia to to make their case to to make the playoff if
they can win this thing and and knock valasa down a couple notches but for valdas this is a game they have to win
uh it should be exciting game it's at West Georgia so uh you know it's it's going to be an exciting Gulf South uh uh
game here as the regular season comes to an end right uh we also have Davenport
at Grand Valley um we've been telling you for a long time that Davenport was
going to end the season with two losses not much to more to mention than that but certainly is one to watch uh Grand
Valley be on upset alert and Henderson State at wastop Baptist the battle of the Ravine one of the best rivalry games
in division two and obviously an important game for WTO Baptist uh kind
of pseudo elimination game their playoffs have already started let's go ahead and look at the pick them
this week man uh we have Virginia Union against fville State that's the CIAA
Championship Game Central Washington against UT permium Basin
that's the deao Lone Star Conference Championship Game binji state is that
Augustana Frostburg State at Fairmont State and Sack championship game tusam
at Leno Ry let's go ahead this is going to work out perfect Justin I need you to
pick a CIAA winner yeah so when you look at this game uh it's it's a rematch right and so
fville State got him earlier in the year Jada buers didn't play for Virginia Union when you look at it um when you
look at the stats I you know this is an intriguing game to me because Virginia Union has got it going guys you know the
offense is rolling now that Jada buyers is back they put up some big numbers this past week um but ul and they're the
top offense right now in the CIAA on the flip side that fville state has one of the top defenses in that league and it
really can go either way I I think if Virginia Union plays the way that they are capable of if they keep building on
what they've done with their offense they're going to be hard to stop but uh we talk about it all the time defense
travels in a championship game when when you need your defense the most if you have a good defense I like your chances
and for that reason I'm going to take fville state eight in this one okay oh
two weeks in a row two weeks in a row Brandon he's uh going to get the heat
hey I I like it I like that kind of hoods Spa so all right I will take Virginia Union with who do you
have I you know I like where Justin was going until he kind of gave us a little bit of a turn there at the end but uh I
I I really think Virginia Union's offense is too I don't have enough trust that fville State wins this game twice
in one year I just don't um so I got I got Virginia Union here okay
Chuck you mute chuck chuck you're muted well we're gonna guess what you're
saying yeah sorry I was on mute because I was I didn't want to hear me laughing at Justin um for his no fville state
fville state is uh in this game for what the sixth year in a row I think so this is old hat for them they know the
routine here but I just think Virginia Union is the better team um faille State's good but I think Virginia
Union's Just A Cut Above the Rest in the CIAA this year so I'm going with the Panthers all right INF Ferg give us the
correct answer please well there's really no wrong answer to
this game because you're just trying to stay off HBC Twitter dude yeah asked
Justin about that last week well I was I was also victimized
um sorry interrup please continue yes but but my my thing with this particular
one is yeah this is a rematch of what was Wess than ideal conditions um in
which Fable State won that game U and they allowed uh Virginia Union to do a
lot of rushing in in the process and still were able to come out with a win
um Virginia Union I I think Virginia Union is probably the better team uh as
well in a lot of places but I I tell you one thing I went against Richard Hayes
in Fable State last year and I paid dearly for it so I'm gonna I'm going to go out Swinging with the Champs too
until they show otherwise and I also GNA stand with Justin then go with Fable state to repeat that's what I'm talking
about fer that's what I'm talking about baby you guys okay all right uh let's go
ahead and move to Central Washington at UT permium Basin I don't think central Washington
can generate enough offense against a team that generates a ton of offense and I will pick UTPB in
this one Matt I'm a little concerned to see how
UTPB deals with the physicality um that
Central Washington's going to bring Central Washington at times reminds me a little bit of a bigi mano style um in
terms of the the way that they want to be physical uh um I'm just not convinced
that their offense is necessarily ready to win a game like this where I think
UTPB is um just too prolific offensively I like uh you know I like the Falcons
running away in this okay
Chuck uh I like UT per me Basin here as well I mean you heard coach Mulla talk about all the positives that Central
Washington brings you know they're very disciplined uh they forced their opponent on to make mistakes they've won
a lot of games that way I I feel like this is going to be one of those games where they're not going to be able to to just make a turnover or two to to swing
the game I think that they're going to have to score points you guys already talked about that um I think they're going to have to to get more out of the
offense than they normally do and I think that the peran Basin defense is going to have a game plan to to Really
attack their running game aggressively um Central Washington is going to have to burn them with some passes downfield
and I just don't know that they've really shown that they could do do that consistently so I'm going to go with the Falcons to win this one okay what about
you Chris I I don't think there going to be a runaway game I I think that uh Central
Washington brings a lot uh defensively um to this game um but in the end I
think that um premium Basin will have just enough to get
by and Justin man when I look at this it's every one of these games these are some
heavyweight games these these are my favorite ones talk about right now because you can make a case for both sides of these things but uh no I you
know I think I think a lot of what you all said is is 100% accurate um I think right now I think per and Basin just is
a step a step uh advantage over Central
Washington I I don't think there's that much variation in this one I I'm having a hard time but I'm gonna take permium
Basin at home this week um but yeah I'm GNA take permium Basin at home guys but
it's it's they're they're I think they're the better team but yeah per and
Basin I'm sure I'm sure Chris Mulla thanks hey thank thanks guys to come on
your show and then you all pick me and give me the kiss of death I'm sure he's just loving us right
now all right uh next set of games uh buiji State at Augustana gonna start
with you Chuck I'm struggling with this one and this might be one that by the time I break it down for the column and
by the time I listen to n I see weekly later this week I might change my opinion but uh I I like bidi state in
this matchup all right Ferg Auggie
okay Justin man I'm GNA take thei State it's a
beaver and a viking do you want to choose between those two mascots Justin depends on if we're if it depends
on if we're pillaging or if we're building dams I mean depends what we need yeah no I'm gonna
take piji State although it did cross my mind all right
um I'm gonna take beiji too I think this is a a tough matchup for Augustana and I
also encourage Brent Bol to order postgame meal from Bosses Pizza and Chicken with you're
up well when I saw Augustana beat Mano I immediately thought to myself
okay so me augi is the best team in the league and I paused because I thought you know what M miji can do things that
that Mano can't offensively meaning they can be prolific to the Air Attack uh
this last week beiji outp passed Morehead in their contest that says something um so I I think that it's a
different situation where Auggie can't just kind of focus on the run like they did the way they were able to stop Mano
uh because Mano just wasn't not going to thrown the football to be real honest uh I think beiji is a different Beast
that way but I think at the same time they're very physical and they have a good defense uh I'm taking bid in this
one all right okay um let's go ahead and move to
Frostburg State at Fairmont State and gonna start with you FK Fairmont and the
Battle of fsus hey
Justin man uh my gut was telling me Frostburg
State and I'm gonna stay with it okay you said Frostburg right yes yes
I did okay all right I'm gonna pick Frostburg State as well
wh you know what Fairmont impressed me when they when they were able to beat uh
be Charleston and I think it speaks a little bit to some of the ceiling they have uh I've like frost stayed all this
year but I'm I'm going to take fair amount this one okay and
check you know it feels like there's been a theme all year long with teams rebounding well after a a tough loss or
a bad loss and froster is kind of coming off a really you know unexpected tough loss to to Glenville State um in which
they just didn't perform um so my gut tells me that they're going to bounce back in a big way and maybe win this
game but I you know I've seen Fairmont State a couple times this year and you they're a gutsy team I like the way they
play um they play with a lot of passion um they have enough talent to get by with that as well and I think Fairmont
State's gonna win this um and I kind of hope that they get in the playoffs I think they could be a tough out if they
make the playoff bracket all right and uh last game tusam and Lenor
Ryan for the sack Championship uh we'll start with you
Whit I didn't expect tusam to win the the game they did last week but you know
what if I had listened to the guys on the coach post show they warned me about
that so um that said I just have thought this entire year that Lenor Ryan was was
the class of the of the sack and I'm I gotta go with them here
okay Chuck this is a tough one because you
know tuscum can be very inconsistent offensively but they're pretty consistent defensively and I have a lot
of confidence that Jerry Odum and his staff will come up with a good game plan for Lenor Ryan offense and give them a
lot of trouble probably similar to the way Limestone was able to create a lot of trouble for LR um that said I'm still
going to go with enough confidence in Lenor Ry to to score enough points the tuscum just won't quite be able to get
there um you know if you can kind of get into the high 20s with tuscum if you're
a really good team and you've got a good defense you can usually win that game so I think LR gets there but but don't be
surprised if this is a very close game late in the fourth quarter okay and you went with lenar Ryan just to be I'm
gonna go with lenar Ryan yeah okay okay very good uh Chris I don't think this game's going be close I'm gonna go on
record to say that um so I mean yes I think tuscum year in year out have
pretty good defense but uh I think Lenor Ryan's going to have more than enough to
put them away okay uh I think it's l Norine as
well but Justin gets the last word yeah this is gonna be interesting
because I think all along um we've kind of said it it's Leno Ryan for for the
league and and tuscum kind of shocked some people I think last week you know they came out there in a physical game they showed they're not afraid to be
physical but there's one thing that I'm hung up on one thing Leno Ryan does well is they handle they take care of the
football they don't turn the football over husam on the other hand is minus eight on the turnover uh ratio and if
you turn the football over Lenor or Lenor Ryan can run the football and they're not gonna give it
back to you so I for that reason right there I think that is a huge difference maker in this game I think Leno Ryan
wins and wins the league but um it's going to be a physical game there is no doubt about it tus is going to take
their shots on Lenor R I think Leno Ryan just has too many Playmakers and ultimately they don't turn the football
over and they can control the clock so all right very good all right just want
to remind you all uh the overtime is next we'll pause for a second and we'll
you can stay right here there's no reason to find a new stream uh we will answering your qu we'll be answering
your questions compliments criticisms whatever having a generally General good
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there are a ton of games at once last weekend the only way to keep up with them all is to uh visit our scoreboard
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do it for the uh regular uh the main show uh stay tuned for the overtime but
in the meantime thank you very much for watching in inside D2
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