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Interesting Read in Sioux City Journal (Joe Glenn gave us some respect)

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penguinpower:

July 30, 2014 11:45 am  •  BARRY POE bpoe@siouxcityjournal.com


VERMILLION, S.D. | There is still some question at the conclusion of spring football at the University of South Dakota which is the stronger unit. Read more



VERMILLION, S.D. | The main topic of conversation during the Missouri Valley Football Conference preseason teleconference on Tuesday was the lack of respect the league received when it came time to select playoff qualifiers last season.



Only two teams from arguably the top football conference in the Football Championship Subdivision made the playoffs. One of those, North Dakota State, went on to capture its third consecutive national championship while South Dakota State advanced to the second round.

Youngstown State missed out despite winning eight regular season games and Northern Iowa Coach Mark Farley was none too pleased when his team wasn’t selected after beating Youngstown State on a last-second field goal and winning seven games.

“Having only two teams in an expanded bracket is not OK,” MVFC Commissioner Patty Viverito said. “We have playoff caliber teams that aren’t being selected and that’s not OK. Those coaches are frustrated and rightfully so.

“I think we need to do everything we can to help the committee understand and respect strength of schedule. There’s no doubt that over the last several years The Valley has been the No. 1 FCS conference and I think if any team finishes in the top half of The Valley standings that should automatically put them into consideration for at-large selection.

“I think you have to give the committee a reason to take all of those teams and the single most important thing we can do to influence that selection process would be to play top 25 non-conference opponents and win. We’re not doing that but it’s not because we’re afraid to play them. The harder part of the equation is getting them on our schedule.”

University of South Dakota Coach Joe Glenn made a strong point when asked what it would take to get the league three and possibly four teams in the playoffs.

“I’ve had the pleasure of having coached in the Big Sky Conference as well and can flat tell you right now that this league is strong,” Glenn said. “I’m not going to make a war with the Big Sky Conference but we played Montana toward the end of the season last year and got beat with 1:23 left on the clock and then played North Dakota State a couple weeks later. There’s no comparison, none whatsoever. Northern Arizona also got in the playoffs and we played them early in the year and lost by six down there.

“Both those teams are good football teams but they weren’t as good as people in our league. Strength of schedule is the conference, not the non-conference teams some of us are playing. You go through our league and you’ll hit a pretty good team every week. There’s a couple teams in the Big Sky that shouldn’t have been in above Youngstown. I feel real strong about that.”

South Dakota was picked eighth out of 10 teams in the preseason coaches poll that to the surprise of nobody has North Dakota State at the top despite a coaching change. South Dakota State and Northern Iowa also received first place votes.

The Coyotes finished 4-8 overall last year and 3-5 in the conference, but lost three games by six points or less.

“We kind of limped in last year health-wise, especially at running back,” Glenn said. “We were forced into playing freshmen at that spot and when they were healthy they did a good job and they’re plenty healthy now. Plus we redshirted a guy we think will help us and Jasper (Sanders) will be back.”

Sanders, a senior, suffered a season ending injury before the season started. Freshmen Trevor Bouma and Jordan Roberts were pressed into duty and Khoury Kilgore, a talented freshman, redshirted.

“Our quarterback is a difference maker,” Glenn said. “We feel good about Kevin Earl coming back, he’s a good football player and has a year under his belt and will be better. We have five starters back on the offensive line so we will be better up front both offensively and defensively.”

After taking over as starter in the third game of the season, Earl went on to pass for 1,920 yards and nine touchdowns. He led the Coyotes to three conference victories including one at Northern Iowa.

An experienced group of wide receivers, led by sophomore Riley Donovan, will be at Earl’s disposal.

“We were close in a lot of games last year and we have to finish,” Glenn said. “That’s kind of a point we need to make around here. We have to get a few more athletes on the field to finish games and come away with wins.”

South Dakota has a pair of defensive players, lineman Drew Iddings and linebacker Auston Johnson, listed on the preseason all-league team. One notable omission is linebacker Keyen Lage, who Glenn thinks will have an outstanding season.

The team’s Achilles heel, Glenn said, will be four new starters in the secondary. That probably means opponents will take to the air with a bit more frequency early in the season to test the secondary.

USD opens the season at Oregon on Aug. 30.

IAA Fan:
It is nice to hear Patty Viverito listening to and acknowledging the cries of MVFC coaches and admins about the unfairness of last year's selections. Funny for years it was the SoCon and the big-3 +1 that dominated the selections. Then it became the A-10/Colonial that dominated. These were conferences receiving 3 (and even 4) bids in a 16-team tournament. Now the clearly dominating MVFC cannot get even a third club in a 20-team tourney field.

The NCAA is basically asking us to stop playing conference games; step out and beat teams from other conferences. Yet they encourage us to get a regular a**-kicking from a IA/FBS team to help stimulate our budgets. Then they have the nerve to count this game at year end. I mean we had a team lose to Kent State make the postseason, while an 8-win YSU sits at home ...after playing a solid game against the big-10 champs.

Don't get me wrong, I was very disappointed with our play last year, but that is because I have followed the team my whole life ...and have a different level of expectation than the average I-AA/FCS fan would have for the Guins. Granted, no conference should EVER have dominated the selections as those other two, but once you set a standard ...you had better stick to it. If not, tell us (up front) that times are changing and more clearly define expectations.

I still believe that a preset number of teams from each conference should make the post-season ...no matter what their record (as they do in D-II and D-III). It is the only fair thing to do. An athlete from California should not have to play in the Midwest to be in a conference that has more than 1-selection to the post-season.

Wick250:
We all know that the FCS playoffs are watered down because of the inclusion of non-scholarship (Pioneer and Patriot until recently )and partial scholarship (NEC and Big South until recently) conferences.  To restore credibility, the NCAA should award, as IAA Fan suggests, preset berths to the top three conferences.  A minimum of three spots.  With our self-destruction, we did not deserve a spot last season, but somebody else from the MVFC did....regardless of final record.

Granting more berths to the OVC than the MVFC was a scandal that would be equivalent, in basketball, to the Horizon League placing more teams into the tournament than the Big Ten.

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