D3East Rankings - November 30

The NCAA Division 3 Tournament is down to the Elite 8 quarterfinal round. Last Saturday Salisbury State survived Kean in a triple overtime thriller, while St. John Fisher stunned #1 Delaware Valley and knocked them from the ranks of the unbeaten.

We get few opportunities to compare east conferences during the regular season. So any opportunity we get to run a comparison in the playoffs is much welcome. However we need to remember we are dealing with a very small sample set. The top of the Empire 8 looks great after the Round of 16, but we only have two relevant games to draw this conclusion from.

Let's get past the mumbo jumbo and jump into our latest rankings release:

1. Salisbury State 11-1
2. Kean 10-2
3. St. John Fisher 10-2
4. Delaware Valley 11-1
5. Widener 9-2
6. Lycoming 8-2
7. Cortland 9-2
8. Hobart 7-2
9. Montclair 8-2
10. Lebanon Valley 8-3

Kean did everything but beat Salisbury State on the road. Ironically after a season in which pundits doubted Kean throughout their wins, they may have solidified their 2011 legacy with an incredibly impressive close defeat. Not many people gave Kean a chance to go into Salisbury and win, but they would have won had it not been for a blocked short field goal attempt in the first overtime.

St. John Fisher exposed Delaware Valley on Saturday. It was the first time someone shut down the Delaware Valley Aggies and controlled the football against them. It would be easy to point to this as proof of the superiority of top Empire 8 teams over top MAC teams. But that would be a mistake. One game is not enough to draw such a conclusion. For now accept that St. John Fisher is ranked one spot ahead of Delaware Valley, and let us see if Fisher can keep their season alive after this Saturday's quarterfinal action.

Empire 8 Activates Beast Mode

Activate beast mode! The Empire 8 flexed its muscle as the premier football conference in eastern region, advancing two teams to the NCAA Division 3 quarterfinals.

Salisbury held off Kean 49-47 in a thrilling triple-overtime victory, while St. John Fisher defeated Delaware Valley 27-14 to upset the undefeated MAC champion.

Salisbury Holds Off Kean

The Salisbury State Sea Gulls (11-1) rolled up 382 yards rushing the football to stop the upset-minded Kean Cougars (10-2). Randal Smedley rushed for 202 yards on 26 carries, and quarterback Dan Griffin added 70 yards on the ground and 57 through the air on only 5 passes.

Tom D'Ambrisi completed 15-of-26 passes for three touchdowns for the Kean Cougars, but was intercepted three times by the Gulls.

Salisbury built a 34-20 lead late in the game, but Kean roared back behind the rushing of Chris Dimicco (20 carries for 155 yards) and the passing of D'Ambrisi. After cutting the score to 34-27, the Kean defense kept Salisbury in check through the fourth quarter.

D'Ambrisi found Matt Pitarresi for a 16-yard pass play to the Salisbury 2-yard line with just 51 seconds to play. On the next play, Darius Kinney rushed for a 2-yard score to tie the game at 34-34 and send it to overtime.

Both teams missed field goals in the first overtime. Kean had an opportunity to win the football game, but had a 31-yard field goal attempt blocked. Brandon Lemon saved Salisbury's season rejecting the Billy Daniels kick.

The teams traded touchdowns in the second overtime. In the third overtime, Randall Smedley rushed for a 2-yard touchdown to put Salisbury ahead 47-41. A Ross Flanigan rush on the two-point conversion play put the Gulls ahead 49-41.

The game appeared over with Kean trailing by eight, and facing a 4th-and-12 from the Salisbury 27-yard line. But D'Ambrisi rolled out to his right, avoided pressure, and threw toward the end zone. Chris Suozzo made an outstanding leaping grab to shock the Salisbury crowd.

With the score 49-47 in favor of Salisbury, the Gulls defense rallied to force a desperation pass from D'Ambrisi into the back of the end zone. The ball fell incomplete, and Salisbury celebrated a thrilling victory.

Cardinals Upset Aggies 27-14

The St. John Fisher Cardinals (10-2) stopped the Delaware Valley Aggies (11-1) 27-14 to advance to the national Elite 8.

It was the second consecutive week the underdog Cardinals beat an undefeated team on the road. Against high scoring offenses Johns Hopkins and Delaware Valley, the Cardinals yielded only 26 point in two weeks.

Backup quarterback Ahmed Hassanien filled in for injured Ryan Kramer, rushing for 196 yards and passing for 93 yards. Sophomore running back Cody Miller added a career-high 145 yards rushing. Wade Kline had a key second half interception for the Cardinals, thwarting a Delaware Valley drive.

The Cardinals never trailed against the young Aggies.

St. John Fisher may have been the last team to get into the tournament, but it is one of the final eight remaining. The victory over Delaware Valley marks the first time Fisher has been to the NCAA quarterfinals since 2007, when it was defeated by Mount Union.

The combined victories by Salisbury and St. John Fisher make a strong statement for the Empire 8 as the strongest eastern conference. Despite disappointing seasons by Alfred and Ithaca, Salisbury and St. John Fisher carried the conference into the playoffs, and eliminated the top teams from the MAC, NEFC,  Centennial Conference, and NJAC to advance to the national quarterfinals.

2011 Playoffs Second Round

As excited as I am for the second round of the NCAA Division 3 football tournament, I have to admit to feeling a bit disappointed. When the NCAA committee unveiled its wide-open, national bracket, I couldn't help but feel this was the east's big chance to measure itself against the nation.

But instead, all four east survivors will be playing against each other tomorrow. The positive side is two teams will advance, guaranteed. The negative side is, two teams will be gone.

St. John Fisher (9-2) at Delaware Valley (11-0)

Both teams come from solid conferences. Last week Delaware Valley coasted by a Norwich team which may have been the weakest entrant in the 2011 tournament field. St. John Fisher went on the road and took down previously unbeaten Johns Hopkins.

Fisher quarterback Ryan Kramer injured himself in the Hopkins game, with Ahmed Hassanien throwing a touchdown pass as a reliever in his first play from scrimmage.

The importance of the Kramer injury is huge. Even if Kramer goes, one has to expect he will be hampered to run the option as well as he has all season. That takes away a huge dimension from Fisher's offense.

Meanwhile Delaware Valley is steam rolling the opposition, scoring 50 or more points in 5 of its games this season.

I liked Fisher's chances last week, but I think Delaware Valley is too talented to overcome with an injured option quarterback leading your offense.

Kean at Salisbury

Kean is the Rodney Dangerfield of Division 3 football. No respect, I tell ya! (fixes tie)

All they do is win, and it seems all everyone else does is say Kean shouldn't have won. Quite a few pundits scratched their heads wondering how Kean slipped past Wesley and Cortland in back-to-back weeks despite being out gained each time.

Many felt they would fold at Rowan late in the season, and again at Montclair. But they just keep winning, and it looks like Kean is gaining confidence as they prove their doubters wrong. Last week Kean crushed Christopher Newport 34-10 in a game most (this idiot included) figured would go down to the wire.

Guess what? Nobody thinks Kean can beat Salisbury tomorrow.

Salisbury is outscoring opponents 47-13 this season. The option heavy run game averages 6.7 yards per carry, and Kean is hardly dominant against the run (3.6 yards per carry). The Salisbury defense has caused 32 turnovers.

But something tells me this game is going to be a good one tomorrow. I like the Kean defense. I don't think it can shut down the Salisbury run game, but it might be able to limit the big plays and force Salisbury to settle for a few field goals instead of touchdowns. Red zone efficiency for Salisbury will likely win or lose this game.

I like Tom D'Ambrisi a lot at quarterback for Kean. He had a tough game against Montclair, but bounced back against Christopher Newport. If you need to win a big game on the road, you want a talented senior at quarterback.

I'm going with Salisbury because of the home field advantage, and that's the only reason. This is going to be a close call.

Who are your picks to win Saturday?

East Looking Strong in Playoffs

The playoff results from the first round of the NCAA Division 3 football tournament are in, and the scores look very good for east region.

I have long argued that east teams play in deeper, stronger conferences than do many other teams across the country. Evidence of this was provided today, as east teams won 2 out of 3 cross-regional games with only national power Wesley surviving.

For the first time in a long time, the NCAA committee looked past the highly flawed Strength of Schedule metric and evaluated at-large teams based on true merit. For that reason, St. John Fisher made the tournament as a two loss team while Endicott stayed home. The committee was clearly right. Western New England, the team which beat Endicott in the NEFC, gave up 62 points to Empire 8 Salisbury. The Empire 8 runner up, St. John Fisher, upset Johns Hopkins 23-12.

Was the Fisher win truly an upset? Hopkins ran through the weak Centennial Conference with an undefeated record, scoring 83 points against Gettysburg, and outscoring its opponents by better than 30 points per game. Meanwhile Fisher played in the rugged Empire 8, and scheduled Pool C bid Hobart out of conference. Fisher beat Johns Hopkins 23-12 in Baltimore on Saturday, providing more evidence for our argument that a one or two loss season in a tough conference should not disqualify you from the playoffs.

While Johns Hopkins was finding out about the quality of upper echelon east teams, southern power Wesley found themselves in a dog fight with Liberty League champion Hobart. Wesley's only loss on the season came to...you guessed it, an east region team...when Kean beat them in September. It nearly happened again. The Hobart Statesmen trailed Wesley 35-28 late in the fourth quarter today. Hobart drove to the Wesley 5-yard line, where Wesley finally stopped them to barely hold on to their victory.

A few hundred miles to the north, NJAC champion Kean was destroying south region Christopher Newport (CNU). Kean built a 34-7 half time lead, then coasted to a 34-10 victory. Kean picked off five passes and recovered a fumble in dominating CNU. Kean survived the rugged NJAC, and played Wesley to compile an impressive 9-1 record. CNU went undefeated in the USAC, but lost out of conference to Empire 8 champion Salisbury, and Stevenson which was 1-7 in the MAC.

The record speaks for itself. CNU went 8-0 against southern teams, and 0-3 against eastern teams. And one of those losses came to an east team which won only one game in their conference.

Meanwhile, Salisbury took care of business with a 62-24 whipping of Western New England. Delaware Valley remained undefeated, storming past ECFC champion Norwich 62-10.

The ECFC champion has been outscored the last two seasons in the NCAA playoffs 122-10, starting with Alfred's 60-0 destruction of SUNY Martitime in 2010. The ECFC champion gets an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, but it is clear they are not ready.

What was your biggest surprise from the first round of the NCAA tournament?

Playoff Previews

Three more playoff games involving east region teams kick off this Saturday afternoon. Two of the three are intriguing matchups, while we see one as being lopsided:

• Hobart at Wesley
• Christopher Newport and Kean
• Western New England at Salisbury

Let's get the Western New England (WNEC) at Salisbury game out of the way first. I don't see WNEC having much of a chance in this game. There must be talent on their team to win the NEFC championship with a 10-1 record. But that talent is untested.

WNEC, like most of its NEFC conference foes, went out of its way to avoid strong competition out of conference. The one exception was Salve Regina, which challenged Montclair State and Union. WNEC opted to play two more NEFC teams, plus Norwich. Loading up on weak foes can win you a lot of games, but the downside is your players are totally unprepared for playoff competition.

Salisbury will run the option again and again until the WNEC defense breaks. And when it breaks, the game will get ugly. We like Salisbury to win going away.

Christopher Newport (CNU) at Kean is a much closer battle. It may be the best match up involving east teams of the first round. CNU is a south region team from the USAC. There aren't many ways to overlap the schedules of Kean (9-1) and CNU (8-2).

We know that CNU lost a close game to Salisbury, and that Salisbury lost a close game to Wesley, and Wesley lost a close game to Kean. Advantage Kean, right? Well yes, unless you consider the Kean win over Wesley to be one of the season's biggest upsets.

There may be more points scored than most people are expecting. CNU is averaging 9.0 yards per pass attempt behind quarterback Aaron Edwards. Edwards took over late in the season and has only three starts under his belt. But he has completed 72 percent of his pass attempts and thrown seven touchdowns to only one interception.

I expect Kean will give Edwards a lot of different looks, and force him into a few mistakes. QB Tom D'Ambrisi is coming off a poor performance for Kean against Montclair, and we expect the senior to rebound. We like Kean to win a close game at home against CNU.

Wesley (9-1) hosts the Hobart Statesmen (7-1) in our final opening round preview. Hobart played a short eight game schedule. Due to a down year in the Liberty League, the Statesmen did not benefit from playing a playoff caliber opponent in conference.

However Hobart put a 56-20 hurting on Pool C playoff bound St. John Fisher back in September. The final score looks fluky in retrospect. How do we come to terms with Hobart losing to a mediocre RPI squad, and destroying a strong Fisher team? We believe the true Statesmen are somewhere between those two very disparate outcomes.

Wesley is beating its opponents by an average of 31 points per game. If not for the early season Kean loss, Wesley would be considered a number one seed and a serious threat to Mount Union and Wisconsin Whitewater. Askia Jahad averages 6.8 yards per rushing attempt, and quarterback Shane McSweeny completes 64% of his pass attempts.

The Wesley defense is big and fast, compiling 36 sacks and 93 tackles behind the line of scrimmage. DL Devin Hardy has 7.5 sacks, while Chris Mayes leads the team in tackles for losses with 17.5.

I would give Hobart more of a fighting chance if they had filled out their schedule with a playoff caliber team in the second half of their season. I don't think the Statesmen have seen anything remotely like Wesley in years, and they haven't seen a playoff quality opponent since September. We like Wesley to win convincingly.

Kean Intercepts Montclair's NJAC Hopes

The Kean Cougars (9-1) defeated the Montclair State Red Hawks (8-2) 27-14 Saturday to clinch the NJAC Championship, and an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

You can't continuously turn the football over and hope to win. And that is exactly what Montclair did on Saturday. The Kean Cougars forced seven Montclair turnovers, including five interceptions by Red Hawks quarterback Tom Fischer.

Freshman linebacker Matt Clerk intercepted two passes for Kean and added a sack. Jamahl Williams intercepted a pass for the Cougars in the third quarter, returning it 63 yards to the Montclair 1-yard line. The Williams interception set up Darius Kinney 2-yard touchdown run to put Kean ahead 24-7.

Chris DiMicco and Kinney combined for 166 yards rushing to pace the Kean offense. Tom D'Ambrisi threw a 28-yard touchdown pass to Scott Davis, but was largely held in check by the Red Hawks.

The Kean victory sends the Cougars to the NCAA Tournament for the first time under head coach Dan Garrett. Kean rolls into the playoffs with four consecutive victories, and has victories over national powerhouse Wesley, Rowan, Cortland, and Montclair on their 2011 resume. The quality of Kean's victories will make a strong argument for a top-3 seed in the eastern bracket of the NCAA Division 3 football playoffs.

Montclair held a clear statistical edge in total offense, 334 to 248. Chris D'Andrea rushed for 126 yards, and Gerald Silvera caught 10 passes for 146 yards. But in the end the Red Hawks could not overcome their turnovers.

Rivalry Saturday

Tomorrow is the biggest Saturday of the Division 3 Eastern Region football season. Conference championships will be on the line, and annual rivalries will be settled. By the time the dust clears tomorrow evening, we should have a good idea how the NCAA Division 3 Football tournament brackets will shape up. The actual selections will be made on Sunday.

Widener at Delaware Valley

A long standing rivalry gets renewed this Saturday when the Delaware Valley Aggies hosts the Widener Pride in the annual Keystone Cup game. This season there is the added factor of the MAC Championship and an automatic playoff bid being on the line.

If that were not enough already, we have revenge on the minds of Delaware Valley. Last season Widener upset Delaware Valley 28-27 and caused the Aggies to potentially lose the #1 seed in Eastern Region. Instead Mount Union was imported from the North to be the East's number one seed. The Aggies were forced to travel to Alliance, Ohio on November 27, 2010, where they lost 31-3 to end their season.

Up until last Saturday, say around 3 pm or so, I was picking red hot Widener to end Delaware Valley's undefeated streak in 2011. But after witnessing Delaware Valley drive 54 yards in less than a minute for the winning touchdown against Lycoming on the road, I became a believer that the Aggies can indeed see this thing through.

Our pick? Delaware Valley to barely win a fast paced game with a moderate amount of scoring. Will it be enough to win them the #1 ranking, or will Mount Union come East again? We'll find out Sunday.

Kean at Montclair State

While this one doesn't have the historical significance of the Keystone Cup or the Cortaca Jug, the Kean Cougars and Montclair State Red Hawks are fast developing a new, intense rivalry. No less than three former Montclair players now coach at Kean, including head coach Dan Garrett. The schools are less than 20 miles apart, so it is likely many players on each roster were actively recruited by their opponent.

Kean with Tom D'Ambrisi has the superior passing game. Montclair with Chris D'Andrea has a better ground attack. Both defenses are quick, hard hitting units which make few mistakes and keep the play in front of them.

The winner gets more than just bragging rights. They get the NJAC Championship trophy and a stamped ticket to the big dance. The loser is almost certainly out of the playoff hunt, and has the choice of playing an ECAC bowl next Saturday.

Our pick is Montclair in a tough, defensive struggle. Look for a late score or turnover to swing this one.

Cortland at Ithaca

They call it the Cortaca Jug. Sports Illustrated once called it the Biggest Little Game in the Nation. With the Cortland State Red Dragons seemingly out of the playoff hunt, and the Ithaca College Bombers having its first non-winning season in 40 years, this game will not carry the same regional implications in 2011.

However playing your biggest rival in front of 10,000 to 12,000 fans tends to motivate you.

Cortland has the offensive advantage on paper, though Ithaca may have as much talent on defense, and perhaps even more on special teams. Ithaca also has recent history on its side, having won three consecutive Cortaca Jugs through 2009, before Cortland took the Jug back last season.

It may be a cliche, but you truly never know what is going to happen between these two teams until they take the field. In 2003, Cortland was a 5-5 team. Ithaca came one game from winning the Eastern Region finals in the NCAA tournament. But Cortland stunned Ithaca 16-15 in the Cortaca Jug, likely costing the Bombers a shot at home field advantage in the playoffs.

In 2008, Cortland went undefeated in the NJAC and made it to the NCAA Eastern Region finals before falling to mighty Mount Union. Ithaca bombed Cortland 35-13 on the road to take away a chance at a #1 seed for Cortland and home field advantage in the playoffs. Ithaca lost to Curry in the first round of the playoffs, who then lost to Cortland 42-0, creating a bizarre triangle of results.

Our pick? This one will be closer than anyone seems to think it will be. Look for a turnover or big special teams play to be the difference. As much as I am tempted to pick Ithaca for the upset, I think Dan Pitcher and Cortland will find a way to pull it out.

Join Us Saturday

Remember to join us tomorrow evening as we analyze the day's results, and choose which eastern teams we think will be in the NCAA tournament.

Montclair vs Kean - The NJAC Championship

The New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) will crown its champion this Saturday when the Montclair Red Hawks (8-1) host the Kean Cougars (8-1) at Sprague Field. The winner will get an automatic birth in the NCAA tournament which begins next Saturday.

Quarterbacks Drew Cathey of Montclair, and Tom D'Ambrisi of Kean, took very different roads before arriving at this destination.

D'Ambrisi is a four-year starter at Kean, where he has consistently been one the NJAC's best quarterbacks. A quarterback with outstanding elusiveness in the pocket and an ability to run for first downs, D'Ambrisi is also an excellent passer. The 2011 season has been typical D'Ambrisi. The quarterback has thrown for 1625 yards, and 15 touchdowns against 6 interceptions. D'Ambrisi is commonly mentioned alongside Cortland's Dan Pitcher when people discuss the premier quarterbacks in the NJAC.

Junior Drew Cathey started the season backing up Tom Fischer. All appeared well in Red Hawks Land. Montclair rattled off four consecutive victories to start the season with Fischer at the helm. In the fifth game of the season, Montclair built a 24-14 lead in a key game against Cortland State. But late in the first half, Fischer's season ended with an unfortunate injury, forcing Cathey into the game.

Cathey struggled to get up to speed. After a 60-yard touchdown run by Chris D'Andrea gave Montclair a 31-14 lead, Cortland roared back to take a 33-31 lead. But with 1:50 remaining to play, Cathey hit Gerald Silvera for a 41-yard completion deep into Cortland territory, setting up a game winning field goal for Montclair.

Cathey threw for only 83 yards the following week in a win over William Paterson. The following week, TCNJ upset Montclair 27-21. But Cathey was showing progress, throwing for 157 yards and a touchdown, with no interceptions. After an easy win over winless West Conn, Cathey and Montclair rallied from 21-0 down on the road at Rowan to win 37-31 in overtime. The quarterback overcame 3 interceptions to throw for a season-high 318 yards.

While Kean appears to have an edge with D'Ambrisi at quarterback, Montclair's tailback Chris D'Andrea is a great equalizer. Senior D'Andrea averages 6.3 yards per carry, and better than 160 yards per game.

Both Kean and Montclair bring nasty defenses to the table. Each yields less than 18 points per game, and less than 6 yards per pass play. Neither team compiles huge sack numbers, but both hurry the quarterback and rarely give up big plays.

While Montclair versus Kean will not be mistaken for an episode of All In The Family, it is notable that Kean rebuilt its once struggling program under Head Coach Dan Garrett, former all conference player and Defensive Coordinator at Montclair. Garrett took over in 2006 and has never had a losing season with the Cougars, who were perennially weak in the NJAC prior to his arrival.

Venerable Head Coach Rick Giancola of Montclair is in his 29th season with the Red Hawks. Giancola has compiled an amazing 129-41 record within the NJAC, one of the toughest conferences in Division 3.

Our pick to win? We're going with Montclair in a tight defensive thriller. The Red Hawks passing game is back, and you can't say enough about the importance of home field advantage in a November championship game. Whichever team loses will likely be one of the most talented teams not in the NCAA tournament.

Montclair Survives at Rowan

The Montclair Red Hawks rallied from a 21-0 deficit to overcome the Rowan University Profs on the road, 37-31 in overtime. Rowan missed a field goal and failed to score on its first possession. Montclair scored quickly to send the Profs fans home disappointed.

The Montclair Red Hawks just earned a ton of street cred. After losing its starting quarterback against Cortland on October 8, the Red Hawks offense had struggled to find its rhythm. A loss to TCNJ two weeks later made a lot of Eastern Region football fans become Montclair doubters.

But give Montclair a ton of credit. Backup quarterback Drew Cathey has improved every week as the new starter. They have a strong defense, and an explosive ground game led by Chris D'Andrea. And this week, Cathey became the star as Montclair rallied from a seemingly insurmountable deficit in hostile territory to lead the Red Hawks past the Profs.

The Montclair victory moves the team to 8-1 on the season. The New Jersey Athletic Conference championship will be on the line next Saturday when Montclair hosts 8-1 Kean in a winner-take-all showdown.

How Does Eastern Region Football Rank?

Eastern Region is looked upon as the weakest of the Division 3 football regions. No Eastern Region team has played for the NCAA championship this century. The last team to make it to Salem was Rowan University, which was pounded by Pacific Lutheran 42-13. The past few seasons, the NCAA has chosen to import Mount Union from the Northern Region to give the Eastern bracket a legitimate #1 seed.

Delaware Valley is undefeated through eight games in 2011, but its two toughest games are yet to be played. However, many believe that if Delaware Valley runs the table, they will be given the top spot in the East while Mount Union stays home in the North. Few believe Hobart would be afforded the #1 seed however, due to the perceived weakness of the Liberty League in 2011, and the short 8-game schedule played by the Statesmen.

Cross region games are rare due to the travel costs incurred. How much can we draw from a winless Husson team from Eastern Region losing 77-7 to a 7-1 Adrian team from Northern Region? Not much. But we do have one important data point: Kean 31-28 over Wesley, potentially the best team in Southern Region.

Let me get one thing straight. If Kean and Wesley played on a neutral field tomorrow, I would pick Wesley as the favorite. But that is just an opinion. The fact is, Kean beat Wesley in Union, New Jersey.

I don't think who won the game or where it was played is the most important thing to draw from this data point. Rather, I feel the most important point is that the two teams were pretty closely matched on both sides of the ball. Wesley is undefeated in Southern Region play, while Kean lost to TCNJ and may not even win the NJAC.

A common argument against Eastern Region is its (lack of) performance against Mount Union in the playoffs. Mount Union destroyed Eastern Region teams St Lawrence 49-0, Delaware Valley 31-3, and Alfred 37-7 last season. 

If we are going to judge Eastern Region teams by their playoff losses to Mount Union, then shouldn't we judge the Ohio Athletic Conference just as harshly? Mount Union has won 19 consecutive OAC championships. Nineteen consecutive! Who in Northern Region can say they have recently knocked Mount Union out of the playoffs? Indeed, Mount Union has won an astounding 85.2% of its NCAA playoff games.

Judging how strong Eastern Region is by its performance against Mount Union just isn't logical, when there aren't any Northern teams showing the ability to beat them either. What we need are some regional cross over games between teams like Wesley, North Central, Wittenberg, Cortland, and Lycoming so we can draw better conclusions. 

I for one would love to see Rowan play Heidelberg, or St John Fisher play Baldwin-Wallace. Wouldn't it have been much more interesting if Adrian had played Widener, instead of a winless team from the weakest conference in Eastern Region?

There are reasons why the East tends to see more parity than the other regions do, and I will touch on these in later blog posts. Recall that two decades ago, the East was considered rather beastly on the national scene with Ithaca winning multiple national championships.

In the meantime, I don't believe we can definitively say Eastern Region is the weakest of the four regions. We don't have many data points to utilize, and the most important data point we have in 2011 has Kean beating Wesley. Because cross over games are so rare among regions, computer power ratings aren't likely to help us either. Again, not enough data points.

Where do you think Eastern Region football ranks nationally outside of Whitewater and Mount Union?