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Jordan Hunt
@SOURaiders
With less than a couple weeks to go before conference play begins, the Raiders are heating up. They upset #12 Westmont this weekend and also beat Menlo to earn the Cascade Conference Team of the Week honor.
You can watch them against the Beavers on Monday night (11/28/16) on Pac-12 Oregon at 6:00 p.m. Live Stream at pac-12.com or on the Pac-12 Now app.
Zach Bartlow was the Offensive Player of the Game
@11_zbartlow @EOUAthletics #NAIAFootball @racetodaytona @Play_NAIA
On a day when Montana Tech was without their two biggest offensive threats (due to injuries incurred in previous games), Eastern Oregon University came through for the Frontier Conference without generating an offensive touchdown. This could mark the third year in a row in which a Frontier Conference team makes the national championship game without winning the Frontier Conference. Why is it, again, that the coaches see fit to send only two Frontier Conference teams to the playoffs?
Marian was ranked #1 all season long. Yet they are now 1-3 versus Frontier Conference teams. Massey has Marian at #4 after yesterday’s loss, just two positions ahead of Montana Western, a team the coaches didn’t think should be in the playoffs. Marian’s conference had two teams in the coaches’ top 5 all season long while the Frontier Conference never had more than one team in the top 8. Hmmmmmm….
Up next for EOU is Baker on the road. Massey has EOU as a 70% favorite. Massey has Baker just two spots ahead of Southern Oregon University, another team not in the playoffs even though Baker got home field throughout (while playing no one in Massey’s top 11 and only one team in Massey’s top 20).
Eastern Oregon @ Southern Oregon in a 9-photo photomerge @ Raider Stadium in the rain
It isn’t often that I find myself cheering for Eastern Oregon. Although Massey gave EOU only a 7% chance of victory today, and Massey predicted 41 points for Marian, the score at halftime is EOU 10 and Marian 0. Eastern’s offense hasn’t done anything. The touchdown came via a pick 6.
Maybe the Frontier Conference is even stronger than Massey thought…
Ashland’s Festival of Light parade
Santa’s Parade begins at 5 p.m. tonight (November 25) with the Grand Illumination to follow.
Grand Illumination
Santa’s Parade
We traditionally take a walk on the White Rabbit Trail in the Ashland watershed on Thanksgiving. However, our walking partner was out of the country yesterday so we opted for Hobart Bluff instead. The trail, itself, wasn’t in great shape as it was muddy or slick with snow or ice, but the view at the end was worth it.
Wild turkeys in Ashland
Marcus Montano
#21 Keegan Lawrence
#11 Isiah Carter
Julius Rucker
#12 Devvon Gage
Christmas Aumua
Louis Desprez
#72 Tylor King
Matt Retzlaff
El Tapatio in Ashland’s 4th of July parade
My random, desktop image of the day was this one. I missed last year’s parade, and will miss next year’s (as I’m heading back to Denmark), but this is from a couple years ago.
Xoth and Sarcalogos
@sarcalogosband @Behold_Xoth
It’s been a long time since I’ve ventured out for a local show. Tomorrow night I may head on up I-5 to see this one. I’ve never been to King Wah. Hopefully it’s a decent venue. Three years ago is the last time I saw Sarcalogos. Almost five years ago was the first time. Time for a reunion.
@EOUAthletics @MontanaTechFB @MTechDiggers #NAIAFootball @racetodaytona @Play_NAIA
As predicted, the Frontier Conference teams beat their opponents in the first round of the NAIA football playoffs (even though the NAIA coaches seeded them much lower than Massey and hence EOU had to hit the road to win). Also as predicted, some of those non-Frontier Conference playoff teams did not belong in the playoffs, many losing by 30 or more points. Missouri Valley lost by 59 points!
I know the coaches aren’t listening to me, but a grass-roots effort to change the current system has to start somewhere. First of all, two teams from incredibly weak conferences should not be going to the playoffs. The Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference, for instance, pretty much is a lock for two teams even though those two teams nearly always get creamed in the first round. Tabor and Sterling lost by a combined score of 109-38. The Heart of America Conference is already split into divisions. Taking more than one team from each division is unfair. Missouri Valley showed why a team finishing second in a Heart of America Conference division doesn’t deserve a playoff game. Three or four teams from a conference that has sent exactly one team to the national championship ever? Please.
SOU won the national championship in 2014 without winning the Frontier Conference. The Raiders also made it to the national championship game in 2015 without winning the Frontier Conference. A Frontier Conference team has made it to the national championship game in 10 of the last 14 years (winning the championship in 7 of those years). So why do the coaches fix the voting so that no more than two Frontier Conference teams get in the playoffs but two go from KCAC and three or four go from HOAC?
Massey has Montana Tech at #2 and Eastern Oregon at #4. Both are deserving of another home game in the playoffs, but the coaches have voted for the teams with easier schedules to get home games instead. EOU will likely get beat by Marian on the road this weekend. Montana Tech, if they are healthy, has a good chance of beating Reinhardt on the road.