Heyyy, it's football season! Several UMAC teams have already started camp and the rest of them get moving in the next week! We're all excited for football, especially the intense, riveting, superfluous, supercalifragilisticexpialidocious style of play in the UMAC that we all know and love. While the UMAC preseason poll has yet to be announced, there are a few things that I'm looking forward to, despite all that I don't know yet this year:
1. Non-conference games. Since Eureka bolted for the NACC after capturing the coveted UMAC crown, only nine teams remain in the UMAC. While it would be interesting to see another team introduced in the future, the non-conference games shake up the 2018 schedule a bit. You can check out the UMAC composite schedule here, but it's not clean cut as it was last year. In 2017 and prior, due to the 10-team schedule, UMAC teams only needed to find one non-conference opponent to play, and it was always the first game on the UMAC schedule. This combined with the fact that UMAC teams rarely took bye weeks during the season ensured that the UMAC schedule finished a week before most other DIII teams. This year, that isn't the case. Most teams do have two non-conference opponents scheduled, but they are not exclusively the first two weeks of the season, and Westminster is the only UMAC team that finishes a week early in 2018. This makes for an interesting twist in the makeup of the UMAC, which I'm excited to see play out.
2. No defending champ. With Eureka out of the picture, there is no current defending champ of the UMAC. Theoretically, the race is wide open; but St. Scholastica and MacMurray were close to capturing partial crowns last year. In my mind, they still have the upper hand in the conference, with Northwestern looking to push the envelope a bit.
3. New rushing champ. With LeAnthony Reasnover and Eureka gone and Chazz Middlebrook (MacMurray) and Johnny Pruiett (GU) graduated, it leaves the rushing field wiiiiide open. The next leading rushers included many returners, but all were nearly 400 yards behind Pruiett. Who will step up and take the rushing crown? My money is on Marquez Ellison from MacMurray, who filled in nicely when Middlebrook went down for a few games in 2017.
4. Crown winning a game. I've been a part of an 0-10 team. It doesn't feel good. What does feel good is finally breaking that streak. Odds are that Crown will win a game this year. They have at least 3 conference games that they have an okay shot at winning, and a potential non-conference matchup in NAIA opponent Presentation College, so I'm pretty confident they can get one. Please, please get one. We've seen recent success after an 0-10 season with Martin Luther, who went 5-5 in 2017, so we know it's possible, especially in the UMAC.
5. Individual recognition. The UMAC isn't used to the DIII limelight as a perennial bottom-feeder conference, but we occasionally do have a few standouts that get some national recognition. Last year seemed to be as good as it could get, with Reasnover and Middlebrook jousting for leading rushing leaders for much of the year and a few statistical leaders on the defensive side as well with Drew Shipley (UMM) and Javon Muhammad (MacMurray). I think everyone knows that it would be tough for a UMAC team to make a splash in the playoffs, so that's about as good as it's gonna get for the conference. We also had a few guys take home some honors such as Gregoire Franchomme (GU) and Nick Swore (UNW). Not too bad for a conference that is left out of these types of things many a year (for good reason). While Reasnover and Middlebrook are gone, a lot of these guys will be back next year, which is great for the UMAC. It will be interesting to see who can step up and get the UMAC some coverage.
6. FOOTBALL!! While I'm honestly more excited for the NFL season to start, there's something special about bright, crisp fall afternoons filled with football action. While the UMAC can showcase some pretty lousy football at times, there are also glimpses of brightness for each individual team, and it's fun to see teams find their niche and get on a roll. So here's to the 2018 season, and good luck to all players and coaches! Stay posted for the 2018 preseason coaches poll, and more as I mooch off of my dad's D3football.com's Kickoff 2018 subscription (thanks dad!). Football is back, baby!
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