Less than 24 hours after the NCAA Division III football selection commitee shocked Division-Three Nation by making defending national champion and unbeaten UW-Whitewater a No. 2 seed in the 2010 NCAA Division III Football Championship, comes a story that broke Monday afternoon.
The following press release comes from the office of UW-Whitewater athletic director Paul Plinske..........
Adrian College, the 2010 non-conference opener for the Warhawks, has decided to break their contract with UW-Whitewater for the 2011 season opener. The game was scheduled to be played at Adrian College in Michigan on Saturday, September 3.
Each year, the Warhawks fill three non-conference games. In 2010, UW-Whitewater had non-conference games against NAIA Campbellsville (Kentucky) and NAIA Dakota State (South Dakota), along with Adrian.
The Warhawks have traditionally struggled to find NCAA Division III non-conference opponents. Director of Athletics Paul Plinske states, “This ties right in with what we have been saying for years: Few, if any, are willing to play UW-Whitewater, especially in our region. Here we are (again) searching for an NCAA Division III opponent.”
Adrian’s decision came a day after the Warhawks learned that they were seeded number two in the 2010 NCAA Division III Football Championships behind North Region North Central (Illinois). The broadly discussed item that is of most concern to UW-Whitewater is the seeding criteria used by the NCAA Division III Football Championships Committee. This year, the Committee enhanced its emphasis on the Strength of Schedule (SOS), which is why UW-Whitewater was seeded number two.
“I understand the criteria used by the Committee, but it has been inconsistently applied for years. We continue to search for answers on how to find Division III schools in the West Region to play us. If we don’t, then I’m not sure how we can be accurately and fairly measured in the selection and seeding criteria.”
UW-Whitewater is now looking for a 10th game (home or away) in 2011.
Wer'e the Apollo Creed of d3-people are too scared to schedule us!
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