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Warhawks win third consecutive Stagg Bowl
Congratulations to Wisconsin-Whitewater on a third consecutive Stagg Bowl, and fourth in five years.
The man behind the name of the D-III title game
“All football comes from Stagg.” — Legendary Notre Dame coach Knute Rockne on Amos Alonzo Stagg.
All anybody I run into on the streets or follow on Twitter is talking about today is the re-re-re-re-re-rematch in the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl between the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater — two-time defending champions, winners of three of the last four Stagg Bowls — and Mount Union College — 10-time winners of the NCAA Division III championship.
Seriously? Seven consecutive matchups between UWW and MUC in the championship? This is an unprecedented, unheard of, and bizarre to a certain extent, run of mutual success.
And, you couldn’t avoid discussion of the big game during Stagg Bowl XXXIX hype week.
For example, take this morning, and a stop to the local grocery store, where sports fans were stocking up on snacks and drinks for tonight’s game. A worker at the store asked me, “How are you doing today? Can I help you find anything? Who do you got tonight?” Well, U Dub Dud, of course.
Conversation at the local Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf was dominated by the Stagg Bowl. A fellow patron was pondering if the Warhawks can stop the dynamic Jasper Collins (highlight). Another patron countered with a thought on Levell Coppage — he did score the winning TD in last year’s game — and his impact on the game.
At work, banter around the watercooler focused on the big bowl game (and only bowl in which the two competing teams went through a grueling playoff for the right to participate) that unofficially kicks off the college football bowl season (4 p.m. PT on ESPN2).
It’s great that America has really taken to this game.
Lost in the hoopla is the game’s namesake, Amos Alonzo Stagg.
Mention the game’s name to anybody and the first reaction is, “the what bowl?”
“Stagg?”
“Huh?!?”
Who was Amos Alonzo Stagg?
Arguably the most important individual in the history of American sport.
Check out the long list of Stagg’s innovations that athletes and sports fans take for granted today (not in chronological order):
Awarding varsity letters.
The huddle.
Helmets.
Names on the back of player jerseys.
The tackling dummy.
The reverse.
The lateral pass.
The man in motion.
The linebacker position.
The Statue of Liberty play.
For good measure, Stagg also created a little something called the baseball batting cage.
If that’s not enough, Stagg scored the lone basket for the losing side in the very first public game of basketball (final score, 5-1), played in front of a crowd of 200 people in Springfield, Mass. He’s like a sort of Forrest Gump of early American sport.
That set of accomplishments made Stagg a charter member of both the College Football and Basketball Hall of Fames.
Stagg made those innovations a necessary part of the modern game during more than 50 years as a college football coach, most of which at the University of Chicago (1892–1932), which was a member of the Big Ten at the time (and a seven-time conference champion and two-time national champion under Stagg’s careful watch).
If that’s not enough, Stagg’s name was also attached to the University of Chicago’s home football stadium, under which on Dec. 2, 1942 a team of Manhattan Project scientists created the first controlled, self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction, which had a bit of a hand in altering human history.
A golden age of Wisconsin football
I feel it’s way too early to get excited about this development, but the Green Bay Packers are making a run at perfection.
As a native Wisconsinite, this is a very welcome development. The best possible end to said development would be for the Packers to go 18-0, reach Super Bowl XLVI, play the New England Patriots — who just four years ago flirted with perfection — and soundly defeat them. That would be epic, however, extremely unlikely (the undefeated at 19-0 part).
What’s been epic is the run of success on the gridiron for Wisconsin’s football teams. While the Packers chase a second consecutive Lombardi Trophy, the Wisconsin Badgers — who played in, but lost, the Rose Bowl last season — are playing in the very first Big Ten championship game on Saturday and the U-Dub-Dub Warhawks — winners of three of the last four Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowls — are two wins away from a seventh consecutive appearance in the D-III title game.
It’s fun being a football fan in the great state of Wisconsin.
Since Mike Holmgren took over as head coach of the Packers in 1992, the team has had just two losing seasons (best in the NFL, barely, as the Steelers have had three losing seasons since 1992). In that same time frame, the Badgers have been to 16 bowl games, including three Rose Bowl triumphs in four appearances. Wisconsin-Whitewater football? Well, its annual matchup with Mount Union for the championship, now at six straight years, is absolutely unprecedented to the point that it boggles the mind.
I expect the Packers’ perfect ride to end some time between now and Week 17, with the Giants — despite the debacle on Monday night in New Orleans — posing a challenge. The Giants have a history of ruining runs at perfection — 1998 Broncos, 2007 Patriots — and could play spoiler again. The Packers’ remaining schedule goes like this: At Giants, vs. Raiders, at Chiefs, vs. Bears (on Christmas night) and vs. Lions. Four of those remaining five opponents have real aspirations of reaching the playoffs. So, it’s not going to be quite the challenge to 16-0.
Great year for football in Wisconsin
UW-Whitewater wins the Amos Alonzo Stagg for the second consecutive year and third time in four years …
Wisconsin plays in the Rose Bowl …
Green Bay Packers advance to Super Bowl XLV …
My sports moments of 2010 power rankings
5. Brewers have better offseason than the Yankees
“Of course, Cliff Lee is going to sign with the Yankees” was a common refrain throughout the playoffs and into the baseball offseason.
Yeah, that didn’t happen. Instead, Lee turned down a more lucrative offer from the Yanks to sign with the Philadelphia Phillies.
That wasn’t the most startling development of baseball’s “Hot Stove League.” A highlight was the shocking offseason of the Beermakers Base-ball Club of Milwaukee, which traded for two front-line hurlers — Zack Greinke and Shaun Marcum. These bold moves might elevate the local nine to preseason-favorite status in the NL Central.
Meanwhile, “Hot Stove League”? The Yankees were more “Hot Plate League.” The Yankees’ big offseason moves? Acquiring Russell Martin and some fella named Gustavo Molina (yup, THAT Gustavo Molina).
4. Favre’s pick dooms Vikings
Brett Favre’s final pass with the Green Bay Packers was picked off by Corey Webster as the Giants went on to win the 2007 NFC Championship (and eventually the Super Bowl).
In an eerily similar coincidence, Favre’s — most likely (it’s gotta be) — final chance to get back to the Super Bowl was thwarted by another ill-timed pass to the other team. Minnesota lost in overtime and New Orleans went on to make history …
3. Saints win Super Bowl XLIV
The tide turned on the gutsiest call in Super Bowl history, an onside kick to start the second half that startled the favored Colts and shocked the record viewing audience.
‘Aints no more.
An also-ran for much of their 43-year existence, the Saints were finally champions.
2. U Dub-Dub wins third Stagg Bowl in four years
Yeah, I know this monumental event only shows up on the sporting radar of a select few, but this is my blog and this was a big event here. With such a run of victory, the Warhawks can now lay claim as the dominant program in D-III football. That’s a big deal considering their annual competition is omnipotent Mount Union.
1. USA-Algeria
This isn’t even close. This was the sort of occasion that will be remembered years from now; an event much more than something cool that happened one June morning.
The scene at Joxer Daly’s in Culver City at approximately 9 a.m. PT was exactly as it was elsewhere around the nation … total euphoria, with people high-fiving and hugging random strangers over a goal scored in a soccer game played on the opposite end of the planet. It was the quintessential “where were you?” moment of 2010.
What say you? What are your 2010 sports moment power rankings?
- Follow Rhino on Twitter @jimreineking.
Being Amos Alonzo Stagg
“All football comes from Stagg.” — Legendary Notre Dame coach Knute Rockne on Amos Alonzo Stagg.
All anybody you run into on the streets or follow on the Twitter these days is talking about is the re-re-re-re-re-match in the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl between the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater — defending champions, winners of two of the last three Stagg Bowls — and Mount Union College — 10-time winners of the NCAA Division III championship.
For example, take this morning, when I went to the local Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, ordered up a peppermint mocha latte, and overheard somebody ponder the following Stagg Bowl dilemma: “I’m not sure how U Dub-Dub can stop Cecil Shorts.” (Video highlights)
On the drive to work, sports talk radio posed the question, “Can the mighty Warhawks repeat?”
At work, banter around the watercooler focused on the big bowl game (and only bowl in which the two competing teams went through a grueling playoff for the right to participate) that unofficially kicks off the college football bowl season on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. PT on ESPN the U.
It’s great that America has really taken to this game.
Lost in the hoopla is the game’s namesake, Amos Alonzo Stagg.
Mention the game’s name to anybody and the first reaction is, “the what bowl?”
“Stagg?”
“LOL!”
Who was Amos Alonzo Stagg?
Arguably the most important individual in the history of American sport. That is truth.
Check out the long list of Stagg’s innovations that athletes and sports fans take for granted today (not in chronological order):
Amos Alonzo Stagg with his University of Chicago team.
Awarding varsity letters.
The huddle.
Helmets.
Names on the back of player jerseys.
The tackling dummy.
The reverse.
The lateral pass.
The man in motion.
The Statue of Liberty play.
For good measure, Stagg also created a little something called the baseball batting cage.
If that’s not enough, Stagg scored the lone basket for the losing side in the very first public game of basketball (final score, 5-1), played in front of a crowd of 200 people in Springfield, Mass.
That set of accomplishments made Stagg a charter member of both the College Football and Basketball Hall of Fames.
Stagg made those innovations a necessary part of the modern game during more than 50 years as a college football coach, most of which at the University of Chicago (1892–1932), which was a member of the Big Ten at the time (and a seven-time conference champion and two-time national champion under Stagg’s careful watch).
If that’s not enough, Stagg’s name was also attached to the University of Chicago’s home football stadium, under which on Dec. 2, 1942 a team of Manhattan Project scientists created the first controlled, self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction, which had a bit of a hand in altering human history.
Great tidbit on Garcon
Gery Woelfel of the Journal Times of Racine, Wis. brought up a good point regarding Indianapolis Colts WR Pierre Garcon, writing: “You may have noticed Colts receiver Pierre Garcon caught 11 passes for 151 yards and one touchdown in the Colts’ 30-17 victory over the New York Jets in the AFC championship game Sunday.
“That’s the same Garcon who caught just four passes for 30 yards in Mount Union’s 31-21 loss to UW-Whitewater in the 2007 NCAA Division III national championship.”
U Dub Dub wins Stagg Bowl!
Just wanted to give a major shout out to the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater football team for winning a second Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl in two years, defeating Mount Union 38-28 in the snow in Salem, Va.
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- Photos: Warhawks win Stagg Bowl (from Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
This week's college football picks: Road to Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl begins this weekend
“If you’ve got a bunch of teams who play throughout the season, and many of them have one loss or two losses, there’s no clear decisive winner. We should be creating a playoff system.” — President-elect Barack Obama, on a need for a major college football playoff system.
Unlike the antiquated bowl system that is set up in D-IA (or the Football Bowl Subdivision, as it’s now known), all other divisions of college football decide a true champion via a playoff system. While the Division II playoffs are already under way, the D-III playoffs kick off this weekend.
One such matchup of note has the defending Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl champions from Wisconsin-Whitewater — who pulled off an upset for the ages in last year’s D-III championship game — hosting the Johnnies of St. John’s at Perkins Stadium. This is the same St. John’s coached by legendary John Gagliardi, a College Football Hall of Fame member who is known for his unorthodox methods of coaching football players (no calisthenics, tackling, whistles, swearing, spitting, eye gouging, or crusty bobs at practice).
With the national phenomenon that is the tremendous march to the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl in mind, let’s make some picks in some college football games …
No. 5 Wisconsin-Whitewater over St. John’s
No. 7 Utah over No. 14 Brigham Young
No. 8 Penn State over No. 15 Michigan State
No. 10 Ohio State over Michigan
No. 20 Pittsburgh over No. 19 Cincinnati
Upset pick of the week: No. 5 Oklahoma over No. 5 Texas Tech. This game is being played in Norman, Okla., which is the deciding factor here. It’d be fun to see the high-scoring Red Raiders playing for a national title against the potent Gators (Greatest Pro Bowls of all time, and other stuff‘s other national title game pick), but it’s just not going to happen. Greatest Pro Bowls of all time, and other stuff repeats: It’s not going to happen 
And our totally random college football pick of the week: No. 15 Occidental over No. 10 Willamette in the D-III playoffs. There are specific reasons why Greatest Pro Bowls of all time, and other stuff is rooting for Occidental here, and those reasons may and/or may not be disclosed next week in this space. Thanks for your understanding!
Last week’s record: 6-0
Overall record: 53-31
Happenings
- My ‘Tecmo Super Bowl’ player power rankings1. Bo Jackson 2. Christian Okoye 3. Bob Nelson 4. QB Eagles 5. David FulcherRHINO
- iPhone panorama: KROQ Weenie Roast RHINO
