D2football.com: Tony Nicolette's GLIAC Column

From Tony Nicolette's D2football.com GLIAC Column:

#9 Hillsdale (3-1, 4-1) at Ohio Dominican (0-4, 0-4)

It took a few weeks, but the Chargers have finally cracked the Top Ten of the D2Football.com Top 25 Poll ? and deservedly so, in my humble opinion. The Chargers and their lofty ranking will head to Columbus to take on an Ohio Dominican club that has managed only thirteen total points over the last couple of weeks. The Panthers will need to find a way to score a heck of a lot more than that if they plan on keeping up with a Hillsdale offense that is clipping along at 36 points per game.

Hillsdale Keys:

- A Nice cup of Joe - Charger running back Joe Glendening is leading the league in rushing by a wide margin, and he and his bruising offensive line will square off against the GLIAC's second-worst run defense. Sorry, Panther fans, but be ready to get beat up. Look for Joe the Show to rack up his yards and likely give way to his supporting cast in the second half.

- Plenty o' Blitzin' - Jeremy Fudge appears to have supplanted Billy Griffin atop the ODU quarterback depth chart. Fudge didn't make a ton of mistakes in his first collegiate start last week, but the Panthers didn't find a great deal of success either. If I'm Hillsdale, I make sure the game doesn't "slow down" for a second-time starter on my watch.
Ohio Dominican Keys:

- Don?t forget Troy - While it's a given that ODU needs to try and slow down the HC ground game, they can't fall asleep against Charger quarterback Troy Weatherhead either. The senior is completing north of 82% of his passes, and has the weapons to rip up any secondary in the league. Putting eight or nine in the box to stop Glendening is NOT a sure fire way to slow down the Hillsdale offense, and any thoughts to the contrary will quickly be proven wrong by the nation's most efficient quarterback.

- Don't hassle the Noff - Panther running back Mike Noffsinger is ODU's leading rusher, a solid pass-catcher, and has come up big more than once this year on special teams. The junior needs to keep rolling as a team leader and take some pressure off of the quarterback position that has had trouble producing results this year.
Prediction - The Chargers are a top flight club. The Panthers, on the other hand, are a young bunch that is learning about the rigors of D2 and the GLIAC. It's hard to see this one staying close for long, especially given how strong Hillsdale is on offense and how much the Panthers have struggled with slowing clubs down of late. Hillsdale 45, Ohio Dominican 10.

Read the whole column.

Week 6 Podcast: Don't Call me Mister

Troy Weatherhead, the nation's most efficient quarterback stops by to chat this week and I express my feelings toward this new divisional competition the GLIAC decided to roll out half way through the season. Spoiler alert: I'm not down with it.


Click to listen.

GLIAC Adds Divisional Play...Midway through the Season

With zero fanfare and oddly enough after 5 weeks of play, the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference decided to divide the 14 team league into North and South divisions and award 3 crowns each season...even this one. There will be GLIAC North and South divisional trophies and an overall champion.

The North Division:
GVSU
Saginaw Valley
Northern Michigan
Michigan Tech
Northwood
Ferris State
Indianapolis (I'll explain that in a second)

The South Division:
Hillsdale
Ashland
Wayne State
Findlay
Tiffin
Ohio Dominican
Lake Erie College

This is the same format for other sports like basketball and volleyball where divisional titles and races are contested.

For a long time GLIAC football has been set up this way. The format's only function though was establishing the scheduling rotation. In the current 10 game schedule, teams play all 6 division foes and 4 from the opposite division. Hillsdale misses Indianapolis, Northern Michigan, and Ferris State in league play for this year and the next...although the Bulldogs and Chargers keep their rivalry in tact by playing as week 1 non-conference opponents.

Why is Indianapolis in the North you may ask? Well, it has to do with the fact that since GLIAC member Lake Superior State does not play football that leaves a hole in the North division. UIndy plugs that hole as they are a football and swimming only member of the GLIAC and compete in the Great Lakes Valley for its other sports.

Here are head coach Keith Otterbein's comments as reported by MLive.com and Jackson Citizen Patriot's Mike Pryson today.

“I’ve been hoping that we would go that direction as a league,” Otterbein said. “But, this kind of caught me as a curve ball. It was one of those things that just kind of came out.

“I would like to see our league look at maybe going to a public division and a private division.”

In the meantime, instead of looking up at Grand Valley State in the GLIAC football race, Hillsdale is battling Wayne State for the first South Division trophy.

Otterbein said the two-division look, with seven teams in each division instead of one 14-team circuit, could make it easier for the league to expand.

“Walsh and Malone have been real adamant about trying to get into our league,” Otterbein said. “Urbana in Ohio has been trying to get in our league. So, there’s a potential for some more expansion.”

This year, the GLIAC added Lake Erie College and Ohio Dominican. Hillsdale’s football team travels to Columbus, Ohio, to play Ohio Dominican on Saturday.

“I think the face of our league over the next couple of years will continue to gradually shift and change until we get what’s best for us.”

There are no plans to have any sort of playoff between the two division winners, this year or in the foreseeable future.

“I don’t think you can,” Otterbein said. “I don’t think the playoff will ever happen, just with the timing of when the NCAA playoffs occur. The only way you could do it would be to leave the last date as to be determined. I don’t think that would ever happen.”

Thanks to Mike's article (whole thing here) or I wouldn't have known anything about this. In fact, there was a pretty good discussion going on over at the D2football.com board about potential division play.

Here are the current GLIAC standings (league games only) , broken down by the new divisional races as posted at the GLIAC site.


Be sure to tune into the Charger Comment podcast that is in the works and will be posted tomorrow to get my take on this.

From nowhere to 9th in the nation in 9 years

It was either in late 2001 or early 2002 when I eagerly googled up a listing of email addresses for the Ball State University football staff. I fired off a quick note to running backs coach and recruiting coordinator Keith Otterbein.

I asked the former Hillsdale linebacker, Hillsdale assistant, and Ferris State head coach if he had been contacted by Hillsdale College about the head coaching position recently vacated by Dave Dye. Otter responded "not yet" but that he sure would welcome the call.

At that point I crossed my fingers that Hillsdale would seize the obvious opportunity to bring home a proven Division II coach who had taken a Ferris State all of the way to the national semi-finals not too long ago.

Nine years later we Charger fans find ourselves cheering the number 9 ranked team in the country with Keith Otterbein at the helm.

I told Charger radio and tv announcer Dan Bisher this today, "Dave Dye (Otterbein's predecessor) is one of my favorite people ever associated with Hillsdale College but it hurt to see the program drop off. The rest is history with Otter and this is what we all hoped for, but deep down only half expected it."

When Coach Dye left there was talk fueled by a Collegian article that Hillsdale belonged in Division III. That conversation lingered on as Otterbein's first 3 teams went 3-5 for 3 straight years. Those like me who disagreed thought it was waving the white flag of surrender and argued that Charger football would be at an even deeper disadvantage without athletic scholarships. Those 36 grants-in-aid are the biggest equalizer in Division II. In Division III there are no athletic scholarships, but believe me when I say that those football players still get attractive financial aid packages. A lot of those are funded through federal loans and grants, money Hillsdale refuses.

The other argument was that Hillsdale was destined to be the Northwestern or Stanford of Division II and have a cute little overachieving season here or there but couldn't consistently be a top GLIAC team unless they lowered academic standards for athletes. Hillsdale has done just the opposite of lowering academic standards and coincidentally has also continued to improve on the football field.

Luckily for those of us either patient enough or crazy enough or whatever enough to believe that Otterbein could return Hillsdale to consistent prominence, the reward has been well worth the wait as we are seeing that actually happen.

With 2 more wins, Hillsdale will clinch its 4th consecutive winning season. No class has come to Hillsdale and had 4 consecutive winning seasons since the group that played during the 1992-1995 seasons. Incidentally, that 1992 group was the last team to be ranked in the top 10 before this one.

Last year I had the opportunity to hear Hillsdale College president Larry Arrn speak on two occasions, once at the Charger football banquet and once at a reception hosted by the college in Grand Rapids. At both events he beamed with pride over the recent triumphs the Hillsdale program was achieving both on and off the field. He talked about Hillsdale's fit in Division II and how it provides a balance between top-notch athletics and stressing the importance of being both a student and an athlete. He also said to never view balance as compromise. Hillsdale will not compromise either excellence on the field or in the classroom. It is Hillsdale's goal to be a great example of these principles to other athletic programs and institutions.

Somewhere back in the midst of the three 4-7 seasons and the following two 5-6 seasons, I asked Otter if he could win with these types of kids. His eyes lit up and with the most conviction I have ever seen he told me that he wouldn't want to do his job with any other kind.

"Sure," he said "It's a little harder to find the right kid that fits, but I am telling you we can do amazing things with bright kids that have a tremendous work ethic these guys. We'll get there."

Yep Coach, you have.

I am just bursting at the seams to see what else this guy, his staff, and one determined bunch of Chargers still have in store for us the rest of the way. It's only week 6 and we have a lot of football left to play.

Hillsdale cracks Football Coaches' Poll Top 10 at #9

For the first time since 1992, the Hillsdale College football program finds itself ranked in the Division II Top 10. The Chargers' 4-1 record and win over Saginaw Valley has secured them the number 9 ranking in this week's AFCA poll. Hillsdale moves up two spots from 11 a week ago.

AFCA Division II Top 25 (10/4)
1. Grand Valley State (21) (5-0)
2. Minnesota-Duluth (2) (5-0)
3. North Alabama (3) (5-0)
4. California (PA) (5-0)
5. Abilene Christian (5-0)
6. Northwest Missouri State (3-1)
7. West Texas A&M (4-1)
8. Midwestern State (5-0)
9. Hillsdale (4-1)
10. Texas A&M-Kingsville (4-1)
11. Albany State (5-0)
12. Central Missouri (5-1)
13. Delta State (4-1)
14. Nebraska-Kearney (4-1)
15. Augustana (5-0)
16. Morehouse (5-0)
17. Winston-Salem State (6-0)
18. Tuskegee (4-1)
19. Missouri Western State (4-1)
20. North Carolina-Pembroke (4-1)
21. Shepherd (5-0)
22. Valdosta State (4-1)
23. Tusculum (4-1)
24. Edinboro (4-1)
25. Colorado State-Pueblo (5-0)

Others Receiving Votes
Bloomsburg, Michigan Tech, Winona State, West Alabama, West Virginia Wesleyan, Colorado School of Mines, Wayne State (NE), Mars Hill, Kutztown, St. Cloud State, Humboldt State, Indiana (PA), Ouachita Baptist, Henderson State, St. Augustine's


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Hillsdale's Glendening is GLIAC Offensive Football Player of the Week

Hillsdale College Release:

Joe Glendening named GLIAC Offensive Player of the Week

Sophomore RB nets 3 TDs in Chargers' win

October 4, 2010 - After a game like what Hillsdale College's football team put together Saturday afternoon, it was tough to choose just one player for GLIAC Offensive Player of the Week honors. But it was sophomore RB Joe Glendening who took home the honors.

Glendening was named the winner of this week's award by the conference office Monday morning. It is the first time this season a Charger player has earned the conference offensive player of the week honor, but the second week in a row a Charger has won an award. Joe Vear was last week's GLIAC Defensive Player of the Week in the GLIAC.

Glendening ran the ball 32 times for 156 yards and three touchdowns to help the Chargers to a 35-21 win over Saginaw Valley State University. It was Hillsdale's first win over SVSU in 10 years, and Glendening's running played a key part in that landmark victory.

He averaged five yards per carry, and scored touchdowns in the first, third and fourth quarters of the game. His three touchdown runs gave him 11 for the season, which leads the conference. Glendening also leads the GLIAC in average rushing yards per game, gaining 28 more yards per game than any other running back in the GLIAC.

Glendening is in his first season starting, and played his prep football at East Grand Rapids High School.

Mlive.com: Man donates painting worth $1 million to Hillsdale College

Man donates painting worth $1 million to Hillsdale College

Published: Sunday, October 03, 2010, 7:43 AM Updated: Sunday, October 03, 2010, 12:13 PM

Danielle Quisenberry | Jackson Citizen Patriot

The 1844 painting of the signing of the Declaration of Independence by Edward Hicks.

Last summer, men from Hillsdale College came to John A. Meader's Summit Township home to see a painting the 85-year-old wished to give the college.

They had done this before, nicely discussing proposed donations that not always were as valuable or rare as suggested, and they were prepared to be polite.

What they found was unexpected.

"We were braced to be nice to Mr. Meader, and we got to be nice in a different way," said the College president, Larry P. Arnn, who was one of a handful of college representatives who went to see the artwork.

Hanging on an otherwise blank white wall in Meader's sparse apartment at John Ganton's Countryside Retirement Community, only a few feet from Meader's hospital-like bed, was an 1844 painting of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

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