The Division 2 football thread

[GhostofDanJones 336]

The D2 national championship playoffs are underway. Round 1 is in the books as round 2 starts Saturday. A few teams to keep an eye on are definitely Slippery Rock, CSU-Pueblo, Tarleton, Minnesota State-Mankato and Ferris State. 

I also see that Texas A&M-Commerce, the defending national champ, is still in. However, how do the regionals work in seeding? Example, I see that Texas A&M-Commerce and Tarleton, 2 Texas schools, are playing each other, yet Tarleton previously hosted a school from California while TAMUC had to play a team in Minnesota. To sum it up, why didn't the Texas schools face each other first? 

Can anyone explain how the playoffs work? 

https://www.ncaa.com/brackets/football/d2/2018

 

Edited November 21, 2018 by GhostofDanJones

[Longboard Horn 40172]

OP, here’s how it works:

Each super region has 7 teams (28 total teams), top seed in each region gets first round bye, 2 vs 7, 3 vs 6, 4 vs 5, and higher seed hosts through region final. When you get to national semifinals, they reseed, based on last 4 teams, strength of schedule, overall record, etc., then the top 2 seeds host the semifinals before moving to National Championship game (in McKinney this year).

The National title used to be played in Kansas City, KS at Children’s Mercy Park where Sporting KC plays soccer. However, the stadium is being reconstructed so the NCAA moved the championship game to the new massive Mckinney ISD Stadium for this season.

Here are the schools in each region

[ocugolf 1211]

Commerce is good. Probably not as good as last year. Pueblo beat them earlier this year, so a rematch in the regional finals would be interesting.

Ferris State’s QB is probably going to win the Harlan Hill (D2 Heisman). So, they are definitely going to be a tough out.

Ouachita Baptist never gave up more than 21 this year and only gave up that many twice. One of those they were up 51-7 in the third, so their defense has to be legit. 

[ImissWallyPryor 9045]

CSU-Pueblo ain't doing shit.  There, I said it.

[Longboard Horn 40172]

6 hours ago, ocugolf said:

Commerce is good. Probably not as good as last year. Pueblo beat them earlier this year, so a rematch in the regional finals would be interesting.

Ferris State’s QB is probably going to win the Harlan Hill (D2 Heisman). So, they are definitely going to be a tough out.

Ouachita Baptist never gave up more than 21 this year and only gave up that many twice. One of those they were up 51-7 in the third, so their defense has to be legit. 

Commerce has to get past Tarleton, which I’m sure they could do. I want that rematch with CSU-Pueblo because we did not play very well at all. 

But yes, Ouachita Baptist is expected to win the national championship this year.

[Parliament 14149]

I see there's a Notre Dame I can actually cheer for.

[Beau Vine 54018]

6 hours ago, ImissWallyPryor said:

CSU-Pueblo ain't doing shit.  There, I said it.

They definitely did shit last week.  Their defense is legit.

[Nueces River Rat 5531]

One of my Alma maters is Texas A&I which is now TAMUK.  We've really become a shit show the last  eight years,  but I still keep up with things down there as well as the LSC.  I miss those Johnny Bailey, Health Sherman, John Randle days.  In the mid 90's, we made the national championship and four of the five starting  O-linemen on that team eventually strapped it up in the NFL as starters on their respective teams.  Things went to shit around 2012  and I mean toilet bowl clogging type of shit too.  

 

Tarleton is a beast and I would look for them to be in the national title game in a few weeks.     Commerce is not as dominant as they were last year, but it should be a good match up in Stephenville  on Saturday.    Tarleton had been down for a few years, but they brought  back their former coach who went to Sam Houston for a few seasons who had built Tarleton into a respectable program during the 2000's.  

[bschoolprof 6233]

There is absolutely no way to have more than 4 teams in a college football playoff.  How would it even work?  

[Nueces River Rat 5531]

9 hours ago, GhostofDanJones said:

The D2 national championship playoffs are underway. Round 1 is in the books as round 2 starts Saturday. A few teams to keep an eye on are definitely Slippery Rock, CSU-Pueblo, Tarleton, Minnesota State-Mankato and Ferris State. 

I also see that Texas A&M-Commerce, the defending national champ, is still in. However, how do the regionals work in seeding? Example, I see that Texas A&M-Commerce and Tarleton, 2 Texas schools, are playing each other, yet Tarleton previously hosted a school from California while TAMUC had to play a team in Minnesota. To sum it up, why didn't the Texas schools face each other first? 

Can anyone explain how the playoffs work? 

https://www.ncaa.com/brackets/football/d2/2018

 

They have a committee in each region who selects the top seven.  Some of their decisions are really questionable and some teams get left out like Midwestern State who got the shaft this year.   In their place was Azusa Pacific who got in based on earned access and other variables and went into Tarleton and got 59 points dumped on them along with members of the crowd being invited to play in the 4th qtr.   

The last few seasons it's become more of a feel good, let's include some shitty teams with good records in the playoffs so we can be inclusive  type of non sense.   They discourage teams from playing tougher non conference schedules for one.  Used to be many of the LSC teams would play SLC schools and not so much anymore unless they can't find a D2 opponent.  

[ImissWallyPryor 9045]

2 hours ago, Beau Vine said:

They definitely did shit last week.  Their defense is legit.

They have D-1 size in the trenches and a RB who is big and fast, I’ll give them that. 

[ImissWallyPryor 9045]

2 hours ago, bschoolprof said:

There is absolutely no way to have more than 4 teams in a college football playoff.  How would it even work?  

Having more than 4 teams is what makes it so damn confusing.  That would never work in the FCS, much less FBS or NFL. THATS CRAZY TALK. 

[Longboard Horn 40172]

4 hours ago, Nueces River Rat said:

One of my Alma maters is Texas A&I which is now TAMUK.  We've really become a shit show the last  eight years,  but I still keep up with things down there as well as the LSC.  I miss those Johnny Bailey, Health Sherman, John Randle days.  In the mid 90's, we made the national championship and four of the five starting  O-linemen on that team eventually strapped it up in the NFL as starters on their respective teams.  Things went to shit around 2012  and I mean toilet bowl clogging type of shit too.  

 

Tarleton is a beast and I would look for them to be in the national title game in a few weeks.     Commerce is not as dominant as they were last year, but it should be a good match up in Stephenville  on Saturday.    Tarleton had been down for a few years, but they brought  back their former coach who went to Sam Houston for a few seasons who had built Tarleton into a respectable program during the 2000's.  

As someone who is a Texas A&M-Commerce grad, I’ll admit that I like playing you guys, especially in football. I’m shocked that we’ve beaten y’all 7 times in a row now for the Chennault Cup. Honestly, y’all should have beaten us this year. We got lucky. 

[Longboard Horn 40172]

4 hours ago, bschoolprof said:

There is absolutely no way to have more than 4 teams in a college football playoff.  How would it even work?  

 

2 hours ago, ImissWallyPryor said:

Having more than 4 teams is what makes it so damn confusing.  That would never work in the FCS, much less FBS or NFL. THATS CRAZY TALK. 

I always love to tell people who believe the FBS has it figured out, “oh, you have a 4 team playoff? That’s cute. We have 5 fucking rounds!”

[GhostofDanJones 336]

@Nueces River Rat @ocugolf @Longboard Horn since you guys all went to D2 schools, would you mind telling me a little about your schools?

[Nueces River Rat 5531]

[mention=3804]Nueces River Rat[/mention] [mention=1783]ocugolf[/mention] [mention=678]Longboard Horn[/mention] since you guys all went to D2 schools, would you mind telling me a little about your schools?

TAMUK or Texas A&I when I attended is better known for its engineering and Ag programs. The school took a hit with attendance and endowments in the mid 90’s when the mothership was forced by the State legislature to change the name. No one but a select group of politicians what the name changes. In the last 10 years, the school has come back to life. Lots of new construction on campus and the enrollment is pushing 10k. They lost focus on the football program. They are way behind facility wise. A number of 4a and higher classification high schools have better facilities. It hurts recruiting.

[Nueces River Rat 5531]

As someone who is a Texas A&M-Commerce grad, I’ll admit that I like playing you guys, especially in football. I’m shocked that we’ve beaten y’all 7 times in a row now for the Chennault Cup. Honestly, y’all should have beaten us this year. We got lucky. 

Yea we let that game get away and most of us thought keeping it close and almost winning would of translated to better season. Nope. 4-7.

Back in the day we had some classic games with ETSU. The head coach for ETSU spoke his mind and often had to eat crow!

You guys as well as Tarleton, Angelo and West Texas have done what you needed to do to remain competitive. Our AD and Pres lost focus and let our facilities go to crap. The stadium and support buildings look the same as it did back in the 80’s., save for new turf and track. They kept on saying history would get us through. Some of us were trying to tell them, kids today like bling more than history. So here we sit today while Tarleton has spent $30 million on a massive stadium renovation, West Texas is building a new one. Angelo has a new one and so on.

TAMUK has a new AD and President who just took office. He’s from the Mothership and was the Interim President when Aggy decided to rebuild Kyle Field and spend on other facilities. Hopefully he’ll put the same focus on Javelina football.

[Nueces River Rat 5531]

BTW. For you all that may not know. Tarleton is part of the A&M system. So if they win the ‘ship in football, some of the Aggy nation will try to take credit for another national championship like they did when Commerce won. Lol.

[ETHorn 15]

Played at ET (Commerce).  Played against Bailey, Sherman, Randle, etc.  Beat their asses 3 out 4 years.  If ET had a little more offense they would go back to back.  Defense is legit.  If they can get by Tarleton they may do it again, but TSU is tough. 

[Longboard Horn 40172]

Tarleton State shocked everyone this season

[Beau Vine 54018]

I really hate the TAMUC and TAMUK name changes.  If they were going to add A&M, they should have done like WTAMU and gone with East Texas A&M and South Texas A&M.   (And just in case it's not clear, I hated all of the name changes.)

"Texas A&M Commerce" sounds like one of those business colleges that operates out random strip malls.  

 

[Longboard Horn 40172]

2 minutes ago, Beau Vine said:

I really hate the TAMUC and TAMUK name changes.  If they were going to add A&M, they should have done like WTAMU and gone with East Texas A&M and South Texas A&M.   (And just in case it's not clear, I hated all of the name changes.)

"Texas A&M Commerce" sounds like one of those business colleges that operates out random strip malls.  

 

Lol fair enough. When we joined The A&M system we had a chance to name our school East Texas A&M. The reason why our school is named A&M Commerce is because the president at that time wanted the school to be more associated with the town and also so that people would know where it was located.

[Beau Vine 54018]

1 minute ago, Longboard Horn said:

Lol fair enough. When we joined The A&M system we had a chance to name our school East Texas A&M. The reason why our school is named A&M Commerce is because the president at that time wanted the school to be more associated with the town and also so that people would know where it was located.

That's the same thing SWT did, except backwards -- the town really wanted San Marcos in the name.  

[Helobious 9490]

7 hours ago, Nueces River Rat said:

One of my Alma maters is Texas A&I which is now TAMUK.  We've really become a shit show the last  eight years,  but I still keep up with things down there as well as the LSC.  I miss those Johnny Bailey, Health Sherman, John Randle days.  In the mid 90's, we made the national championship and four of the five starting  O-linemen on that team eventually strapped it up in the NFL as starters on their respective teams.  Things went to shit around 2012  and I mean toilet bowl clogging type of shit too.  

Have some family from Kingsville, and 3 relatives graduated from TAMUK. The town sucks but my god those Texicali sandwiches from Young's... pure deliciousness. Definitely one of the best small town restaurants in the state. 

[Nueces River Rat 5531]

19 minutes ago, Beau Vine said:

That's the same thing SWT did, except backwards -- the town really wanted San Marcos in the name.  

The thing with SWT is it was never in what is considered the southwest part of the state.  That is Del Rio, Eagle Pass.....  San Marcos is south central Texas, almost central.  

[hpslugga 4050]

7 hours ago, Nueces River Rat said:

They have a committee in each region who selects the top seven.  Some of their decisions are really questionable and some teams get left out like Midwestern State who got the shaft this year.  

That Commerce game was a portent of really ugly shit that waited down the road for them.

[Nueces River Rat 5531]

2 minutes ago, Helobious said:

Have some family from Kingsville, and 3 relatives graduated from TAMUK. The town sucks but my god those Texicali sandwiches from Young's... pure deliciousness. Definitely one of the best small town restaurants in the state. 

Oh hell yes!   I miss those big time.  

The town is what it is, but it got me through one of my degrees which might not of happened if I went big time right out of the gate.   Good memories there and I met my wife  there, so it did me good.

[ETHorn 15]

1 hour ago, Longboard Horn said:

Lol fair enough. When we joined The A&M system we had a chance to name our school East Texas A&M. The reason why our school is named A&M Commerce is because the president at that time wanted the school to be more associated with the town and also so that people would know where it was located.

Jerry Morris was a friend of mine.  East Texas A&M was the overwhelming favorite.  The jackasses in CS made the decision to name it TAMU-C.  Always ETSU to me.  

[ztejas 43287]

Interesting thread. Have a buddy playing roundball at Commerce right now. Haven't asked him much about it but he's an hour away now which is nice. Apparently a lot of the kids there are aggy fans. He came to the TX/OU game with me and bought a Longhorn hat while there. He's one of the good ones.

His dad was on the waterski team at SWT - believe it or not.

[ocugolf 1211]

5 hours ago, GhostofDanJones said:

@Nueces River Rat @ocugolf @Longboard Horn since you guys all went to D2 schools, would you mind telling me a little about your schools?

Lol. Not me. Wife does NCAA compliance for a D2 conference. 

[Nueces River Rat 5531]

5 hours ago, Beau Vine said:

I really hate the TAMUC and TAMUK name changes.  If they were going to add A&M, they should have done like WTAMU and gone with East Texas A&M and South Texas A&M.   (And just in case it's not clear, I hated all of the name changes.)

"Texas A&M Commerce" sounds like one of those business colleges that operates out random strip malls.  

 

 

I hated the name change and still do to this day.  It was pushed through during special session of the legislature dealing with school funding during the summer of 92 or 93.  They did the heavy work between summer and fall terms when most of the students were gone and resistance would be very little.  

 A couple of years ago, John Sharp proposed merging both TAMUK and A&M Corpus Christi which might have resulted in a new  name to identify it with the region.   Similar to what the UT System did with UT Pan American in Edinburg and UT Brownsville with the new name being UT-RGV.  It might still be in the cards from what I understand because the A&M system doesn't want to ignored with funding and the attention being focused on a 30,000 student campus to the north being UTSA and 20,000 student combined campus to the south in UT-RGV.  If A&M-CC and TAMUK are combined, that would be a 25,000 or so campus.  The first attempt to this a couple of years ago didn't  sit well with the communities because much  of the planning was done in off the record meetings.  When the media got word of it, suddenly some of the people who  were for it  sang a much different tune.  Some of the establishment  money people didn't like and these people flipped  in a minute.  

The plans were to keep football in Kingsville and the Javelina mascot and a move to FCS for football, probably the Southland and with that a new stadium and facilities.   I don't know how some of the other sports would have been split.  My guess, basketball would have been based in Corpus along with Volleyball.  They talked about taking over a now hardly used minor league baseball stadium in Robstown for baseball.  It's actually a nice little venue, but the idiots who ran the county back then thought Nolan Ryan would balk at bringing the Hooks to Corpus and the building of Whataburger Field.    The Ryans honored their promise and Corpus has a very nice ballpark and team on the ship channel.  

[Beau Vine 54018]

^^^^^^

That's an amazing plan of idiocy.

 

[Nueces River Rat 5531]

17 minutes ago, Beau Vine said:

^^^^^^

That's an amazing plan of idiocy.

 

Pretty much.  But that was the plan and I glad it blew up when it did. 

[Longboard Horn 40172]

5 hours ago, ztejas said:

Interesting thread. Have a buddy playing roundball at Commerce right now. Haven't asked him much about it but he's an hour away now which is nice. Apparently a lot of the kids there are aggy fans. He came to the TX/OU game with me and bought a Longhorn hat while there. He's one of the good ones.

His dad was on the waterski team at SWT - believe it or not.

When I was attending, we had a few aggy and TCU fans and good amount of UT fans. 

Joe Bergeron had also transferred there when I was there. However, he got into trouble early into his one season with the Lions. I believe it was because he went all Joe Mixon on some sorority girl at a frat party.

Edited November 22, 2018 by Longboard Horn

[Longboard Horn 40172]

8 hours ago, GhostofDanJones said:

@Nueces River Rat @ocugolf @Longboard Horn since you guys all went to D2 schools, would you mind telling me a little about your schools?

I'll tell you about A&M Commerce. Let's get the bad out of the way. The one bad thing is that we're in the A&M system. Also, it seems like John Sharp and all those other cock suckers are trying to receive aid for Jimbo’s contract because I keep receiving “donate now” emails from the alumni association. 

Now the good: We are formally known as East Texas State University and most of our alumni still refer to the school as ETSU. Even for Homecoming and Senior day we wear our old ETSU uniforms. We definitely are NOT anything like aggy. True fact, most of our alumni, especially the ones that graduated when it was ETSU will fight you for calling them aggies. We are Lions. True story, a few of the older alumni I spoke with told me about receiving emails asking if they wanted to change their diplomas from ETSU to A&M Commerce. Their response, "I didn't go to A&M Commerce, I went to ETSU." 

The university first opened its doors as East Texas Normal College in Cooper, Texas, but when the site was destroyed by fire in 1894, the university moved to its present day location. When the state of Texas purchased the campus in 1917, the name changed to East Texas State Normal College. Then in 1923, the school was renamed East Texas State Teachers College. Graduate education entered the curriculum in 1935, so in 1957 the state legislature, recognizing that the university had broadened from teacher education alone, changed the name again to East Texas State College. Following the inauguration of the first doctoral program in 1962, the name changed once more to East Texas State University in 1965. The name changed to Texas A&M University-Commerce in 1996, when the university joined the Texas A&M system. My guess is that we joined to receive better funding, publicity, etc. However, we are the second largest school in the A&M system with about 12-13,000 students.

Most of our alumni are teachers and educators and our student body is mainly made up of kids from East Texas (especially from the towns of Greenville, Commerce, Royse City, Sulphur Springs and Paris), DFW, and northeastern Louisiana. After they graduate, most of them (I've noticed) move back to DFW, or somewhere out in East Texas.

For sports wise, unlike aggy, we actually have recognized national championships for football (they only have 1, we have 2). Winning in 2017 was our first NCAA title. Our 1972 title was when we were a member of the NAIA, but it IS RECOGNIZED by the NCAA. We used to be terrible at football until Colby Carthel took over as head coach in 2013 and took our program who finished 1-9 the previous season to 7-5, then won the conference 3 straight years before finally winning the natty in 2017 with a 4th consecutive 10 win season. When it comes to football, Tarleton State, West Texas A&M, and Texas A&M Kingsville consider us rivals because we're in the A&M system, but our biggest rival over the decade has been Midwestern State. Over the last 5 seasons, it always comes down to our game against them for deciding the conference champion.

 Our rodeo, volleyball and basketball teams are usually forces to be reckoned with and we have the number 1 start up softball program in Division 2 history. Our athletics department is committed to providing the Best in Class student-athlete experience and we take that seriously.

 Since Carthel took over in 2013, we always  sing “Turn Out the Lights” by Willie Nelson

We are Lions, We are Champions. Who are we? The ones that fight for old ET!

[Rholl 217]

Fyi Tarleton and Commerce have already played once this yr.... 47-21 Tarleton

[Longboard Horn 40172]

4 minutes ago, Rholl said:

Fyi Tarleton and Commerce have already played once this yr.... 47-21 Tarleton

I’m looking forward to Saturday. Rematch!

[ztejas 43287]

11 minutes ago, Longboard Horn said:

I'll tell you about A&M Commerce. Let's get the bad out of the way. The one bad thing is that we're in the A&M system. Also, it seems like John Sharp and all those other cock suckers are trying to receive aid for Jimbo’s contract because I keep receiving “donate now” emails from the alumni association. 

Now the good: We are formally known as East Texas State University and most of our alumni still refer to the school as ETSU. Even for Homecoming and Senior day we wear our old ETSU uniforms. We definitely are NOT anything like aggy. True fact, most of our alumni, especially the ones that graduated when it was ETSU will fight you for calling them aggies. We are Lions. True story, a few of the older alumni I spoke with told me about receiving emails asking if they wanted to change their diplomas from ETSU to A&M Commerce. Their response, "I didn't go to A&M Commerce, I went to ETSU." 

The university first opened its doors as East Texas Normal College in Cooper, Texas, but when the site was destroyed by fire in 1894, the university moved to its present day location. When the state of Texas purchased the campus in 1917, the name changed to East Texas State Normal College. Then in 1923, the school was renamed East Texas State Teachers College. Graduate education entered the curriculum in 1935, so in 1957 the state legislature, recognizing that the university had broadened from teacher education alone, changed the name again to East Texas State College. Following the inauguration of the first doctoral program in 1962, the name changed once more to East Texas State University in 1965. The name changed to Texas A&M University-Commerce in 1996, when the university joined the Texas A&M system. My guess is that we joined to receive better funding, publicity, etc. However, we are the second largest school in the A&M system with about 12-13,000 students.

Most of our alumni are teachers and educators and our student body is mainly made up of kids from East Texas (especially from the towns of Greenville, Commerce, Royse City, Sulphur Springs and Paris), DFW, and northeastern Louisiana. After they graduate, most of them (I've noticed) move back to DFW, or somewhere out in East Texas.

For sports wise, unlike aggy, we actually have recognized national championships for football (they only have 1, we have 2). Winning in 2017 was our first NCAA title. Our 1972 title was when we were a member of the NAIA, but it IS RECOGNIZED by the NCAA. We used to be terrible at football until Colby Carthel took over as head coach in 2013 and took our program who finished 1-9 the previous season to 7-5, then won the conference 3 straight years before finally winning the natty in 2017 with a 4th consecutive 10 win season. When it comes to football, Tarleton State, West Texas A&M, and Texas A&M Kingsville consider us rivals because we're in the A&M system, but our biggest rival over the decade has been Midwestern State. Over the last 5 seasons, it always comes down to our game against them for deciding the conference champion.

 Our rodeo, volleyball and basketball teams are usually forces to be reckoned with and we have the number 1 start up softball program in Division 2 history. Our athletics department is committed to providing the Best in Class student-athlete experience and we take that seriously.

 Since Carthel took over in 2013, we always  sing “Turn Out the Lights” by Willie Nelson

We are Lions, We are Champions. Who are we? The ones that fight for old ET!

Minor correction because you piqued my interest - Tarleton State is actually bigger than you enrollment wise and you are closely followed by atm Corpus Christi.

You're all within a couple hundred students of each other, though.

[Longboard Horn 40172]

4 minutes ago, ztejas said:

Minor correction because you piqued my interest - Tarleton State is actually bigger than you enrollment wise and you are closely followed by atm Corpus Christi.

You're all within a couple hundred students of each other, though.

Thanks for letting me know. Didn’t realize that they passed us in enrollment.

[ETHorn 15]

34 minutes ago, Longboard Horn said:

I'll tell you about A&M Commerce. Let's get the bad out of the way. The one bad thing is that we're in the A&M system. Also, it seems like John Sharp and all those other cock suckers are trying to receive aid for Jimbo’s contract because I keep receiving “donate now” emails from the alumni association. 

Now the good: We are formally known as East Texas State University and most of our alumni still refer to the school as ETSU. Even for Homecoming and Senior day we wear our old ETSU uniforms. We definitely are NOT anything like aggy. True fact, most of our alumni, especially the ones that graduated when it was ETSU will fight you for calling them aggies. We are Lions. True story, a few of the older alumni I spoke with told me about receiving emails asking if they wanted to change their diplomas from ETSU to A&M Commerce. Their response, "I didn't go to A&M Commerce, I went to ETSU." 

The university first opened its doors as East Texas Normal College in Cooper, Texas, but when the site was destroyed by fire in 1894, the university moved to its present day location. When the state of Texas purchased the campus in 1917, the name changed to East Texas State Normal College. Then in 1923, the school was renamed East Texas State Teachers College. Graduate education entered the curriculum in 1935, so in 1957 the state legislature, recognizing that the university had broadened from teacher education alone, changed the name again to East Texas State College. Following the inauguration of the first doctoral program in 1962, the name changed once more to East Texas State University in 1965. The name changed to Texas A&M University-Commerce in 1996, when the university joined the Texas A&M system. My guess is that we joined to receive better funding, publicity, etc. However, we are the second largest school in the A&M system with about 12-13,000 students.

Most of our alumni are teachers and educators and our student body is mainly made up of kids from East Texas (especially from the towns of Greenville, Commerce, Royse City, Sulphur Springs and Paris), DFW, and northeastern Louisiana. After they graduate, most of them (I've noticed) move back to DFW, or somewhere out in East Texas.

For sports wise, unlike aggy, we actually have recognized national championships for football (they only have 1, we have 2). Winning in 2017 was our first NCAA title. Our 1972 title was when we were a member of the NAIA, but it IS RECOGNIZED by the NCAA. We used to be terrible at football until Colby Carthel took over as head coach in 2013 and took our program who finished 1-9 the previous season to 7-5, then won the conference 3 straight years before finally winning the natty in 2017 with a 4th consecutive 10 win season. When it comes to football, Tarleton State, West Texas A&M, and Texas A&M Kingsville consider us rivals because we're in the A&M system, but our biggest rival over the decade has been Midwestern State. Over the last 5 seasons, it always comes down to our game against them for deciding the conference champion.

 Our rodeo, volleyball and basketball teams are usually forces to be reckoned with and we have the number 1 start up softball program in Division 2 history. Our athletics department is committed to providing the Best in Class student-athlete experience and we take that seriously.

 Since Carthel took over in 2013, we always  sing “Turn Out the Lights” by Willie Nelson

We are Lions, We are Champions. Who are we? The ones that fight for old ET!

After wins we sing "When the Roll is Called up Yonder", not Turn Out the Lights...one of the best traditions in college football.  Carthel did not start that.  It has been going on since Ernest Hawkins.

[Longboard Horn 40172]

22 minutes ago, ETHorn said:

After wins we sing "When the Roll is Called up Yonder", not Turn Out the Lights...one of the best traditions in college football.  Carthel did not start that.  It has been going on since Ernest Hawkins.

Yes Ernest Hawkins started that tradition. We recently renamed the stadium Ernest Hawkins Field at Memorial Stadium.

And yes we play Turn Out the Lights after we win at home.

[ETHorn 15]

We definitely have some things in common.  Played 88-91.  LCF donor.  Win this weekend and it's on.  

[Beau Vine 54018]

Tarleton beat Commerce 34-28.  

Wasn't actually that close... Rushing yards = 350 to -2 for Tarleton.  

Mankato beat Pueblo 24-10, so Tarleton will play in Minnesota next week.

[Longboard Horn 40172]

7 hours ago, Beau Vine said:

Tarleton beat Commerce 34-28.  

Wasn't actually that close... Rushing yards = 350 to -2 for Tarleton.  

Mankato beat Pueblo 24-10, so Tarleton will play in Minnesota next week.

Mankato is going in dry on Tarleton next week. Wouldn't be surprised if they put up 50

[Longboard Horn 40172]

On 11/21/2018 at 6:54 PM, ocugolf said:

Lol. Not me. Wife does NCAA compliance for a D2 conference. 

Which conference? Heartland? GAC?

[Beau Vine 54018]

Thorough analytical preview of the Tarleton-MSU game by EDSBS:

https://www.everydayshouldbesaturday.com/2018/11/27/18113768/d2sday-presents-the-2lite-eight

[ocugolf 1211]

Wish I could make it did to Arkadelphia for Ouachita vs Ferris. That’s gonna be a good game.

[Mileslong 4718]

Where is UCF seeded?

[Longboard Horn 40172]

1 hour ago, Mileslong said:

Where is UCF seeded?

In that "other bracket" lulz

[Mileslong 4718]

In that "other bracket" lulz

I know, I was being a smartass