Even with a perfect 9-0 record this season, 21 straight regular season victories over the last two-plus years and three consecutive Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Association (SCIAC) championships, the University of La Verne Leopards football team is not going to the NCAA Division III playoffs.
Instead, two teams that were undefeated, a team with two losses and a team that had one loss and one tie will represent the west region. This makes it seem as if the undefeated teams did not deserve to be selected.
La Verne, ranked fifth in the west region, needed a loss last week by one of the top four teams to receive a playoff bid. That did not happen and the Leopards are left sitting at home.
Although the Leos did everything they needed to do to make it to the playoffs, the NCAA selection committee chose to send four teams from the Midwest. What more can a team do than win all of its games and, for most of the season, outscore its opponents by an average of 35 points?
It is tough and unfair when a team works hard all season to make it to the post-season and then is told that, even though they had a perfect record all year, they will be sitting at home during the playoffs while two teams with worse records will be playing, because their schedules were considered “tougher.”
The selection committee is not supposed to look at past performances, but Leos Head Coach Don Morel told the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin on Monday that he is convinced they did.
“I think that’s in the back of their minds. I think the decision on the playoffs was made last year when [the schools from] Wisconsin [were] left out,” said Morel.
Last year, the Leos lost to St. John’s of Minnesota, 51-12, in the first round of the playoffs.
It also appears that the NCAA does not like teams from the west coast. It says that strength of schedule played a big part in its decision, but since none of the California teams play the Wisconsin or Minnesota teams during the regular season, it is hard to determine the strength of the schedule. When you rank all the schools in a few divisions, of course it looks like a tougher schedule whether it really is or not. Why was Chapman not ranked, or any other school in the west, which would have made ULV’s schedule tougher?
The University should not be expected to pay the expense of sending a team to Minnesota or Wisconsin just to be sure that the selection committee takes a look at a good football team. That is not what Division III is about.
“The football program is not about national playoffs and national championships. It’s about guys playing hard football and graduating and that’s all it’s ever been,” said Morel.
The Leos should be given the respect they earned on the field this year. Respect for doing what few other teams have been doing—winning all its games. They should be leaving today for the Midwest, but instead they will be spending this afternoon at a team barbeque.
Morel did a great job with the Leos in his first year as head coach. He led the team to another championship and he helped to make this the “best Leo football team ever.”
Too bad the NCAA did not see that. It was too busy keeping its mind on the Midwest and hoping that the University of La Verne would lose so it could justify its decision.
Well, they did not lose and the excuse that the selection process is not an “exact science,” is not what the Leos wanted to hear last Sunday.
The coaching staff and players are taking this decision well, but have all expressed disappointment. Morel summed it up when he said to the Campus Times, “If this is the worst thing that ever happens in my life, then I’ve lived a pretty good life.”
