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The Ohio Athletic Conference was considered a lock. The Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference was bestowed near-lock status, with the Middle Atlantic Conference was right behind. Even the Old Dominion Athletic Conference was considered a good candidate, considering they had two teams coming off of 10-0 regular seasons.
Throw in the Iowa and Minnesota talk and the Centennial was probably pretty far from people's minds. After all, the conference never had two teams in the field under the old system and hadn't won an NCAA playoff game since 1985.
Nonetheless, Ursinus has a good shot at becoming one of the first Pool C bids in Division III football history. But head coach Paul Guenther isn't ready to look ahead just yet.
"We have to win this weekend, Dickinson is a good team and it's always been a good rivalry for us. We have to get by that first." Dickinson (6-3) has already ruined one team's playoff hopes, beating Carnegie Mellon 7-3 in Week 5.
Picked sixth in the eight-team conference in the preseason coaches' poll, the Bears weren't given much chance to get this far. And with only seven starters returning from a 3-7 squad in 1998, that was probably a fair assessment. But a new offensive coordinator and a new wide-open offense have fueled a quick turnaround.
"I'm happy for our kids and our staff that we're here at this point. It's always been that way, the later in the year you lose the worse it looks. If we win Saturday it will be seven straight. We just want to get in and have a chance."
But while this has been a breakout season for the Bears, it's not their first trip to the playoffs. In fact, three starters are still around from the 1996 team that finished 9-1 before losing 14-0 to Lycoming in the first round.
Frank Vecchio leads this offense, a 56% passer for more than 2,400 yards and 19 touchdowns. Joe Nangle, who was a fullback on that 1996 team, is one of four players averaging two catches or more per game and Kory Stauffer and Stephen Sharkey have combined to catch 13 touchdowns. Shearrod Duncan and Brian DeGiosio each average more than 50 yards per game.
The Bears' only blemish is a 36-15 loss at Western Maryland on Sept. 25. That was the team's turning point. "Knowing we have a young team, we're playing well late in the game and on the 8-yard line going in for the tying score. We've been in every situation -- behind, in a blowout, in overtime."
D3fotball.com is projecting Ursinus to go to the East Bracket and play a road game should they win at Dickinson on Saturday. We shall see if the committee agrees.