Looking back: Cal Lutheran breezed through the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) schedule undefeated in 2010, finishing 6-0 in league play en route to earning an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III playoffs. The Kingsmen lost to Linfield, 42-26, in the first round.
Looking ahead: With a preseason ranking of No. 17 by d3football.com, as well as another ranking of 17th by the Sporting News, and a top 10 preseason ranking by Lindy's Sports, expect Cal Lutheran to be favored to win a third straight SCIAC title. Additionally, the SCIAC will welcome a ninth school into its mix, as Chapman University from Orange County, California joins the conference in time for the 2011-12 academic year, but will not play a full conference schedule.
Website: http://www.thesciac.org/
Predicted order of finish (2010 overall record in parentheses)
1. Cal Lutheran (8-2): The Kingsmen enter the 2011 season, their 50th, needing just 10 wins to reach the magic number of 300 victories in program history. That, of course, would mean they would have to potentially go through the entire regular season undefeated, (SCIAC play just nine regular season games), as well as win an NCAA Division III playoff game, something that hasn't been done in CLU history, at least not at the D-III level. In fact, the last time a Kingsmen squad has played 11 games in a season was in 1982, when, ironically, they lost to Linfield in the quarterfinals of the NAIA Division II playoffs.
2. Redlands (8-1): The Bulldogs won six straight games to close out the 2010 campaign. But that one loss, to Cal Lutheran, in the third game of the season, forced them to sit on the sidelines come playoff time.
3. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (7-2): The Stags had their best finish in nine years, winning their 2010 finale in dramatic fashion. Now the question for 2011 is this: Can C-M-S take that next step, and win the SCIAC championship? In order to win the title, they must beat Redlands at home on October 15, followed by a victory at Cal Lutheran two weeks later.
4. Occidental (4-5): A crushing mid-season loss to Redlands sent the Tigers on a season-ending four-game tailspin which led to a 3-3 finish in SCIAC games last year. They hope that their fortunes will turn around this year.
5. La Verne (1-8): The Leopards lone win of last season came in the final game of 2010: an easy 49-23 rout over Whittier on the road.
6. Whittier (2-7): The Poets look to rebound after another long season.
7. Pomona-Pitzer (1-8): The Sagehens won their only game of 2010, as they edged La Verne, 28-26, in overtime.
4 years ago
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