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2013 Final Standings
Looking back: St. Scholastica (9-2 overall) won its third straight Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) championship in 2013, finishing unbeaten in conference play at 9-0. The Saints, however, were blasted by Bethel (Minn.), 70-13, in the first round of the NCAA Division III playoffs.
The only other team in the UMAC to advance to postseason play was Greenville. The Panthers started the 2013 season at 9-0, only to lose their final two games. After falling to St. Scholastica, 27-21, in the "de-facto" UMAC championship game on November 9, the Panthers were crushed by Azusa Pacific, 67-0, at the NCCAA Victory Bowl, on November 23.
Looking ahead: For the first time in the brief history of its football program, St. Scholastica will have a new head coach, while Greenville will try to bounce back after losing back-to-back games to close out the 2013 season.
Predicted order of finish (2013 overall record in parentheses):
1. Greenville (9-2): Thanks to that run to the NCCAA Victory Bowl in 2013, head coach Robbie Schomaker was rewarded with the removal of the interim tag from his title for 2014. His main challenge will be to help keep the Panthers on top in the UMAC.
2. St. Scholastica (9-2): The three-time defending UMAC champion Saints will begin their seventh season of play with a new head coach in Kurt Ramler. He has some huge shoes to fill in replacing Greg Carlson, who retired earlier this year after six seasons on the job.
3. Eureka (8-2): After posting their first winning season in quite some time, the Red Devils hope to make some noise in the UMAC this fall.
4. Northwestern (Minn.)--(6-4): The Eagles are looking to do the same thing after finishing 6-3 in the UMAC last season.
5. Crown (4-6): Here's a real statistical oddity about the 2013 season for the Storm: in all six of their losses, they've scored exactly 14 points, while scoring at least 20 or more points in all four of their wins. Having said that, scoring more points than their opponents could turn out to be the key to victory in 2014.
6. Martin Luther (4-6): Here comes an interesting stat for the Knights from last season: they gave up 50 or more points in three of their six losses, while piling up a lot of points in their 68-51 win over Iowa Wesleyan on October 5.
7. Minnesota-Morris (3-7): The Cougars hope to move up in the standings after struggling to a 3-6 mark in UMAC action last season. That was after they finished 6-4 overall in 2012.
8. Iowa Wesleyan (2-8): The Tigers begin their third season under head coach Tom Parkevich, hoping that the third time will be the charm in finishing with a winning record in 2014. Their last winning season was in 1994, when they finished 8-3 overall.
9. Westminster (Mo.)--(2-8): The Blue Jays look to bounce back after ending the 2013 season with seven straight losses following a 2-1 start.
10. MacMurray (0-10): Can anybody say "nowhere to go but up" for the Highlanders?
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