Quick Analysis: The Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) is entering its final football season under its current 14-team setup, as six of its schools (Findlay, Hillsdale, Lake Erie, Malone, Ohio Dominican, and Malone) plan to join the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) by 2017.
But before this "six-pack" leaves the GLIAC for the G-MAC at the end of 2016, don't be surprised if the battle for the title in the former league comes down to the final weekend of the regular season. Grand Valley State avenged both of their regular season losses during the NCAA Division II playoffs, upsetting fellow GLIAC foes Ashland and Ferris State, as well as defending national champion Colorado State-Pueblo, before falling to eventual national runner-up Shepherd in the national semifinals, to finish the 2015 season at 12-3 overall. It'll be interesting to see how all three teams will fare on the field this fall.
As for the G-MAC, of the six future members that will eventually leave the GLIAC, only Ohio Dominican (7-3 overall) finished the 2015 campaign with a winning record, with none of the six squads advancing to postseason play. Additionally, of the two current members, Alderson-Broaddus finished the 2015 season at 7-4 overall, while Kentucky Wesleyan finished 4-5.
Finally, expect the usual suspects to contend for supremacy in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC), as Minnesota State-Mankato, whose Mavericks fell to Colorado State-Pueblo in the 2014 NCAA Division II title game, was picked by the coaches to claim yet another overall conference championship, while the likes of Sioux Falls, Minnesota-Duluth, and Augustana (S.D.) hope to mount a serious challenge this season.
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5 years ago
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