Carroll College National Champion

On Dec. 1 our old nemesis, Carroll College of Montana beat USF for the NAIA semifinals This was our fourth time playing this team and our fourth time losing to them. We are a great football school, 100 wins in 10 years, three times to the National Championship , we are great. They however are phenomenal. Today they defeated the University of Sioux Falls. This was Carroll’s fifth National Championship in six years!

Last year was their rebuilding year and we played Sioux Falls who also defeated us.

Now here’s the thing, and if you quote me I’ll deny it. I really, really like Carroll College. I want us to beat them, clobber them, crush them, but in a loving, nurturing fellowship kinda way. Just so when it is over we win, they lose and we are the champs! However, if we can’t be the National Champion, I want it to be Carroll.

They are Champions of Character. When our team first went out to Montana the school gave a gracious tour of the campus and athletic facilities to the visiting players parents. Both times I saw them play in Tennessee I mingled with the Saints fans. They were nice, easy to get along with folks.

Part of the charm of NAIA schools is that they are suppose to value education first. Athletics is part of becoming well-rounded leaders. That happens at Carroll. They have been ranked in the top ten western schools for the past 13 years.

Their forensic team is ranked in the top five of all universities in the United States. Their faculty consistently wins honors and 13 of the faculty members are Fulbright Scholars.

For the ninth straight years in a row Carroll has ranked in the 95+ percentile on the Educational Testing Service’s major field test in biology. That ranking that places their biology students in the top tier of over 13,000 college and university students nationwide.

For the second time in the last four years, Carroll College has a team rated Outstanding Winner in the international Mathematical Contest in Modeling, placing them in the elite company of the other winning teams representing Harvard, MIT, Duke, Rice, RPI, CU-Boulder, UC-Davis, and 2 teams from China.

So, if we cannot be the National Champions (this year) then it is good to see another quality Catholic University be the champ. Carroll College is a school that is a winner on the field and off. Congrats Saints, just know, one of these days….