Late losses cost No. 8 Butler bowl bid

Two late-season losses cost the Butler Community College football team a shot at the NJCAA title. It also also ended up costing them a spot in a bowl game.

The NJCAA’s bowl pairings released Tuesday left No. 8 Butler (9-2) out in the cold, despite a share of the Jayhawk Conference title and four wins over ranked opponents.

It’s the third time in the last seven years — following 2009 and 2014 — the Grizzlies have been bowl eligible but stayed home. Butler, which has won six national titles, was the highest-ranked team in the Jayhawk in the NJCAA’s final poll, one spot ahead of co-league champion No. 9 Dodge City (9-2).

Dodge City received a bid to the Salt City Bowl in Hutchinson, where it will face No. 3 Snow (Utah) on Dec. 5.

“Very disappointing,” Butler first-year coach Tim Schaffner said. “Two bad losses outweighed all the wins (against) ranked opponents.”

The two bad losses came after Butler was ranked No. 1 with three games left in the regular season and went 1-2 over that span, falling to a pair of unranked teams – Garden City and Ellsworth.

Butler’s ranked wins came against No. 13 Iowa Western, No. 3 Hutchinson, No. 15 Dodge City and No. 1 Coffeyville. Iowa Western, Dodge City and Coffeyville all finished the regular season still ranked in the Top 25.

The bowl bids capped a contentious week on social media between Butler and Dodge City that began when Butler’s official athletics account, @ButlerGrizzlies, tweeted on Nov. 10, when Butler was ranked behind Dodge City: “Butler ranked behind No. 5 Iowa Western and No. 8 Dodge City, despite beating those teams by a combined score of 78-21. #buconation”

A new poll on Monday put Butler back ahead of Dodge City in the rankings.

On Tuesday, Dodge City coach Gary Thomas seemed to answer back on his account, @Coach_GThomas: “Karma! #2Kinds #WalkSoftlyAndCarryABigStick”

Dodge City is in its second bowl in three seasons under Thomas, who also led DuPage (Ill.) to a bowl in 2012.

“(The tweet) wasn’t supposed to be directed toward Butler, specifically,” Thomas said. “It was just more of a statement of the world we live in now. The fact is I never said Butler wasn’t good. They beat us in head-to-head competition. I never said they should be ranked below us ... I was just shocked they wanted to come out and take a stance on it.

“We had two bye weeks and we switched spots in the polls ... I’m not a voter, so what I think is irrelevant, but I don’t see how anybody got any better or worse when nobody even played.”

This story was originally published November 17, 2015 at 3:51 PM with the headline "Late losses cost No. 8 Butler bowl bid."