Quote from: Retired Old Rat on September 23, 2011, 12:56:05 PM
I should be pulling into Collegeville about 9am with 56321 and, most importantly, the Chicago Polish sausages.

Looks to be a great day in Collegeville.

BTW, anyone know what happened to Lone Augie Backer?  Miss his posts.

Unfortunately, the real world! I quit working for someone else and started doing in home personal training on my own and as such now get 3x the money but work 5x the hours! I also am an assistant coach at Minneapolis SW (along with former SJU WR Brandon Royce for all you Johnnie fans out there) and had my first child in April (Son). So, I no longer have that college-life-provided thing called free time~! I actually came on here to read first hand accounts of Saturday's game. My only connection to the game was to call Coach Saturday night when KARE11 put the score on their 10 pm news. He was busy celebrating and so I didn't want to keep him to get the details. I was hoping to get some in-game perspective from some of those that may have seen the action first hand, but all I've gathered is the typical shoulda-woulda-couldas that follow any loss (trust me, after SW lost to Washburn Friday night, I'm doing plenty of those myself!).

I no longer have anyone on the squad that I played with at Auggie, and as such, am officially old, and also, not as much in contact with the team. I train clients seven days a week so haven't been able to attend any games for the last couple of years. I truly miss it, but as many of you that played can attest, the first couple of years away are the hardest - you miss the camaraderie with the guys, the hitting and being hit, and so going back was a bit tough as well. 

Congrats to my Auggies. I still don't know much more than the headline post on the main page. I don't know if a sniper killed all the SJU studs, or if Augsburg is now the powerhouse of D3 (look out MU+UWW? --- KIDDING!!! I'm not that delusional, ya'll!).  Though I've not gleaned much more info from these posts, I can make a pretty healthy guess - SJU made some mistakes, Auggies played well and came out of a hostile environment (no matter the accurate number) with a win they will be glad to have.

I'll try to get on here more frequently than every 4 years or so, but cannot promise much! These days the only scores I know are _ bottles vs. _ diapers.

Go Auggies!

I am neither a Johnnie, nor a Catholic, yet I am a former D3 football player.  With that connection, I am inclined to highlight a great point of the stories I read here after the passing of Brother Dietrich and it is what makes this man and D3 sports so incredible-  At the D3 level, the players are not 'owned' by the respective teams they play for.  Instead, the players come to own the school that they so passionately represent.  That ownership held by each D3 athlete comes from the numerous great people that are involved with at these institutions of higher education.  It seems that Brother Dietrich was just such a man.  A man that loved the university that he called home and a man that gave each student that knew him, whether athlete or not, a reason to be incredibly proud of their school.  In no way detracting from Brother Dietrich, but rather pointing out, that we as D3 athletes are so fortunate that we have the time, at all of our respective schools, to get to embrace our entire school and are able, due to the lack of 100% athletic requirements, to meet such great men and women, and through them, become better humans.  Brother Dietrich embodies all that is right with people, and it is such a fortunate blessing, for those of us that play or have played D3 sports, that we are afforded the time to meet such individuals, so that we too, may hopefully become a reflection of them. 

My thoughts and prayers are with Brother Dietrich and those that knew him.  I thank him for helping to produce such great men on the SJU campus.  Godspeed, Brother Dietrich. Best wishes to all of the Johnnie's on this board and around the world.

Quote from: tmerton on December 23, 2008, 08:47:28 PM

Quote from: Lone Auggie Backer on December 23, 2008, 01:22:48 PM
UWW fans - My dad was the ATC at UWW for 2 years  

Wow.  I didn't even know UWW had an airport.  I must have missed it on the drive in. 8)
I'm sure I'll slap my head when I learn what else ATC stands for (assistant track coach? - nah), but air traffic controller is what comes most readily to mind.
Cheers - and Merry Christmas - to all.

MAN, it would have been sweet if my dad was an air traffic controller.  Getting to wear headphones and talk to airplanes all day would have been cool! Plus, for the 'job fair' bit that happened in elementary school, I could have bragged about him being just like the guys in Pushing Tin!  Instead, not that it is not a cool job, ATC stands for Athletic Trainer - Certified.  Each school at the D3 level is required to have one ATC on staff to manage athlete injuries.  Some schools have multiple ATCs.  But, not an air traffic controller! 

Enjoy the holidays, all!  Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Happy Hanukkah!

Quote from: Knightstalker on December 23, 2008, 06:00:55 PM
KS, Christmas Video of the season .  This is KS favorite Christmas song of all times.

Great video. Reminds us all to truly enjoy the holidays, as they are the times that seem to last forever! Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Holidays to all, and a Happy New years as well!

Quote from: 02 Warhawk on December 22, 2008, 11:47:38 PM
A true competitor would schedule non-confernce games against teams that are champions to see what it takes. Whitewater did just that in the early 2000s building a foundation to what we see today. Whitewater put their necks on the line by scheduling unwinnable games against Mount Union (twice), St. Johns, and ranked NAIA teams. This proved to pay dividends as coach Berezowitz got a first-hand glimps of what it took to be a champion, even though they couldn't compete with them at that time.
Now a days I notice teams shy away from tougher teams. Whitewater filled its 2008 schedule during the 11th hour last summer. To fill their schedule they were forced to play a conference opponent twice and go outside DIII, b/c nobody wanted to step up and take a chance to play them.

Okay, So, I screwed up! I was in no way trying to say that MUC and UWW did not belong/derserve/have the right to play in D3. Further, I was not at all suggesting that they had been taking the chicken$h!7 route and schedule peons. Rather, the whole point of my argument was to show that the argument being used was flawed!

UWW fans - My dad was the ATC at UWW for 2 years and our family has remained in touch with the Berezowitz'! I am in no way disparaging the two teams that played in this years championship game. You are all correct, the rest of D3 needs to get better if we want to see different teams involved in the Stagg Bowl. I was simply showing that the argument used did not 100% equate to the answer that was given!  That was all! 

Quote from: Pat Coleman on December 22, 2008, 08:58:18 PM

Quote from: Lone Auggie Backer on December 22, 2008, 12:29:09 PM
You seem to be a little bit agitated. Your team just played in the national championship game.

Toph is a John Carroll fan.

My bad, Pat and Toph. I simply took from him arguing for the schools involved in the championship that he backed one of them. Definitely made an ass out of U and Me!

Quote from: Toph on December 22, 2008, 10:47:54 AM
31-26 isn't close enough for you?  How is that dominant?  UWW had its share of close games.  Mount dominated a weaker OAC and East region.  It's up to everyone else to do better, not to eliminate the best team.

As for your spin on the "competitor" comment, it's not exactly the same thing.  Mount and Whitewater can't just "move up" in the spirit of competition.  It doesn't make sense to change a school's approach and philosophy on athletics because that school has a good football team.  I'll say it again:  It's not a matter of just moving the football team up.  It's a matter of moving EVERY sport up, offering athletic scholarships, finding a suitable conference that will take you (and in Ohio there is really only one that would make sense at all).  If you think that is a reasonable suggestion, you're nuts.  Sorry to be so blunt.  If you don't like it, beat them.

Just wanting to clarify. I'm not suggesting one of the two teams is more dominant than the other team. I'm suggesting that in the recent history (as duff wisely pointed out to me) these TWO teams have been dominant in all of D3 football.  That is what I was alluding to in my dominant statement.  Sorry if I caused confusion with that part!

Quote from: raiderfan1983 on December 22, 2008, 11:11:46 AM
I hope the MIAC takes a look at that crew from the Stagg Bowl and does the smart thing by having them officiate nothing but JV games this year.  If they don't have JV teams up there in the MIAC, then those guys just need to go away.  I have never seen a more incompetent referee in my life when it came to simple clock rules.  Don't know if any of you remember having these jokers in any other games, but I find it hard to believe that they made it through an entire season and then forget when to wind and stop the clock in the Stagg.

Couldn't agree more! This crew, in my opinion, is one of the two worst crews in the conference. They are simply bad at calling games! I hadn't seen the press release before the game indicating that they were given the job, but when I turned on ESPN on Saturday and saw them in stripes I was appalled! Of all crews to be given the honor of calling the national championship game, how in the world could this crew be the one selected.  I would think that that honor should be based on performance excellence. By their selection, it seems that is not the case! Sorry to MUC and UWW for getting stuck with one of our duds!

Quote from: Toph on December 22, 2008, 10:47:54 AM
31-26 isn't close enough for you?  How is that dominant?  UWW had its share of close games.  Mount dominated a weaker OAC and East region.  It's up to everyone else to do better, not to eliminate the best team.

As for your spin on the "competitor" comment, it's not exactly the same thing.  Mount and Whitewater can't just "move up" in the spirit of competition.  It doesn't make sense to change a school's approach and philosophy on athletics because that school has a good football team.  I'll say it again:  It's not a matter of just moving the football team up.  It's a matter of moving EVERY sport up, offering athletic scholarships, finding a suitable conference that will take you (and in Ohio there is really only one that would make sense at all).  If you think that is a reasonable suggestion, you're nuts.  Sorry to be so blunt.  If you don't like it, beat them.

Sir-
You seem to be a little bit agitated. Your team just played in the national championship game. there's no reason to be angry! I really do not care what division MUC and UWW play in. I am fully in agreement that if I want my team to get there they must get better. You're entirely correct. I was simply stating that the argument you made had a slight flaw in that it ignored the point that it also gave MUC and UWW a reason TO play at a higher level. 

Again, no need to get all worked up about this. I really am not that passionate about this issue! Please don't raise your blood pressure too much on my account!

Quote from: Toph on December 22, 2008, 09:50:25 AM

Quote from: piperinsider on December 20, 2008, 11:59:34 AM
Mount Union should be forced up to DII. Whitewater as well. I'm sick of these two in the finals.

How did SJU beat them all those years ago? This team is unstoppable at this level.

So because you're sick of seeing two teams make the Stagg Bowl, the schools should be forced to change their entire academic and athletic philosophy?  That sounds reasonable.

I hate that this comes up every year, and I hate even more that Whitewater is now included in the discussion.  These two teams play by the same rules as everyone else.  If either was doing something illegal, it surely would've been discovered by now because no one is looked at more closely than these two.  And as I always tell people like you:  Moving up the football team means that all the other sports have to move up.  Changing a school's athletic and academic philosophy just because they have a really good football team is idiotic.  The suggestion that they do so is unreasonable and shortsighted. 

Recruit better, practice harder, and beat them.  A true competitor wouldn't ask that their toughest opponent be removed, they'd enjoy the chance to knock them off.

I don't disagree at all sir. I also do not think that piperinsider was being fully serious with his statement.  I took it as it is getting a bit repetitive having the same two teams in the finals for 4 straight years. I don't think that there was any suggestion of illegal practices by either team. At least I couldn't see any in the four sentences he wrote.  However, the part that I highlighted in your statement has a corollary; A true competitor would also want to be challenged and not take on competition that it has proven it can dominate for an extended period of time.  Therefore, a true competitor might want to be actually tested (by a DII opponent perhaps) and not happily dominate the same inferior (as these two teams have shown by both making it to the finals the last four years running) competition.  This highlighted sentence both proves your argument and proves piperinsider's argument at the same time!  Just my two cents!

Quote from: PRF07 on November 26, 2008, 10:59:58 AM
Jordan Berg a Gagliardi finalist?
What is this?  An award for immobile quarterbacks that throw a lot of interceptions?

As I said earlier that I would comment on this portion - Jordan tore his PCL and played on it.  One of the key reasons that he was so immoble! Now, I will stand on my soap box and proclaim that my 40 time was faster than his my last year at Augsbugs (and trust me, mine was no where in the 'fast' realm!) and as such, I do agree that Jordan wasn't the fastest and most mobile QB. However, I don't think his extreme lack of mobility this year was all his doing. The knee brace he had to wear greatly compromised his ability to use his leg, and, I did notice a lack of velocity in his ball this year due to the right leg not being fully normal! 

I'm glad to see him up for the Gagliardi award. Jordan is a great student and a good guy off the field. His on-field accomplishments were wonderful, but the Gagliardi award is supposed to highlight all what is meant by D3 football - someone who works hard and succeeds not only on the football field!

I'm a little surprised by the lack of commentary on the board with Royce's conference MVP selection. I thought that there might be a bit of argument from some of the Knight fans on this board.

Quote from: TC on November 09, 2008, 12:25:47 PM
LAB, I was surprised and disappointed to not see you in Collegeville for such a big Augsburg game.  Is everything OK?

TC-
Everything's fine. Disappointed to be out in the real world these days where Saturdays are not always a given to be a free day! I really wanted to make this game, as I love the atmosphere at Clemens, and meeting all of you EVIL St. Johns fans! (HA!)  I was just stuck in a work conflict that I could do nothing about!

Congrats to your squad yesterday. Sounds like an exciting match-up next weekend!

I was unable to take in yesterday's tilt due to work conflicts. However, looking at the stats I am wondering if some of you that were there can answer a question for me.  I see that Jordan threw 2 pics while Boyle threw one.  Was that the difference in the game? I know it was knotted at 7s going into half, so it seems, just by that, that it was a fairly even day yesterday. However, being -1 in the turnover category can often spell disaster when playing a solid team like St. Johns.  Was that the case yesterday?  It also sounds like the weather/wind caused some havoc on some of the passes (judging by the great story on the Johnniefootball page.)  Being that the Auggies like to throw it more than most, was that a hindrance more for the Auggies than for the Johnnies?

I'm in no way suggesting the Johnnies did not deserve to win. Again, I wasn't there. I am just trying to gauge how the Auggies played, if the score was as close (in reality, not just in numbers) as the final outcome indicated, and if the weather compromised the Auggie game plan going in.  Any info would be appreciated!  Congrats to the Johnnies. Next Saturday should be quite the event! Good luck to both, stay safe, stay healthy!

LAB

Quote from: Shouldabeen71 on November 09, 2008, 07:48:50 AM
A couple of observations and a question from yesterday's game.

I thought we did a real good job on Winford, even though he had 3 TD passes.  He was on a pace to catch over 100 balls this year and was already over 1,000 yards receiving.  Yet we held him to 6 catches.  Al-Hameed also came in with 63 receptions for 678 yards and we held him to only 3 catches for 27 yards.

My question.  As good a passer as Jordan Berg is, in their offense, wouldn't you want a QB that could run a bit so there are two running threats out of the backfield?  Berg seems very immobile.  I would think that the way they spread out a defense there must be some good gaps at times.  Berg only has a gross running yardage of 70 yards in 9 games, to go with his losses of 126 yards (presumably most through sacks) for a net loss of 56 yards.  He is the only starting QB in the MIAC with a net loss on the ground.

I promise you I will answer this question after next week's Bethel game!

Wow! Congrats to the Cobbers. We were beaten by Concordia in every phase of the game. Their D-line dominated us. Their offensive line handled us all day. Their receivers owned our defensive backs, their defensive backfield shut down our receivers. They pressured Jordan all day long, they shut down our running game. The Cobbers were way more physical on kickoff, their punt return team hit like hammers. The Cobbers earned a win today in a BIG way.  I would like to personally take the blame for the last two losses. In the first four games that Auggies played, I arrived in time to get some pictures of the pre-game warm-ups. I saw the opening kickoff, and celebrated a WIN in each game. I didn't make it to Carleton until game time, I didn't make it today until half-way through the first quarter. So, obviously the two losses are my fault. My apologies to my Auggies!
Hats off to Concordia. They showed up to play today, and took the win home with them by beating us, literally, in every phase of the game of football.
Too bad for the Auggies. We got the huge upset win we needed from the Gusties, yet ran into a massive brick wall today that was covered in Maroon and Gold.
Need a big week this week versus the Gusties!
LAB