http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0gAUd9svvg

Great Video - 300 Theme

Just to throw my two cents into the McDaniel vs. WMC when I was being recruited there my admissions councilor said the name change had to do partly with where WMC fell in college books and lists.  Because it began with a W it was always towards the end of books or lists which prompted a desire to change the name to improve their position in those publications.  Looking back that seems ridiculous, but as a high school senior and recruit it seemed to make perfect sense.

     Its been awhile and it looks like a lot of interesting things happened while I was away (both on and off the field).  As to Dickinson getting in before Hobart, I agree the loss to Hopkins was devestating towards their chances, the best that they can hope for now is to get an ECAC game at home, and they'll only get that if they win this weekend. 
     The good news on that note is that they get Ursinus at home.  In my four years at Dickinson the difference between playing them at home or at Collegeville was incredible.  My freshman and junior years we got them at home and whopped them completely both times.  My sophmore and senior years we played them on the road and they were both incredibly tough games. (sophmore year we won 10 - 7, senior year we lost in overtime).  I think Dickinson playing them at home will make the difference. 

     As to conference players of the year as to the offensive side its hard for me to say there are a lot of strong candidates.  Mitchell and his body of work seem to make a very strong case, but then I'm biased.  Matt Torchia (Dickinson QB) won it last year, and due to the fact that Dickinson did not repeat as champs I am skeptical that they will award O-POTY to a Devil this season also.

   As far as defensive player of the year goes, there is one player that is at another level on the defensive side of the ball, Eric Dube LB Dickinson College.  Again I'm biased, but from playing with him for three years and seeing him a number of times this year he is the most exciting defensive player that I have seen in this conference.  He garnered the award deservedly last year and this year I think he might be even better (his knee is much healthier than it was last season).

   Murph, I don't know why you seem to garner so much negative attention from the other posters, I don't think you've ever said anything unreasonable.  Attacking the players is the only thing that I think is out of bounds, and you have always supported and cheered them on, I think it shows a lot of strength on your part because it would be easy to put things on the kids especially with a son on the team that you might think deserves more playing time (dont know the story there, just assuming he doesn't get a lot of PT because he is a freshman.)  As to criticizing the coaches, well thats part of their job.  They have to know that if things go badly that they are going to be blamed. 

Picks

Moravian
Gettysburg
Ursinus
Muhlenberg

weekly Picks:

So far my picks have been rather horrid, but maybe this is the week to turn it around.

Dickinson over JHU
Ursinus over F&M
Moravian over Gettysburg
Muhlenberg over Juniata

Old Ends-

As to weather becoming a factor, it never seemed to be the last four years while I was playing.  Geographically the schools are not at all far apart so I dont think anyone has an advantage as far as that goes. The only game that might qualify was my junior season when Dickinson went down to Hampden-Sydney  late in the season and the weather was unbelieveably warm,  but that game isn't even on the schedule anymore.  I digress, the bottom line is weather shouldn't be a factor. 

p.s. I don't even know how I lost karma, but more to the point what is it? do I want it? and if so how do I get it back?

Splik -

I know this is a couple of days late to respond, but as to your earlier question.  I picked Juniata because I really believed they had a shot at winning this game.  McDaniel used to dominate this conference, but that was in the late 90s more recently the conference has been pretty wide open with a number of teams winning it (2006 - Dickinson, 2005 - Hopkins, 2004 - 5 way tie Dickinson, Hopkins, Muhlenberg, McDaniel, F&M, 2003 - Tie Hopkins, Muhlenberg).  As to why I picked Juniata in this game I really believed that without Baer at QB it would be hard for McDaniel to preform consistantly on offense, and from the scores of their earlier games it looked like they had a hard time stopping people on defense.   

Murphy,

I don't know where you hail from and I don't know your travel plans,  but I would suggest you trying to get to McDaniel to see your son and Juniata play.  Although the fans can be a little obnoxious they have a pretty cool stadium.  The field is built into a depression forming a bowl and cars can drive up fairly close to the edge.  The atmosphere seems pretty cool, and although I have never seen a game there from the stands playing there was a neat experience.

I got the chance to make the Dickinson game this past saturday and what was said earlier is certainly true, early on it looked like Dickinson was going to roll over McDaniel.  However, it seemed some Dickinson players lost focus, subs were put in, and the play calling changed to a much more conservative grind it out type game plan.  The combination of those things let McDaniel creep back in.  Even with the final score it never really seemed like the game was in doubt, but if you're a Dickinson fan you were certainly left looking for more in a game that could/should have been a blow out.  I think next week will be a really tough test against a very solid Moravian team.

Picks:

Week 5 Schedule   
Dickinson @ Moravian - Maybe a biased pick, but I think the Devils will raise the bar.
Catholic @ Franklin & Marshall   - As much as I hate to pick the Dips its hard to bet against them when they are playing Catholic
Gettysburg @ Ursinus - Two similar styles of football pound it out running games, should be a good one.
John Hopkins @ Muhlenberg - Have to go with Muhlenberg their defense looks impressive.
Juniata @ McDaniel - With McDaniel already struggling and now minus their one offensive threat in Baer I can see Juniata pulling it out even on the road in McDaniels bowl.

Splik,

Dickinson no longer runs a primary option offense.  My freshman year was the last year that they ran the double wing option look.  They have since switched over to a pro style offense.  They do still have some option looks especially now that they have mitchell at QB who can make big plays with his feet.

Murphy -

While Splik may have taken his example to the extreme with the Denver Broncos his argument is still sound.  If you still have doubts look no further than Dickinson's conference championship team from last year.  It was a team that I was proud to be a part of, and if you look at the heights and weights of the offensive and defensive lines you'll see that we were usually undersized compared to our opponents.

Week 4 Schedule   
McDaniel @ Dickinson
Franklin & Marshall @ Juniata
Muhlenberg @ Gettysburg
Moravian @ John Hopkins
Week 4 Picks:

Dickinson - Dickinson over a McDaniel team that is really struggling this season
F&M - As much as it pains me to pick F&M I do not see them losing to Juniata
Muhlenberg - Mules have yet to let up a single point this season, but they are going to be faced with a real good Gettysburg offense, this week should show a lot either way
John Hopkins - More of a hunch or gut call than anything else, probably went with Hopkins because they are at home.

Yes, the lights at F&M are portable, as to why they scheduled the game for friday night I do not know.  The final was 28-21 Dickinson, but with a score right before half and another to open the third quarter it seemed like Dickinson was going to run away with it.  The game shouldn't have been as close as it was, but Dickinson made a bunch of costly mistakes taking quite a few penalties that stalled drives.  They also put the ball on the ground giving F&M great field position.  Dickinson's offense probably is not as potent or consistant as it was last year, but they can score in bunches and put together big plays.  Ian Mitchell looks like he will develope into a very good QB he already as the ability to make plays with his feet and he showed flashes of his ability to throw the ball.  Defensively Dickinson's front seven may be even better than the unit they had last year (and that is saying a lot for a defense that held opponents to only 66 yards/game on the ground).  It looks like Dube's knee is fully healthy again and he is on pace for an absolutely monster seaon.  For those of you who do not know he had a season ending knee injury as a sophmore and a partial tear as a junior.  Even with those injuries he was by far the best linebacker in the conference and defensive player of the year last season. 

I'm hoping to get to the Dickinson v. McDaniel game next weekend.

Hello everyone,

This is my first time posting on this or any other site so I am new at this, but if you can't tell from my handle I am very familiar with this conference.  Hopefully I will be attending the Dickinson game at F&M tonight.  If I do I will provide some game details tomorrow.


As for Picks I know its late, but I thought I'd throw my hat into the ring:
Dickinson over F&M - should be a fun game under the lights
Johns Hopkins over Gettysburg
Ursinus over Juniata
McDaniel over Catholic - having seen both teams on film it looks like this could be an ugly game
Union over Muhlenburg - Intereset to see how this game plays out, Union lost a lot of key starters from a very good team last year
Moravian over Lebanon Valley

No real upsets on my list, maybe McDaniel over Catholic, but calling that an upset may be a stretch