Who'll Wax Woo?

This has been a crazy season of college football. On this board, I'm announcing my pick backed up by 7 former mid-eighties COW players. Of course I'm the only one who's willing to go public with this upset pick

          Wabash 19    - COW - 22

Halftime score Wabash 12 - COW -6

Rainy conditions and muddy field at Papp haunts both offenses

ChillyDigits,

I meant no disrespect to the COW QB #6 saying he's looked a bit intimidated all season. My guess is he must have >10 fumbles himself. It's obvious the coaching staff is not satisfied with the QB play nor should they be. When the QBs come to the side-lines after the series they look confused. Agree that the QBs have had maybe the most inconsistent o-line play in front of him in the NCAC this year, so they're likely worried about just surviving the game physically.

I don't think one can blame injuries either for poor line play. All teams, especially lineman get beat up during the season; one of the most important tasks of a line coach is to get those 6th, 7th and 8th guys ready to step in and make a contribution.

JCU's, CWRU and Witt's line, starters and back-ups played well against COW. Zone blocking, man blocking or a combination or whatever system is taught and used doesn't matter. The players have to execute. Now if the coaching staff is asking the players to execute a plan or a system that they aren't capable of, that's a different story.

I'm not close enough to the program any more to be able to tell. I do know that the better the athletes are, the better the offensive system looks. Great coaching staff's know how to make great adjustments all through the season, not just at half-time. Not sure this has been an area of strength for COW this year. But we have the two most important back to back games our seniors will likely face this week and next. Anything can happen.

My apologies for not congratulating previously both Wabash and Witt for a hard fought, vicious football game. One the players will remember for a long time. Wish I could see it on tape. Sounds like a couple of heavy weights who pounded each other for a couple of hours with a lot of heart. How could a Bash vs. Witt game get topped by any OAC tandem? Maybe ONU vs. MUC last year? I'll take the NCAC.

ScotLAS,

Didn't get to the COW/Hiram game until the beginning of the 2nd Quarter and could not believe the scoreboard. Both Teams were lethargic and it appeared to me that Hiram just gave up in the last Quarter. Maybe they got a little nervous having a legitimate shot at winning the game.

COW defense seemed to play much better. Albeit it was against the pups. The defense did cave on Hiram's final touchdown drive of the game. Still it was great to see improvement. Having watched COW a lot this year, I think I've figured out the problem. Both our D-Line and O-Line's  suffer from a lack of talent and a lack of intensity. I watched Witt's O and D lines play right through the whistle with incredible intensity. Our big-guys in the trenches seem like they're pacing themselves. Rarely does our O-Line ever get down field and make blocks. Add a rookie QB who plays scared and it's a recipe for losing half our games.

Lots of COW fans think our play calling this year has been less than adequate. But can anything work if the O-Line isn't getting it done?

Here's the crazy thing. If somehow COW can find a way to catch AC flat and sneak in a victory. The home game vs. Wabash could be for the NCAC Championship. How about that?
The pipers will be back for the bash game too. If the pipers have their faces painted blue it means they're serious about a win.

Let's go COW. Beat AC. Believe it's POSSIBLE

Nike,

Ok now your post makes sense. Thanks for clarifying.

I did have the pleasure of watching COW when Sutton was a junior and senior. Those were very good COW. I loved the way they played smash mouth football. No fancy formations or plays. Like the Steelers they lined up and just dared the defense to stop them. Their defense had some nasty-attitude players too. Those kind of teams can make coahes look smart.

My guess is a number of COW players are playing out of position besides Geffert who you mentioned.

Nike,

"Good Talent can mask mediocre coaching . . . ." Uh?

I sat with 6 former COW Players at Saturday's OWU game at Papp and sure would like to know who you are specifically referring to of this year's Scot's that has "Good Talent." It was unanimous among our group that this year's COW Squad displays less talent than just about any team we can remember from 1980 to present day.

On Defense with the exception of LB #48 no real talent displayed. You're right the punter with the gold shoe is very solid and is a talented punter But his kick-offs seemed woefully short most of the time. He kicked one just to OWU's 38 yd. line.

On Offense the RB # 20, TE #86 and WR #15 stood out as clearly the most talented at least on Saturday. With #20 being by far the best athlete. Now how can you say COW has "Good Talent?" Might agree with you if you said mediocre talent and coaching. But "good talent" means more than 3 or 4 players. It appears that our Sr. class isn't very strong at all. This is based upon my watching only two games this year.

By the way some people next to us, seemed like parent's of COW players said our Head Coach still calls all the plays. Is this true? Is this normal for NCAC Football in 2007? From 1981-85 the Scot's had a full-time O-Coordinator and D-Coordinator. Isn't this the way the top D-III Programs MUC, Witt, Wabash, St. Johns, St. Thomas,Trinity, Washington & Lee among others now do things?

Scotlas

That's good news for COW-Land. What else can they do except re-focus on the basics?

Hope they can transfer what's happening on the practice field to where it counts on Saturday. I'm going back for homecoming festivities so hope the boys at least bring MAXIMUM EFFORT even if OWU wins. Don't want COW to ever be known as a team that gives up in the 2nd half of games. Unfortunately, they've been doing that this year in spades.

Not to dwell on the debacle at Wit but some feedback from my two brothers who drove down from Columbus. One played at Capital and the other at OSU so they know football and love D3 ball.

What they were most surprised about was COW's lack of athleticisim of this team. Shouldn't be a surprise after losing 25+ seniors last year. Pretty much said there's no real athletes on the defensive side of the ball. Looked like 2nd or 3rd stringers vs. Wit. Poor execution of basics like losing contain, poor pursuit angles to the ball and very poor tackling.

No offense in college football can be effective, no matter what they run, if the QB isn't solid. Doesn't have to great but can't lose control of the game. Both of COW's QBs were observed to have handle the ball poorly and made the wrong decision about 80% of the game. Again, not a surprise playing behind a 4-year starter. But not to have been grooming Shaeffer's replacement either with someone already on the team or a major recruiting effort seems like a major mistake and oversight.

Go COW and let's see if we can't get something rolling tomorrow

aueagle,

Not trying to be argumentative in the slightest, I usually enjoy your posts. Though I must disagree strongly with one school you listed when you were discussing "Academically Superior Schools." I can assure you that Witt doesn't belong in the same sentence with Penn and Wabash. Witt isn't even considered a "selective admission school" by several of the organizations that track this sort of thing.

Don't get me wrong, Witt deserves an incredible amount of respect for what they've achieved on the gridiron over the last 50+ years. But let's not confuse them with a Kenyon, Denison or Wabash quite yet academically. Take a look at an average Witt team roster and what high schools these kids come from. Not the sames one's most of the other NCAC Teams can recruit. Sounds like sour grapes, I know. Maybe it is? We just have to find faster, tougher smart kids than I guess we have now.

Again, football wise he Tigers know how to play. Part of it is the pressure the kids know exists, just like State Schools in Ohio. If you're not playing well, someone is waiting and likely ready to take your job, they've lots of kids who are ready to play most years. I only saw Wooster's opener at JCU but it was pretty lame. Worse than lame actually. One of the few times in the last 5 or 6 years I  was embarrassed by my own school. At least if we'd lost at home, we would have still had the marchng band. Let's see Witt try and play the pipes.

I love the COW Scots but they have no chance against Witt, Wabash or AC this year. Worse thing is the players don't seem to be working very hard. Maybe it's bad coaching or maybe we just have bad players this year?That is no chance unless the team plays drastically different than what I saw at JCU then later on cable TV on a Cleveland station.

Good luck to all NCAC Teams tomorrow and may there be no serious injuries to anyone.

I've been a frequent reader of this board for the last couple of years; the most intelligent postings on the entire D3.COM in my humble opinion.

I've a few things to say about a subject subject close to my heart. Athletic fund raising or rather the lack of it at COW. You won't believe the disadvantage COW has regardless of their current endowment level.

Unlike any of the other schools in the NCAC Wooster Athletics in general or any of the school's specific mens/womens teams are forbidden to engage in the pursuit of raising $$$$. Scot's Basketball Program is the only exception, so now you see how they can go to the Bahamas.

There can't even be a former-player golf tourney where the hat gets passed to raise a few $$$ that might enable the team when they travel not to have 4 large men in two double beds at Motel 6 or buy a few more rolls of tape for the training room. Three Wooster grads and some others started a little company that did pretty well called Cybex.

Cybex isn't allowed to do anything special for the football team, which seems crazy. The school only accepts donations to the general fund. Talk about a competitive disadvantage in recruiting and in trying to run a top-flight athletic department. COW stands to lose big-time if this policy remains.

Many of my fellow COW alumni are appalled at this draconian policy. Our hope is the new President will change this rapidly. But we have our doubts. Our facilities have been long passed by the likes of Wabash, Dension, Kenyon, Oberlin, AC and now even Earlham.

Sorry to rant in my first post but we're now part of the bottom 20% from a facility perspective and not that's not fair to the players and coaches. Are there any other COW Grads that feel the same way? Or should I just forget about it?