As a former Rocket way back in the day, I have a unique perspective on Matt Campbell. My kid is part of the Mount Union crew and got to play for Matt and I got to know him then, and I played at Toledo and am pretty active in the football alumni community. As a mid-major we know that our coaches, for the most part, are destined to move on. Same with other coaches and members of the athletic department. It's  the hard part of being a mid-major. While we didn't win a championship with Matt, he built on the foundation Tim Beckman started and had things on the right track. On to Iowa St! I wish him nothing but the best.  Good Luck Matt and Go Raiders! Maybe the Rockets can mine the coaching field and find another Mount guy to keep things rolling--Ed Warriner?

Just a quick response to Raiderpa about the Toledo Rockets opener which was called due to weather. It was officially ruled a "NO CONTEST" because the Toledo and Stonybrook people could not agree on a way to finish the game. Stonybrook did not want to assume they were going to lose with a half remaining and rejected ideas to finish the game the next day. Today is a proud day to be a Rocket though! Go Raiders and Rockets!

Bleacher Report articles are written by amateurs and while edited a bit, can be as bad as the CS3 interview. Even a dumb old o-lineman like me has written articles for Bleacher Report. Not that they shouldn't have errors but you get what you pay for I guess.

Off topic but in the new ESPN the magazine there's an article about perfection in sports. Mount Union gets the mention in the college football category as the closest team to perfection. All publicity is good publicity. Go Raiders!

First congratulations to LK on his 300th win! I'm so glad my kid played for him and will benefit from his old-school wisdom, toughness and care for his players. Second, please stop that Kent State talk! Whoever takes that job is crazy and LK ain't crazy. Go Raiders!

Just listened to Coach Swider's comments on the Wheaton-Albion game and he summed it up perfectly: A good win in week 1 against a pretty good Albion team. Once the Wheaton team looks at the film they'll be able to correct the errors they made, clean up the penalties and move on. The freshman defensive tackle for Wheaton #77 could become a beast. Met his grandfather before the game--what a nice guy!--and the kid did great for his first college game. Rocky Gingg is just a horse and the Wheaton o-line played very well. Wheaton's D sure gets after people and they'll get better as the season goes on. The conditions made it hard to make plays but the score was not indicative of how well Wheaton played. I don't know much about the rest of the CCIW but the Wheaton combination of a great ball-control running game and solid defense could make for a special season for the Thunder.

Another former Raider, Geoff Dartt is the offensive line coach at Wheaton. Somehow he didn't make the list in the Raider newsletter.

There was a great interview with Pierre on the NFL network this morning. Kid has "it" whatever "it" is. What a smile! Anyway, it was fairly lengthy and well done. It's been fun watching his career from Mount to now. Well done, Pierre!

Nice post SJFF82. I remember those games  and how that defense shut down Pierre. Interesting to see Mike Hart playing for the Colts too. I always thought Nate Kmic could've gotten a shot at the league simply because Hart did. I've stood next to both of them and Nate is as big, if not bigger than Hart and his equal as a football player.

Thoughts and prayers to A J Raebel and his family. That kid was a big, tough linebacker for UWW and gave the Raiders fits. Sad when a young kid has to face something like this.

As a U Toledo guy I can tell you all that LK's boys are doing a great job and have been a big part of a cultural change for the Rockets. As for the attendance at the Ut-Colorado game, high school football is really big in Toledo and there are only so many fans to go around. I was at the Toledo Central Catholic vs Mishawaka Penn game for a reunion gathering and there were probably 6,000 there.

Anyway, all us Rockets are glad to have some Mount Union guys coaching here.

I'm with Blutarsky, Bump the Mount experience is the best. Our son graduated in '07 and we've got enough Mount stuff to have a heckuva garage sale--but it's not for sale. Enjoy the experience. We still make a couple of games a year.

Truer words have never been spoken HS Coach. The mirror is not our friend post football.

No kidding! I even think he might've supplemented the eating with a beer or two. 

Hey Bump the switch from QB to tackle has happened at Mount recently. My kid went to Mount as a QB/TE then discovered the joys of eating and lifting as much as you want and, voila, an o-lineman was created.