Last year at this time, the Johnnies had a 4.5 point lead over GAC. The Gusties have the edge in Tennis (going for their 36th consecutive regular season championship). Bethel is going to be the favorite to win the outdoor track & field championship. Johnnies should be in the hunt for second or third at a minimum. Gusties are 10-0 in their non-conference baseball schedule and the Johnnies are 4-2.

Keys to Gusties taking home the Durenberger: Tennis has to take care of business, improve the gap with in T&F over indoor performance (can't finish 7th like at Indoor), baseball could be the toss-up that decides it all.

Keys to Johnnies keeping the Durenberger at home: Tennis needs a respectable showing (no worse than 5th), T&F needs a 2nd place or better finish, win the toss-up that is baseball.

Here are the Durenberger Trophy standings as we close the winter sports season and enter the home stretch:

Quote from: OzJohnnie on February 25, 2025, 10:51:44 PMBartch signed a one-year contract with the 49ers.  If he can win the starting job, he'll be up for a big fat free-agency deal.  What a great opportunity.  Good luck to him.

Crazy to think that after next year Bartch will have played in the NFL longer than he did at SJU.

Where I was going with my statement is that we, as a conference, want schools like CSS, Macalester, Hamline to go out and have a good non-conference showing, and then be able to hang a little bit closer in the conference games. We all poo-pooed Carleton for decades, but they have had some good seasons and played some good Johnnie teams close (See 2008, 14-10 last second Johnnie victory). That's my hope for CSS--be good enough to at least give us a scare once every decade. Don't make me wonder if I should take the Johnnies to cover when AO's line is at CSS +60.5. Let's hope CSS can get to a point where AO's line is CSS +35.5. That's at least a step in the right direction and not completely unrealistic.

*Nov. 22, 2014 Home W, 35-7 (NCAA first round)
Sept. 3, 2016 Home W, 49-7
Sept. 2, 2017 Home W, 98-0
#Oct. 30, 2021 Home W, 81-0
#Oct. 29, 2022 Away W, 56-6
#Oct. 28, 2023 Home W, 62-7
#Nov. 2, 2024 Away W, 70-0

Quote from: DuffMan on February 17, 2025, 09:59:50 PMMike Heffernen stepped down as CSS's head coach to return to his alma mater.

Heffernen steps down

Hopefully they can get someone in there to take the program to the next level.
I like winning games, but we need to get the MIAC more competitive top to bottom. Watching SJU throttle CSS every year by 60+ isn't good for anyone. CSS raising their game helps the whole conference.

Quote from: carletonknights on January 19, 2025, 10:17:54 AMAnyone planning to watch the national championship on Monday? Curious to see if Notre Dame makes it close or if this Ohio State team truly is in a class of their own this year

I consider myself a Notre Dame fan. I'll be watching. Ohio State is excellent, no doubt, but not invincible. Go Irish!

Blake Elliott headed to the College Football Hall of Fame:

https://gojohnnies.com/news/2025/1/15/sjus-elliott-to-take-his-place-in-college-football-hall-of-fame.aspx

I tell everyone I meet that I am a "Recovering Minnesotan."

I was born there, grew up there, went to college there, but now I've been "in recovery" since 2007. I had a short seven month relapse after getting out of the Army in 2012.

The Vikings have been dead to me since the love boat scandal back in the mid-00s. Sometimes I actively cheer against them ("anybody but the Vikings") but lately I have become indifferent to even actively cheering against them.

While on paper this was a great Viking team in terms of win-loss record (definitely a top five team since 2000), it didn't feel to me like my die-hard Viking fan friends from college had that much emotional investment in the team. Is the entire state becoming that jaded?

Quote from: BDB on January 03, 2025, 08:09:09 AMI feel sorry for that Georgia kid. Here he is all excited to be at the Sugar Bowl, although not suited he's got his jersey on and is right there with the team.

Next thing he gets in the way of a ref on the sideline and a huge play turns into just a nice gain after penalty.

TV did him no favors by zooming in on him a couple times and saying his name and hometown. Wasn't long he was the #1 trend on X.

It was definitely a penalty and needed to be called. But I feel bad for the kid. He's in the Bartman/Cubs zone now.

My football crew was texting during the game and joked that one of our linesman would have likely knocked out the kid with his elbow because he's tall and runs with his elbows up for the express purpose of protecting himself from unauthorized persons in the restricted area.

I ran over a new head coach once. Poor guy (kid?) was about 5'5". He was a wrestler so it was like hitting a pile of bricks. I'm surprised it didn't blow out my knees.

My favorite part of the play from the Sugar Bowl was the slow motion shot where you could lip read Kirby Smart yelling at his sideline to "get the f*** back!"

Quote from: DuffMan on December 23, 2024, 03:14:43 PMWhy not play the semifinals and championship on the same day?  Just start both semis at noon, then the winners play each other at 7:00, after they get some dinner in the teams.
Also, since the officials seem to ask be buffoons, play it sans officiating.

Or maybe we could get robots to officiate?

Quote from: DuffMan on December 23, 2024, 03:14:43 PMWhy not play the semifinals and championship on the same day?  Just start both semis at noon, then the winners play each other at 7:00, after they get some dinner in the teams.
Also, since the officials seem to ask be buffoons, play it sans officiating.

Just play it on the honor system: each team calls their own fouls.

Quote from: MIAC23 on December 18, 2024, 03:10:30 PM99.9% of the officials I've encountered have arrogance levels off the charts....

Officials are the worst. Tar and feather every last one of 'em!

Quote from: sju56321 on December 20, 2024, 05:16:20 PMSJU flag at ND, as shown on game day. Maybe Tmerton?

There's a young fella named Tom Ellis from Sartell that's studying down at Notre Dame. He graduated from SJU this past May. He and some other D3 guys (several from Wabash) tailgate before the Notre Dame games and show their D3 colors.

I told my wife when we were engaged that the only way we were having a fall wedding is if it were during a Johnnie bye week. Luckily, she is also a football fan. We had a June wedding.

Quote from: DuffMan on December 05, 2024, 10:04:56 PMEmma17, that's always a concern of mine, but they just always seem to make it work.  I was super worried last weekend with arctic temps, but they made me a believer, again.  Our OC was a record breaking WR at NDSU and then played in the NFL, so he likes to run a wide open offense.
They use the short passing game much like a running game.

That piece about the short pass game is spot on. It's the old west coast offense.

I was excited when the first scoring drive of the second half for SJU in the UWL game was run heavy. I was impressed with Bohmert. Great speed and vision.