Did ONU fans see Saturday's game? I saw Williams had a great 1st half with around a 100 yards rushing, but I am not sure anything else about the game. Thanks!

Joelmama,

I am embarrassed to admit, my husband usually helps me post on the board, but I am at school so I thought I'd give it a try on my own.

Quote from: Pat Coleman on September 25, 2016, 03:44:23 PM

Quote from: bleedpurple on September 25, 2016, 03:33:14 PM

Quote from: Pat Coleman on September 24, 2016, 01:42:45 PM

Quote from: Dr. Acula on September 24, 2016, 07:39:44 AM

Quote from: bleedpurple on September 23, 2016, 11:26:55 PM
So Ricardo Johnson III is now at St. Olaf's and not even starting there? What in the world...?

St. Olaf's??  Didn't he just transfer to some D2 school closer to home earlier this year?  Maybe he changed his mind and never actually went there.

I don't know about St. Olaf but he was supposed to be going to Concordia-St. Paul, which is indeed D-II.

From the box score yesterday against Bethel, it looks like he came into the game with 12:09 remaining in the second quarter after the starting QB was sacked a couple of times on the previous drive (hopefully no injury). He put up some decent numbers.

According to the St. Olaf website: "The Oles' Ricardo Johnson III threw for 178 yards on 15-of-26 passing and Bryan Aviles scored a fourth quarter touchdown for St. Olaf (1-3, 0-2 MIAC)."

"Hope the kid finds what he's looking for. (Or maybe what the dad is looking for, if someone else is pulling the strings.)"

After we lost our first opening games, I have not wanted to be on the board this season, but Saturday the boys look much better! Regarding, Ricardo Johnson III (my 2nd favorite player last year...its a bit of a story and my students will be back in 20 mins.) Johnson has stayed in contact with a lot of his ex-teammates at ONU. He did transfer to Concordia St. Paul, but it wasn't just to be closer to home, he and Coach Schmitz had such a bad relationship that Coach Paul interviewed several players on the team reviewing Schmitz's negative behavior toward Johnson. After one semester at Concordia, Johnson interned at Charles Schwab, somewhere out west, this summer. After the internship he decided he wanted to go to a more academically rigorous school and transferred to St. Olaf, terrible at football, but a fabulous academic institution. (I guess that shoots down the "controlling Dad" argument). Johnson joined the school the week of their first game, so presumably he's still learning the offense. There are a lot of ONU players, coaches and fan(s) (me) that wish he was still in Ada, but I believe Will to be a great alternative and he still a young guy. After losing Price, Magazine and Johnson from last year's team, I knew there would be an adjustment, but I like the Williams kid and once our guys get a little more experience under their belts I think we will be just fine! Back to grading papers!! 

ONU all time receiver leader, Devon Price, performed well at NFLPA Collegiate Bowl ok Saturday!! I also read that ONU brought n 21 recruits this weekend looking o build upon last year's success.

Good news and bad news from my ONU. The good news is that this is my last post about my favorite QB Ricardo Johnson III. The bad news is that I just heard that he has transferred away from ONU because he and O-Coordinator Schmitz did not get along. Sad loss, the kid was an honor student and still very popular with his ex-teammates. Apparently the entire team knew about this skism. Btw Freed is currently academically Ineligible. I have no idea how we went from two promising QBs to none. Sad news for a great guy like Coach Paul.

Quote from: reality check on November 21, 2015, 08:22:39 PM
Great win for the Polar Bears.  This team has grown so much as the season has progressed.  Had they laid an egg, there would have been more talk of how they should have never been in to begin with.  A win validates their inclusion.  And they are playing with house money.  Go Bears!

And BillyRay, if my records are right, you owe me like 7 dozen wings at this point.

I was coaching at a girls basketball tourney all day and evening. Just got home and wanted to see what the OAC elder council had to say about today's win. Reality, as usual I completely agree on both your takes. The win validated the committee's choice and they will enter next week with nothing to lose. I also hope that residually this will confirm that the OAC has teams  and fanbases that will travel and win for future NCAA committee consideration.

We have a team well suited for this time of year with the three headed monster Johnson/Magazine/Price the latter appears to have been used in the run game today, which is great!

Enjoy the win today because it will be tough sledding for us next week! Thanks to the Joelmama for doing a great job posting updates!!! 

Quote from: reality check on November 19, 2015, 10:48:20 PM
LadyBear

Your response was solid.  The analysis was pretty much on point and I think that Johnson does give the Bears a dual threat that has in turn opened things up even more for Magazine.  I still disagree on Price.  He was just fine in the 5.5 games he played with Freed versus the 4.5 games he played with Johnson.  He had 151 yards on 6 catches in the first half of the CAP game that Freed got hurt in.  Johnson handed him the ball a couple times in the second half but didn't complete pass to Price in that second half. 

That said, the offense seemed to really find itself once Johnson took over.  They were doing well in the first half of the season but kicked it up a notch in the scoring department under Johnson which has made a huge difference in scoring.

Reality Check,

Don't tell my husband, but you made a lady smile! 

I would also say as a fan of the program I am concerned that the Bears are going to be challenged to keep two talented young QB's. Otterbein's HC said Johnson could start for any team in the OAC and I think the same is true for Freed.

I would not be surprised if next year's roster has one of them off of it.

ps. I also wanted to mention when reviewing stats to Price. Johnson has not finished one game, where Freed played the entirety of every game he started (the Mount game was particularly peculiar that they wouldn't rotate Johnson in being down so far). RJIII (it's my party and I'll abbreviate if I want to) has been pulled usually early to midway through the 3rd period which makes his stats particularly impressive. I believe Freed prefered throwing to Allen because of Allen's size and his routes are early on the progression, where Johnson does not fear waiting for the route to develop for Price. I will agree to disagree on that point. Thanks again!!

Quote from: reality check on November 19, 2015, 12:55:03 AM
Ladybear

We remember how much you loved RJIII in the pre-season.  Price had 3 100 yard games with Freed and 3 100 yard games with Johnson.  He averaged 7 catches a game from Freed and about 7.7 receptions a game under Johnson.

Yes Johnson gives the QB position a real threat on the ground but Price was doing just fine when Freed was taking the snaps.  Magazine seems to have benefited the most from Johnson being at QB.  That I can agree on.  His two 200 yard games on the season have come with Johnson at the helm.

Reality Check,

I first want to say that I check in here often to get yours and others take on the program because while I have been around football my whole life, I don't follow our program as closely as you, so this isn't a rebuttal - it's just my take.

I mentioned in an earlier post that, admittedly, I was excited about the prospect of Johnson in the preseason, but after personally watching Freed in the first game, I fully supported the decision to place him at starter. After following subsequent games I found Freed to be limited in his pocket movement/awareness and seemingly locked on his first read, which usually was Allen, but I was following online/radio, so again I was fine.

I attended the Halloween game at ONU and (quality of competition notwithstanding) Johnson has more tools, seems to have a greater IQ relative to his decision making and his mobility has significantly reduced the 3 and outs we regularly saw from Freed.

To say the Price has accomplished the same thing with Johnson in half the time he accomplished with Freed is my point exactly.

Now, I think this discussion is like do you watch Grey's Anatomy or Law and Order (my two all time favorite shows:)). Both QB's have performed well, but Freed's inability to score in redzone situations is concerning to me. Even in the game I attended I think he had 431 yards of passing yards, but only netted 21 points. ONU is 100% is redzone scoring since Johnson took the helm. Defenses have to spy RJIII which creates mismatches all over the field.

All that said, it my belief that when Freed is healthy he will once again be the starter, I am not exactly sure why, but that's what I think.

Quote from: reality check on November 18, 2015, 10:17:57 PM
Freed has been hurt.  Was injured mid-game as was described.  He's practicing again.  I don't know if that means Franklin prepares for both or not as they are very different quarterbacks. 

Luckily, spurrier doesn't speak for all polar bears.

Johnson is a more complete QB. Price numbers went through the roof once Johnson was inserted and while he does a good job going through his progressions, his running threat has opened up great opportunities for Magazine.

Quote from: reality check on November 16, 2015, 10:17:09 AM
While I am very pleasantly surprised about ONU's inclusion, I am also intrigued by the team that heads into the playoffs.  QB Will Freed had some very good moments in the first half of the season but the offense really seemed to discover its identity in the last couple of weeks.  Offensively, the Bears have averaged 51 PPG in the second half of the season.  Obviously Mount did a number on them but even the four other first half games, the Bears were only averaging 30 PPG.  Hopefully they continue to ride this wave into the playoffs.

I saw the first game of Freed and was incredible to see all the bombs he was throwing!! He had trouble converting in the red zone, but it look like there wasn't a throw he couldn't make. So I was fine with the choice of Freed over Johnson. I then went to the Halloween game and saw Johnson put on a show. Throwing and running he looked unstoppable; 3 TD's throwing/3 TD's rushing 341 yards and backed it up with 365 yards the next week. We couldn't decide if it was the level of the team he was facing or if he was simply that more talented. My husband said everyone has played those teams and no one else put up those numbers, but I think this weekend will give us a good look at RJIII. Thoughts?

http://www.onusports.com/sports/fball/2015-16/releases/20151102lmtmo9

I have been off the board so long I am unsure how to post , but I did get a chance to see ONU play last night, at least until it began to pour, and WOW, not sure what the ending stats were, but they looked great!!

I just received my first negative Karma hit! 

Our boys are heading to Adrian for a scrimmage on Friday. I am excited to hear how it goes!!

Quote from: Dr. Acula on August 23, 2015, 10:27:29 AM

Quote from: bleedpurple on August 22, 2015, 11:45:37 PM

Quote from: wally_wabash on August 21, 2015, 12:40:50 PM

But please don't pretend that they are playing from the same deck of cards as the rest of the division.

I guess that's life, isn't it?  No two entities in any league or avenue of life play from exactly the same deck, do they?  I'm unsure why that is so bemoaned on these boards regarding D-III football. Why would anyone expect D-III football to be the only exception on the face of the earth?

D3 is the catch all.  There are so many factors at play.  Look just within the OAC.  I'm sure Musky wishes for recruiting purposes they were located in a nice metro area like Cap/Ott/BW/JCU.  I'm sure Berg would like to have engineering, pharmacy, a law school, etc. to offer recruits like ONU does.  Wilm probably wouldn't mind having an endowment like JCU (10 times larger). 

There are always going to be differences.  The one common thing is that coaches seem to be the biggest factor.  Berg was awful.  Hallett shows up and they win playing on a glorified practice field for home games.  Mount has always supported athletics.  They hire Fuline and all of a sudden the hoops program goes from middling to winning the OAC.  We see programs at OAC schools nationally relevant and we rightfully credit the coaches.  I don't see why Leipold or someone like Jack Bennett would be less deserving of credit.

Great take! I completely agree!

Quote from: reality check on August 23, 2015, 12:07:42 AM

Quote from: HScoach on August 22, 2015, 04:28:43 PM

Quote from: LadyBear on August 21, 2015, 01:27:31 PM
I had family visit campus yesterday and I was told we might want to temper our national championship hopes. RJ3, I was told, looked amazing, but and  I will quote, " He's a Nascar engine with no car around him." Still early, so I will still keep my fingers crossed.

Welcome to Ada, Mr Nascar.  It's been nearly 20 years since ONU had the playmakers to be a serious threat.    He should have brought some receivers with him.

ahem, 15 years.

Went to some high school games tonight, but I did want to say if Devon Price is healthy, he is as talented as any weapon in D3 football and Justin Magazine is a very talented back. While I am really impressed with RJ3's film, this is still a new offense he's learning and he will not have the time to learn it that he did in High School and at his JUCO, so I basically saying I have no idea how good we are going to be.