FB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[Li'l Giant]

'Tis the season for fact checking.... 

Okay....

the nationally relevant, top tier, 300-lb gorilla

That's only a slightly above average sized gorilla. 

[Schwami]

Now here is something I never thought I'd see . . . there are four Indiana schools in this week's regional rankings (more even than Ohio!) . . . and DePauw isn't one of them 

[wally_wabash]

the nationally relevant, top tier, 300-lb gorilla

That's only a slightly above average sized gorilla. 

Perhaps you prefer a guinea saurus rex?

[usee]

Marks was great and Wabash was flat....... that was the story of last year IMO.

This year, if Wabash comes out flat again, they may lose again.   In a rivalry game, there is so much emotion and so much build up before the game, that the team that plays with more emotion has a great shot. 

As an outsider, I am not sure how you reconcile the two statements above? I have seen it said a couple of times now "Wabash was flat" in reference to a Depauw game. I simply do not understand how that can be true in a game between bitter (emphasis on bitter) rivals. Maybe I don't understand the definition of flat? 

[Li'l Giant]

Perhaps you prefer a guinea saurus rex?

[wally_wabash]

That's the one.   

[WAF78]

Well Usee,
It's a funny thing about kids who are 18-22...they can start believing their own press and they can become over confident...Wabash was undefeated and had already secured a playoff birth. Like it or not...they knew no matter if they won or lost they would be playing the next week in the playoffs. That in itself can take the sharp edge off. DePauw was playing for their season...no playoffs and to beat an unbeaten Wabash team would make their season. Also, Wabash had beaten DPU 5 out of the last 6 times. DePauw had a good team last year...finished 8-2. They simply rose to the occasion on that day...Wabash did not. The fact that the score was so close was a testament to how good Wabash was last year. They played their worst game of the year and still only lost by 3...and that on a last second field goal. 
In my four years at Wabash, I think the best team won three years out of four (just my opinion)  However, as has already been attested...that's not always the case. Emotion, desire, heart...especially in football...are many times the deciding factor....especially when two teams are close to one another in talent...and sometimes even when they're not. So...maybe it's not so much that Wabash was flat (though they played like they were)...but that DePauw was just a lot more stoked. And...when you play with more fire in the gut, with more heart and more emotion...you end up beating teams who play with less.
Now...I can't speak for today...but the hatred between the two schools used to be palpable. I remember playing my freshman year and on the first play of the game...the hitting was unlike any other game that year...at least from my perspective. So...in an atmosphere like that...when one team thinks they're better than the other one...and has maybe less emotion, less focus and are a bit cocky and overconfident, ...or they simply aren't as sharp...it's easy to look flat compared to the team who is totally focused, fired up and hungry.

[bashbrother]

Marks was great and Wabash was flat....... that was the story of last year IMO.

This year, if Wabash comes out flat again, they may lose again.   In a rivalry game, there is so much emotion and so much build up before the game, that the team that plays with more emotion has a great shot. 

As an outsider, I am not sure how you reconcile the two statements above? I have seen it said a couple of times now "Wabash was flat" in reference to a Depauw game. I simply do not understand how that can be true in a game between bitter (emphasis on bitter) rivals. Maybe I don't understand the definition of flat? 

WAF78 -

Thanks for communicating this better for me.   Flat may not have been the correct word.   I do know that Coach ER wants to win his first Bell Game.  He will have them ready.

[usee]

That makes sense. I suppose using your analysis, since The Little Giants no longer have the bell, any complacency that existed last year should be gone. I would think the desire to get the bell back is enough to keep the fire in the belly for 4 quarters.

[Schwami]

That makes sense. I suppose using your analysis, since The Little Giants no longer have the bell, any complacency that existed last year should be gone. I would think the desire to get the bell back is enough to keep the fire in the belly for 4 quarters.

Hearing the bell ringing from the other side of the field will only add fuel to the fire!

[Fripp52]

Let's be clear on what happened last year.  Wabash was beat hands down.  I sat in the end zone and watched how bad the DPU o-line physically beat and beat up Wabash's d-line.  I watched their heads down and hands on their hips from about the third quarter on.  Be glad Pynenburg contributed 19 tackles, cause it could have gotten ugly.  But, he did and that kid was a warrior.  There is no stat from that game that indicates that Wabash was close other than the score.  Again, be glad they completed 3 long passes that accounted for almost 50% of their total offense and their 3 scores.  I give Wabash credit though.  I told my son that a game like that could hangover a team and carry into the first playoff game.  Wabash recovered nicely.  Wabash wasn't flat.  They were beaten.

[BashBacker#16]

Schwami,

Have you been to a Monon Bell game yet?  If not, any chance you could make C-ville this year on November 15?

WAF78 - that may be a record, that is your 2nd consecutive post that I actually agree with.  You passed Smeds.  

Fripp52 - 1 question:  Can you honestly look yourself in the mirror (even though you are 2-5 in the last 7 Bell games) and say to yourself..."DePauw is an equal football program (on the same level) to Wabash, its only because they are in the NCAC and we are in the SCAC."  (sorry 2nd question:  When was the last time you were ranked in the top 25?)  I don't even have to go to the Jim Mora..."Playoffs?  Playoffs?"

[wabashcpa]

Now here is something I never thought I'd see . . . there are four Indiana schools in this week's regional rankings (more even than Ohio!) . . . and DePauw isn't one of them 

If they were, would they be in the North or South?

[DadofBashWarrior..]

'Tis the season for fact checking.... 

Okay....

the nationally relevant, top tier, 300-lb gorilla

That's only a slightly above average sized gorilla. 

Very nice...

[smedindy]

As for the rest of the conference, there isn't anything Wabash can do.  Ohio Wesleyan has been an above average team in the past but for whatever reason is in the tank.  Other schools like Oberlin, Hiram, Earlham (champions of the D-IV movement), Kenyon, and Denison (although Denison is improving) just don't seem particularly interested in having great football teams and I think  frankly that, and especially with those schools in Ohio, that there just isn't enough local resources so that everybody can be awesome all the time (for example, Hiram has apparently adopted a policy of heading to the southeast to recruit...they can't mine enough players from Ohio to have a chance). 

Having worked at Oberlin recently, it's not that they DON'T want a competitive football team, they just don't want to change or skew their normal admissions footprint.

Oberlin, Kenyon, and Denison are much more national in admissions than Wabash, Wooster, Witt or OWU. They truly focus on recruiting students from all 50-states. In asking questions about Oberlin's alumni for some info I was gathering, they really don't have a strong alumni base in Ohio, even in Cleveland. Asked why, it's because the majority of their students come from states other than Ohio.