FB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[Apone]

Scots . . . ouch fellas.  Looking ahead?

There seems to be a theme here.  Echoes of 2003 Oberlin can be heard in the distance.  Second time in three years Wooster has been knocked off by a 2nd tier team.

[Ryan Tipps]

Out of curiosity, is OWU still on the bubble for a possible Pool C bid?

If they win out the rest of the year, and Wabash wins the conference, that means O. Wesleyan's two losses would be to Wabash and to Thiel (who showed everyone last week how stong they are). Sounds like a good recipe to slide into the playoffs under the new expanded system. There could be some hidden factors that I not aware of, though.

[Apone]

Unfortunately for Wooster, Cingular's "carry-over" plan does not apply to the 84 points Wooster scored against Kenyon last year.  I bet they wish they could have brought the extra 63 points they didn't need last year to this years contest!

[bashbrother]

Ogden in from 12 yards out

Wabash 42
Oberlin 7

4th

[bashbrother]

anyone have a Witt score?  Denison?

[witt4ever]

Wittenberg 48
Earlham 0

final

[evacuee]

In all that talk, for the last 6 months, did anyone even consider that a top half team, be it any team, would/could drop one to Kenyon?

[smedindy]

No. No one would ever have thought any of the big 5 would lose to Kenyon.

If a 2-loss team makes pool "C" - it won't be from the NCAC.

[DarkSide-D]

Fresh from the Woo game, and here are my comments:

First, Congrats to the Lords.  They fought hard all game long, and they clearly wanted it more.  Alby Combs and Sanchez had, in my view, good games.  Combs made the middle of the defense look like, well, like it was not there.

On Wooster's part, I seriously hope that they were looking ahead to Wabash.  Poor execution in tackling killed Woo.  I know for a fact the the NO ONE teaches to tackle using only your shoulder pads.  There are some great players on Wooster's team, but if they don't employ basic fundamentals, talent doesn't mean squat!! 

Offensively, Wooster had moments where it looked like it wanted to play.  Dave Miller made some great plays, especially since this was his first action in a few games.  Bobby Reiff had some bad throws, and poor decisions that led to turnovers.  Bad snaps led to turn overs.  I realize that the weather was crappy, but Kenyon seemed to hold on to the ball just fine.

Like I said, Kenyon wanted the game more than Woo today.  This is a great win for Kenyon.  At least, it can be if they promote it properly.  Oberlin in '03 could only use a win of Woo to further their season.  Since then, they have returned to their old ways.  This could be a step in the right direction for Kenyon.  But enough of the humble pie, it makes me want to vomit!!  I have faith that next week against Bash, Woo will come out swinging.  All year long, Wooster has been thriving by the close game, today it bit them in the A$$.  If a team wants to win championships, it must leave no doubt that they are the better team after the game.  Hopefully, Woo will use this game as an example that they MUST play to their own level, not to that of the competition.

I love the comparison to the '03 season.  Perhaps this bloody nose is just what Wooster needs.  We need to remember that this teams Juniors have only four regular season losses, and this marks the first for the sophmores and firstyears.  They have known nothing but success.  Hopefully this will help show the way to play hard nose football, and not take teams too easy.  And hey, who knows, maybe it will lead to a championship.

There, I am off my soap box.  I'm going to go crawl under a rock for a couple days.

[OldPhart]

In all that talk, for the last 6 months, did anyone even consider that a top half team, be it any team, would/could drop one to Kenyon?

At the beginning of the year, I thought that a 2-3 or 3-2 Gheny might ONLY win by 2 scores with Kenyon.  But that brings up two issues 1) do you still consider Allegheny as upper half?  2) at this point I am sure the Gators are taking every game VERY seriously and they won't overlook Kenyon or Hiram. 

Seriously, I thought - and obviously was wrong - that the upper half was immune to both Kenyon and Hiram.  I still think they are Hiram-proof.  Even with the pups' win last week the top half is still Hiram-proof - isn't it ?  I will be VERY interested to see Wally's Allegheny/Kenyon line in the pick 'em this week.  The Gators SHOULD notch their first win. On the other hand, it has to be demoralizing to lose 4 VERY close  games ...

[wally_wabash]

Back from Hollett...

So-so from the LGs today.  Oberlin used a lot of motion and option type stuff that got them up and down the field pretty well.  Surprising that Wabash didn't defend it better given that they spent a week (or so) prepping for similar stuff from OWU.  Maybe this was a new look from Oberlin...I can't say for sure because I haven't seen Oberlin this year.  It was definitely different from the last time I saw the Obies in '03.  Anyway, they were able to move on the D which was kind of unsettling.  To be fair, Wabash didn't use Tamarco at all today (no idea why), Selby was out...a lot of younger guys got a lot of play on D today.  Despite being able to move the ball, Oberlin stalled once they crossed midfield and they were only able to manage the one touchdown.  Pynenberg is a stud...he filled the stat line today: 9 tackles (7 solo), 3.5 tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks, 1 INT, and 2 pass breakups.  That's a heckuva day.  

Offensively, Wabash looked fine when they had the ball (Oberlin did a nice job of playing keepaway).  Harbaugh made his first really bad throw of the year on the interception, but ended 21-30 for an even 300 yards and 3 TDs.  Another very solid day for him.  Ogden and Roop both ran well.  As if Wabash didn't have enough receiving threats already, TE Graham Nelson may have just emerged as another.  He's a huge target with good hands...2 tds for Graham today.  

Now on to Wooster.  Wooster's loss to Kenyon doesn't mean squat as it relates to next week's Wabash/Wooster game.  Wooster can still win out and hold the tiebreak over Wabash.  What's interesting right now is to consider Kenyon, and yes I'm being fairly serious about this, as a potential conference champion.  Kenyon's remaining schedule is: Allegheny, OWU, @ Earlham, @ Hiram, Denison.  If Kenyon can beat Wooster at Wooster, it's not out of the question to think that they can AT LEAST split with winless Gheny and OWU at home.  Then they get a couple of gimmes against an Earlham team that looks like they've packed it in, and Hiram.  Then they could be playing Denison, which won't be easy, at home in the final week for a potential conference championship.  It's not that crazy, fans, especially if the remaining games involving Wabash/Woo/Witt/Gheny/OWU knock everybody down to at least one loss.  

[wally_wabash]

OP...the top half is virtually immune to the bottom half.  In the last six years a team from the bottom half has beaten a team from the top half exactly once in almost 100 games...that was Oberlin beating Wooster in '03.  Who says lightning can't strike twice.  Really the situations are eerily similar...in '03, Wooster held Sutton out to rest an injury.  Were Wooster playing Witt/Wab/Gheny/OWU, Sutton would have played.  I don't know if Schafer could have gone today or not (I'd be interested to hear) but I notice he didn't play at all.  You would think Schmitz would have learned his lesson on this. 

Anyway, the point is the top half should never lose to the bottom half here, but these bottom half teams aren't so bad that if you don't come and play hard and take the game seriously you stand the chance of getting beat.  These teams aren't deep, but they have good athletes and if you let them stick around anything can happen. 

And yes, Allegheny is still upper half.  Until Allegheny starts getting beat by someone from the bottom, they'll be upper half.  They get their shot against the toast of the town next Saturday. 

[wabashcpa]

Congrats to KC for being closest on the tie-breaker - AND HE WAS STILL 46 YARDS SHORT!

176 yds for Coombs - WOW - kid's for real

Think the Scots were definitely guilty of looking ahead - don't expect the same from a Gator squad still searching for a victory.  Kenyon will not run the table in their conference slate this year.  But a good win nonetheless.

How do you beat Wooster and lose to Kalamazoo??? 

[wabashcpa]

Even if, for the sake of argument, Kenyon does go undefeated in conference - shouldn't the fact that they don't schedule Wittenberg or Wabash (haven't played either since 2002) play into a decision on a conference champion? 

[wally_wabash]

In '03 Kenyon opted out of their NCAC schedule, or at least the parts which included Wabash and Witt, which was weak.  Now that they're back, it's inaccurrate to say that they (Kenyon) don't schedule Wabash and Witt.  That schedule is set by the conference.  But to answer your question, no it doesn't play into the decision on who gets the NCAC's auto bid.