FB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[wally_wabash]

Another karma hit??  Who's the rogue Witt sympathizer?  Or maybe it's somebody with a soft spot for punters...   

[Li'l Giant]

You ought to be happy it's not negative anymore. Of course, it's only Tuesday...

[nike]

So Wooster is pretty much out of the playoffs at this point.  I guess all the people who said Sutton would be very,very,very hard to replace were right. Bottom line, Wooster has no running game. Is Tinsley hurt or were the early games flukes? The offensive line is very talented, but still no running game.
Saw where OWU'S quarterback carried the ball 27 times against Denison Saturday. OWU people-is that a misprint?
Is he the best rusher on the team? Lot of carries for a quarterback.
Have two NCAC teams ever made the playoffs or is that just impossible?

[buffettfan1963]

In 2002 Witt and Wabash both made the playoffs. Tinsley is no longer a running back.

[smedindy]

OWU's offense is such that Sir Louis can have a lot of carries. The Wing-T allows for a lot of QB options.

Wabash and Witt both made the playoffs in 2002 - it's quite plausible.

[smedindy]

Here's my latest power rating compendium - taking three sets of power ratings, adding a swirl of strength of schedule, my own component, and putting in a crock pot for 6 - 8 hours.

18. Wabash
62. Ohio Wesleyan
71. Wittenberg
82. Wooster
115. Denison
147. Kenyon
176. Oberlin
184. Allegheny
206. Earlham
207. Hiram


(BB16 - Coe is 14th! Wartburg is 29th!  )

Now is Allegheny as bad of a team as Guilford and Benedictine? No, but 0-6 is 0-7 and Massey has them at 171.

[wally_wabash]

Two losses has never been good enough to win the conference, and it really doesn't look like two losses will be good enough this year.  As such, you can pretty much count out any two-loss team.  So Wooster, Allegheny, Hiram, Denison, Earlham, and Oberlin are out. 

Who's left? 

OWU - OWU is 2-1.  OWU's best chance, it would seem, is to win out and have Witt beat Wabash.  That would set up a probable three-way tie situation between one loss Wabash, Witt, and OWU.  Then you dive into the top secret tiebreaker and who knows what could happen.  With each of those three teams having just one loss, all to one another, each with the winning team winning on the road, that tiebreak seems like it could be headed for a Rose Bowl Rule situation, in which case OWU could get the bid. 

Kenyon - Can only get in via the AQ and that can only happen if they win out.  That possibility becomes pretty real if they get by OWU Saturday. 

Witt - The Tigers are four games away.  The biggest and most difficult of those games would appear to be this Saturday at Wabash.  After one bye week and three virtual bye weeks, we'll see if Witt has shored up that defense enough to hang with the LGs. Lose to Wabash and it's pretty much all over for Witt as they would need Wabash to lose to both Allegheny and Denison to close the NCAC season, and that isn't going to happen. 

Wabash - Wabash has one real tester left which is this Saturday vs. Witt.  Lose that game, and Wabash is probably out of the AQ race (barring the OWU/Wab/Witt tri-champ situation described above).  Win, and Wabash would need just one win against either Allegheny or Denison to seal the deal (if OWU takes care of business on Saturday). 

[Old Buzzard 55]

Nike: "Saw where OWU'S quarterback carried the ball 27 times against Denison Saturday. OWU people-is that a misprint? Is he the best rusher on the team? Lot of carries for a quarterback."

SmedIndy: "OWU's offense is such that Sir Louis can have a lot of carries. The Wing-T allows for a lot of QB options."

Sir Louis did not play for OWU vs Denison last Saturday. Quarterback was Hymes, and he was very good running the keeper off the Wing-T option to his right. Passing was just enough to keep defense honest. No word on Sir Louis other than speculation at local Delaware watering holes. He was not listed as a participant (stats posted at Denison's web site).

[smedindy]

Sorry, I just assumed it was Sir Louis. But in any event, OWU's offense is such that a QB can run like that.

[David Collinge]

Now is Allegheny as bad of a team as Guilford and Benedictine? No, but 0-6 is 0-7...

Hmmm.  I think I may have spotted a flaw in your algorithm. 

[Liftit]

  Hymes, the OWU qb , I believe is a transfer from Witt. The second half it seemed that the coach was afraid to hand off , avoid turnovers. He had a   great game and bailed them out with several scrambles. The other runners were shut down in the second half . OWU defense very well against the run , but were poor against the pass , the 2nd int. was very much a gift. The 1st INT was the QB locking in on a receiver 2 plays in a row and well played by Sherman.                                 

[Liftit]

First report I heard on Sir Louis was he still had stitches in the chin from previous game , Hymes may keep the job though.

[DarkSide-D]

Nike,

The lack of running game for Wooster is that it has no running style offense.  For some reason, the staff decided to switch to a spread offense with only one running back.  If I remember correctly, this new offense first appeared around the Case game.  I think they believe that Schafer is the new Sutton.  Its a shame too, because Wooster has some talented kids to play the position of RB.  Yes, they are no Sutton.  But Tinsley, Anderson, and Sheppard seemed to have been doing a decent job when the Offense allowed them to run the ball.  Especially since they were all fighting for a starting spot.

[Liftit]

Actually , after thinking about the game. Denison's O-line did an excellent job against the OWU defense. QB had time . So , I am going to change my statement about OWU pass defense being poor , Denison was playing well.

[nike]

27 carries is still IMO too many carries for a quarterback unless he is built like superman.  Too many chances of getting hurt. I am assuming Sir Louis got hurt running the ball. You gotta have a running game.  Harbaugh is a great passer, but they ran the ball on Wooster enough to keep Wooster's defense guessing. And it was not Harbaugh running.  He ran 4 times for 0 yards, but his running backs had over 150 yards rushing.
I do not understand Wooster's changing offense, when as DarkSide-D said early on they were running pretty effectively.