FB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[The_Bishop]

The_Bishop, aueagle...nice work out in Granville by your guys today.  Might have a spark there after all.  Do it again next week at Oberlin, have a little momentum when CWRU comes in under the lights.  Who knows what might happen there.  Glad to see the Bishops with some life tonight.

Thanks Wally, appreciate it.  The O looked fairly sharp tonight overall and the D was very solid against the run.  Similar game to the opener last year against Denison that OWU won.  OWU went on to play Witt extremely tough at home the following week but inexplicably regressed throughout the rest of the season.  Still lots of work to do but great start nonetheless.  Maybe this is our year to get our first W against the Little Giants in the NCAC era?

[wally_wabash]

The_Bishop, aueagle...nice work out in Granville by your guys today.  Might have a spark there after all.  Do it again next week at Oberlin, have a little momentum when CWRU comes in under the lights.  Who knows what might happen there.  Glad to see the Bishops with some life tonight.

Thanks Wally, appreciate it.  The O looked fairly sharp tonight overall and the D was very solid against the run.  Similar game to the opener last year against Denison that OWU won.  OWU went on to play Witt extremely tough at home the following week but inexplicably regressed throughout the rest of the season.  Still lots of work to do but great start nonetheless.  Maybe this is our year to get our first W against the Little Giants in the NCAC era?

Let's not get carried away now.   

Would have loved to see a Wabash/OWU game in 2001.  That would have been a very good game.  Back to 2012...if the Bishops can pile points with balance like they did tonight, that game on 10/27 may have a lot on the line for both squads. 

[The_Bishop]

Would have loved to see a Wabash/OWU game in 2001.  That would have been a very good game.  Back to 2012...if the Bishops can pile points with balance like they did tonight, that game on 10/27 may have a lot on the line for both squads.

That would have been a game for the ages.  I say those teams play 10 times and there's a good chance they split 10 very close games.  A win for OWU would have added much more credibility to a 9-1 season that was against a fairly soft schedule.  OWU has played Wabash really tough some years (can't remember the year, but in a tight game the Wabash RB - Lafitte (sp?) absolutely took control on a 4th quarter drive and was unstoppable) but other years Wabash D has completely snuffed out the OWU offense.

Let's hope the gap between the two teams has closed this year and we have a great game in late October.

[aueagle]

Official Stats: Espo was 34 of 46...302 yds...3 TDs
2900 at Piper Stadium

[Li'l Giant]

There will have growing pains in the meantime, though.

There will be some pains next Saturday at Witt. I'm not sure they will be of the "growing" variety however.

[formerd3db]

aueagle (and The_Bishop and bishopleftie and other OWU colleagues):

Congratulations on your OWU's win over the "Big Red".  Although apparently a close(er) game, still a good start for them.  Hopefully, they will continue on this positive mode, unlike my Hope, which faltered yesterday after a decent start the first weekend.

[aueagle]

Thought this was pretty cool...Leaving Selby, headed to Granville. Shows the entire 1st half...
But the first minute or so is worth a look. You can check-out the new helmets. GO BISHOPS

http://youtu.be/EiCKirRxdDc

[smedindy]

Someone at OWU needs to get the new helmet specs and logo to The Helmet Project.

[Bishopleftiesdad]

Thought this was pretty cool...Leaving Selby, headed to Granville. Shows the entire 1st half...
But the first minute or so is worth a look. You can check-out the new helmets. GO BISHOPS

http://youtu.be/EiCKirRxdDc

+1 like the video.

[wallyworld12]

Just now getting around to collecting my thoughts from Saturday. In a word, UGLY, but the most important stat is 1-0. Lots of things to work on, but have to get those Week 1 jitters out.

O-Line did not play well at all. Hanover was getting a lot of pressure up front, and as you all know, the running game was putrid. Going to need to get some production on that end.

Laird is really good, made a spectacular TD catch. Hildebrand is just a tough kid. Would like to see Kraus step up in the weeks to come.

It was nice to see Chase have the poise to put a drive together and score when Wabash really needed to. This game reminded me a lot of last year's win at Allegheny. Lots of things going poorly, penalties, etc. but the LGs found a way to score when it really counted.

That being said, think about how close Hanover was to being in a position to win the game. Dropped passes by the Eubanks kid, etc. Good to get out of there with a W. I was impressed by the play of QB Dexter Britt. Will be interesting to see if Hanover can compete in the HCAC this season.

Up next, a decent Denison squad. Coach Hatem has good talent in Paulus and Fiorini. LGs won 39-13 last season, but the score was 11-6 at halftime before an explosive 3rd quarter. Best wishes for a big win for Wabash before the home opener against the Gators.

Onward and upward...WAF!

[wabco]

Before we get back into NCAC football toweard the end of the week, A thought for discussion if it is worthy.  I went to the Grand Valley vs ND of Cleveland foiotball game last Satureday evening ... ND only has 3 years worth of kids on their roster (just started football 3 years ago) ... they had 640 yds of O and lost by a basketball score of something like 80+ to 40 +.  Their O is coached by Tony Neimeyer.  Fun to see him work with the kids.  ND had no defense and never stoipped GV.  Still 640 yds is an embarrassment for a team that likes to think it is a Div II champion.  But I wander.

Issue:  Hope and MIAA teams often recryuit their best players in the state of Michigan.  They make the point that the plethora of Div II schools in Michigan (including GV) also recruit in Michigan.  These Div II schools (as a recruiting tool to maximize the results of the allowable athletic scholarships( often split their athletic scholarships into 1/2s and the kids recruited ... then have the same bragging rights in their HS as those receiving whole scholarships ... "on a football scholarship to Grand Valley".  These same Div II schools are also local in Michigan and parents can see them play easily (another positive recruiting poiint).  Finally most of these Div IIs are state schools which ... combining the lower tuition (lower than private Div III schools) with local with athletic "bragging" scholarship righjts for a recipient and parent ability to slide over and see the yupoungster perform ... makes it very hard for schools like Albion or Hope - for instance - to compete in the football recruiting derby.  (Note ... I have stayed away from the difference in scholarship standards which I also believe is an active ingredient here).  NOW:  ND of Cleveland is a school new to football and to Div II.  The Div II league of which Grand Valley is a part has just this year expanded to have essentially an Ohio division (and I believe of teams new or pretty new to Div II).  Is this a sea change in Ohio recruiting about to impact the Witts, the Mounts, etc.?  The same has not impacted Wabash becasue of a numnber of reasons I do not think is germane to the subject.  Is this something which will shoretly impact Div III schools in Ohio in recruiting the better/best players?  It does not impact the lesser qualiity players as Div II is not after them.

[wally_wabash]

Good stuff, ww12.  Some thoughts...

Laird is really good, made a spectacular TD catch. Hildebrand is just a tough kid. Would like to see Kraus step up in the weeks to come.

I think you're going to see a really balanced distribution of receptions as we go along.  Kraus got one grab yesterday.  Next week he may be the guy that has 6 or 7.  Wabash has 4-5 good options at WR (including FR Eddie Cmehil who played well).  Kraus was about the only known quantity at WR for Wabash on Saturday, and maybe drew some more attention.  Kraus will make big plays for the LGs down the road.

It was nice to see Chase have the poise to put a drive together and score when Wabash really needed to. This game reminded me a lot of last year's win at Allegheny. Lots of things going poorly, penalties, etc. but the LGs found a way to score when it really counted.

We've seen this from Chase before.  Against Allegheny last year as you mentioned.  Had the clutch 4th quarter drive in the opener against Wooster last year to make that a two score game.  Another 4th quarter drive to squash the Oberlin comeback last year.  13 is starting to stockpile clutch drives when the team needs them. 

That being said, think about how close Hanover was to being in a position to win the game. Dropped passes by the Eubanks kid, etc. Good to get out of there with a W. I was impressed by the play of QB Dexter Britt. Will be interesting to see if Hanover can compete in the HCAC this season.

I think Hanover will do well in league play.  We don't really know what Franklin is at this point and they'll have to play that one on the road, but if they can beat MSJ on Saturday, I'd have to believe that they will play for a league title against Franklin in week 11. 

[wallyworld12]

I think Hanover will do well in league play.  We don't really know what Franklin is at this point and they'll have to play that one on the road, but if they can beat MSJ on Saturday, I'd have to believe that they will play for a league title against Franklin in week 11.
[/quote]

Which would make for a really good game vying for A bell, not to be confused with THE BELL as I like to remind my Hanover/Franklin compadres

[Dr. Acula]

Before we get back into NCAC football toweard the end of the week, A thought for discussion if it is worthy.  I went to the Grand Valley vs ND of Cleveland foiotball game last Satureday evening ... ND only has 3 years worth of kids on their roster (just started football 3 years ago) ... they had 640 yds of O and lost by a basketball score of something like 80+ to 40 +.  Their O is coached by Tony Neimeyer.  Fun to see him work with the kids.  ND had no defense and never stoipped GV.  Still 640 yds is an embarrassment for a team that likes to think it is a Div II champion.  But I wander.

Issue:  Hope and MIAA teams often recryuit their best players in the state of Michigan.  They make the point that the plethora of Div II schools in Michigan (including GV) also recruit in Michigan.  These Div II schools (as a recruiting tool to maximize the results of the allowable athletic scholarships( often split their athletic scholarships into 1/2s and the kids recruited ... then have the same bragging rights in their HS as those receiving whole scholarships ... "on a football scholarship to Grand Valley".  These same Div II schools are also local in Michigan and parents can see them play easily (another positive recruiting poiint).  Finally most of these Div IIs are state schools which ... combining the lower tuition (lower than private Div III schools) with local with athletic "bragging" scholarship righjts for a recipient and parent ability to slide over and see the yupoungster perform ... makes it very hard for schools like Albion or Hope - for instance - to compete in the football recruiting derby.  (Note ... I have stayed away from the difference in scholarship standards which I also believe is an active ingredient here).  NOW:  ND of Cleveland is a school new to football and to Div II.  The Div II league of which Grand Valley is a part has just this year expanded to have essentially an Ohio division (and I believe of teams new or pretty new to Div II).  Is this a sea change in Ohio recruiting about to impact the Witts, the Mounts, etc.?  The same has not impacted Wabash becasue of a numnber of reasons I do not think is germane to the subject.  Is this something which will shoretly impact Div III schools in Ohio in recruiting the better/best players?  It does not impact the lesser qualiity players as Div II is not after them.

I think it will have some impact, but not a ton.  Most of the new DII schools are former NAIA schools so they could already give athletic scholarships (albeit fewer than in DII).  The DIII's have been fighting that "you can be a scholarship player here" thing for years in Ohio.  Partial scholarships are partial scholarships.  The presence of an upper echelon DII program is what will hurt the Mounts and Witts.  You will lose kids to an Ashland perhaps, but I doubt they lose many to the also-ran DII's just because of partial rides.   

[BashDad]

Thanks for the recaps, Wally and Wally. I've learned more looking through the box-score and reading your posts than I could puzzle together from the stream. I hope Denison goes a little better, though I'm anxious to get back to those beautiful home broadcasts.

In other news, Coach Creighton's (non scholarship) Drake football team nearly beat the 4th ranked FCS team in the land on Saturday. You can read about it at godrakebulldogs.com