FB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[Bh101]

Anyone else interested in seeing the Monmouth/Wabash storyline played out in dramatic fashion come playoff time?

[bashbrother]

It will be interesting......the AQ from the Midwest conference has been getting beat pretty good in their first round games......The West Region is pretty stacked this year...... The conference has drawn...UW lacrosse, St. Johns & Wartburg recently in the first round.

The chance of them actually making their way through the bracket to actually face Wabash may be rather slim depending on how the bracket is set up.

[Bh101]

I guess I was hoping more for the chance that they be shipped our way.

[nike]

Former3db,
Heck yes they are improving.
Last year Kenyon won 2 games and I think one conference game. Against OWU they were yelling and screaming before the game cause they KNEW they had a chance to win. Plus there were a lot of fans there, even though the weather was not the greatest. If Coombs had not gotten hurt, oh well.
What that did though was make Sanchez run more and make bad throws. Kenyon's offense put their defense in a bad way a lot regarding field position.
Thinking about it, both quarterbacks had little patience or savy. What I mean is, Harbaugh, who is a senior, never took off running against Wooster, trying to make something happen.  He would find his receivers quickly, or throw it away, never taking huge losses or throwing ill advised passes. Both quarterbacks in the OWU-Kenyon game, especially Sanchez, were trying to make big plays. Harbaugh is so efficient and error free. A lot of OWU's points were the result of the offense having such great field position all day, compliments of Kenyon's offense unable to move the ball or turnovers. I'm off the subject.
Kenyon is young and will have experienced skill players back next year, including Coombs and Sanchez. Plus they will play the big dogs.  And I bet they get a few more student-athletes who can play, but did not want to play for a losing program.
LOOK OUT!!!!!!!!

[bashbrother]

bh101 -

I don't know how that works, but it would be good theatre if Bash and Monmouth met.

[bashbrother]

Nike -

A check of the Conference schedule for the Lords through 2007, shows they do not play all the "Big Dogs"  Wabash and Witt any of those years.... They play the same schedule they had this year.

I agree that Kenyon is definatley heading in the right direction and the run they made this year was exceptional.  Having most of their stars back next year will only create a bigger buzz around the team in the off-season.  I'm sure that many of the players would want to change the schedule to play Wabash and/or Witt.   It's sad they will probably not get to unless they play one of them past the first round of the playoffs.

I just saw that they will play Wabash in 2008 & 2009, but do not play Witt until sometime after that

[smedindy]

I don't think Monmouth will be shipped North. I still think, despite what others think, that Whitewater will be the team IF they run the table in the WIAC and St. John's, Linfield, and Oxy also TCB.

[nike]

My mistake. Too bad.

[wally_wabash]

The North region has 6 conferences that get AQ's.  The OAC and CCIW look like they may get Pool C bids.  That's 8 teams in the North.  Who gets moved out to make room for WW?  I just don't think there's space in the North for WW.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Wally,

But would there be room in the east or south for a north team to get moved?

Odds are, if UW-WW gets shifted, there will be AT LEAST one or two other teams moved.

[wally_wabash]

I count 9 teams from the south that have a good shot of getting in: The 5 AQs, plus Wesley, Thiel, W&J, and UMHB.  The South HAS to move a team and it makes more sense to move one of the Pennsylvania schools to the East than it does to move an Ohio team east.  Doesn't it? 

[smedindy]

Wesley, Thiel or W & J can go East easily, really.

[BashBacker#16]

I HOPE we would get Monmouth!  I'd rather play them then any of the teams in the North region as it sits.  Storyline aside, Bash would roll them!!!  Do they have a defense???  Harbaugh would blow Tanney off the field because of the differences in defenses.  Not to say they would not put up points I would be very happy with that matchup.

On another topic, I now think Pynenberg should  get strong run for D player of the year...McConnell has him on total tackles but Adi blows him away in tackles for loss and sacks.  McConnell has 1 TFL.

[KC]

As much as I like and respect McConnell, I don't think there is any way he should win player of the year.  From what I've seen, he's not the same player he was before the knee injury.  He was never very fast, and now he's slower.  The tackle numbers he puts up are still amazing, but they are coming from heart and hustle.  He's making plays downfield because of great pursuit, but he's not making plays at or behind the line of scrimmage, as the TFL's show.  That he's being mentioned now shows the politics of these awards, he's being considered now because Kenyon is doing better, even though this isn't his best year.  I'd love to see him win it, and he might, but that doesn't mean he should.

[smedindy]

Well, since no one from the Big Red deigns to post, here's my look at them.

They can score - BUT Case and Witt basically shut them down.

They do give up some points - 31 to OWU and 26 to Oberlin.

Fred Lee averages 4.3 yards per carry.  He had 171 yards against Oberlin. Larry Capetto, their QB, rushed for 83 against Oberlin and 82 against Earlham. Containing him is a key.

Frank Roe is their go-to receiver. Shut him down and you take away a lot of their passing game, though Andrew Pace caught six passes against OWU and led the team against Oberlin.

Rob Hackett and Chris Kuntz look to be their best defensive players. They have picked off 20 passes, but 8 of those were against Hiram.