FB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[BashDad]

Does anyone have info from camp?

[wally_wabash]

There's an important issue sort of percolating under the surface here...Catdome.  I'm looking at pictures of Maxwell Field and I'm certain that we shouldn't be calling it a dome.  There is no roof over that field.  You could call it The Cathouse or Cat Box- both are acceptable alternatives.  But Catdome is right out.

I've made this point before and been shouted down. I figure it's just a regional thing. I know what a dome is, but it must mean something else in Linfield. If they weren't so darn good year after year I'd consider the Litter Box but it's just hard to make it stick when they are consistently kicking rear...

I'm from Oregon, so I can't let that go.  We're better than that.   

Does anyone have info from camp?

I haven't heard a ton BD, but then again I've been busy enough that I haven't had a ton of time to seek these things out.  I'll be down in C'Ville tomorrow and will have a full report from tomorrow's scrimmage. 

[BashDad]

My Scrimmage Questions:

1. Is Putko #1?
2. Who's hurt?
3. Who's new?

[wally_wabash]

My Scrimmage Questions:

1. Is Putko #1?
2. Who's hurt?
3. Who's new?

1. I think so. 
2. The Bachelor reports that Drake Christen hasn't been practicing due to a bad hammy.  I'm taking this news particularly hard because I had already decided that #8 was going to be my favorite player of all time of the year.  I hope this isn't a thing that wipes Drake out all year, but hamstrings don't often cooperate with my desire to see fast, little guys wreak havoc on opposing defenses. 
3. There are new faces!  I'll try to get names to go along with those new faces tomorrow afternoon. 

[smedindy]

 A team that really has no business in D-1A (see previous discussions) has them in a bunch and denies the Miami Herald's beat writer's credential:

http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/08/29/4317168/miami-herald-wont-cover-fiu-football.html

[HSCTiger fan]

Tigerfanalso - Wabash fans have a great deal of respect for your Tigers and expect a good game next week.  Part of that is based upon how well they did play on the road against Linfield last year.  Having seen Linfield play, I know that they certainly have an excellent program.  Your conclusion that Wabash is " no Linfield" is based on your own personal conclusions.  Since Linfield and Wabash have few common opponents, it is hard to draw such a conclusion based on anything other than supposition.  You are most welcome to discount what Wabash will bring next Saturday for whatever reasons you want.  I can assure that by knowing the high quality of Linfield's program and the good game that your Tigers played them last year on the road  in the Catdome, Wabash is not under estimating your Tigers.  How well the Tigers and Little Giants match up will be settled on the field a week from Saturday, and not through philosophical discussions.

I don't think Tigerfanalso was having a philosophical discussion. It's a fact that HSC has played HUGE road games. I don't think a few hundred or thousand fans chanting, bouncing around, dancing, skipping, jumping, what ever you guys do when your team comes out of the tunnel is going to shake the Tigers' team.  I'm fairly confident the Tigers are watching plenty of film on the LGs football team but have not given a second thought as to how your team comes out of the tunnel and as to how the fans utilize chanting and interpretive dance when they do.

Don't remember mentioning Linfield.  Just responding to an earlier Wabash post about talking about the game and what the strategy might be.  Didn't even smack at HC even a little bit.

Interesting selection of scrimmage team though.   Will stay with Wheaton.  Good school and good guys.

Fork Union has had more players play in the NFL than Wabash, Wheaton, and HSC combined. Most of their players are headed to D1 scholarships after 1 season at the academy.  HSC did not need to play Virginia Tech to get ready for the season but playing a team that has 5-6 guys that are going to play Virginia Tech next year was a good warm-up.

Wow... these Tiger's are a bit sensitive.    They are on our board,  reading our fans being excited about our team and they keep saying "Maybe we shouldn't even show up?"   

Come On Man!

There was no "we" in Tigerfanalso's quote.  "They keep saying" implies more than once by more than one person - which isn't true. His sarcastic reply was to a post about how HSC would be intimidated once the LGs take the field.  I must have missed the disclaimer about kissing the LGs ring to be on "your" board.  Would you rather only talk about how great you are to a lot of people who also think you are great?  Or you don't mind we are here so long as we agree with everything written?  It's obvious you don't like the idea of someone talking sarcastically to a LG fan?  Who's really "a bit sensitive"?

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RmwqnqL3Hbg

[waf56]

Wabash alum Ian MacDougall took care of kickoffs today for Purdue, and by all reports did a heck of a job! Pretty cool to go from playing in the NCAC to the Big Ten.

[wally_wabash]

Alright, so here's what I saw at the Hollett today. 

Wheaton started with the ball, picked up a few first downs and then had the ball taken away from them via forced fumble.  Wabash picked their way down the field with a nice balance of run and pass and capped the drive with an 8-yard Mason Zurek TD run.  The drive was about 70 yards- Putko didn't miss on that first series. 

After the kickoff, Wheaton went three and out punctuated by a "sack" of the quarterback.  One play later Mason Zurek went 55 yards around the edge for a TD.  Kickoff, first snap, handoff and a forced fumble.

So if you're keeping score that's three series for the 1s on defense and they forced two fumbles and forced a punt on three plays.  They're ready to go. 

For the offense, Putko is pretty clearly the guy.  There was no rotating series or even a two for one with Putko and Rice.  Putko had the first two quarters to himself and he was sharp.  He didn't have too many balls hit the ground and he did throw one TD on his last series of the day.  He was accurate and decisive and I think the Wabash offense is in good hands there.  He's a little thicker this year, but really the biggest difference I saw today is that he looked like a guy who's been a starter for a year. 

Holmes and Zurek each played basically one series and they looked fine.  Holmes didn't score, but he was getting his chunks on that first drive before Zurek closed it out and then had his big play.  Good to see both of those big guys back out there and running hard and running well.  After those two, Shamir Johnson got quite a bit of run at RB and looked pretty good there, so there is still good depth at that position.   

The offensive line played well.  Holmes, Zurek, and Johnson all had good lanes to run through and Putko had a clean pocket to work from.  That unit probably was the one that exceeded my expectation today.  If they play like that next week, Wabash is in good shape. 

As noted, the top line defense was stellar.  The second unit was challenged a bit more, but they answered the call by turning Wheaton over three more times. 

Specials should be fun this year.  Wabash had a PAT blocked (the kicker did track down the return just before he scored the defensive PAT), but then Tustie made a 35 yard FG.  Wabash's first punt was a shankopotamus special, but subsequent punts were fine.  I'm not holding any of these guys to 2013 Cam Sobleski standards because that's not going to be fair.  They were fine. 

For those interested in a score, I had to cut out after the 3rd quarter (they were doing 12-minute quarters) and Wabash was ahead 23-7.  The main thing is Wabash got a chance to work against a good team and looked decent.  I think they're ready for next week's opener. 

[Joe Wally]

I had to leave about five minutes into the fourth.  Score was the same at that point.

Main takeaway from the first half: Zurek remains a beast!  Putko looked solid.  He won't steal any All-American votes from anyone, but he's not going to lose us any games either.

I was surprised at that inability of the Wheaton offense to take advantage of their size advantage at the receiver position.  They had two guys who were an easy four inches taller than any of our backs.  Combined pressure from our defensive from and solid technique from the backs kept that from being a problem.  A couple of drops didn't hurt either.

Looking forward to heading back for the HSC matchup next Saturday.

[wally_wabash]

In other news, there were some positive tweets out there regarding Hiram's performance vs. Hanover today.  Good on them...I hope this translates into wins in 2014.

[Li'l Giant]

In other news, there were some positive tweets out there regarding Hiram's performance vs. Hanover today.  Good on them...I hope this translates into wins in 2014.

Yeah, I saw those. I hope that's the case.

[Dr. Acula]

This was posted in the hoops thread by accident...

Hello all again! Hiram got a win over Hanover in the game simulation scrimmage today. Good to see! The offense looked great but the defense struggled a bit. Look for the Terriers to put up some points this year at least! Very pleased with what I saw.

[bashgiant]

Those were some interesting changes on defense. I believe they are just a tad faster than last year which is saying something. The OLine surprised me! They were opening some huge holes, pulling really well,  did a good job of protecting Putko especially since it was 2 hand touch, and I don't know if the refs were calling many penalties but they didn't have many if any false starts in the first quarter. 1st team against 1st team I thought Wabash was much better but, it was a scrimmage so who knows for sure.

[bashbrother]

Very positive feedback from today's scrimmage... Thank you.

In other news...  CC wins his first game as Head Coach at Eastern Michigan.

Congrats!

[Joe Wally]

Those were some interesting changes on defense. I believe they are just a tad faster than last year which is saying something. The OLine surprised me! They were opening some huge holes, pulling really well,  did a good job of protecting Putko especially since it was 2 hand touch, and I don't know if the refs were calling many penalties but they didn't have many if any false starts in the first quarter. 1st team against 1st team I thought Wabash was much better but, it was a scrimmage so who knows for sure.

They certainly "missed" the horse collar on the blocked extra point attempt.  You could hear the Wheaton coach across the field:

"How did no one see that!?!"