FB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[Mugsy]

You 'Bash guys want to stir it up a little?     hscoach posted on the CCIW board that Wabash is not a legit #1 seed and should lose in the 2nd round to the NCC/Cap winner

Just to qualify... hscoach is not a regular CCIW poster.   In fact I believe he is coming from the OAC board.   I think you'll find most CCIW posters do respect Wabash.  In fact many Wheaton alum keep a close eye on Wabash due to the Wheaton connection - Coach Neathery and preseason scrimmages.

[formerd3db]

smed and wally:
That's for sure; I agree with you.  Also, just so it's clear, I do not agree with hscoach's post; my apologies if it appeared otherwise as that was not intended.  Rather, just thought I'd bring attention to it and "stir up the pot" a little. .

If I make it down to the game Sat, it would be great to meet you guys and Bashdad too.

[BashBacker#16]

Wabash press release on this Saturday's playoff game...

http://www.wabash.edu/sports/docs/Nov%2015%202005%20Release.pdf

[lancer98]

As much as I hate to say, it there are probably 3 teams in the OAC better the 'Bash.  I expect them to lose to Cap in the second round.

Let's face it.  This conference this year is as weak as it ever has been. Witt, 'Gheny and Woo were all down and 'Bash struggled against a 5-5 and 3-7 team for victorys.  Sorry but #1 seeds should blow those type of teams out.

Its not Bash's fault that the Conference is down.  They were clearly the best and for the sake of the conference I hope they win.  But I don't see it happening past the second round.

[smedindy]

Of course, Witt's not your normal 5-5 team, and 'Gheny really could have won at least 5 or 6 games this year if things broke one way or another.

[wally_wabash]

I think you're a bit too quick to judge the conference as a whole as being as weak as it's ever been.  Witt righted their ship pretty well after the first three games.  Allegheny was much, much, much better than their record indicates.  OWU hasn't been as good as they were this year since Capone graduated.  Wooster was down big time, but most of us saw that coming.  Kenyon and Denison were both stronger than we've seen in some time.  Earlham was a key injury away from being a much better team.  On the surface, the NCAC looks weak, manily because of Witt and Allegheny's win-loss records, but I think anybody who watched a good deal of NCAC football this season understands the context.  In all honesty, I'd say the conference was better overall this year than it was in '03. 

[Mr. Ypsi]

As much as I hate to say, it there are probably 3 teams in the OAC better the 'Bash.  I expect them to lose to Cap in the second round.

Aside from what WW and Smed told you, I reject your statement because I expect their opponent to be NCC!

Before WW and Smed celebrate TOO much, I expect NCC to win the second round! 

But whether Cap or NCC, they better be ready - Wabash IS for real.  ASSUMING you make it past Albion (which I am), I believe either Cap or NCC is LIKELY to win, but it ain't no gimme!

[wally_wabash]

Based on rankings, polls, and just about every other way of sorting DIII teams that I've found, the consensus is that MUC, NCC, and Augustana are all better than Wabash.  Wabash gets implicity dinged big time in rankings because of SOS and subjectively gets hammered in the polls for the same reason.  Wabash just doesn't have enough "prove it" games on their schedule to garner any benefit of the doubt capital.  Which is fine.  Also, in most rankings, polls, and such Capital is pretty close to Wabash.  I'm not going to argue with any of that.  10-0 is 10-0 and it got Wabash the homefield which makes Wabash a tough out for anybody in this tournament.   

[ravishingrabbi]

figured i'd chime in...better late than never...

as for the woo/owu game, the scots actually played ok overall, but owu just seemed to make every big play.

give props to wooster's seniors...all of those guys played their a$$ off saturday and did everything they could to win. marco garcia was all over the field, definitely a great last game for him. nothing to be ashamed of for any of those guys.

owu's defensive end (cisco) easily deserves defensive player of the year. that kid is scary good. glad he's graduating.

my thoughts on wabash...i realize wabash blew wooster out, but i really wasn't that impressed with wabash's defense. they literally got no pass rush, and that will kill you in the playoffs, especially against a team like capital or mount. also, wooster ran the ball pretty well when they wanted to, which is another concern.

that being said, this is easily the best wabash offensive line i've seen in the last 6 years, and their skill positions are stacked. especially with home field for at least the first 3 games, i think wabash has a shot to win the region.

however, this region really is wide open, and you have to favor mount here based on experience. i think it'll be wabash/capital vs. mount for the north region title. my upset special (if one were to occur) is augustana over mount in the 2nd round. the last time mount was tested, they lost. augustana is on a roll, and coach barnes will have them ready to go...just a hunch...

[wally_wabash]

...also, wooster ran the ball pretty well when they wanted to, which is another concern.

Stat line from Wabash @ Wooster, Oct. 15, 2005: 

Wooster: 37 yards rushing, 23 rushing attempts. 

Schafer had a 16 yard run and Sheppard had a 24 yard run.  That's 30 of Wooster's 37 yards on just two carries.  21 more rushing attempts for a grand total of 7 yards doesn't really reflect the idea that Wooster ran well when they wanted to.  Wabash also made 11 tackles for loss and 3 sacks against Wooster, so the D-line was doing something right. 

Let's keep our facts straight, please. 

[jdean]

my upset special (if one were to occur) is augustana over mount in the 2nd round. ...

It wouldn't be an upset, Rabbi. In my book Augie should be a 3 point favorite if they play Mount.

[augiedogie]

jdean:

You would favor Augie on the road?  I would hope they would win (seeing that they hvae to get their first), but I can't see them going into Mount Union as the favorite. I might be a somewhat of an Augie homer, but I think they should have gotten the #2 seed in the North anyways.

[lancer98]

Mr. Ypsi,

You may be right. I don't know much about North Central but if they can beat Cap they are pretty good.

Wally,

I would agree with you to some extent. The conference top to bottom this year was better thanks to the bottom feeders picking it up a little.  But the top teams were down.  Anyway you slice it 5-5 and 3-7 is what it is. Unsuccessful seasons.

Also, the first half of the year all we heard from you was how bad Witt was.  Then when they almost beat 'Bash you changed your tune.  Which one is it?  They may have improved a little but towards the end of the year they didn't have their starting quarterback and still won some games.

Lets face it Wabash is not that much better than Witt and 'Gheny and those teams were handled out of coference pretty easily including Witt by Cap.  Granted they were at different points of the season but that much doesn't usually change.  At least not at the D3 level, I think, anyway.

[wabco]

I recall the Albion cheer described earlier in the postings.

There are other memorable ones:

"The referee has no father"

"A rope, a tree, hang the referee"

"Blood makes the grass grow greener" (often chanted in years prior when a DePauw player went down)

"That's alright, that's OK, you're gonna work for us someday"

"OOOOooo   WWWaaaa WWWWaaaa ... Wabash, Wabash, Wabash"

Spelling the word "Wabash" (sometimes spelled incorrectly by the cheerleader ... suspect in this case misspelling was alcohol assisted)

"Eat Zucinni" (it became shortened to this by leaving off the second part which referred to anatomy)

"DePauw Swallows"

"Wabash Always Fights"

"Hard Hat D"

And a number of cheers with an obscenity in front of the word DePauw.

And the Runge-ism:  "Another Wabash College ... First Down"

I probably missed some.

[ravishingrabbi]

wally - i don't think stats told the whole story. let me explain. as many others who were at the game observed too, it seemed when wooster lined up in an I formation and ran the ball, they had some success. granted, it was only on one or two drives, but then they went away from it for whatever reason, and only ran the ball out of the shotgun. i assume that's where most of the TFL's/sacks took place. i definitely got the feeling that wooster could have run the ball successfully if they'd stuck with it. if so, that may become an issue for wabash against teams like cap, mount, or augustana. i'm really just trying to give an objective opinion of wabash heading into the playoffs.

jdean - i don't think you can ever consider mount an underdog these days, especially at home. while we're at it though, what's your take on mount? they haven't really been tested since the game they lost. do you think they're still poised to go all the way, or did capital (for 3 quarters) and ONU reveal enough flaws to indicate that mount really is down this year?