FB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[bowwowindy!]

Word on Ike is that he is out for the year.

That's a bummer.  I thought when it happened, and then the way he came off, looked bad.  Good luck to him on a speedy recovery.

[bowwowindy!]

- Witt had a slow start at Oberlin and actually trailed 7-3 after one quarter, but Jake Kennedy was fantastic and Witt eased their way past the Yeomen.  The Tigers were so-so in the run game, but with all of that experience and talent at QB and WR, Witt had little trouble in this one.

Fumbling on the opening 80 yard drive killed some early momentum that took a couple offensive series to get over for sure, but the 2nd qtr. was as good of 15 minutes as the offense could play.  Kennedy had 286 passing in the first half.  I'm worried they're not balanced enough as the run game is just ok.  Line is still gaining experience, doesn't seem to be super aggressive, and none of the running backs are Sarley athletically.  Could be an issue against stiffer competition. 

[Bishopleftiesdad]

OWU Band Then vs now.
1951: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48KOZlKf_1o
2018: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJknE-GeIj4

Realize that the Band has just been brought back. However looks like they could use some more bodies.

http://www.dispatch.com/news/20180915/ohio-wesleyan-musicians-march-for-first-time-in-56-years

[formerd3db]

OWU Band Then vs now.
1951: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48KOZlKf_1o
2018: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJknE-GeIj4

Realize that the Band has just been brought back. However looks like they could use some more bodies.

http://www.dispatch.com/news/20180915/ohio-wesleyan-musicians-march-for-first-time-in-56-years

For sure, while that helps i.e. having more bodies in the band, at least they have a band-that is always great to see. Very neat that they brought it back.
Hope is about the only school in our league, if I recall correctly right now, that dies not have a marching band. Hope had had a tradition for decades of having area high school bands play at our home games, which is a  nice addition. Hiwever, IMO, it would be nice  to have our own marching band. Our daughters were among a small group who tried to organize a committee to approach the administration at Hope for that when they were students there, but, unfortunately that did not come to fruition due to lack  of interest- very disappointing, and especially since Hope had a good music department contingent of students.

Back in my day at Hope, we did have a decent sized pep band that played at all our home football games on addition to those high school bands, but the people band went by the wayside several years ago. Anyway, again it is great to hear that OWU brought theirs back. Nothing like a college marching band on a Saturday at the game! Always a great addition to the tradition!

[Bishopleftiesdad]

I agree, it is a start. I am happy to see it. Several of the members picked OWU, because they did.
Womans crew and wrestling start this year as well.

[MUC57]

formerd3db

We're fortunate at Mount Union to have a marching band. Size is generally around 120. But if you want to see a great band, go to a Wooster game. The Scots band wears traditional Scotish plaids and is led by a group (varies from year to year) of bagpipers. When the pipers come down the hill, leading the team onto the field paying Scotland The Brave, the hair on my arms stands up. Truly, one of the great moments in college football.
Yes, nice to have your own band to play the national anthem, the fight song and put on a half time show. You're absolutely right - it's a great addition to the tradition.
That's my little "for what it's worth".
Good luck to Hope on the season. ☠🏈

[formerd3db]

bishopleftiesdad and MUC57:
Thanks for your follow-up perspective. Entirely agree. Mount hBing 120 is great,Albion has about 1l3 if that but still good. The "Big O" at Olivet used to have a huge band way back also. You mentioned Wooster's band. Our Alma has the same thing- large band, with kilts, the bagpipers, drums, etc.-they're the Scots, too!

Glad to see additional sports affing to OWU. I stopped by to tour their campus and Selby this past May on my way to a sports medicine conference in Columbus. Wonderful campus, similar to Hope's in many ways, with old and new buildings. Love the old buildings also, at OWU.

Hope had our "bye" tomorrow, so have a breather. Good luck to both your team's this weekend.

[CollegeGolf18]

Some quick hitters from the day's action thus far:

Footer over DePauw 24-21...didn't see this one coming. DePauw's QB troubles continue into this game. Haynes and Andries combined for 3 INTS. Great win for Wooster.

Allegheny over OWU 25-17...Tyler Balla for Allegheny set the tone and Allegheny's defense was superb.

Denison handled Oberlin 52-27...Both teams were over 500 yards of offense for the game. Dension was 9-13 on third downs though. Dension also had 32 first downs in this one. That's a lot.

[CollegeGolf18]

Wittenberg easily took down Kenyon on Saturday night as well.

[wally_wabash]

I'll piggy back CG18 here with some quick thoughts on Week 4 in the league.

- DePauw is just never going to turn the corner in this league, are they?  They've had chances in the last few years.  2015, they finally get over on Wittenberg, then dump a game to OWU which crushed their shot at 9 wins and maybe a sniff at the tournament (they had no shot against the '15 Little Giants).  In 2016, they finally beat Wabash, but no postseason on the line there as they once again lost to OWU (badly, at home this time).  In 2017 they finally clear the OWU hurdle, are in perfect playoff position going in to Week 11, and literally fumbled away their chances to get invited to the tournament against Wabash.  There's really no good reason why that defense should have given up nearly 400 pass yards, but they did, and I hope Coach Morel took extensive notes. 

- Nice bounce back game from Allegheny.  I didn't get a chance to watch any of this game, but the Gators really needed a positive response after last week and they got it.  OWU just kind of stays inconsistent.  They are clearly struggling to get the ball in the end zone however, and when that's the case you can wind up on the bad end of lower scoring games like this one. 

- Denison, I think, is ready for this weekend's showdown at Piper-Deeds.  I think that's going to be such a fun game to watch. 

[bowwowindy!]

Very balanced offense for Denison, so it will be interesting to see if Witt can take away one or the other or at least limit one of them.  Denison ran and threw the ball effectively even in their loss.  There's been heavy rotation on the defensive line for Witt which keeps them fresh and it really seems to pay off in the second half.  They don't have the big difference maker they had in Ferko from last year so it's been more a team effort.  I believe Kennedy will have to play the 2nd half in this one and I would expect him overall to have a good day.  Jaheem Washington ran the ball very well the last game and provided a spark that wasn't there the first couple games. 
I expect it will be tight but look to see the Tigers pull away late.   

[83 Little Giant]

For those interested, here are the game notes for tomorrow's Homecoming game at Wabash versus the Fighting Scots of Wooster.  Going to be great weather for a great day.

https://sports.wabash.edu/documents/2018/9/27//2018WabashFootballGamenotesVsWooster.pdf

[CollegeGolf18]

Some early musings before the big Witt-Denison game tonight.

Allegheny CRUSHED Hiram 52-20. Nothing really jumps off at me except for the fact that Hiram was just 1-of-13 on third down. Logan Lee had a really nice day throwing the ball as he threw for 280 yards on just 14 completions. The Hiram pass defense and their inability to convert on third down really just killed them. A good performance from the Allegheny D.

DePauw took down OWU in a strange game 38-17. It jumps off to me that OWU was the better team, I think. Just look at this http://www.d3football.com/seasons/2018/boxscores/20180929_piy7.xml. DePauw had just 231 yards of total offense to OWU's 302. The difference? OWU threw four interceptions which resulted in DePauw scoring drives of 3 plays/25 yards, 3 plays/18 yards, 2 plays/2 yards, 7 plays/15 yards, and also a 45-yard INT return for a TD. As you can see, DePauw really didn't have to do anything to score the ball as they just kept forcing turnovers. A weird result that isn't as good as it seems for DePauw.

Wabash handled Wooster 48-20. Wabash's defense actually struggled a bit as they were trying to figure out how to handle Renteria and his running ability. Renteria threw for 230 yards and three touchdowns. Wooster has a few dudes that can really run the ball. I was impressed. Their defense struggled as Wabash ran for 300 yards. The passing attack for Wabash was good as well with Jake Page throwing for 2 touchdowns on 75% passing (18-24). A good result here but I think Wabash may struggle a bit with duel threat QB's.

Big game tonight with Denison and Wittenberg.

[ADL70]

It sure was a looong game!

[CollegeGolf18]

For those of you who haven't seen it yet. The Witt-Denison game was a classic. I will be sure to watch it tomorrow. Wittenberg won 68-66 in 4 OTs. Wittenberg was up 35-10 at half and Denison stormed back to send it to overtime at 38 all.

Tons of offense in here. Witt had 568 yards and Denison had 592. Jake Kennedy threw for 421 yards and 7 touchdowns. Canaan Gebele threw for 262 yards and two touchdowns but ran for 119 yards and five touchdowns.

You have to look at the box to believe it. https://portal.stretchinternet.com/denison/stats.htm?eventId=456171&streamType=video