FB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[smedindy]

"shalacking"?

Must be how the spell in the OAC 

Oh.....

[aueagle]

kcreds; Glad to hear about your Delaware trip. I agree about Selby Field. I think it is one of the best over all in D3. Did jr get any playing time on special teams or on "D"?

[wabashcpa]

Not looking past Kalamazoo, but just for sake of comparison for 2nd opponent:

2004 Mt. Union 38, Wash U. 0
2005 Mt. Union 33, Wash U. 7

2004 Wabash 21, Wash U. 10
2005

A.  Don't read much into Mt. Union from their opener - they seemed to do OK in the OAC last year as I recall.

B.  Washington may be the best team in their conference, but how scary is a conference with Chicago, Carnegie Mellon, and Case Western?

C.  If Wabash defense performs to expectations, squad should be 2-0 going into conference play.  

[BashDad]

Bashbacker 16, Diehardfan:
Some impressions from yesterday's scrimmage at Wheaton, a good, revealing test for both teams--friendly and talented.  The first half ended with the score tied 10/10.   Wabash pulled a number of their 1st teamers on both O & D at halftime--Harbaugh who was 9 for 13 w/1 interception, approx. 140 yds, did not play in the second half.  This was by design, Creighton & his staff wanted to to explore and test into the depth layers.

Wabash took the opening kick-off and with a very diversified offense (Don Juan Brown ripped off several nice 8 to 12 yard runs, Harbaugh was 6 for 7 to a variety of receivers) drove to Wheaton's 30 where the offense stalled and Finley kicked a 35 yard FG for first blood.  The thing I liked about it, it was so methodical--against Wheaton's defense that was supposed to be their strength and experience, particularly up front.   Wheaton's defense played fine, but so did 'Bash's.  It was great to see our offense move the ball effectively, and with balance and rhythm.

Big pluses for the L'il Giants in my opinion:
Brown's running
Harbaugh's accuracy & cool, even when Wheaton
 threw "the house at him"
G. Nelson's TE play and receptions--2  receptions/runs
 were for very nice gains and 1st downs
The offensive and defensive lines matched up well and
 more than held their own against Wheaton
The kicking game was fine--not sure whether it was
 Vaughn or Finley who boomed a punt 45+ yds to the
 corner in 2nd half, but it was beautiful.
The "fire" that was on the field and on the sidelines all day

Questions/concerns in my opinion:
P. Millikan and B. Hilts, OL tackle dings.  Millikan will require
 more recoup time--who can step up?
I was surprised that B. Roop wasn't cycled in at RB to keep
 him sharp and ready if the need arises. Effective depth at
 RB is my concern.  J backs didn't figure much yesterday.
Snapping in shotgun formation was "iffy" at times.  Only
 Harbaugh's sure hands prevented a couple of bad
 situations--it also uses time & upsets rhythm.
Our linebacker play is excellent.  Still, good scrambling
 QB's too often are able to elude the pressure/pursuit and
 make the big play--Wheaton's Chupp seldom got caught.
 My concern down the road--Sir Ryan, Weitoff.

More later--please ask if you have questions.
    

[oldguy]

Witt4ever,

Coach Woods had some good defenses before he left.  Particularly the 1998 team.  That defense was the best Witt D I had ever seen.  The 1999 team was also good up until the ONU playoff game.  Although, in all fairness, they had 3 guys with legitimate NFL talent.  Didn't help them against Mount though. 

Right now though, I am very worried for the Tigers and for whomever goes to the playoffs from the NCAC.

[BashDad]

From one old guy to another old guy--I'm confused by your stated concern about NCAC representative in the playoffs.

[kcreds]

aueagle: The answer to your question is yes to both. I don't want to get into specifics on here.  8)

[DarkSide-D]

Kcreds,

yes, it is how ones respective team plays in the end, if you are merely looking for the conference title.  What many of the NCAC fans are worried about is the strength of the conference as a whole.  That strength can only be measured by how well the teams of the NCAC play non-conference foes.

And yes, I stand by my comments the factory that was mount union.  that is not to say they are not extremely good.  but they are not as great as they once were.  who knows, perhaps they will return to such dominance.  The fact of the matter is that they have struggled in the last couple of years.  Oh let me guess your comeback...When was the last time wooster made it passed the second round of the playoffs...Wooster has never been as dominate (unless you go back to the 1890s), and so is not expected to do so.

[smedindy]

The knee jerk reaction after one game is that the NCAC rep will struggle to last past the first round, with Wabash being the big unknown since they haven't played yet.

Having seen a lot of knee-jerk reactions be totally off base, I will reserve judgement, but we as a conference need to get our act together soon.

[ScotsFan]

I would like to say to those who would call Wooster's narrow victory over Muskingum embarrassing, it was already stated that the Muskies were able to stay even with Mount for a half last year and they also came close to knocking off perennial OAC contenders B-W and  JCU, losing only 14-7 to each of those teams.  So they do have the ability to play with some quality teams.  I'm not trying to make excuses for Wooster.  They played poorly and probably deserved to lose.  At the same time, I wouldn't go writing them off as a .500 or worse team as some have done!  Funny how Wooster wins their game and they should be embarrassed, but Witt gets theirs' handed to them and yet they will be OK come conference play.  I mean I knew that Witt had some questions on D, but I thought that they were supposed to be an offensive machine.  Their performance last night should raise more question marks than Wooster's and that's just my opinion!

[jdean]

Smed:

Why do you as a conference need to get your act together soon? Why not be content competing for the NCAC title?

[Li'l Giant]

Why would anyone be content just competing for the conference title?

[ScotsFan]

Why would anyone be content just competing for the conference title?

You could probably come up with a few arguments for Kenyon, Oberlin, Hiram, etc., etc., as to why they would be perfectly content just competing for the conference title.

[Ryan Tipps]

At the same time, I wouldn't go writing them off as a .500 or worse team as some have done!

Assuming that this comment was based off of what I posted Saturday night, I just wanted to clarify that I said it wouldn't suprise me if the team went 5-5. I'm not wishing that upon them, not by any stretch. I just worry that the team didn't play like a Top 25 team, and I hope they can turn their game around. In comparison, I'll have some doubts about Wabash's season if they don't beat K-zoo by at least two scores this coming week. I understand that the road goes both ways, and I'm not intending to slam Woo.

Especially in these first few weeks, I don't care what NCAC team it is or who I've chosen in the Pick-'em, my support always goes toward the 10 schools that are the focus of this board.

But, let me too explain my concerns re: the playoffs. I know that we have a big, fun season to look forward to (yes, I'm stoked it's finally here), but the NCAC has never been a strong conference top to bottom. I didn't always realize that, but I sure do now. The one major source of national pride that the conference could claim is that we have the eighth winningest playoff percentage. In that regard, we're ahead of the conferences such as the ASC, WIAC and CCIW. That's pretty cool. We may not have 10 kick-butt teams, but we've often had one team that raised eyebrows and could impress people. I fear that -- based on the early performances -- we may not have that this year, though I hope to be proven wrong.

But, as Smed correctly points out, this talk is a knee-jerk reaction to Week 1, and things could change (for the better!). Let's hope so! There's a fun season ahead of us. I'm looking forward to what's in store -- in conference and out!!

[oldguy]

BashDad,

I know its early, but I was making reference to the fact that Witt was picked by most to win the conference.  As someone mentioned earlier, if they ARE the best, the NCAC looks pretty bad here.

Again though, it is early, but man, this type of loss definitely leaves a deep stain.