FB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[e_lee]

All I could find at the Franklin site was Franklin's stats.  Thanks for the help anyway.  I appreciate it.

[BashDad]

Bashbacker16:

Right on.  Another thing that has not been brought up by any poster since the Witt "crash" is the fact that Wittenberg was not a unanimous choice to win the NCAC crown in '05.  Other teams were given credence in the voting by both coaches and the press.  Beyond his freshman year, Holmes had been very healthy, as well as very effective--and a key in a balanced offense.  What will Murray be without the kind of threat that Holmes posed in the air--only time will tell.  

My over-all point is that, like the levees in New Orleans, people were overlooking what Witt would be like after Holmes, particularly with their obvious defensive woes.  Still, New Orleans will be rebuilt.  So will Witt's football fortunes.  Both will take time.  Holmes is unlikely to be able to return safely much before the last third of the season, if then.  They will still be a dangerous team, with or without him.  

[Superfoot Wallace]

    54-0

I've never seen nor heard of such a pasting of the Tigers, though the reality of the loss to Cap last year wasnt all that different.

Could it be that Harmon was more valuable than thought for the offensive side of the ball?  It doesnt make a great deal of sense considering the weakness of the Tigers D has been against the pass recently.  

I also noticed that Tiggs was not listed in at least one of the preseason ponderings as an expected defensive cog.  Hard to believe being as he is a three year starter.  I caught that one before the season even began.

What exactly is Clark thinking at this moment?

Dayton on the horizon doesnt bode well.  They will be bigger faster and stronger than most if not all of D3.  

I have some ideas as to the thinking going on in Springfield, but I will not let the cat (so to speak) out of the bag quite yet.  In fact my approximations of the thought would be quite out of character for convention, but then again my thoughts have been mutated by semi-pro ball over the last few years.

Gentlemen, if there ever was a time to TIGER UP the time is now.  Oftentimes it has been said that the true measure of  champions is less how they handle success and more how they handle adversity.  I think the adversity has been dealt and now its time to answer the bell.  

Like Apollo to Rocky at the end of III....

Ding-Ding

signed,
Phoebus and Winnie

[gobash83]

Having returned to the computer after a long weekend in Dayton (watching one of my daughters' teams struggle in the Mead Cup), I was surprised to see the scoreboard for the first weekend.  As one of the Wabash faithful who actually thought Witt would win the conference, the result from the Capital game certainly revealed a weakness in my pre-season analysis (which discounted Witt's defensive shortcomings).  I suspect that Witt may face the same troubles the next two weeks as well as having to let a new qb learn the ropes.  

I am not sure how you rebound from that game.  While I am sure that Witt will give its best effort, I would not blame them to be cautious and play for the conference schedule.  I could see Murray getting some carries and then going to the bench if the game gets out of hand. I understand that the Witt folks consider Dayton to be a rival, but pride is not a good reason to lose Murray for a period of time.  I would use the next two games to get some reps for some folks and to try to find some more players on defense.  

[wally_wabash]

The Franklin/OWU boxscore is on the Franklin site here:
http://www.franklincollege.edu/athweb/football/box/2005//FC05GAM1.htm

Why are we so concerned about what's being posted here about Witt?  Are they going to read this board and all of a sudden figure out how to play defense?  No, they aren't.  I'm tired of tip-toeing around the playground bully...they aren't the bully anymore.  It doesn't matter how good or how bad Witt is...if Depauw is #1 on the list of games Wabash wants to win every year no matter what, Witt is #1b.  What's at stake in those games are secondary to the gratification one gets from beating a disliked (I watered that down) rival.  

How does one "Tiger Up"?  What does it look like when one is "Tiger Up"ing?  

While Witt wasn't the unanimous choice to win our conference, they were the overwhelming favorite (voted first or second by every coach and every voter in the media poll, and getting 27 of the total 36 first place votes).  I think this is a case where the voters looked at the usual suspects (AC, OWU, WC, WU, and CoW) and had enough questions (all warranted by the way) about each that the default answer was Witt because of their reputation.  I'd be curious to know how many of those 27 voters that gave Witt their first place vote still feel that way now.  

[Li'l Giant]

Witt has played one game. They got beat pretty bad. But who in our conference showed anything this weekend? OWU did a good job. Denison did a really good job. Wooster showed some toughness. Gheny took a tough loss and Wabash hasn't even stepped on the field yet. The Gators lost all three of their non-con games in 2003 before taking the rest of the conference down. I think it's a mistake to be so quick to dismiss Witt before anyone else has shown what they have this season. Who's to say that the rest of the conference isn't going to be as down as Witt is? We don't know enough yet.

[wally_wabash]

The difference, I think, is in the difference between what we knew after week 1 last year and what we know after week 1 this year.  OWU has started this season playing defense from the start.  It took them a month to start playing defense last year.  Denison turned around a 60-point beating into a win over the same club this year.  I think both of those things are noteworthy.  Allegheny lost an OT game to B-W at a very tough place for visiting teams to play in.  All of those teams, I think we could agree, are improved over where they were one year ago.  

Wittenberg on the other hand, is exactly where they started one year ago.  Beat down and embarrassed...and this time it was a lot worse.  And this year Witt doesn't have Thomas More and Huntingdon to bounce back against...they get Dayton and Alma.  The difference is huge.  

I think we're all mindful of the Allegheny '03 situation...but again, I would argue that there is a big difference between Allegheny '03 and Witt '05.  Allegheny was playing some semblance of defense...at least enough defense to give themselves a chance to win.    Wittenberg is asking it's offense to score enormous amounts of points and that just doesn't work well over the long haul.  

You're right...it's only one game.  But the prognosis for some here is much better than it is for others, even after just one game.  The fact is that the Witt defense, which is almost identical to the '04 defense, was supposed to be one year older, one year wiser, and a whole lot better.  The truth, right now anyway, is that it's the same porous defense.  They got railroaded in week 1.  They're going to get railroaded in week 2 and there's a decent chance that they're going to get railroaded in week 3.  I think it would be careless to slough this off as being "just one game."  This is a problem that goes back at least one full season and it doesn't look like it's getting any better.

[Superfoot Wallace]

WallyWabash,

Id let you know what it looks like when one Tigers Up, but then Id be letting the cat out of the bag now wouldnt I.  Im pretty sure it doesnt involve much collusion betwen Dan-O from Hawaii 5-0 and the cat in the striped shirt from wheres Waldo. 


The Sun always shines on a Tiger.

not real sure what it does on undersized nephlegm. 

[gobash]

nephlegm. 

Gesundheit.

[wally_wabash]

Enough of Witt for now...there will be plenty of time to pile on this weekend.  Let's take a trip around the rest of the conference for notable performances and anything else discussion-worthy...

Allegheny @ B-W: Actually a pretty good show by Allegheny by the boxscore.  Gheny led 17-10 with 4:20 left and it took a long, late drive by B-W to tie it.  Allegheny had a chance to win in OT with a TD and a point after, but Savage got picked off in the endzone from the 5 yard line.  Tough break.  Savage wasn't bad...20-30, 234 yards, 2 INT.  Allegheny outgained B-W 377-309. 

Wooster @ Muskingum: Not much offense, obviously, in this 13-10 game.  Of note is that Wooster only gained 3.0 yards per rush and Schafer went 12-23, 136 yards, 2 INT, 0 TD.  This kid has to step it up if Wooster is going to be a factor.  Just has to. 

Waynesburg @ Denison: The stats don't really show a well played game on either side, but give Denison credit for coming back from 17-0 at halftime to win.  Attendance was listed at 1500 for this one and the crowd was described as "boisterous"...they might be starting something in Granville. 

RHIT @ Earlham: Furious comeback for Earlham gets foiled by a late RHIT touchdown.  Earlham came back from being down 41-21 to tie the game in the fourth quarter.  Impressive.  Just as impressive is Rummell's line...28-42, 368 yards, 4 TDs, 2 INT.  The kid can play.  It's too bad he doesn't have much of anything around him.

Hiram @ CMU - Hiram has been shut out in 6 of their last 8 games.  Ouch.  Hiram rushed for -14 yards and got picked off 5 times in the game.  They did get down to the CMU 2 yard line late in the fourth quarter (their only trip into the red zone), but fumbled the ball away.  It can only get better, right?

CWRU @ Oberlin - Oberlin had a 13-minute edge in TOP and outgained Case 314-195 in this game!  How did they lose?  It was turnovers (zero turnovers in the game).  Field position.  On three straight first half posessions, Oberlin moved backward a little, punted (poorly), and set Case up inside the Oberlin 40 each time.  The Spartans worked the short field beautifully, and then held off the Yeomen rally in the 4th quarter.  Of note is Oberlin's 100-yard rusher Carroll, and quarterback Stein who threw 18-31, 194 yards, 3 TD. 

[BashDad]

Wally:

Not sure what your analyses of last weekend's NCAC performances is intended to show/say.  OWU's defense is already in gear--we knew it would be, success does that.
We also knew that '05 for the L'il Giants would be "one game at a time."  There is no time for us to be asleep.  It will begin this Saturday.  I think we're ready.  Can't wait.

WABASH ALWAYS FIGHTS!!

[wabashcpa]

What it tells me is that this conference is there for the taking.  Bring the HARD HAT D and we'll see what happens.

[ravishingrabbi]

nice to see witt "tiger up" against capital. not to beat a dead horse, but i wonder if the players on witt's sidelines were still chanting "red swarm" when it was 54-0...  

that's a shame about holmes though. he was phenomenal against wooster last year. i wish him a speedy recovery.

good win for the scots. the two biggest positives i see from the muskingum game are that the defense showed it can still play despite losing so much talent and leadership from last year, and that the scots now know they can win a close game on the road. no doubt this will help later on. hopefully the offense can get it going by the time gheny rolls around.

darkside-D-- i'm kinda confused...i thought you loved wabash. weren't you thinking of transfering there cause of the social scene?

lastly, tyrell sutton ran for over 100 yards for northwestern on saturday. not a bad start to his college career.

[BashDad]

ravishin':

Glad to see you're still around, even though you've been awfully silent.   Yes, it's too bad about Ryan Holmes, a fine young man and an excellent QB who I met in Salem in '02.

Everyone in the NCAC was pleased with Woo's win last weekend against the OAC, we hope you do the same to MacMurray this Saturday.

It's good to hear of Tyrell's success, too bad he did't decide to follow big brother to Wooster. 

     

[oldguy]

I hope they haven't been chanting it for the past 2 seasons.  That chant used to mean something special.