FB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[KC]

Never posted anything here before but I just wanted to say something about the idea of Witt running up the score on the Kenyons and Hirams of the world.  As a Kenyon player I was part of a game where we lost something like 79-0, but it wasn't because they ran up the score.  They played their starters for the first half, and after that they were kicking field goals on first down and doing everything they could NOT to score, and offering to keep a running clock.  A very different example would be the Kenyon-Wooster game last year, wear Sutton was playing in the fourth quarter of 84-20 game to pad stats and probably because the Scots staff was upset we started the game with a lead.  Witt always struck me as a very classy program.

[Bashbacker765]

Oldguy,

What chant are you talking about?  Hard Hat D.  If you are.  2 years ago, the D was ranked #1 in the NCAC, and 4th nationally.  Last years D had several injuries, so they were inexperienced.  They still were ranked #1 in the NCAC.  This years D could be the best so far since the Neal Neatherly stint at Wabash.  So yes, you'll hear it chanted with pride.

WABASH ALWAYS FIGHTS![/size]

[wally_wabash]

He's talking about Witt's "red swarm" chant.  And he's right...they've had no business saying anything that even sounds like "red swarm" the last couple of years. 

The point of the NCAC game blurbs in my previous post was simply to get the board on to something other than Wittenberg.  There are other interesting things happening around the conference...I thought I'd try to spark some chatter about something else for at least a couple of days.  Like I said, there will be plenty of chances to pile on Witt this weekend. 

Color me completely underwhelmed by Wooster's win over Muskingum.  Muskingum was 1-9 last year (yes they play in the OAC which really only means that they were probably the best 1-9 team in the country...but still a 1-9 team), had the worst offense in the OAC last year, and are replacing about all of their skill positions on offense.  That Wooster held them to 10 points isn't a huge surprise.  That Wooster would have need a last minute field goal to win the game is a surprise.  Good teams really shouldn't struggle to beat Muskingum.  If Wooster can bounce back and paste MacMurray and CWRU in the next couple of games, we can probably forget about this and write it off to first game jitters or whatever, but my hunch is that offense is going to be a big problem for Wooster all year. 

[wooscot]

Wow, I am surprised by the Wooster - Musky.  I guess the QB performance is a bigger question mark that I originally thought.  Then again, it was the first game.  The tell-tale will be how Wooster improves this weekend.  I was happy to see a resemblence of a running game appear, however, given the fact Woo basically has zero returning TB experience.  The D played solid, which is a good sign.  I have a feeling if this type of performance on offense continues, you're going to see a lot of low scoring, close games from Woo this season.

[ScotsFan]

Color me completely underwhelmed by Wooster's win over Muskingum.

Color me completely underwhelmed by Wally's countinued piling on of Witt and Wooster.  All I can say is that Wabash better not lay an egg on Saturday or that egg will be all over you!

[DarkSide-D]

Wow!!!  The Muskies lost almost all of their specialists!!   Let's ponder Wooster's losses, shall we?

Ravishin' Rab-  I will spare the wabash faithful any combacks to your comment.   

Any woo faithful goin to the game on saturday??

[wally_wabash]

If Wabash lays an egg on Saturday, I'll be the first one to tell you about it.  

I pile on Witt because I don't like them.  

My commentary on the Wooster-Muskingum game stems from conclusions I've drawn when I piece together box scores, game stories, past results, and everything else I've read/seen about Wooster.  It's ignorant to overlook a bad performance just because you won the game.  Better teams would have beaten Wooster pretty soundly on Saturday. The Scots were fortunate to run into an offense that just happened to more inept than their own.  Like I said before, the Scots might click in the next couple of weeks and we can forget that this Muskingum game ever happened...but for right now, if I'm a Wooster fan, I'm pretty concerned about where my points are going to come from in big games against big time defenses (I'm looking at Wabash and OWU in particular here).  

[ScotsFan]

I don't seem to recall any Wooster supporters coming on here and gushing over Wooster's performance last Saturday?!  Is there cause for concern on the offensive side of the ball for the Scots?  Absolutely, without a doubt.  Especially given the question that concerns Schafer's arm.  All I'm saying is that there were some extenuating circumstances that may have contributed to the dreadful performance of the Scots offense (sans the fact that Wooster may have found a feature back).  Those include the fact that Muskingum was dedicating the finished renovatoins to their stadium, and the game was a sellout!  I guess that wouldn't get any of the Muskies fired up in the least to go out and hand it to a team that was supposedly heavily favored and coming off an historical season.  Wooster was ripe for the upset IMO!  Also, Muskingum's strength last year was their defense, which they showed appears to be their strenght again this year.   Wooster's defense won this game for the Scots and yet you discredit that as well and chalk it up the the fact that Musky just has no offense to speak of.  Bottom line is it was a win.  Not a pretty one, but it shows up in the W column just the same as a blow-out.  The important thing is that Wooster builds off of this win and we won't know how that will turn out until Saturday against MacMurray. 

[wabco]

Scotsfan

I see Wabash working some first game kinks out but with the final score Wabash 40+ to K-zoo 0 to 7 (they get to the 7 against a third/fourth team future Hard Hat D).

The other 40+ to 0 to 7 game will be the Flyers vs. Tiger Up.

[ScotsFan]

I see Wabash working some first game kinks out but with the final score Wabash 40+ to K-zoo 0 to 7

And is that supposed to impress??  I believe Wabash shut out K-zoo last year 35-0.  And what did that get you?  A 6-4 season!!! 

[wally_wabash]

There may have been some "extenuating circumstances that led to the dreadful performance" of Wabash in the second half of the 2004 season. 

[wooscot]

Let me step into the mind of a Wabash fan for a second....

"Wooster only beat Muskingum by three?  That must mean Wooster sucks something awful b/c barely beating an OAC team (doormat conference) the first game of the season on the road during Musky's stadium renovation party in front of a sell-out crowd at night is clearly evidence Wooster is not very good.  Wabash will blow out perennial powerhouse and annually underated K-zoo...again...this weekend by at least 50 points.  I know this will happen b/c Wabash always fights, unlike Wooster and Witt, and that translates into winning no matter the talent on the team, graduation losses, or any other objective factor most reasonable people would consider in making such judgments.  Didn't Witt lose by 50 points to Capital, a team from the same doormat conference as Musky?  Pathetic.  What's next, losing to Dayton by 50?  Its not like Dayton is Division I-AA or anything.  Its embarassing that our predicted conference champsion  is Witt.  It should've been Wabash...b/c they always fight...and they would never lose to Capital or Dayton or play a close game with an OAC school on the road!  Wabash is sooo good this year, OSU is lucky they're only playing Texas and not the LIttle Giants this weekend.  Wabash is awesome!!!!!  Has anybody seen my basketball?"   

[reality check]

As an OAC poster let me say Wooster beating Muskingum by three is indeed underwhelming.

[wally_wabash]

Overall pretty funny and I appreciate the attempt at sattire.  But there are a few points that should be addressed. 

First, nobody here said that the OAC is a doormat conference.  Everybody here is knowledgeable enough to know that the OAC is quite strong.  BUT, just because a team plays in the OAC doesn't mean that they're necessarily any good.  Muskingum falls into that category.  Remember, Hiram played in the OAC for quite a while and I'm not sure they were particularly feared despite their conference affiliation and I'm also not sure that any non-OAC team that beat Hiram was turning cartwheels over it. 

Second, nobody is embarassed that Witt was selected as our conference champ.  I believe we've pointed out on numerous occasions that the vast majority of the board agreed with that prediction in August.  What's embarassing is the way Witt let themselves get beat down.  Wittenberg, like it or not, is the most recognizeable team from our conference and it does us ALL damage when they take a beating like that. 

Nobody has speculated on what Wabash could do against Capital or any other OAC team (although I'll posit right now that Wabash could probably beat Muskingum by more than a field goal at Muskingum or at Wabash or on the moon or underwater or wherever you want to play the game and if they didn't the vast majority of us wouldn't be very pleased)...the comments I've made about Wooster are about Wooster only and have no relation to anything Wabash is doing.  Why is it that I can't run some commentary on other games around the league without everybody reading an underlying Wabash-centric subtext?  That I follow Wabash doesn't exclude my interest in other games and the other teams in the conference.  There's much more objectivity in these posts than you care to realize.  But then again, if you read these posts with any objectivity, you'd have no bullets left in your gun and this wouldn't be nearly as fun for you.  Right? 

[wittdaone]

Wally

I think people pile on Wabash because they don't like them.  Witt may lose again this weekend but as of now they expect to win!