FB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[scotty]

Wally, be nice...its only Monday...

on Wooster, good to see Anderson get his carries as its a long season for any running back...

[wabashcpa]

jdean,

You beat me to the punch.  As I recall Wabash held down Duesing pretty well last year, and that appears to be the key to shutting down Wash U again this year. 

[wally_wabash]

Duesing had 5 catches for a whopping 15 yards last year.  Wabash also recorded 10 sacks against Washington last year...burned through two Bear qbs.  It was, dare I say, grizzly. 

I'm most interested in the Wabash offense this week.  The offense moved pretty much at will against Kalamazoo.  Last year vs. Wash U. Wabash needed a serious kickstart in the second half to win.  As I mentioned before, the offense looks a lot more comfortable with itself this year than it did at any point last year.

[e_lee]

For OWU, Zach Dennis is a play-maker.  He is going to make it hard not to try to get the ballt o him.  A bona fide deep threat like him makes Sir Louis that much more dangerous.

[Bashbacker765]

I have to agree with Wally.  I think this will be a real test for the Bash O.  I hope we pass with flying colors.  I think the defense can only get better.  Good luck to all of the NCAC.

WABASH ALWAYS FIGHTS![/size][/b]

[wally_wabash]

I have a really good feeling about this weekend BB765.  The atmosphere between now and one year ago is night and day.  Last year everything was tense...a lot of standing around watching and waiting to see when Creighton was going to give Harbaugh the hook, holding out on the running game until Aaron got healthy...everything was just kind of stalled while we waited for injuries to heal and for a quarterback to emerge.  Now, we have a quarterback and he's the guy and nobody is watching and waiting for the hook.  We have a running back, he's good, and he's healthy and he is (in my opinion) a cut above the rest on our squad.  Everything on the offense seems much more settled and defined right now than it ever did last season.  That was evidenced by Wabash going for nearly 600 yards Saturday and never being forced to punt (remember Wabash only led last year's game against K'zoo 9-0 at halftime).  I imagine that we'll punt this Saturday, but I think the offense will be much more effective than the one we saw one year ago against Wash U.  If the offense is clicking against a pretty decent defense in St. Louis this weekend, I think Wabash has a real chance to be very, very good this year. 

[wally_wabash]

Time for your fun Earlham/Manchester stat of the day:

Earlham only possessed the ball for 17 minutes and 5 seconds of the game.  They were scoring just over 4 points per minute they held the ball.  Amazing. 

Alright, I can't stop there.  7 of Earlham's scoring drives took 4 plays or less.  Just wow. 

[BashBacker#16]

Earlham coach, Gary Keesling was quoted in the USA Today calling the game the result of 2 very poor defenses...oh really.  Based on the time of possession (17 minutes = 69 points) and the short scoring drives against Manchester...how gross must Manchester's D be???  Simply amazing.

[BashBacker#16]

Wally,

You know I like to blow you crap about your point spreads each week - although I think it would be very hard to do with much accuracy but I have 2 questions for you this week:  1)  How do you figure Alma/Witt as a pick'em???  Do we simply forget that they lost 54-0 the the Capital "New England Patriots" Crusaders?  Do you give them a pick'em based on their improved performance vs. Dayton?  Dayton beat Tiffin 38-0, Tiffin beat Butler 30-7, Albion beat Butler 28-23...how bad is Butler???  2)  Why such a big line with Wash & Jeff vs. Gheny?  W&J's D must not be that great (giving up huge points to Hanover - down in recent years) and I think more of Gheny's D???  Just curious on your rationale?

[BashDad]

Wally:

Yes, a chance to be very, very good--but...one game at a time.  The "road" has lots of glass on it, as you know.  The L'il Giants will need to be focused.  Next Saturday in St. Louis...


WABASH ALWAYS FIGHTS!!

[formerd3db]

Bashbacker:
This may have been discussed earlier this year, however, what is your take on Butler?  Even though they are DIAA non-scholarship, why can't they attract more upper level players like a few of the other DIAA non-scholarship programs or even the lower tier DIAA scholarship/DII teams?  I would think that with their tradition, the Butler Bowl, City of Indianapolis, etc., that they would have a team that would at least be as good as some of the better or best DIII teams.  No reason not too.  They have been not very good in recent years though as we know.  Just curious on your thoughts.

[scotty]

Butler has made a concious effort to put football on the backburner, plain and simple...little support from the administration and student body...nice schedule for traveling but i look for 1 and 10 or 2 and 9 for quite a while...

[reality check]

Wally

Don't know if you will check your email on here or the NCAC Pick Em page but I formatted something for you to try if you like.  Once I got the hang of it, it was just some copying and pasting.

[BashBacker#16]

FormerD3DB,

Scotty pretty much hit it on the head - no one cares.  Even former players (alums) from when it was a scholarship program have also lost interest in a big way. Their home attendance is brutal.  They have a run down Butler Bowl too that is pretty gross with much needed improvements - it could be very sweet.  The IFCA doesn't even hold the Indiana All Star game there anymore.  They hold it at North Central High School.  Cartwright is in this 4th year and has posted 4-6, 2-9, and 1-10 seasons - how is that trend?  One former player is convinced the staff has never learned how to recruit without schollies.  From what I know in recruiting, Wabash rarely loses a kid to Butler (if ever?) which makes me wonder how much they recruit.  You'd think we would butt heads all over the Indy metro area???  It's no comparison compared to the times (many) we compete for kids with U. of Indy (D2), Saint Francis (NAIA), DePauw (D3), Hanover (D3), and "preferred walk-on type kids" at the IU's, Purdue's, etc.  It's just sad to see. 

[scotty]

the Butler campus on weekends seems to resemble a commuter college which cannot help attendance on Sat...when my so got his first letter concerning financial aid, the general tone was "this is it and dont you dare ask again...obviously, we didnt...great school but many other options for Indiana players like you mentioned...