FB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[Vince McMahon]

Wally,

Matlak said in an interview last week that he was probably going to give some other guys a look on Saturday and see how they responded.  I don't think he was punishing Savage by any means by letting Jones play the 2nd and 4th quarters.  I can't say I noticed much of a difference in terms of production.  Both qb's played fairly well.  Of course the scoreboard pretty much overshadows that.  

As I stated in another post, the secondary was bad, but it wasn't all their fault.  There was NO pass pressure until the fourth quarter when the game was already in hand for W&J.  I'd say the Gators are getting a bye at the best possible time.  Hopefully, they'll get some guys healthy (Tarquinio and George being the first to come to mind), iron out their problems with pass D, and come into the Wooster game focused and hungry.  I can't really compare this team to the one that ran the NCAC table in '03, but I think the conference may be even more up for grabs this season than it was in '03.  We'll have to wait and see.  Good luck to all teams in action this weekend.  

[Li'l Giant]

Do I get any points for guessing that BashBacker#16 is really Hercule Poirot?

[smedindy]

765 could mean he lives around Richmond, too.

[wabashcpa]

OWU's offense wasn't exactly gangbusters either with just 387 yards for the game.

387 yards total offense doesn't sound too bad to me.

Wabash total offense v. Washington (per box score on web site)= 352 yards.

Not a bad day's work, either.

Both resulted in W's, and I think the matchup a week from Saturday will end up determining the conference champion.

[wabashcpa]

D.  He's made some remarks about Wabash admissions' standards dropping for football players...yawn?

What about the Southmont to Wabash pipeline?  Talk about diminishing standards...

[BashBacker#16]

Vince M

On the pick-em site you said "Wabash wins either way, but they may end up having to score 60+ points to cover the spread." Are you saying Earlham may score 30 versus the Bash D?

WabashCPA - your hole sponsorship for next year's Crock has increased to $1,000.  Keep it up...  As for admissions back in the day...thank God for Coach Boone!   

[Vince McMahon]

BB16,

I know Wabash's defense is much better than any Earlham has faced thus far, but I wouldn't be surprised to see Rummel get a couple of big throws in here and there.  If they come close to 30, it will be because Wabash is up a ton, and will empty their bench.  That may free him up to get a couple more late.  I know I could be completely off my rocker, but if the kid's legitimate, I wouldn't be surprised to see him have SOME success.  As for the Earlham D, we'll just have to see if Wabash wants to play ball control or strike early and often.  I'm sure they'll do pretty much whatever they want.

[scotty]

at the risk of being burned at the stake by "Reality Check", can i ask a simple question...with the obvious interest and growth in D3 football{this sight for example}, has there been a change in recruiting in recent years...

let me say once and for all, i am not talking about D1 recruiting...let me say twice, i am not talking about lowering academics...

my earlier posts were mixed...for example, some D3 schools, not powerhouses will take as many players as they can for 32K a kid...that is recruiting in one sense

other schools will broaden their base geographicly, and reach out to other players...

i have put 4 kids thru college....a baseball player in Ohio, a football player at the Citadel, a swimmer at Carroll College ...and a football player at Wooster...

if im an idiot so be it, but what is the fear of discussing changes in D3 sports...

[wally_wabash]

I think Rummell's health is more important than anything.  My guess is that Rummell will play, and if he's gimpy, he's going to get hit.  A lot.  He won't make it through the game.  Once he's out, Earlham's offense is done. 

I'm not hoping or rooting for the kid to get hurt...anything but.  I'm just saying that with as much as Earlham throws (and they need to...Rummell is their only source of offense), if Rummell can't run around and get away from the Wabash front seven, he's got little chance to get through the game before he tweaks his ankle again or just gets pounded too much to continue. 

[reality check]

Scotty

Maybe if you figure out two or three more ways to ask the same question, someone...anyone will want to discuss it with you.

So be it.

[formerd3db]

wally:
Have to agree with you re: Witt.  It will be an  'ing' situation if they lose to Denison in the next game a couple of weeks from now.  Maybe the bye weekend will give them a boost!

[DarkSide-D]

Scotty, I will discuss a bit with ya (I won't snub ya)

I dont think that the approach to recruiting has changed on the d3 level.  I don't see how it could have.  Basically, if a school is willing to put money into its football program to a point that will allow for a recruiting staff, time for visiting players, etc, then they recruit.  Depending on if the fit is right for the recruit, he may or may not go to that school.  In many cases, this depends on the campus atmosphere, just as much as that of the team's.  However, if the player feels that he likes the school, likes the coaches, he may choose not to go to that school if he believes that he is going to be a punching bag week in and week out at that school.  That was the main reason I chose not to go to Muskingum.  (I realize there are flaws in this arguement, such as why would someone want to go to Hiram).  To this, I just don't know.  Maybe the student athlete just wants to get on the field, or the academics create such a draw they overlook the fact they are tackling dummies.

This whole discussion about recruiting is odd.  Take Kenyon.  For so long they were pathetic in football.  Not just in play, but in numbers.  For example, they dropped out of NCAC competition in ?2003? citing their number defeciency.  They still played NCAC teams (with the exception of Witt and Bash), meaning they didn't get pummeled.  Since then their numbers have gone up, both in players and in production.  Once again, go back and read my post from a few days ago where 'kenyon was shut down unlike the past few seasons.'  Maybe that was because they didnt really play anyone in one of those seasons?  Perhaps that fact, higher numbers, allowed them to get some decent players.  Who knows?  The point of this rambling is that Kenyon for so long sucked in the football recruiting dept., yet they are THE perennial team in swimming.  Meaning they do recruit in that sport pretty heavily.

To finish this on-going babbling, I don't think d3 football recruiting has changed.  In fact, with the exception of actual scholarships, I don't think it is much different from d1 (oh yeah, and the big time lure of big time sports)  If a player goes d3, its for many reasons.  Many d3 caliber athletes attempt to go to higher division schools.  Many higher division caliber athletes choose to go to d3.  The old saying, You win some you loose some, goes to college coaches in recruiting just like in everything else.  Also, as exemplified in Kenyon, some schools decide to recruit one sport over the other.  Who ever heard of Duke Football?  Everyone has heard of Duke Basketball.  Or Georgetown?

[DarkSide-D]

Anyway, on to the thoughtless bashing of skulls into one another that is Football, the game we all love so well. 

Let's go Scots.  Bring home the fish!!

[frank uible]

Darkside: If one is not ignorant of football history, one knows that Duke once and for a long time (some of which occurred within my lifetime) was a major factor in college football.

[DarkSide-D]

Alas, I am Ignorant.

Or the fact that I mentioned them means I have heard of them.  Fact is, I used them to illustrate a point that not all schools focus so adamently on football as an important sport.  Duke is more known for their basketball than their football.  Same for Georgetown.  But thank you for that observation.