FB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[BashBacker#16]

Here's a pretty good article on Houston Hodges.  http://www.ncsasports.org/blog/category/division-iii/

[BashDad]

So. Who thinks Witt loses to Huntington this week?

(Raises hand.)

[DPU3619]

I don't know. It's a really long trip. Huntingdon beat Hampden-Sydney, but lost to Birmingham-Southern.  I think Witt is better than both HSC & BSC.  Huntingdon has given a ton of yards and a ton of points.  Huntingdon hasn't played a good defense yet.  I don't think the Hawks will be able to move it anywhere near as well as they have to this point. 

[bashbrother]

Wabash up 3 spots to #12 with Witt moving up to #14 in this week's poll

http://d3football.com/top25/2011/week5

[oldtiger]

Huntingdon has given a ton of yards and a ton of points.

http://web1.ncaa.org/football/exec/rankingSummary?year=2011&org=1130

Witt's performances on the road haven't exactly been stellar the past year and a half; definitely not on par with those at home.

If Zoeller's given time with any consistancy he may/should have a(nother) career day. I'd expect to see Huntingdon's most athletic DL/OLB on the right defensive side.

Which Tiger team will show up?

[smedindy]

It's a possibility that Huntingdon could beat Witt. I saw BSC first-hand and losing to them isn't something to hang your head in shame. So while it would be an upset, it wouldn't be out of the realm of possibilities.

[BashDad]

Witt may be better than Birmingham Southern or Hampden-Sydney, but I don't know how anyone can argue that point with total confidence. They certainly haven't played anyone on the level of either of those teams and they've been bi-polar against the suspect competition that they have faced.

[If anyone brings up the team that Heidelberg just stomped 55-3, I'm not even gonna respond. Just sayin'. This ain't 2006.]

Saturday is essentially a week 6 play-off game for Huntingdon and they welcome Witt with the confidence of knowing what the ceiling above their helmets feels like-- they've had a couple of real tests against solid teams and split the pair. They know a.) that they're capable of beating a good team and b.) what it took for a good team to beat them. That's a healthy place to be when you're about to enter a game that could potentially resign your season to the Pool B garbage bin.

In contrast, Witt knows... what exactly? That they were a field goal better than UAA's second-best? This is a team notorious for being indifferent in games that don't mean much, playing in a game of little personal consequence, and against a tough team whose season is essentially riding on a victory. AND it's on the road. It has upset written all over it.  If--IF! IF!--we can even call it that.

[wally_wabash]

Witt @ Huntingdon is going to wind up in Triple Take somewhere this week.  Take it to the bank.  The money bank. 

Also a certainty...if Witt takes the same game to Alabama that they took to St. Louis a few weeks ago, they'll get beat. 

[Pat Coleman]

Witt @ Huntingdon is going to wind up in Triple Take somewhere this week.  Take it to the bank.  The money bank. 

Also a certainty...if Witt takes the same game to Alabama that they took to St. Louis a few weeks ago, they'll get beat.

And the ATN podcast.

[bashbrother]

Also a certainty...if Witt takes the same game to Alabama that they took to St. Louis a few weeks ago, they'll get beat.

Just because I am a statistics nut, I decided to take a look at Witt's last 15 regular season games (all victories) to try and illustrate the differences between Witt at Home and Witt on the road.  Interesting findings to say the least....


Witt Rolls At Home -
In Witt's last nine (9) home games they have scored 396 points (44 pts/game) while opponents scored 87 points (9.6 pts/game)

A Different Team Away From Home - 
In the Tiger's last six (6) road contests they have scored 154 points (25 pts/game) with opponents scoring 110 points (18.33 pts/game).....

Findings - ...
Witt has given up about twice as many points to opponents and their scoring drops 44% on avg....when they are away from home. They are still finding a way to win,  but they have been making it interesting the last two years.

I will add, that this trend was not present in 2009,  outside of the Wabash and Whitewater games,  they destroyed everyone.... home or away didn't matter.  (They gave up 53 pts. the entire reg. season  )

Will be interesting to see what Saturday will bring in Montgomery.

[smedindy]

Maybe they need to check the exhaust system on their bus. The CO fumes may be getting to them!

[wabco]

By the by ... the Wabash Rubgy team beat the Dannies this past weekend 35-ZIP.  Perhaps they graduated a large number of Rugby players as well (although if memory serves ... Wabash Rugby smoked them last year as well.).

[wally_wabash]

So let's talk about Wooster/Denison.  First, big props to Denison for breaking a long losing streak to the Scots and bringing back the Old Red Lantern to Granville (pictured below).



Way to go Big Red.  Now, what the heck is going on in Wooster?  I get that their #1 QB is out.  Fine.  But the Scots got shut out in the second half against Denison (the same Denison that got beat by OWU remember).  The Scots rushed for just 56 yards...even more puzzling is that the league's top returning rusher got seven carries for two yards.  That's right, big time gamebreaker (or so I've been told) Robert Flagg had seven carries for two yards against Denison.  In fact, Flagg is pounding out 2.7 ypc this season which is not good.  They've been in the red zone just 12 times in five games.  So I guess the question is, how is Wooster's offense this bad?  It's not just a Barnes problem either because they weren't scoring before he got hurt.  After week 2 I went on record as saying that I thought Wooster might rip off seven wins in a row.  I assumed that the offense would pick up when they weren't playing B-W and Wabash.  That assesment is clearly incorrect and now I'm not sure Wooster can beat Washington or CWRU and they don't have a chance at Witt to end the season if they can't do better than 8.8 points per game.  A month ago, Wooster was clearly the third best team in the league, now I'm not sure that Wooster can win five games this season.

[ExTartanPlayer]

Way to go Big Red.  Now, what the heck is going on in Wooster?  I get that their #1 QB is out.  Fine.  But the Scots got shut out in the second half against Denison (the same Denison that got beat by OWU remember). 

  After week 2 I went on record as saying that I thought Wooster might rip off seven wins in a row...That assesment is clearly incorrect and now I'm not sure Wooster can beat Washington or CWRU and they don't have a chance at Witt to end the season if they can't do better than 8.8 points per game.  A month ago, Wooster was clearly the third best team in the league, now I'm not sure that Wooster can win five games this season.

I now have no idea how to rank teams #3-7 in the NCAC.  I really thought that Allegheny and Wooster were pretty clearly #'s 3 and 4 based on previous seasons and early results, and now some weird stuff happens and it's back to the drawing board.  Honestly, I don't think that ANY result between Denison/Allegheny/Wooster/Oberlin/OWU would surprise me from here on out.  Gun to my head, if I had to pick a 3rd-place team in the league, I'd probably take Allegheny, but I'd be sorely tempted to pick Denison.

[bashbrother]

Highlight package from Saturday's Wabash/Kenyon Game.

http://youtu.be/1qbZsIKicRk

Have I said how much I like Wabash's home video stream?

FR. Houston Hodges is really good.  Can you say "Newcomer of the Year?"