FB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[smedindy]

Teams that kick to avoid Chamblee lose the field position game. Allegheny tried that, and their upset bid was snuffed in some part because Wabash had a lot of short fields.

Not every punt return is one that is destined for big yardage. Some returns by Chamblee are from punts designed (hopefully) to limit the damage.

[smedindy]

http://www2.northcoast.org/sites/default/files/football/2011-FBALL.pdf

Zoeller and Gum repeat POYs.

Akinribade Newcomer of the Year.

Raeburn Coach of the Year.

[smedindy]

I tallied up first and second teamers for each league member:

Wabash 8 / 8
Witt  6 / 5
Wooster 3 / 4
Allegheny 4 / 2
Oberlin 2 / 2
Denison 2 / 1
OWU 1 / 1
Kenyon 0 / 2

This illustrates the talent gap in the NCAC.

Congrats to all who made these teams.

[bashbrother]

http://www2.northcoast.org/sites/default/files/football/2011-FBALL.pdf

Zoeller and Gum repeat POYs.

Akinribade Newcomer of the Year.

Raeburn Coach of the Year.

About what I expected from the NCAC..... "Spread the Love Mentality"   

Congrats to ER & staff  and to all the Wabash Players honored.

[bashbrother]

Wabash uses the same company out of Indianapolis that the NCAA uses to produce the streams for the non-televised national championship events (Webstream Productions/Hometown Television). They use a five-camera system with two high shots, two field-level shots, embedded clock, and multiple replays. You can go to their web site (http://hometownsportsindiana.blogspot.com/ to view other games (including the four Wabash games broadcast early this season) to see examples of their product.

Thanks for the knowledge. I am hoping they don't use Real Player (NCTV does) as I would then be able to stream it on my TV through my PS3!

A laptop, HDMI cable and a big screen..... with Hometown's quality of broadcast....... really is the real deal! 

[BashDad]

Oh man... you're gonna make me contradict a point from earlier. Fine. I don't care.

Witt played all of 3 teams with a winning record. Those teams were Wash U, Huntingdon, and Wabash. In those three games, they were 1-2 and Zoeller's stat lines were:

Wash U         15-27-0     139     0 TDs      WIN
Huntingdon    15-33-1     186     1 TD        LOSS
Wabash         15-27-1    146     1 TD         LOSS

Your reigning NCAC player of the year, folks!!!!

[robertgoulet]

Wabash uses the same company out of Indianapolis that the NCAA uses to produce the streams for the non-televised national championship events (Webstream Productions/Hometown Television). They use a five-camera system with two high shots, two field-level shots, embedded clock, and multiple replays. You can go to their web site (http://hometownsportsindiana.blogspot.com/ to view other games (including the four Wabash games broadcast early this season) to see examples of their product.

Thanks for the knowledge. I am hoping they don't use Real Player (NCTV does) as I would then be able to stream it on my TV through my PS3!

A laptop, HDMI cable and a big screen..... with Hometown's quality of broadcast....... really is the real deal!

Unfortunately my computer has been having trouble with streaming video lately (I'm about to the end of my laptop's shelflife), so that option is out. I've got my fingers crossed on Hometown's webstream being compatible with my PS3!

[smedindy]

Could Belton's performance against DPU have cost him the award? Sound ludicrous, but stats wise that wasn't a great game.

His Oberlin performance also may have hurt his case (12-25-1, 132 yds, 4 sacks, -3 yards rushing, 1 fumble). Conference coaches may remember those days.

The thing is, Zoeller was a better passer, especially against the overmatched teams. But Zoeller didn't nearly have Belton's impact as a runner, not by a longshot. In fact, Witt put Florence in when they went to their running-QB package.

Or maybe the NCAC lost the 2011 ballots and counted 2010's again? Heh...

[Duster72]

Over the course of the remaining weeks, Belton got more decisive, killed Witt in the first 30 minutes, and then REALLY hasn't been asked to do anything for two weeks. So. I don't know. Here we are.

NCC wins every argument right now that centers around statistics. They just do. There's too much in their favor. But I'm not ready to concede that our strengths, even if statistically suspect with the SOS numbers, are somehow tossed to the bin of irrelevance.

You and I are on the same page on these two points 100%.

[bashbrother]

Or maybe the NCAC lost the 2011 ballots and counted 2010's again? Heh...

Well,   there truly wasn't a clear cut offensive player of the year.  One that stood out so far that there was no conversation to be had.

Zoeller, a senior, had a nice career and although, did not play well this year in big games?  When given a choice, the NCAC will always chose to spread it around.   Just not enough of an argument for Chase, a junior, to win it.   I disagree,  but i am not surprised. 

Enough!   Back to North Central!

[wally_wabash]

I respectfully disagree with the OPOY selection.  The goal of an offense is to score touchdowns.  Nobody in the league was responsible for more touchdowns than Chase Belton.  Not McKee, not Paulus, not Fioroni, and not Zoeller.  It was Chase Belton.  And when Ben Zoeller and Chase Belton were on the field at the same time with all of the chips shoved into the middle of the table, Chase Belton was the better player.  I know it's a season-long award, but I think when you can so obviously pick out one or two games that carry some added significance, performance in those big moments should get some extra attention.

Love to see AJ Akinribade recognized for NotY.  You've seen him get better and better every game this year.  Cody Buresh and Houston Hodges were also recognized on the all-league team...that's three freshmen all on that defense already being recognized as among the best in the league.  Enjoy three more years of all of that, NCAC teams. 

Congrats to the award recipients and all of the players recognized as All-NCAC! 

[USee]

BashDad,

I will for a moment overlook the point about Witt being a good (bad) team, depending on the point you are making. I never bought into the weak schedule stuff.  And comparing games from 2005 and 2009 is like comparing my college girlfriends with my wife, it's a good (bad) memory but not really relevant.

I have no doubt Wabash is better now than they were in 2008 and 2009. I have seen the improvement's myself. I watched the game on Saturday on livestream and they have more good players now than I have seen in the past. I believe that "past performance is not indicative of future results", and that stats are just that, stats. I think Wabash has a chance to be more competitive this weekend than the 7 CCIW teams that lost to NCC by 20+ pts.

I agree with you that we don't know, we just don't. But I also believe the massive discrepancies in a few statistical categories are not something that will go away just because you believe it to be so. I think Wabash could play mistake free and still lose this game. I also think if NCC goes in and makes some of the mistakes they have made they can lose this game. That's the part none of us can quantify. The biggest advantage the LG's have is the fact the game is in Crawfordsville. NCC has not been consistent on the road, although, in their title game @IWU this year, they dominated from start to finish.

I don't like talking about the strengths of NCC any more than you like talking about Depauw. I am not an NCC fan and never will be. In fact I root for Wabash many more times than I pull for NCC. I wish this machine in Naperville were not so. But it is. It just is.

[wally_wabash]

The other thing not really being discussed is that this looked like a very average Wabash team through 7 weeks.  An average Wabash team is better than most, but let's be honest, through 7 weeks this team didn't look like it would compete with some of the past Wabash playoff teams. 

This I really don't agree with.  While true that this Wabash offense did not look like a lot of the very vertical Wabash offenses of the past, there are other parts to a football team that I don't think have been as good as they are now in prior playoff years.  I was at the first game in Wooster back in September and it took me about three Wooster offensive series to immediately know that this wasn't the same defense we've been watching for the last several years.  That group came out of the gate fast, aggressive, and nasty and you didn't need 7 weeks to know that this defense is about as good as we've seen here.  Special teams are very good as well.  There have been some very good kick returners come through the program in the last decade, but nobody holds a candle to what Chamblee can do on a kick return.  I also don't believe that our placekicking is as bad as people would seem to hint at around here.  MacDougall has done a nice job on kickoffs (can't remember ever seeing a Wabash kicker put so many balls at or over the goal line) and I think a lot of the missed placekicks have to do with snapping which has not been superb. 

So it all comes back to the offense, which isn't as "good" as it has been.  It's all relative...it's weird to see Wabash run 50 times and pass 20 in a game.  That's not what we've gotten used to seeing.  But this Wabash team doesn't rely entirely on an explosive offense to win games.  This Wabash team asks it's offense to operate efficiently when they get short fields handed to them by superior defense and special teams.  That is what this offense has done very well all season long, even if it isn't always sexy deep post bombs. 

I'm reading a lot of "how is Wabash going to score on NCC's defense" stuff.  It might be tough IF Wabash has to spend all day driving on a long field.  But that's not what this offense has done all year.  If the defense and special teams continue to do their thing...force a turnover here and there, get a big return or force short punts, Wabash will get a handful of possessions on a short field.  Points will come. 

[wally_wabash]

I don't like talking about the strengths of NCC any more than you like talking about Depauw.

It's easy for us to not discuss DePauw's strengths because right now they have none.  Bam! 

[BashDad]

But I also believe the massive discrepancies in a few statistical categories are not something that will go away just because you believe it to be so. I think Wabash could play mistake free and still lose this game. I also think if NCC goes in and makes some of the mistakes they have made they can lose this game.

Me too! All of this. Me too. Agreed. Yes.

I've been pretty deliberate in what I've chosen to defend with this Bash team. I've never just shrugged and said "Whatever, we're gonna win." The easiest argument to make in this kind of game involves strength of schedule. Every meaningful--and tight!--game that an NCAC team has played against an upper conference team as invited the same analysis. It's boring. The arguments favoring NCC would be way more compelling if they were about actual football match-ups and detailed considerations of why, exactly, Bash is out-manned. You and several others have been doing that. That's the fun part. Strength of schedule and conference boasting? Not fun. Boring.

No-one responded to this idea yesterday, but the point stands: Isn't holding a team like IC (and other "fine to good" teams) to 26 yards rushing a relative indication that we might expect Bash to hold a team like NCC to, say, 175? And isn't that statistic a constant in every tight and losing game the Cardinals have played?

Also, Bash fans: shouldn't we throw Chamblee in Wildcat some this week? Why not win or lose on Offense with your best player touching the ball all the time?

Eh?