FB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[smedindy]

DPU fails on 4th down and 10. OWU will prevail 26-22 to remain undefeated.

[BashDad]

http://deadspin.com/5947937/was-the-panthers-fourth+down-decision-dumb-enough-to-change-the-nfls-punt+to+win-philosophy

[smedindy]

Lost amidst the absolute nuttiness of the end of the Bethel / Concordia - Moorhead game. C-M had 4th and 1 at the 50 on their last possession and punted it back to Bethel. Punt-to-win strikes again.

[DPU3619]

So I'm watching film on our next opponent. (For those that don't know, I'm a HS football coach, among other things.)  Anyway, I'm watching last night's game between Franklin County and Batesville (both Indiana schools).  Batesville runs the Short-to-Casper '01 Bell game tip play at the end of the first half.  It's the exact play.  Their QB can't throw it as far as Knott, obviously.  They ran it from the 30.  But, it's the exact play.  Tall guy sets up at near the goal line and pops that thing straight in the air for the smaller kid who snuck in behind him.  I couldn't believe it when I saw it.  That one worked, too.

[wally_wabash]

A couple of around the league observations before I get to the good stuff from Springfield...

- Allegheny.  Seriously?  SERIOUSLY?!  I get it from last week.  But this is just shameful today. 

- Looks like roster depth is really getting to Oberlin this year.  That's too bad.  But hey, good to see Kenyon with some life and winning some ball games. 

- OWU is 5-0 and they don't have to play Witt.  Nevermind their game against CMU.  Doesn't matter.  Allegheny is apparently only interested in beating Wabash (bravo on that front).  I don't trust Wooster to win a big game.  That makes the 10/27 game with Wabash at Selby what may very well be a conference championship game for OWU.  Not a typo and not crazy.  OWU has a look at this thing thing year. 

[wally_wabash]

So, Wabash vs. Wittenberg.  The premiere NCAC showdown.  It lived up to the lofty billing. 

I actually don't have a ton to say here because I hit it pretty well in my pregame thoughts.  The defenses were pretty good.  Sorry.  Witt's defense was pretty good.  Wabash's defense was excellent.  I thought before the game that Florence could beat Wabash even when they defended well, given enough snaps.  The guy is too good to not hit a homerun once in a while.  He got one today and it got his team back in the game.  Wabash did a good job of keeping Florence in the pocket.  They only sacked him twice, but they didn't let him run around outside of the pocket much at all.  That was key and the secondary did a good job on coverage.  Reed's one pick came via the apparently very good hands of Charlie Kolisek at the line of scrimmage...think of the Karate Kid with the fly and the chopsticks.  It was kinda like that.  But really other than that, complete passes were hard to come by thanks to some really good coverage. 

So how did Wabash limit Florence's chances?  They ran and ran and ran.  Wabash leaned on the run game hard to keep possession.  They didn't run as well in terms of per carry yardage as they did against CMU, but they ran well enough to keep the chains moving and keep Witt's offense on the sideline.  And then when Wabash had to mix in a pass, they were getting very good looks down the field.  Freshman TE Darren Bost got behind the defense on two of his three catches.  Gibson's catch that set up one of Wabash's TDs was the same kind of thing.  Wabash lulled the secondary to sleep, then hit on big plays downfield.  Really, really good stuff. 

Witt did well to capitalize on their 3rd quarter chances and get back in a game that was dangerously close to slipping away.  But the coup de gras today was the 9:32 second drive to kill the game after Witt had -gotten it to 27-24.  What could have happened there if Florence got another series?  Anything is the right answer.  What an outstanding job by that Wabash offensive line and the Wabash RBs to get that thing done on the ground when they had to have it.  Super, super, super job. 

With this one in the rearview, Wabash now has hit the halfway point at 4-1.  The LGs still need help to win this league (maybe DePauw could chip in to the cause next week), but without today's result they would have had zero chance.  Next week Wabash and Chase Belton get a chance to exorcise some demons down in St. Louis before returning to league play for the last month of the season. 

Outstanding job all the way around for Wabash today.  Clutch plays all day and a clutch win over in Ohio today. 

[sigma one]

In Springfield today, thought we almost returned to the 70s, uh, 60s.  Smash inside the tackles:  Holmes and Dehnke.  Slugfest, and at the end a battle of wills.  Always Means Always.

[smedindy]

So I'm watching film on our next opponent. (For those that don't know, I'm a HS football coach, among other things.)  Anyway, I'm watching last night's game between Franklin County and Batesville (both Indiana schools).  Batesville runs the Short-to-Casper '01 Bell game tip play at the end of the first half.  It's the exact play.  Their QB can't throw it as far as Knott, obviously.  They ran it from the 30.  But, it's the exact play.  Tall guy sets up at near the goal line and pops that thing straight in the air for the smaller kid who snuck in behind him.  I couldn't believe it when I saw it.  That one worked, too.

I know what you said at the end of that film, Wes.

"The Horror! The Horror!" 

[smedindy]

- OWU is 5-0 and they don't have to play Witt.  Nevermind their game against CMU.  Doesn't matter.  Allegheny is apparently only interested in beating Wabash (bravo on that front).  I don't trust Wooster to win a big game.  That makes the 10/27 game with Wabash at Selby what may very well be a conference championship game for OWU.  Not a typo and not crazy.  OWU has a look at this thing thing year.

How about next week's OWU / Kenyon game? The Lords miss Wabash and Witt this year (thank goodness for round robin next year) and if they beat the Bishops, they're 3-0 and have four meh teams (counting 'Gheny as meh) that could be beatable.

I doubt if Kenyon can beat OWU, but still, it could happen.

[wally_wabash]

- OWU is 5-0 and they don't have to play Witt.  Nevermind their game against CMU.  Doesn't matter.  Allegheny is apparently only interested in beating Wabash (bravo on that front).  I don't trust Wooster to win a big game.  That makes the 10/27 game with Wabash at Selby what may very well be a conference championship game for OWU.  Not a typo and not crazy.  OWU has a look at this thing thing year.

How about next week's OWU / Kenyon game? The Lords miss Wabash and Witt this year (thank goodness for round robin next year) and if they beat the Bishops, they're 3-0 and have four meh teams (counting 'Gheny as meh) that could be beatable.

I doubt if Kenyon can beat OWU, but still, it could happen.

Here's a list of teams that have played weaker schedules than Kenyon:
Occidental
Heidelberg
Westminster
Olivet

And that's it.  I know OWU hasn't exactly been through a meat grinder either, but Kenyon hasn't played, let alone beaten, anybody that has any punch. 

[bashbrother]

Wally -

Agree with all of your comments on today's victory in Springfield.   The only thing I will add is that I was somewhat shocked that Witt did not go for the TD at the end of the first half.   4 and 1 or 2 to score....  It was 13-0 at the time and they knew they got the ball coming out of halftime.   I realize that they wanted points,  but still was shocked.  Denke was getting yards most of the game.   On 3rd and 1 Florence tried the QB draw and was hammered short of the goal line, but still thought they would've tried punched it in.

Easy to second guess.  Just happy for the win.

P.S. Big props to the coaching staff for identifying that Witt had a weakness in covering the TE downfield and put it into the game plan.   It was obvious that the passes to the TE were deliberate and planned.   They saw something during game prep and exploited it.  Those plays were huge.

[wally_wabash]

bashbro-

I think they could have gone either way with the last play of the 1st half.  I was thinking that the FG was the right play.  I certainly wouldn't have called it a bonehead move to go for the touchdown there either.  Generally speaking, I don't think coaches get too greedy that early in a game and take what they can get.  But again, it wouldn't have been a bad play to go for it.  The murmuring from Witt parents around me (because for reasons passing any and all understanding, Witt parents sit in the clearly designated visitor's section...it's idiotic) was mixed on what they thought Fincham should do.

[ExTartanPlayer]

Congrats to Wabash on the big win.

Denison's offense (particularly their QB) was impressive in defeat against Carnegie Mellon.  The guy kept several plays alive and kept them in the game for a while.  Don't be deceived by the final score - in the third quarter, Denison had the ball trailing 27-21 and I was really nervous that they'd tie or take the lead because the QB just kept squirting away from the pass rush and finding receivers on broken plays.  CMU's offense was going to keep scoring, but the Big Red definitely have a nice offense.  I wouldn't be surprised if they win a couple more this season, especially since they've already played freshly-minted powerhouse OWU and Wabash.

Is Allegheny the most Jekyll and Hyde team around?  Losing by 30 to CMU, beating Wabash, and then putting up a donut against Chicago?  WTF?

[NCF]

Congrats to Wabash on the big win.

Denison's offense (particularly their QB) was impressive in defeat against Carnegie Mellon.  The guy kept several plays alive and kept them in the game for a while.  Don't be deceived by the final score - in the third quarter, Denison had the ball trailing 27-21 and I was really nervous that they'd tie or take the lead because the QB just kept squirting away from the pass rush and finding receivers on broken plays.  CMU's offense was going to keep scoring, but the Big Red definitely have a nice offense.  I wouldn't be surprised if they win a couple more this season, especially since they've already played freshly-minted powerhouse OWU and Wabash.

Is Allegheny the most Jekyll and Hyde team around?  Losing by 30 to CMU, beating Wabash, and then putting up a donut against Chicago?  WTF?

I think WTF might just sum up the first half of this season for several teams.

[BashDad]

P.S. Big props to the coaching staff for identifying that Witt had a weakness in covering the TE downfield and put it into the game plan.   It was obvious that the passes to the TE were deliberate and planned.   They saw something during game prep and exploited it.  Those plays were huge.

This.