FB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[bashbrother]

Case is not a good football team right now.....   Down 19-2 to Oberlin in the 4th

[Li'l Giant]

Part of me wants to say "how bad is Case?" in response to this and the other part of me wants to say "good job, Yeoman!". I guess I can do both.

[wally_wabash]

Tremendous stuff from Oberlin today.  We keep shaking our heads and saying "how can they?" and they just keep doing it. Applause for the Yeomen.

As for CWRU...well, they are doneski as far as the postseason goes. Their shot was to lose to Linfield and nobody else. Nobody else just rolled them up 19-2.

[sigma one]

Holy, Heisman, Batman!  Way to go, Oberlin.  Giving the NCAC a good name.  What was the pick 'em, 27.5?

[bashgiant]

Oberlin wins 19-2

[wally_wabash]

Holy, Heisman, Batman!  Way to go, Oberlin.  Giving the NCAC a good name.  What was the pick 'em, 27.5?

Oh boy...hmm. This was not a good week for the knucklehead that sets those spreads.

[bashgiant]

I would have thought The Bash would have moved up more in the polls. That was a pretty impressive showing yesterday. Putko looked real good and the defense was better than advertised!

[sigma one]

I wasn't questioning the line at 4 TDs. I was expressing my amazement and adimiration that Obie did what they did.  I'm supposing everyone but Oberlin thought that spread was about right, and maybe generous to the Yoemen.

[ExTartanPlayer]

I would have thought The Bash would have moved up more in the polls. That was a pretty impressive showing yesterday. Putko looked real good and the defense was better than advertised!

With respect, because it was a very impressive showing, it's hard to move a team based on a win over a team that was also blown out in its first game, no matter how impressive that win was. Look at the teams immediately in front of Wabash in the poll - SJF notched an impressive win over a perennial playoff contender, Hopkins won comfortably against an OK team, Wheaton curb-stomped Albion just as badly as Wabash did Hanover,Witt and UWW were idle. It's not just about what your team did, it's about how they compare to everyone else.  Wabash may well be a top 10 outfit by season's end - but you'll have to wait til there's more data in support of that belief.

[bashgiant]

I would have thought The Bash would have moved up more in the polls. That was a pretty impressive showing yesterday. Putko looked real good and the defense was better than advertised!

With respect, because it was a very impressive showing, it's hard to move a team based on a win over a team that was also blown out in its first game, no matter how impressive that win was. Look at the teams immediately in front of Wabash in the poll - SJF notched an impressive win over a perennial playoff contender, Hopkins won comfortably against an OK team, Wheaton curb-stomped Albion just as badly as Wabash did Hanover,Witt and UWW were idle. It's not just about what your team did, it's about how they compare to everyone else.  Wabash may well be a top 10 outfit by season's end - but you'll have to wait til there's more data in support of that belief.

Guess I was thinking the QB questions were keeping Wabash a little lower in the poles than they should be. From what I saw Saturday Putko is the man and did a good job.

[sigma one]

ExTartanPlayer, I was just about to post someting much like you did; you took the words right out of my keyboard  It's hard to move up Wabash v. others when they destroyed a team who was blown out the previous week, and who started last Saturday without their regular, and talented, QB.  I've said that I think the game would have been lopsided anyway, but Britt has talents the other QBs do not.  Wow, 3 throws by one of them and 3 INTs.  Has that ever happened before in college football?
     Moving on.  What I see about the NCAC after two weeks when not all teams have played twice. 
     Allegheny:  where are they going to find an offense that helps the defense stay off the field.  Disappointing start.  Hiram this week--big early game for both teams (and I never thought I would say that). 

Denison:  nice first game in which they scored 50+ points.  Then the close escape v. Hiram after Hiram lost Partridge to injury.  Will the game at Wabash this weekend tell us much more than they are a slowly improving team year over year. 

DePauw:  the loss to Sewanee on the road in their first game with a new coach and system might not mean all that much.  Neither team could score poiints in what was the lowest scoring game in DIII during Week #1.  Sewanee went to Willamette on Saturday and played tough out there in a loss.  Oops, first NCAC game v. Wittenberg still won't tell us much about their potential over the entire season. 

Hiram:  they have to feel that the monkey departed after a win in Game #1.  And they competed with Denison despite losing their QB early in the game. 

Kenyon:  Stomped 'Gheny, and then Earlham!?  I suppose it is possible that Earlham has discovered some talent; only time will tell.  Anyway, would any of us thought they would lose to the Quakers.  The verdict is still out.  They play OWU this week.  Are they at all capable of showing what they showed in Meadville--as if OWU would allow it.     

Oberlin:  double wow for the CWR win.  Does this show they have enough talent returning that there might be more wins than predicted.   Or like the Wabash win last last year was that just one of those sparkling moments in time that remind us why we play the game. 

Ohio Wesleyan:  the Battling Bishops started strong and showed a running game in the first week.  Box Score showed Cagney both running with the ball from scrimmage and catching it, a new wrinkle.  Until they lose, one has to keep thinking of them as a challenger for the conference. Maybe, that's unfair.  One has to condsider them one of the tri-favorites. 

Wabash:  certainly impressive, but still a relative unknown because of Hanover's problems  The defense has to be the best in the conference, probably by a wide margin.  The offense showed some spark.  Putko appears to be the man right now.  Those 69 points were scored in the strangest way I've ever seen that many points accumulate--blocked punt off the back of one of the punter's protectors, several short-field scores after Hanover turnovers and a long punt return, two pick sixes, two field goals.  Wabash did not have 400 yards total offense, and didn't need to have that much. 

Wittenberg:  don't be fooled by the Butler game.  And don't try to make too much of the Witt/Franklin difference v. the Bulldogs.  All that says is that Franklin is a heck of a football team.   But so is Witt.  The circumstances were different.  It's Witt and DPU this week, and that is bad news for the old tigers. 

Wooster:  blown out by W&J in the Scots' first game with their new coach.  Despite the Presidents' loss to St John Fisher on Saturday the boys from "littleWarshington" are good.  V. Oberlin this week at home.  I'm eager to see the spread from Wally Wabash.     

      There's always room for more talk about the teams as they start playing only one another.       

[added line breaks to make more legible/pc]

[firstdown]

First, special congrats to CP Porter.  It was great to see CP back on the field Saturday.  CP was all smiles after the game.  He said that after taking his first hit - "this feels good!"  After the many hard hours of rehab, I bet that it did.  Also, Delon Pettiford announced his arrival with the Little Giants with a recovery of a blocked punt for a touchdown and an interception for a touchdown.  In his last game, his high school won a state championship, and then 2 TD's in his opening game as a freshman.

A few days ago, the LG faithful were worried about the quarterback positon.   Mike Putko did a fine job in his first start.  Tyler Holmes and the other running backs gave a strong performance.  The OL looked great as well.  The kicking game and special teams had a great games as well.  The defense was scary good giving the offense many short field situations and holding Hanover to a total of 45 yards.  Some Little Giants all!!

To be fair, Hanover was missing its starting quarterback, but showed good character on Saturday notwithstanding the final score.  The Panthers simply ran into a buzzsaw that was hitting on all cylinders.   

As both Nate Scola and AJ Akinribade said after the game, "we have a lot of hard work ahead of us." 

[bashbrother]

As both Nate Scola and AJ Akinribade said after the game, "we have a lot of hard work ahead of us."

Leadership.....  one of the things that I believe was somewhat missing last year.   

[smedindy]

Guess I was thinking the QB questions were keeping Wabash a little lower in the poles than they should be. From what I saw Saturday Putko is the man and did a good job.

Those wacky telephone linemen...or are you talking about residents of Wroclaw??

[wally_wabash]

I wasn't questioning the line at 4 TDs. I was expressing my amazement and adimiration that Obie did what they did.  I'm supposing everyone but Oberlin thought that spread was about right, and maybe generous to the Yoemen.

Just having a little self-depracating fun there...it wasn't even that the line was way off or that game in particular.  I had my number on the wrong side of the result on half of the game last week.  Not exactly finger-on-the-pulse stuff out of me last week. 

Some of my thoughts on week 2....

- Wabash was fantastic as has been hinted at here.  Hanover was always overmatched and they were always probably going to lose by a wide margin.  But holy moly, that defense.  45 yards allowed.  8 turnovers.   In the past, we've had some people express frustration at why Wabash sometimes doesn't finish off a shutout or otherwise really soften up late in a game that has a big margin like some other great D3 defenses do (you know...the ones that wind up in Stagg Bowls all of the time).  Well, this defense did that on Saturday.  A couple of things to keep in mind about this defense...

- Going back to Monon Bell 2012, Wabash has allowed opposing offenses exactly 5 snaps on their side of the 50 yard line.  One was a punt.  One ended in a 15-yard sack and moved the ball back on the other side of the field where it belonged. 
- Going back further into 2012, Wabash has shut out 4 of its last 5 opponents.  Oberlin had their way in that odd game out, but still...four of five games here were shutouts.  That's impressive. 

So...going forward, I'll take THIS defense with an evolving offense (and let's not forget what looks like some very capable special teams, albeit with a limited sample size from game 1) and take my chances. 

It didn't feel like Wabash was auditioning quarterbacks on Saturday.  Maybe we got trolled a little bit by ER.  Maybe the game got out of hand so quickly that by the time the script said that Andy Walsh was to get snaps, the snaps weren't as meaningful.  I don't know.  My sense here is that #10 is the guy though. 

Some other thoughts from week 2....

- Huzzah for Oberlin.  I watched a good deal of that game yesterday on my mobile device, and that wasn't fluky.  Oberlin whipped CWRU at the LOS on both sides of the ball.  You saw some of Oberlin's thin roster coming into play on special teams (protection for PATs was a big problem), but Oberlin's got some players.  Moses Richardson looked very good at tailback.  Lucas Poggiali also had a decent game throwing the ball from what I watched.  Sleep for a second on Oberln and they will get you.  Believe that. 

- We got some murmurs in here last week about how Kenyon did play for a share of the NCAC title last year (true) and maybe they weren't as far away from being legit contenders as we thought.  Scratch it.  Contenders for the NCAC title don't get rolled up by Earlham.  And don't let the mild 10 point margin fool you here.  Kenyon got held to 221 yards and 15 points by the same Earlham club that got steamrolled by Denison (who consequently managed just 17 points this week).  Can't happen...can't happen like that the week after you went into Meadville and laid it on the Gators with two point conversions and fake punts up 22 points and all of that swagger.  You can't go to Richmond, IN and get beat by the Quakers. 

- A little Denison/Hiram talk here.  Mostly Hiram.  Hiram's offense has been putrid for as long as I can remember.  But they wouldn't have been winnng games anyway because they haven't stopped anybody in years.  Through two games now, Hiram has yielded just 36 points in two games.  They've got a puncher's chance in a lot of league games this season if they can keep playing some decent defense.  And if Robert Partridge is good to come back and play...the game story says that he "was lost to injury in the second quarter".  He was 6-8-106 1TD 1INT when he went out.  His backup went 2-7-36 OTD 1INT so I think that matters. 

As sigma one mentioned, we are into league play now and we get to see our teams play against each other.  Things are going to start getting sorted out here quickly...starting with OWU/Kenyon this Saturday.  Gut check time for the Lords I think.