FB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[ExTartanPlayer]

Is it too early to say that the league is much improved from top to bottom this year?  It's still Wabash/Witt and everybody else, but it seems like the rest of the pack with the exception of Gheny and Woo for the time being are getting closer to that proverbial doorstep.  That's a far cry from knocking one of the W's off but hopefully this year is an indication or more good things to come from the league.

I'm trying to figure out whether this is really true or not.  Although it's hard to say with so little OOC play, my hunch is that the league is mildly improved, but not "much" improved.  Here's why in a couple of steps:

1) Wabash and Witt are still miles ahead of everyone.  Denison and OWU, who are probably the league's 3rd/4th best teams right now (Kenyon and Wooster might be able to make a claim, as well, but I think Denison/OWU are a step ahead of each) and neither has come close to Wabash or Witt this year.  I don't think there's much of an argument that the rest of the pack has closed the gap on them; I actually think the better argument to be made about the league's improvement is that the "worst" teams from the last 3-4 years (Hiram, Kenyon) have improved from "utterly hopeless" to semi-competitive. 

2) Hiram is definitely better than the last few years.  They beat an OOC opponent that now has two wins (pardon me while I cringe at the notion that CMU lost this weekend to a team beaten by Hiram...and we're good), beat the Gators, and they've been genuinely competitive in every loss when you factor in quality of opponent (i.e. they were as competitive with Witt as could reasonably be expected; it wasn't 50-0 at halftime).

3) Kenyon, although they're about to get a rude awakening, also is definitely better than the last few years.  Even though they managed to lose to Earlham, they were competitive in the loss to OWU and have beaten four of the NCAC's lesser lights.  Kudos to them for proving that last year wasn't a total fluke.  They may not be contending for NCAC titles any time soon, but they're not heading back to the cellar either.

4) The flip side is the decline of Allegheny, DePauw, and sadly, Oberlin.  Unfortunately, I think the gains from Hiram, Kenyon, and even OWU/Denison's improvement are really offset by the decline of those three; are we really sure that everyone has taken a step up, or have we just switched around who is "okay" and who is outright bad? 

Ultimately, most leagues are judged on the quality of their top teams.  Wabash and Witt do look terrific, but we won't really know if they are top TEN material or merely top 25 material until the playoffs.  I think they are a threat to advance a couple of rounds, but we'll see.

[The_Bishop]

Highlights from OWU/Wabash (with the bump at 1:02 making me laugh out loud at my desk):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQuiGiZkbVU

[BashBacker#16]

Good article on Mason Zurek:  http://posttrib.suntimes.com/sports/23133283-556/mutka-mason-zurek-just-part-of-busy-athletic-family.html

[nike]

Goscotgo could be anybody.  Doesn't have to be Barnes or his family.  And his point was valid I think.  But Wabash people have appreciated his talents for four years now, when some Wooster folks have not.  Wooster has nowhere near the talent that Wabash has.  And Barnes has always given the Scots the best chance to win.
Twitter can be troublesome for some people, but Barnes is a good kid.  And he will graduate.
I can remember some Wabash folks suggesting early in Chase Belton's career that Wabash had better options at quarterback than him.  He matured as a qb every year, however and in time it was fairly just about his game, not that he should be replaced. 
Lets see how OWU and Wooster do against Witt and each other.  If Barnes outplays Espinosa the rest of the year, the accolades will come.
Please get some colors in the numbers Bishops.

[bashbrother]

Highlights from OWU/Wabash (with the bump at 1:02 making me laugh out loud at my desk):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQuiGiZkbVU

Actually a nice OWU highlight package...  you have some quality players...  The past two years OWU highlight packages from the Bishops/Wabash game were so biased.  You would think by watching them that the Bishops were victorious in both.....No scoreboard,  very antiseptic from what the real story of the game was.... I get it though and they are probably not meant for anyone's eyes but Bishops and Bishops recruits..... It's all good.

If you look at the Wabash game highlight package.... they show a much better representation of the game.

http://youtu.be/cO9KqWs3vuc 

(Somewhat confused why Zurek's injury was included in this?)

How valuable is Houston Hodges...  He does it all and he is a JR!

[ExTartanPlayer]

Actually a nice OWU highlight package...  you have some quality players...  The past two years OWU highlight packages from the Bishops/Wabash game were so biased.  You would think by watching them that the Bishops were victorious in both.....No scoreboard,  very antiseptic from what the real story of the game was.... I get it though and they are probably not meant for anyone's eyes but Bishops and Bishops recruits..... It's all good.

I have to admit, I also prefer highlight packages that are actual representations of the game, not just one team's highlights, but it's understandable.  They're just generated using a different pretense (i.e. showing the best of their team vs. the "game summary").  I like highlight packages that include all scoring plays for both teams (then you have an idea of the final score) plus the selected highlights, even if they're slanted towards one team.

[wally_wabash]

Listening to the podcast...

Somebody is bugging D3football.com about 1982?  Really?  Can we turn the page on that yet...please? 

[NCAC4Life]

Highlights from OWU/Wabash (with the bump at 1:02 making me laugh out loud at my desk):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQuiGiZkbVU

Loved the shot at 1:01 also.

[jettssss]

Watched a great game Saturday,way to go little giants. great job by everyone.......I got to see number lb #42 this guy is for real......clearly playing like a all American....fun to watch.......go Wabash....

[Li'l Giant]

Listening to the podcast...

Somebody is bugging D3football.com about 1982?  Really?  Can we turn the page on that yet...please?

Seriously. It comes up at least once a season and it's just time to let it go. The system has changed.

[smedindy]

I think 1982 is a great reference point to what the bad old days were and while we may grouse and grumble about B and C bids (and loony conference tie-breakers), it could be MUCH worse.

[Pat Coleman]

Listening to the podcast...

Somebody is bugging D3football.com about 1982?  Really?  Can we turn the page on that yet...please?

Yes. Someone is.

[ExTartanPlayer]

Listening to the podcast...

Somebody is bugging D3football.com about 1982?  Really?  Can we turn the page on that yet...please?

Yes. Someone is.

Just listened to this part of the podcast.  Hilarious.

[wally_wabash]

Just kind of the way the schedule breaks down this year, I think we've come to the end of the first of what I hope are the three acts of Wabash's 2013 season.  Probably a good time to reflect.

We knew Wabash had a lot of pieces returning, so I think we expected Wabash to be pretty good.  But some of what we've seen this year has undoubtedly exceeded expectations of even the most optimistic Wabash fans.  The defense has been beyond tremendous.  Forcing takeaways (leads D-III), getting off the field on third down (2nd in D-III).  Two opponents failed to gain 60 yards of offense against this defense.  We knew the defense would be good.  I don't know that we expected it to be this good. 

The offense has two parts to talk about.  The run game is excelling.  281 yards per game exceeds last year's effort by 70 yards per game and Wabash's 5.6 yards per rush is 16th in D-III, the 281 ypg is 15th in D-III and Wabash's 21 rushing TDs are 2nd in D-III.  All of this despite losing Tyler Holmes after 6 quarters and then Mason Zurek 3 games later.  The production hasn't stopped in this area of the game.  That is a huge credit to Wabash's offensive line, which has been outstanding all year.  You don't get 5.6 yards per carry as a team if your RBs are having to dodge tacklers behind the LOS.  The big guys up front have been winning and winning big.  The results are evident in the statistics. 

The other side is the quarterback play, which has at times looked good and at times looked not as good.  And to be honest, I'm not sure what I mean by "not as good".  Since Coach Raeburn has taken over, Wabash has trended more and more away from airing it out (and really after Matt Hudson's final two seasons).  The quarterback has become more of a dual threat guy who we've seen run around about as much as we've seen him pass as the offense has evolved into the run-run-run machine that we are seeing now.  So maybe expectations aren't changing at the same speed that the offense is.  Putko is completing 2/3 of his passes.  He isn't turning it over at a huge rate (just 2 INTs, one lost fumble...we are admittedly probably having a different conversation if Riffle doesn't get on that ball in the end zone on Saturday and/or 1-2 other passes get handled by DBs).  Sometimes Michael has looked great, sometimes Michael has looked like a guy getting his first college snaps.  I honestly don't know if his performance meets ER's expectations or not.  I do think that this area is a question mark going forward...when it's Wittenberg time, you kind of figure that Wabash is going to have the opportunity to exploit Wittenberg cheating the run too much or Wabash will have the need to move the ball quickly through the air (or both).  Does Wabash have the guy who can get a drive in the 4th quarter to win that game or to make that big throw deep and not miss?  It's really hard to say because we haven't seen much of that from this offense.  Wabash has three weeks to tighten things up there before all the chips get shoved into the middle. 

Finally, I think the special teams have been tremendous.  Perhaps the best that we've seen at Wabash in a long, long time.  MacDougall is perfect on FGs and 20 of his 46 kickoffs have been touchbacks (not sure how many more of those were taken out of the end zone by the return team...probably another handful or so).  Sobleski is 2nd in D-III in net punting.  And Wabash has scored off of blocking a punt, coverage being on top of mishandled punts, and on a punt return.  Wabash has the best defense in our league by a decent margin, but Wabash's special teams might be the best in the league by an even bigger margin.  They have been that good this year. 

So we have built up the first four weeks to this big game against one of the reigning conference champions and Wabash has conquered, but not without some adversity and not without challenges and questions that must be handled between now and the big game against the other conference champion.  Act II ends at about 4:00 p.m. on November 9.  Hopefully it ends as well as Act I has. 

[Rotag]

Hard to watch the Allegheny football program sink into the mire this way, harder still not to believe that the current administration and AD feel not the slightest bit upset by it.  There seems to be a feeling that football success is incompatible with being a "progressive" or "elite" liberal arts school (or with aspirations thereto), and support for a once proud football program obviously has waned.  Coach Matlack wages an uphill battle on the recruitment front already, and this year will make it harder still.  65 - 0 on Homecoming Day, outscored 198 - 21 through the first 5 games -- this is a program that in the last 25 years has won a National Championship, made 8 playoff appearances and had one losing season.  An absolute shame.