FB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[bashbrother]

Wabash - STATUS QUO?

The only correction ...Wabash is quite a bit better in 2013.

[HCAlum86]

Where does everybody see DePauw finishing out this year? I personally have them third to last only ahead of Oberlin and Allegheny

[HCAlum86]

While I'm at it, I might as well put together my mid-season predictions:
1. Wabash (10-0)
2. Witt (8-2)
3. Denison (8-2)
4. OWU (7-3)
5. Kenyon (6-4)
6. Wooster (5-5)
7. Hiram (4-6)
8. Depauw (2-8)
9. Oberlin (1-9)
10. Allegheny (1-9)

[HCAlum86]

While I'm at it, I might as well put together my mid-season predictions:
1. Wabash (10-0)
2. Witt (8-2)
3. Denison (8-2)
4. OWU (7-3)
5. Kenyon (6-4)
6. Wooster (5-5)
7. Hiram (4-6)
8. Depauw (2-8)
9. Oberlin (1-9)
10. Allegheny (1-9)

And who thinks Witt gets in the post-season at 8-2?

[sigma one]

Thanks, great W&L story.  We all have stories of those times when our schools played against teams that eventually would get larger and go big time.  Wabash played Purdue, IU, and others,  even Nebraska and Texas. 
     One of my favorite Wabash stories.  In 1924 Wabash played Notre Dame for the 11th time.  In the ten previous meetings Wabash prevailed once.  Nineteen Twenty-Four was the senior season of the famous Four Horsemen for the Irish.  ND beat Wabash--the last time they would ever meet.  The very next week the Domers (before they were that) went east to play Army when the Cadets were the Beast of the East.  That was the game about which Grantland Rice, the great sportswriter, wrote his most famous lines:  "Outlined against a blue-gray October sky, the Four Horsemen rode again.  In dramatic lore thay are known as famine, pestilence, destruction and death.  These are only aliases.  Their real names are Stuhldreher, Miller, Crowley and Layden. "   Coached by Knute Rockne, ND beat the guts out of Army that day.  Ok, nice so far for Notre Dame--and indirectly for Wabash.  Degrees of separation.
      The rest of the story:  ND went west that year (actually the next year) to play Stanford in the Rose Bowl.  Stanford was led by the great running back Ernie Nevers.  ND found a way to win that game to complete the year undefeated.  They were named National Champions.  I believe that was their first Nat Championship.  Wabash played the National Champion that year!
     Footnote:  Seven or so years later  Rockne was on a flight to California.  The flight crashed in western Kansas killing all on board. There was a guy named Jess Harper who coached for several years at Wabash, then went to ND, where he was head football coach from 1914-1917.  (He also served as AD.)  Harper then decided to return to his roots to ranch cattle in Kansas.  Authorities at the site of the plane crash called him at his ranch a hundred or so miles away, and Harper came up and identified Rockne's body.  (You can't make this stuff up.)  Harper is the only person in both the College Football Hall of Fame and the Cattleman's Hall of Fame.  What are the odds?
    Stunning.
     

[HCAlum86]

Great stuff, Sigma!

[Wabash Hokie]

  That was the game about which Grantland Rice, the great sportswriter, wrote his most famous lines:  "Outlined against a blue-gray October sky, the Four Horsemen rode again.  In dramatic lore thay are known as famine, pestilence, destruction and death.  These are only aliases.  Their real names are Stuhldreher, Miller, Crowley and Layden. " 

OK D3DB met the first Heisman trophy winner - would have loved that opportunity.  I was fortunate to meet Mr. Stuhldreher while I was in college - oddly enough at a house party in Carmel - he was visiting his grandson.   No one else at the party had a clue as to why I was so excited to meet this guy. We sat and talked for hours and I too have his autograph - on a red solo cup no less. 

Regarding the Wabash - Notre Dame game, has anyone ever tried to reproduce the poster and sell copies as a fundraiser? I know that I would pay a pretty penny for a reproduction. 

[AlleghenyAlum]

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.

I personally have yet to hear a bad thing about the new AD and find it hard to believe she has ANYTHING to do with the current struggles of this team.  Take into consideration that Allegheny lost about 6 coaches in the last 2 years (including 2 studly DC's), that's not good for recruiting gents.

[NCAC4Life]

The Terriers take on OWU at home in a night game this week!

The Hiram Alum in me sees this one being close, but I should probably reserve opinions of that nature for the time being. I was in Gambier for the second half of the game on Saturday (As I arrived significantly behind schedule because I thought the game started at 1 like most conference games). What I saw was Kenyon play a more crisply executed football game than Hiram, which was unfortunate because Hiram was in the game until the last minute, with the final ending up 20-16. To be completely honest, I do not want to recap the game instead I'd rather focus on this week's game against the Bishops. But first, I have to acknowledge the play of SR QB George Blake. He has done an absolutely outstanding job of filling the void Partridge's injury left, and his leadership has become visible. From what I had heard, he had spent the first few years struggling to fully adapt himself into any scheme that the OC at the time provided, and I do believe he has done a great job this year in Stamford's offense.

The interesting part of this game for me will be OWU's ability or inability to attack the perimeter. Hiram's CB play this year has been outstanding, and is definitely something the Terriers can look forward to building on, as both CB's are sophomores. I know Espinosa is more than capable to get the ball down the field. But, I do believe that our cornerbacks will restrict his options in ways that he would only see from a handful of schools in the conference (one of which he saw last week). Hiram has to make sure that this game does not turn into a track meet, as I do not think that we would be able to beat OWU in that sort of game. I really hope that we are able to set the tempo of the game while maintaining the attitude of "playing to win" instead of "playing to keep it close".

I really do believe that this year's Terriers fear no opponent in the conference, which will help in this game but only take them so far. If they can apply consistent pressure to Espinosa and force him into deeper drops, I believe our defense can keep the high powered OWU offense in check... I use that term relatively. Also, I do think Simpson will be open for a few big plays this week, and if Blake can connect deep a few times I believe we'll be in business and open to more run/ quick pass options; without the deep threat I do not see us being able to move the ball as easily.

OWU has a terrific football team, but I do believe this game will be a good one, folks.

Great to see Hiram folks excited to play OWU this week. Unfortunately the game is in two weeks.

[HCAlum86]

Great to see Hiram folks excited to play OWU this week. Unfortunately the game is in two weeks.

Oh my, I looked at the schedule and forgot that Hiram had a bye! ..... Looks like I no longer have a valid excuse to miss the in-laws clambake 

[Rotag]

Maybe a bad rap on the new AD, I concede.  But it is hard to reconcile one losing season in 25 years with 0-6, incredible disparity in scores, playing the same teams we've had success against.  Not a matter of coaching changes, MM has been there for many years, and he's a solid coach.  I'm frustrated because I feel bad for the kids getting pummeled every week.  I don't recall us compromising admission standards when we were making the playoffs every year, and I don't think that the many good schools in the D3 Top 25 have had their academic standing (or their applications for admission) fall off as their football fortunes improve.  For the record, I hope I am wrong about the administration's attitude, but not many programs fall off the cliff this suddenly.

[sigma one]

Rotag:  I can only speak for myself.  I feel your pain; it leaks off the page.

[AlleghenyAlum]

Maybe a bad rap on the new AD, I concede.  But it is hard to reconcile one losing season in 25 years with 0-6, incredible disparity in scores, playing the same teams we've had success against.  Not a matter of coaching changes, MM has been there for many years, and he's a solid coach.  I'm frustrated because I feel bad for the kids getting pummeled every week.  I don't recall us compromising admission standards when we were making the playoffs every year, and I don't think that the many good schools in the D3 Top 25 have had their academic standing (or their applications for admission) fall off as their football fortunes improve.  For the record, I hope I am wrong about the administration's attitude, but not many programs fall off the cliff this suddenly.

I don't like the one losing season stat because 5-5 in my book is no good and that's what they've held steady at for years and years.  Yes, of course we feel bad for the kids, but at what point do you start blaming them?  I've mentioned before that there was a rumor of poor work ethic, lack of lifting and motivation in general with this group.  Maybe that is a contributor?  As a former player at Allegheny I would rather them toughen up the admission standards and make my degree more valuable than try to get back to their glory years when the playoffs were in sight.  Personally I believe the latter to be much harder.  At the end of the day you have to remember that this is D3 football, no betting, no money to be made, just kids playing for the love of the game.

[ExTartanPlayer]

Maybe a bad rap on the new AD, I concede.  But it is hard to reconcile one losing season in 25 years with 0-6, incredible disparity in scores, playing the same teams we've had success against.  Not a matter of coaching changes, MM has been there for many years, and he's a solid coach.  I'm frustrated because I feel bad for the kids getting pummeled every week.  I don't recall us compromising admission standards when we were making the playoffs every year, and I don't think that the many good schools in the D3 Top 25 have had their academic standing (or their applications for admission) fall off as their football fortunes improve.  For the record, I hope I am wrong about the administration's attitude, but not many programs fall off the cliff this suddenly.

I don't like the one losing season stat because 5-5 in my book is no good and that's what they've held steady at for years and years.  Yes, of course we feel bad for the kids, but at what point do you start blaming them?  I've mentioned before that there was a rumor of poor work ethic, lack of lifting and motivation in general with this group.  Maybe that is a contributor?  As a former player at Allegheny I would rather them toughen up the admission standards and make my degree more valuable than try to get back to their glory years when the playoffs were in sight.  Personally I believe the latter to be much harder.  At the end of the day you have to remember that this is D3 football, no betting, no money to be made, just kids playing for the love of the game.

This is an outstanding post, AlleghenyAlum, and highlights several good points:

1) "I don't like the one losing season stat because 5-5 in my book is no good..."

Agreed; at CMU our coaches had a long streak of "winning" seasons that eventually they changed to "non-losing" seasons after a 5-5 season the year before I arrived on campus.  Kinda cheesy - it was time to let "the streak" go or say something like "32 winning seasons in the last 33 years" instead of talking about the streak of "non-losing" seasons (which actually ended for good three years after I graduated, with a 4-6 season in 2010).  I understand coaches trying to spin the program so it sounds impressive to recruits, but still, talking up 5-5 seasons is not the way to win recruits over IMO.  Sell a vision of where the program is going, not where it's been for the last X years (unless you're Mount Union, then sell the **** out of that).

2) "Yes, of course we feel bad for the kids, but at what point do you start blaming them?"

Now we're getting to the meat of the problem at Gheny, specifically.  I have zero firsthand knowledge of the things you mention on the team, but that does seem a more plausible explanation than the lack of support from a new AD (who, first, has not been on the job long enough to really hurt the football program, and second, we've established, it seems implausible that she is not supportive of football) or "administration's attitude" - how does an administrative attitude drastically change a team that quickly?  This is why I'm ranting a bit; Rotag threw a blind accusation at the new AD and "administration" for not supporting football in an effort to raise the college's academic profile without any specifics, just the fact that the team went from "decent" to "awful" in one season.  It's a handy excuse but it doesn't really pass the smell test.

3) Re: Matlak, he has been a successful coach but he wouldn't be the first coach to have a long and successful tenure that just sort of ran its course.  Plenty of good examples of coaches that had prolonged run of success and by the end, for whatever reason, they were no longer as effective in the role.  Not necessarily a guarantee that's the case here, but nor is it so far-fetched to say his coaching (or turnover on the staff, as you've previously alluded) may be part of the issue as well.

4) Re: admissions, just to be clear, I was not suggesting that Allegheny had bent the rules in the past and/or has changed its admissions practices; I was merely asking Rotag to clarify for me what, exactly, the "administration" has done to drive the program off a cliff so quickly.  The "administration" isn't coaching or playing the games, Rotag, so what are they doing that is so unsupportive of football?  Are they denying admission to recruits?  Are they cutting the recruiting budget?  Are they walking into Matlak's office when he's trying to game-plan and interfering?

[waf56]

Are they walking into Matlak's office when he's trying to game-plan and interfering?

Something along these lines most likely: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4sNxg1Yv0E