FB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[SaintsFAN]

In other news- the Wabash website was quietly updated to formally announce the the 2016 schedule:  http://sports.wabash.edu/schedule.aspx?schedule=73&path=football

Witt early again next year  (9/24)....  I like it.

SaintsFAN -  First of all,  I appreciate your comments on the Bash D.   I believe it is all about our offense getting healthy and "finding it" over the next 3 regular season games.   Rice and this group of receivers are close,  just need to clean up some timing and focus issues.  Zurek,  well he, personally, is one of the best I have had the pleasure to watch at this level.

I'm a big fan of Rice.  I have watched him since he was at Cathedral.  My pops played for Cathedral and lives on the city's NW side, out by the Colts' facility.  I got to see him play in Cincy against some very good GCL teams and in Indy when I visited with dad and some of his HS teammates.

This is the first year I can remember not being able to do that with dad and his buddies - as I live in Boston during the week and my Friday flights home dont arrive at CVG until 7pm.

[wally_wabash]

Big and important news out of Meadville today. 

[Li'l Giant]

Big and important news out of Meadville today. 

Well there you go.

[aueagle]

Solid intel wally...
The Gators can finish strong with 3 games left...
The NCAC needs Gheny to be competitive; it's our Pa market
I would think it would attract some very good candidates for the job
Coach Matlak had a great run....I wish him well

[smedindy]

There's no reason Allegheny can't be competitive. They have been in the past, and PA and NE Ohio are solid football markets.

[wally_wabash]

Would love to get Rotag's take on this this week.  We've got about a four day window here before I think the Little Giants are going to consume all of the oxygen in this space.  Next week Wabash plays for a conference championship.  The week after is Bell Week and most likely a playoff bid on the line.  So the conversation is going to focus back in on Wabash for sure.  Hope to get an angle or two in this week from somebody in Gator land. 

[Rotag]

I'll try to be nice.  I swore I wouldn't blog any more because I was too frustrated and it came across as venom.  But on this gracious invitation I'll say that I think Mark paid the price that others negotiated.  He had a winning record as of August of 2013, then went 1-26.  Did he forget how to coach?  Or was there something else at work that led us from [relative] contention in the NCAC to being blown out of most games we played?  I think he's still a good coach, and he's leaving because it is the "right" thing to do, and I wish him well.  So as much as I blame the administration for our football misfortunes - which many of you have castigated me for - I also am extremely interested in what happens next.  Do they alter the admissions policy to make it look better?  Sorry, getting cynical again, but that's where I'm at.  Again, especially you Wabash guys, imagine how you'd feel if your alma mater suddenly started getting beat by scores like 65-0.

[wabndy]

Thanks Rotag and best wishes. In answer to your question, we fired a long tenured coach a year after going 9-1 (and lost five bell games in a row).  Due to our "unique" student body- we absolutely depend on football, the atmosphere around football, and sustained success on the field to attract students. Perhaps your administration can rediscover the value of building a respectable program.

[bashbrother]

Recently,  we have witnessed dramatic improvement brought on by coaching changes.   Harbaugh at Michigan and most recently,  Campbell with the Miami Dolphins....   Coaching changes don't always mean bad coaching... they could mean,  they were just not the right coach under the circumstances the program finds itself in...   Allegheny Football has 504 wins in it's long history...  It will be back.

Best Wishes Gators!

[wabashcpa]

Pagano's replacement with the Colts... Oh, wait, too soon?

[Li'l Giant]

Pagano's replacement with the Colts... Oh, wait, too soon?

As long as Grigson goes too they can clean house as fast as I'm concerned.

[wally_wabash]

Thanks, Rotag.  Thankfully, I can only imagine your experience here- and I don't say that facetiously.  It's easy to take winning for granted.  Winning is hard, and we've been really fortunate at Wabash for a really long time.  Whether or not we ultimately agree on root causes for the bottoming out that's happened at Allegheny, I (and most anybody that follows along with the NCAC) want to see the Gators be good again.  It's a better league when Allegheny is good and I hope we get that Gator team back in short order. 

[Bishopleftiesdad]

Going Back to The Gators and the reasoning for Bottoming out. I have not taken much time looking at it but, it seems to me that this may not only be in Football. It looks like many of there programs seem to be on the decline. Baseball seems to still be competing. Am I wrong? If this is across athletic programs at Allegheny,  then I would have to agree with Rotag.
As far as the Gators being good helping the NCAC, that is true. But especially in Football, someone is always going to finish at the bottom. especially with round robin play. Is the conference better if there is some churn at the bottom and some of the bottom teams step up to mid tier or second tier teams, or is it better for the conference to always have the same teams on the bottom? As a NCAC fan I prefer some churn, as long as it shows teams are getting better as opposed to teams getting worse. (as long as it is not my team at the bottom )

[Wabash Hokie]

Below is the link to Wabash's game notes for this weekend's game against Ohio Wesleyan.  Note that OWU's record is listed incorrectly (looks like it was left over from the Wooster write-up).  Last week against DPU, OWU blocked a FG attempt,  blocked a punt and returned it for a TD, and returned an interception for a TD.  Looking forward to seeing how Wabash's special teams do against OWU.


http://sports.wabash.edu/documents/2015/10/28//ReleaseOct282015.pdf?id=419

[wally_wabash]

Two teams enter, one team leaves with a shot at an NCAC championship.  That's right, tomorrow DePauw travels to Denison where the two teams will play for sole possession of second place in the conference and set up a showdown with Wabash for a share of the league title and the automatic bid to the tournament.  Fortunately, losses to Wittenberg and Ohio Wesleyan have taken any sort of wacko three-way tie out of play, so we're going to get a crystal clear AQ winner here. 

I am very curious to see how this game plays out.  Denison, owners of the longest active win streak in D3 at the time, had a chance to really stake their claim in the upper echelon of the conference and face planted against Wittenberg.  Very disappointing result for the Big Red, who seemed ready to take a step forward.  They can still take that step by winning Saturday and setting up a conference title game with Wabash the following week.  I would guess that it's been since 1986 that Denison played for a conference championship at the end of a season, so this is still potentially really heady stuff for the Big Red. 

DePauw had been cruising right along in 2015 and with Wittenberg in the rearview seemed to have smooth sailing to a 9-0 record and a shot at a perfect regular season in the Monon Bell Classic.  And then they got beat by Ohio Wesleyan.  Which sets up an elimination game vs. Denison.  In just seven short days, DePauw can go from top 25, undefeated NCAC title contender, to out entirely with a loss on Saturday.  This is gut check time for a team that returned 74 starters (unofficially) and has looked like the second best team in the conference.  Is that legit or have the Tigers been masquerading?   We're going to find out tomorrow. 

Prediction:  I know things didn't go real well for Denison vs. Wittenberg, but the Big Red do have a very nice defense and will cause some problems for DePauw's offense.  My real concern is what on earth has happened to the Denison offense?   They'll have the best player on the field tomorrow, and they really, really need to get him the football.  A lot.  If DuShawn Brown doesn't have 8+ catches, I don't see how Denison will find enough points to win.  I'll take DePauw to squeak this one out 21-17, but I think this will be a really fun game to watch.