FB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[Li'l Giant]

LOVE the fact there is a regular season D3 game with large enough interest that it has viewing parties across the country.  Now that chicken$hit MSJ ended the Bridge Bowl, my alma mater is free in week 11 - which means I'm out of excuses to not be at the 2016 Bell Game.  wally- you're buying first round, yeah?

I don't see why not.   

Clove him, Wally.

[wally_wabash]

LOVE the fact there is a regular season D3 game with large enough interest that it has viewing parties across the country.  Now that chicken$hit MSJ ended the Bridge Bowl, my alma mater is free in week 11 - which means I'm out of excuses to not be at the 2016 Bell Game.  wally- you're buying first round, yeah?

I don't see why not.   

Clove him, Wally.

Quite literally, a tradition unlike any other. 

[aueagle]

Sitting here watching ESPN College Football Final @ 6am...
And the guy said..."And the big game in Division 3, Amherst/Williams
in The Biggest Little Game in America"
They showed highlights....maybe a 30 second clip...
Must be nice to have those East Coast connections to the network
They had only 3218 in the stands for cryin out loud!!!!!

[wabashcpa]

Sitting here watching ESPN College Football Final @ 6am...
And the guy said..."And the big game in Division 3, Amherst/Williams
in The Biggest Little Game in America"
They showed highlights....maybe a 30 second clip...
Must be nice to have those East Coast connections to the network
They had only 3218 in the stands for cryin out loud!!!!!

Well, it is right in their backyard, so no real surprise.

Monon Bell got a little love on College Game Day, so that was cool.

Keep bringing Paul Maguire back for the game.  I don't think Wabash has lost since he started coming.

[SaintsFAN]

LOVE the fact there is a regular season D3 game with large enough interest that it has viewing parties across the country.  Now that chicken$hit MSJ ended the Bridge Bowl, my alma mater is free in week 11 - which means I'm out of excuses to not be at the 2016 Bell Game.  wally- you're buying first round, yeah?

I don't see why not.   

Clove him, Wally.

Quite literally, a tradition unlike any other.

Well, it could've been my first Wabash game in two weeks but alas, my family is coming up to Boston for Turkey Day (I live there during the week for work).  Hope both teams hold serve and can't wait to see how we stack up against the Wabash team.

[wally_wabash]

Well, it could've been my first Wabash game in two weeks but alas, my family is coming up to Boston for Turkey Day (I live there during the week for work).  Hope both teams hold serve and can't wait to see how we stack up against the Wabash team.

Holiday will have me away from Indiana for that potential game as well.  I think that's a tremendous second round game. 

How about a Tommie-Johnnie rematch on the other half?  Lucky they get to do it twice in a year. 

[ExTartanPlayer]

Well, it could've been my first Wabash game in two weeks but alas, my family is coming up to Boston for Turkey Day (I live there during the week for work).  Hope both teams hold serve and can't wait to see how we stack up against the Wabash team.

Holiday will have me away from Indiana for that potential game as well.  I think that's a tremendous second round game. 

Was thinking the same.  Assuming that TMC can get past W & L - no guarantee - that's one of my favorite second-round matchups anywhere in the bracket.

[SaintsFAN]

Well, it could've been my first Wabash game in two weeks but alas, my family is coming up to Boston for Turkey Day (I live there during the week for work).  Hope both teams hold serve and can't wait to see how we stack up against the Wabash team.

Holiday will have me away from Indiana for that potential game as well.  I think that's a tremendous second round game. 

How about a Tommie-Johnnie rematch on the other half?  Lucky they get to do it twice in a year.

Agree 100% - lots of great match ups.  I worked with a St Thomas guy and I wonder what he thinks about a potential rematch. 

[DPU3619]

Wabash got a deservedly good draw. Franklin is not in a very good spot. Here's some final Bell thoughts after I rewatched the game this morning:

Wabash OL = very good. We knew that already, but 385 on the ground? Steamrollers. I mentioned it yesterday - DePauw could not shed blocks. They got covered up and driven 3 or 4 yards off the ball with regularity. Pretty vanilla gameplan for Wabash, which has been pretty common in the Bell the past few years. They haven't needed the whole playbook. Mostly IZ, 1 back power, and pin & pull yesterday. I was surprised to not see much frontside G, which has been a staple for them. I saw Olmy give a clinic on frontside G in the off-season. I loved it. I put it in for our team this year and it was our best run play.

Was pretty frustrated with a lack of adjustment by DePauw's D during the course of the first half. Although, I admit that I had been drinking. DePauw did adjust at half. They came out in a 4-4 on Wabash's first drive. Wabash broke a 15 yarder on play 2 of that drive, but other than that, they hit 2 passes from midfield to score. From then on, Wabash's counter to the 4-4 made it a non-factor. Wabash got back in a lot of more of those stack WR formations, including the TE trips with #1 & #2 stacked, which is particularly nasty. Can't defend that stuff with a 4-4. You have to respect the trips. DePauw did. Wabash only threw 2 spot screens out there all day. DePauw capped that stack look with the safety over the top most of the day. After that adjustment to the spread stuff, it was almost all inside zone with some pin & pull sprinkled in. DePauw's 6 couldn't handle Wabash's 6. Just that simple.

I thought Hunt missed several open throws. He wasn't good mechanically early. Everything was high & floating. Looked to me like he was hanging on his back foot a bit. That did get better as the game went on, though. I think if you tell DePauw that they would get to 391 total yards with  147 of those on the ground, they would feel pretty good. Unfortunately, DePauw's 3 turnovers led to 17 Wabash points. And they had to settle for 3 after Hunt missed Hagan wide dang open in the end zone on that corner route going towards the scoreboard.

Just one of those games. Wabash doesn't make any mistakes. Like ever. They're +19 on turnover margin. If you turn it over, and you don't have the dudes to get off the field defensively, you get blown out.

[wally_wabash]

I thought Hunt missed several open throws. He wasn't good mechanically early. Everything was high & floating. Looked to me like he was hanging on his back foot a bit. That did get better as the game went on, though. I think if you tell DePauw that they would get to 391 total yards with  147 of those on the ground, they would feel pretty good. Unfortunately, DePauw's 3 turnovers led to 17 Wabash points. And they had to settle for 3 after Hunt missed Hagan wide dang open in the end zone on that corner route going towards the scoreboard.

Yeah, that's what I was getting at yesterday about DPU getting closer.  They got a mess of yards this year.  Last year they couldn't get a first down.  Huge improvement from my perspective.  Get better on D and this becomes a great game. 

Things that I thought had to happen for DePauw to be in there was to get something out of their specials or D.  That didn't happen.  I thought they had get Wabash into a really inefficient 3rd down situations.  Wabash goes 10-14 on 3rd down. 

The drives sandwiched around halftime were particularly devastating I thought.  Wabash would have been fine to run out the clock in the first half, but Zurek sprung one and Wabash stole a field goal before half to get to 31-10.  Then they scored on the opening drive of the second half to get to 38-10 and there was no way DePauw was ever going to be +28 on Wabash in the last 25 minutes of the game. 

Offensive strategy for DePauw I thought was curious.  Matt Hunt keep away- I didn't see that coming.  Didn't know he was that kind of QB.  But it was plenty effective, so kudos to Lynch for identifying something that could work.  There just wasn't going to be any offensive strategy that was going to bail out DePauw's defense yesterday though.  Hard to get 40+ on Wabash. 

[Mr. Ypsi]

Well, it could've been my first Wabash game in two weeks but alas, my family is coming up to Boston for Turkey Day (I live there during the week for work).  Hope both teams hold serve and can't wait to see how we stack up against the Wabash team.

Holiday will have me away from Indiana for that potential game as well.  I think that's a tremendous second round game. 

How about a Tommie-Johnnie rematch on the other half?  Lucky they get to do it twice in a year.

Agree 100% - lots of great match ups.  I worked with a St Thomas guy and I wonder what he thinks about a potential rematch.

Perhaps the best second round match of all is (assuming neither gets upset in round one) #6 UWW at #5 Wheaton!  I'd say BOTH got screwed on the draw!

[formerd3db]

wally:
Posted to you over on the MIAA board.  Congrats to your Wabash.  Did you go to the game yesterday?  A decent crowd for the game, 8000+, although not quite like in some years where it has been higher.

[wally_wabash]

Well, it could've been my first Wabash game in two weeks but alas, my family is coming up to Boston for Turkey Day (I live there during the week for work).  Hope both teams hold serve and can't wait to see how we stack up against the Wabash team.

Holiday will have me away from Indiana for that potential game as well.  I think that's a tremendous second round game. 

How about a Tommie-Johnnie rematch on the other half?  Lucky they get to do it twice in a year.

Agree 100% - lots of great match ups.  I worked with a St Thomas guy and I wonder what he thinks about a potential rematch.

Perhaps the best second round match of all is (assuming neither gets upset in round one) #6 UWW at #5 Wheaton!  I'd say BOTH got screwed on the draw!

Tough?  Yes.  Screwed?  I don't think so.  These teams are all in the same general area of the country.  It was always possible they would get grouped together like this. 

[USee]

Well, it could've been my first Wabash game in two weeks but alas, my family is coming up to Boston for Turkey Day (I live there during the week for work).  Hope both teams hold serve and can't wait to see how we stack up against the Wabash team.

Holiday will have me away from Indiana for that potential game as well.  I think that's a tremendous second round game. 

How about a Tommie-Johnnie rematch on the other half?  Lucky they get to do it twice in a year.

Agree 100% - lots of great match ups.  I worked with a St Thomas guy and I wonder what he thinks about a potential rematch.

Perhaps the best second round match of all is (assuming neither gets upset in round one) #6 UWW at #5 Wheaton!  I'd say BOTH got screwed on the draw!

Tough?  Yes.  Screwed?  I don't think so.  These teams are all in the same general area of the country.  It was always possible they would get grouped together like this.

Yup. Same thing happened to Wabash last year.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Well, it could've been my first Wabash game in two weeks but alas, my family is coming up to Boston for Turkey Day (I live there during the week for work).  Hope both teams hold serve and can't wait to see how we stack up against the Wabash team.

Holiday will have me away from Indiana for that potential game as well.  I think that's a tremendous second round game. 

How about a Tommie-Johnnie rematch on the other half?  Lucky they get to do it twice in a year.

Agree 100% - lots of great match ups.  I worked with a St Thomas guy and I wonder what he thinks about a potential rematch.

Perhaps the best second round match of all is (assuming neither gets upset in round one) #6 UWW at #5 Wheaton!  I'd say BOTH got screwed on the draw!

Tough?  Yes.  Screwed?  I don't think so.  These teams are all in the same general area of the country.  It was always possible they would get grouped together like this.

Yup. Same thing happened to Wabash last year.

Yeah, it's geography rearing it's head again.  Wheaton and UWW are no doubt the 2 and 3 seeds in the UWO quadrant, so it is 'fair'.  But what a tough quadrant at the top - 3 of the top 6 ranked teams!