FB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[jamtod]

One thing I just noticed about the 2015 St. Thomas team:

Against "better" teams,  their offense starts slow at least with scoring.   They then seem to really get it going in the 2nd qtr.

                           1st Qtr    2nd Qtr
St. Johns (1st)       0              7
Bethel                    7             14
CMH                       0             28
La Verne                0             21
St. J (2nd)              7             22

Strange pattern -  That's 14 total points in the 1st qtr in 5 games.             

I've been at the last 3 games and have noticed the same thing. It's definitely concerning and will be interesting to see what happens if Wabash puts up a couple of quick scores if we get slow out of the gate.

With Wabash also relying on a bruising runner (I believe? What is Zurek's style) to wear down the opposing D, have they started slow routinely? I know y'all were down early last week.

[jamtod]

Yep. The game was clearly out of hand at that point, right? I'm sure you are aware that the Tommies go for 2 as often as they kick the PAT.

Now you're just making stuff up, man.  UST scored 91 touchdowns and attempted 76 PATs.  15 2-point tries is not anywhere near 76 PATs.

Thanks for those stats. I was trying to find something like that, but didn't dig too deep.  My comment was anecdotal in the games that I have been at where we have been surprised to see St Thomas actually line up and kick it.  My perspective might also be clouded by going for it on 4th down a lot and FG fakes.

[miac952]

One thing I just noticed about the 2015 St. Thomas team:

Against "better" teams,  their offense starts slow at least with scoring.   They then seem to really get it going in the 2nd qtr.

                           1st Qtr    2nd Qtr
St. Johns (1st)       0              7
Bethel                    7             14
CMH                       0             28
La Verne                0             21
St. Johns (2nd)      7             22

Strange pattern -  That's 14 total points in the 1st qtr in 5 games.             

It seems to be a bit of a trend. Defense has bent a bit on first drives too. Both units really build in the 2nd & 3rd quarter. The 4th is not worth looking at as all games have been out of reach at that point. 1st couple drives for both teams could be telling

[bashbrother]

One thing I just noticed about the 2015 St. Thomas team:

Against "better" teams,  their offense starts slow at least with scoring.   They then seem to really get it going in the 2nd qtr.

                           1st Qtr    2nd Qtr
St. Johns (1st)       0              7
Bethel                    7             14
CMH                       0             28
La Verne                0             21
St. J (2nd)              7             22

Strange pattern -  That's 14 total points in the 1st qtr in 5 games.             

I've been at the last 3 games and have noticed the same thing. It's definitely concerning and will be interesting to see what happens if Wabash puts up a couple of quick scores if we get slow out of the gate.

With Wabash also relying on a bruising runner (I believe? What is Zurek's style) to wear down the opposing D, have they started slow routinely? I know y'all were down early last week.

Wabash is somewhat similar having scored 35 pts in the 1st qtr. of its 5 biggest games.   It will be interesting to see who wants to take advantage of the 1st qtr and get a lead.   

Zurek is a crazy back... Big 6-0 225,   who has very good feet for a guy of his size.   He is patient and waits for things to happen.  Once in open space,   he is not lighting.... but seems to outrun those chasing him more often than not.    So he might be one of those players that runs a 4.7 in practice and a 4.6 when being chased.   He is certainly the best back I have personally watched run the football at Wabash and one of the best I have seen in Div III in my 12 years of tuning in.

[sjusection105]

As an outside observer,but a student of the tight knit relationships inside D3 football coaching community; does anyone want to guess if coach Raeburn has made a call to uncle Larry this week?

[smedindy]

Yep. The game was clearly out of hand at that point, right? I'm sure you are aware that the Tommies go for 2 as often as they kick the PAT.

Now you're just making stuff up, man.  UST scored 91 touchdowns and attempted 76 PATs.  15 2-point tries is not anywhere near 76 PATs.

Thanks for those stats. I was trying to find something like that, but didn't dig too deep.  My comment was anecdotal in the games that I have been at where we have been surprised to see St Thomas actually line up and kick it.  My perspective might also be clouded by going for it on 4th down a lot and FG fakes.

It's really easy to find on the season cumulative stats:

TOUCHDOWNS SCORED     91     16
FIELD GOALS-ATTEMPTS     6-12     2-4
ON-SIDE KICKS     1-3     0-1
RED-ZONE SCORES     (60-76) 79%     (12-17) 71%
RED-ZONE TOUCHDOWNS     (57-76) 75%     (10-17) 59%
PAT-ATTEMPTS     (73-76) 96%     (12-13) 92%

[jamtod]

One thing I just noticed about the 2015 St. Thomas team:

Against "better" teams,  their offense starts slow at least with scoring.   They then seem to really get it going in the 2nd qtr.

                           1st Qtr    2nd Qtr
St. Johns (1st)       0              7
Bethel                    7             14
CMH                       0             28
La Verne                0             21
St. J (2nd)              7             22

Strange pattern -  That's 14 total points in the 1st qtr in 5 games.             

I've been at the last 3 games and have noticed the same thing. It's definitely concerning and will be interesting to see what happens if Wabash puts up a couple of quick scores if we get slow out of the gate.

With Wabash also relying on a bruising runner (I believe? What is Zurek's style) to wear down the opposing D, have they started slow routinely? I know y'all were down early last week.

Wabash is somewhat similar having scored 35 pts in the 1st qtr. of its 5 biggest games.   It will be interesting to see who wants to take advantage of the 1st qtr and get a lead.   

Zurek is a crazy back... Big 6-0 225,   who has very good feet for a guy of his size.   He is patient and waits for things to happen.  Once in open space,   he is not lighting.... but seems to outrun those chasing him more often than not.    So he might be one of those players that runs a 4.7 in practice and a 4.6 when being chased.   He is certainly the best back I have personally watched run the football at Wabash and one of the best I have seen in Div III in my 12 years of tuning in.

Having read a bit about him, I'm excited to watch him play.  I'm hopeful that we can contain him like we did with Sura in both games, which would obviously be key.  On the other hand, Travis Sparks-Jackson put up some good yards for La Verne as a different style of runner.

[joelmama]

Just to clarify on the "classless PAT fake" - the Tommies were down 3-0 at that point.  Many folks only have seen that play and the final score. Last I checked, 2 points were more than 1 and the goal was to put up more points than the other team - trickeration is fair game.  If you saw that game as I did, there might be other areas to take issue with if you want to call the team/coach classless that would have better standing.

Down 3-0 during a PAT...how's that possible? The Tommies go for the 'ole PBT (Point Before Touchdown)?

I was thinking the same thing.  Except they also went for two a couple minutes later and were still passing the ball up 72-3 with less than 1/2 of the 4th quarter to go.  Legal sure classy not at all. 

Went to a small high school.  We got beat 63-8 in our opener.  The head coach of the other team never took out his starters and was trying to run it up big time.  The same coach was the JV basketball coach.  The score was 79-10 in the first half and never took the press off.  Final score was 120 - 29 and the basketball coach from our school (who had nothing to do with our football team) let their coaches know that it was payback.  Although no starter played a second of the second half and they still put up 41.  So what goes around will come around, cuz that Karma lady is a real bitch.

[smedindy]

No excuses for that PAT against a team you KNEW was overmatched and abysmal.

A while ago we dropped 84 on Hiram and I thought some of the reactions to it weren't so cool. I think we had a discussion about it on the old D3 boards (now lost into the ether of the internet).

[jamtod]

Just to clarify on the "classless PAT fake" - the Tommies were down 3-0 at that point.  Many folks only have seen that play and the final score. Last I checked, 2 points were more than 1 and the goal was to put up more points than the other team - trickeration is fair game.  If you saw that game as I did, there might be other areas to take issue with if you want to call the team/coach classless that would have better standing.

Down 3-0 during a PAT...how's that possible? The Tommies go for the 'ole PBT (Point Before Touchdown)?

I was thinking the same thing.  Except they also went for two a couple minutes later and were still passing the ball up 72-3 with less than 1/2 of the 4th quarter to go.  Legal sure classy not at all. 

The receiver on that final passing touchdown was a senior (on senior day), Teddy Andrews.  It was his only reception for the year.

[bashbrother]

Having read a bit about him, I'm excited to watch him play.  I'm hopeful that we can contain him like we did with Sura in both games, which would obviously be key.  On the other hand, Travis Sparks-Jackson put up some good yards for La Verne as a different style of runner.

There are some decent Zurek highlights in this game highlight piece.   Even though there was snow,  he still got it done.

https://youtu.be/UZ_L202DRn0

[smedindy]

Just to clarify on the "classless PAT fake" - the Tommies were down 3-0 at that point.  Many folks only have seen that play and the final score. Last I checked, 2 points were more than 1 and the goal was to put up more points than the other team - trickeration is fair game.  If you saw that game as I did, there might be other areas to take issue with if you want to call the team/coach classless that would have better standing.

Down 3-0 during a PAT...how's that possible? The Tommies go for the 'ole PBT (Point Before Touchdown)?

I was thinking the same thing.  Except they also went for two a couple minutes later and were still passing the ball up 72-3 with less than 1/2 of the 4th quarter to go.  Legal sure classy not at all. 

The receiver on that final passing touchdown was a senior (on senior day), Teddy Andrews.  It was his only reception for the year.

Get him one earlier in the game then...

[jamtod]

Having read a bit about him, I'm excited to watch him play.  I'm hopeful that we can contain him like we did with Sura in both games, which would obviously be key.  On the other hand, Travis Sparks-Jackson put up some good yards for La Verne as a different style of runner.

There are some decent Zurek highlights in this game highlight piece.   Even though there was snow,  he still got it done.

https://youtu.be/UZ_L202DRn0

Thanks for that! I'm pretty sure I watched it once, but I'll check it out again once the kiddos are in bed tonight.

[wally_wabash]

Just to clarify on the "classless PAT fake" - the Tommies were down 3-0 at that point.  Many folks only have seen that play and the final score. Last I checked, 2 points were more than 1 and the goal was to put up more points than the other team - trickeration is fair game.  If you saw that game as I did, there might be other areas to take issue with if you want to call the team/coach classless that would have better standing.

Down 3-0 during a PAT...how's that possible? The Tommies go for the 'ole PBT (Point Before Touchdown)?

I was thinking the same thing.  Except they also went for two a couple minutes later and were still passing the ball up 72-3 with less than 1/2 of the 4th quarter to go.  Legal sure classy not at all. 

The receiver on that final passing touchdown was a senior (on senior day), Teddy Andrews.  It was his only reception for the year.

If that's how St. Thomas wants to run their senior day, fine.  That's totally their prerogative.  But you kind of have to know how the rest of the sporting community is going to look at that sort of stuff.  Again, St. Thomas doesn't owe anybody an apology for anything.  But that kind of stuff does have an affect on how the rest of us perceive that team.  Coach Caruso clearly doesn't care, and that's fine.  He doesn't have to run his game plan according to popular opinion. 

[wabndy]

Just to clarify on the "classless PAT fake" - the Tommies were down 3-0 at that point.  Many folks only have seen that play and the final score. Last I checked, 2 points were more than 1 and the goal was to put up more points than the other team - trickeration is fair game.  If you saw that game as I did, there might be other areas to take issue with if you want to call the team/coach classless that would have better standing.

Down 3-0 during a PAT...how's that possible? The Tommies go for the 'ole PBT (Point Before Touchdown)?

I was thinking the same thing.  Except they also went for two a couple minutes later and were still passing the ball up 72-3 with less than 1/2 of the 4th quarter to go.  Legal sure classy not at all. 

The receiver on that final passing touchdown was a senior (on senior day), Teddy Andrews.  It was his only reception for the year.

Wait a second professor.  You mean to say that you had a senior on your team who presumably was around for games earlier in the season were the tommies won 62-7, 51-7, 54-0, 55-6, and 78-7 and the first time he gets a reception all season long is in week 10 when the score is 72-3?  I hope he felt really good about that hard earned touchdown.  But hey - everybody deserves at least one.