FB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[MUC57]

HCAlum86

Where is the tailgate area? I couldn't find it last year. I did find Wittenburg's though! And how will I know you? I will have a grey hat with Mount Union on the front under a purple "M". Wait! I'll probably be the only Raider there. Should also have a Raiders purple seat cushion.
How about this - I'll wear a scarlet carnation in my button hole. Never mind. Saw that in an old movie.
Hope to see you there! ☠🏈🍻

[HCAlum86]

HCAlum86

Where is the tailgate area? I couldn't find it last year. I did find Wittenburg's though! And how will I know you? I will have a grey hat with Mount Union on the front under a purple "M". Wait! I'll probably be the only Raider there. Should also have a Raiders purple seat cushion.
How about this - I'll wear a scarlet carnation in my button hole. Never mind. Saw that in an old movie.
Hope to see you there! ☠🏈🍻

Haha!

So I'm a younger alum - we usually have a separate tailgate and defer to the older crowd and give them preference on where they set up. Usually they will be behind the North endzone, and we will set up along the fence where the visiting team exits the locker room.

As of yesterday, though, it looks like there is a 50/50 chance I will have to be in Atlanta for a case I am working on that week. I'll keep you posted.

[HCAlum86]

Also, I can't believe I forgot this. Bash fans - this will be a great test for your tackles. Hands down the highlight of watching camp for me was Horace Johnson. He is every bit of 6-2, 220 and fastttttt off the edge, he had a couple issues last season and still recorded 6 sacks. He's coming back stronger and will be an absolute PROBLEM for teams that have an undersized tackle.

What are the Little Giants prospects at tackle this year? I assume stout, per usual (stout intended wholly as a compliment)

[wally_wabash]

Also, I can't believe I forgot this. Bash fans - this will be a great test for your tackles. Hands down the highlight of watching camp for me was Horace Johnson. He is every bit of 6-2, 220 and fastttttt off the edge, he had a couple issues last season and still recorded 6 sacks. He's coming back stronger and will be an absolute PROBLEM for teams that have an undersized tackle.

What are the Little Giants prospects at tackle this year? I assume stout, per usual (stout intended wholly as a compliment)

Horace is really good.  He's one of those guys that feels like he's been playing at Hiram for 7 years.  I think you're probably looking at Russ Berning playing one tackle (6-5, 316).  The other tackle is a little more open, but the position won't be undersized for sure.  The "smallest" guy that might plug in there is Thomas Bolen (6-4, 265).  Other contenders get bulkier from there. 

[wally_wabash]

Look for NCAC Pick 'Em coming this weekend.  I'll go with all Saturday games as to not have any of the Thursday kicks catch people by surprise.  Some really interesting games in Week 1 coming. 

RPI @ Allegheny - Real chance for the Gators to kick start a big year against a ranked team. 
Westminster @ Witt - This game went down to the wire last year.  Westminster has gotten lost in the PAC over the last couple of years, but this is a good team and can absolutely win this game. 
Oberlin @ Kalamazoo - The Yeomen are going to be a real point of curiosity for me this year. 
Wooster @ Bluffton - Interested to see how the post-Muntean era kicks off here for the Scots. 
Denison @ Soutwestern - For your evening viewing, this one should be very entertaining.  Could definitely see 90+ points go up in this one. 

The league went 8-2 in non-conference games last year.  That's a really high bar, but I'd love to see the league get 6 or 7 wins out of the non-conference schedule in the next couple of weeks. 

[CollegeGolf18]

Something interesting, and something to keep an eye on  going into the season for Wabash. As we all saw, a few pages back there was a discussion about Wabash's offensive coordinator leaving.  Well, he did obviously and today I got word that they are not hiring another offensive coordinator.

Head Coach Don Morel will take over the playcalling this year. Before he was promoted to head coach, he was the offensive coordinator. In the Bell game last year, he actually called the place and not the Vin offense of g in the Bell game last year, he actually called the plays and took the reigns away from the OC. With Morel back in charge of the offense and with some gun slingers in the rotation now, it'll be a potent Wabash attack. They have top 3 players at every spot in the NCAC, QB, RB, WR....

The only question is defense and with a year under the belt of Ramsey, I think they'll be okay. Just a little worried about stopping the pass. Especially the pass over the top.

Thoughts?

[sigma one]

This will be Ramsey's third season as DC at Wabash.  He arrived when Hammer went to Allegheny. 
A lot will depend on the QB this year.  Reid is thought to be the guy who can advance the offense.  Morel has been an astute play caller in the past.  I think the offense will be more diverse this year, which should give Ike James some space.  Avant is a more than capable second RB. If the experienced WRs can stay healthy, the offense could be tough to stop.
      Defensively, there are some mysteries.  The LBs should be the strength.  I've heard that the coaches think the d-line will be fine.  The secondary is the big question mark.  Wabash gave up too many--by a bunch--long passes last year; many of them came early in games (see Wooster and Oberlin).  I'm optimistic that the secondary will be solid.  At corner, Young played well as a freshman.  There is a JC transfer who has a good chance to be the other corner.  Equihua has played well in spots for two years and will likely be one of the safeties.  Look for Fox at the other safety. Nightingale, last year the second QB, has transitioned to DB.  He's athletic; worth watching to see if he can help.
     Wally usually has a good analysis before the first game.

[CollegeGolf18]

Sigma,

Good call. My mistake thinking Ramsey was only there one previous year. When you reload your entire secondary from really, really good players, it makes it seem like a transition had happened later than I thought.

They have guys back there that I believe can make plays, it's like you said. There were tons of long passing plays over the top that they couldn't stop last year. Now I think that boiled down to a certain player whom I thought was HUGELY overrated back there and teams kept picking on him.

It'll be interesting for sure. The Hiram game will tell us a lot about the defense. LG's will put up their points, can the defense stop Hiram?

Could be looking at a 42-38 type game if they cannot and a shocker to Wabash to open the season. With how the offensive game in the NCAC has evolved over the last couple years, you have to have a stout line and DB core. Which I'm not sure they do until I see it.

[wally_wabash]

Something interesting, and something to keep an eye on  going into the season for Wabash. As we all saw, a few pages back there was a discussion about Wabash's offensive coordinator leaving.  Well, he did obviously and today I got word that they are not hiring another offensive coordinator.

Depending on when Knoche left the program, it may not have been good timing to hire a new OC.  If you want top candidates, you really have to get in on that in December/January.  If you wait much longer, there's spring workouts and does it make sense to use that time working in an offense that might be scrapped over the summer?  I don't think so.  Also, Wabash was in a transition period with their athletic director which may have frozen some of that decision making.  That's all speculation on my part- I don't know if any of that has to do with Wabash not having an appointed OC this season or not.  I don't think this is a deal breaker for fall 2018, but I do think filling out the staff would be a priority once the season finishes. 

They have top 3 players at every spot in the NCAC, QB, RB, WR....

I'll tell you what, if Jake Reid comes in and is one of the top 3 QBs in this league at this moment, Wabash is going to be really good.  The QB talent in the league is at an all time high, IMO.  Kennedy, Labus, Tucker, Lee, Gebele, Merkle, Taylor...there are so many really, really good quarterbacks here right now.  There have been better QBs in the league than all of these guys, but I can't recall a time when there were this many quarterbacks that are this good all at the same time. 

[sigma one]

My sense of it is that when Knoche left Morel decided to re-take the offensive coordinator role for himself.
Wally's speculation about timing may have something to do with it, although Morel was itching to change the scheme back to what he found more comfortable.  Hence, the change for last year's Bell Game--the scheme didn't change but Morel took back the play-calling duties.  Wabash has hired a coach since then, but for a different assignment.  The late loss of David Denham, who coached the d-line and special teams, may be at least as significant.  He took a position at UIndy.  Denham was a dynamic coach. The players really liked him.
     I am most interested in the secondary.  The comment about one back being picked on last year was all too obvious early in games before Wabash could make some adjustments.  I really like Ramsey as DC, but I wonder whether the talent level on that side of the ball is down a level from the Hammer days.  Of course, Hammer's ability to keep offenses off balance was also a huge factor.  I don't know if the defense can reduce the number of points against this year (the most Wabash had given up in many years) given the quality of offenses across the conference, but I think they have a strong chance to be better than last year overall.
     Reid needs to join the QB list Wally mentioned to make Wabash competitive; they have to be able to get the ball downfield to balance what promises to be a strong running game.  I can see them being anywhere from in a scrum with Wittenberg for the conference crown to being 7-3, with competitive wins/losses vs. Denison, DePauw, Allegheny, and Witt.  And Ohio Wesleyan (depending upon its QB situation) and Wooster will upset someone near the top this year.  Maybe even Hiram if they can find an adequate replacement at RB. 
     Absent probably Kenyon and Oberlin (numbers too small) this is the most balanced I've seen the NCAC going into the season in many years.   

[MUC57]

sigma one

If you hadn't seen earlier, I will be at Hiram vs Wabash on 9/1 and at Wooster vs Allegheny on 9/8! Mount plays at 7:00 pm on 9/1 and has their bye on 9/8. I did this last year as well. Sounds like the NCAC has some really good teams, some of whom are apparently pretty close in ability and promise. I'm looking forward to these games. Mount Union has played all these schools so they aren't total strangers.
Best to all the NCAC teams this year. Wish the OAC could achieve a bit more parity.
Gotta love Dlll football wherever it's played, whatever uniforms are worn, however many wins are realized. Go Everybody! ☠🏈😀

[sigma one]

MUC57  Yes, I saw that you are going to those games.  For many years I missed no Wabash home games and only a few road games.  Relocation to another part of the country now keeps me away from all but a couple of games a year.  I plan to attend the 125th Monon Bell Classic vs. DePauw at Wabash in November.  If you have not been to that game, it's worth the trip from Ohio if you can manage it.
     I hope you enjoy the NCAC games and look forward to your take on the experiences. 

[MUC57]

sigma one

What part of the country are you in? I spent years in the D.C. Area, New York City area and 16 glorious years in the San Francisco Bay Area. Don't ask why I'm back in Alliance!
I'm mostly looking forward to seeing Wabash, because they're always good (Wabash Always Fights) and Wooster, who seems to be a possible up and comer. I'm sure I'll enjoy the games.
I wish Mount had a rivalry game the magnitude of the Monon Bell Game. Sounds really exciting.
Anyhoo, I will definitely let you know how it all went.
Go Little Giants! Go Terriers ( hey, I'm impartial), Go Scots, Go Gators! Just so I don't miss anybody, as I often say, Go Everybody! ☠🏈🏈🏈🏈

And sigma one, just so you know, - I'm old. I get mixed up and I forget things!

[sigma one]

MUC57     Grew up in southwestern Pennsylvania.  In those days, great football territory.  Still pretty decent.  Wabash for college.  I spent two decades in Colorado, Denver area.  Then New York, far upstate, and back to Indiana.  About two years ago we decided to come West again.  We are living in southern Arizona, not far from Tucson.  Great country, but I miss DIII football.  It's a good thing that almost everyone now has a network to live stream games.  Wabash's is particularly good for home games, and most of the other NCAC teams have very good to adequate connections.  I generally keep two computers going on the weekend.  DIII FB keeps me in the know.  It would be hard to keep current without all the information and opinions on here. 
     One week to go (less for a few teams).  Finally, time to talk some serious football.

[MUC57]

sigma one

Thanks. Will talk to you during the season. Go Little Giants! (Raiders too)! ☠🏈