FB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[wabashcpa]

They definitely missed Jones, was surprised Reid and Avant didn't play, but Ike James proved he is back, and Thompson held up well for his first game.  Lack of pressure on the QB was the killer, Urmanski picked them apart with all the time he had.  If anything needs solved immediately, it's the pass rush.

[wally_wabash]

Asking why Wabash didn't use multiple quarterbacks is....something.  That's generally an avoid at all costs kind of thing, isn't it? 

This is a complete accounting of Reid's rush plays from 2018:
sacked for -2
sacked for -1
sacked for -16
sacked for -7
rush for 2
rush for 0
sacked for -11
rush for 4
rush for 3
sacked for -7

So not counting sacks against him, Reid rush four times for nine yards in ten games.  Thompson had four different rushes of greater than nine yards on Saturday.  Teams scheming against Wabash have to deal with that now.  Which says nothing of how he threw it, which I thought he did well.  There's a pass/run dynamic there that we haven't seen since certainly Chase Belton, maybe Dustin Huff. 

[wally_wabash]

Jim Catanzaro eloquently (too eloquently!) enumerated the number of ways Wabash's loss on Saturday was damaging.  Not just that it was going to cost Wabash their spot in the top 25, but UWSP is likely to be a mid-pack team in their own conference** and end up with 4-5 wins on the season- so this is a loss to a team that won't be ranked at the end of the year, a definite negative for the selection committee.  UWSP finishing with just four or five wins means no help to Wabash's SOS, another negative (this was true win or lose).  And lastly, whereas USWP is a common opponent between Wabash and John Carroll (another North region playoff hopeful), Wabash is pretty much always going to live behind JCU in the regional rankings thanks to this common opponent result.  This isn't going to matter if Wabash loses a second game, but if both of these teams wind up 9-1, it really puts Wabash in a spot where hosting a playoff game might be out of the question. 

I don't mean to put the cart before the horse here either, with the playoff talk.  Wabash has a tough bounce back this week traveling all the way out to Meadville.  If you think, like I do, that the biggest areas for improvement here are DL and secondary play, then this game should concern you.  Allegheny is going to spread it out and sling it all over the place.  If Wabash can't get to Naz Greer any more than they got to Matt Urmanski, whoo boy.  Watch out.  This is serious challenge this week for Jeff Ramsey and his defense. 

** I think it's worth noting here that UWSP is as good as anybody else Wabash will play this year, despite what their final record is likely to be.  That's a testament to level of ball being played in the WIAC (top ranked conference by D3Football.com, and it's honestly not close).  It's also why that home and home series was so risky.  UWSP was always going to be a challenging team to play- again, as good as anybody else on the Wabash schedule- but there was never going to be a ton of reward from playing and winning those games.  It isn't good for SOS, there's no RRO opportunity.  It's a high quality opponent with none of the ancillary benefits that typically come along with playing almost any other team of that caliber. 

[smedindy]

But I'd rather play a team like UWSP than pound a tomato can into oblivion.

[wally_wabash]

But I'd rather play a team like UWSP than pound a tomato can into oblivion.

I agree, but I'd prefer that it happens on level terms.  The last time Wabash lost a season opener was 2006- also against a quality team (Franklin, at the beginning of the Mike Leonard surge there) that had a head start to the season.  To the extent that this sort of thing can be controlled, I think you either have to absolutely avoid not playing in Week 1 OR make sure you play your Week 2 opener against a team that is also not playing in Week 1 OR play your Week 2 opener against a team where the head start isn't going to matter.  I don't know what the future non-league schedule looks like, but I hope that everybody involved in that process can see that not playing in Week 1 presents an entirely avoidable hurdle, especially if Wabash wants to use that game to test themselves against a quality team.   

[wabashcpa]

If the D-line play improves, the secondary will reap the benefit.  Hard to cover for 5-6 seconds when the QB has no pressure on him.

[BayernFan]

Losing over the weekend tells me that Wabash is probably not a playoff or conference championship team at this point.

[CollegeGolf18]

Losing over the weekend tells me that Wabash is probably not a playoff or conference championship team at this point.

Can you explain why it makes you think that?

[wally_wabash]

Losing over the weekend tells me that Wabash is probably not a playoff or conference championship team at this point.

Can you explain why it makes you think that?

Saturday didn't really have anything to do with that particular opinion, iyam. 

[CollegeGolf18]

Losing over the weekend tells me that Wabash is probably not a playoff or conference championship team at this point.

Can you explain why it makes you think that?

Saturday didn't really have anything to do with that particular opinion, iyam.

To be clear, your opinion wasn't skewed by Saturday's game, correct? Want to make sure I understand what you're saying. Or, his opinion was made up prior?

[wally_wabash]

Losing over the weekend tells me that Wabash is probably not a playoff or conference championship team at this point.

Can you explain why it makes you think that?

Saturday didn't really have anything to do with that particular opinion, iyam.

To be clear, your opinion wasn't skewed by Saturday's game, correct? Want to make sure I understand what you're saying. Or, his opinion was made up prior?

Oh, definitely the latter.  I was well aware of how dangerous last week's game was for Wabash and I don't at all believe that Saturday's result is a de facto disqualifier for the rest of the season. 

[Li'l Giant]

I don't know what the future non-league schedule looks like, but I hope that everybody involved in that process can see that not playing in Week 1 presents an entirely avoidable hurdle, especially if Wabash wants to use that game to test themselves against a quality team.

We just need to quit taking Week 1 off. I've never heard any (let alone good) justification for always taking Week 1 off. It's absurd.

[sigma one]

I don't know the answer or rationale for "taking week 1 off."  Could it possibly be that the LGs can't get anyone to schedule a game against them week 1?  At least anyone they would want to play or anyone within reasonable geographical distance.  I'm not sure at all that Wabash is "choosing" not to play in week 1.   On this board and others over time there has been discussion of why teams don't schedule other particular teams.  Well, simply,  scheduling is a two-way street.  I have a hard time believing Wabash doesn't want to play in week 1 if they can find an opponent that meets their criteria for scheduling--e.g. type of school, level of competition, distance to play.   I have long thought that a good week 1 game would be against one of the top-tier HCAC teams from Indiana.  But, again, that assumes those schools want to play against a Wabash team that in any given year presupposes their losing.  Franklin, Rose-Hulman, (and now Hanover as they have improved again) would all be logical choices.  Or even, moving over into Ohio, Mt. St Joseph.  Expanding slightly, there are schools within a reasonable distance Wabash has scheduled in fairly recent years:  Millikan, Albion.  Other Michigan schools would also be reasonable choices--once again, IF they would agree to the game.  I'm eager to see who Wabash will have for the first game next year. 

[BayernFan]

Losing over the weekend tells me that Wabash is probably not a playoff or conference championship team at this point.

Can you explain why it makes you think that?

A north region opponent, unranked.  A weak defense, especially when it mattered.   A very bad loss.  A championship or playoff team won't lose a game like that.  They might get better, sure.  But as I said, as of now Wabash is simply not such a team.

[Dr. Acula]

Losing over the weekend tells me that Wabash is probably not a playoff or conference championship team at this point.

Can you explain why it makes you think that?

A north region opponent, unranked.  A weak defense, especially when it mattered.   A very bad loss.  A championship or playoff team won't lose a game like that.  They might get better, sure.  But as I said, as of now Wabash is simply not such a team.

I don't think I'd call it a very bad loss.  It's on the road at a very solid WIAC team in a game that came down to the final possession.  By the way, that same UWSP team played pretty well at JCU who very much is a playoff team.  I agree the D did not look good, but writing Wabash off in the NCAC is a bit premature IMO.  It's not like there's some thoroughbred running away from the NCAC this year now that Wabash stumbled.  All the top teams have questions to answer at this point.