FB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[Crawford]

Rose's D sure looks big.  Is it just the contrast between black and white jerseys?

[Li'l Giant]

Li'l Giant I just look at it this way, if the NCAC does well in the playoffs (especially over the long term) that might attract better student-athletes to attend Wabash.  I might be wrong but that wouldn't be a first.

You're not wrong. I'm just petty. I am fine with every team in the NCAC, save one, having success in the playoffs.

[Crawford]

Li'l Giant I just look at it this way, if the NCAC does well in the playoffs (especially over the long term) that might attract better student-athletes to attend Wabash.  I might be wrong but that wouldn't be a first.

You're not wrong. I'm just petty. I am fine with every team in the NCAC, save one, having success in the playoffs.

Li'l Giant you are not wrong either, or petty, a true Little Giant as I see it.

[HCAlum86]

Regardless of the position of the 'Bash alum on this forum - it was a good weekend for the NCAC

[wally_wabash]

One of the better individual plays from the weekend, check out the onside kick recovery at about 2:02:30:
https://portal.stretchinternet.com/depauw/portal.htm?eventId=670721&streamType=video

Penalty call was right and really heads up by the receiver to call that fair catch, but that's one of the better plays that won't count that you'll see. 

[Li'l Giant]

One of the better individual plays from the weekend, check out the onside kick recovery at about 2:02:30:
https://portal.stretchinternet.com/depauw/portal.htm?eventId=670721&streamType=video

Penalty call was right and really heads up by the receiver to call that fair catch, but that's one of the better plays that won't count that you'll see.

Man, they gotta change that rule to allow an onside there. Make the receiver actually catch it or something. I don't know. I think the rules should encourage onside kicking not discourage.

[ADL70]

One of the better individual plays from the weekend, check out the onside kick recovery at about 2:02:30:
https://portal.stretchinternet.com/depauw/portal.htm?eventId=670721&streamType=video

Penalty call was right and really heads up by the receiver to call that fair catch, but that's one of the better plays that won't count that you'll see.

Man, they gotta change that rule to allow an onside there. Make the receiver actually catch it or something. I don't know. I think the rules should encourage onside kicking not discourage.

I think that it's a player safety issue.

[sigma one]

DIII Football reports that Jim Collins has been named the new Head Coach at Wittenberg.  Collins is a Wittenberg graduate.  Most recently, he served as the Director of Football Operations at Army (West Point).  Before that, he was the Head Coach at Saginaw State in Michigan.  And farther back, he coached at Capital during their glory years of the mid-2000s.  Wabash fans may recall that Capital defeated Wabash in the second round of the 2005 playoffs 14-11.  Um, is Rocky Pentello still playing?  Quick choice by Wittenberg, and probably a good move to act so early to keep their potential recruits in line.

[Dr. Acula]

Seems like a good hire for Witt.  I didn't keep track of Collins when he went to SVSU but he did a really good job during his time at Cap.

[Whitecarrera]

One of the better individual plays from the weekend, check out the onside kick recovery at about 2:02:30:
https://portal.stretchinternet.com/depauw/portal.htm?eventId=670721&streamType=video

Penalty call was right and really heads up by the receiver to call that fair catch, but that's one of the better plays that won't count that you'll see.

Man, they gotta change that rule to allow an onside there. Make the receiver actually catch it or something. I don't know. I think the rules should encourage onside kicking not discourage.

That's a really interesting play and call. 
First - I think the availability of the fair catch is completely appropriate in that situation, so I don't agree with you Li'l Giant.  The ball was up in the air, the returner was moving toward the ball to make a catch, and he was in position to make the catch.

The really interesting point is that the Rose player simply beat him to the ball.  When the kicking team takes possession, the play is immediately dead, and so any fair catch protection ended at that point.  Subsequent contact with the returner wouldn't qualify as kick interference -- potentially a dead ball foul, but that's not what they called.

The rule though extends that protection one yard in front of the returner, and I think that's what they called.  The Rose player entered that one-yard cushion, then possessed the ball, then made physical contact. The actual contact was a non-factor, but the entering of the cushion before possessing the ball warranted the call. I think it was the right call.

 

[Crawford]

Jim Collin's Capital teams were legitimate title contenders, especially that 2005 team, but so was Wabash that year. Looks like a great hire by Witt.   HCAlum86, I'm a Wabash alum and I was cheering for Depauw, and hoping for a major upset of White Water on Saturday.

[sigma one]

I was watching the game and thought the refs made the correct call.  Seeing it again this morning on tape, I have not changed my mind.  The fair catch signal was one quick wave above the shoulders near the sidelines, and I can imagine the players on the kicking team not seeing it.  Still, the rule says that one wave is enough.
     Earlier in the season, on a kickoff the Wabash return man made a fair catch signal.  The ball bounced in front of him and then directly into his arms.  Instead of getting the ball on the 25-yard line, the officials ruled the play dead at the sport of his reception of the ball.  I think it was on the 7/8-yard line.  At the time there was some discussion on the ball's placement.  But the officials also got that one right as well.  The fair catch rule says that if the ball bounces and is then fielded by the returner the ball is dead at the spot that the returner catches the ball.  Again, I think that is a player safety precaution.
     Gutsy decision by the R-H coaches though.  The game still had a long way to go, and DPU wasn't exactly moving the against their defense.  They must have thought if we don't get the ball we can stop them anyway.   If we do, good for us.
      On a (somewhat) related penalty situation in college and pro football (though not, I think, in high school), face guarding is allowed as long as the defensive player does not make contact with the receiver before the ball arrives.  I often sat in the stands and heard the crowd call for a pass interference penalty because of face guarding. "He's face guarding," some  fans would yell.  Not so unless there is contact on the receiver before the ball gets to him.  Watching college football (pro too sometimes) I can't say how many times announcers have called for a face guarding penalty when there was no contact.  I'm surprised that over time they have not become aware of the rule.

[sigma one]

Update, Addition, Correction to my earlier post on Jim Collins.  He  has spent the last year at the University of Dayton, where he served as offensive coordinator and QBs coach.  He is originally from Cincinnati. 

[Whitecarrera]

Sigma - you're right, the specifics of what is/is not allowed in pass defense is different at each level (HS/College/NFL). The college guidelines are the most advantageous to the DB, and the NFL the most disadvantageous to the DB - no surprise there.

Some of the worst things for me to sit and watch are:

1 - college coaches (often with pro playing or coaching experience) teaching pro techniques under the assumption that they are better techniques. They are not, but rather the best that are allowed by an NFL that wants to see scoring and accomplishes that by handicapping the defenses.
2. - HS coaches who don't know the distinction between the three, and coach their kids based on what they watch on Sundays. They just don't know any better — that's too bad, and a disservice to the kids they coach. It's especially frustrating when your son comes home from practice and can explain that his coach doesn't know the pass defense rules!

[Li'l Giant]

One of the better individual plays from the weekend, check out the onside kick recovery at about 2:02:30:
https://portal.stretchinternet.com/depauw/portal.htm?eventId=670721&streamType=video

Penalty call was right and really heads up by the receiver to call that fair catch, but that's one of the better plays that won't count that you'll see.

Man, they gotta change that rule to allow an onside there. Make the receiver actually catch it or something. I don't know. I think the rules should encourage onside kicking not discourage.

I think that it's a player safety issue.

I get that. But if you can't make an onside kick this way because of the fair catch then you have to onside by kicking it into the ground and playing a bounce, which just causes a scrum and seems more likely to cause injury than this play would have.

Also, onside kicks are kind of exciting and I think there should be more of them.