FB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[reality check]

Witt ... Alma is a fine but not great team.  They will challenge but not necessarily win their weak conference (weak:  look at MIAA non-conference wisn vs. losses to date).  D appears to be suspect after 3 games.

You caught my interest.

MIAA is 5-13 in non-conference play so for for a WP of 28%
NCAC is 9-16 in non-conference play so far WP of 36%

Does being able to win just over 1/3 of your games give you the right to call someone who wins just under 1/3 of their games weak?  Neither number looks very impressive to me.

[wally_wabash]

It's time to play a game of fun Witt stats (and it's not just defense)....

- Witt is giving up over 44 points per game.  Only Earlham is worse in the conference.  

- Witt is only throwing for 135.7 yards per game.  Only Denison is worse in the conference.  

- Witt is giving up over 322 passing yards per game.  Nobody in the conference is worse.  

- Witt is giving up over 212 rushing yards per game.  Only Hiram and Earlham are worse in the conference.  

- Witt has given up 85 (85!!!) first downs in three games.

- Witt is giving up over 535 yards per game!  Worst in the conference.  

Goodness...Hiram, Denison, Earlham...Witt used to keep much better company.  

But seriously, Witt is 0-3.  They have games left against Wooster, Wabash, OWU, and Allegheny...Wabash and Allegheny are road games.  I quite seriously think that Witt is looking at 5-5 or worse this year.  

[reality check]

Apone

I listened to the entire game in Ada.  Say neither team had rhtyhm in the ealry going.  But don't say ONU didn't find theirs.

Garrod averaged 5.7 per carry.  Meadows averaged 4.3.  Quirk did a fair job passing only 27 times and completing 15 of them with no INT's and 2 TD's.  

ONU wasn't expected  to be a juggernaut offense this year.  These guys are doing what they are supposed to do and the defense has played as expected.  Trusnik and crew are right where they need to be.  With the defense nad special teams of the Bears, Quirk doesn't need to be a star, he needs to do what he has been doing and the rest will play out well.  

[Apone]

RC -

Fair enough.  ONU did find a rythym running the ball later in the game and I think they have found themselves a very good running back in the freshman transfer, I forget his name, but I believe you mentioned him. 

I only say that I was underwhelmed because the OAC board has been tagging BW as being on a down year so I was expecting the #5 Polar Bears to dominate a team that needed OT to beat Gheny.  Great job w/ not getting rattled at the 17-0 point, and firing off 30 unanswered points.  But that obviously will not fly against better teams, and I think you know that. 
Perhaps I had unrealistic expectations.  But I do know that ONU has big plans for this season and gave Mount their best game in the OAC last year.  If Dean Paul and the Polar Bears want to take down the Purple People this year, they are going to have to step up their game across the board.  And it didn't help losing Midlam.  Just my thoughts though, I've been wrong before.

How about OWU vs. Wabash in 2 weeks?  Barn burner last year!
Did Wooster prove something against MacMurray or is MacMurray that bad?

[wabashcpa]

Congratulations to Russ Harbaugh for being named NCAC Offensive Player of the Week. Looks like we've settled on a QB, and he has performed well to date.  I look for that to continue Saturday at home against Earlham.

[fijidoc]

What has happened to the NCAC pick'em  site???

[BashDad]

fijidoc:

Look under "General Football" on 1st Post Patterns menu.

[wally_wabash]

As a final note on the week 3 point spreads...4 of the 7 spreads that I set last week hit within a field goal (two within a half point).  The ones that didn't:

Witt/Alma - even line, Alma wins by 11, but that game was back and forth all day. 

Earlham/Anderson - I had Anderson giving two touchdowns here, but I set that before I knew Rummell was going to be gimpy.  I wouldn't have set the spread as high as the final margin was, but it would have been closer had I read my injury report. 

Olivet/OWU - I had OWU giving 4.5 points...again, I would have set a bigger spread had I realized that Olivet has abandoned thier wing-t that shredded OWU last year. 

[wooscot]

Darkside D,

No problem with the recruiting discussion some 8 pages ago...its never a dead horse!  For the discussion about OAC vs. NCAC academics, there is a difference when it comes to athletic admissions, not the general student body.  Nobody is saying OAC schools are garbage, but what we're saying is certain schools have a more lenient admission standard for athletes.  For some reason, Wooster's admission standards ebb and flow with the number of apps it receives. If apps are down one year, then admission is easier overall and notably easier for borderline athletes.  On the contrary, years where apps are high, its harder for borderline applicants, including athletes.  In my opinion, I don' t think the school gives much of a prefernce to student-athletes, especially football players, in making admissions decisions.

Anyway, what is up with Witt?  I know they've played some tough teams, but they've been basically blown-out three games in a row. Anybody re-thinking them winning the NCAC, or is our conference just that bad this year relative to the rest of the country?

[wally_wabash]

Wabash transfer note of the week:

Congratulations to Mitch Tanney of Monmouth College...Tanney passed for 301 yards on 33-41 passing with 2 td's.  He also ran for two td's accounting for all 4 of Monmouth's touchdowns in their 28-20 win over the MWC's perennial champ, St. Norbert.  St. Norbert was the only team to beat Monmouth last year...the road is paved for Monmouth to go 10-0 and reach the playoffs.  Tanney has been nothing short of spectacular for Monmouth since his transfer from Wabash...it's great to see him doing so well.

[formerd3db]

wooscot:
Minor correction.  While Witt is certainly down this year as you know, they were NOT blown out by Alma.  Some who saw the game relate that Witt is much better than their scores indicate and they could have beaten Alma.  While Alma is a good team again this year, they are no powerhouse (at least yet ) - they just made the plays to beat Witt.  The latter did not, but had their chance to beat them.

[Bashbacker765]

Thanks Wally for the Tanney update.  He is a nicer young man than he is a QB.  That says how nice of a young man he is.  I wish him the best.

[smedindy]

Any word on the Earlham QB? I assumed he would be a bit healthier and play when I made my pick 'em.

[wally_wabash]

Week 3 musings from the NCAC....

Allegheny - Took a pretty good throttlin' by the Prez on Saturday.  How bad do they miss Tarquino?  Where was the pass D (33-37, 419 yards, 4 td)?  What's with Savage getting his time whacked in half?  I'm not sure this 0-3 team is the same 0-3 team that won out in 2003.  

Earlham - If there was any doubt who the most valuable player to a team is in this conference, it ought to be gone by now.  Rummell tried to go on Saturday, but just couldn't do it.  Take him out, and the Earlham offense disappears...just 216 yards of offense for Earlham on Saturday.  On the other hand, the Quaker defense didn't miss a beat as they had Anderson roll up 605 yards of offense.  Earlham could be in big, big trouble at Wabash this weekend.  

Hiram - 107 yards of offense for Hiram.  Yeeouch.  You keep hoping that this team is going to get at least a little better with each year, but it just isn't happening.  Hiram has 2 touchdowns in three games which puts them slightly behind their pace of 7 td's in 10 games from 2004.  

Kenyon - Laugh if you will, but Kenyon has put up some respectable offensive numbers recently.  That CWRU held them to just 238 yards and 8 points is pretty good.  Coombs had 95 yards and a touchdown for the Lords.  Next up is a very winnable game against Kalamazoo for Kenyon.  

OWU - Apparently Olivet found something that worked and then ran as far away from it as they could.  After rolling up about 1800 yards rushing against OWU last year, Olivet ran for a grand total of 60 yards on Saturday.  It makes absolutely no sense.  OWU's offense wasn't exactly gangbusters either with just 387 yards for the game.  OWU has two weeks to prepare for Wabash on Oct. 1.  And would it kill OWU to post boxscores on their website??  Or if they do post boxscores on the website, can they put them somewhere accessible?

Wabash - Solid D again this week.  Six sacks and two picks for the Hard Hat D.  Harbaugh played well again this week (3 TDs).  The game vs. Wash U. didn't sound as close as the score was...Wabash was in control all day.  This week it's cakewalk city vs. Earlham on Homecoming, then Wabash's season starts in earnest with a trip to OWU on Oct. 1.  

Witt - Wither the Tigers?  Witt has the worst defense in the conference.  Witt's offense is performing in the middle of the pack.  As of Oct. 1, three teams will have not won a game:  Hiram, Allegheny, and Witt (Kenyon may also be winless, but they have a very winnable game this weekend).  Is there any hope for Witt?  You expect that defense to get a little better each week, but it doesn't.  Three straight weeks Witt has given up over 500 yards of offense, over 35 points, and their leading tackler has been a safety.  Say what you will about Allegheny in 2003 starting 0-3...Witt's in big big trouble and there's no way that they can win 7 in a row with that defense.  

[BashBacker#16]

I love the subtle hints "BB765" drops as to his identity.  Here is his profile thus far:

A.  He has some bittnerness towards Wabash football
B.  He's been very critical of Harbaugh and has made some comments about Neighbors challenging for the job???  Neighbors did travel Saturday...
C.  He is a Mitch Tanney fan - as noted by his remark to Wally's post
D.  He's made some remarks about Wabash admissions' standards dropping for football players...yawn?
E.  I assume the "765" is for his area code meaning he lives in West Central Indiana???

Any guesses?  Maybe it's Tanney?  A return of Bevo?  Superfly under a new handle?