FB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[bashbrother]

Nice unexpected result by the Gators from Meadville.  Great non-conference win.

[nike]

Selby is too nice a place to have a mediocre team.  Why why why does the quarterback get more carries than the backs combined? That is why Hymes and Sir Louis before him got hurt so much. Get a big bruising  back and pound him for 100 yards a game. Throw to your wideouts. And win some games. Not quite that simple, but I can never figure out the offensive thing as far as OWU is concerned.
At least Wooster put up a good effort.
OWU here comes Kenyon.
Wooster, Witt.

[bashbrother]

My game ball for the OWU/Bash game may have to go to C. Finley and the punt team.  Not only kicking one, but two consecutive punts inside the five yard line.  The first one was brought back because of penalty. 

Bash had not scored and was really going no-where in the game prior to that and OWU took the ball at the five and tried to throw out of the endzone with a young QB on the first play.  Didn't work out too well for the Bishops and Wabash got on the board. 

Points of any kind mean a lot in a game like todays and Wabash seemed to be a different team after they got that safety.

Nice Win.... Next up Earlham in C-Ville

[aueagle]

bashbro...what about a game ball to Adrian Pynenberg...the guy had 21 tackles, didn't he?

[chillydigits]

 WOOSTER football has gone to SCHMITZ.... After 3 weeks of sloppy, uninspired, and unimproved football, I think congratulations are in order for the entire Wooster coaching staff .. Its offical folks, This team is a bottom feeder... May the Hiram Terriers have mercy on us.

[seinfeld]

Maybe the stat of the year so far.

Wooster has been outscored 62-14 in the second half of the first three games (31-0 in the third quarter), and one of Wooster's two touchdowns was a defensive score last night.

[ADL70]

Wooster's longest drive was 29 yards.  What surprised me was that even down they made almost no attempt to throw long.  There was a 19 yard completion and a 25 yarder, but all the rest were for under 10 yds and a number were for minus yards.  Almost zero YAC.

[ScotLass]

Seinfeld, scotty, chilly, et al

The stunning thing about last night is that the team looked worse on many levels, instead of better after two weeks of preparation. Things are always easier when a once in a lifetime "dream team" comes along, but the measure of your true mettle is what you do when the last remnants of that gift are gone. Always being one who criticizes constructively, I have a few suggestions for the Scots:

1)The play on both sides of the ball is sloppy, sloppy, sloppy. SO, let's start by getting rid of the sloppy look. How about every player wears the same color socks instead of a free for all?  I also would not tolerate a single player having their shirt hanging out. A little fundamental discipline and show of some team pride as an initial expectation is a good start.

2)Review what is happening in the locker room at half-time and change it since Woo has done ok during the 1st half, but comes out the 2nd half playing with a defeatist attitude even when they are ahead.

3)At this point the coaching staff needs to go back to basics as there are some serious fundamentals problems. This will require letting go of the ease of the past and coaching at practice for improvement and job retention.

4)Develop and motivate for some on field leadership.

5)Take a serious look at the current game plan and be willing to adjust it. What worked with the previous team ain't working now. Sometimes you just have to let go of what you'd like to do and be flexible enough to work to develop a game plan that might better fit the current players. ******Not doing this is sadly going to have great potential for producing a 1-9 season.

And I could go on.....but starting with 5 simple concepts might help. Of course, I am just a female, so what do I know??? 

[bashbrother]

It's a given.  Adi earns a game ball every game.  He has every game dating back to freshman year.   I just think those two points were huge.

[smedindy]

bashbro -

To answer your query - there is no video of the press conference. Sorry!

[Li'l Giant]

I just think those two points were huge.

They were huge. That was the first point at which I thought "we'll win this game". That was absolutely the turning point of the game. And that second punt after the penalty set that up.

[wooscot]

Seinfeld, ScotLass, Nike, Lancer98, Chilly,etc..

I've posed this question before to some of my Woo football brethren of the Barnes/Schmitz eras, but for fear of sounding asinine, here it goes - Was Sutton the worst thing that could have happened to Wooster for the LONG-TERM health of the program?

What I'm inferring is simple - while Sutton was the greatest player in Wooster histroy (no question about it), did his play mask some serious programatic issues that are coming to a head now?  For example, did he mask an ineffective offensive scheme, did he mask sub-par recruiting classes, did he mask lack of player motivation, did he mask internal issues, or did he create a mis-guided self-belief within the program that the success enjoyed by Wooster during his playing years were the result of superior coaching, recruiting, preparation etc... rather than a once in a lifetime player? 

I dont' know the answers to these questions either and my gut tells me they are simply going through a rough season.  However, it is frustrating watching other conference and non-conference peers re-load and enjoy continued success year after year while Wooster rides the proverbial roller-coaster.

Thoughts?

Also, one more thing that was mentioned to me a few weeks back that I found interesting - does anybody think is strange that all but two of the current Wooster assistant coach's played under Schmitz?  Is this common in other NCAC or DIII schools?  Somebody pointed this out to me as a negative, but I'm not sure what to think about it.

[medicine man]

I am not sure that wanting to stay and play at your alma mater is a negative. Some may look at it that way and I am sure there are valid arguments both ways. I think if you have had a wonderful experience at a school and respect the coaches you played for that there is nothing wrong with wanting to coach and inspire more young men and hope that they would have the experience you enjoyed at that school.  They lost 27 seniors who set records at Wooster and it was not only Tony Sutton. Admittedly he was huge and a once in a lifetime player and a very nice, humble young man, but the TEAM and the class that graduated last year achieved more than any other class at Wooster. I know last year's senior class was a very close and dedicated class. They worked amazingly hard and were all very close friends. I think that is an intangible that helps to make a good team also.  It is difficult to replace. Wooster's future will be fine, maybe this year will not be the best and maybe it will turn out okay but they have a great coaching staff and players and will be fine. Wooster is also an outstanding school academically, football is not the only reason these kids are there.   Go Scots !!

[nike]

I've got a yellow T-shirt that says:
WOOSTER
2004 NCAC CHAMPIONS
Would not want to give that back.
Can you imagine what Notre Dame's people are saying now?

[wally_wabash]

Some thoughts from my day at Selby yesterday...

- From my perspective it was a game of field position.  In the first half, Wabash never had good field position and couldn't string together any first downs to flip the field.  Only the foot of Finley kept OWU from playing in Wabash's half of the field for most of the first half.  In the second half, Wabash got the ball to start the half, got some decent field position, were able to flip the field and pin OWU deep and the first that happened after Wabash established field position was the safety.  As has been discussed previously here, that safety really seemed to take a huge weight off of the LG shoulderpads and Wabash played much better football for the duration of the game. 

- OWU really dominated the first half and were it not for penalties, likely would have had a one or two score lead.  Give some credit to the Little Giant defense for locking down the short field, but I'm afraid that at some point this year Wabash is going to play a team that can finish drives and this bend-but-don't-break stuff isn't going to cut it. 

- I don't agree with the sentiment here that OWU's fake punt call was a bad call.  As I discussed with a distinguished group of Wabash fans, it looked like OWU had been setting up that fake all day.  As Wabash hadn't moved the ball all day to that point, that was probably as good a time as any to try the fake.  After the fact we see that the fake failed and Wabash turned right around and took the ball into the end zone and so the play call looks bad, but I think it was an ok call at the time. 

- I don't think I have any idea who is going to be Wabash's quarterback moviing forward.  As sharp as Augie looked at Millikin, he looked inexperienced and out of sync at OWU.  While Hudson looked off and out of sync at Millikin in the latter half of the fourth quarter, he came in yesterday and looked sharp.  Your guess is as good as mine as to who should start this weekend. 

- Still can't say enough about Finley's punting this year.  As was mentioned Finley sicks a punt at the 1-yard line on Wabash's first drive.  The punt comes back due to a Wabash penalty.  Finley sticks the rekick at the 2-yard line.  One snap later, Gangloff is tackling the OWU qb in the endzone and life is good for the LGs.  But it wasn't just those two kicks...Finley averaged 45 yards on 6 punts yesterday.  His foot has been a real weapon this year. 

While it wasn't the prettiest thing you'll see, it was a win and it was a shutout.  Wabash sits atop the NCAC standings and everybody else in the league is chasing.  That's how Wabash wants it.  I'll expect a much better effort in front of the Homecoming crowd at Hollett this weekend as Wabash tunes up for the two games that will likely decide their conference championship fate.