FB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[WAF78]

LOL BB16...glad to have your approval. I'm sure that if we actually sat down over some TWR and discussed football, we'd agree on a lot more than we disagree.

Fripp...I agree...Wabash did get beat...and yet...only lost by 3. Wabash made the plays that a good team makes...even when getting physically beaten. According to the stats...Wabash should have been beaten by at least 21...but they weren't. Good teams...even when they play horribly...find a way to win...or at least make it close. Losing in the last seconds is making it close. I guess we'll see who plays the best this year...but if I were you...I wouldn't bet against my Little Giants this year.

[Duster72]

Let's be clear on what happened last year...Wabash wasn't flat.  They were beaten.

I would be more than happy to be clear about it.  Wabash played like a shell of itself that game.  CC had that team focused on the playoffs period.  They played with slightly more emotion than the Colts did playing the Titans in week 17 last year.  Depauw had EVERYTHING to play for.  CC had that team focused on the playoffs.  That team at Blackstock last Nov couldn't have come close to beating the good teams we beat the next two weeks.

That game was an outlier for last season's squad.

And to prove I'm not drinking the kool-aid, I don't think this year's team could stay within 21 of the 2002 team.  Anybody who is claiming the Bell game to be a foregone conclusion is crazy.  That will be a very tough game for this squad.

Wabash is ranked #3 because they've been consistently good for several years now.  Not consistently great, just consistently good.  They're not in the "elite" category by far.  We're still miles behind MUC, UWW, etc.  I would love to see them get there, but it won't be this year.

[DPU3619]

I would be more than happy to be clear about it.  Wabash played like a shell of itself that game.  CC had that team focused on the playoffs period. 

I want to make sure I understand you completely here.  You're saying that CC had his team looking PAST the Monon Bell game?  He told them that it didn't matter?  Forget this one and we'll get 'em next week?  That's false.  I'm sorry.  There's a difference between not playing well and just not putting forth your best effort.  Maybe it wasn't as bad as I made it sound above, but even the smallest bit of that is incredibly hard for me to believe, particularly when there are home playoff games in the balance.  I can understand wanting your team ready for the playoffs, but I know Chris Creighton, and I know he didn't have his guys leaving ANYTHING in the tank in last year's Bell game, nor any other Bell game that he coached during his tenure regardless of what was coming in Game #11.  That's crazy talk.  He wanted that Bell just as bad as anybody on either sideline.  Playing poorly is one thing.  Your front 7 getting off the bus feeling awfully overconfident is one thing.  Mailing in a rivalry game intentionally is another entirely.

If such a thing were to occur, a lot of folks would take that as disrespect to the rivalry.  I know your football program is growing and working towards a national championship.. so on and so forth, but something tells me that average Wally Wabash grad (not the wally_wabash - a generalization) cares a lot more about what happens during Monon Saturday than he does if Wabash goes to the Stagg.  I know that's not the case around here, and justifibly so.  If such a thing were even theoretically possible in Greencastle, it would be exactly the same.  Although ours is probably more due to the 1000 girls who go to the game to get wasted and forget the result 12 hours later near the bottom of a bottle of bad decisions. (read as Boone's Farm Snow Creek Berry flavor)  There's no laying down on Monon.  Nobody does that.  No coaches, no players, no managers, no trainers, nobody.  HDNet doesn't show up so Creighton can have the LG's ready for next week.  I say you're full of baloney.

[WAF78]

Go Wabash beat Oberlin
Go Rose beat Franklin
Go Austin beat DePauw
Go Trinity beat Millsaps

Looking forward to the 1:00 broadcast from Hollett. Hoffman and Emmick do a great job announcing with both of them being employed by the college and both being former football players. And the quality of the broadcast is great.
WAF

[WABCOL86]

I don't know what to call what happened last November other than a flat Wabash team.  I'm sorry, but the team that played in Greencastle looked nothing like the team that won the other 9 regular season games.   I don't know if it was overconfidence, arrogance or if we did intentionally play a watered down game, but we weren't the same.  I saw that from the opening drive.

I have to say the enthusiasm for the Bell game isn't what it once was amongst many I talk to.  Maybe it is the fact that we regularly make the playoffs or it may be completely unrelated.  Don't get me wrong, but the Bell game isn't a national barometer of where the team is at football-wise, unless we lost every year.  Since we're 5-2 or so in the last seven games, I guess it says what it says.  I've been to a lot of Bell Games, so I like the rivalry, but it just doesn't carry water outside of our two schools all that much.

Well, there's my two cents. It's just an opinion, and you know what they say about opinions....

[Schwami]

BB 16, I have not been to a Bell game since I moved to Pittsburgh in 1991.  Will be watching again at the Pittsburgh telecast party . . . always a lot of fun . . . but not as good as the real deal.  Did get to see Wabash last year at Allegheny and again at Case Western in the playoffs.  Slim pickings this year, could go up to Hiram next weekend  , maybe a trip to Alliance in the near future  

Wes, you said it well.  For whatever reason, Wabash as a team did not play well in last year's game (although Adi Pynenberg was outstanding and single-handedly kept Wabash in the game).  Wabash played with uncharacteristic tentativeness.  Perish the thought . . . CC didn't want playoff opponents to see game film of what Wabash was capable of?  Naaahhhh.

[Li'l Giant]

Anyone catch the "C.O.W. Fighting Scots" sign at Gameday? Whichever Scot is responsible for that, I'm sorry that you're in Lubbock, but it's cool that you could get that sign on TV.

[bashbrother]

Does Wabash rush for 300 yards today?

[Li'l Giant]

Glad to see Kody Lemond running well today. And Hudson running well too. Wow. 2 plays, 6 points.

[Li'l Giant]

Missed PAT. We haven't had to say that for a while. Let's hope I don't have to say it again this year.

Or not. Looks like the kicking team is gonna get some work this week.

More PAT fun. Wasn't pretty but at least it went through.

Notice a little chippiness going on after the plays.

[bashbrother]

Hudson 15 of 16 for 277 Yards and 2 TD's......  is that close to a perfect QB rating?    His day is over at half.

Wabash over 400 yards of offense in the 1st half.

Wabash 53
Oberlin 0

4th

[Schwami]

I see that Mangan was injured on the first series for Oberlin and did not return.  Too bad Oberlin is without its two top offensive threats (R.V. Carroll and Greg Mangan).  This season has turned into a real disaster for the Yeomen, after having W & J on the ropes in the first game.

[WAF78]

I missed the first half...and all the action.
Good to see the 2nd team guys get some playing time. Go Wabash!!

[Li'l Giant]

Wow. Gheny took all of 2 minutes of the 3rd to tie up their game with Wooster at 21. A 74 yard TD pass and an 85 yard punt return and it's all square in Wooster. Looks like we've got a game here in the 2nd half.

[Li'l Giant]

Gee, is that a regulation sized set of goalposts or what?