FB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[wabco]

OK some thoughts:

1)  BB 16 and I have but to but tailgates right behind the stadium with BB 16 being inducted into HofF the night before ... so Patrick me boy, libations all around and come by.
2)  Holter: transfer ... seems like your old school does not appreciate you ... I assure you, ER will find a place for you and the Little Giant faithful will forget your being in the wrong place for 3 years and take you in.
3)  Dannies:  we are going to MONKEY STOMP you.  Take that to the bank.  12,000 fans will watch and enjoy ... and  hope you umbrella carriers turn in tickets so more Little Giant fans can fill the seats.
4)  Come on U-WW.  Great team, great fans, and would really like to have another contest.  Fun, great fans(already said that), great game.  Only hope that it is not held at the North Pole again.
5)  Next year (light years away now but an early predict)  Wabash and Witt again ... with ER bringing in a Katie Bar The Door freshman class.  Woo .. going to have to hit some homers back to back to get to where 'Bash and Witt are.
6)  Go Woo and put the wood to Witt.  God gave you 4 downs and a creative mind ... use them and get them.  This your SUPERBOWL and spring board to recruiting and to next year.
7)  Get to Hollet Stadium early ... maybe even on Friday before THE GAME ... tailgates started then 2 years ago ... plus ... make it to the HofF event:  Coach Carlson will be recognized along with some others (have I said BB 16?)

[wally_wabash]

Witt-Woo talk is all good....seeing as how this week is a bit of a Sorbet Saturday in the NCAC, I think we can allow ourselves to glance ahead a bit.  

It's going to be tough for me to put a line on Witt-Woo next week.  It's going to be a very tough, very competitive contest.  If the turnover margin stays even, I give a slight edge to Wooster.  If Wooster gives it away a couple of times, the advantage swings to Witt.  Should be a great game.  

[smedindy]

Hey now, OWU vs. Earlham isn't sorbet. More like frozen yogurt.

[wally world]

I don't want to jinx the Monon Bell game, but if Pat's gonna be there, make sure he gets a shot to drink some TWR from the Bell if Wabash wins in back. I didn't get that chance until my junior year (I was NOT a football player by any means), but it was just one of those singular moments that you experience as a Wally that you will never forget. Since I had to wait until my junior year and had built up a healthy disdain for the Greendingle Tigers by then, it made it all that much sweeter.

Man, I'd love to be there again this year, but I'll be on vacation in Florida helping celebrate my FIL's 70th birthday. Next time, I'll have to plan more carefully.

[wally_wabash]

I don't want to jinx the Monon Bell game, but if Pat's gonna be there, make sure he gets a shot to drink some TWR from the Bell if Wabash wins in back. I didn't get that chance until my junior year (I was NOT a football player by any means), but it was just one of those singular moments that you experience as a Wally that you will never forget.

Some of us had to wait until the year after we graduated to get that chance!  It is my sincere hope that no Wally ever again has to go a full undergrad tenure without getting the chance to taste victory from the Bell.   

[Ryan Tipps]

I don't want to jinx the Monon Bell game, but if Pat's gonna be there, make sure he gets a shot to drink some TWR from the Bell if Wabash wins in back. I didn't get that chance until my junior year (I was NOT a football player by any means), but it was just one of those singular moments that you experience as a Wally that you will never forget.

Some of us had to wait until the year after we graduated to get that chance!  It is my sincere hope that no Wally ever again has to go a full undergrad tenure without getting the chance to taste victory from the Bell.   

Amen, wally! That was a dark stretch we went through.

[wabco]

A story Wabash/DePauw story: ... my senior year we had not had the bell in C-ville for 3 loooong years.  That year the LSAT test was being given that day in the 4th floor of Lilly Library.  The test givers ... being Little Giant fans ... made the executive decision that BOTH the window on the 4th floor south side would be left open (better to hear the plays) and also that there be a Rhyne runner who would trundle back and forth from the field to the testing site to report events as they occured.  

Wabash won, the game noise and announcements were great, Wallys all scored well on the LSAT, and the Dannies complained bitterly throughout the entire test as to the distractions.  I think the world was really made better that day: 1) the umbrella carriers were defeated, 2) Wabash LSAT test scores were inordinately high, 3) the complaining. cry baby Dannies received poor scores thereby sending them all to inferior law schools (or better yet:  no law schools).  A trifecta.

Just one story in the lore of the game.

[BashBacker#16]

D3_DPUfan,

Thanks for the "expert" compliment but it actually wasn't hard to see the scores and results of DPU's schedule.  Tough games (I'll pick 3 for you) against Birmingham-Southern, Sewanee, and winless Colorado College (impressive OT victory at home) jump off the page with an impressive SCAC record of 1-15 and the 3 teams have 4 wins COMBINED on the 2008 season (ummm that's 4 wins in 23 games).  It just cracks me up how you come on here and take shots about our schedule, our conference, etc.  It'd be much different if you rolled over Wabash every year...fact is, its been a long time since that actually happened.  

[D3_DPUFan]

Thanks for the "expert" compliment but it actually wasn't hard to see the scores and results of DPU's schedule.  Tough games (I'll pick 3 for you) against Birmingham-Southern, Sewanee, and winless Colorado College (impressive OT victory at home) jump off the page with an impressive SCAC record of 1-15 and the 3 teams have 4 wins COMBINED on the 2008 season (ummm that's 4 wins in 23 games).  It just cracks me up how you come on here and take shots about our schedule, our conference, etc.  It'd be much different if you rolled over Wabash every year...fact is, its been a long time since that actually happened. 

Didn't "come on here" and take shots about your schedule...my post was in response to your take on DePauw's record. The LG's have another terrific team. Sorry the Tigers aren't don't win impressively enough for you. A Wabash fan is the LAST person to pass judgement on anybody's schedule. Now don't you have to prepare for a grueling road trip to Ohio?  

[Li'l Giant]

Now don't you have to prepare for a grueling road trip to Ohio

How did your trip to Texas work out for you? A 3 point win over Austin? I doubt seriously Wabash will limp home with a 3 point win this weekend.

[wabashcpa]

I don't want to jinx the Monon Bell game, but if Pat's gonna be there, make sure he gets a shot to drink some TWR from the Bell if Wabash wins in back. I didn't get that chance until my junior year (I was NOT a football player by any means), but it was just one of those singular moments that you experience as a Wally that you will never forget.

Some of us had to wait until the year after we graduated to get that chance!  It is my sincere hope that no Wally ever again has to go a full undergrad tenure without getting the chance to taste victory from the Bell.   

We won it my senior year (thank you, Mr. Kogan) - also not a player, but part of the best darned pep band (hint, hint, student leaders) this side of Mud Hollow.  Drinking out of the Bell was a definite highlight. 

[D3_DPUFan]

Actually, this trip to Texas worked out pretty well...snapped Austin's 4 game winning streak and came home with a great win on the road...thanks for asking...

[DPU3619]

D3_DPUfan,

Thanks for the "expert" compliment but it actually wasn't hard to see the scores and results of DPU's schedule.  Tough games (I'll pick 3 for you) against Birmingham-Southern, Sewanee, and winless Colorado College (impressive OT victory at home) jump off the page with an impressive SCAC record of 1-15 and the 3 teams have 4 wins COMBINED on the 2008 season (ummm that's 4 wins in 23 games).  It just cracks me up how you come on here and take shots about our schedule, our conference, etc.  It'd be much different if you rolled over Wabash every year...fact is, its been a long time since that actually happened.  

That quote reminds a lot of this quote:

Didn't you barely beat Colorado College 41-40 in double OT?  Millsaps blasted them 68-6?  You guys play the weak schedule justification every year...who have you played?  Anderson?  Austin?  1-6 Birmingham-Southern was tough as nails in your decisive 28-24 win.

Here's the thing.  It's not about us rolling you every year.  It's about you not rolling us every year.  You really should be.  You're one of the premier programs going right now.  Probably in my Top 5 over the last few years.  But, you've taken just 5 of 10 from us since the split in 1998.  Even only 5 of 8 since the Creighton era began.  Why?  How come?  For you to be a Top 5 team, you ought to beat a team that probably isn't in the Top 50 in more than 5 of 10 meetings, or 5 of 8, or 2 of 4, or whatever sample you want.  I can't explain why that is.  I really can't. 

I'm not trying to criticize you or knock your program in any way.  It just doesn't make any sense.  The only thing I can think is that DePauw and Witt are the toughest two teams you play every year and that's about it.  Heck, Witt's won just 3 over that time period (EDIT: since 2001, that is) against you, too.  Does that mean they're on the same level?  I can't say since I've never even seen Witt play.  Is it the classic "DePauw doesn't ever blow anybody out so they're more prepared for close & late" argument?  I've never believed that.  I think that's overrrated.  I just can't explain it. 

Just good old fashioned rivalry game stuff?  You'd think a dominant football team like yours would be able to put that stuff aside and knock us in the mouth for 60 minutes in the last game every fall.  It's not like DePauw suddenly metamorphosizes into this world beater, is it?  Do we really just play that much better against you than we do against Trinity and Millsaps?  I just can't believe that.

[Li'l Giant]

Do we really just play that much better against you than we do against Trinity and Millsaps?  I just can't believe that.

Why not? Let me give you an example. The University of Texas entered last week #1. They have won 10+ games for the last 7 years and will likely continue that streak. Compare that to Texas A&M which hasn't had a 10 win season in a decade and has even had a couple of losing seasons in that time.

Texas A&M has won that matchup the last two years. UT should have rolled A&M both those years but didn't. A&M came out and won those games despite the disparity in the standing of the programs as a whole. Why? Because it's a rivalry game.

We can't (both sides, collectively) elevate this game such that we "throw the records out" and yet say that it reflects poorly on Wabash  that we haven't rolled you guys every year.

You sell yourselves and the rivalry short when you do that. I find it quite easy to believe you guys play harder against us than you do against Trinity and Millsaps.

[wally_wabash]

For the sake of accuracy, Creighton was 5-2 in Bell games. 

I don't think you can just toss aside the nature of rivalry in these Bell games.  It's the last game for seniors, the game can have serious recruiting implications, etc. etc.  It isn't just another game and kids step up.  That's part of what makes it so awesome every year. 

And I don't think you should sell your Tigers that short and say that they ought to be getting rolled every year by Wabash.  I think that DePauw over the last handful of years has had some teams capable of winning the SCAC and they just haven't been able to get it done (2005 chief among them...and 2005 was a great Bell game between two outstanding teams).  If they could have won just one or two of those the national reputation would be dramatically different.