FB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[Mr. Ypsi]

Deacon,

Interesting question!  Ypsi HS's football field is N-S, but the soccer field is E-W, and facing the sun can be a HUGE disadvantage since games are nearly always late afternoon/evening.

[Stinger]

Albion's football field runs E-W, as well as the soccer field. K's football field is a N-W, however Waldo , home to Western Michigan run's E-W. 

[formerd3db]

Ralph:

Good to hear from you.  Your points are all valid and I would agree.  Some people here in Michigan have also suggested that an additional reason is the competition in recruiting from the DII schools not only in our state, but the surrounding states including OH (and that includes the NAIA scholarship teams).  Those DII schools have made a big push to upgrade their programs and facilities and as such are getting many of the very talented players who might otherwise in past years gone to DIII schools before the changes overall that you discuss.  However, that still leaves me wondering as to why the MIAA schools then continue to have difficulties as I discussed, because in essence, they are still competing with all the other regional DIII schools for the available talent among those who will go to (and/or choose to go to) the DIII level.  These players are still talented players and allowing that in this situation, opportunities for more h.s. players to participate in collegiate football have been now available because the the changes you describe (and thus, in part, an additional reason why we are seeing the huge increase in rosters well over the 100 mark for many of schools), we all know that even at DIII, it is a step-up from h.s. football i.e. there are still some kids who are very good h.s. football players who are not good enough (or great if one wants to throw that in) for even the DIII level.  Indeed, this is an interesting topic and many factors are involved as you astutly point out.  I supposed we could apply a similar or tangential model to the parity that has occurred at the DI level as well (i.e. examples of Rutgers, Northwestern, Marshall, Univ of South Florida, Applalachian State, etc., etc., to name a few). 

BTW, on a tangential topic, I noticed that Univ of San Diego is undefeated and has some players who will have a very legit shot at the next level (i.e. NFL - in fact, their QB was just selected for the E-W Shrine Bowl game).  While some will again argue that this is still the non-scholarship Pioneer League, some of those schools continue to progress, particularly USD as Harbaugh really improved that program during his tenure before moving on to Stanford (and look what he is doing there!) - USD trounced Yale last year and while that is IVY (also non-scholarship), many of those schools are no slouch teams. 


On the other subject; the city stadium that Hope College uses runs N-S, although sometimes the sun in late afternoon on Saturday still can be a factor for awhile coming from the SW before it sinks behind the hill and built-in stands and pressbox (the stadium is built into a bowl type hill with grass hill seating in the south endzone).   As I recall, Adrian's new stadium, Olivets, and Alma's all run N-S as well, while Tri-State's Shive runs NW-SE I believe (help me out on the latter here Deacon and Uncle Rico! ) Not sure on WLC (although as we know, this is their last season in our conference).   

[NW Hope Fan]

Good game today at Adrian... Hope D the difference. Solid running from Jones all day, especially after Booko was injured on the ballsy 4th down TD.

[sac]

Alma 30, Albion 22
Wisconsin Lutheran 28, Kalamazoo 26

Hope 24 Adrian 14

(added Hope score)

[miaafbfan]

Olivet holds off a late TSU rally...

Olivet 21, TSU 14

[ADAWGISADAWG4LIFE]

Great game by Hope, defensivley they played solid all day and shut down the Adrian offense, two big plays accounted for Adrians scores.  The Hope offense played well especially running the football, the QB was just throwing the ball up for grabs though which didnt help them at all.  Booko played very well and Jones stepped in for him to finish the game.  The Adrian defense came to play yet again, even though the scoreboard says 24 the D really only allowed 17 which is a good showing an Adrian turnover at the 1 accounted for the rest of the score.  Again great win for Hope, congrats to the Dutch and good luck the rest of the way.

Adrian has some real issues on offense that need to be addressed for this season to end on a high note.  Turnovers are killing the offense and putting the defense in bad spots and the run game has been lackluster.  Consistency is key and being able to control the clock and protect the football is something they need to work on.

[hope1]

a good win for hope today  now 2 straight   home games vs  tri state then olivet 2 big game

[formerd3db]

Arrived back about just before 6 PM from the game.  Agree with the assessments of the Hope/Adrian game today.  Nice day for a game - the wind was slightly annoying in the first hafl, however, died down for the second half.  Very nice stadium and set up; I was disappointed in Adrian's home crowd attendance yet not to be unexpected I guess with the recent two consecutive week losses - hardly anyone in the box seats section, although both end sections filled and scattered students sitting on the hills and the endzone seating section.  I was impressed with Adrian's band - a very nice touch and the announcer is great like Alma's Dick Lee.

Both teams' punters put on a very nice show.  Hope's defense stepped up when it needed; for sure, the two plays they gave up for scores hurt, however, the one was just the right offensive call at the time that Adrian did when Hope sent a blitz and went out of its normal alignment (coaches told me usually in that situation, that scheme is not called for them).  Anyway, indeed, Adrian needs to work on their offense, particuarly their running game.  I did like the fancy "trick" offensive alignments (4-5 receivers for potential double-pass), however, if you are going to use those, then "use them" i.e. set up a series, which they did not.  I was impressed with Adrian's LB corps, very hard hitters, especially the 5'6" Sr.; although many times their defense seemed to be basically "chop blocking" at people's knees rather than just making solid standard technique tackles.

As I predicted, it was a close game, with 17-14 score with about 6 minutes left.  We were lucky and dodged the fumble on the kickoff after Adrian's last score, otherwise, we might have been in trouble.  Manning needs to make some better decisions on either throwing the ball away when receivers covered or just running for the first down.  For awhile, I thought he was going to make All-MIAA selections out of Adrian's db's

So the bottom line is this:  Adrian will have to try and salvage their season; Alma wins at Albion which is surprising as they always have a difficult time winning there "historically", yet they are not a bad team this year - this also essentially (really) confirms to us that Albion is having a very down year; Hope needs to not look past TSU next week so that the MIAA showdown will for sure be the Olivet @ Hope game in two weeks (assuming Olivet stays focused as well next week).

BTW, DAWG, we missed seeing each other.  I was looking for you and had a gift for you - now you will have to send me your "snail mail" address to I can send it to you (send it to me via the personal message board).  I am sorry we didn't get a chance to visit; although can understand if you were swamped seeing many people you know (and also didn't want to talk much after the loss ).

Anyway, anyone to fill us in on the details of the other MIAA games today?
Take care everyone and be talking to you further on our board.

[formerd3db]

I forgot to mention that Jones did another great job at RB today as did Booko (especially when the latter tweaked his ankle).  It is indeed fortunate that Hope has two RB's for that "double punch" on offense.

[formerd3db]

Deacon and Uncle Rico:

So what's the line on what transpired at Olivet today in your TSU's game there?  Sounds like it was a close one.  Olivet plays @ Alma next week and I suspect that will be tough game for them, especially up there.  Alma is always explosive.

Of course, TSU comes to our place and with your team still tremendously improved despite the loss today, Hope cannot take your guys lightly.  That was proven today at Albion.

Anyway, I will be curious to hear some general details about today's other MIAA games.

[sac]

Awesome I see Hope had a 4 play 1 yard drive for a TD today.


Love those yard grinding, time consuming drives.

[formerd3db]

Well, sac, I do too, especially when we needed it.  You should have seen it.  Adrian "stuffed" us 3 plays in a row and we just told the kids to "get mean and jam it in there".  So that's just what Booko did - ran right over the guy - Booko was like a freight train.  As mentioned, we needed to score one like that for once.

As far as drives though, Hope's offense came through again in the last minute or two, like they did in the Albion game, in getting first downs to keep the drive going and thus run out the clock to win the game.  To win, a team needs to do drives like that and Hope is now doing that.  I hope it continues - I hate not being able to get first downs at the end of the game for clock possession.

[DEACONBLUE]

Here'e the TSU/Olivet wrap-up & State of the Thunder Address:

As expected both defenses were tough, however Olivet's D was the difference-maker by dancing 2 INTs for TDs from within 30yrds in the first half.  Olivet's only offensive score came from a Pat Clasgen's (really beautiful) 69 yrd run.  Besides the break-away run TSU kept the Comets out of the endzone and shut down their passing game.  This was no small feat, for Clasgens is a very talented and dangerous runner, the best we've seen.

The TSU offense out-scored Olivet, but was still not firing on all cylinders.  Most of our scores this season have been short-field, helped by defensive turnovers or opponents penalties.  TSU runs often, but the run game lacks consistent success.  Usually a 3 yard blast, or a wide sweep that takes 25 yrds  to make 4 yrds.  The Thunder passing game is potentially dangerous, but without sustained rushing the qb is usually put in high pressure pass situations that limits success.       

Here's the skinny on the Thunder:  They are (honestly) at 100% DEF but 50% OFF to be championship material.  The defense, both pass & run, is talented and tough.  Pearson, Eby, Latta, McNalley just to name a few of Thunder stand-outs on defense who rank in the MIAA.  In special teams, Hoover in KO and FG is amazing for D3.  On offense TSU's QB Watt is not only an accurate passer, but has great instincts and has the fortune of an array of sure-handed receivers.  He has been very successful when "must pass situations are kept to a minimum. 

But the running game is keeping TSU back.  The wingbacks (flanked on the line) are quick, especially Langley, but the play design has them running almost a 40 yard dash toward the opposite sideline before they turn it up.  Sometime it works, mostly minimal yardage.  The fullback position (more like a tailback) usually gets the best efficiency (2-5 yards) from tackle to tackle hole.  We had started the all-state freshman Brill there for the first two games of the season.  He had some break-away potential, (in fact he still leads the team in rushing), but apparently he had been injured in the Franklin game and I'm not sure when he will return.  Until then I'm not sure what the Thunder can do, short of restucturing the run offense to better take advantage of the talent they have.

That's about it guys....I think this week proved many things in the MIAA that I'd like to elaborate on later...but one thing I feel for certain now...Hope is the team to beat...if that's possible.

[WLCALUM83]

WLC 28, Kzoo 26. 

This one's more satisfying for 3 reasons;  a) it's an in-conference win, b) it was WLC's homecoming, and c) it means when WLC leaves the conference it won't be with the albatross of having to do it riding a long in-conference losing streak (last in-conference win prior to yesterday was a 37-14 win over Tri-State at home in '05). 

(Huge sigh of relief after reading the account of the game from WLC's website.)