FB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[BoredatWork56]

Here are my picks:

Adrian 31 - Alma 24.  Adrian's D does just enough to hold off the scot gun.

Hope 28 - Olivet 14. Olivet will still be searching for answers as Hope plays a solid game on both sides of the ball.

Trine 38 - Albion 14.  Even if Albion plays a great game defensively, they might hold Trine to 24 points.  Albions anemic offense wont score that much, Trine in an easy one.

[formerd3db]

My picks for Saturday are:

Albiona @ Trine - Trine

Adrian @ Alma - Adrian

Hope @ Olivet - Hope

[miaafbfan]

I know it's late in the season, but you guys should check out the MIAA pick'em board.  Looks like your picks match pretty well with what is being posted there.

Good discussion on facilities in the MIAA.  It seems like a lot of great things are happening at Trine and Adrian.  Don't overlook the improvements at Olivet and Hope, though.  Alma is also renovating their PE center and adding a new arena, and their fairly new student activities center is very nice.  I don't know about Kalamazoo, Calvin, or Albion, but I'm sure these schools won't let themselves fall behind.

As for the MIAA race, it looks like Trine is in the driver's seat.  An Alma win over Adrian this weekend, followed by an Adrian win over Trine next would really make things interesting.  We've had endings like that before.

[formerd3db]

miaafan:

Good have you back posting.  Indeed, it is great to see all the improvements in athletic facilities in our MIAA.  Calvin just opened their huge new basketball arena this past winter, so they are pretty much upgraded like the other schools you mention.  IMO, aspects that remain are: Kazoo needs to renovate Angell Stadium/Field with new state-of-the-art press box, artificial surface, some additional wrought iron fencing/brick to match what they have recently done; Olivet and Alma to renovate their baseball, softball facilities; Albion and Hope to get artificial turf for football; Hope could also use a larger inside student athletic general facility like Alma's, Calvin's and Albion's not only for the general students but also so that some of the sports teams could practice inside on occasion if bad weather (Hope's current Dow Center built back in 1978 has those type facilities, but is too small and the DeVos was obviously built for baseketball/vollyball, the weight rooms, and for community activities, etc.).

I think Alma's new arena will be great; they just need to work on getting the community to come to more games (i.e. increase attendance) like Hope has the support in the Holland community.  I also know that Coach Griffin (Head Softball Coach) really has wanted the softball facility to be upgraded like Hope's and some of the others - he and his team have done a very nice job in "home sweat equity" in recent years.  However, as has been discussed on the board, in this current era of sports, even at DIII, the schools not matter how small need to have the modern facilities.  While old facilities are nostalgic, which I like, still the schools need to "keep up with the Jones's" - it's just the way it is.

As far as the picks here, I missed the first couple of weeks or so, thus, I just list them here rather than on the official pick-em board as it wouldn't be fair to chime in late.  What is your prediction for Alma's game tomorrow?

[ADAWGISADAWG4LIFE]

Adrian D pitches a shut out against Alma this afternoon, I havent seen Alma shut out as long as I can remember, does anyone know when the last time this happened was?  Adrian D held the Scot Gun to 2.8 yards per play today in another great showing, giving Adrian a 7-0 win to keep them alive for next weeks show down with Trine.  Dline came through big today, tons of pressure, lots of hits and a few sacks, one big stick at the end of the game on McGrady that will have him uncomfortable when hes sleeping tonight.

Looks like Trine put another great game together, 310 rushing yards today at a 5+ ypc clip is a good way to win games on top of the huge time of possession that they had today.  Looks like Albion wasnt able to stop the run all day as Trine needed only 90 passing yards to get the 33-14 win.  9/15 on 3rd down conversions and 6/7 on redzone chances will win you a lot of games.  Looks as if it will be a showdown Saturday with Trines offense hitting on all cylinders and Adrians defense doing the same, should be an interesting game.

formerd3db: 

How was the hope game from your perspective, good to see Hope get the second MIAA win and it looks like they really put it to Olivet on the ground today, another 300+ rushing day there which is impressive along with the passing to have over 500 yards of offense that will win a lot of games as well.  What were your thoughts on Olivet?

[sac]

I havent seen Alma shut out as long as I can remember, does anyone know when the last time this happened was? 

Oct 4, 2003   Hope 21 Alma 0

http://miaa.org/fb/stats/03over/1004HOAM.HTM

212 total yards of offense that day.

Alma had just 168 today vs Adrian.

[ADAWGISADAWG4LIFE]

Sac:

Nice job on that.  I knew it had been a long while and on top of the shut out the yardage total was very impressive.  I think until today Alma had been averaging something like 440yds of offense and as you said were held to 168 today.  A very good showing for Adrian and it looks like they will need it as I said against Trine as their offense is humming.

[Diezel1]

I attended the Trine vs. Albion game today and I couldn't believe how well the field held up.  But in regards to the game Trine controlled the game on the ground.  Albion really had no answer for the Trine rushing attack which has been very good the last few weeks.  Trine defense gave up some big plays against the run early which helped Albion stay in the game.  Albion's offense works well for them if they can pick up good yards on first down and get to 2nd and medium and 3rd and short.  Quarterback had a tough day delivering the ball to the intended receiver.  Not sure if that has been a problem all year or if he just had an off day.  Albion's RB has very good vision and finds the cutback lane and hits the hole hard.  Big match up once again for the title between Adrian and Trine next weekend.  Should be another tough game for the championship

[Raider 68]

My picks for Saturday are:

Albiona @ Trine - Trine

Adrian @ Alma - Adrian

Hope @ Olivet - Hope

Former3db,

Your picks were corrent, looks like Trine will win the MIAA, glad Hope won
again!

[LetItRain]

With the win against Albion on Saturday Trine has clinched at least a share of the MIAA title.  However, it will take a win against Adrian on 11/7 to get the AQ for the playoffs. 

Stay strong, boys in blue, and work hard this week.  Let's keep the Black & Blue trophy in Angola where it belongs and let's get that AQ into the playoffs!!!

GO THUNDER!!!

[sac]

I might make this a regular feature..........'This week in Special Teams Basics'

Lesson 1.....don't tackle your own punt returner.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-y3k63CsqII&feature=player_embedded

[Mr. Ypsi]

I might make this a regular feature..........'This week in Special Teams Basics'

Lesson 1.....don't tackle your own punt returner.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-y3k63CsqII&feature=player_embedded

Great find - I don't think I've EVER seen that before!

[BoredatWork56]

It looks like ADAWG and Diezil covered the Trine - Albion game pretty well, so all I will say about Trines offense is that they need to improve their play in the red zone.  As ADAWG pointed out, they were 6 for 7, but three of those were field goal attempts from inside the 10.  In next weeks championship game against Adrain, they will need to finish drives and get 7 points instead of 3 in a game where scoring oppertunities might be hard to come by.

Something else I want to ask the board has to do with the quality of officiating in the MIAA.  Before I start, I would like to preface this by saying I am not claiming that the officiating is biased, or the typical "my team got robbed" routine.  I am just going to use three examples from the Trine - Albion game that really sum up what I have seen in the last 5 years of watching MIAA football.

Albion is punting to Trine and the Trine punt returner catches the ball and starts to the sideline on what looked like a promising return when the play was blown dead.  The Back Judge claimed that another player on the reutrn team made a fair catch signal and therefor the ball was dead upon the catch.  I had no idea that anybody else besides the person catching the ball could make a fair catch signal, espically an anti gunner who was blocking for the entire play.  Now, I haven't checked the rule book on this one, so if the call was correct, please let me know.

There was two calls made by the line judge on the home sidelines that seemed very questionable.  One was when Albion was on offense.  Albion had a WR in motion across the formation when the running back came out of his stance, took a step, then came back to his stance.  To me, this was either a false start or two men in motion.  Instead, the offical did nothing for about 5 seconds before awarding Albion a time out called from the sideline.  Again, if this was the correct call, please correct me.

The last call came from the same official.  Trine was on offense.  They pitched the ball to a running back who fumbled the pitch, then picked it up and made a move to the outside picking up a few yards when the play was called dead because the dropped pitch was called an incomplete forward pass.  I had a pretty good view from the sideline to see that the pitch was not forward.  but that is not my issue with the play.  If the official thought the ball was an incomplete pass, the call should have been made immediatly, not after the ball was picked up and advanced down the field on what could have been a very big play.

I know these kind of calls  happen to every team on every Saturday.  My concern is that our teams are getting poor officiating because of sub par officiating crews.  if anyone has any insight about the inner workings of how these crews are trained, or selected compared to other conferences, I would like to get some feedback about it.  I am tired of seeing these types of questionable calls at this level of competition.

[BOYA87]

Bored,
Wow those calls seem pretty rediculous.  Officiating always seems to be a topic on the mind of fans on both the win and lose side.  People like to play the "what if" game a lot.  "well what if we didnt get that one play called back, we could have won the game!"  or "What if the officials werent so bad, we wouldnt have been so nervous in the 4th quarter with this close game"

The fact of the matter is, we are imperfect people living in an imperfect world.  Also we are DIII football with non-scholarship athletes...maybe our officials are volunteer?!  hahaha.  But even the big guys at DI with cameras on them at all times make missed calls or make wrong calls.  Its a part of the game that is just as expected as the opening kick off. 

I know its easy as fans to sit high up in our seats, see the whole field, and bitch and moan (pardon my french) about the calls that are being made.  However as former players I think we all know that the view on the field is a whole lot different than what the fans are able to see.  Football is the best sport in the world and I hate to see people get caught up in officiating.  Its almost a little demening to the sport.  (listen to myself, this coming from the guy who got kicked out of a football game, 2 baseball games, and 2 basketball games before the age of 12!  Luckily I cleaned up my sportsmanship before getting to the MIAA). 

In the end,  I understand where your frustration comes from.  In my opinion the problem with officiating does not come with the bad calls that are made but more in the consistency.  If you call something once you better be ready to call that same penalty the entire game.  even in the final minute with one team driving to score!

[D306]

Congrats to the Trine guys on the board here.

Trine deserved that win, great running team, positive yardage on most plays, and the quick screen/bubble pass to keep the LB's honest.

The keys I saw in the game.

Trine diverse running game, can not take away the run and not get hurt on the edges.
Field position, special teams. Trine started inside the Albion territory or midfield all to often.
Albion could not sustain enough drives to get field position back, way to many dropped passes.

Looking ahead to next weeks big tilt.
I believe Trine will prevail, Trine moves the ball and has a solid defense.
Adrian has a very good defense but has had trouble pointing points on the board at a high pace this year.
Last key for the game Game is at Trine, great support and home field advantage for Trine.

Lets hope for a few more weeks of decent weather.