FB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[TUAngola]

Trine 41 Bluffton 27

Just got back from game.  Good crowd, Trine pretty much filled their side, but I would say less than 100 Bluffton fans made the trip to Angola. 

The offense came to play, especially in the first half.  I thought Hargraves was sharp from the get go.  He only had a few incompletions the first half and was on target, even with a few deep balls.  The second half he got a little sloppy but overall I thought he played well.  Run game was stagnant for most of the game.  Will need to address this as we need to be more balanced.

Trine's defense was very stout the first half.  Bluffton couldn't move the ball at all and never really threatened to score as Trine led 27-0. 

The second half Bluffton put in a different quarterback and boy he made a difference as they outscored us 27-14.  He had a much more accurate arm and could move around the pocket and roll out better than the first stringer.  He had our D on it's heels most of the second half.  Granted we substituted freely the second half but if he had played the entire game it may have been closer.

Had a nice tribute at halftime to recognize first responders at this the 10 yr anniversary of 9/11.  A mangled piece of steel girder from the World Trade Towers was on display and the band played patriotic type marches and songs.

All in all a nice day at Zollner Stadium in Angola, rain held off until just after the game ended.  The sun even came out during halftime and some of the 3rd quarter.

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Didn't get to see it for myself (other commitments) but - way to go Dutchmen!! Finally the non-conf losing streak is over!!

[Raider 68]

Any update on the IWU vs. Alma game?

[sflzman]

Any update on the IWU vs. Alma game?

Yea! I couldnt find Mr Ypsi ANYWHERE!!! 

But from the game's point of view here what I saw:

Iwu 17-9

IWU:
Running game was very good, the running back is one of the better ones I've seen in d3, it seems IWU always has a good one.

The QB is not very good at all though. He missed two wide open recievers in the endzone, and the one TD he did throw, the corner lost his footing and got turned around on a slant route.

Alma:
The defense looked good except for the defensive ends. Raby, Furnari, Bovee, Thelen, and Sabatella stopped everything in the middle, but the ends missed a few tackles and struggled containing IWU. Galarno (one of the players receiving the suspensions) coming back should help this much.

Offensivly Ed Mason looked great, it was unfortunate that the game ended with him fumbling on IWU's 3. Montgomery dropped two passes, one in the endzone and needs to step up as a second go to receiver if we want to be good. Henderson looked really good and that fast 6-6 frame gives Jarrett and easy target. You can tell this is Leister's 2nd collegiate game as his throws were off at times

If I were grading the team (disregarding wins and loses) i'd say B+

The defense is looking sharp, and I think if our offense can figure it out we can give Trine (along with Albion and Adrian) a tough battle for that top spot, especially seeing that trine gave up 27 points to Bluffton....

[DBQ1965]

Watched the Hope - Wisconsin Lutheran game today.  Nice way to spend a sunny Saturday afternoon in September ... but not a great game.  Hope looked like a mid-conference team, although they have some very good running backs.  QB Atwell seemed on again - off again, though he is only a soph so maybe he will get better as the season progresses.  I was most impressed with (a) the play of the Hope safeties Marcus Bradstreet and Kyle Warren and (b) the very accurate punting of Aaron Thompson.

Missed connecting up with d3b ... maybe another time.

[formerd3db]

Congratulations to Coach Kreps, his staff and the team for finally breaking the horrid non-conference losing streak.  It was a great day weatherwise for the game, very nice crowd for Community Day in thanks to to them for tremendous support of Hope College over the decades.  In addition, a very nice tribute and pre-game band performance (West Ottawa High School Band) to the 9/11 victims. 

WLC is a decent team, although I don't think they were as good or as big as they were last year.  Hope's offense finally got in sync; the offensive line did well, great running game and passing game was good.  Atwell missed a few passes, but overall was good.  Hope's defense showed they could finally make some good stops; defensive secondary did a good job - with the exception of giving up a long bomb TD again (they have simply got to stop doing that - it has happened now every year for the past 4 in these early games), however, again, the secondary was overall good, especially Warren with a nice INT to pretty much put the stop on WLC near the end of the game. 

This will be a nice evening and remainder of the weekend celebration for Kreps and Co., and while it gives a huge boost in confidence, still, Hope will have to continue to work hard and strive to now show some consistency and we will have to play steady in meeting some decent upcoming teams.  Realistically, one win does not realistically mean that the corner is turned, yet it is a huge start.  Millikin will not be a "pushover" next weekend, so staying focused is the key.  Anyway, again congrats to our team - a nice, well-deserved win to "get the monkey off our back" as that old cliche goes.   We "press on" towards next week.

P.S.  BTW, slfzman...what's up with that i.e. no Mr. Ypsi??    

[formerd3db]

DBQ1985:

Yes, sorry we missed connecting.  I looked for you, but got tied up with some game responsibilities.  We should have some additional opportunities with the next few upcoming home games.

I agree with your assesment, which is basically what I was attempting to explain in my post.  You made a great observation and one that I did forget to mention that, indeed, Hope's punter Thompson did a fantastic job - he had very strong and accurate kicks, both long and short when they were needed for the appropriate situation.  Extra points were good; one small "goof" in the 4th quarter with what seemed an ill-chosen on-sides kick for Hope after they scored, however, it was not an on-sides kick attempt but rather a poorly executed attempt at a squib kick ; although Hope almost recovered that.  Luckily, we were up by two TDs at that point. 

Anyway, we'll try connecting the next time, so let's not give up.

[Uncle Rico]

Nice assesment on the Trine game, TUAngola.  I was also there and saw it pretty much the way you did.  Hargraves looked very good with the passes.  Although probably not the same zip as Watt, he made good decisions and found the open receivers.  I am going to try to make that my last comparison to Eric since he is gone and Hargraves is the guy.  The running game seemed mostly non-existent.  I do not know how much of that was Bluffton trying to force Trine to pass, or if the line is just not opening up the holes.  They seemed to provide great protection for Hargraves most of the time.   It is going to be an exciting season for sure!

[formerd3db]

Hey Pat:

With Hope finally ending its losing streak of 24 consecutive non-conference game losses yesterday i.e. none since 2004, which is an incredible streak, do you know if this is the longest in history of DIII or at least having been the longest of recent?  Just curious if you had that info in your files.  Regardless, it still is great that we put an end to that most humbling run yesterday - finally.

[Pat Coleman]

It's not a record I've kept track of but I will noodle it in my head and see if I can come up with anything.

[miaaol]

Its been quite a long time since I have been on here but as a former MIAA player I try to keep tabs on whats happening in the conference.  What has happened to Olivet?  I read something today that said they have lost something like 28 games in a row!  They won the league a few years ago and before that had been very competitive since the Irv days.  Is Hulkow that bad or did the previous guy Livedoti leave it in that bad of shape? 

[Raider 68]

Here is a question: Trine has given up 40 points in 2 games while scoring 65, could the MIAA be closer than than many thought this year or is it just that Trine's first two opponents were that good?

[formerd3db]

miaaol:

Unfortunately, Olivet has fallen back to their previous less competitive days.  This is, perhaps, the result of a multitude of factors that have contributed to the situation, both with regards to the administration, the academic/athletic recruitment program, etc.  In all fairness, Lividoti did not leave the program in disarray.  You have to remember that Olivet's most recent MIAA title (co-title) was under his reigns.  Olivet had made/has made some great strides in improving their athletic facilities so that they were no longer the "doormat" of the league, and much of that was thanks to some very, very generous alumni donars, along with $ that other Olivet alumni and community people kindly contributed to (in addition to adding other buildings to the campus).  They had also, under the leadership of former their former president, improved their academic programs and making a major effort to attract students and, at least for a couple of years as I recall, were over the 1,000 mark for enrollment, however, are not back down under that number the past 3-4 years.

Yet, with their former president abruptly leaving a year and a half ago (who was an Olivet alumn himself) and some other changes and, perhaps differences of opinion among remaining administration and athletic department personel, it has been a tough transition.  Also, in all fairness to Hulkow, I don't believe the tough football status right now is his fault entirely his fault.  Yet, at the same time, transition from coaching in the high school ranks is an entirely "different animal" than coaching in college, even at the DIII level.  One might argue that Siegler did it i.e. coming from a very successful career at several schools among the high school ranks, yet perhaps a difference was that he was an alumni player from Olivet.  Of course, some of the former staff under Livedoti and Siegler were kept on, and that was good, IMO. Yet, some other alumni coaching staff were obviously not (some Olivet alumni are on the staff as you can see on the website) and, of course, that was Hulkow's right and perogative to choose the staff he wanted.  Hulkow has brought several members of his high school staff on and a couple of them have Olivet connections i.e. are alums, which in one sense would seem to help in bringing some instant stability to a staff since he has worked with them for a long time, yet again, most of those coaches have been in the high school ranks for years, where as Siegler and Livedotti brought in some veteran coaches, who, while they had coached in the high school ranks, also had some previous collegiate experience.  It can be a tough situation either way i.e. people who have a history with the school and/or those that don't - I not intending this as any personal negative towards the current Olivet staff, because they are fine gentlemen and working hard.  But, I guess what I'm suggestion is that you have to have the "right chemistry". 

Olivet has only 68 players listed on their roster and much of those are new underclassmen.  One of the problems they've had for years in the past was the retention factor.  When you bring in 50 new players each year as they did for several years and then most of them are gone in two, it is a very difficult task to build a program.  What Siegler (and with Livedoti and Kubiak did), IMO, was somehow bring in the numbers as well as somehow stablize the retention rate, which really lends some stability to a program.  Anyway, hopefully, Olivet will return to a competitive level, although I think most people here figured it would take at least 3-4 years at the very least.  Similar situation at Kazoo as they have been trying build up their numbers with alumni coach Zorbo at the helm the last 2 years.

One final thought:  when you have the competitive recruiting now against all the DII and new(er) NAIA scholarship schools in your region, it obviously makes it a tougher sell.  The the upper tier MIAA schools as far as football success have suffered much with that, and it is only common sense that has affected the lower tier programs even worse.  Anyway, again, hopefully Olivet can eventually get back to a competitive level.  We'll see what happens.  They'll have to play the "spoiler role" in the MIAA this year I believe.

So, I know I haven't really answered your question, but rather have thrown out some general aspects and/or considerations/observations, albeit most being speculation, which may or may not be contributing or have contributed to the current situation.

[sflzman]

Here is a question: Trine has given up 40 points in 2 games while scoring 65, could the MIAA be closer than than many thought this year or is it just that Trine's first two opponents were that good?

I really think that it could be a true 4 team race for the top spot. Trine's defense needs to step it up bigtime!

[ThunderHead]

Hey guys, what a Saturday. Michigan State completely dominated UFA and the Michigan vs ND game...wow. Not really good from a technical standpoint but real exciting from a fan standpoint. It was a blast to be there, I know several of you went, was it incredible or what?

I had a friend tape the Trine vs Bluffton game because I miss getting to Angola. The internet is a wonderful thing, he uploaded it and I had it on my computer by 10am this morning. After watching the game a few times this afternoon it seems like both teams really struggled with establishing their run game, with Bluffton getting the slight edge with 2.4 yards per carry and 90 yards total versus Trines 1.8 yard per carry and 50 yards total. (Bluffton had 8 more rushing attempts then Trine)

Ryan looked good throwing to mostly open receivers (credit the receiver for getting the separation and then Ryan for finding them) though at times he missed wide open guys and choose to throw to his check. Hopefully with time he will improve.

Second half Bluffton figured out that Trines secondary is less then average and really took advantage of that. They also finally rushed more then three at Ryan and started to get to him. Thus only 14 points in the second half. If not for a complete coverage breakdown on Blufftons part (which seemed to be the norm) the game could have been close at the end.

A couple things, first off: good win for Trine. But this seemed to be a game of "which secondary can be worse". Neither were very good, but Bluffton gets the win there. I think Alma, Albion, and maybe anyone with a QB and a few good receivers will really play well against Trine offensively. Bluffton wasn't all that special yet if they had played the better QB, and threw in the first half, I think it would have been a close game with a shoot out on both secondary's.

Second, the front four of Trine are very good. They did a very good job of getting off initial contact and getting to the ball carrier, as well as getting to the edge.

Brown and Hence are very very good, they both work well in space. They will be the key to shutting down Trines offense. Ryan doesn't have the arm to put the ball in "tight horizontal space" or THS deep down field. This was fairly apparent. That said, he throws nice floaters against backers, and times his throws well with the routes ran. Most of his yardage came from yards after the catch. Again, this is taking nothing away from Ryan, I thought he played lights out. I was really impressed with his poise. 

Erics arm was never spectacular, but his timing was perfect. Ryan shows some of the same things.

All said, so far - Trine's really had two cup-cake opponents. If they played Albions pre-season schedule Trine would be 0-2 based on their performance both from a defensive and offensive standpoint.

If Trine legitimately wants to make a run at the NC someday, they're going to half to step up their schedule. At this point, I think Albion knows much more about their football team then Trine does about it's football team and I believe that will help Albion in the MIAA conference race. I give Albion a lot of credit, they maybe the best 0-2 team in country at the D3 level.

I think Wisconsin River Falls may be Trines first real test and they'll have to play much much better against a team that gave a good St. Thomas team (#4 nationally by d3football.com)  a run for their money.

I hope my thoughts don't come off to negative, because they're not intended to. This is just my opinion.