FB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[formerd3db]

Captain_Joe: Oh, I did not mean to exclude Finlandia-my apologies!  A simple inadvertent oversight.  Speaking of them, at least they scored 12 points today as opposed to the 0-7 per game they have usually been doing last year and this year.

[formerd3db]

Aside from the Finlandia game as mentioned above, for the most part, the other MIAA games went essentially as expected (for me), although I was was surprised that Kalamazoo lost to Greenville, that Albion beat Franklin and that Alma beat Manchester as big as they did (and with only slightly over 500 people showed up for that game-disappointing.) It appears that Albion is tremendously better than they were last year.  Albion, Trine, Alma and Hope will be the main contenders for the title, however, no one can take any of the MIAA teams for granted as we all know how the title chase tends to go down each year.

A beautiful weather day for football today.  A great rebound win for Hope, although, as I said I would be if the attendance was less than 3,000, I was disappointed that only 2553 was the attendance for this annual City of Holland/Hope College Community Day football game event.

[Captain_Joe08]

Captain_Joe: Oh, I did not mean to exclude Finlandia-my apologies!  A simple inadvertent oversight.  Speaking of them, at least they scored 12 points today as opposed to the 0-7 per game they have usually been doing last year and this year.

No worries!

I was getting some sunburn watching an awesome 8-man football game. At least it they didn't give up 81 unlike last year.

[RFMichigan]

Weirdest play-by-play for the MIAA that I spotted (and I'm sure leaving the K-zoo coaches and fans scratching their heads):
Kalamazoo forced 12 (12) three-and-outs in their game with Greenville, only allowed nine first downs, and lost. Greenville scored on a fumble return, an end-of-the-half pass-and-lateral touchdown of 57 yards, a slotback pass for a 30 yard TD, and another 57 yard pass. Yeesh.

[MUC57]

formerd3db

Hey, doc. Congrats to your team. I guess they really hated losing that first game so decided to take it out on Defiance. Good luck to The Flying Dutchmen the rest of the year. 

[DBQ1965]

formerd3db

Hey, doc. Congrats to your team. I guess they really hated losing that first game so decided to take it out on Defiance. Good luck to The Flying Dutchmen the rest of the year. 

I watched the Defiance-Hope game and it was the first time in my 77 years I was present to see 80 points put on a team.  It seemed to be a day when Hope was clicking on all cylinders on both O and D while Defiance, not a very good team under the best of circumstances just couldn't get their act together.  I never had the feeling Hope was pouring it on ... and a lot of back-up players got valuable game experience.   Next week against Aurora could prove interesting.

[MUC57]

formerd3db

Hey, doc. Congrats to your team. I guess they really hated losing that first game so decided to take it out on Defiance. Good luck to The Flying Dutchmen the rest of the year. 

I watched the Defiance-Hope game and it was the first time in my 77 years I was present to see 80 points put on a team.  It seemed to be a day when Hope was clicking on all cylinders on both O and D while Defiance, not a very good team under the best of circumstances just couldn't get their act together.  I never had the feeling Hope was pouring it on ... and a lot of back-up players got valuable game experience.   Next week against Aurora could prove interesting.

I never meant to imply Hope was pouring it on. Just worked out that way. Mount Union scores a bunch, sometimes. Glad Hope won! 

[DBQ1965]

formerd3db

Hey, doc. Congrats to your team. I guess they really hated losing that first game so decided to take it out on Defiance. Good luck to The Flying Dutchmen the rest of the year. 

I watched the Defiance-Hope game and it was the first time in my 77 years I was present to see 80 points put on a team.  It seemed to be a day when Hope was clicking on all cylinders on both O and D while Defiance, not a very good team under the best of circumstances just couldn't get their act together.  I never had the feeling Hope was pouring it on ... and a lot of back-up players got valuable game experience.   Next week against Aurora could prove interesting.

I never meant to imply Hope was pouring it on. Just worked out that way. Mount Union scores a bunch, sometimes. Glad Hope won! 

I didn't mean to imply you said anything about "pouring it on".  I was observing that it didn't look like Hope poured it on.  I thought Hope showed some restraint when the outcome no longer was in doubt. 

[Pat Coleman]

Defiance has lots of issues, and some of them are institutional. It's going to be a tough slog for them.

[formerd3db]

DBQ: Never took it that way, my friend. I agree with you, Hope did show a lot of constraint. It is always tough in those types of situations as many have discussed on these various boards at times concerning other institutions.

Pat: Indeed, that is unfortunately true. As a result, the enrollment has dropped significantly. I fear that if they do not get the situation straightened out, not only the football program, but the college itself could go out of existence. That certainly would be a shame. The football staff is certainly committed and sincere though, from what I know/have been told and that was very evident yesterday observing that in person. I wish them and the team all the best and hope they can overcome all the challenges.

[formerd3db]

Thank you MUC57! Yes, it was good to get back in the "W" column and also see some of the back-up players get some playing time yesterday. Moving forward, there are still some big challenges ahead of us.

Good luck to your Raiders as they return to the schedule next week.

[RuleBritannia]

A few thoughts from the first two weeks of MIAA football action:

In re: Defiance, In watching the Defiance/Albion game, I can't remember another team so over-matched at the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. I actually gave Defiance's QB a lot of credit for sticking in the entire Albion game as we was getting hit nearly every play. I'm sure Defiance/Hope had much the same appearance.

Hopefully their committed and experienced staff can eventually get them back to competitiveness. This is a vulnerable time for small liberal arts colleges, and while a successful football program may not be able to save a school, the increased enrollment and awareness it brings can absolutely be part of the solution.

Albion: Offense is still explosive. Last year it lacked consistency, however, the key is for QB Kyle Thomas to avoid mistakes. Last year he could be explosive, but in any direction. If he play a clean game, Albion can score on anyone. 3 (relatively inexplicable) INTs against Defiance weren't an encouraging sign, the 6 TD, 0 INT performance against Franklin much more so. I was a little disappointed at Albion's inability to grind out yards on the ground against Franklin. They got some chunks, but too man times they gained 0, 1, or 2 yards, instead of 4, 5, and 6.

On defense Albion is clearly much improved compared to the last several years, and that would be expected considering their top 6 tacklers last year were all sophomores. I was concerned with the youth in the secondary, but against Franklin they looked pretty good, forcing their reportedly very good QB into a very inefficient evening. Nevertheless, I can't expect Albion's D to become world beaters over night, there will be growing pains.

Ultimately, Albion's biggest enemy may be their own lack of discipline. In two games Albion has been flagged for 21 penalties for 297 yards. Mistakes like that will absolutely cost them a game if they continue.

MIAA

What's striking is how similar some scores are this year compared to last when teams have played the same opponents. Ultimately the league seems to be in about the same place. My thoughts, briefly, and with no particular information other than perusing scores and box scores, about each team:

HOPE: Tough loss to a good Milikin team. This would seem to be their year, lots of talent back from last year. After finishing 2nd several years in a row I'm sure they're hungry for a breakthrough. Games against Trine and Albion will determine their season.

TRINE: Not so much a re-building year as a "re-loading" year. Trine has been the most consistent MIAA program since the mid-aughts. Albion hasn't beaten them since '13. Probably the team that scares me the most.

OLIVET: Outside the top 3 Olivet seems the best to me thus far. Definitely a dangerous opponent, and a program that seems to have gained some consistency at last,

KALAMAZOO: I'm never really sure what to expect from the Hornets, they seem to alternate from middling seasons to poor ones. I'm predicting a middling one. Interesting to note that with recent retirements, Jamie Zorbo is now the dean of MIAA football coaches.

ALMA: Seems like a fateful year for this once proud program that has been in the wilderness for a decade at this point. A 3rd place finish in '16 is their best result since 2008.

ADRIAN: Seems like a rebuilding year for the Bulldogs. After being in contention consistently in the late aughts and early 2010s, the Bulldogs seem to have been stuck in the middle class for most of the last decade. Can Jim Deere recapture the momentum he gave to the Bulldogs earlier in his career.

FINLANDIA: Seems much improved from last year, but any league win still seems like a long shot, this year anyway. The question for the Lions I think is whether they can recruit well enough to build a competitive program, or whether they're going to be stuck trying to playing win vulture to avoid the basement. I hope it's the former, but I have my doubts.

In any event it's sure to be another exciting, interesting, and surprising year. Good luck to all teams!

[formerd3db]

Excellent analysis, RuleBritannia. 

Here's a question just for the sake of asking it (although, IMO, it is legit)...Will Adrian part ways with Deere like they did with Lyall if the perceived "mediocrity" continues as it has?  They did so for Lyall for exactly that reason, similar type of records during a stretch.

[waxx]

Here's a question just for the sake of asking it (although, IMO, it is legit)...Will Adrian part ways with Deere like they did with Lyall if the perceived "mediocrity" continues as it has?  They did so for Lyall for exactly that reason, similar type of records during a stretch.

I have no idea the inner-workings or sentiment at Adrian these days but it wouldn't surprise me if AC fired Deere. Lyall was fired after a 6-4 season and posting a record of 55-25 over his final 8 seasons. If you were going to fire him for wins and losses, it would have been long being that. My understanding of it was the new administration was expecting more than just average to above average. Again, I have no idea what's going on over there today, but it wouldn't surprise me if he was let go after another .500 or below season.

[formerd3db]

waxx:
While I also do not know about the current "inside atmosphere" there, just from what had transpired in the past, I agree with you that it would not be surprising if that were to happen. Thanks fir your opinion?