FB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[RuleBritannia]

I know there's a general consensus among many here that Andy Lyall got a raw deal. A coach with a long history at the school, who won them an MIAA championship, and had won far more than he lost, but without recent championship level success.

I know when their current President came to Adrian ('05), he brought with him a "results first" mentality, and made college programs justify themselves for continued support and funding. He also hired their current AD in '07, and thus, the letting go of Lyall and the promotion of Deere was one his first major decisions.

I think Deere will survive for now, his pair of MIAA championships ('12 and '14), are more recent then Lyall's ('97) was when he was let go, and I think the AD, having promoted Deere, probably feels that Deere is "his" guy, perhaps more than Lyall was.

But if Adrian goes 2-8, I could see Mr. Deere perhaps "retiring" after this season. Their next two games, home against Wisconsin Lutheran, and their MIAA opener vs. Kalamazoo are must wins for their season I think.

[RuleBritannia]

How are people feeling about this weeks' MIAA/NACC challenge? I know this series has been on sided in our favor since its inception, but there seems to be considerable optimism on the NACC board, and Aurora got some love in the North Region fan poll. Nevertheless, I see it:

Hope def. Aurora (comfortably, but not a blow out)

Albion def. Eureka (Somewhere between 7-21 points)

Trine def. Concordia-Wisconsin (Not close)

Concordia Chicago def. Finlandia (Not yet Lions...)

Alma def. Rockford (Important for Scots to pick up this W)

Adrian def. Wisconsin-Lutheran (Probably close, crucial for Adrian as discussed)

Olivet def. Benedictine (Given Benedictine's narrow win over Franklin, this is an interesting game from my vantage point)

That would still be a 7-1 MIAA record, but I could see many of these games being close affairs. Other thoughts?

[HOPEful]

Hope def. Aurora (comfortably, but not a blow out)

I hope you're right! Aurora has been pretty impressive so far this season.

[formerd3db]

Hope def. Aurora (comfortably, but not a blow out)

I hope you're right! Aurora has been pretty impressive so far this season.

Although performances obviously vary from week to week for any team, the Aurora game will likely tell us a lot about Hope I believe.

[RFMichigan]

Hope def. Aurora (comfortably, but not a blow out)

I hope you're right! Aurora has been pretty impressive so far this season.

Although performances obviously vary from week to week for any team, the Aurora game will likely tell us a lot about Hope I believe.

And a lot about Aurora as well.

[HOPEful]

Agreed. I made mention of this in the North Region Fan Poll this morning. Losing to Aurora will really put a damper on MIAA play before it even begins. Personally, I'll have a difficult time getting excited for Trine and Albion if the team is 1-2.

On the other hand, beating Aurora comfortably would do a lot for restoring expectations back to where they were preseason.

On a lesser note, I'd love to see Miliken find a way to beat Wheaton in a couple weeks. That loss looks a lot better at the end of the year if Miliken beats a quality CCIW team or two.

SNC also beat an undefeated Trine team 31-7 in the first round of the playoffs last year. IMO, Aurora absolutely deserves to be ranked ahead of Trine at the moment.

...Only two games in, I'm still having a difficult time ranking teams from perennial "lesser" conferences. This includes both the NACC and the MWC... I am intentionally holding out on ranking Aurora until after this week's game at Hope. It should be a good barometer on Aurora (as well as a good barometer for Hope and whether they'll ever re-enter the conversation)...

I ranked Trine 10th this week, but honestly, it was really a posturing vote. I'm somewhat expecting Hope to beat Aurora this week. If that happens, Milliken will be first team to move into my rankings next week, perhaps replacing Trine if no one else loses.

If Aurora beats Hope this week, they will most likely be in my rankings next week.

[Captain_Joe08]

I had it in my MIAA & NACC Picks

Hope over Aurora: Spartans need to prove themselves here.

Albion over Eureka: Bigger step up in opponent level for the Red Devils.

Trine over CUW: CUW has shown that they could be a major factor in league play but Trine is a bridge too far for them.

Lakeland over Kalamazoo: Perhaps K'zoo is dropping back to the norm. Need a better gauge of talent level at Lakeland yet.

Olivet over Benedictine: Which BenU team will show up? The one that beat Franklin or the one that lost to Loras?

Alma over Rockford: RU's performance last week against MLC did not give me much confidence they can do the job here.

Adrian over WLC: I can't trust WLC here despite the early struggles of the Bulldogs. Also why does it seem like WLC either plays Hope or Adrian in this series?

Concordia Chicago over Finlandia: This could be a solid game for a while. However the Lions are still a bit away from being able to win games like this.

[Captain_Joe08]

Updates:

Trine 21
Concordia Wisconsin 3

3rd

Hope 27
Aurora 13

3rd

Eureka 35
Albion 28

3rd

Lakeland 21
Kalamazoo 0

3rd

Concordia Chicago 23
Finlandia 6

3rd

Alma 34
Rockford 7

2nd

[Captain_Joe08]

Trine 21
Concordia Wisconsin 16

Final

Hope 34
Aurora 32

Final

Olivet 21
Benedictine 6

Final

Alma 51
Rockford 16

Final

Lakeland 28
Kalamazoo 7

Final

Concordia Chicago 23
Finlandia 12

Final

Wisconsin Lutheran 29
Adrian 29

2OT

Adrian led 23-6 at halftime.

[Captain_Joe08]

Adrian 32
WLC 29

Final 2OT

[TUAngola]

Trine 21 CUW 16

The Thunder wrap up non-league play with a narrow win over the Falcons.  Our defense was impressive today.  It had to be as our offense, so far this season, is very inconsistent.  Trine with a 7 - 3 lead at half, and then we score on our first 2 possessions of the second half to make it 21-3.  I thought CUW would hang their heads after that but give them credit they fought to the end.  They got the ball back on their 30 with around a minute to play with a chance to drive for the winning touchdown, but we had a couple sacks, and then on a 4th and 25, as we were putting pressure on the QB and as he was going to the ground he shoveled an underhanded pass to a RB and he picked up an improbable 1st down, but there was an illegal block in the back on CUW and they had to replay 4th down and the Trine D got to the QB again for a sack to end the game.

Brandon Winters with a nice game passing today.  We actually had more passing yards then rushing, which is a rare occurrence.  We weren't consistent running the ball but a lot of that is CUW's defense, they were pretty good.   We had another punt blocked and returned for a TD which made it 21-9 late in the 3rd.  That's twice in the last 2 games that has happened.  I had mentioned last week our punter takes a long time to kick, not sure if it's the steps or just being slow, probably a combination of both.  If I were the opposing defense I'd be running the punt block every time on us.  Special teams coordinator needs to make some adjustments or I fear this is going to be a regular thing for our punter. 

Week off and then we get Hope at home 2 weeks from today for the MIAA opener.  Tough game right off the bat with the preseason favorite to win the league in Hope.  Loser probably doesn't have a chance to win the league, but you never know.

Good attendance, the box score didn't give a figure, I'd guess 4000 or so.  Trine side was full, not a big crowd from CUW but the overflow from Trine made their way to the visitors side to take up empty seats.  It was hot today, but thankfully some nice cloud cover helped everyone from baking out there.

[formerd3db]

TU:

The Trine/Hope game should be an interesting game.  Both teams are playing similar right now (in general overall, IMO).  Based on what you have shared about Trine's performances the past weeks and seeing ours (Hope's), I tend to think the game may be a close one.

As far as Hope yesterday, I'll take the "W" anytime.  Yet, for many of the Hope fans, while glad for the win, there are still some concerns.  Hope was fortunate to win yesterday and had not Aurora botched their PAT tries (early missed kicks and failed 2 point conversions-I would have called different plays than they did for the point tries-Aurora would have won the game.  A poor call by the coaching staff to try an on-sides kick after scoring in the 4th quarter with about 7:50 left to play was baffling. That gave Hope excellent position for their next drive/score.  Then Aurora came right back and scores with the old "hook and ladder" play-a great call and perfect performance of the play.  I realize that many people do not like "trick plays," however, I am a supporter of those as there are appropriate times to call those and that was one of them.  Actually, if I were Aurora, I would have call one of those for at least one (if not all) of their 2 point conversion attempts.  Anyway, after scoring near the end of the game, Aurora went for another on-sides kick with Hope recovering to preserve the win as Aurora was out of timeouts.

Hope's defensive secondary had a difficult time in covering for the pass game, too many open areas.  Regarding the offense, they need to work on sustained drives as we will not be able to rely on the "big play" all the time from senior QB Opple, who is a great runner with big size and he ripped off quite a few long runs.  Again, I was disappointed in the attendance as only 1802 showed up for the game. A positive, at least IMO, that has been an improvement this year is the special teams play, especially on kickoff and punt coverage and the punting and kicking.  Overall, Aurora is much improved, which is pretty much what everyone here expected from what has been reported and discussed by others.     

As for us (Hope), great attitude and perseverance is already in place, but some consistent sustained performance will be needed if we expect to beat you guys (Trine) and then Albion.  The "bye" weekend, although slightly early this year will be a good thing (for some healing minor injuries) and time to re-group/prepare for the MIAA race to begin.

Thanks for your updates on Trine. Look forward to more exchanges with everyone here.   

[sac]

Fwiw, masseyratings has Hope/Trine as a 50/50 game with Hope winning 33-32

Also, currently has Hope a slight favorite over Albion, despite the fact both Trine and Albion come in ranked just ahead of Hope in his ratings.  He also has the Albion/Trine game as 50/50

[formerd3db]

Fwiw, masseyratings has Hope/Trine as a 50/50 game with Hope winning 33-32

Also, currently has Hope a slight favorite over Albion, despite the fact both Trine and Albion come in ranked just ahead of Hope in his ratings.  He also has the Albion/Trine game as 50/50

Hey, sac, good friend.  Your FWIWs are always welcome!  That massyrating is in line with what I am thinking also.  As far as the Albion game, obviously, I'm rooting for us, and with us having beaten them the last 3 years, you know they will be. let's say, more than determined.  Personally, I would say the Hope/Albion game is 50/50 at this point.  Regardless, again, I think the early "bye" week is a good thing for this particular year as it has played out so far-understanding, of course, that no one can really predict the usefulness of a "bye" week in any year.

BTW, sac, taking a "timeout" here and briefly switching to a basketball question, what do you think about Albion scheduled to play Michigan State in basketball at Breslin for a season opening Exhibition game?   Was it 2012 when Hope played the Exhibition at Indiana?  I can't remember the exact year right off hand. 

[sac]

BTW, sac, taking a "timeout" here and briefly switching to a basketball question, what do you think about Albion scheduled to play Michigan State in basketball at Breslin for a season opening Exhibition game?   Was it 2012 when Hope played the Exhibition at Indiana?  I can't remember the exact year right off hand.

I think its great.  But that game is only happening because MSU's Cassius Winston's two younger brothers play at Albion.  Really nice of Izzo to make it happen. 

Hope played at Indiana Nov. 1 of 2016.