FB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[blue_balls]

http://www.millikin.edu/athletics/headlines.asp?ID=19086

Wrap up on Big Blue vs. Albion....Nathan Wallick another solid effort for the Big Blue.

[Mugsy]

formerd3db,
As in the 2 previous games this year for the Dutchmen, much the same on Saturday at Wheaton.  QB was running for his life all game - sacked 7 times, hurried virtually every passing attempt.  Resulted in very low completion percentage, which seems to be consistent with their other games.  Hard to mount the same passing attack that Hope has had in recent years when you can't protect the QB.

Wheaton offense was able to mount a very balanced attack - virtually same yardage on ground and through the air, which seemed to have Hope off balance throughout the game.

Credit the Hope team in that they played hard the entire game.  They didn't fold when the score reached 41-7 mid-3rd quarter.  It might be a tough year for Hope, but they'll be back.  Best of luck to the Dutchmen on the rest of the season.

Look forward to the Wheaon/Hope game next year... and thru at least 2009.

[wlcalum]

The warm ups are over and now we begin conference play.

Adrian heads for Albion - Can Adrian stay undefeated? I think so.
Olivet travels to Alma - Alma pick to finish as MIAA champs, they win this game.
Kalamazoo plays at Hope - Will Kazoos D put the hurts on Hope?  Nope.
Tri State traverses to Wisconsin Lutheran - Rested and recovered, WLC. 

[formerd3db]

Mugsy and Bashdad:  See my reply posts to you on your respective boards.

wlcalum:  I think you are right. 

General comments:
Albion loses a close one; the Adrian/Albion game will give a good indication as to which team is really the better and front runner.  As for Alma, either they are not as good as some think (although I am not saying they are not a good team) or DII Tiffin is a much better team than they were last year....hummmmm   Alma should win, but can't take Olivet lightly - stranger things have happened.  The other schools are in for a long season I think.  Hope should beat Kazoo at home.  Tri-State? What's going on there??? WCL could be a spoiler.

[miaafbfan]

I agree on the picks posted here so far.

Adrian/Albion is probably the game to watch.

Alma should have no problem with Olivet.  Recall that D-II Tiffin also rolled over Alma last year, and then the Scots ran the table in the MIAA.  They could do the same this year.  The league as a whole is weaker this year than last, IMO.  Albion and Hope are down, and Adrian is more of an unknown because of their patsy non-conference schedule.

[BashDad]

formerd3db:

Thanks for your note on the NCAC board--we will have our hands full at OWU.  Best of luck to Hope this weekend.  I, too, expect to see Saturday evening that the Dutchmen got their win.  Haven't really looked closely at K-zoo's last game against Kenyon--although I was surprised, I thought Kenyon would take them.  K-zoo has some good athletes, but we didn't see much from them in Crawfordsville to start the season.

Hope it's a well-played and safe game for all!

Wabash Always Fights!!

     

[BigJ70]

As expected, MIAA will come down to Adrian vs Alma.

[miaafbfan]

Indeed.  No big surprises yesterday.

Adrian/Albion must have been a good game to watch.  The question is still how far down is Albion this year and how good is Adrian?  Does anybody who was there care to comment?

Alma/Olivet was as expected in the end, although it was much closer during the frst quarter and a half.  Alma has some work to do on defense and special teams.  Penalties were also a concern, as they have been in recent years.

[Zap]

Adrian Vs. Albion

Both teams looked good, Taz Wallace had an unbelievable Game, and it looked like they were throwing away from Dan Mckeown. I thought Albion looked like a solid team but just not as good as Adrian. I think that Albion seemed to get a little ahead of themselves, Adrian made some mistakes in the first half and I think Albion thought they were out of the woods. 4 wins in four years, Adrian over Albion. Looks like, Adrians got their number.

[formerd3db]

Adrian's last three games of their schedule are highly probable wins and as such, Adrian/Alma will indeed be the big game.  However, that game is not a guarantee that will give them the title.  Most likely it will, however, it is still early, they just got by Albion, and they have to play Hope and Olivet.  Stranger things have happened in this league with games like that (recall Alma being creamed by Olivet in 1999 when they had were beating everyone else).  Hope and/or Olivet are not "gime" wins.  

A good win for Hope yesterday.   Beautiful day for football everywhere in our region.  Hope's game attendance was down, which was disappointing on such a beautiful day, but that's expected since they hadn't been winning.  Disappointing fan following for Kazoo, though as perhaps 100 or so and mostly parents/family.  I thought perhaps they would have a new era in following after they had that 4100 game attendance two years ago at Homecoming against Hope and had been doing better, but then again, when you have the record they have had last year and so far this year, it is not surprising and certainly understandable.

As far as the game perspective, Kazoo gave a good fight but Hope just wore them down.  I was surprised that they were not as big in size as in recent years, but then neither is Hope this year.  Kazoo had two good QB's and their punter is fantastic - latter had perfect spirals and long punts even against the wind.   Hope's kicker Barnett back on track with a 41 yard field goal.  Hope's RB Booko had 202 yards rushing and 4 TD's, although he did not appear to be running with the "terror and steamroller" style he did last year until toward the latter part of the game.

Still some interesting games left in the league.

[miaafbfan]

Thanks for the info.  Adrian/Alma will be important next week, but it's still early.

[wlcalum]

Adrian/Albion - proves how important special teams can be. What a game I bet that was to watch. The fans got their moneys worth! Heart attack city.

Week two sees Adrian in another fight as they host Alma. Alma is picked to win the MIAA but I will give this win to the home team. Adrian in another close game.
Albion goes to Tri State for Tri States HC. Albion spoiles the day.
Hope goes to Olivet for their HC. I want to say Hope takes it but think Olivet wins on the home field.
WLC runs to Kalamazoo for HC. Two fan busses making the trip. WLC won't let that many fans down.

Some very interesting games this week. The best team in the MIAA won't be settled this week but the middle of the pack and spoilers will be known.

[rome]

How bad are the comets?

Little d you need to abondon ship while there still is talent at Olivet.

You gave up over 600 yards????you kidding me?

This is awful.

Please-someone send for Irv!!!!!!!

[formerd3db]

rome:
Friend, I know you are extremely disappointed .  But please, you have to keep a positive outlook!   Olivet did give Alma a run at least for one half.  You also have to keep in mind that Alma always gets a ton of yardage because of the type of offense they run.  Like I said in the above post - Olivet completely shut Alma down back in 1999 when the latter was on a steamroller against everyone else - I mean completely for those of you who were there can attest to that.  Again, stranger things have happened.  Keep the faith, man; I'm doing the same for Hope

wlcalum:
Good comments.  It will be an interesting weekend.  Despite what I said to Rome above, I have to go against your prediction and say that we'll (Hope) prevail at Olivet this Sat.

[msmith0076]

formerd3db:  I am an Alm,a grad and played on the '99 team...we beat Olivet at Olivet and went 8-1 that year.  The team that crushed us was Hope, which beat Alma 62-7 at Hope.  We went on to split the conference 3 ways with Hope and Albion.