University Athletic Association

[casefldad]

In response to the comment about the OWU kicker, you are so right.  That was a huge kick and he seemed to have room to spare.  It appears that he also had a good game a week earlier so this was no fluke.

[Bishopleftiesdad]

Yes, I know a kicker at a local high school who was seriously considering OWU. But after the season the current kicker is having, he is considering other schools as well. HE is not sure he wants to come to OWU to sit for two years. I hope he still chooses OWU and comes in and competes.

[ADL70]

Interesting stat from Saturday's game:
Defensive stats for Dan Calabrese...zero 

I don't quite know what to make of that, but I do not in any way intend it as criticism of him.

I'd like to see Hanzlik get a few more snaps to relieve Sicre a bit.

For those scoring at home, the rugby return was officially:

Miles MacKenzie kickoff 60 yards to the CASE5, Dan Calabrese return 5 yards to the CASE10, Manny Sicre for 8 yards to the CASE18, Dan Calabrese for loss of 4 yards to the CASE14, fumble by Dan Calabrese recovered by OWU Brok Gould at CASE14, Brok Gould for 11 yards to the CASE3 (Manny Sicre).

[ExTartanPlayer]

My take on this week's UAA slate:

Case Western (2-2) vs. Wittenberg (3-0)
Carnegie Mellon (4-0) at Wabash (2-1)

Call me crazy, but I think BOTH of these matchups are very intriguing for UAA and NCAC fans.  Plus, there is the added intrigue that Wittenberg and Wabash play each other the following week, meaning that they follow these games with their biggest league game of the season.

Case Western is off to a shaky start with two losses to mediocre opponents.  On the bright side, they're just a few plays from being 4-0 and they still have plenty of experienced guys around from last year's 9-1 team, including the QB.  I just can't imagine that CWRU is actually as bad as they've looked the last two weeks. 

Wittenberg looked like world-beaters in their first two games, but time has revealed that both of those opponents (Capital and DePauw) may be down a bit from their usual standard.  Wittenberg also seems play at least one curiously bad road game per year; in 2010, an undefeated NCAC-champ Witt team beat 4-6 Oberlin, 4-6 CMU, and 5-5 Wooster by 6, 6, and 5 points, respectively.  In 2011 they beat 6-4 WashU by a field goal and lost badly to Huntingdon.

The point of all the above is that, on paper, 3-0 Witt vs. 2-2 CWRU looks like a mismatch, but I'm calling this one as my "surprisingly close game" of the week.

Meanwhile, Carnegie Mellon vs. Wabash might be the most fascinating game in the North Region this week.  I've posted some detailed thoughts on the actual gameplay on the NCAC board already, so I won't repeat it all here, but the stakes are pretty high for both teams.  CMU has a chance to legitimize its 4-0 start and stake an early claim for a Pool B playoff berth; Wabash is coming off a stunning upset loss and needs a solid win to regain momentum heading into the Wittenberg game the next week.  It's tantalizing to look at CMU's handling of Allegheny, combined with the fact that the Gators managed to upset Wabash last week, and draw the conclusion that CMU is the better team this year.  I don't buy that logic for a second (and I almost wish that Wabash had beaten Allegheny; now they'll be coming into the game pissed-off and in dire need of a victory; no chance we'll catch them looking ahead to Wittenberg).

Wash U (1-3) vs. DePauw (0-3)

The Bears finally got off the schneid last week against a much-improved Kenyon team.  They should be able to keep the momentum rolling this week against a DePauw team that's just in total disarray with the recent firing of their coach.  They'll need it, too, with Wabash looming after their bye week.

Chicago (2-2) vs. Bye Week

I think the Maroons will hold serve this week and stay 2-2.

[ExTartanPlayer]

http://d3football.com/columns/around-the-region/greatlakes/2012/CMU-has-hard-hitting-humanitarian

Nice article in around the region about a CMU linebacker, Akwasi Brefo, doing some nice work in Africa over the summer.

[SpartanMom_2016]

Yes, I know a kicker at a local high school who was seriously considering OWU. But after the season the current kicker is having, he is considering other schools as well. HE is not sure he wants to come to OWU to sit for two years. I hope he still chooses OWU and comes in and competes.

CWRU could use a good kicker.

[jam40jeff]

Here we go again.  No points after a 1st and goal.

[ADL70]

I feel for the D, they did everything possible to give the O the chance to win this game.

[SpartanMom_2016]

Yesterday I got my first chance to see CWRU live.  I have watched all the games on the internet.  I was impressed with the play of the defense.  I continue to scratch my head at the offense.  The offense is able to move the ball.  We had more first downs, more total yards, better 3rd down conversion rate, etc....Yet-the points continue to elude us.  I guess the good news is that the offense is young and will improve over the next few years. 

The defense played great.  However, the defense will get a lot younger next year. 

Personally, I was happy to be at the game and see that my son looked happy and healthy. 

[ExTartanPlayer]

This is a broad generalization, and certainly not true EVERYWHERE, but one thing I noticed about college ball vs. high school was that it seemed much harder to get points On the board through big plays because defenses were generally faster and more disciplined. That sweep where the RB gets loose, often a TD in high school, turns into a 12-yard gain in college. That quick slant where the WR makes the first guy miss still only goes for 10 yards because the safeties and LBs are all pretty good tacklers. It's a broad observation that doesn't always hold true (see yesterday's WVU-Baylor game) but that's my two cents on why points can be hard to come by at times.

[casefldad]

I was at the game and I believe that we outplayed Wittenberg but weren't able to punch it in and score more points.  For those of you that are able to see the games on a 'play by play basis' (have access to HUDL), go to frame #143.  On the play that we were stopped on 4th and 1, Wittenberg had twelve (12) players on the defense.  The referees missed it and I am not sure what Case had to do to point it out, could they have called at time-out and have the referees count the players?  That should have been a penalty which would have given us a first down and the drive would have continued.
The defense played good, although we were giving a lot of yards to the running back on the flat and the offensive line was able to move the Wittenberg DL for most of the game.
Tough loss (another one)....

[mustang]

Yesterday I got my first chance to see CWRU live.  I have watched all the games on the internet.  I was impressed with the play of the defense.  I continue to scratch my head at the offense.  The offense is able to move the ball.  We had more first downs, more total yards, better 3rd down conversion rate, etc....Yet-the points continue to elude us.  I guess the good news is that the offense is young and will improve over the next few years. 

The defense played great.  However, the defense will get a lot younger next year. 

Personally, I was happy to be at the game and see that my son looked happy and healthy.

I hope you liked the football facility, it was one of the reasons on the athletic side that my son chose Case over some of the other engineering schools that he was looking at. As disappointed as I am with the loss, this is the best I have felt about the team all year. They came out and played a good opponent with passion and fire. This is the only loss this year that I felt they should've won. We are offensively inept in the red zone and that has to change. It must be as frustrating for the offense as it is for the rest of us to see them move the ball down the field and then come away with nothing to show for it. Sicre had a very good game and I thought Olson made some good decisions. Once again a turnover at a crucial time killed a chance to score.
The defense was outstanding. I continue to be impressed with the coaching adjustments, we basically have shut out the last few opponents in the 2nd half. We held a mobile qb and potent offense well under their average per game. Lots of things to feel good about for the remainder of the season.
Go Spartans!!!!

[SpartanMom_2016]

Yesterday I got my first chance to see CWRU live.  I have watched all the games on the internet.  I was impressed with the play of the defense.  I continue to scratch my head at the offense.  The offense is able to move the ball.  We had more first downs, more total yards, better 3rd down conversion rate, etc....Yet-the points continue to elude us.  I guess the good news is that the offense is young and will improve over the next few years. 

The defense played great.  However, the defense will get a lot younger next year. 

Personally, I was happy to be at the game and see that my son looked happy and healthy.

I hope you liked the football facility, it was one of the reasons on the athletic side that my son chose Case over some of the other engineering schools that he was looking at. As disappointed as I am with the loss, this is the best I have felt about the team all year. They came out and played a good opponent with passion and fire. This is the only loss this year that I felt they should've won. We are offensively inept in the red zone and that has to change. It must be as frustrating for the offense as it is for the rest of us to see them move the ball down the field and then come away with nothing to show for it. Sicre had a very good game and I thought Olson made some good decisions. Once again a turnover at a crucial time killed a chance to score.
The defense was outstanding. I continue to be impressed with the coaching adjustments, we basically have shut out the last few opponents in the 2nd half. We held a mobile qb and potent offense well under their average per game. Lots of things to feel good about for the remainder of the season.
Go Spartans!!!!

The football facility was great.  We saw it when he visited so it wasn't a surprise to us.  My son seems to be very happy with the football program so far.  He isn't getting any playing time but he seems happy that he is practicing with the varsity and getting attention from the coaching staff.  He says the defense will be losing 9 starters next season so he thinks he has a good chance to get more playing time int he future. 

I was happy to be there and see my son.  He looked great and was very positive.  The only thing he complained about was the dining hall food.  He was really happy that we took him out for a few meals while we were there.  When he is playing we will come to Cleveland more often to see the games.  Until then we will have to be content viewing online.

[NCF]

Yesterday I got my first chance to see CWRU live.  I have watched all the games on the internet.  I was impressed with the play of the defense.  I continue to scratch my head at the offense.  The offense is able to move the ball.  We had more first downs, more total yards, better 3rd down conversion rate, etc....Yet-the points continue to elude us.  I guess the good news is that the offense is young and will improve over the next few years. 

The defense played great.  However, the defense will get a lot younger next year. 

Personally, I was happy to be at the game and see that my son looked happy and healthy.

I hope you liked the football facility, it was one of the reasons on the athletic side that my son chose Case over some of the other engineering schools that he was looking at. As disappointed as I am with the loss, this is the best I have felt about the team all year. They came out and played a good opponent with passion and fire. This is the only loss this year that I felt they should've won. We are offensively inept in the red zone and that has to change. It must be as frustrating for the offense as it is for the rest of us to see them move the ball down the field and then come away with nothing to show for it. Sicre had a very good game and I thought Olson made some good decisions. Once again a turnover at a crucial time killed a chance to score.
The defense was outstanding. I continue to be impressed with the coaching adjustments, we basically have shut out the last few opponents in the 2nd half. We held a mobile qb and potent offense well under their average per game. Lots of things to feel good about for the remainder of the season.
Go Spartans!!!!

The football facility was great.  We saw it when he visited so it wasn't a surprise to us.  My son seems to be very happy with the football program so far.  He isn't getting any playing time but he seems happy that he is practicing with the varsity and getting attention from the coaching staff.  He says the defense will be losing 9 starters next season so he thinks he has a good chance to get more playing time int he future. 

I was happy to be there and see my son.  He looked great and was very positive.  The only thing he complained about was the dining hall food.  He was really happy that we took him out for a few meals while we were there.  When he is playing we will come to Cleveland more often to see the games.  Until then we will have to be content viewing online.

My son is a senior and he still does not like the dining hall food

[DagarmanSpartan]

I realize that this isn't football related, but on a positive note, the CWRU men's cross-country team just won the All-Ohio D3 championship meet by a significant margin!