University Athletic Association

[WashUDad]

http://bearsports.wustl.edu/Sports/Content/Pages/fb9-13-11.aspx

[joelmama]

A little bit of Brizzolara goes a long way for UC

[ADL70]

Great win for the Maroons.

Excellent performance by the Bears.

Seems like the ideal week for CWRU to have an open date.  Two weeks to work on the offense and shore up a thin defensive secondary, before facing a Denison team that has put up big offensive #s the last two weeks.

NYTimes article on the Chicago program:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/17/sports/ncaafootball/at-the-university-of-chicago-football-and-higher-education-mix.html?_r=3&hp


Talk that Trinity (TX) and Austin may look to schedule the UAA teams in 2013.  If that proves true, one more affiliate would produce an AQ.

http://www.d3football.com/columns/around-the-region/south/index

Candidate for team 7--Macalester  [St Paul MN]?

An independant in football   Similar academic profile of students  Have been on Chicago's schedule   

But would they want the travel?   They have a game with Hiram this year that is being played in Chicago  But they have played Lewis and Clark, Colorado College, Oberlin and Kenyon

[DagarmanSpartan]

That would be a good, academically oriented coalition.  Hopefully, it'll form, and be eligible for an automatic playoff berth.

[Gregory Sager]

Just a reminder that tomorrow's Wash U @ NPU contest will have a live audio webcast. Click on the Listen Live link to catch all the action. Kickoff is at 1 pm.

[DagarmanSpartan]

Good win by the Spartans today, 24-6.

Erik Olson definitely "arrived" as QB this weekend.

I was worried about our offense after last week, but we appear to be getting better.  Good job Coach D!

Allegheny should be a VERY tough game next week.

[ExTartanPlayer]

UAA looks kind of hard to figure right now.

CWRU (2-1) opened with a nice win over a respectable John Carroll team, then suffered a dreadful home loss to a mediocre-at-best Rochester team, but bounced back with with a sloppy-but-decisive win over a middling Denison team that does have two wins and generally hovers around .500 in the NCAC.  So...who is CWRU, really?  We'll find out a little more in the next two weeks with games vs. Allegheny and an improving Oberlin squad.  In particular, the Allegheny game should be a good measuring stick, as they've played a number of VERY competitive games with both CWRU and CMU over the past five seasons.  If CWRU beats Allegheny and Oberlin, they should be 5-1 going into Wooster + the UAA schedule.

Carnegie Mellon (2-2) is off to a slightly-disappointing start.  Opened with a two-point win over Grove City, then a disappointing loss to Allegheny, one-point loss to Catholic, and a decisive win over NCAC doormat Kenyon.  CMU plays another perennial doormat this week in Hiram (albeit one that has shown signs of life) and then a deceptively-tough Ohio Wesleyan team.  Much like CWRU above, if CMU does what's expected over the next two weeks, they should be 4-2 leading into the Wittenberg + UAA stretch.

Chicago (2-2) and WashU (2-2) are perhaps the most puzzling. 

Chicago has flip-flopped between quality wins (Beloit and Elmhurst) and bad losses (Concordia and Wabash).  The loss to 'Bash is expected, but they were badly handled, and the loss to Concordia is outright mystifying (they beat Concordia by 30+ points last year).  Chicago has a winnable stretch of OWU, Denison, and Kenyon so they might well be 5-2 by the time UAA ball rolls around...or they could be 3-4 if they don't show up vs. OWU and Denison.

WashU (2-2) was off to a strong start with decisive wins over Knox and Rhodes, then dropped a tight game to Wittenberg (which isn't a BAD loss by any means), but then dropped an inexplicable loss to North Park.  Even considering that North Park is 3-0 on the year, they've beaten two relatively weak opponents, and going back the last few years they have won a total of six games in the last five seasons.  They haven't won a CCIW game in TEN YEARS, a stretch of 70+ games.  Any way you slice it, that's a tough loss to explain unless North Park manages a couple wins in CCIW play this year.  It also happens that WashU has to play 'Bash and Wooster in the next two weeks (probably the toughest draw of any UAA team as far as NCAC play goes...they have to p[lay Witt, Wabash, and Wooster, teams #1, 2, and 4 in the NCAC pecking order).  Ouch.

Basically, every team can lay claim to at least one pretty good win and one pretty disappointing loss.  I'm guessing that CWRU is 5-2, Chicago 5-2, CMU 4-3, and WashU 3-4 by the time we get to UAA play...and that still doesn't give me a good feeling about any team being the "strongest."  It wouldn't surprise me if WashU enters conference play with the worrst overall record and runs the table (kind of like 2005, when Chicago entered UAA play 0-4 and reeled off five straight wins to finish the season).

[ADL70]

DVR ALERT

CWRU @ Allegheny will be on Fox Sports Atlantic at 1pm

TW Channel 319 [most areas]

[Case04]

I'm trying to get a copy of the Case/Allegheny game, looked like a couple of questionable no-calls by the ref's, thats why I would like to view it....that being said, I guess a win is a win. Game should have never got to the point it did. Combination of some droppped passes to RB's along with some misfires to open receivers really hurt. Between the 20's was great, inside the 20 was a different story. I will guess 5 or 6 times inside the 20 with a field goal and the last TD to show for it. Hats off to the defense (AGAIN) they really only gave up the one long pass play, after a personal foul. O-line has to figure out a way to step it up (a couple of baby steps would go a long way). As far as the kicking game.....I'll just say go for it on 4th down (if too close to punt) and go for 2 after a TD.

[wabco]

    "WashU has to play 'Bash and Wooster in the next two weeks (probably the toughest draw of any UAA team as far as NCAC play goes...they have to p[lay Witt, Wabash, and Wooster, teams #1, 2, and 4 in the NCAC pecking order).  Ouch."

ExTartanPlayer ... mostly true ... except you have the pecking order wrong:  It is first Wabash, then Witt, then later Woo.

[ExTartanPlayer]

    "WashU has to play 'Bash and Wooster in the next two weeks (probably the toughest draw of any UAA team as far as NCAC play goes...they have to p[lay Witt, Wabash, and Wooster, teams #1, 2, and 4 in the NCAC pecking order).  Ouch."

ExTartanPlayer ... mostly true ... except you have the pecking order wrong:  It is first Wabash, then Witt, then later Woo.

lol.  I generally consider Bash/Witt to be 1A and 1B, but it is worth pointing out that the two-time defending NCAC champs hail from Wittenberg, not Wabash.

I've also dropped my opinion of Wooster as #4, given their loss to Denison.  It's kind of hard to figure out who #3-4-5 should be in the NCAC right now...some combination of Allegheny, Denison, Oberlin, Wooster, and OWU.  I honestly wouldn't be surprised by pretty much any result between those teams.  I thought Wooster was pretty clearly the best of that bunch, but now I really think it might be Denison...although Gheny has just come through a pretty rough stretch of schedule and might reel off a few wins in a row.

[ADL70]

I'm trying to get a copy of the Case/Allegheny game, looked like a couple of questionable no-calls by the ref's, thats why I would like to view it....that being said, I guess a win is a win. Game should have never got to the point it did. Combination of some droppped passes to RB's along with some misfires to open receivers really hurt. Between the 20's was great, inside the 20 was a different story. I will guess 5 or 6 times inside the 20 with a field goal and the last TD to show for it. Hats off to the defense (AGAIN) they really only gave up the one long pass play, after a personal foul. O-line has to figure out a way to step it up (a couple of baby steps would go a long way). As far as the kicking game.....I'll just say go for it on 4th down (if too close to punt) and go for 2 after a TD.

I guess Fox wouldnt let Allegheny archive the video.  I have it on DVR.  Which plays were you interested in?  Certainly the block in the back on the punt return that was called would have been a good no call, since the Allegheny player essentially ran in front of the CWRU player and he tried to avoid the contact.

Three different linemen have tried to replace TonyO and Abbott went down late in the game too.

There is a sophmore on the soccer team from Avon who was also an all district kicker.  He hasn't played much [not at all thjis year], could he be recruited?  In fairness, at Denison there were a number of high snaps. 

[Case04]

Not having the benefit of replay....I was interested in the two throws to the end zone...both times it looked like the defender never looked for the ball...just threw their arms up to the recievers face....or is that just a NFL rule about face guarding??

[wally_wabash]

Not having the benefit of replay....I was interested in the two throws to the end zone...both times it looked like the defender never looked for the ball...just threw their arms up to the recievers face....or is that just a NFL rule about face guarding??

I don't believe the NFL or the NCAA have a rule against face guarding.  Pass interference requires contact of some sort to be made.  Face guarding certainly increases the likelihood that contact between the defense and the receiver is not timed properly, but face guarding all by itself is not a foul. 

[Case04]

Not having the benefit of replay....I was interested in the two throws to the end zone...both times it looked like the defender never looked for the ball...just threw their arms up to the recievers face....or is that just a NFL rule about face guarding??

I don't believe the NFL or the NCAA have a rule against face guarding.  Pass interference requires contact of some sort to be made.  Face guarding certainly increases the likelihood that contact between the defense and the receiver is not timed properly, but face guarding all by itself is not a foul.

Thank you for the clearing that up for me....guess I'm living in the past about that situation.