University Athletic Association

[SpartanMom_2016]

Thank you all for the warm welcome!  I am having a little bit of football withdrawal as my son starts his college career.  Like most football parents I have enjoyed the ride.  It will be weird to be at the HS game on Friday without a player in the game.  Our middle son is in marching band. 

It is true that my son was a key player on his high school team but I think he has reasonable expectations for this season.  He is not on the 2 deep roster, but he is on the 3 deep and he is happy with that, especially since CWRU has so many returning seniors on defense.  As long as he gets good grades and he is happy then I will be happy.

We will be taking the advice above and setting up two laptops with the video from Marietta and audio from CWRU.  It will be a good way to learn about the Ohio D3 landscape.  We loved the campus when we were in Cleveland and we are looking forward to visiting for parents weekend/homecoming.  If any of you are there it would be fun to meet up before the game.

[mustang]

Mom we are travelling the same path. This will be my first season of Friday nights without a player to watch in 7 years (I have a son who is a freshman player at another school). My daughter is a cheerleader so I do get to enjoy that. Then the drive to Cleveland after the game Friday night.

Hope to meet you at a game. My son plays defense too so I know about waiting your turn...

[SpartanMom_2016]

Hope to meet you at a game. My son plays defense too so I know about waiting your turn...

We are out of state so driving to Cleveland on a bi weekly basis is not possible.  We will be in town for parents weeend/homecoming.  It would be great to meet you then.  Good luck to your son.

[SpartanMom_2016]

My son just got the word that he made the travel roster for this week.  He doesn't expect to play but I am excited for him!  Maybe I'll catch a glimpse of him on the sideline!

[ADL70]

I'm loving all this activity!!!

Thanks for the kind words, mustang.  I'll get to a couple of home games (Wooster for sure and WUstL or CMU) and at OWU. I'm waffling on going to Marietta.  That was my plan until I saw Marietta had video.  Unless it looks like a game long downpour I'll probably go.  Perhaps we'll have a chance to meet.  I met Messrs. Cowdrick, Nicely, and Metlsitz via this forum.

Mom, when you said your player was third team, I figured he's make the bus.  If there isn't a blow-out this week, there should be next week.

Thanx for the preview XTP.  Curious that WUStL was coaches' co-favorite when they have fewer starters coming back.  The measure I look at is returning All-UAA players.  By that measure, CWRU has 14 (5 -1st, 7-2ns, and 2-HM); CMU, 12 (4-1st, 7 2nd, and 1-HM); UChi, 10 (3-1st, 4-2nd, and 4-HM); and WUStL 10 (2-1st, 5-2nd, and 3-HM).  If you weight 3, 2, 1 respectively, CWRU totals 31; CMU, 27; UChi, 21; and WUStL, 19.   

In contrast to the OAC Pick-em thread, one of the d3.com gurus picked the game as "surprisingly close game."

[SpartanMom_2016]

He figured he had made the travel squad for this week also but one of the older guys is hurt and he wasn't sure if he would be back for the game.  It was nice to hear him excited.  Maybe I'll see him on the sidelines.  It is nice to have some reinforcement that he is working hard.  He doesn't figure he will play.  He's just happy to be there.  He will be playing in the JV game on Sunday but there is no way for us to see that game.  It's not practical to fly to Ohio to see a JV game.

[mustang]

That's good news for your son. Watching your team play from the sideline will be good for him, nothing like watching your team play another team as opposed to practicing against yourselves. I am aware of 2 seniors on defense that will not play due to injury, 1 of them a starter.

ADL I will be at all games except Marietta. I have a rule about getting too close to West Virginia, you could get sucked into a vortex and never leave the place.

I'm thinking the close game prediction is a concern that if the game turns into a shootout Marietta could have a chance. I think there are unanswered questions about the Case offense, especially O-line.

[DagarmanSpartan]

I hope that I don't sound arrogant or over-confident, but I really don't see this game being that close.  JCU has generally been a better OAC team in recent years, and we've opened each of the last two seasons with wins over that program.

I suspect we'll win by 3 TDs or more.

[ExTartanPlayer]

It's a reasonable belief, Jagran, and I'm inclined to agree with you.

However, Week 1 often has at least one total head-scratcher of a result somewhere in the D-3 landscape.  There's just something about that first game of a season.

Of course I think CWRU will win.  It also wouldn't surprise me if the game is close.  Same with CMU vs Grove City - given our returning talent, I think we oughta win something like 28-10, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's 17-14 or something of that ilk.

[ADL70]

Valiant effort by the Bears v #1.  D contained the Warhawks for a time, but O was unable to get anything going.

[DagarmanSpartan]

Ugh!

This has been an UGLY start thus far!  Already behind 10-0.

[jam40jeff]

What a difference a quarter makes.  The D showed up in the 2nd quarter and we started to gain some yardage.  It's now tied up at 10 going into halftime.  Here's hoping the second half is more like the second quarter than the first quarter.

Has anyone else found the video stream?  I just get redirected to wtap.com and can't find it on there.  I have resorted to Live Stats plus Audio.

[DagarmanSpartan]

Well, now don't I feel STUPID!!!

I guess that game was close after all.

Next time, I should learn not to talk smack.

My apologies!

[ExTartanPlayer]

Report from CMU's 23-20 win over Grove City:

Not the prettiest Week 1 win, but I'll gladly take it.  CMU was outplayed for much of the first half - GCC moved the ball a little too easily for my taste, and the CMU offense struggled to get on track early.   The game really turned on a few key plays that went CMU's way - McGrath's end-zone INT saved our bacon early and kept us in it, Thompson came up with an INT late in the second quarter that led to a 52-yard touchdown bomb on a third down with less than a minute before halftime, and then the rain delay (with GCC holding a 20-16 lead in the early fourth) seemed to take the wind out of GCC's sails and re-energize CMU, who totally outplayed GCC for the last 12 minutes.  Kalkstein was a little erratic overall, but connected on the game's two biggest plays (two long touchdown passes at crucial junctures in the game).  DB Liam McGrath came up with a second pick to seal the game late in the fourth, and FB Delello ran the ball very effectively on the last couple drives and deserves a lot of credit for that.

Re: Jagran, it's a lesson you should have learned over the past few years - unless you're playing the Hirams and Kenyons of the world, there are very few games that you can really take for granted!  You've been spoiled with CWRU's success the last five years, but you forget that it doesn't always come that easily - and even 9-10 win teams usually have to scrap a few times along the way.

[ADL70]

The cliche' of Mo was clear in the Marietta game.  After Marietta scored 10, CWRU scored the next 26, until Marietta scored the last 13. 
Marietta shot itself in the foot with formation related penalites and 1 missed and 1 blocked short field goal.

Jeff check your PM  ; )