University Athletic Association

ADL70 · September 02, 2013, 12:46:25 PM

On the OAC Pick-em Board

CWRU is a 15.5 pt favorite

DagarmanSpartan · September 02, 2013, 07:53:08 PM

Thanks for the update!

Given that we struggled against Marietta last year, I suspect that it will be close.

ADL70 · September 02, 2013, 08:37:11 PM

Marietta completed 4 passes 25+ yards each last year. QB and 2 receivers who caught them are back. They also had two long passes called back.

Pass D needs to step up. Their O line gave up a lot of sacks so good rush may be the answer.

mustang · September 02, 2013, 09:49:55 PM

What's your sense of how the offense will operate? Will they rotate qb's or will Beecher be the primary guy with Olson playing in passing situations? One way to win would be long, time consuming drives to keep the defense off the field.

ADL70 · September 02, 2013, 10:12:46 PM

As you suggest, I like Beecher being the main guy for ball control. But no idea what Debs is thinking. During the scrimmage there was no intra-series QB substitution, except during the "hurry up" drill, when Beecher started out and Olson took over in the red zone, when clock was under 45 secs. He just missed a TD to Albers, when on a fade, he led too far outside and Albers' foot came down on the sideline.

jaybird44 · September 02, 2013, 10:57:38 PM

ExTartanPlayer, I am hoping/expecting improvement in the running game. Four starting O-linemen are back, and the new starter (Matt Yurescko, 6-2, 300, sophomore) has been very good in the preseason. An impressive freshman lurks as a reserve OT--Drew Pikey (6-5, 300). Pikey plays with an edge, not afraid to scuffle with older players in practice and in the intersquad scrimmage two weeks ago. He will see plenty of playing time.

Wash-U ran the ball 6 times for 47 yards in the 2nd quarter in the scrimmage vs. Greenville. John Hagemann and Zach Lonneman both run hard and get the tough yards, and Mitchell Shelby adds speed to the perimeter. While it would be great to have a workhorse 1,000+ yard rusher to lean on, I like this "RB by committee". The Bears will have fresher legs late in games, which may translate to securing a win or two that got away from them late in games last year.

BearFan · September 02, 2013, 11:51:35 PM

I would agree that the Bears looked good on Saturday but Greenville wasn't exactly sharp so one can't read too much into the scrimmage. I agree with Jaybird that the offense looked good both passing and running - I think the running game should be stronger than last year and will need to be to allow the play action passing game to work. Defense had its moments but is a little banged up. Hopefully everyone gets back to health this week and we are at full strength for what will certainly be a challenge at Whitewater. Game notes are posted on the WashU site http://bearsports.wustl.edu/Sports/Football/Documents/Whitewater.pdf

ADL70 · September 03, 2013, 01:07:16 PM

Marietta game notes:

http://athletics.case.edu/sports/fball/2013-14/releases/201309033k98ct

CWRU now has a player from Hawai'i and one from Alaska. Are there any non-west coast schools that can say that?

sigma one · September 04, 2013, 07:24:36 PM

Not the same, but in the NCAC Allegheny's roster shows a player from Israel, and Wooster's one from Bermuda.

ADL70 · September 04, 2013, 08:02:55 PM

Quote from: sigma one on September 04, 2013, 07:24:36 PM
Not the same, but in the NCAC Allegheny's roster shows a player from Israel, and Wooster's one from Bermuda.

WashU has three from Hawai'i.

SpartanMom_2016 · September 04, 2013, 09:45:48 PM

The UAA schools are all schools that attract students from all over the country. I think it is surprising that there aren't more football players from outside the Midwest given that the student body comes from all over the place.

ADL70 · September 05, 2013, 10:53:36 AM

While Ohio and Pa (mostly Western) equally account for slightly more than half the squad, fifteen other states are represented on the current squad, with Florida (mostly from last year's recruits) and Illinois having the next highest representation.

The only states that I can recall not having any players in the past 4-5 years are, ME, RI, DE, KY!, TN, SC, AL, MS, LA, AR, IA, ND, SD, NE, KS, WY, ID, NM, and NV.

Should we try to have a posters meet and greet Saturday about 6:30, say at the top of the stands on the NE corner (scoreboard end)?

I'm a stocky gray beard and will probably be wearing a two-tone blue and white striped shirt.

ADL70 · September 05, 2013, 03:27:46 PM

Debs at PAC Media Day

http://pacsportsnetwork.blogspot.com/2013/08/pac-football-media-day-case-western.html

AD Diles leaving for VMI.

http://athletics.case.edu/sports/genrel/diles_vmi

SpartanMom_2016 · September 06, 2013, 08:37:51 AM

Quote from: ADL70 on September 05, 2013, 10:53:36 AM
While Ohio and Pa (mostly Western) equally account for slightly more than half the squad, fifteen other states are represented on the current squad, with Florida (mostly from last year's recruits) and Illinois having the next highest representation.

The only states that I can recall not having any players in the past 4-5 years are, ME, RI, DE, KY!, TN, SC, AL, MS, LA, AR, IA, ND, SD, NE, KS, WY, ID, NM, and NV.

Should we try to have a posters meet and greet Saturday about 6:30, say at the top of the stands on the NE corner (scoreboard end)?

I'm a stocky gray beard and will probably be wearing a two-tone blue and white striped shirt.

I will see you there!

ExTartanPlayer · September 06, 2013, 10:07:28 AM

The first Friday of the D-3 football season...what a great day. Not sure about the rest of you, but Pittsburgh has absolutely stunning autumn weather right now, it feels so much like football season that I can barely handle it. Let's take a look at the UAA season openers, shall we?

Carnegie Mellon at Grove City: Probably the most competitive of the season openers. Long-running series that seems to produce a close game every year between two modestly-successful programs. CMU has won the last four years...but none by more than a touchdown. Last year's game between two eventual 6-win teams came down to a fourth-quarter touchdown bomb from Kalkstein to Tim Kikta. Both of them are back and I think CMU's passing offense will continue its production from last season and carry the day. Tartans by a whisker. Not sure of the final score but I bet it's a one-score game.

Marietta at Case Western: Surprisingly close game last year between the two considering that Marietta finished the season 0-10. I'm not ambitious enough to look up the Marietta preview to try to figure out what they have back and if they're likely to be better this year. I'll just trust the Spartans, who I have projected to win 6 games, to be good enough to beat the OAC's likely cellar dweller. Case 27-14.

Washington University at UW-Whitewater: Oh, gee, that's all? Just taking on the 2009-2011 national champions, pissed-off about last year's disappointing 7-3 record? Truth be told, this game will probably have a closer score than many suspect because WashU's defense is really, really good (I've been beating that drum all preseason) and UWW's strength has usually been more on defense than offense. I could see this being a "competitive" game on the scoreboard that WashU never really threatens to WIN, but their defense is good enough (and UWW's offense 'mediocre' enough, using that term loosely because it is still quite good) that I can see this being about 17-0 Whitewater.

Chicago at Beloit: On one hand, Chicago is playing with a new coach and a somewhat undermanned roster. On the other hand, they do return a fair amount of experience on defense and at QB, they beat Beloit last year, and Beloit finished last season 0-10. I'll take the Maroons 21-6.