FB: Upper Midwest Athletic Conference

[Baldini]

No surprise that Wheaton won the game by a large margin, but I believe it was a positive stepping stone for MLC.

The way the game unfolded the score should of been worse if not for the MLC defense playing better than I thought they could. Wheaton returned the opening KO to midfield and after a 5 yard run on 1st down, Wheaton went deep and MLC's Ben Arndt picked it off at the 7 yard line. But the MLC offense really struggled against the Wheaton defense early on and went 3 and out. It again set up a short field for Wheaton, who started 6 of their first 7 drives in MLC territory. Wheaton was playing downhill early and often and it helped lead to the 31-0 halftime lead.

MLC has a good starting secondary, but Wheaton found a weakness early on by going after a third cover guy. The starters held up as well as one could of expected, Ben Arndt had the INT. early and Aiden Holien had 4 pass breakups. Safety Ian Paulsen who was the DPOY in the UMAC played well and led MLC in tackles with 14 on the day and Joe Herrewig had a pair of breakups and probably should of had a couple of picks. In the end Wheaton threw for 273 yards and 4 TD's and 4 TD passes most often will win a team a game.

I set 3 goals that I felt would be program building goals going into the game and all 3 were achieved by MLC. First was to just score and believe it or not I was fairly confident they would do that. At some point I felt there would be a mental error on the Wheaton defense and MLC would get Joshuah Kren in space with the ball and he would be gone. They did not fail me there, midway point of the 3rd Kren found space and went 44 yards for the score. Second was to rush for 100 yards as a team and be the first team to rush for a 100 yards against Wheaton all season. In the end they were well over that at 156 yards rushing. Last was to keep the margin under 50 and they did that, but as the game unfolded in the second half that was a slight disappointment to me. With the score 44-7 midway of the 4th period the MLC defense made a good defensive stop and forced a punt, but the punt was mishandled (keep your head up Benjamin Hodel, it did not cost your team a victory and it was a good learning experience) and set Wheaton up on the MLC doorstep again. Wheaton scored on a 3rd and 15 QB run that went for the final score. Margin ends up at 44.

The interesting thing to me to watch moving forward with MLC is to see if they can continue to build on this or if they peaked here. They lose 8 starters on their defense and that is a tough thing to replace at any program, now do it at a program that gets almost all of their players from 15-20 Lutheran High Schools. Should be interesting to watch playout.

Congratulations to Wheaton as they move on in the tournament. They have a hell of a good team and I hope they go on and win it all, they sure have the talent to do it. Good Luck Wheaton.   

[Baldini]

St. Scholastica 2020 Football Schedule

9/5  At UW-River Falls
9/12  Hamline
9/19  Bye
9/26  At MacMurray
10/3  Minnesota-Morris
10/10  Greenville
10/17  At Iowa Wesleyan
10/24  Northwestern
10/31  At Crown
11/7  Westminster
11/14  At Martin Luther

[Gray Fox]

Martin Luther instead gets sent to.....Wheaton. A bit surprised that was the case since the NACC Champ Aurora is heading to St. John's but probably the best to avoid rematches I guess. MLC has their work cut out for them against one of the top defenses in the country.

Final UMAC Standings

1. Martin Luther 9-1 (8-0)
2. Greenville 8-2 (7-1)
3. St. Scholastica 7-3 (5-3)
4. MacMurray 5-5 (5-3)
5. Northwestern (MN) 4-6 (4-4)
6. Westminster 4-6 (4-4)
7. Crown 3-7 (2-6)
8. Minnesota-Morris 1-9 (1-7)
9. Iowa Wesleyan 0-10 (0-8)

2019 UMAC Football Preseason Coaches' Poll
1. Martin Luther – 61 points (6 First Place Votes)
2. Northwestern – 54 points (2 First Place Votes)
3. MacMurray – 49 points
4. St. Scholastica – 47 points (1 First Place Votes)
5. Westminster – 35 points
6. Greenville – 29 points
7. Minnesota Morris – 22 points
8. Iowa Wesleyan – 17 points
9. Crown – 10 points

Greenville really came through.

[Baldini]

Greenville's 36-0 win against Westminster and their 41-30 win at MacMurray were two of the more impressive wins in the UMAC this past season. If they can effectively replace their QB for next season they will be a strong contender for the UMAC title in 2020.

[Baldini]

Iowa Wesleyan has hired MD Daniels as their new head football coach.

https://www.iwtigers.com/article/2670

[doolittledog]

Iowa Wesleyan has hired MD Daniels as their new head football coach.

https://www.iwtigers.com/article/2670

50 head coaches in 129 years?!?! Average stay in Mt Pleasant is 2.58 years.  Wow.

[Pat Coleman]

From my reading and research, it was pretty common for non-major schools to have a different coach every year up until the 1920s, or so, so IWC could have burnt off 25 coaches that way.

Just speculation, have not researched the IWC coaching history specifically.

[Ralph Turner]

From my reading and research, it was pretty common for non-major schools to have a different coach every year up until the 1920s, or so, so IWC could have burnt off 25 coaches that way.

Just speculation, have not researched the IWC coaching history specifically.

Possibly the 2 most famous coaches to trek through Iowa Wesleyan are Hal Mumme and Mike Leach.

[Baldini]

It is a lot of coaching change over the years. IWU has only had one coach in their history make it 10 seasons and that was Glen Bingham from 1926-1936. Some of the problem might be the hiring practice of hiring young coaches that are using the situation as a stepping stone and not making final destination types of hires.

I like MD Daniels as a coach there, but if he does some good at IWU he is probably moving on quickly and the revolving door will revolve again. Ironically Daniels has some history with Hal Mumme who coached IWU from 1989-1991 and lead them to their only 10 win season in school history. Mumme parlayed that to a HC job at Valdosta State from 1992-1996 and HC at Kentucky from 1997-2000.

The winds of coaching change has blown often in Mount Pleasant, Iowa.   

[Baldini]

From my reading and research, it was pretty common for non-major schools to have a different coach every year up until the 1920s, or so, so IWC could have burnt off 25 coaches that way.

Just speculation, have not researched the IWC coaching history specifically.

Possibly the 2 most famous coaches to trek through Iowa Wesleyan are Hal Mumme and Mike Leach.

I had forgot that Leach was an Asst. Coach under Mumme. We never know what we might be watching in D-3. Good catch RT.

[doolittledog]

From my reading and research, it was pretty common for non-major schools to have a different coach every year up until the 1920s, or so, so IWC could have burnt off 25 coaches that way.

Just speculation, have not researched the IWC coaching history specifically.

Possibly the 2 most famous coaches to trek through Iowa Wesleyan are Hal Mumme and Mike Leach.

I had forgot that Leach was an Asst. Coach under Mumme. We never know what we might be watching in D-3. Good catch RT.

And Dana Holgorsen was their QB at Iowa Wesleyan, and assistant coach with one or both of them with stops in Valdosta State and Texas Tech. 

Hopefully, IWU can successfully navigate some troubled financial waters they currently find themselves in.  They almost closed their doors last academic year. 

[formerd3db]

dolittledog:

That is not good to hear that IWU is in some severe financial stress. I had not heard that. However, given the enrollment number, it is not all that surprising and similar to some of the other schools that are facing those circumstances and which have been mentioned by others in the course of discussion regarding that topic on these various boards ( Beloit, Earlham, , etc.) Hopefully, IWU will be able to overcome that. Yes, wishing that the new HC will have success to improve/stabilize the program.

[Baldini]

Iowa Wesleyan has hired MD Daniels as their new head football coach.

https://www.iwtigers.com/article/2670

Kiefer Price named as the Assistant Head Coach and Offensive Coordinator.

https://www.iwtigers.com/article/2700

[Baldini]

2020 schedules.

Martin Luther College

9/5      Concordia-Wisconsin
9/12    @ Wisconsin Lutheran
9/19    Westminster
9/26    @ Greenville
10/3    MacMurray
10/10  @ Minnesota-Morris
10/17  Bye
10/24  Crown
10/31  @ Northwestern
11/7    @ Iowa Wesleyan
11/14  St. Scholastica

[Baldini]

2020 schedules.

Greenville

9/5      Millikin
9/12    @ Rockford
9/19    MacMurray
9/26    Martin Luther
10/3    @ Iowa Wesleyan
10/10  @ St. Scholastica
10/17  Crown
10/24  @ Minnesota-Morris
10/31  Bye
11/7    Northwestern
11/14  @ Westminster