FB: Upper Midwest Athletic Conference

[Southfan]

Can play with St. John's.  It ended up 57-7!!! You call that playing with them.  If it was 20-7 at the end of the game then I would be praising Northwestern for their efforts but remember 4 quarters!  Face facts, Northwestern is not ready to be called a team that is at the top or even middle of DIII which I'm thinking you are hinting at....

[tbcfootball]

I want to congratulate our Trinity Bible College Lions for snapping the infamous 31-game losing streak that dates back to 2001.  New lion head coach Jim Dotson and staff have done an excellent job with the 30 players they have on their roster. 

Trinity travelled nearly 20 hours on the bus to get to Elsah, IL.  They didn't show any signs of jet lag, however, as the TBC defense stopped Principia on their opening drive.  Lion freshman Mike Anderson carried the load on their first offensive possession, capping off an 11-play, 77 yard drive with a 13 yd. touchdown run up the middle.  The lions added a second score midway through the 2nd when  quarterback Dusty Hess connected with flanker Tony Snyder for 58 yds and a TD.  Principia threatened near the end of the first half as they marched down deep into lion territory before  safety Stan Bedwell picked off a third down pass by panther quarterback Kyle Gillum.  The teams went into the locker room with a score of 12-0.

Trinity took the kickoff in the 2nd half and marched down to the panther 3 yd. line (due in part to a 37 yd. run by Snyder).  Principia put up a goal line stand, denying TBC on four straight runs up the middle.  Gillum then led his team 97 yards down the field, finishing the drive with a 13 yd. scoring strike to Ian Wightman.  The extra point attempt was no good.  Trinity's Akeem Micheli answered the panthers with a 43 yd. kickoff return to the Principia 49.  It only took Trinity three plays to score, as Anderson went 2 yds. off the right tackle for his second score of the ball game.  Hess connected with tight end Scott Rassmussen on the conversion attempt to give Trinity a 20-6 edge with 7:26 remaining in the 3rd. 

Gillum led his team to one more score in the 3rd, connecting with Schyuler Onderdonk for a 13 yd. touchdown.  The score remained 20-12 throughout the 4th quarter, until the final moments when Gillum QB sneaked the ball into the endzone with just 1:05 remaining on the clock.  For the third time of the day, Principia failed to convert on the conversion as Gillum's pass grazed off a diving receiver's hands and fell to the ground.  TBC recovered the onside kick and took a knee until the clock struck 0:00. 

Anderson led the lions on the ground with 35 carries for 179 yds and 2 TD.  Hess completed 7-13 passes for 140 yds and a TD.  The recipient of the TD pass, Snyder, finished with 5 receptions for 117 yds.

Defensively for the lions, Heston Huwa finished with 8 tackles and Andrew Snead added 7, along with 4 pass break-ups. Will Hill, Andrew Vrabel, and Mike Antunucci all had 6 tackles on the day.  Hill also had a clutch interception deep in Principia territory late in the 4th quarter.  Micheli and Rasmussen finished with 5 tackles on the day and Bedwell had 4 tackles and an INT. 

Gillum led the panther attack, completing 24-51 passes for 272 yds with 2 TD/2 INT.  He also ran for 22 yds and a score.  Onderdonk finished with 10 receptions for 121 yds and a score.  Wightman ended his day with 120 yds total offense and a TD reception.  Jeff Gibbs had 18 tackles for the panthers.  CJ Wilsnack and Steve Crump finished with 12 and 11, respectively. 


TBC's Mike Anderson ran for 179 yds and 2 TD's.

[Pat Coleman]

Thanks for checking in. How many guys on the roster this year?

[sfury]

Pat, Sounds like it's again right around 30.

[Pat Coleman]

What, you expect me to read the whole post? Apparently I skipped that sentence.

[DuffMan]

AO,
I'm generally a nice guy, but also not one to mince words.  Your logic is idiotic.  

Forced fumbles do not equal defense.  Your defense gave up an average of 5.2 yards per carry.  That is not because the Johnnies held on every play.  And it's quite obvious that you have never played football because holding on the interior line happens every play, every team.

So, you started  a new QB.  SJU was missing quite a bit, too (LB, TE, RB).

The fact of the matter is your team was beat in every aspect of that game.  Did they make some nice plays, sure they did, but to say that you were competitve in a 57-7 pounding is just plain stupid.

The only one putting SJU on a pedestal here is you.  The rest of us are being fairly reasonable.

Have a great season tearing up the UMAC.

[sfury]

Actually I missed it in the post too, Pat, just went by what I had heard.

[sfury]

And the one point about SJU going for it on a "risky" fourth down play ignores about 53 years of SJU football. They more often than not go for it on fourth down by the goal line. I remember the first time Bethel beat the Johnnies in 99, SJU going for it twice within the 10 instead of kicking the field goal. It cost them that game, but it's a fairly normal part of their games.

[AO]

Duffman, you were almost making some sense till you said "the only one putting SJU on a pedestal here is you.  The rest of us are being fairly reasonable."  I'm willing to admit my bias, but alas, I am just one man.  Seems like 99% of the posters here would pick Saint John's over any UMAC opponent simply based upon the fact that they are st. john's and have such great tradition.  They also believe that they have such superior athletes that nobody can compare to them.  I find those assumptions to be false.  I did not get to see a lot of the second half as head out to work the women's soccer game for Northwestern, but anyone who saw the 35 minutes of football that I saw could have been very convinced that on a different day, Northwestern would be on top rather than the Johnnies.  The game was far from over when it began, despite what d3football.com might think.

[Pat Coleman]

The site doesn't think. People who help run the site think, but the site itself has yet to be upgraded with any artificial intelligence modules.

Listen, AO, 35 minutes isn't an entire game. Someone who saw the 25 minutes you didn't see certainly would have gotten a vastly different impression -- one backed up by the final score.

Thankfully, the rulemakers of football have agreed upon 60 minutes as the length of a college game, sparing us the occasional flukiness. But then again, even at the 35-minute mark Northwestern was still losing.

Let's be honest, on your proverbial "different day" it's far more likely Northwestern would be down 28-7 at the end of the first and down 77-7 at the end of the game. Face facts -- you are not in the same league, both literally and figuratively.

[DuffMan]

The game was far from over when it began, despite what d3football.com might think.

Yes, it's always 0-0 with 60 minutes left at the beginning

99% of the posters would pick SJU over a UMAC opponent because most posters are quite passionate about d3 football and have been the MIAC for quite a while.  Myself, I played at SJU for 4 years, have been a rabid fan for the past 2 and change, and watched several years before I played there.  We base our predicitons on watching SJU pound Crown and NW the past couple of years, and by seeing how the rest of the MIAC teams fare against UMAC teams.  SJU has given people a reason to believe in them for a long time, no matter who the opponent.

How many d3 teams outside of the UMAC have you seen in your life?  It's tough to judge how your conference stacks up when you haven't seen teams from the MIAC, IIAC, WIAC, OAC, NWC, etc.  Pat Coleman has seen too many to count, I'm sure, and the Johnnie fans on the MIAC board have all seen their share of those teams.

And I, myself, give great respect to what the publishers of d3football.com say.  They know more of d3 football than anyone should, and do a great job of providing information to the rest of us.

[AO]

Northwestern can not be compared to Crown in terms of athletics.  You stereotype the whole conference with so little knowledge.  And in terms of WIAC, IIAC, I made the case of UW-Eau Claire only being able to gain 5 yards rushing vrs. 75 for Northwestern and Eau Claire being down 28-7 at the half I believe before Reif started to get blocked all over the place. 

Football is pretty much the last remaining sport where the UMAC has traditionally struggled winning games against the MIAC, but you can see improvements all over the place from year to year.  And of course Northwestern has been beating Hamline, Carleton and Augsburg when given the chance to play them.  Surprisingly, we are 0-4 against Macalester, but I don't really feel like the nightcap on October 8th will be much trouble for the Eagles as you probably didn't feel like we were going to give St. John's a game.  Maybe St. John's should have scheduled a Linfield or Hardin-Simmons, but I was very happy to see SJU on the schedule as we aren't going to see the gap between conferences close when we do not play each other.

[DuffMan]

You stereotype the whole conference with so little knowledge. 

I stereotype the UMAC based on seeing NW and Crown play, Trinity BC's losing streak, and Principia recently having 80 points put up on them (by some school I've never heard of, no less).  What big wins has your conference had over any ranked teams?

And what "knowledge" do you have that makes your views more valid than ours?  Had you ever seen SJU play before 2004?  And, again, have you ever seen a WIAC, IIAC, OAC, NWC, or any other team from a respected conference?  What basis do you have for saying your team (or conference) can be competitive with SJU?  Because if all your basing it on is a few fumbles and a 7-7 score in the first quarter, that's not much solid ground to be standing on.

[AO]

I'm glad you're admitting to putting SJU on a pedestal.  Trinity did break their losing streak this weekend (by beating Principia).  I can't think of any big wins over ranked teams.  Of course I couldn't really come up with any games that a umac team has played against a ranked d3 team, besides Saint John's of course. I think it might be just a few years before you do start to see maybe a Westminster or Northwestern beating a ranked team.  The real trouble in football is scheduling those programs as there what maybe 2 nonconference teams and most teams have other NAIA rivals that they traditionaly have played and such.  Maybe no team will be competitive with St. John's this year.  That doesn't mean that the UMAC is not competitive with the MIAC.  I think Northwestern, Martin Luther, Rockford or Westminster could easily be in the middle of the MIAC this year.

[Kilted Rat]

M

That doesn't mean that the UMAC is not competitive with the MIAC. I think Northwestern, Martin Luther, Rockford or Westminster could easily be in the middle of the MIAC this year.

I doubt SJU beats Hamline 57-7. The only chance NW would have of beating a MIAC team would be if Mac was still in.
I don't know about Martin Luther, Rockford, or Westminster, but if NWC is any representation, UMAC schools would be lucky to have more than 2 conference wins if they were in the MIAC>