FB: Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Ryan Coleman]

Buf, I asked a couple of groupies on the sidelines that myself when they did it and they had a good point: Since EC was making the special teams into swiss cheese, a FG was out of the question (the penalties prior were slightly in hope of getting into good FG range) and the punt was pointless as they had blocked the past three punts so try to run the ball as far up the field to give EC worse field position.

http://www.pictureprints.net/albums.php?gallery=253 Photo Gallery is up and running

UWEC loses 35-28 to SJU. 

SJU dominates the first 2 1/2 quarters using both the run and pass effectively to lead 35-7.  Blugolds then block 3 straight punts to come within 7.  SJU runs it on 4th and 25? because they were afraid to punt it again.  EC gets it down to about the 20 for the last play in which the QB tries to run for it.  What was up with that?

[padmofu]

Well fellas, out of 23 who made picks this week, 5 had perfect scores.
Going 7-0 were runningdevils, 1_for_27, 2 cents, WIAC Maniac, and stoutguy.
Here's how the rest of us looked.
6-1: Ralph E, BlueDevilBob, UDub Fever, MadDog368, blugold26, PointSpecial, and notfredfalcon
5-2: BadgerWarhawk, padmofu, blugold45, FredFalcon, voice, pastprime, Brian Carroll, and Mr. Downtown
4-3: oldpa, pville1
3-4: bulk19

[Mr. Downtown]

So is this what I am getting out of the conference so far...

Eau Claire's defense had a let down, but don't expect that type of performance the rest of the season. Also, it might be a toss up who has the better special teams, Oshkosh or Eau Claire with the Blugolds blocking 3 punts (are you serious?, what were the Johnnies practicing all week. Oh, thats right, offense...). Also, with Matt Evanson out for the rest of the year, who is going to step up and be the big play WR? That...will be very interesting and I do think that Eau Claire has some MAJOR offensive questions to answer. Perhaps they can be like Ohio St., in which there special teams and a good defense will give the Blugolds quality field possiesion so they don't have to go 70 or 80 yards down the field to score.

I have no clue what is up with Point, I thought they were a lot better then that. Yeah, it is against the number 4th team in the nation. But the game was at Point, and everybody that was at the media day conference knows that the Pointers not at all were talking about this game, but this upcoming game against Linfield. Is it possible they were overlooking the 4th team in the nation? Well, they learned there lesson, and I don't know with a defense like that if they have a chance against Linfield AT Linfield. Mark it, Point loses by 3 touchdowns in that game and starts the season 0-2.

Oh by the way...Whitewater just scored

For LaCrosse, DOMINATED by South Dakota State, a I-AA school. The Eagles only had 52 yards rushing all game. While giving up more then 350 yards (357 to be exact)! Though, the Eagles did pass for 338 yards, with Steve Tennies going 10-14, 96 yards. Though his one interception probably cost him the job, seeing that John Schumann was very impressive going 15-22, 242 yards, and a TD. I expect Schumann to be the starter, if or when Coach Terry makes the choice to go with one QB. (By the way, 10 DIFFERENT players caught a pass for LaCrosse)

oh look at that, Whitewater just scored...again

Oshkosh, Platteville, Stout wins deserve a nice golf clap. The competition was nowhere compared to EC's, SP, or LC's but hey..how can football programs like these get a chance to face those types of teams? Perhaps in the near future. Platteville's D impressed me. Oshkosh's running game and the deep passing game was nice to see, and Stout whooping on Upper Iowa was no surprise..Other then both QB's (Stokes and Tanner) threw 2 TD's a piece, and Tanner only had one incomplete pass. Jesse Wendt had a good day too, with 4 catches, 51 yards...and oh yeah 3 touchdowns receiving.

River Falls I hoped had a nice day off or a good day of practice

And finally the Whitewater game. Yeah...I don't know if there is really anything to say about that. Perhaps next year St.Norberts shows up, eh? Oh well, nice to see Derek Stanley (I thought he went to UW-Madison!) had over 100 yards catching balls, and holy cow Justin Jacobs, 12-18 for 295 yards passing and 4 TD's!!! I thought WW liked running the ball? Huh, I guess not anymore..

My player of the week is....a tie. I am giving game balls to WW QB Justin Jacobs, and the EC special teams.

[Ryan Coleman]

http://www.pictureprints.net/albums.php?gallery=253 Photo Gallery is up and running

I forgot! http://www.pictureprints.net/albums.php?gallery=252 Stevens Point vs Hardin-Simmons.

[warhawkguy]

Downtown,  Anyone mistake the Titan for the Steeler or did the new logo do the trick?

[warhawkalum]

Downtown,
As far as Derek Stanley is concerned, he never got into Madison,as over half of his claasses from UWW did not transfer. Thats what happens when your a physical education major and UW Madison dosen't have physical education.
I am glad to see him back. Hopefully Whitewater will get ebaver back, so they can run the ball as well as they throw it. Maybe The offensive coaches at UWW can go visit Bowling Green so they can score 42 points a game like BG.
Because I know that UWW dwefense will never give up 52. At least not sicne Borland took over.
Unless the offen se stinks like they did against Point in 03 when point scored 69 as UWW had like five picks thrown by thereQB's

[Freeman]

Does anyone know what is going on with Stout this year?  They moved Hinker from DT to OT and Jay Runk isn't on their roster.  I also noticed that Rob Weinstein is back for his third attempt at school.  How is he eligible to play?

[Pat Coleman]

I don' t know his specific situation but in Division III your "clock" doesn't run if you are not enrolled full-time.

[John Gleich]

Downtown,

The name of the game for how Point played in the UWSP/Hardin Simmons game was missed opportunities.  Point did NOT play very well, but they found themselves in the game in the fourth quarter (21-12) before everything fell apart.  Point had three long passes that could have/should have/ would have been long gains, but one was called back due to a lineman downfield, one was ruled incomplete because the reciever stepped out of bounds (it looked like he seemed to think he was going to have enough room, and so he non-chalantly caught the ball... with one foot out of bounds, didn't seem to make any effort to drag a foot in, etc) and one pass was dropped in the end zone (to the reciever's credit, two HSU Tigers leaped into the air to deflect it, and the ball came straight through... but that probably should have been 6).  On two of those three possessions, if my memory serves me correctly, the ball was at about midfield, and the drive resulted in a punt.  On the dropped ball in the endzone (and this wasn't the only dropped ball... I think I counted one completion in the first three or four drives, and there were plenty of catchable balls) Point settled for a field goal (their second fg... this changed the halftime score from 14-10 to 14-6).

But Point had other opportunities.  After getting stopped on SP's first offensive drive, the punt returner tried to field a punt that was getting knocked down by the wind, and he muffed it, and Point jumped on it.  That resulted in the first field goal, and could have changed the complextion of the game.

Don't think, however, that I am downplaying the performance by HSU.  They are a good, quick team.  But they are beatable, and they definately were beatable on Saturday.  They turned the ball over on 3(?) occasions and had quite a few penaties (illegal procedure, lineman downfield, personal foul) that negated good plays.  They had a good gameplan, and their speed just outdid Point.  The outside linebackers/D-ends couldn't keep their contain, and Point got beaten on play after play of HSU backs turning the corner on runs or swing passes.

Before coming to the game on Sat, I was going to be very interested to see how Point performed with so many "new" players (i.e., not the guys with much experience they've had for the last 2,3,4 years).  I think they've got a lot of growing room, and I'm not at all certain that they can grow enough in two weeks to make the Linfield game even as competitive as it was last year, let alone that I'm not certain they have the tools to win the game.

But I did see some sparks on Saturday that tells me that all hope is not lost.  They played pretty evenly with a top-notch team (for 3.5 quarters) and so perhaps they have what it takes to get it done in Oregon.

[Zmotion10 out on 2]

This game is an example of a poorly prepared team loosing to a team that would have 2 to 3 losses in the WIAC.

I dissagree, I think HSU would compete for the WIAC championship.  Several blown opportunities on the Cowboys part in this game.  Two interceptions in the redzone.  Penalties at the wrong times, this game could have been much worse for the Pointers.  Lets see how things shake out at the end of the season. 

[Josh Bowerman]

Since neither team had a game under their belt, isn't it just possible that HSU is that much better than UWSP, ddawggs?  Your comments strike me as extremely sour grapes.

I mean, it seems as if both teams made their fair share of mistakes.  The difference being that HSU capitalized on the Pointers' mistakes, and not vice-versa.

Yes, HSU is beatable.  Linfield is beatable, too.  Every team has to play hard every Saturday to get it done, though.  And, in addition to playing hard, you'd better be playing your best to get a "W" over one of the top ranked teams. 

Pat, Keith, et. al. do their homework--HSU isn't #4 for no good reason.

[warhawkguy]

Who picked St Norbert 5th in the west region?  I wish I could have gotten a case of beer on that one. 

[Josh Bowerman]

Actually, the poll is not comprised entirely of coaches, rather a mix of coaches, SID's, media members that cover DIII extensively and some folks Pat has selected for their specific knowlege. "Keith" is Keith McMillian--Pat's right-hand guy.

I'm not going to get in to which conference is better than which;  I made my point above.  Just wanted to point out that you were wrong about the D3 poll.  And I'll take the fact that you edited out the rather juvenile comment as an apology in and of itself.   

[Brian Carroll]

     The Eagles were no match for SDSU at Brookings on Saturday night. The Jackrabbits' RB was excellent, and we had no answer for their ground game. Only one of our very best UWL teams could have stayed with the 1AA 'Jacks. Let's hope for a better outcome at Howard Payne. I forsee another typical WIAC season: a dogfight for the title, and a quick exit from the playoffs.

[warhawkguy]

I know.  I saw my mistake and came back to edit it out of my post.  But you caught me before I could.  

I wasn't arguing which league was better and my comments regarding H/S's competitiveness were sincere.   I still expect Point to do well within the conference so obviously H/S would be a force to deal with.  

Though they could wear down from all the travel.