FB: Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[MasterJedi]

It seems rather useless to compare stats between teams. Is it just me or has UWW been generally conservative this year? Coppage could be running for quite a bit more. We could run up the score easily in many games but Coach calls off the dogs once the game is in hand. Its the big picture, the long term game plan. Has Coppage even played in the 4th quarter yet this year? His stats and Blanchards could easily be much higher if that was what Coach L wanted, stats. It isn't. I'm good with it. Some of the teams that have outrageous stats nationally would be crushed by UWW midway in the 1st quarter, but hey, look at those stats.

As long as they win, don't get hurt and play enough so they're not gassed at the end of the 4th in close games/the playoffs I'm fine with what the coaching staff is doing. They know the players and what they need to do best.

[UniqueInsight38]

Back in the mid nineties, when I played for UW-RF, we had a tendency to be up by a lot of points by halftime.  We would play the back-ups alot in the second half.  This helped by rebuilding internally through giving them playing time.  Their experience and confidence grew each week.  Then when one of the starters went down or it was their turn to start the next year, they fit right in.

With the talent at UWW, when you can get the back-ups playing time, it only builds for the future.  It will only make it harder for the rest of the WIAC to catch up. 

As a fan of UW-RF, I can relate to UWW but hate that it will only make it harder for them to catch up.

[badgerwarhawk]

While it's been beneficial to play the backups often one can't overlook the benefit of having played deep into the playoffs for the past six years.  The WARHWAKS have played 30 additional games over that stretch and countless additional practices.  That is essentially three additional seasons and all that time practicing really helps develop depth and certainly has been a factor in why someone like Lee Brekke can step in and perform when Matt Blanchard goes down or Antwan Anderson fills in for Coppage and we hardly miss a beat. 

[WarhawkDad]

It seems rather useless to compare stats between teams. Is it just me or has UWW been generally conservative this year? Coppage could be running for quite a bit more. We could run up the score easily in many games but Coach calls off the dogs once the game is in hand. Its the big picture, the long term game plan. Has Coppage even played in the 4th quarter yet this year? His stats and Blanchards could easily be much higher if that was what Coach L wanted, stats. It isn't. I'm good with it. Some of the teams that have outrageous stats nationally would be crushed by UWW midway in the 1st quarter, but hey, look at those stats.

Looking at Dubuque stats is very nice. Its great to see Stan getting his team playing well and I wish him the best luck. I played for the man, his intensity was off the charts. I never had a coach like that. I really liked him. However, there is no doubt that Leipold came to town with some tremendous experience that certainly is paying off. I think long term the Hawks are best with Leipold. Coach Z is no slouch either, but the Hawks are in the most capable hands.

WarhawkGuard

My observation from attending almost all the games, including the away games, is that the coaches know we are a young team and there is a great degree of rotation occuring, especially on defense.  At running back, Desmin Ward is getting a series here and there until the late third or early 4th quarter, depending on lead, and then he is in, until the third and 4th string running backs get their chance.  At QB, Brekke gets in the 4th quarter of most games.   There has even been some significant rotation on the O-Line, especially when Olson was dinged up at River Falls.  Lastly, on two separate occassions, if my memory is accurate,  this year the offense has gone to the victory formation in the red zone at the end of the game ( a classy thing to do) rather than run up the score. 

WarhawkDad

[02 Warhawk]

It seems rather useless to compare stats between teams. Is it just me or has UWW been generally conservative this year? Coppage could be running for quite a bit more. We could run up the score easily in many games but Coach calls off the dogs once the game is in hand. Its the big picture, the long term game plan. Has Coppage even played in the 4th quarter yet this year? His stats and Blanchards could easily be much higher if that was what Coach L wanted, stats. It isn't. I'm good with it. Some of the teams that have outrageous stats nationally would be crushed by UWW midway in the 1st quarter, but hey, look at those stats.

Looking at Dubuque stats is very nice. Its great to see Stan getting his team playing well and I wish him the best luck. I played for the man, his intensity was off the charts. I never had a coach like that. I really liked him. However, there is no doubt that Leipold came to town with some tremendous experience that certainly is paying off. I think long term the Hawks are best with Leipold. Coach Z is no slouch either, but the Hawks are in the most capable hands.

WarhawkGuard

My observation from attending almost all the games, including the away games, is that the coaches know we are a young team and there is a great degree of rotation occuring, especially on defense.  At running back, Desmin Ward is getting a series here and there until the late third or early 4th quarter, depending on lead, and then he is in, until the third and 4th string running backs get their chance.  At QB, Brekke gets in the 4th quarter of most games.   There has even been some significant rotation on the O-Line, especially when Olson was dinged up at River Falls.  Lastly, on two separate occassions, if my memory is accurate,  this year the offense has gone to the victory formation in the red zone at the end of the game ( a classy thing to do) rather than run up the score. 

WarhawkDad

Great point...Lance has been doing this over the past few years now.

[warhawkguard]

Back in the mid nineties, when I played for UW-RF, we had a tendency to be up by a lot of points by halftime.  We would play the back-ups alot in the second half.  This helped by rebuilding internally through giving them playing time.  Their experience and confidence grew each week.  Then when one of the starters went down or it was their turn to start the next year, they fit right in.

With the talent at UWW, when you can get the back-ups playing time, it only builds for the future.  It will only make it harder for the rest of the WIAC to catch up. 

As a fan of UW-RF, I can relate to UWW but hate that it will only make it harder for them to catch up.

Hey Dude,
Did you know Glen Woychik when you were there? Old buddy of mine when I was there my Freshman year.
Travis

[UniqueInsight38]

Travis,

I played 1992-1996.  What position did he play?  What years did Glenn W. Play?

Woody

[emma17]

It seems rather useless to compare stats between teams. Is it just me or has UWW been generally conservative this year? Coppage could be running for quite a bit more. We could run up the score easily in many games but Coach calls off the dogs once the game is in hand. Its the big picture, the long term game plan. Has Coppage even played in the 4th quarter yet this year? His stats and Blanchards could easily be much higher if that was what Coach L wanted, stats. It isn't. I'm good with it. Some of the teams that have outrageous stats nationally would be crushed by UWW midway in the 1st quarter, but hey, look at those stats.

Looking at Dubuque stats is very nice. Its great to see Stan getting his team playing well and I wish him the best luck. I played for the man, his intensity was off the charts. I never had a coach like that. I really liked him. However, there is no doubt that Leipold came to town with some tremendous experience that certainly is paying off. I think long term the Hawks are best with Leipold. Coach Z is no slouch either, but the Hawks are in the most capable hands.

WarhawkGuard

My observation from attending almost all the games, including the away games, is that the coaches know we are a young team and there is a great degree of rotation occuring, especially on defense.  At running back, Desmin Ward is getting a series here and there until the late third or early 4th quarter, depending on lead, and then he is in, until the third and 4th string running backs get their chance.  At QB, Brekke gets in the 4th quarter of most games.   There has even been some significant rotation on the O-Line, especially when Olson was dinged up at River Falls.  Lastly, on two separate occassions, if my memory is accurate,  this year the offense has gone to the victory formation in the red zone at the end of the game ( a classy thing to do) rather than run up the score. 

WarhawkDad

WarhawkDad (and anyone else that has seen the games) I'm going to ask some tougher questions/ make comments for discussion about the team as it stands today.  (Now let me just say I hope this doesn't go the way of my post saying I believe a loss can do a team good- I still love UWW). 
I am with everyone 100% on the fact that UWW has substituted a lot of players (a good thing) and that the play calling is not designed to bury a team.
That said, here are some concerns that I don't think I had last year:
1.  Penalties (so much to be said for why they happen).
2.  DB's getting beat for long yardage (TD's and long plays).  I didn't think this would be an issue this year given the returnees.
3.  Pressure on Blanchard
4.  Punt Return (several bad decisions, and if you remember, one occurred in the Stagg Bowl last year).
5.  Not as many receivers catching passes as I thought there would be (Morris, Howard and Covington without many catches).
6.  Huber seems to be the big play guy, but can he or any of the receivers replace what Brandes did for the team (he was incredible at jump ball type catches)?
7.  Missed tackles by safeties.
8.  And for next year, we don't have an underclassmen getting significant carries at running back.   
9.  Very few sacks for Minnet

[emma17]

"A trick play is when the center hikes the ball to the quarterback who then huddles with two other offensive players until one of them emerges with the ball.  They don't necessarily tuck the ball under their jersey but that's a trick play."

Wasn't there a pro football player that said something to the effect "I'd just tackle the whole pile and throw them out until I found the one with the ball"?

Deacon Jones?

Found it (#8)- along with some other funny quotes. One of my favorites:  82."You guys line up alphabetically by height."   
http://www.footballbabble.com/football/nfl/quotes/

[WarhawkDad]

Let me take a shot at a reply:

1.  Penalties (so much to be said for why they happen).  Check the last couple years, we are always have more penalties than opposition.  Somehow we get act together when we need to do so.
2.  DB's getting beat for long yardage (TD's and long plays).  I didn't think this would be an issue this year given the returnees. Good point, there have been a 4 long plays that I recall.  Sometimes an over agressive defense will have that happen, especially when keying on the run.   Two happened versus Platteville, the first when we had a blitz called and the QB miraculously got the ball off and the corner slipped, the second also when the corner fell down.  Against, Stout, flat out errors.  Those two bothered me more than Platteville.   UWW did have second string safeties and outside linebackers in when those two plays occured
3.  Pressure on Blanchard It is a risk-reward thing.  The pressure has been due to blitzes, typically more than one player blitzing  which occasionally has resulted in more pressure, but also resulted in big plays for Warhawks when Blanchard hits Huber or Menzel or Ford.
4.  Punt Return (several bad decisions, and if you remember, one occurred in the Stagg Bowl last year). No more than any other team.  Players want to make plays.  Covington probably got a pretty stern lecture after the fumble in River Falls - he never should have even tried to field the ball.
5.  Not as many receivers catching passes as I thought there would be (Morris, Howard and Covington without many catches).How many players other than Brandes and Rusch were thrown to regularly last year?  Not many....we spread the ball around more now than last year.
6.  Huber seems to be the big play guy, but can he or any of the receivers replace what Brandes did for the team (he was incredible at jump ball type catches)?You do not replace a Brandes! but Huber is more explosive and very fast.  Menzel is the possession route running receiver and he has made some acrobatic catches, especially against Stout.
7.  Missed tackles by safeties.Would be nice to get Hamilton back in the line-up but other than Stout, I think they have played well.
8.  And for next year, we don't have an underclassmen getting significant carries at running back.   Desmond Ward is a junior and there are backs behind him.  Who got the extra carries last year?  Stanley and Anderson were both Seniors.
9.  Very few sacks for Minnet  True, but he is playing on rushing downs as well and is now a known factor.  As a Freshman he was unknown and told to just rush the quarterback.  Now he has to contain the end and play both run and pass.  He no longer flies under the radar.

Those are my thoughts.  To some degree this relates back to my expectations post after the River Falls game.   After National Championships 3 out of 4 years many UWW fans think that each year should pick-up where the other left off.  Well , there will be growing pains and transitions that have to occur and even with that UWW has still found ways to win and win convincingly.

Thanks for asking!

[skunks_sidekick]

WOW...and he played for UWW?  If you UWW posters think this guy is FOR you........hmmm.....not so much.

Emma...please please please.....stay off the OAC board.  Your comments regarding Easterbrook and what it meant were so far out of reality it's ridiculous.  The POINT that one of the other posters was trying to make was IF UWW wins at the level that Mount has for the last 17 years, they will have to endure STUPID blurbs in articles as Mount has for the last ten years. 

"They should move up to D-II"......."They should PLAY more D-II schools" (Mount has ONE non-conference game)....."It's horrible how they run up the score on teams" (LK is the epitome of class...will take a knee no matter what).....

THAT'S the point Emma........get it???

Maybe your agenda is to stir things up....that's great....I hope that works for you.  Your claims are ridiculous....your attempt to cause a stir (even amongst your own so-called brethren) is obvious....please stop...or wait....please don't....it's all good.   

[BoBo]

I know of several people, myself included, who wouldn't mind seeing a WHITEWATER/DUBUQUE matchup in the post season.

A couple weeks ago this was going to be my follow-up "WHAT IF...?" to the Adrian "WHAT IF...?  But, I felt the odds of it happening were a much greater 'WHAT IF...?" because the West Region is so loaded once again with undefeated teams. WW would probably be moved to the region formally known as North, currently named "The North Central Region"    After this week, however, the chances will increase that WW stays in the old West Region since one unbeaten will be eliminated when Bethel beats St. Thomas, as at least 1 astute prognosticator, looking to pick up 2 points on the field, has predicted on the WIAC pickem (  ).

[WarhawkDad]

Emma

Skunks makes a good point.  I went over the OAC Board and read through things.  Looks like you are purposefully trying to rile people up on both Boards    Interestingly enough, the WIAC Board and the OAC Board members seem to get along pretty well, a significant amount of mutual respect has developed over the years.   So, is there a method to your madness?     a desired outcome ?    or are you just having fun.   

WarhawkDad

[BoBo]

WarhawkDad (and anyone else that has seen the games) I'm going to ask some tougher questions/ make comments for discussion about the team as it stands today.  (Now let me just say I hope this doesn't go the way of my post saying I believe a loss can do a team good- I still love UWW). 
I am with everyone 100% on the fact that UWW has substituted a lot of players (a good thing) and that the play calling is not designed to bury a team.
That said, here are some concerns that I don't think I had last year:
1.  Penalties (so much to be said for why they happen).
2.  DB's getting beat for long yardage (TD's and long plays).  I didn't think this would be an issue this year given the returnees.
3.  Pressure on Blanchard
4.  Punt Return (several bad decisions, and if you remember, one occurred in the Stagg Bowl last year).
5.  Not as many receivers catching passes as I thought there would be (Morris, Howard and Covington without many catches).
6.  Huber seems to be the big play guy, but can he or any of the receivers replace what Brandes did for the team (he was incredible at jump ball type catches)?
7.  Missed tackles by safeties.
8.  And for next year, we don't have an underclassmen getting significant carries at running back.   
9.  Very few sacks for Minnet

1.  Penalties.  EVERY UWW fan has comment ad nauseam over the last few years about the number of penalties the Warhawk's have accumulated - how it routinely made a 75 yd drive seem much longer because of all the penalties. Rounded off, the number of penalties/gm is 7 in '11 ('10 6/gm, '09 5/gm) - opponents penalties are 5/gm, 4/gm, 4/gm over the same period. Totally agree with what WarhawkDad stated. The numbers drop as the season goes on.
2.  DB's getting beat.  I think it reflects the better teams we have faced this year, especially in non-conference.  La Crosse, Franklin, and Campellsville as a group are certainly better than Dickinson St, Midland Luth. and Puget Sound in '09 and Adrian, Dakota St and Campbellsville last year.  Coming out of the non-conference games in '09 & '10 we weren't tested much. That said, when you don't give up many TD's through the air (avg of 1/gm the last 3 seasons), the ones that stand out are the ones someone gets beat - and even the best DB's at any level are going to get beat occasionally. Not having McCollum this year is a big loss to the defense. He had a heck of a Stagg Bowl last year. He was the quarterback of the defense.
4.  Punts.  Seems like Covington is real anxious to simply field a punt and run with it. Most of the punts this year seem to be short, angled away from him, or in one way or another uncatchable. Funny you brought up the punts in the Stagg Bowl last year. Looking at the stats, it illustrates one thing - Mount punted 7 times 33.7/avg - 2 out-of-bounds, 3 downed, 1 fair catch, 1  -2 return. What was the problem you speak of? I don't remember.
5. Not as many receivers catching passes as I thought there would be.  Did you think this before or after word got out that Cory Robinson was returning? He caught 18 in '09 including 1 in the Stagg Bowl from Donovan. He has 12 already in 6 games. Jason Ford has nearly 3 times the receptions through 6 games than he did all of last season (15 vs 6). He is replacing Novak who caught 15 in 14 games. Same goes for Bernie Tamsett - he has 12 catches in 6 games this year; he had 6 all of last year. I think the receivers have been a bright spot; there is better distribution than ever before when you really look at the numbers. There's been less drops, too.

As with the other items, I agree with what WarhawkDad said.

[emma17]

I guess I'm either trying to rile people up- or people have really, really thin skin when it comes to talking about their teams.

If you feel my post on this site regarding concerns/areas that need work was meant to "rile people up"- get real or get out of the purple haze.  This is a message board for talking football, it's not the UWW a$$ kissing page.  Our corners also got beat for two long touchdown passes vs Campbellsville.  Covington fielded a very dangerous punt in the Stagg Bowl in the 4th quarter.  We learned in 2005 and 2006 that talent alone doesn't win the Stagg, it's execution and playing smart that are equally important.  Can we not talk about areas of the team that need to improve, or is that only subject matter that can be discussed in private or by the coaching staff. Am I leaking a top secret message to the enemy by letting them know UWW might have some work to do?  I'm not a fan because I want to see UWW improve? Give me a break. 

As for bringing OAC crap onto this board, to you WarhawkDad I say- read it again, but this time from a different perspective.  Mt gets scorched in a newspaper article and I post a message that says it's not Mt's fault for winning 28 conference games by 35 points or more since 2007- it's the rest of the conference's fault.  That's riling people up intentionally?  I was defending Mt for cripes sake. 

To those who continue to mischaracterize what I say or pretend to know I have some devious plot in mind, maybe you need to look inside first and decide if you might just be a little over sensitive and lacking a willingness to step back and look at things a bit more objectively. 

Lastly, is someone like Skunks ever, ever attacked one of you on this board, I sure as hell wouldn't join arms with him.