FB: Ohio Athletic Conference

[reality check]

Ha Ha

Look what Lil' Giant found for our new quarterback friend at Capital...

[cave2bens]

Ha Ha

Look what Lil' Giant found for our new quarterback friend at Capital...

Just hope his pocket moves are better than Jerry Stiller's...

[cufan]

This just in ..........Capitals quarterback of the future is Tim Breastman.

[D3 Poster]

Just saw a Vince Petruziello (wr) on Mount's roster and Mark Petruziello (qb)on JCU's.  Both from Mentor Lake Catholic...gotta' make for some interesting family meetings!

[bushman]

Well it has started already with the Assman remarks.  Even my spell checker underlines the name in red.  I am sure that this  name  will bring out new highs and lows for unadulterated / humor.   Let us all remember this young man has enough on his slate just trying to replace The Rock.  I hope he  has a good sense of humor.  I can't even imagine going through life  with that blazing  across the back of a football jersey, or drivers license, or check book , or  oh well you get the idea.  If he leads his team to victory, how  would you write a headline for the sports page,, Assman kicks butt!  You see it is even hard to write a legit caption.  Let the flood gates open.  God help us.

[ONUBearbacker]

Let's hope he went to a co-ed HS....

Imagine the turmoil of going to an All-Boys HS with a name like ASSman!

[wabashcpa]

Good thing Capital doesn't have DePauw on the schedule.  The potential QB matchup of Dick and Assman would be unfair to any broadcast team.

[SaintsFAN]

It's simply the BEST!

Like Smucker's?

don't even say his name, reality.  'los' idiots are about to come out of the woodwork for football season. 

[reality check]

Any predictions on the OAC's performance against their non-conference opponents in the first weeks of the season?

Only one of the opposing opening team's records from 2006 was below .500...Millikin.  (Yeah my Polar Bears are playing the weak link of 2006.)

The opponents' combined record from 2006 is 70-35!  There are three playoff teams from 2006 competing against OAC teams in their openers.

Could this be the year that the OAC has a losing record in the opening week? 

Wooster will play JCU tough.  MSJ will be huge challenge for Wilma.  Waynesburg is another tall task for Musky.  Etta may have the biggest challenge in the first game going up to Collegeville.  BW has to take on a tough Augie team.  Can Coach Hallett break the Berg's streak against Oberlin?  OTT will be challenged by Defiance.

Only MUC and ONU fall into the position of "comfortable favorites" for me.  At least nine of the ten openers are on OAC turf,  Waynesburg being the only non-OAC host.

[JK]

The best opener by an OAC team for the last few years, which will continue for at least another couple of years, has to be Cap-Witt.  For at least the last four years both teams have had very legitimate playoff aspirations.  Not sure how many first game match-ups feature two playoff participants from the year before that have a decent chance of making it back (of course, Witt always has a chance in the NCAC).

Also, it is one of three matchups this year in the OAC that will feature a coach vs. his alma mater, and the only one not involving MUC alumni  (the three are Collins and Cap vs. Witt, Hallett and Heidi vs. MUC, and Dean Paul and ONU vs. MUC).

I'm so ready for this season to start.  I'm pretty sure everyone acknowledges Collins is an upper-echelon D3 coach.  His record in rebuilding Cap and a few OAC coach of the year honors certainly supports that claim.  But I think everyone has questions about how Cap will respond to losing a few key players (including me, unfortunately).  I think this season will have a lot of bearing on Coach Collins' claim to "greatness." (MY Words, not his... he is as humble a guy as you would want to meet).  I think a lot of non-Cap people figure Rocky and the Hauslers had a lot to do with the Cap success the last few seasons.  I know the last time I saw Coach Collins (at Cap's OAC Championship basketball game), he was pretty excited for the upcoming season.  I can't remember exactly how he put it, but he basically acknowledged that we lost a lot of great talent, but that if people are expecting a small step back this year, they might be surprised.

Again, just like a couple of years ago, the week 1 matchup with a Witt team with playoff aspirations will be a pretty good measuring stick for the Crusaders.

5 days and a wake up until I am back in "my old Kentucky home."  Ft. Lewis is sapping my will to live... 

[reality check]

Well as I feared, Jamal Robertson was cut by the Falcons on the 8th.  He didn't even make it to the first pre-season game which I was interested in as it was going to pair two Polar Bear alumni as the Falcons lost to the Jets. 

Jason Trusnik did not record a tackle and I'm unsure of whether or not he played.

[formerd3db]

reality check:

That's too bad about Jamal.  What's going on with him?  Was he let go by his previous teams or was it that he wanted to go elsewhere and "test the waters"?  Hopefully, he can catch on with someone; and hopefully Trusnik will be kept by the Falcons.

[reality check]

Trusnik is with the Jets.

Jamal's road has been filled with many stops.  He was the NFL Europe Offensive Player of the Year in 2002.   He came back to the Niners and played primarily as a special teamer from 2002 until week eight of 2004 when he was unexpectedly waived by the Niners.  He was picked up by injury-riddled Carolina to help their depleted runiing back corps a week later and his first game with the Panthers ended up being against his former team in the Niners.  He played the entire 2005 season with Carolina and was cut on the last day of camp in 2006.  He was not picked up by Atlanta until the end of the 2006 season and was active in just one game.

He's never really "left for greener pastures".  He's signed on wherever he's been needed.  I know it's a long shot to land anywhere but with the Bengals losing Kenny Irons for the year, it would an awesome twist of fate if he could land as a free agent back in southern Ohio.

[JK]

with the Bengals losing Kenny Irons for the year, it would an awesome twist of fate if he could land as a free agent back in southern Ohio.

Speaking of twists of fate...

Not that I am a Bengals fan (I pledge my NFL alliegance to the team in black and gold in western PA), but what is it with the curse of highly drafted running backs with them?  First Ki-Jana Carter (1st rd), then Chris Perry (1st rd), and now Kenny Irons (2nd rd).  The only two to find relative safety with them are Corey Dillon and Rudi, neither of which were as highly regarded coming out of college as the three who have wrecked knees.

If I were a RB and I found out the Bengals draftedd me in one of the first couple of rounds, I might hold out until after my first pre-season.  Might be the only chance I had to keep both wheels intact.

[formerd3db]

reality:

Thanks for the follow-up (and, oops, my bad re: which team Trusnik is with ).  Keep us posted on Jamal's quest this year.