FB: Ohio Athletic Conference

[fredsdriveinn]

Hey Ric,

Did you get my emails on Sunday?

[HScoach]

tdubs:  I'm very interested in seeing how the Cap/ONU game plays out.  I really wrestled with where the spread should be on this one.  I could see a scenario where either team could win it, but Capital is exceeding my expectations, especially with all the injuries, and has to be favored at home.   Plus Cap's wins have been more impressive than ONU's.  Northern looked surprising slow against MUC.  The Bear D-line and LB's played very well at the point of attack and made Micheli move around in the pocket some, but overall they didn't scare you with their athletism on the outside.  Especially on offense. 

As most evenly matched games are, this one will probably be decided by mistakes and turnovers.  We all know Capital has a great defense and ONU's defense isn't nearly as bad as Mount made them look.  First team to double digits wins!

If ONU handles Capital at the line of scrimmage, then Mount passed their one and only regular season test 44-0. 

[Toph]

Unfortunate weekend for the OAC...what a turnaround from last week.  Heidi interupts BW's season, ONU and JCU both get taken to the woodshed.  What happened in Bexley on Saturday?  I'm surprised Carroll couldn't at least make it a little closer...

It seems the most action we're going to see this year is going to be the standard playoff creed "Mount better not overlook ____________, or they'll be in big trouble."

[reality check]

My input on the game has relied on box scores, recaps and what I've read here.  It sounded as though it was a great day for football but ONU didn't play much of it.  Kudos to the crowd as it shattered the attendance record for Dial Roberson.  I wish the things I noted in the Daily Dose Triple Take meant more in the outcome of the game.  I said Meadows would need to do better than the 11.8 running yards MUC was averaging giving up on defense and he did that, but ONU still managed to finish up in the hole as a team.  I also thought if Kmic could be contained (and 96 yards, a fumble and no scores is about as good as anyone has done against him in his collegiate career) that ONU would have a chance.  I didn't expect Wray to have 4 scores in Kmic's stead.  I wish, blowout or not, that we could have seen Garcon and Gunter go head to head just once.  It's shame it's not happened due to injury.

Oh yeah, great to see that MUC had to punt twice.  And it figures the kid has a freaking leg too, averaging 52 yards per boot.  I bet the long-snapper runs a 4.4 forty too.  Ridiculous.

I am curious for anyone who attended.  Do you think ONU forgot about RJ Meadows a bit?  He only had 16 touches in the game and only got 6 carries in the first half.  I just think the box scores looks a bit suspect when there are multiple series in the first half where Meadows didn't even touch the ball.  The turnovers admittedly killed the Bears but it seems like they went away from the bread and butter too much in the first half.

[Blutarsky]

Reality:  It seemed that when ONU got down early, they went away from Meadows and panicked a bit.  It would have been interesting to see if they could have run Meadows and controlled the clock some.  It may have stopped (slowed down?) the bleeding.  The heat during the game was oppressive.  I wondered why ONU wore their all-black uniforms.  They also warmed up in complete pads, while MUC came out in game pants and t-shirts for their initial stretching.  Bottom line, is that Mount forced ONU out of their game plan early......not uncommon for the Mount defense.  The crowd was great and it was a wonderful atmosphere for D-III.

[reality check]

Reality:  It seemed that when ONU got down early, they went away from Meadows and panicked a bit.  It would have been interesting to see if they could have run Meadows and controlled the clock some.  It may have stopped (slowed down?) the bleeding.  The heat during the game was oppressive.  I wondered why ONU wore their all-black uniforms.  They also warmed up in complete pads, while MUC came out in game pants and t-shirts for their initial stretching.  Bottom line, is that Mount forced ONU out of their game plan early......not uncommon for the Mount defense.  The crowd was great and it was a wonderful atmosphere for D-III.

Well even as good a job as the Raiders did, I wonder if I can credit MUC for getting ONU out of their game plan on their first possession of the game...

PASS for 4
INC
PASS for 3
PUNT

He didn't have a carry in the second quarter.  Not one.  And the one drive in the late first quarter that he did get five touches, they were moving the ball and eating clock; not incredibly but they were still moving. 

And ONU has worn the all-black for all three home games.  They may not wear the orange this year.  I am pretty sure the black jerseys are brand new as I don't recall orange stripes on the sleeves since the 70's/80's.

[HScoach]

RC:  You hit exactly what Ric and I were wondering about during the game.  The lack of carries for Meadows was very surprising, especially early.  We all know MUC can score in a hurry so one would expect ONU to try to keep the MUC offense on the sidelines as much as possible by controlling the ball. 

The game starts with a quick TD on Wray's 60 yd run.  ONU promptly goes 3 & out on all passes.  Not a single Meadows run, swing pass, screen, etc.  The plays weren't heavy play action fakes to RJ either.  I would have expected either a healthy dose of RJ or play action passes using him as huge decoy.

MUC then drives the field in a 14 play drive that saw them convert on 4th down to keep it alive.  Great job by the ONU defense in making Mount earn every inch, but they came up just short from stopping Mount. 

ONU's second possession went pass, RJ rush, pass, punt.  Only thing stopping MUC from a 21-0 lead in the 1st quarter was Kmic's fumble at the ONU 11 yard line.

I'm assume Coach Paul figured Mount would be geared up to stop Meadows and was trying to catch them off guard by passing, but it backfired by going 3 & out twice.  A 14 point first quarter hole and then the failed fake punt and the ball game was basically over at the 14:51 mark of the 2nd quarter.

In regards to Kmic's light day, Kehres said in the post game that Kmic wasn't feeling well and Wray was playing very well so he stuck with the hot hand.

If it helps you feel any better, please note that ONU is a very solid team and is much better than MUC made them look on Saturday.  Kehres and Co have a nasty habit of making very good teams look like Heidelberg.....oops.....can't say that anymore.....Baldwin Wallace   It was very evident that ONU had Mount's full attention and effort.  Kehres had them more than ready to play! 


Blutarski:  Great point on the black jerseys in 90 degree heat.  The home team gets to pick which color to wear, so ONU should have chosen their whites and made MUC deal with dark colors in the heat.  They further complicated things by going thru their complete pre-game in full pads.  Same exact scenario a few years ago when MUC opened vs Whitewater in 90+ heat.  WWW wears black and full gear thru warm-ups.  MUC warms up in pants and t-shirts only.  Advantage MUC.

[fredsdriveinn]

Regarding the heat...

ONU did have several team benches in the shade and the Cool Zone machines running throughout the game.  There was no cooling equipment or shade on the Mount Union sideline.

[JK]

Sorry it took me a little long to post my comments from the game this weekend.

Got to Cap around 10:30am for a 1:30 game.  Talked to Coach Welsh and Coach Collins for a bit.  They confirmed for me that Assman tore his ACL (not that I didn't believe anyone else, but I wanted first hand info).  As we know, Alexander is already done for the year.  WR Evan Blake and LB Eric Andriacco might also be out for a while.

What I saw at the game was the best Capital defense EVER.  Not even close here.  They set the tone on the first series of the game.  JCU got the opening K.O. and first play tried to run a stretch play into their sideline.  Nick Bucci absolutely blew it up for a 4 yard loss.  Next play, Cap blitzes the OLB, he goes untouched and sacks Petruziello for a 10 yard loss.  Next play, one of the Cap DL's gets to Petruziello for another sack and a 7 yd loss.  Three plays, -21 yards on the drive for JCU.

As has been mentioned repeatedly, Cap had yet to give up a TD on D until this week.  The first TD JCU scored on Saturday was on a short field against a CAP fumble.  The D actually stopped JCU in three plays, but JCU got another shot after a questionable interference penalty and capitalized.  At that point it was 7-3 JCU, and Cap, with all the injuries, etc, just kept plugging away.  They went up and down the field and JCU never really threatened the rest of the half.  Cap was settling for FG's, which some in the stands were complaining about, but I had no problem with... take the points and don't ask too much of a first time starter at QB.

This brings me to the point where I have to talk about the BEST catch I have ever seen.  Capital had a FG blocked that would have put them up 9-7 with about 3 minutes left in the first half.  JCU took over on the Cap 20, up 7-6, but truly being dominated.  Still, they had a chance to run out the clock and go into half with the lead.  They run one play, then attempt to throw across the middle.  CAP MLB Matt Heagan, running to his left, jumps into the air and reaches his right hand back to make a ridiculous one handed pick.  This gives Cap another chance at a go-ahead FG and they get this one and go in at half up 9-7.  It looked much closer than it was.  Capital's Defense was totally dominant.  The offense was getting acquainted to a new QB and other new personnel.

The second half was much the same.  I don't want to go bonkers about Matt Merritt's three rushing TD's in the second half.  It is a nice stat and he might well use it to become a weapon, but I think it was more the result of the Cap D forcing three and outs and keeping JCU's D on the field in the 90+ heat.  You could tell they were tired by about halfway through the third.

The new Cap QB, Wade Bartholomew, showed me some things.  He took care of the ball and looked real at home in the huddle and leading the team.  As he got into a rythym, he started to look pretty good.  He'll never be mistaken for Rocky or even the Assman, but he will be fine.  He is exactly what you want from a backup QB on a team with a great D... he won't do anything to lose the game.  HE'll play within himself and take what he can get.  Maybe Merritt can continue to step up and give us some balance, that will take some more of the pressure off.

By the way, James Starks is the BEST DB in the OAC, bar none.  HE got Dieon Sanders tratment on Saturday from JCU.  They didn't throw his way but once and the one he nearly picked off.  We'll see if he can cover Garcon, like we discussed earlier in a couple of weeks.

Right now, though, we need to get ready for ONU.  This might be a 14-10 kind of game with about 200 yards of total offense combined.  ONU got to the JCU QB 10 times, Cap got there 9.  That is one stat from a common opponent that really stands out.  I really see a defensive struggle, with the winner likely going to the playoffs (I think BW has been exposed and won't put up much of a fight for either).  One game at a time and all that, but I think the winner of this game finishes 9-1.

[muc-raider]

JK,
Nice post about Capital.  With a defense like that, it ought to be an interesting game when Mount plays Capital.   That has me thinking about making the trip to the game.
Thanks.

[section13raiderfan]

The last time I saw MHB was at Mt. for a playoff game .  Their defensive front looked like the Browns.

HMMMM.........is that meant as an insult or a compliment?

[JK]

Not to completely re-open the OAC vs. WIAC debate from last week, but I find it interesting that we go from 5 of 10 OAC teams in the top 25 to 4 of 8 WIAC teams in the top 25 in one week, with UWW-W and UW-L reamining in and UW-EC and UW-SP making appearances.

[HScoach]

.....This might be a 14-10 kind of game with about 200 yards of total offense combined.......One game at a time and all that, but I think the winner of this game finishes 9-1.

I agree on both points.  2 great defenses and the winner has the inside track to a playoff spot.

[ADL70]

That pick by Heagen was amazing.  And he's a 6'1 250 Soph LB! 

[seventiesraider]

By the way, James Starks is the BEST DB in the OAC, bar none. 

Sorry, I gotta stick up for Matt Kostelnik here. I haven't seen Starks yet this year, so he remains, in my book, one of the best DB's in the OAC.