FB: Ohio Athletic Conference

[theaprof]

Let me precede my comments here by pointing out that I attend all of the home games, an occasional away game, and have attended five of the Stagg Bowls.  I also yell, a lot. I am definitely a fan.

But many people here at the college are not fans.  Especially many of the students.  They feel that the football program gets too much attention, they are upset by the whole "breakfast of champions" publicity and recruiting program that they feel is just a thinly disguised-"come to school here because we have great football" program.

This week's school paper, "The Dynamo", has an article about how they feel that only the winning programs seem to get any financial support from the school.  They point to fancy new scoreboards to replace functioning scoreboards, when there are non functioning scoreboards that really need to be replaced, etc.

I am not saying that they are right, but it is their perception.  I have also heard students say, on a number of occasions, that they don't go to the games because the outcome is a forgone conclusion.  They find the games boring.

I don't know how we change those feelings and perceptions.  Certainly a move away from the "School of Champions" would be a start.

[ace]

        It is a odd situation at Mount. Where I have season tickets there is a lot of cheering. I do notice a lot of complacenecy throughout the stadium though.
         One sure can't fail to notice the large amount of elderly fans at the games. This is really awesome, but not the energy level one   might want at a game.
          In the 4 years I have been attending away games, I noticed Mount, many times, has more fans than the home team. Everyone loves a winner, most of us love Mount.
           I guess the "expect to win" philosophy is good for the players and not the fans?

[MountFan08]

I am not saying that they are right, but it is their perception.  I have also heard students say, on a number of occasions, that they don't go to the games because the outcome is a forgone conclusion.  They find the games boring.

theaprof

That is exactly right.  Students do find the games boring.  But Mount has a program that competes for a championship year in and year out.  As far as I'm concerned that's something to be proud of.  I was extremely disappointed with last Saturday's turnout from the students.  I know it was cold and miserable, but it was one weekend where the game was not going to be a forgone conclusion.  People always talk about how important homefield advantage is and to have the support of the fans behind you and not be in a hostile environment.  I can tell you this, ONU's fans were the loudest I've seen this year at home or on the road.  It was almost as if they had the homefield advantage. And for that I give them a lot of credit. 

[redman04]

• Everyone vote Brett Elliott for Heisman

Did everybody see this on the front page?  If not check it out and vote!  It could do nothing but help DIII football.

[CamCat]

Thank you redman04,

Re: Your vote counts, Brett Elliott for Heisman

Here is a link to the D III Daily Dose:
http://www.d3football.com/dailydose/?p=129

Doesn't this benefit all of us in D III when one of us gets nationwide press at this level? Be sure to let us in the West know when we can reciprocate for you.

[pios]

When I was playing, I don't really remember much student support from any of the OAC schools.  Maybe it is hard to pick out the student section, but unless it was homecoming or a cross town rival, I don't really recall any place that had a good student following.  Capital did have the drunk guys that lived in the house by the stadium, they were just plain annoying and vulgar.  If anyone has other thought I wouldn't mind hearing them, but I just can't recall one school that had a student following, at least not when we were in town.

[Toph]

How about the big games in the OAC this week-
Capital/ONU- Capital can play spoiler, a win for Da Bears virtually assures a playoffs spot (but anything can happen).
Otterbein/JCU- Two teams that don't like each other, a member of the Otterbein coaching staff came up after the shutout last year and said "Well, it's not 73-0, but it'll do."  You know JCU wants revenge for that, and to keep their playoff hopes alive.
Mount/BW- I almost feel sorry for the Brown and Gold Jackets.  After the loss to ONU, Mount will probably borrow a saying from the PBears and "Leave No Doubt."  "39 consecutive non-losing seasons" just doesn't have the same ring to it, does it (and that's far from guaranteed!)?

[redman04]

I know that I'm the farthest thing from an expert on Mt. Union, but I thought that they had great fans when we were there last year.  They were very supportive and very much into the game. I was impressed to see the whole town behind them the way they were.  I guess that is what you get when you have a winning tradition like Mt. has. 

Just an outsider's view

[MountFan08]

redman04

Mount does have good support from the city of Alliance.  The problem, as I see it, is that they are not very vocal.  They have become so accustomed to winning and usually winning by large margins that excitement isn't a part of their routine.  This weekend was disappointing because it was a close game and the fans didn't do too much to help the team get back in the game.  I believe that ONU's fans were about 10x louder than all the Mount fans there despite being greatly outnumbered.

[skunks_sidekick]

Anytime you have a team that wins all the time (usually by a large margin), or loses all the time (insert Hiram here), fan apathy is going to be commonplace.  Mainly from the student body who really don't follow the details of the games.  It's the season ticketholders that follow the team much closer, and although there are some great fans at Mount, there really is what seems like an unusual amount of elderly fans.  I think they are just happy to there sucking air for one more day at their wonderful alma mater.

Another huge rival game this Friday has New Philly traveling to Dover to for their 101st meeting.  Imagine two towns that total about 27,000 in population, that produce 7000 screaming fans for the big game.  It's a mini version of Massillon/McKinley.  Both teams need a win to secure playoff spots.  This is what makes Ohio high school football so special.  

One other thought.  I wonder if LK makes any personnel, or strategic adjustments after last week's game.  Will we see Mason?  Have I missed it or does Mount seem to never throw to the tight end?

[MountFan08]

skunks_sidekick

Mount doesn't throw to the tight end this year because this year they use the spread offense.  Lots of three and four wide receiver sets.  It's just goes to show that Mount adjusts to the personnel they have.  Besides do you really need a tight end when you have receivers like Garcon and Casto?

[cufan]

My take on this weekend...Cap will beat ONU,  JCU will beat the Otters in a close game and MU will score as much as they want vs BW.  BW's D was not that bad but the offense is just awful.   A RB moving to QB at BW...come on!!!!!  My hope is that Cap runs the table and gets into the playoffs.  They played poorly for 2 quarters this year and IMOP deserve to get in if they win out.

Bad news for the rest of the OAC...rumor has it that both Hausler's will return next season for their 4th year of eligibility.

[reality check]

Toph

So JCU wants revenge for a coach that called them out for running up the score in 2002?!?!?

That makes total sense.  OTT wanted revenge for a 73-0 blowout in their house in 2002 and got some happiness out of a 31-0 shutout over you in their house in 2004.  Your Streaks ran it up on an outmanned Otter team in 2002.  OTT was justified in wanting revenge for that blow-out.  You guys should try and take that same attitude into Alliance next year when you play the Raiders.  Saying your Streaks want revenge on a team that wanted revenge for JCU's actions in the first place is pretty weak.

Basically you have two teams that don't like losing to each other (or getting shut out for that matter).  Imagine that.  So you as best i can tell, you have TWO NORMAL FOOTBALL TEAMS.  ohiofootball, still got that Mr. Obvious Trophy sitting around?

[skunks_sidekick]

MF - YES, you do.  And I thought Campbell was a decent one.  At least he showed some skills earlier on.  It has always been a weapon for Mount, and I am guessing they SURE could have used the tight end last Saturday.  Just a thought.

[HScoach]

....there really is what seems like an unusual amount of elderly fans.  I think they are just happy to there sucking air for one more day at their wonderful alma mater.

DING DING DING.  WE HAVE A WINNER!

The impact of the 75 and over club sitting on the home side can not be underestimated.  Half of those folks don't even know who has the ball.  That's why my season tickets since 1995 are on the open side.


I would love to see the noise level as it was in 1993 when we were all riding the wave toward a championship that all of us thought was a "once in a lifetime" event.  Well, guess what.  The winning has become expected.  I can remember planning the trip to the 93 Stagg as something "we had to do".  Not "we wanted to do".  WE HAD TO!  This was an out-of-body experience that we were sure would never happen again and we'd never forgive ourselves if we missed it.  The feeling was the same riding home after the game.  Couldn't believe they did it.  Convinced we'd never see a QB like Ballard, a WR like Bubonics or a team like that again.  But along comes guys like Borchert, Smeck, Kershner, Knestrick, Gollate, Marino, Moore, Pugh, J Hall, etc, etc, etc and the winning has become expected.

For those of us that were around for the 1993 Stagg Bowl, how many can remember the articles and press coverage leading up to the game?  The theme was "Little Mount Union plays Big Bad Rowan".  In fact that was how ESPN lead into the game and I have it on tape.  Talking about how MUC was just this little liberal arts school in small town Ohio with 1200 students paying big bucks attend it and how in the world would they compete against Rowan with their thousands of students, cheap tuition and D1 athletes?  Well, MUC did just fine.  Fast-forward 10 years later and it's now Mount that is the bully on the block and all of D3 wonders how can we compete versus Big Bad MUC with all the D1 players??  Time changes and so do perceptions & expectations.  Along with that is the fans perspective and expectations too.  Look at the 2 most successful major league baseball teams over the last decade plus (Atlanta and New York).  Both consistently win, and both couldn't sell out their stadiums while you couldn't find a seat in the mid-90's at stadiums where the teams had newfound success like Cleveland and Colorado.  It's just the nature of the beast.


I think Theaprof was the one to bring it up, but there is a large percentage of the students who resent the football team.  I have some friends who's kids that have attended MUC and the consensus is that unless you're on the football team, you're nobody.  Therefore the kids HATE the program and everything associated with it, especially the athletes playing the other sports.  They're jealous of the attention the FB players get.  They're jealous of the attention the college gets because of the football program.  And their only way of expressing their distaste is to ignore it.  Back when the winning started in the early/mid-90's, the students were proud of the football team and enjoyed the attention they got.  Now it's just resentment and jealousy.