FB: Ohio Athletic Conference

[Small but Slow]

People who know football know MUC and LK.  The summer between my junior and senior year in high school I first heard of MUC through a recruiting letter.  185 miles from my home town and I had never heard about the college or football team until that day.  25 years later and @1200 miles from the campus I can't go many places wearing a Mount t-shirt or cap where someone doesn't make a comment about the football team.  

[Welcome to the Machine]

Bleedpurple

I agree with you about common opponents. But both teams know alot about each other.  It appears that passing defense may be the key. Statitics are a great tool for compiling what is seen and tendancies but they don't measure intangables such as heart and motivation. Both teams are evenly matched and it may come down to unseen factors. I look forward to the contest. I wish the game was sooner than Saturday.

[reality check]

sbs

I was with you on the criticism of these arrogant know-nothings until you threw "100,000" and "Tennessee" into the equation.  With a wife who's a UT alum, I can say for sure that this year there weren't 100,000 more people in the stands to watch the Vols get pasted by Wyoming or whomever else they could think of losing to. 

raiderfan1983

I do think that fact is hilarious but I didn't want to harp on it for fear of piling on.  But yeah I laughed when I saw that.

[mtfan]

ROFLMAO!!  Hurf's problem is, he was 3 rounds into the beers before the training began on friday night!  well either that or he was playing a version of the Musberger game that JK referred to during the Cavs game and was having to take a drink every time LeBron scored! 

and yes HURF, I think the was HsCoach that had all that purple gear, lol, didn't he wear those boots at friday nigth's training session?

Does anyone else find it hysterical that HURF has that fancy flashing picture under his name (very impressive by the way) but struggles so mightily with the quoting?

LOL, well there's a story behind that i'm sure HURF can tell you! 

[runyr]

Bleedpurple

I agree with you about common opponents. But both teams know alot about each other.  It appears that passing defense may be the key. Statitics are a great tool for compiling what is seen and tendancies but they don't measure intangables such as heart and motivation. Both teams are evenly matched and it may come down to unseen factors. I look forward to the contest. I wish the game was sooner than Saturday.

WTTM,
You're spookin' me out with those "unseen factors."  Are you saying somebody might be calling in dead relatives to trip up the opponent?  Which gives me an idea, what about projecting a hologram of Nate Kmic on one side of the field, then running the play toward the opposite side.  That could work.  I don't think it's addressed in NCAA rules yet and CNN has done it (see link below).  It could be as revolutionary as the forward pass.
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/11/04/forget-the-magic-wall-cnn-now-has-holograms/

Note to Coach Kehres:  Please see link above. 

[Small but Slow]

RC - Point well taken.  UT is a bad example, Michigan probably is as well.  I just get worn out by the lemmings led around by their wallets by the "big time" programs and the media that supports it.

Stats are not as black and white to evaluate as everyone thinks so I don't get caught up in them too much.  To me it's about match-ups.  Coaches know where the match up is in their favor and where they are at a disadvantage.  I expect the MUC pass "D" to improve.  It actually looked a bit better in the fourth quarter against Wheaton.  Offensively MUC will have to be two dimensional.  Once the wind took UMHB's passing game out the UWW "D" only had to focus on the run and they are formidable up front.

[jaypeter]

People who know football know MUC and LK.  The summer between my junior and senior year in high school I first heard of MUC through a recruiting letter.  185 miles from my home town and I had never heard about the college or football team until that day.  25 years later and @1200 miles from the campus I can't go many places wearing a Mount t-shirt or cap where someone doesn't make a comment about the football team.  

I know just what you mean.  I was wearing my shirt here in North Carolina, and somebody made a comment about "now THAT'S a good football program.  The most wins in the last 10 years of anybody in college football."  He said that to his friend as I was passing by.  When I stopped to ask how he knew, he just said anybody who knows college football should know about Mount Union.

A few years before, the second time I met this one guy when I was living in Austin, he found out I was from Mt. Union, and he got so excited to meet someone from the school.  And this is someone who is a third generation season ticket holder for Alabama.  

Mount Union definitely has a reputation, but don't be surprised when you start hearing Whitewater in some of the same random conversations.

[Acky]

Terry Pluto has a very nice article about Greg Micheli in today's Plain Dealer.
Once again Terry shows his enjoyment of Mount Union and Division 3 Football.

[HScoach]

ROFLMAO!!  Hurf's problem is, he was 3 rounds into the beers before the training began on friday night!  well either that or he was playing a version of the Musberger game that JK referred to during the Cavs game and was having to take a drink every time LeBron scored! 

and yes HURF, I think the was HsCoach that had all that purple gear, lol, didn't he wear those boots at friday nigth's training session?

Does anyone else find it hysterical that HURF has that fancy flashing picture under his name (very impressive by the way) but struggles so mightily with the quoting?

I think we should going to send HurfMUC back to the remedial class.

And the whole bowling discussion was quite funny.   Purple is truly a fashion statement.  And all of those that know me realize I'm all about fashion

[bleedpurple]

Article posted on the Milwaukee Journal Sentinal website on UWW football:

http://www.jsonline.com/sports/statecolleges/36277799.html

[HScoach]

Small but Slow is right.  It's all about the match-ups.

Which is exactly why I'm concerned going into this game.  Whitewater's size and strength along both lines of scrimmage and their ability to pound the ball between the tackles is the worst possible match-up for this Mount team.   

And before you look at the stats too much, remember that Whitewater plays in a deeper conference than the OAC and there aren't any really crappy teams like Marietta, Muskingum, Wilmington, etc to pad their stats against like Mount has.  Plus the OAC has been down the last couple years which makes the stats even more slanted.   

[footballfan413]

Small but Slow is right.  It's all about the match-ups.

Which is exactly why I'm concerned going into this game.  Whitewater's size and strength along both lines of scrimmage and their ability to pound the ball between the tackles is the worst possible match-up for this Mount team.   

And before you look at the stats too much, remember that Whitewater plays in a deeper conference than the OAC and there aren't any really crappy teams like Marietta, Muskingum, Wilmington, etc to pad their stats against like Mount has.  Plus the OAC has been down the last couple years which makes the stats even more slanted.   

Not to mention their run through, what is considered by many a weaker 4th ranked East Region, if the stats include all 14 games.  I know that the West and South were flipped this year as it was believed that the West was down a little but with UWW in the title game, that seems to have be an incorrect assumption. Whitewater had to beat D-3footballs #5 and #6 on the road to get to this game.   I agree with you, wouldn't put too much stock in the stat lines of these two teams right now.

[footballfan413]

Well, you can smite me all you want but just stating some facts.   

[SaintsFAN]

And the whole bowling discussion was quite funny.   Purple is truly a fashion statement.  And all of those that know me realize I'm all about fashion

hscoach, I know your "fashion sense" doesn't look as bad as when I showed up in jeans and a long-sleeved tshirt... only to have my broadcast partner show up in a freaking suit. 

You guys only met me once, I'm a simpleton.... when hscoach told me what he wore to the pressbox I was happy...

[seventiesraider]

No argument that by getting sent to another region we became the Beast of the Least, but Cortland and Wheaton were quality opponents and working strictly on strengths it is easy to compare schedules even without common opponents. St Xavier and Puget Sound make up for our games against Marietta and Muskingium. River Falls and Lacrosse line up fairly well against  Heidelburg and Wilmington.  St Xavier lost to Malone and they are right down the road from Mount  and hardly a football power.

I look at stats more to show tendancies. I'm sure somebody had Wheaton's national rank in pass defense in mind when Mount came out in 4 and 5 receiver sets after the half.  There are things every team does well and not so well. I'd be a fool not to give the nod to the Minnesota and Wisconsin conferences for being stronger top to bottom, but it's not that overwhelming.