FB: Ohio Athletic Conference

[tdubs]

I second the Noleburg comment!lol.......Bailey's Bandits.....Blue Angels!!!!!lol...Who's all going to the game on Saturday? I heard Mount allotted Cap 1,500 tickets.

[e_lee]

Once again, Tdubs, thanks.  Forgot about "Bailey's Bandits" and "Blue Angles".  Although I am wondering how much room I have to laugh, because I think if I yelled them out I would probalby sound just like him.  In fact around here my high pitched call of "JV Oline" gets imitated quite often.

You remember freshman or sophomore year before our JV game with BW when he came down into the locker room yelling "What time is it?" and a few people looked atheir watches and gave him the actual time and everyone else just sat there and looked at him? That was great. 

[Ajwassup]

I think that the loss to ONU is helping MUC.  They know that they are beatable but now are trying to forget that loss and proving that the loss was a fluke by winning another National Championship.

[OU#25]

I don't think the loss to ONU was a fluke on that particular day.  As a Mount fan I can say that ONU deserved the win from my perspective in the stands.  That being said...I think the loss re-focused Mount and in some ways took a little heat off of them.  Nobody outside of Ohio expected much out of the OAC after that loss and Capital and MUC have shut everyone up so far.  Mount and Capital are both playing better and whoever advances on Saturday will give the rest of the country a game to remember and a litttle lesson about Ohio football.

[skunks_sidekick]

I also think the ONU loss was a great motivator for Mount.  Having had the privilege to talk a little Mount football with its leader, it almost sounds like along with that loss, the day to day competition at practice has done wonders for the Raiders.  LK hates being known as a "passing team".  He made the point that in most years Mount is very balanced in its offensive attack.  That being said, he was less than thrilled with the way the running game was going earlier in the year.  Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe he fixed it.   

Hamstring injury huh?   

[Ajwassup]

Your right, i didnt mean that it (the game itself) was a fluke.  I meant to say that it has refocused the MUC football players now that they know that they are beatable.  Nothing taken away from ONU, they did deserve to win the game and they did.  Overall, having one in the "L" column has made a difference in a good way for MUC and i beleived that it has shown in the playoffs so far.

[Ric]

Lack of sharpness on the field? Compared to what, their stats have been pretty dominant all season long.  I'm scratching my head at that line of thinking?

[HScoach]

Ric:  Maybe I'm wrong, but I think was was trying to ask why MUC has looked much better in the first 2 playoff games than they did during the middle of the season (ONU and BW).  The crap teams they played the final 3 weeks aren't a good indication of anything.

How many Mount followers think that the recent step up in game performance is due to the team coming together as opposed to the coaching staff coming together. I personally think that the number of new faces on the sidelines has added to the lack of sharpness on the field.

Hmmm, good question.  I think it has to do with Garcon getting healthy, LK taking a more active role, the young coaches getting more experience and obviously LK turning it up a notch or 2 for the playoffs.  I would say that the reason it has taken so long for the "coming together" to happen is a direct result of the young coaching staff.  MUC has been young on the field before, but experienced on the sidelines.  This year they're young in both areas.

Now that Garcon is healthy and MUC has gotten homefield in the North Region anyway, I think losing Garcon for a while might have been a good thing as it forced the offense to produce without their one serious game-breaker on the field.  Which in turn exposed some issues that have since been fixed, that might not have been exposed until the playoffs with a healthy Garcon against ONU and BW.   MUC will be better prepared for the rest of the playoffs after having to play without him.  That's why the teams from the better conferences typically win in the playoffs in crunch time.  Your weaknesses get exposed early enough in the season to correct them before the playoffs.  If you've never been pushed to the limit, you might not know how to handle it either as coaches or players.

And speaking of the young coaches, I've been very impressed with VK's work with the defense.  I like his attacking style a lot more than Monty's bend-but-don't break style.   I also liked his adjustments in the base D versus Augie last week.

I haven't been real impressed with the offense under Candle and Campbell, as I've never seen MUC run the same play twice in row (which has happened a lot ) unless it's a generic running play to kill clock before this year.  But in their defense it is A LOT harder to call an offensive game than it is defense.  And a defense usually comes together much quicker than an offense because it's more individually based than an offense.

The old guy I played for and then coached with said that a good defensive game plan relies on pre-game preparation, while a good offensive attack relies more on a "gut feel" during the flow of the game.   Which is why he put his least experienced coaches on the defensive side of the ball first.  This allowed them to use their enthusiasm and effort to crunch thru hours of film to pick up tendencies in the opposing offense.  Which easily produced a "cheat sheet" approach to calling the D based on situational down & distance, field position, opposing personnel, opposing formation, etc..... Plus there is just a fraction of possible defensive calls to choose from as compared to an huge offensive playbook with endless formations.   Calling an offense requires more experience and forward thinking as one tries to set-up certain things for later in the game or for future opponents.  It's also harder to exactly and specifically game plan an offensive attack based only on film, while that's almost exactly what you on defense.   

I realize the above is painting with an awfully broad brush and makes the defensive side of the ball seem easy (which it isn't), but in general I think the offense is the harder of the 2 to become a master at. 

[moe45daddy]

I am going to take a stab at the KEYS TO WINNING for this week's game

MOUNT UNION
Offense
-Control the LOS
  -After watching the game film from the CAP/ MOUNT game earlier this season
  it seemed as though CAP's D-line was successful in getting penetration at the
  point of attack.
-Rush for over 150 yards
  -Will open up the PA pass.
-Use PA pass to hit Casto and/or Garcon on a big yardage pass play 2-3 times.
  -Another solid running performance will draw the talented D-backfield from CAP
  up and open up the speedsters for a big gain and quite possibly a houser.
-NO TURNOVERS
  -If anything has hurt Mt.'s offense this season in this game and the ONU game ( ) it was TO's

Defense
-Stop O'Reilly and the running attack
  -Continue being one of the better rush defenses in the nation and STUFF him.
-Get pressure on Pentello
  -I don't like him very much so bury him (legally) a few hundred times for me
  personally
-Don't allow the three step and short passes to frustrate the D-line
  -As a d-lineman I know how frustrating this can be. You hit a good move and
  right when you finish the ball is already gone.
-Run to the ball
  -This creates turnovers and big hits. It also does not allow the short passes to
  turn into medium to large gains.

CAPITAL
Offense
-Establish a running threat
  -That is how you beat us.
-No stupid penalties
  -This must be done to beat any good team. Make them beat you do not beat
  yourself
-Protect Rocky
  -Don't let Buddy Wolf sack you twice for -33 yards.
-Jump out quickly
  -This forces Mount into the passing game.  Although they are a very talented
  passing team this game is going to be won on the ground.
-NO TURNOVERS

Defense
-D-line must play in the backfield
  -Force Kmic or Robinson to make that extra cut. That will give the rest of the D
  time to close down gaps.
-Take advantage of mistakes
  -Don't drop interceptions that will be a sure six-pack.
-Disguise your D
  -You do a pretty good job of this already but bring something new to the party.
-Play the entire game.
  -From here on out you must play like it is your last game because that is what
  got you in trouble in the first contest.


Let me know if you agree with what I had to say. I am up for some good discussion tonight... (Keeps me from doing homework, and we all know that homework is NOT cool.)

[reality check]

Ric, hscoach

I was just thinking about the differences in perception vs. reality regarding the state of Mount Union football.  I admit that I have agreed with some of the perceptions this season but the facts say something else.

Perception: MUC's rushing attack is down this year.
Reality: Aaron Robinson led the OAC in rushing and Kmic broke records last week.

Perception: Jorris is not the elite QB Mount Union is used to.
Reality: Jorris led the OAC in yardage, TD's, TD/INT differential, efficiency and completion %.

Perception: Garcon's injury problems have hampered the passing attack.
Reality: See reality regarding Jorris and recall that Casto led the OAC in receiving and TD catches.

[Ric]

Maybe this wasn't a case of it but I get tired of the fact that if Mount Union doesn't win by 50 points something is wrong.  The fact is they lost to ONU on a day where they were outplayed, committed five turnovers if you count the opening kickoff to none for Northern and were stopped on the goal line at the end of the half.  Northern made the plays to win the game.  There were other regular season games since '94 Mount very easily could have lost and I'm not going to name them here but ONU, B-W and JCU all had chances to knock Mount off if they had made one more play.  This year ONU finally did it. 

Look at the stats, I don't think there was a more dominant team in the nation, including Linfield. 

Mount was a Hail Mary knock down on fourth and 12 last year away from playing in its 5th staight title game.  They have played in the semifinals every year for ten straight years.  Has another team ever done that in any football league? I doubt it.

Look at past B-W games.  17-3 or whatever the score was is not something out of the ordinary when those two teams play.

I echo exactly what LK says.  It's not enough to win these days.  You have to do it with style points.  I say bull**** for crying out loud.

[Ric]

reality check it would be nice meeting you if it works out that way and sure I would welcome you in the booth anytime.  Sorry I didn't get back to you about that last week.

[OU#25]

reality check,

Excuse me... but I had to jump in on your post.  The facts you've highlighted speak for themselves and you're correct about perception versus reality.   My advice however is to continue to promote the perception.  It's great that both Mount and Capital will continue to be underdogs the rest of the season.  What a great role reversal!

[Ric]

Oh add Marietta to the below tally.  They were throwing into the endzone at the end of the game in '95 on Mount.  We were just happy to get out of there alive back then now it seems like winning like that would mean we stink.

[seventiesraider]

I don't think you have to look farther than the sheer volume of penalties to plead a case for a lack of sharpness. Not saying you have to roll over everybody, but it's nice when you play hard with focus all four quarters. I thought a lack of penalties, especially the dumb ones like personal fouls was a real highlight of last weeks game.