FB: Ohio Athletic Conference

[skunks_sidekick]

   Calling all rules affectionados, or anyone that can access the NCAA rulebook.  I asked yesterday about this but didn't see an answser. 

On Casto's fumble of the punt in the 4th quarter (leading to CAP's TD which took the lead 31-27), the CAP player knocked the Mount blocker into Casto, who subsequently fumbled the ball.  I believed it should have been a penalty.  Does anyone know what the actual rule is concerning this?

[cufan]

Sickmeyer or Swearingin (sp)??

[seventiesraider]

There is no clear reference to what exactly happened yesterday, but the NCAA rulebook does say that blocking someone into the punt receiver does not qualify as interference, which I personally find odd.

[mtfan]

When a reciever calls a fair catch he's only afforded the opportunity to make the catch and I beleive only the opponent cannot interfere with the reception, if his own teammate makes contact its obviously not a penalty whether he was forced into or made contact on his own. BUT its a free ball anytime a PR muffs the catch no matter.
Section 4, "Opportunity to catch a kick" Article 1b NCAA rule book states "If interference with a potential receiver is the result of a player being blocked by an opponent , it is not a foul" 
I wondered the same thing when it happened yesterday too, best thing Casto could have done was to clear out and let the ball land, but alot easier said then done in all the traffic around him.

[theaprof]

What's with all of the karma hits of late?? Can't beat us on the field so you pick on us on the board??

[skunks_sidekick]

Thanks Seventies and Mtfan.  It was a tough situation, and I think he was just surprised to feel someone hitting him.  He usually has very sure hands.  If it's 3rd and long, I feel very good about him catching the ball over the middle. 

[skunks_sidekick]

RC - when you get the time, please post on here your analysis of Rowan, and what we as Mount fans can expect from the Profs.

Thanks!

[raiderpa]

hey Ric...

would love to see the quotes that you refer to from yesterday's press conference..the Repository did not carry many quotes,...and I haven't checked your web site...will go there next...however, the hints of LK's tearing up and McDavid's quote left me wanting to read more....

[JT]

Hey Raider fans,

I apologize in advance... I only have 2005 radio highlights from 3 games this year on my site.  I've been busy and I'm sure the radio guys "students" have been busy.  If Rowan radio sends me more highlights before Thursday, I'll put them up.

[tdubs]

RP,
      Can my WHO DEY"S finally gain your respect?lol...Big win Bengals!....Great season Cap! In all honesty, as much as I hate to admit it, Swearingen is better than Sickmeyer.

[oldmantoo]

Well said RC, I felt the fans for both schools were well into the game and for once the MOunt fans woke up knowing well they were in a dogfight for once. But as you stated there is always a few in every crowd the feel their "15 minutes of fame" is to be a total arse no matter how they go about it. I for one met a few Cap fans and congratulated them and the team for being a great group and having such a great season. Likewise both teams left it all on the field and at the end of the game they both showed great sportsmanship and comradary , well representative of their schools and the rivalry this OAC conference posesses.

Yeah and there are several kinds.  One was the MUC fan in front of us who started the 'start the bus' crap.  And guess what there were no takers, he was alone.  Besides with 30 seconds left in the game it did not make much sense!  I guess a couple of rows behind there was a woman complaining about our standing up.  I am in section 13 in front of the press box and I think we were standing for the last three minutes of the game.  You almost had to be dead not to be excited and not on your feet!  However it did look like the covered side was sitting down.  

This made football fun again.  I think the fans had gotten complacent, and it was near impossible to generate any enthusiasm the ONU game in that miserable weather where the team could have used a lift from the fans.

Congrats to MUC and Cap for one of the best football games I have ever seen.  And I have seen alot.  My wife would tell you too many! 

[Ric]

raiderpa I'm sorry I don't write the quotes down I just ask the questions.  I hope someone writing a newspaper story does that and there were plenty of them in there yesterday.  But to answer your question, I asked LK to comment on Robert McDavid, who was our player of the game yesterday.

For your background McDavid is a kid that came in as a QB, broke his foot his first year, got behind on the depth chart, decided to move to defense last year and has had a fine season.  LK said its kids like him that make the game worth coaching and he's exactly the type of kid that he likes to have and considers a "Mount Union kid" and he kinda got choked up and he said "I get tears in my eyes thinking of all he has given the last four years." It was a really cool moment.

[Ric]

crusader, as good as Kmic is I probably won't add him to the main page until I begin the updates for next year in the spring.  Although he is now a very important part of this offense that is for sure!

[reality check]

OK Mount fans...

Here is my expert (one game  ) analysis of the 2005 Rowan Profs.

The QB is "ugly good".  Keep in mind he has only been in there for seven games or so because of the injury to Orihel.  He has good size at 6'5" and is not immobile but also not a scrambler.  He moves well in the pocket but was often not in the pocket long as many of the routes were the 3-step variety.  He did not throw downfield very much in last week's game (possibly due to the wind at the game).  His passes were very innacurate in the first half and he had many batted balls which you would think would not be an issue because of his size.  In the second half though, he threw much better.  The routes were of the 0-15 yard variety.  They worked one play in particular over and over again where Rankin stared down his receiver in the flat in hopes that the deep receiver would come open down the sideline but was unsuccessful every time.  In fact, there were multiple times where he had that receiver wide open in the flat and just chose to go to the other receiver depsite the good coverage.   He did have good patience in the second half and waited often for his third WR (Stys) to come open in the zone across the middle (turned into 2 TD's).  

The RB is not flashy.  Again, this is an injury replacement.  He was a workhorse against Union with 37 carries and was not as successful against DVC.  He is a straight ahead guy and runs bigger than what they have him listed as.  His replacement Richardson actually appeared to be a more atheltic runner but was also unimpressive.  It is not the RB's only that run the football in this Prof offense.  The end around was a popular choice and 4 or 5 of the receivers have run them this season.  It was used about seven or eight times in Saturday's game.  Overall, the Rowan running attack was successful because of the angles from which they come as much as it is the personnel with which they run the ball through.

The WR's are a talented bunch and happen to be pretty deep.  They are BIG too.  Sakeen Wright is a very good athlete but he's probably not much different than the two good WR's you saw in Kraft and Howes.  Wright is also a former QB and threw two passes yesterday.  He can make plays in the open field and shed tacklers because of his size.  Silva is also a big target at 6'3" 220 and the two see a bulk of the passes.  Many of their routes were short so that they could create after the catch.  Brad Stys is a smaller popssession-type guy that caught two of their TD's yesterday.  He had a good sense of the soft spots in the zone coverage and when he found them, Rankin found him.  

The O-Line is big but not huge.  No one really stood out in my mind but the right tackle had a hard time staying in front of a very athletic DE for DVC throughout the game.  They seemed to protect well and across the line they average 6'1" 270 or so.  

The defense is what makes Rowan go in my opinion.  And maybe that is because they have only lost one big player on D as opposed to the two big names on offense they are playing without.  

I wish I could single out one level that stand ahead of the rest but the line, the backers and the DB's all played very well Saturday against DVC.  The line, playing without DE Brian Bond was very strong.  Randy Tosh, who is listed as a LB has shifted to end and is a force.  He has almost 20 Tackles for loss on the year and 10 sacks.  His book end Heimerl has about 10 sacks too and they penetrate very well.  These guys are strong.  Kunder and Tarasevich at the tackles are both big but its the outside guys that make the big plays in this defense.  The LB's were all over the field blitzing, dropping into coverage, etc.  Garren is a very good coverage LB and had two INT's Saturday.  Trout, IMO is the most physical and has 7 sacks on the year and about 15 TFL.  He is a horse.  The DB's are pretty big hitters as well.  Only one of them is over 6'0" but Whetstone and Joseph do a good job at the corners.  They have some attitude in that defensive backfield too.  They like a challenge and they let the other player know when they lock them down.  

The punter and kicker are both solid.  The kicker in particular has a pretty good leg although he hasn't had a chance to show it on the field.  His long for the year is 38 but I watched him boot some through in pre-game from 45 that would have gone in easy from 50+.  Of course that's just pre-game.  

Well that's everyone.  This is a tough bunch of kids.  They seem to lose a piece of the puzzle to injury every single week and keep on ticking.  I do not believe this is the same Rowan program you last saw in Alliance Dec. 11, 1999 but they are a very resilient group.  I hate to think what they would be doing if they had those three guys uninjured.  They will need to "find a way" to beat you.  The have found a way to do it in the last two games so there is no reason for them to think that they can't figure something out this week too.  

I am sure I can give more "expert" commentary as the week unfolds.  It is afterall only Sunday...

Good luck Raiders.

[seventiesraider]

From what I heard of the postgame press conference on the radio on the way home, it was a very different LK. He readily admitted that he was nervous this week and sounded VERY relieved to have come away with a victory. His remarks about McDavid did bring tears to my eyes as he shared the story of his setbacks, sacrifice and unselfishness. As I said before McDavid saved this game at least twice.