FB: Ohio Athletic Conference

[amonachino]

         What I have so far is the Mt. vs Westly will be on ESPN3 this sat.  The Stagg is on ESPNU only so far.  This was from their sites for T.V. schedule.  The school's might add streaming to this, if they can,  we will see.   sidebar to seventies, two wrongs don't make a right.  you are a real piece of work.  Still enjoy your comments, just need to write your thoughts, not show them. 

[Desertraider]

I watched the Mount Wabash game last night and had a few thoughts I would like to share:
1. Both D's were incredible. I have to give kudos to Mounts D in second half - back against the wall the entire time and gave up 1 score.

2. CJ Gum is a beast. I saw the kid and he reminded me of DeRiggi from Mount (were those arms or legs under the shoulder pads?).

3. As good as Mounts D was the QB from Wesley is better than Bash had on field and can exploit the middle. Mount was giving up a lot of underneath and 10-20 yard passes in the middle of the field.

4. Officiating was not terrible - but could have been better. The Mount safety was the result of a missed call (it was a fumble that Mount started to return). If that isn't blown dead then Mount has the ball at the 20-30 yard line, not the 1.

5. Both teams offense was very sloppy in 2nd half. A number of miscues, confusion (Bash could have really used an extra timeout a few times), and mistakes - false starts, offsides...

6. If Mount wants to get back to Salem (and I think they do) the offense needs to sustain drives. Way to many 3 and outs, and 3 and outs with negative yardage?!?!?!

7. Mounts QB situation is dire. I don't know if Burke has it (yet) to lead them to victory. Mounts 2nd half with Burke resulted in something like 40 total yards. Unless they build a 30+ point lead next week in first half - a 40 yard second half may not get it done. Anyword on Piloto? Can Seaman back-up or were the street clothes the result of a finished season?

8. As I type this Pierre Garcon has wrapped up a fine game against my Pats - 9rec. 150 yds. 2tds.  Hate to see my favorite player against my favorite team.

[Desertraider]

How about Joe Tait?    I hope Pam Ward retired.

I LOVE PAM WARD! Wasn't she the one that said Mount played a "4-3-5 defense"? With pam Mounts D has an extra guy! That's great. I remember the Stagg she called with Holly Rowe and Ray Bentley (or was it Gottfried?). Terrible. Watched the game muted.

[formerd3db]

skunks:

Well, I guess we have to disagree then.   My points/thoughts were intended as follows:

a) All of Wabash's front offensive linemen are huge and, while Mount's defense was very good, the Wabash line should have been able to block them much better than they did, however, they seemed somewhat lethargic and unenthusiastic to me most of the game.  Admittedly, this was the only game that I saw Wabash play this season and perhaps their "mannerisms" are just how they are in the offensive set-up.

b) IMO, Wabash should have tried to mix up their run plays more at the beginning of the game and yes, not trying to "jam it up the middle" - that I will agree with you.  However, some more mis-direction, or option or running towards the ends would have been much more effective. By attempting to do that towards the beginning of the game i.e. trying to establish the run game so as to provide a mix of that and their pass plays.  However, once it became apparent that the offensive line was not blocking as well as they are capable of (they had trouble picking up Mount's blizting all game), they then had to resort to their passing game and, as I mentioned, Wabash's pass plays were predicatable, not varied in design and the 'Bash QB just was not able to be more accurate on his passing, overthrowing or underthrowing, although granted, several passes were dropped that should have been caught.  Again, Mount's defense was doing a great job.

So again, my (and I think Raider68's) suggestion/theory was that if Wabash could have established their running game a bit better in the beginning that perhaps might have set the tone slightly different.  Then again, perhaps not, because Mount's defense was playing well.

In the same vein, I think that Mount's offense would have done better than they did, especially in the second half, if they would have stuck with those shorter "down and out" pass plays that were so successful for them in moving the ball in the first half.  Mount's running game was good, but their option play (the one that they first scored on) I think would have been even more effective had they used it more than they did because it appears to have given them a "triple option threat" i.e. either the QB pitches it to their great running back, or the QB keeps it himself as Mount's QB's are good runners or the QB throws on that play to the "down and out receiver".  Wabash's defensive backs had trouble covering that type of pass play all day.  Anyway, that's how I saw it on both sides.   

[Li'l Giant]

         What I have so far is the Mt. vs Westly will be on ESPN3 this sat.  The Stagg is on ESPNU only so far.  This was from their sites for T.V. schedule.  The school's might add streaming to this, if they can,  we will see.

If ESPN is involved, then don't expect a stream other than ESPN3. Earlier this year McMurry was only allowed audio on their stream in their game against UTSA because it was shown on the Longhorn Network.

[Kira & Jaxon's Dad]

In the same vein, I think that Mount's offense would have done better than they did, especially in the second half, if they would have stuck with those shorter "down and out" pass plays that were so successful for them in moving the ball in the first half.  Mount's running game was good, but their option play (the one that they first scored on) I think would have been even more effective had they used it more than they did because it appears to have given them a "triple option threat" i.e. either the QB pitches it to their great running back, or the QB keeps it himself as Mount's QB's are good runners or the QB throws on that play to the "down and out receiver".  Wabash's defensive backs had trouble covering that type of pass play all day.  Anyway, that's how I saw it on both sides.

With a True Freshman playing QB in the second half (Seaman was in street clothes and Piloto was/is banged up) I'm assuming that LK went very vanilla with the Offensive play calling.  20 point lead, Defense playing their best game of the season (according to LK in postgame interview) and also opponents HC is your nephew.  No need to do anything fancy.

[sigma one]

My take is a bit different.  Down to its third QB, yes, Coach Kehres decided to be ultra careful and let his defense win the game, banking on his D not to surrender points.  That strategy was likely forced, at least in part, by the NCAA-mandated roster size, far smaller than in the regular season. I believe this was a major consideration.  Most teams travel (not to say what they do at home with allowing players to dress) with 60+ players.  Mount had ony three QBs dressed, I'm supposing, and certainly the two who went down in the first half were not going to play, unless Pilato could have come in to hand off the ball should Burke have been injured.  So, as with other playoff decisions relating to  playoff roster size, LK went with a conservative approach.  In the past, Mount has run a version of the wildcat, but who knows what they practiced and prepared for Wabash, particularly with the return of Seaman.  The Wabash D hurt two QBs, and to throw the ball around with a freshman who had not played much would have been to invite either his injury with Wabash blitzing or interceptions that could quickly turn the game around.  Why take the chance?  LK hasn't won about 10,000 games by being careless or stupid.  I'm reluctant to think that the family connection had anything, (or much) to do with the decision, but we'll never know that. It's one thing if the score is really lopsided, and the third QB plays, and the offensive gets shut down--which Mount has done plenty of times but not until way further ahead; it's another with injuries and big challenges to come.  Final thought:  there's next week, so why do more than necessary to win, while making sure yu have at least one competent QB going into the next game.  Whatever, it worked out fine.  Congratulations to Mt. Union.  We at Wabash want you to win it all.

[HScoach]

I agree.  No reason to get cute and let Wabash back in the game by throwing an INT.

Would have been interesting to see what LK would have done with his young QB if Wabash would have gotten within a TD with 5+ minutes left.   A 20 point lead in the 4th quarter is pretty comfortable unless the offense or special teams does something stupid.  My biggest fear was a blocked punt or a return by Chamblee to get Wabash going, similar to the KO return that woke BW up.  Once the defense held on 4th & goal at the one, it was going to be extremely hard for Wabash to score 3 TD's with less than 1/2 of the quarter remaining.   

Might not have seen Seaman yesterday if Piloto doesn't get hurt.  Then Seaman goes down again, probably for good.  I really feel bad for Neal.  Back-to-back seasons where he plays the entire year but gets hurt late in the playoffs.  What terrible luck.

[sigma one]

With the way your punter was kicking, I didn't see much chance of Wes getting loose. But it would only take one mistake, and Wabash has blocked a ton of kicks in the last two years, and punters, even really good ones, occasionally boot a stinker.  The number 1 Defense in the nation didn't reach that height by making multiply mistakes.  Just a brief note on the Wabash offense, aside from the previous comments about the pace of play.  Teams do what they do, and they prepare to do what they do.  Mount took away the read option, and coming off an injury Belton was unlikely to pull the ball and run in the second half. And I can't make myself believe that Wabash could have run wide against all that defensive speed.  I have not seen Wabash run more than a handful of outside plays a year in several years.  They run that read option, and are generally very good at it.  They do not runs draws of much counter or misdirection, and only rarely a traditional option of the kind that Mount scored on.  The Mount defensive line was just better than the Wabash offensive line yesterday, and in my view would have been under any circumstances--though several on the offensive line have been nursing nagging injuries for weeks.  In response to an earlier post, the Wabash line is not that huge.  Most teams we played all year were as big.  From left to right, the line goes roughly 290, 275/280, 275/280, 270 (and the alternate at a big 305, at one guard or the other), and 255; and those weights are "camp weights, not the weights at the end of the year after a long season.  It's a way better than average line, obviously to have gotten Wabash so far, but not a massive one by current standards.

[runyr]

70's:  Why must you be a complete jack-wagon?  Walking by the visiting fans at halftime flipping the bird is a great sportsmanlike gesture.  If you're going to act like that, please leave the #99 Mount jersey at home.

Was returning the favor to a couple jackasses

If you put it in context, we just scored at the north end and I was walking back to the south end and took a rather verbal barrage

Let me see if I have this right.  A supposedly grown man gets yelled at by a bunch of college kids and he's not mature enough to just ignore it?  Nice display.

This is 70's birthday week.  Let's all give him the benefit of the doubt this week only.
There's a Beatles song that commemorates his birthday this year.  Can anybody guess it?

[badgerwarhawk]

         What I have so far is the Mt. vs Westly will be on ESPN3 this sat.  The Stagg is on ESPNU only so far.  This was from their sites for T.V. schedule.  The school's might add streaming to this, if they can,  we will see.

If ESPN is involved, then don't expect a stream other than ESPN3. Earlier this year McMurry was only allowed audio on their stream in their game against UTSA because it was shown on the Longhorn Network.

Our school's television people have already been told that they will not be allowed to broadcast the game. 

[mtfan]

How about Joe Tait?    I hope Pam Ward retired.

How about Pat. Coleman.

Why they don't just sign him on a per-game basis is baffling.

+k..excellent call! Someone who actually knows something about Div III football.

[formerd3db]

sigma one:

Some last comments in regards to yours and the offensive line.  As I mentioned, I knew nothing of the offensive play schemes that Wabash runs since I had not seen them play until this playoff game; obviously you know Wabash better than I.  As such, if they did not have those outside type of plays in their system all season, then, of course, my suggestions for consideration of attemps at an outside running game at times is non-relevant.  Thus, with the run option offense, as you mention, there was no way they were going to have great success with the way Mount's defense was playing and again the way Wabash's offensive line was unable to block as well yesterday.  As to the line sizes, we all know that weights listed are beginning of the season numbers and most colleges do not change those on their rosters during the season.  However, I would slightly disagree with you that while Wabash's line is not "monstrous", those sizes you listed are pretty much larger than a great number of small college lines and looking at their "visual" size yesterday, IMO, they are huge as compared to many other small colleges.  Your listings of Wabash's offensive line are not small IMO, avg = 278; those compare to Hope 230, 285, 280, 222, 280, 280, avg =262 - which BTW, was a bigger sized line than we've had in recent years; Olivet 300, 295, 255, 250. 215. 260, 285, 240 as listings for their offensive linemen (including 2 alternates), avg = 262; and Albion 320, 249, 220, 237 250 278, avg = 262. Those last two are smaller than in comparison to Wabash (and, of course, we know that everyone has a 300 guy in there somewhere ).  But...none of those compare with the 305 avg. of Mount's offensive line back in 2001 at the Stagg Bowl in which that line was only 2 lbs. less than Ohio State's starting line that year.

[HURFMUC]

How bout this Pat & Ric in the booth and hscoach on sideline. That sounds like a real D3 crew

[mtfan]

How bout this Pat & Ric in the booth and hscoach on sideline. That sounds like a real D3 crew

you got that right, doesn't get any better than that!