FB: Ohio Athletic Conference

[HScoach]

Any of you arrogant sob's coming to the scrimmage Thursday night?

Nope.
UWW rules.

Unfortunately Emma17, I think you need to show a little more consistent arrogance if you want the Mount backers to buy your bravado.  You and I know  that little 2012 aberration is done and finished, but we can't expect others to jump on the bandwagon just yet. Especially the Mount backers who want UW-W to go away forever.

Is the scrimmage the 1's vs the 2's tonight?  I know in your heart of hearts, some of you Mount backers would consider this the OAC game of the year if it truly counted in the standings.

All kidding aside, there have been years where the Mount 2nd unit is the toughest in season competition that Mount's starters would see.   That isn't the case now.   And those have typically been the years that Mount has struggled in the Stagg.   The strength of the pre....oops....regular season plays a large role in the final success.

What I find interesting is that the OAC is in a real period of resurgence.   The last few years have been very weak overall as a conference, especially in terms of no real offensive firepower in the league except for Mount.   Now you have H'Berg loaded with a talented young team that isn't going away anytime soon and played Mount toe-to-toe before Brooks got hurt,  B-W is back to being B-W,  and John Carroll has a 6'-5" stud junior QB with a renewed excitement under Coach Arth and if JCU had an receivers that could have caught a cold last year they could have scored 30 on Mount, and it looks like Otterbein has become a good, solid program instead of an intermittent contender.   Look where ONU is slated for this year.   Which in my mind is more about the other teams passing them them opposed to ONU slipping back.

This looks to be a great 2013 and 2014 in the conference with multiple teams ready to de-throne the King.   So much for VK's easy transition......

[emma17]

Any of you arrogant sob's coming to the scrimmage Thursday night?

Nope.
UWW rules.

Unfortunately Emma17, I think you need to show a little more consistent arrogance if you want the Mount backers to buy your bravado.  You and I know  that little 2012 aberration is done and finished, but we can't expect others to jump on the bandwagon just yet. Especially the Mount backers who want UW-W to go away forever.

Is the scrimmage the 1's vs the 2's tonight?  I know in your heart of hearts, some of you Mount backers would consider this the OAC game of the year if it truly counted in the standings.

All kidding aside, there have been years where the Mount 2nd unit is the toughest in season competition that Mount's starters would see.   That isn't the case now.   And those have typically been the years that Mount has struggled in the Stagg.   The strength of the pre....oops....regular season plays a large role in the final success.

What I find interesting is that the OAC is in a real period of resurgence.   The last few years have been very weak overall as a conference, especially in terms of no real offensive firepower in the league except for Mount.   Now you have H'Berg loaded with a talented young team that isn't going away anytime soon and played Mount toe-to-toe before Brooks got hurt,  B-W is back to being B-W,  and John Carroll has a 6'-5" stud junior QB with a renewed excitement under Coach Arth and if JCU had an receivers that could have caught a cold last year they could have scored 30 on Mount, and it looks like Otterbein has become a good, solid program instead of an intermittent contender.   Look where ONU is slated for this year.   Which in my mind is more about the other teams passing them them opposed to ONU slipping back.

This looks to be a great 2013 and 2014 in the conference with multiple teams ready to de-throne the King.   So much for VK's easy transition......

I'm glad the OAC is seeing a resurgence.  Mt is a great program but I'm sure all or most Mt fans would prefer to see better in-conference competition just for the sake of enjoyment in watching the game- it will hopefully improve concessions in the second half too.

Your comment (tongue in cheek) on easy transition just got me thinking about what this year's national champ will have to accomplish.  Naturally this thought has to start with Mt.   

Even if the OAC wasn't on the rise, I think VK will find the transition tough once the playoffs begin.  It just seems to me there are a handful of teams now that will provide a real challenge for the trophy because of the way their teams are built.  I know St. T wasn't a great challenge last year (in this poster's opinion, UMHB wasn't championship ready yet last year), but for such a young team and a first time Stagg, they did well.  Nearly that entire team is back and they can play defense.  Then you have Linfield with most of their team back-and they can play defense.  We don't know where UWW will be, but we do know they have a championship caliber defense and if they somehow make it back to VA, they will be ready.  I'm sure there will be other teams that emerge this year too.  My point is and IMO, VK will ultimately be in a position where Mt's offense won't necessarily be the dominant force on the field, and it will require in-game decisions to succeed.  If Mt wins it this year, it will be a tremendous accomplishment for VK.     

[Dr. Acula]

I went to the scrimmage and stayed for its entirety. My thoughts:

What a luxury having Burke. After an INT the first drive he was very sharp throwing the ball.  Looked exactly like you'd expect minus not really running the ball obviously.

Namdar, Wilkinson and Meachum started at WR. All 3 made plays. Namdar showed the speed to get deep. Wilkinson made a couple very difficult grabs.  Two freshmen, Jordan Hargrove and Tervel Parrish, both showed well on the 2nd team (especially Hargrove).

W&J moved the ball on the starting D. Mainly quick passes and runs, but a busted coverage let a WR get open over the middle for a nice TD. I thought the Pres RB ran hard and QB was solid too.  But it was 21-7 during 1's vs 1's so Mount held on D the rest of the time.

Rushing wise Mount didn't seem to run a ton with the starters. Woods and Minnich rotated for the 1's. Woods did show a couple times the ability to cut on a dime and get up field in a flash.  That's going to be a nice 1-2 punch.

I'm anxious to hear HScoach's thoughts, especially on the O line.

[raiderpa]

from what I observed in scrimmage, o-line was adequate, but that may be all woods needs.  He has the "it" factor, as far as finding a hole, making a quick cut and getting up field.  Minnich looked good, and will provide a great one-two at RB.  The wideouts looked better than I anticipated, with Namdar looking like a typical Mount big play WR.  THe others looked very good and should provide a deep core of wideouts.  Burke had time to pass, but did notice that Fetchko was playing Offensive tackle.
W and J had a nice qb and #32 RB was very good.  They did move the ball and had some success against MUC defense, which was very vanilla.

I think Franklin will be an excellent opener to gauge some things, they have a very good qb and outstanding WR...

Mount placekicker looked very suspect on xp's, but kickoffs were above average, and punting looked surprisingly strong.

[purple]

 Taurice Scott from Alliance High School looked good at backup QB today. I was impressed with his quick release and his long throws. Didn't see him run much but he looks like a fine athlete back there. Was impressed also with the size and speed of the Mount Union receivers,they are going to be a nightmare for the D3 dbs they will face. Burke looked good. The first two times Germany touched the ball he scored,once from 5-10 yards out and once from 15-20 yards out. Very explosive. There was also a freshman running back from Michigan with great speed returning kickoffs.

[Dr. Acula]

Scott had a nice TD run at the south end where he faked inside and bounced it out and out ran everyone. He's definitely a good athlete.  The thing about his throws is that they seem deceptive to me. He doesn't wind up and fire it. He just kind of flicks it effortlessly. But it has zip on it. Doesn't look like that motion should have the ball come out of the hand with that much mustard on it.

Brandon Mitchell is the kid from MI.  He seems to be the 3rd RB right now. He had a big kick return.  Also showed some elusiveness at RB. He's small but appears to be very quick.

[mr_mom]

Back in the saddle again!

The 2013 OAC Pick-Ems will be starting up next week.  The contest is open to anyone, whether a regular of the OAC page or not.

We pick all the OAC games, plus a few national games of interest.  OAC league games are worth 2 points; national and non-conference games are worth 1 point.

All games are picked with spreads.  I'll be posting the spreads on Monday nights for that week's games. Obviously a pick must be in before the game kicks off.  Usually this means Saturday noon EST, but occasionally I will include a compelling Friday night game or two.  The week's results will be posted on Sunday morning.

When posting the picks, please be clear who you're picking.  "Bolding" is fine, but more elaborate methods don't print well enough to distinguish.

HSCoach is obviously enjoying his retirement, so we won't try to badger him into returning anymore.  You are stuck with the spreads from someone more learned in mathematics than football.

And for those with short attention spans, Chess4Me and PraiderGuy are the current regular season champions, Shark  the post-season.  Take 'em out!

Let's have some fun!
Mom

[PurpleSuit]

As one of the young arrogant posters, I feel that I should give a comment on the upcoming season.  As we arrogantly look towards the 2013 season, I think that Mount will be more than fine in the 2013 season.  The St Eds backfield will lead the offense and VK always has a top D.

Regardless of the OAC resurgence in 2013, Mount will roll every OAC team by 21+ points in my arrogant opinion.  With Woods and Minnich in the backfield I feel comfortable, I wonder if anyone has any comments about the OSU transfer at WR? Unfortunately, I wasn't able to make the MUC scrimmage due to Massillion rolling Perry on the same night. 

If anybody was at the scrimmage, does Mount have any superstars who are willing to donate to foreign countries or donate jerseys to inner city schools? Whoever would do that is not worth D3, obviously....right UWW fan?  I'm sure Pat and co can find plenty of stories to make your season seem plentiful, and you can still travel to Salem for the final game.  Maybe you'll get an extra playoff game to enjoy...who knows...I mean you were good for seven seasons, seven!

[HScoach]

I'm anxious to hear HScoach's thoughts, especially on the O line.

I watched the whole thing too and was less than impressed.   Especially the O-line.   Minnich had no room to run and Woods made his own yards.   Pass protection was adequate, but when factoring in it was against W&J who has NEVER been  strong up front, was not happy.

Then factor in their best D-lineman playing LT on offense and you have the makings of a very questionable O-line for 2013.

My early prediction for Week 1 is a much tougher game than anyone in A-town is ready for.

[HScoach]

As one of the young arrogant posters, I feel that I should give a comment on the upcoming season.  As we arrogantly look towards the 2013 season, I think that Mount will be more than fine in the 2013 season.  The St Eds backfield will lead the offense and VK always has a top D.

Regardless of the OAC resurgence in 2013, Mount will roll every OAC team by 21+ points in my arrogant opinion.  With Woods and Minnich in the backfield I feel comfortable, I wonder if anyone has any comments about the OSU transfer at WR? Unfortunately, I wasn't able to make the MUC scrimmage due to Massillion rolling Perry on the same night. 

If anybody was at the scrimmage, does Mount have any superstars who are willing to donate to foreign countries or donate jerseys to inner city schools? Whoever would do that is not worth D3, obviously....right UWW fan?  I'm sure Pat and co can find plenty of stories to make your season seem plentiful, and you can still travel to Salem for the final game.  Maybe you'll get an extra playoff game to enjoy...who knows...I mean you were good for seven seasons, seven!

You mean the former walk-on at Ohio State that is buried on the depth chart?   Nope, I have no comments.

[Raider 68]

I'm anxious to hear HScoach's thoughts, especially on the O line.

I watched the whole thing too and was less than impressed.   Especially the O-line.   Minnich had no room to run and Woods made his own yards.   Pass protection was adequate, but when factoring in it was against W&J who has NEVER been  strong up front, was not happy.

Then factor in their best D-lineman playing LT on offense and you have the makings of a very questionable O-line for 2013.

My early prediction for Week 1 is a much tougher game than anyone in A-town is ready for.

Did not attend the scrimmage, but I felt after last year the O line would be the biggest issue
for 2013. Regarding Franklin, they are  a good team and it will be closer game than many may
think.

[Dr. Acula]

Regardless of the OAC resurgence in 2013, Mount will roll every OAC team by 21+ points in my arrogant opinion.  With Woods and Minnich in the backfield I feel comfortable, I wonder if anyone has any comments about the OSU transfer at WR?

The WR I saw in order were Namdar, Wilkinson and Meacham starting. Mackey was next in playing in the slot with the starters. When Scott and the rest took over it was Hargrove and Parrish along with Collichio, Gonzalez and Mercer.  I didn't see Ross or Nicholls at all.

[Dr. Acula]

I'm anxious to hear HScoach's thoughts, especially on the O line.

I watched the whole thing too and was less than impressed.   Especially the O-line.   Minnich had no room to run and Woods made his own yards.   Pass protection was adequate, but when factoring in it was against W&J who has NEVER been  strong up front, was not happy.

Then factor in their best D-lineman playing LT on offense and you have the makings of a very questionable O-line for 2013.

My early prediction for Week 1 is a much tougher game than anyone in A-town is ready for.

That was kinda what I was afraid you'd say.  They didn't run the ball well other than once or twice on the goal line. 

[purple]

 I certainly defer to HSCoach; but I think this is a great offense in the making. No one they play will be able to stop,or even slow,the passing attack. This group of receivers are really good. It's going to be bombs away. It would take a supremely talented group of dbs to hang with these guys,and Mount Union won't play all year a group like that. Franklin won't be close,it will be as bad as VK wants to make it. 

[Ric]

Other than not being able to pass, catch, run, block or tackle I think we'll be OK. 5-5 might be a stretch we'll see. I was very impressed that not one Purple Raider player left the sideline, when on the third play there was a hard hit and just about every W & J player sprinted onto the field and into the may-lay like their best player just got beaned in the head during the world series.