FB: Ohio Athletic Conference

[Raider 68]

Saturday will make the second time the Raiders will play Johns Hopkins. In 2012, Mount won at home 55-13, with over 600 yards of offense and 5 TD passes from Kevin Burke. This year I would be happy with a 1 point win!

[bleedpurple]

Okay, I found the game I was talking about.

2006 Semi-Final:  Mount Union 26 - St. John Fisher 14.

Nate Kmic:  371 yards on 42 carries.

(Yes, 371 yards on 42 carries.)

I'm not sure I would call handing the ball to Kmic conservative. I would call it smart. 

[Raiderplaybyplay]

I usually don't take much stock in these, but found I found it  interesting that two of the more popular algorithm based football sites predicted the Mount Union Hobart game outcome pretty accurately.Massey Ratings predicted a Mount Union 40 Hobart 20 final (only 3 total points off of reality) and Atomic Football predicted Mount Union to win 45-14, one more Mount Union TD and one less Hobart TD than actually happened.

Both sites have yet to post their predictions for next week, but Massey gives UMU a 13% chance to win the championship.

[Dr. Acula]

Stray thoughts from yesterday...

I thought Davis played well.  Most importantly, no turnovers.  He did not really run the ball at all.  I don't recall him keeping it on a zone read.

Someone said the RB's did a good job of going north/south and then bouncing it outside if needed.  I thought so too.  It wasn't a great game by the backs, but they were solid.  My fear continues to be that with no Nemeth and no QB that's a huge running threat I'm not certain what we're going to get from the running game going forward.  And that's not all on the skill guys.  It's not like the line is blowing open big holes for them often.  Nemeth was great last year, but so was the line play.

Oh, and the offense shot themselves in the foot twice with dumb penalties that cost them points.  First, the false start by a WR on 3rd and short that ended up forcing the FG to make it 31-21.  Second, Hobart gives you an absolute gift when you recover that kickoff deep in their end and you come out and immediately get a PF by a lineman?!  Just dumb.  You get no points there after you dig a hole.  They can't give away points this week. 

The defense did not have their best effort.  Clearly.  It seemed like they wanted to limit Shed and they did a pretty good job all things considered.  Individually they mentioned Louis Berry on coverage numerous times on Shed and others.  He seemed to be in good position each time so nice work by him.  VK can't be pleased with the tackling.  Way too many poor ones.  Guys going up high and not getting the opposition on the ground (including the punter).  They kept getting Hobart in 3rd and long and just couldn't get off the field numerous times.  It was frustrating, but they got the job done in the 2nd half.   

Overall the one thing that worries me a little is that while this is a young team it's not a young D line.  That's 3 juniors and a senior.  Reid rotates in at DT, but other than him those are all juniors/seniors rotating in too. 

[raiderpa]

The QB keep on the zone read was wide open on numerous occasions, but Davis did not keep it. Perhaps he is told not to keep, which is fine.

Watching the Oklahoma and WVU game last night showed me why I like D3.  WVU played like a bunch of thugs and their coach encouraged it.  Two or more guys should have been ejected and the whole game the Mountaineer defenders stood over ballcarriers who were trying to get up after being tackled.  Saw numerous kicks and knees to Sooners on the ground and there were something like 9 personal fouls called in the first half.
One big DT from WVU even thumped an official on the chest two or three time with an accusatory finger while giving him a piece of his mind.  WHY was he not ejected??
Oklahoma came out to stomp on the WVU logo (big deal, so what) and caused a fracas pre game.  No punishments or ejections...why.. Both teams showed lack of discipline and class, but WVU was in a class by  themselves.

Give me the sportsmanship (99% of the time) in D3, any day.

[USee]

Watched the Redskins v Packers game on TV. The players introduce themselves and say what school they are from at the start of the game and PG88 took the opportunity to say "Pierre Garcon...Haiti".  Missed opportunity to plug D3 and UMU.

[Alliance72]

Watched the Redskins v Packers game on TV. The players introduce themselves and say what school they are from at the start of the game and PG88 took the opportunity to say "Pierre Garcon...Haiti".  Missed opportunity to plug D3 and UMU.

he goes back and forth between saying Mount and haiti.  He's heavily involved in Haitian charities, so he might think it's more important to plug Haiti to the possible donors in the TV audience. 

[SaintsFAN]

The QB keep on the zone read was wide open on numerous occasions, but Davis did not keep it. Perhaps he is told not to keep, which is fine.

Watching the Oklahoma and WVU game last night showed me why I like D3.  WVU played like a bunch of thugs and their coach encouraged it.  Two or more guys should have been ejected and the whole game the Mountaineer defenders stood over ballcarriers who were trying to get up after being tackled.  Saw numerous kicks and knees to Sooners on the ground and there were something like 9 personal fouls called in the first half.
One big DT from WVU even thumped an official on the chest two or three time with an accusatory finger while giving him a piece of his mind.  WHY was he not ejected??
Oklahoma came out to stomp on the WVU logo (big deal, so what) and caused a fracas pre game.  No punishments or ejections...why.. Both teams showed lack of discipline and class, but WVU was in a class by  themselves.

Give me the sportsmanship (99% of the time) in D3, any day.

Happens even at our level - MSJ stomped the TMC logo before the 2012 Bridge Bowl.  An already chippy rivalry had multiple personal fouls that year and TMC ran up the score, throwing the ball up 75-6 in the 4th Quarter. 

I saw the game Saturday night and thought WVU lost because they were so "hyped" that they totally lost focus.

[Desertraider]

A lot of the talk about Mount being a young team may be taken the wrong way. I know they have a bunch of Jrs etc. and are not all FR. But with the exception of BJ, Doraty, Fitchett, Jenkins and Kennedy (Offense) - they are all first year starters. They spent the last couple years in support roles (an extra DB in situations, special teams, 4th qtr) but were not relied on every play. The lack of strength in the OAC (jcu not included) allowed them to coast. They have not had to make many adjustments, have not been pushed, have not been tested. They are young. Even the JRs are getting their first taste of "real football" at the college level (sorry but I can't count Wima, Etta, Ott, etc...as real college caliber football). Even the clean-up duty most of these guys have had in the past doesn't count for much in terms of playing maturity since their job was essentially to run out the clock against the opposing teams 2nds (or in some cases their first teams - but Etta and Wilmas firsts are really Mounts 4ths). The youth is not in their class status - its in their football maturation.

I am not bashing on any teams mentioned here - but let's be realistic. Anyone who thinks the "starters" at Wlima, Etta, Berg (not back to Heidi yet), Ott, and BW are on the same level as the starters at Mount is either fooling themselves, Blind, or way too PC. The point is these teams have not helped Mount gel and come together by facing adversity. The playoffs are the first real test they have seen outside of practice (and yes I know jcu won and is therefore not included in this rant). I think a tougher OAC schedule (i.e. some effort by Berg, BW and say ONU) would have gone a long way to help this team in the jcu game and beyond. My .02 cents.

[ITH radio]

Here's our Rd 1 recap:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/ith/2016/11/21/in-the-huddlle--liberty-league-football-talk-show

We cover the Hobart-MU game in detail to start out, then transition to East Region review at the 37 min mark. We end the show predicting the following rounds of the playoffs, final four and Stagg Bowl games.

Good luck to the Raiders down the road!

[Dr. Acula]

All-OAC selections are out.

1st Team:  Jenkins (Wable Award), Doraty, Mitchell, Kennedy (PR), Vidal, Dear
2nd Team:  Parrish, Mihoci, Robinson, Groves, White
HM:  Fitchet, Davis

Interesting to see Etta's OC named assistant of the year.  Good work.

[wesleydad]

OAC fans, looking into this weeks game and John Carroll's stats for the year.  They look stingy against the run.  Question, are there any teams that run the ball well, or top notch running backs in the OAC this year.  John Carroll only gives up 75 yards a game which is really good.  Looks like teams had more success passing against them.  Thoughts anyone?

[mr_mom]

Second Round spreads are out.

A wide variety among the "experts" ... good luck to all!

And good health to all the participants!

[Craft_Beermeister]

In our country today sadly there is too much protesting going on especially the few that choose to show disrespect at sporting events during the playing of the National Anthem. I just read a post on Twitter indicating that the Mount Union Football team while fully focused on preparing to play Hobart last Saturday upon hearing the National Anthem being played on an adjacent field hockey field stopped their pre game warmup to face the flag.  Acts like this makes D3Football standout well above the higher level divisions. I salute all the D3 athletes for their hard work, dedications to teamwork, and above handling themselves with class.

Below is a copy of that tweet.

The @purpleraiders stopped pregame warmup to face flag after national anthem played at field hockey field behind football stadium #d3fb

[HScoach]

Amen!