FB: Ohio Athletic Conference

[jknezek]

Call me crazy, or biased, but after seeing what Mount did to Case on Saturday, and then what Oshkosh did to North Central, JCU is far and away the best 6-4 team in DIII football. Not only that, I think they are still one of the 25 best teams in DIII football.

With losing to both Oshkosh and Mount by a COMBINED 10 points, and then seeing what they are doing so far in the Playoffs says a lot, in my completely biased opinion! lol

Now, should we be ranked? No, I do not think so.. But I do believe that we are still one of the 25 best in football.

Again, I may be crazy or biased (maybe even both  ) but just my two cents.

That's easy to say when you only pay attention to 2 of your 4 losses. You might have been a top 25 team in those games, but you certainly weren't when getting your pants beat off by Heidelberg or giving up 531!!! yards to ONU.  Most teams will look like top 25 teams when you select their best efforts. Not so much when you look at all their effort...

[JCUStreaks70]

Well at least I recognize I'm biased......

[Craft_Beermeister]

Well at least I recognize I'm biased......

Biased is OK as long as you recognize it

[Craft_Beermeister]

The Kehres are going for their combined 400th win in DIII football this weekend. 

Truly amazing feat.  LK turned 68 this year and many will wonder what overall win total he could have achieved if he kept the head coaching position, but things have worked out for the best for both him and Vince.

[skunks_sidekick]

Having spent a week working over in WI last month, I rode up and down the roads quite a bit.  Madison was great, Milwaukee was fun, and even spent a day up in Appleton that ended with a call over in Stevens Point.  Man did I rack up the road miles.

Southwest is now offering a direct flight from CLE to MKE.  From there you are about a 90 minute drive to Oshkosh.

Wish I could make the trip but doesn't look like it's in the cards.  Besides, let's see how than handle FSU.

[Toph]

Call me crazy, or biased, but after seeing what Mount did to Case on Saturday, and then what Oshkosh did to North Central, JCU is far and away the best 6-4 team in DIII football. Not only that, I think they are still one of the 25 best teams in DIII football.

With losing to both Oshkosh and Mount by a COMBINED 10 points, and then seeing what they are doing so far in the Playoffs says a lot, in my completely biased opinion! lol

Now, should we be ranked? No, I do not think so.. But I do believe that we are still one of the 25 best in football.

Again, I may be crazy or biased (maybe even both  ) but just my two cents.

2016: OAC Champions, beat Mount Union for the first time this century.
2017: "Best 6-4 team in Division III"  - Fan of team on internet message board

This makes me sad.

[MUC57]

Toph

Cheer up. JCU will be back. (Although Augustana never came back)!
Good next year.

[bluestreak66]

Call me crazy, or biased, but after seeing what Mount did to Case on Saturday, and then what Oshkosh did to North Central, JCU is far and away the best 6-4 team in DIII football. Not only that, I think they are still one of the 25 best teams in DIII football.

With losing to both Oshkosh and Mount by a COMBINED 10 points, and then seeing what they are doing so far in the Playoffs says a lot, in my completely biased opinion! lol

Now, should we be ranked? No, I do not think so.. But I do believe that we are still one of the 25 best in football.

Again, I may be crazy or biased (maybe even both  ) but just my two cents.

2016: OAC Champions, beat Mount Union for the first time this century.
2017: "Best 6-4 team in Division III"  - Fan of team on internet message board

This makes me sad.

I'd take John Carroll of Castleton any day lol!

[Craft_Beermeister]

Toph

Cheer up. JCU will be back. (Although Augustana never came back)!
Good next year.

JCU has a lot of talent. 

They just got off to a rocky start this year.  From what I heard the JCU captains refused to shake hands with UWO captains for the coin toss and Rick Finotti wasn't very happy.  According to what I heard, Finotti replaced the captains and said as head coach I can appoint them for each game.  I was told this initially didn't go over very well with all the players, but Finotti is working hard on changing the culture. I heard all this second hand so I'm not sure if it is valid.  Did any of the JCU fans hear anything similar?

[JCUStreaks70]

Call me crazy, or biased, but after seeing what Mount did to Case on Saturday, and then what Oshkosh did to North Central, JCU is far and away the best 6-4 team in DIII football. Not only that, I think they are still one of the 25 best teams in DIII football.

With losing to both Oshkosh and Mount by a COMBINED 10 points, and then seeing what they are doing so far in the Playoffs says a lot, in my completely biased opinion! lol

Now, should we be ranked? No, I do not think so.. But I do believe that we are still one of the 25 best in football.

Again, I may be crazy or biased (maybe even both  ) but just my two cents.

2016: OAC Champions, beat Mount Union for the first time this century.
2017: "Best 6-4 team in Division III"  - Fan of team on internet message board

This makes me sad.

I am not trying to run around and say that we're some unbelievable team.. Maybe I should have changed the wording of my message.. I thought I had enough lol's and smiley faces to show that I was not completely serious in my statement.

Just saying that even at 6-4, seeing how we played against Mount and Oshkosh shows that JCU is a good team, not a great team, just a good one.

[JCUStreaks70]

Toph

Cheer up. JCU will be back. (Although Augustana never came back)!
Good next year.

JCU has a lot of talent. 

They just got off to a rocky start this year.  From what I heard the JCU captains refused to shake hands with UWO captains for the coin toss and Rick Finotti wasn't very happy.  According to what I heard, Finotti replaced the captains and said as head coach I can appoint them for each game.  I was told this initially didn't go over very well with all the players, but Finotti is working hard on changing the culture. I heard all this second hand so I'm not sure if it is valid.  Didn't any of the JCU fans hear anything similar?

I did not hear anything about this, but I assume it would have been followed by Oshkosh players grabbing themselves and swearing at JCU players from across the field... HAHA

[Desertraider]

This is really the best look at FSU I can find:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCYqp4i9bUQ

On the QB - he scrambles well, but he takes a lot of chances with the ball. Throws into coverage and double coverage. Good pocket awareness but doesn't secure the ball. Carries it low (like a baseball)  around hip in pocket, runs with ball exposed. A good D should be able to strip a few of those out.

The RBs look like JEM (a bit heavier). Definitely can't arm tackle or big hit em to the ground. Hit and wrap boys.

Couldn't tell much on line play from video - it's a highlight so the lines tend to be window dressing.

[MUC57]

desertraider

Good stuff on thr Frostburg/W&J video  I see what you mean about the way the QB carries the ball. Bet the Mount coaches caught it as well. I could have watched that video without your analysis and never caught that. Thanks. Not only am I old, but I still don't know many of the fine points as you do.
You, Wally Wabash and several others help me tremendously better understand this game we all love.
A big thanks to all of you!

[Dr. Acula]

Frostburg St. looks like they're going to be a really solid test.  Skimming their website a couple interesting items:

They're good defensively.  Surrendering just 2.5 yds/rush and 12.7 pts/gm.  Right there you know they're good IMO.  They've forced 26 turnovers and have 38 sacks (half of those by 2 linemen).  They also allow just 23.5% conversions on 3rd downs.  Niles Scott is a big boy on the D line (6-3, 295) who also has 10 sacks.  This line looks on paper like a good challenge for the Mount O line.  W&J did convert 8 of 16 3rd downs last week.   

Offensively they're balanced (2800 passing/2300 rushing).  I watched them play against Witt and the QB is slippery.  He can keep plays alive with his feet.  Playing Cuda last week was good preparation for Frostburg.  They do turn it over (11 picks thrown by Connor Cox, 14 lost fumbles for the team).  Like Mount Frostburg has 2 RB's with significant carries (953 yds, 686 yds).  Both are 200+ lbs.  They have 5 WR with between 400 and 554 yds on the season so they clearly spread it around.  This may be advantageous for Mount in that their skilled depth at DB is superior to anyone Frostburg has seen to date.  To put it another way, if you give me the choice to play a team with a superstar WR and 3 meh WR's or a team with 4 pretty good guys I'd choose the latter.  I'm not sure Mount has a total shutdown corner, but I know they have quality depth.

I think this will be the best team Mount has played this year.  This does not mean I think they'll be closer than JCU necessarily.  JCU is a rivalry game and they played like it.  I'm thinking something like 35-17. 
   

 

[Craft_Beermeister]

Mount Union has been annually scrimmaging Mike Sirianni's Washington & Jefferson College team for many years. Mike player and coached for Mount Union and has remained a friend of the Kehres family.  I wouldn't be surprised if Vince calls Mike this week to get a scouting report on Frostburg.