FB: Ohio Athletic Conference

[Raider 68]

One more thought - give Mount a short field and it will be over before it starts. Good teams have come into MUC and been made to look below average - great teams have been made to look average. I am not trying to be arrogant but even when things look like they have gone "right" you can still lose to MUC (the Rowan- I think it was Rowan- game with the time of possession and all the stats in favor of Rowan yet they lost).

Great posts by desertraider!

In the Albright game, the coverage on C. Shorts was the best this year.
If Wesley tries to stop him by double cover then Petruziello and Miller and others will be open all day. The quick out  middle range pass has been so successful this season. Wind could likely be a factor this Saturday. Does anyone know how strong the Wesley kicking game is?

Mount will open the playbook also this Saturday and I see Shorts quite involved.

[footballfan413]

In honor of your game against Wesley, I thought I would share a fun story from the 06 semi final between the Wolverines and the Warhawks.  (Sorry, Welseydad.  I know you are a great guy and hope you take this in the humor that it is intended. )

Welsey had stopped the Hawks on 3rd down and their choice was to punt the ball or have Schebler attempt a 49 yard FG.  
The Hawks decided to punt and so they put the punt team on the field and then took a delay of game penalty to get 5 more yards of beathing room for the punter as it was a short field.  Coach Drass decided, (I guess, that he didn't want to make it any easier on the Hawks than necessary,) to decline the penalty.  So the Hawks coaching staff changed their minds, pulled the punt team off, sent Schebler and Co. out deciding to kick the FG after all. We tacked 3 more points on the board that clearly could have been avoided by the Wolverines and the Hawks stands went up for grabs.  It was hilarious and Drass looked pretty foolish, IMO.  I'll bet he wishes he could take that one back to this day.  

Not a bad call by the Wesley coach.  Just unlucky that UWW made the FG.  Why give the UWW punter the benefit by accepting the penalty?  What point of the game did this happen?

FG scored at the 7:09 mark of the 1st quarter.  Score was 7-0, UWW, at the time.  Guess I would rather give the punter the benefit than the FG kicker but I'm guessing he didn't realize the consequences of that decision at the time.  

Ended up being 44-7 so probably not too impactful (did I just make up a word?).  Probably thought it was out of Schebler's range.

Ya, probably......but it was still pretty funny.  And coming that early in the game with the score still very close, I would argue that it was, "impactful," at the time,.........just not in the long run. 

Not really sure what that has to do with today? I'm positive every coach questions decisions he's made and learns and becomes a better coach from what he experiences on the sidelines.  Do you think Bill Belichick might punt on fourth down against Indy now? How many Super Bowls has he won?

Wow, sure is a kinder, gentler OAC board these days.  Never mind.................     8)

[JK]

I am not trying to be arrogant but even when things look like they have gone "right" you can still lose to MUC (the Rowan- I think it was Rowan- game with the time of possession and all the stats in favor of Rowan yet they lost).

Like the Capital game this year.  We played a great game against you guys.  Did everything we could and thought we needed to do to win, and still lost...

on the question of how to stop MUC:

Capital HC / DC Jim Bickel did a great job of preparing for MUC this year, and previously as DC for Jim Collins.  In the last few years, no one has played Mount better than Cap, IMO.  The game plan on defense has always been to stop the run (in relative terms, esp. when playing against Kmic), Get pressure on the QB but minimize the need to do it with blitzes (send an LB every now and again to keep them honest), disguise coverage, and maximize the number of guys in coverage to help with all of MUC's speed and talent at the WR position.  You cannot sell out to do any one of these things, or they will kill you with something else.  IMO, you have to execute them all, and sometimes (most of the time) they still find ways to beat you.  SOmebody mentioned double covering WR's...can't do it, because someone else will step up and have a huge day.  Can't sell out on LB blitzes, becuase they will run the TE or solt receivers into vacated areas, can't drop your LBs into coverage too deeply or they will kill you with swing passes and screens.
If you can stop the run and get pressure with 4 or 5 guys and have 6 or 7 to drop into coverage, then you are good.

On offense, you have to quickly figure out what they are giving you and take it until they take it away, and then you have to figure it out again.  Capital did a great job this year of checking at the line and adjusting routes and blocking schemes based on MUC's look on D.  We didn't have a huge game running the ball, but had enough positive plays to make sure it was a viable threat.  What you hape for is that when MUC takes away what has been working for you (and they will) that your D can keep them off the board, so you aren't too far out of it when you figure out what is working now.

Oh, and don't turn it over.  The difference in MUC's 28-21 win in Columbus earlier this year?  A 4th quarter fumble than MUC turned into the game winning TD.  They capitalize on your mistakes, almost always...

Hope that helps

[Toph]

If you win the coin toss against MUC...TAKE THE BALL.  I can't believe how many teams defer to the second half.  Try to come out and punch them in the mouth.  Try to get some points (maybe call a timeout and bring the team around the scoreboard for a picture when you take the 3-0 lead), get some confidence...because if you give them the ball first, odds are they're getting points out of it.  Once the Machine gets rolling, it's very difficult to stop.

If you're getting the ball first in the 2nd half down 35-3 it really doesn't mean much.

[raiderpa]

ball control does not necessarily matter...ask Augustana a few years ago....Held the ball for 40 or 45 minutes of the 60 and got beat...don't remember the details but it was a weird game to watch

[Raider 68]

If you win the coin toss against MUC...TAKE THE BALL.  I can't believe how many teams defer to the second half.  Try to come out and punch them in the mouth.  Try to get some points (maybe call a timeout and bring the team around the scoreboard for a picture when you take the 3-0 lead), get some confidence...because if you give them the ball first, odds are they're getting points out of it.  Once the Machine gets rolling, it's very difficult to stop.

If you're getting the ball first in the 2nd half down 35-3 it really doesn't mean much.

Toph,

Great post, hope they bring some cameras. Wesley may feel their defense
is ready for the Raiders, they did shutout Johns Hopkins 12-0. I think
Mount saw the better QB in Albright, but we will see!

[seventiesraider]

Wow, where's Carroll Streaks? Mount Union men's b-ball just knocked off #2 ranked JCU (and the Mount women are leading)

ADDED: Mount women beat JCU to go 7-0/3-0.

quit being arrogant....

Arrogant is a synonym for PROUD, and I am 

Did I mention Mount is receiving votes in the D3 wrestling voting too?

[seventiesraider]

 Let's see, when they double teamed Cecil, he rushed for three TD's. Go ahead.

[wesleydad]

although totally irrelevant to this weekend, i feel i must answer the whitewater decline the penalty call be drass.  footballfan413 seems to leave some things out of the description.  it was about 15 degrees and eventhough UWWW had the wind at their back the odds were strongly against a 49 yard field goal in those conditions.  hindsight is 20/20.  the kick hit the cross bar and went through, just as easily could have missed and maybe changed field position at the time, it is not a bad decision given all the perameters in play.  that game hinged on the coin flip with UWWW winning it and deferring, wesley takes the ball and gets pinned inside the 10 on the kickoff and it snowballed from there, UWWW was the better team that day, but the field goal decision did not play a part in the outcome.

[wesleydad]

now onto the important stuff the game this weekend.  i welcome the insight from the mount people, but i find one thing to be very interesting in that the belief is that mount will be able to do what they always do and wesley has to play a perfect game.  there is a chance, last week is a great example, that mount will not play a perfect game and wesley will be able to take things away and force mount to do some things different just as Cap was able to do.  I watched that game and if Cap does not fumble they are at midfield, driving rather easily to the possible winning score.  Wesley's d is very fast and may be able to take away some of the plays that have been described.  the great thing is that they will play the game and I hope that Wesley plays to their capability, just as I know the mount folks do because they are tired of watching blowouts.  Mount may have trouble with wesley's O since there are plenty of weapons available, maybe mount's d ends dont dominate as they have most games, didnt remember them being that dominant against Cap.  with no pass rush mount will be in trouble, bottom line.  this has the makings of a really good game, hope that it pans out that way.

[seventiesraider]

Mount should have lost to Capital. they played terribly that day, but thankfully we haven't seen that team for about two months. That was Kurt Rocco's coming out party. He has improved greatly from that day. Is it going to be a good game, no doubt.  Can Wesley win, for sure, but barring three or four crucial injuries during the game I don't foresee it. Mount may come out fired up and play sloppy for a while but I don't think I'll regret firing up the furnace in the travel trailer for a weekend in the Blue Ridge.


doubt we'll miss any chip shot Field Goals again either.

The weather s/b fairly nice for December in Ohio.

  Here's my maybe: If Mount doesn't score on their first procession after the half, they could be in trouble. 

[purple]

 I would appreciate knowing,from the Westly people ,if your team has faced a really wide open star wars passing attack.  This is what you will see Saturday.  The Mount Union offense  of the Capital game pales in comparison to the unit taking the field this week.  I was at Cap and Cap just played a great game.   Rocco was born a Mount Union quarterback that day.  He took over.  The Raiders are a different team for it.

[Raider 68]

Congrats to all the Purple Raiders that made the All-Region team, especially
Cecil Shorts who was North Region Offensive Player of the Year!!!

Well done Guys!!!!!!!!!!!

[PA_wesleyfan]

purple

  Wesley has seen a lot of pssing teams this year and they have done a good job defending... As far as alll out attacks, most teams have to try and pass against them becaus the D has been so stingy against the run.

[mr_mom]

DAMN it's cold up here (in Wadsworth) ... didn't  you guys pay the heating bill?