FB: Ohio Athletic Conference

[Kira & Jaxon's Dad]

What was Kmic's 40 time coming out of High School?  You keep quoting his 40 times in front of scouts, when he was 4+ years older than a High School senior.  His Senior Year in college 40 times weren't going to help him get a D1 scholarship.

I am not knocking Nate, love that he played at Mount.  It's just like this conversation has gone down too many tangents from the original discussion to make any sense.

[HScoach]

Sorry to interrupt the lovefest with some football news for JK, but a it appears Marty Assman is back on campus taking graduate classes and should be suiting up this fall.

Also figure on even less news coming out of Capital as the current SID has resigned.

And no, you can't have Lenny back

[JK]

All I can say is....

THANK GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That changes things, most notably my outlook for this upcoming season.  My initial gut reaction to next year was going to be 4th -6th in the conference.  I now think probably 3rd or 4th (MUC, ONU, CAP, OTT or reverse CAP and OTT).  But if it breaks right, a 2nd place finish wouldn't be a total shock (unexpected, but not a total shock).  Will still need to replace some talent on defense and the OL, but if the new guys gel, it could be a good year.  Still a lot of "if's" but I'd rather have a starting point WITH Marty than without.

[JK]

Now I wish we had a little lighter opponent to start the season than Wesley.  This is the type of team that has enough talent returning (esp now that Marty is back) to beat another decent team (like Adrian the last couple of years.  Not great, but decent) on talent while the new players get a game under their belts as starters.  My fear is that you won't be able to make the inevitable mistakes against a Wesley and still win that game.  Like I said, with some breaks CAP could end up beating ONU and OTT but still looking at 8-2 with losses against UMU and Wesley, which as we know is a crapshoot if they would get into the playoffs. 

As for the conference, I kind of feel like UMU is the same Mount of old and will re-load, but I think ONU has distanced itself just a bit from OTT and CAP and the others in the race for second place, so this discussion all may be for naught.  I think JCU is now a step behind CAP and OTT with BERG coming up quickly, but I wouldn't be surprised to see BERG 5th and JCU 6th.  BW is now an also ran with the MUSK, WIL, and ETTA's of the conference.
Gut feelings:
Better than just about anyone: UMU
A step ahead of the rest: ONU
Pretty similar: OTT and CAP
a half step back of that pair: JCU and BERG
Good enough to be better than the dregs: BW
The bottom (as usual): MUSK, WILMA, ETTA

[Raider 68]

JK,

Great post and I think your analysis for the OAC hits the target. I do think Cap will have difficulty with Wesley even with Marty at QB!

[JK]

And here is my way to early discussion on CAP-Wesley.

Wesley is going to be really, really good.  They bring back the QB, McSweeney, who was the POY in their conference last year.  Of the 10 first team all conference guys they had last year, they bring back 8 of them.  Their all conference QB, WR, and TE are back.  The two they do not bring back were OL's, but they do have one other 1st team OL back.  Their leading rusher from last season is gone, but it doesn't look like he was a huge factor only rushing for 800 yards.  McSweeney is the motor that makes them go and he might be a Gagliardi possibility if he has the same type of season as last year.

As if that isn't enough, the defense, which held MUC's "O" to it's lowest point total of the season in the National Semi's last year returns almost intact.  Top 2 tacklers (both 1st team AC selections) are back along with a guy who had 7 picks last season at SS, the starting FS, and both starting CB's.  They lose 2 guys off the DL.

To say this will be a challenge is an understatement, but Marty, Dom D'Andrea, and Matt White are a nice start at the skill positions on Offense.  Kevin Wehby and Ryan Gunnarson have experience as well at WR.  The OL has to replace 4 of 5 starters, but all the backups listed on the 2 deep last year were underclassmen, so you would expect them to fill in the vacated starting roles.

The problem on defense is right in the middle.  All 4 DTs on the 2 deep and both MLBs on the 2 deep were Sr's last year.  Both starting DE's and both starting OLBs are back and one of the back-up LBs is back as well.  We lose our two best DBs in Ronnie Smith and Brad Pickens, but Drew Stimmel comes back at one CB and Zidan Abdullah is back at FS.  The backups at smith's old CB spot and Pickens' SS slot return and shoud start, and last year's backup FS should fill the nickelback spot if necessary.

The Kicker is back, the punter and LS are both gone.

Really early prediction- Wesley 35, Cap 21  

[short]

I am not an OAC guy BUT I look for Musky to make a push next year and Maybe break into the top 4.  In 2010 I would not be surprised to see the OAC (I haven't put a lot of time on this) like this:

Mount
ONU
OTT
Musky
Berg
Cap
JC
BW
Wilm
Mar

[PurpleSuit]

is Assman the new Rocky?  didnt work out too well the first time around, but what can you expect from a program with a one-sided stadium

[Raider 68]

I am not an OAC guy BUT I look for Musky to make a push next year and Maybe break into the top 4.  In 2010 I would not be surprised to see the OAC (I haven't put a lot of time on this) like this:

Mount
ONU
OTT
Musky
Berg
Cap
JC
BW
Wilm
Mar

JCU and B-W in your lower five. I think that could happen, given no changes in HC at either school! 

[HScoach]

JK:  I think Wesley will be a very difficult opener for Capital, but don't put too much stock into Wesley vs Mount last year as that was the game where Rocco went out early.  The first two drives for Mount totaled 16 plays, 101 yards and 10 points.  Next offensive play Rocco goes down and the offense dies until Cecil takes over in the 4th. 

Overall Wesley was a good caliber OAC defense.  Not great, but good.  Similar to ONU or the normal BW defenses.  Strong up front and solid. 

With Rocco for 4 quarters, Mount scores in the low 40's against Wesley.

[JK]

Short,

I understand you are not an OAC guy, but why do you think Musky will break into the top 4 of the conference?  What could possibly give you any belief that could happen?  Sure they're improving, as evidenced by last season's 4-6, but to get into the top 4 they're going to have to improve by at least 2, more likely 3 wins.  It's probably OAC default logic for me to have grouped them into the "dregs" of the conference since they have been down for quite a while now, perhaps they should be above BW and in the same group as JCU and H-Berg in my analysis.  But they still have offensive issues.  Last season they were 8th in total offense and 8th in total defense.  Their pass offense was above average, but they couldn't run the ball and they couldn't stop the run either.  By comparison, BW, who had a horrible year, was 4th in total offense and 5th in total defense.  They just couldn't score and turned the ball over a lot.  So their scoring defense was terrible, but those two go hand in hand.  Defense is on the field all day and you invariably give up points.

Musky is proably as good as JCU, Berg and BW and those 4 will probably fight it out for 5th, but I think OTT and Cap (of course there is my CAP bias) are still better than those 4.  Could it happen, sure.  But you have to think any game between the 4 I mentioned could go either way even if both teams perform exactly as you would expect, and then to beat either Cap or OTT, any of those teams would have to get some breaks.  Simply put, 4th is a nice goal for Musky, but 5th-6th is more likely. 

[seventiesraider]

Words can't explain how glad I am that I didn't start the last political argument. Been asleep for two days. I'm clearly a realist who believes that other "r" word has lost all meaning.  

Now before the post-surgery drugs say something I regret and more importantly, act like I regret, I'm out of here to watch Classic ESPN: Giant guys in little basketball shorts. Pretty funny

And if that wears out BYU channel shows old football games back to my era

[runyr]

UMU JV Schedule posted on Ric's Site for 2010:

Interesting Opponent:
Columbus Post-Graduate Sports Academy

I found nothing about this place on a search other than it's a business in Grove City, Ohio that employs 18 people.
I suspect it's a post-high school prep school that helps kids get their academic scores and skill level up to possible athletic scholarship range.
Anybody know more about it?

[seventiesraider]

PS-Before I go for the drugs: On their way up: Musky, Berg, On their way down BW-JCU, Same as it ever was Etta, Wilmington, Cap and........ Played over their lucky Asses last year and have no where to go but down, down, down: The Westerville Red Birds.

and if any one ever knows what to expect from Ada, please let me know.

[JK]

Let me clarify a bit on Cap.  I don't think they are at the point where they can simply re-load every year and be a top 2 or 3.  It also remains to be seen what the impact will be from the coaching changes the last few years (Collins to Bickel to Stanford and the associated replacement of assitants inherent in that).  But I do think that the talent level and pool of interested athletes considering Capital as a viable college choice has improved.  There is a lot of football talent in the Columbus area and Capital and even Otterbein have leveraged that the last few years, and if you look at their relative rises you will see a big increase in the number of local kids largely responsible for that.

I do think Cap has relatively cemented their place as a "good" OAC team who ought to be in the top half virtually every year.  The last decade has, by and large, borne that out.  Even a team with a new HC and a backup QB went 5-5 a few years ago.  Though I have seen some drop off in "elite" talent, Like Pentello, Howes, Kraft, Hausler(s), etc, there hasn't been a huge decline in overall talent.  It may be coming, but I haven't seen any indicators yet.  I really think Cap, at this point in their history, shouldn't be any lower than 5th or maybe 6th in the OAC and every few years as you get the planets to align (one or two great talents plus a lot of experience in the ranks) can contend for second or even challenge the UMU hegemony, like 05 or 06. 

We all know this can change in a second, but that's where I see Caps place int he OAC world right now, and I haven't see much to indicate a dramatic shift.