FB: Ohio Athletic Conference

[Kehresma]

Freakin unbelievable.   Eighth seed funky little Medina upsets D1 Region 2 top seed Canton McKinley tonight 31-28. Unbelievable. And a great show for Jim Tressel (who was in the house scouting the OTHER guys) by Jason Suggs and Justin Letts and the Bees' never-say die D.

[country buoy]

  Ive only been around the OAC for 4 years.Maybe the talent is becoming more even.That could explain winning by 2 or 3 scores instead of by 50.Ill give credit to Mounts coaches.Who knows,Mount fans may be reminiscing about 2 or 3 score wins in about 2 or 3 years.Maybe next year.Go Cards!Good luck to Mount and ONU in the post season.All the OAC will be with you.(The opinions expressed in this post our owned solely by the poster.Poster does not represent any organized body,(Except those sworn to secrecy after the tailgate party).Go OAC

[raiderpa]

THis is a good young Mount Union team, not a great one. I agree with many of RC's points.  What I see with this team that is of concern is the number of mistakes that continue to be made.  I am afraid that this is what could de-rail a run to Salem.  However, LK has a magic about him and his coaching staff is a great one for scouting and preparation, this could overcome some youthful flaws.

About the BW game..Driskill has to get consideration as a sophomore all american and Budsinski has to get highest consideration for whatever OAC award goes to D-lineman.  Seaman does not appear to see or sense pressure from backside, and Murray does not possess "finishing speed" for a long long breakaway.  Cecil limped on the sideline all day, and I wonder if he will suit up next week.  Miller has incredible hands, and taking advantage ofsingle coverage on Collins away from Shorts and strong formation was not used enough...are they saving it?
BW always gives Mount a physical beating and yesterday was no exception.  MOunt tackled as well in the open field as I have seen for quite some time.  One on one tackles were outstanding by Smith and Dieusel.  Driskill was in on (it seemed) a dozen tackles at the line of scrimmage and still got back in coverage.  BW was successful with double and triple slants which seemed to confuse DB's and we missed entirely on post coverage on a couple occasions. 

Funny episode of day was LK going after #78 after a personal foul was called and the player appeared to yell back that he was innocent, and he was..it went against the Bumblebees.

A good win, defense wins championships and this D gets it done weekly.

[HScoach]

At the risk of losing karma points for making some true observations I think the Mount Union season has to be a little behind where the Purple Raider faithful would like it to be.  Usually this time of year, Mount is winning by 40-50 points over OAC foes but they've been in some competitive contests as of late; way more competitive than I'm sure they would like to be.  In 2009, the last four OAC contests were won by Mount by an average score of 56 to 3.5,  In 2008, the final four OAC games were 49 to 7.  In 2007, it was 46 to 0 for their final four OAC foes.

I expected the closer contests to occur as this young team learned who it was and came together as a team in the early part of the season.  Today's game may have ended as a 28 point win but the scoring margin doubled in about two minutes of real time.  It was closer than this for much of the game.

They've outscored their last three opponents by an average of 36-8.  That's still a comfortable margin but not what Mount Union or the OAC is used to seeing.  Of course, in 2006 the Raiders sort of limped into the playoffs with a final four margin of 32 to 10.  It worked okay for them back then so there's no reason to panic now I suppose.

I just wonder if any of the Mount faithful are concerned as this didn't seem like a week 9 Mount Union effort.  Beating Marietta by two touchdowns is something Mount Union just doesn't do.  They have won five of their nine games by less than 28 points.  Most teams wold love to say they win games by that margin but when was the last time Mount won half of their regular season games by less than four touchdowns???  I looked back and there were 4 games in the 2005 season that qualified but that included the regular season loss to ONU.  2002 was the last time five of the first ten games were settled by less than 4 touchdowns.  Beyond that, who knows?

Now Mount could very well come out and beat Muskingum 66-0 next week but I am just saying I wouldn't be surprised if they win 41-17 either with the way things are going for the Raiders.  They just don't seem to be clicking the way we are used to seeing this time of the season.  Of course, I think Mount might be the only program in the country that would win its final four games by a four-score margin and feel any kind of concern over the state of the team so this should all be taken with a grain of salt.  

Interested to hear if any of the Raider faithful would agree or blow this concern out of the water.  

RC,  your question is one I've been thinking about all season.  Those posters that have been around for years in here know I'm a little more critical and probably tend to be "glass is half empty" than most, but definitely think this team is not what previous one's have been. 

However I think it's pretty unrealistic to expect them to be as good with so many youngsters starting.   They headed into the season with HUGE question marks at QB, running back, D-line and at WR beyond Cecil Shorts (and w/o Claycomb due to injury) with little to no experience present to fill those openings.  Through the course of the season they've found a very good sophomore running back and 6 productive D-linemen that are either freshmen or sophomores to go along with Budzinski.  IMO, the D-line isn't dominant yet because of youth, strength and experience but they're going to be very good the next couple seasons after these kids get a few more winters in the weight room. 

At WR, J. Collins has shown he can be a good #1 receiver as a sophomore.  He's not Cecil Shorts, but who is?  And Brandon Brown has really emerged too after zero playing time last year.

The only question not completely answered in my mind is QB.  What I think doesn't matter at all because LK is comfortable with Neal Seaman and I'll defer to Kehres on this one.   I'm not concerned with this arm strength because he's only a sophomore and nobody remembers that Micheli's arm as a sophomore left a lot to be desired, but I am wondering where is foot speed went?  He was the running option to Rocco's statue early in the season last year, but now he's having issues outrunning D-linemen.  I find this aspect of his game very odd as I expected him to make a bunch of plays with his feet this season.

What I also find kind of interesting is how little this current junior class has produced as far as players.  This team is pretty much either seniors or sophomores.  The only juniors one offense are center Ekkins and FB Rider (sometimes WR Brown) and the defense has only LB Smith, and safeties Ferrera and West .  The apparent lack of the junior class in my opinion is what's forcing so many youngsters onto the field.  Especially along the D-line.  It's odd to find most of the linemen being underclassmen.  One here and there is pretty normal, but 6 of the 7 lineman that play are either freshman or sophomores.



In regards to the playoffs, I posted the below on the East page and I'm too lazy to re-type it.

I don't mean this to be taken as insulting or anything, I want a serious answer, but give me reasons to be excited about the East's Chances this year. 

You guys will probably think I'm crazy, but if I was an east region team I would want Mount shifted to the east this season.  The best way to get the respect each of you desire is to beat Mount.  And the earlier you do it in the playoffs the better.  The last time Mount has failed to make the semi-finals was 1994 when they lost in round 2 to Albion.  If an east team could knock Mount out of the regional bracket, the entire east region would be validated regardless of what that team does the next week.

Now why I said the above is because 2010 might be your best chance at beating Mount since the 2003 and probably for the next couple years as they're very young and inconsistent. 

Arguably the best offensive player in D3 (WR - Cecil Shorts) is injured with no timetable on his return.  They start sophomores at QB, TB and at #1 WR and have only 2 starters back on the O-line from '09.  With Shorts out, the returning starters on offense are the LG, RG, TE and FB.

Defensively they're even younger with only a CB, LB and FS returning from '09.  Biggest concern defensively is the D-line where they start one senior, two sophomores and one freshman.    The D-line rotation includes two more sophomores and a freshman coming off the bench.   

And in case you haven't noticed, Mount hasn't been very "Mount-like" this season.  They struggled offensively with 2-6 Marietta (28-14 win) and 4-4 Otterbein (28-10 win), by contrast Mount beat those two teams 56-0 and 58-7 last year.  And Otterbein was much better in '09 as they finished 8-2 overall.  They're still winning, but it isn't the same explosive juggernaut that we're used to seeing.  I could see a really good defense (like Wesley or UWW from last year) holding this Mount offense to 14-17 points.

Call me crazy, but I think the later in the playoffs you face Mount, the less your chances are going to be.  Their youth should become more consistent as the rounds go by.

If the NCAA is going to ship in a #1 seed, I think you guys would be better off facing this Mount team than Wesley.  I know the Mount Union name carries a lot of weight, but I don't think the 2010 Raiders are any different than North Central, St. Thomas, Wheaton, MHB, Wesley, etc.  They're a very good team that could make some serious noise in the playoffs if they play well, but they're not a huge favorite to make it to Virginia like they've been the last few years. 

Now, I'm not saying Mount sucks and can't make it back to Virginia, but outside of the first round I doubt there is anyone they'll face in the playoffs that won't be a threat to beat them.   In previous years, there has usually been only 1 playoff game before the Stagg that makes them sweat, but this year is likely going to resemble 1998 where every game was a close battle that could have went either way.

[HScoach]

It was "Hell Week" in the OAC Pick-Em's as conventional wisdom took it up the tailpipe. 

Results for Week 10 have been posted. 

Spreads for week 11 won't be posted until tonight.

[pradierguy]

For those interested, the National Quarter Final game Mount Union vs. Cortland St from a few years back is on channel 10 in the Stark County area. Not that I don't like the current team, but it sure is fun to watch Micheli hand it off to Kmic.

[seventiesraider]

Studying the HS brackets this morning I was amazed to see that Ada played at War Memorial. I figured after ONU built a new stadium they'd build a Tractor Supply there and move to campus. Suppose OHSAA was worried about losing a dollar on people walking into the stadium without paying.

Family issues kept me away this week and anyway I wanted to give HSCoach a week to pull even in the Pick'em. All is well again.

BTW-There have been years recently that we have had trouble beating very average BW team by two TD'd. I'm very impressed that we buried a 7-1 team that easily. Wonder how great it felt for the Pile faithful to have the lead for 8 seconds.

[reality check]

seventies

Ada HS has been completely renovated into a mini college itself.  I was blown away by the construction that was apparent when I came back to see ONU last season.  I am actually kind of surprised that Ada HS didn't build an on-campus stadium for itself when they did so much to the high school itself.  War Memorial has a similar town park feel that I was used to from seeing and going to games with my dad in Darke County as a kid but it's on the other side of town from AHS.  (I know Ada's not exactly a metropolis).   War Memorial was a hike from the dorms on campus, it's really inconvenient for the high school kids.  Maybe something is in the works though.

[Pat Coleman]

For those interested, the National Quarter Final game Mount Union vs. Cortland St from a few years back is on channel 10 in the Stark County area. Not that I don't like the current team, but it sure is fun to watch Micheli hand it off to Kmic.

Heh. Rebroadcasting an NCAA playoff game requires filing paperwork with the NCAA, possibly paying a rights fee. I'm surprised they chose to go through all that.

[reality check]

It was "Hell Week" in the OAC Pick-Em's as conventional wisdom took it up the tailpipe. 

Results for Week 10 have been posted. 

Spreads for week 11 won't be posted until tonight.

Is that why you had one of your better weeks versus the field?  It drives me nuts how you can trip me up so often but at least I can take some solace in the fact that you often trip your own self up worse than me.  

[formerd3db]

seventies

Ada HS has been completely renovated into a mini college itself.  I was blown away by the construction that was apparent when I came back to see ONU last season.  I am actually kind of surprised that Ada HS didn't build an on-campus stadium for itself when they did so much to the high school itself.  War Memorial has a similar town park feel that I was used to from seeing and going to games with my dad in Darke County as a kid but it's on the other side of town from AHS.  (I know Ada's not exactly a metropolis).   War Memorial was a hike from the dorms on campus, it's really inconvenient for the high school kids.  Maybe something is in the works though.

rc:

It has been quite some time since I visited Ada (a few years back when we took our daughters on the "campus visiting tours" when we were helping them look at colleges to choose from; and even further back many years before that when I watched my brother play in the NCAA DIII baseball regionals there when he was playing in college.  So please forgive my ignorance on this, but I was just curious and am just asking this for my own understanding.  In regards to your discussion about Ada HS not building an on-campus stadium when they built their new facility as you describe, why would they  (have) want(ed) to have done that?  Despite it being on the other side of town as you describe, Ada is not that big of town anyway, so it can't be that much of an inconvenience for students to get to the other stadium.  As I recall, didn't ONU use the hs stadium before they built the newer one?  Also, certainly, for example, Ada is nowhere near the size of a city like Holland where Hope is or Adrian - and in that regard, Holland HS uses the city owned stadium along with Hope for football; and before Adrain built their on-campus stadium a couple of years ago, bringing football to be played back on campus after about 4 decades, they shared a very nice stadium with Adrian HS which was actually on the other side of town in Adrian.  Although the college students had to travel all the way over there, they still did it and it wasn't that much of an inconvenience - again certainly not like the lesser distance I would imagine that would be the situation in Ada.

Also, am I correct or have I misunderstood the current situation at ONU?  i.e. When ONU built the new stadium in recent years, does the h.s use it also or do they both have separate facilities?  Seems to me if they have separate, it would have made much more sense to have a joint effort in sharing a stadium, rather than to waste $ by having two separate stadiums especially in such a small town.  Just curious and thanking you in advance for correcting my ignorance on this topic!  

[HScoach]

It was "Hell Week" in the OAC Pick-Em's as conventional wisdom took it up the tailpipe. 

Results for Week 10 have been posted. 

Spreads for week 11 won't be posted until tonight.

Is that why you had one of your better weeks versus the field?  It drives me nuts how you can trip me up so often but at least I can take some solace in the fact that you often trip your own self up worse than me.  

Probably. 

It really drives me nuts that I can't pick my own spreads.  Though I'm basically flipping a coin because the spread is usually the score that I think the game will be and less of what I believe you guys will think the game will be.  Oh well, at least I did decent 1 week out of 11.

[HScoach]

70's:

I appreciate you purposely skipping this week to give me a chance.......

[reality check]

formerd3db

Ada HS now uses War Memorial exclusively since Dial-Roberson has opened.  The actual high school complex is located at the Northeast end of town about 2 miles from War Memorial.  My point was that given the age/location or War Memorial and the new building at AHS, I don't think it would be too big of a stretch for War Memorial to be retired in favor of a stadium at the High School. 

If ONU had elected to put in turf I could see the two schools sharing stadium usage but since the decision was made to keep natural grass I understand why the facilities are separate.  They don't share gyms either (which I also think is a good thing) although ONU has hosted HS tournaments in the athletic center.  ONU does a lot to support Ada HS athletics but I think separate facilities is a good thing for the Bulldogs.  I covered way too many boys and girls bball games for WONB radio when they were known to lose games sometimes without reaching double digits.  I guess I always kind of wondered about War Memorial's location.  It was off-campus from ONU but about as far away from the high school as it could be while still sitting within town limits and now that it is solely used by AHS, it seems less than desirable regarding location.  Had AHS not done so much expansion and new construction, I wouldn't have made this observation though.  I'm sure AHS is happy to have a game field that is only being torn up by a single program.

[formerd3db]

rc:

Thanks for the follow-up and clarification.  I see your point and agree, especially with the natural turf.  Although you know more of the "behind the scenes" details regarding those decisions, my own opinion based on what you have shared is that, indeed, had ONU decided to put in the new synthetic turf, it would have been advantageous and the better decision for a shared stadium.

That is the "problem" at Hope College, and in part, why I asked you about the situation in Ada.  Even "way back in my day" Hope played with Holland HS on the city owned stadium, Old Riverview Park, which had been in use since the 1930's (similar design as the old portion of Mount Union's stadium).  The natural turf was horrible even before mid-season.  The city then built the "new" stadium, which is nice and still shared by the college and the hs., yet, they decided (against many who advised otherwise) to stay with natural turf.  The same problem now exists as it did 30 years ago.  The College would like to buy the stadium and put in the new turf (practice fields are horrible and would get that also most likely) especially since the new beautiful on-campus soccer/lacrosse stadium, which is about 500 yards away from the city owned football stadium (the latter sits within all the other college owned athletic facilities) with permanent seating, lights, etc. has the new synthetic turf.  The natural turf is dangerous by mid-season.  Anyway, the negotiations between the city and the college have not progressed (there are underlying issues, which really could be resolved quite easily in the opinion of many of us), so it is at a stalemate right now.

Anyway, thanks again for the explanation.