FB: Ohio Athletic Conference

[skunks_sidekick]

K & J D.....thanks.

Without getting into details, LK bent over backwards to connect with Caruso last year when he was at the Stagg.  I wonder what he is thinking now?  Mind you, it might not be a big thing to LK, or anyone on the staff.  I just thought it was a bit classless, but then again I had more than a few cocktails when I first posted last night.

Safe journeys home for all that are traveling home today. 

#11 in the books.........frickin' ay!!!!   

[Bartman]

Congratulations to the Raiders for winning against a tough St. Thomas team. It is clear that you not only have solid talent ,but great coaching and heart. I wasn't sure that you were as good this year based on the  gap in league  talent, but your performances in the playofffs demonstrated that you earned your championship with distinction. How the heck do you do it with an enrollment of 2200? Impressive.

[MonroviaCat]

Congrats MT Union Players, Coaches, and Fans.   I thought this was the year that my guys (Linfield) would finally get a crack at the Raiders but it didn't work out.  Maybe next year!  Congrats again!

[BrowardRaider]

Congratulations to Mount Union, coaches, players and most especially the Seniors who refused to lose. Best wishes as these young men enter a more than uncertain world, the lessons taken from this game we call football, the coaching, the successes and failures, will undoubtedly carry them far. Congratulations to St. Thomas, I'm sure this loss will be built upon and we will see more of you guys in 2013. Safe travels to all heading home, and a big thanks to the D3 guys for bringing us great coverage through this week, all season and for their tireless work.

[raiderpa]

Did Caruso get the F.A.M.I.L.Y. thing from Rutgers or vice versa?  He acts like he invented it, but Rutgers had it on their jerseys a month ago...Also, if you follow the NFL, Schaino, former Rutgers coach got people in the NFL ticked off with similar end of game behaviors by him and his team in a game that was decided.

Again, after a good night;s sleep, great effort by the Tommie defense. They did for 2 quarters what many could not, controlled the LOS and shut down Raider offense.
But a great championship team makes a couple "MUST" drives while the Defense holds UST to 35 2nd half yards...wow what a game and both teams should be proud. I strongly believe UST could be the next giant for people to slay.
Too bad Caruso took the attention away from his team's great effort with his antics at the end of the game. Hopefully, he will learn from the loss as well. Perhaps he can put this in his wide collection of cliches..."winning shows a great deal of your character, losing shows all of it."

[raiderpa]

As we end another great season of d3 football, THANKS TO THE STAFF OF D3FOOTBALL.COM....The service you provide is like no other and the fact that you do it for love not money makes it even more special.  As a d3 fan, this forum, and news and entertainment source provides a great deal of enjoyment throughout the year, but especially during football season.  Your labor of love has become a very important and enjoyable part of the lives of many many fans.
Merry Christmas to Pat and all.
Thanks again for sharing your talents with us all.

[emma17]

Congratulations on number 11- I am truly happy for the senior class as they deserved to go out champions.

[Pat Coleman]

As we end another great season of d3 football, THANKS TO THE STAFF OF D3FOOTBALL.COM....The service you provide is like no other and the fact that you do it for love not money makes it even more special.  As a d3 fan, this forum, and news and entertainment source provides a great deal of enjoyment throughout the year, but especially during football season.  Your labor of love has become a very important and enjoyable part of the lives of many many fans.
Merry Christmas to Pat and all.
Thanks again for sharing your talents with us all.

Raiderpa -- thanks. I'm curling up for a short winter's nap right now because I am personally exhausted, but I'll be back in a couple hours.

Here's a photo of St. Thomas' opening game, Sept. 1, with the wristband visible on Caruso.
http://d3photography.photoshelter.com/gallery-image/FB-Wisc-Eau-Claire-vs-St-Thomas-09-01-12/G0000i.Jc7FtBxr4/I0000TWryquz2o3k/C00008k1ueSWIIVc

[wesleydad]

just got home from the game.  thanks to mtfan et al. who allowed me to hang out with you guys during the tailgating.  very nice spread and really nice people.  i really enjoyed it.  the tailgating seemed to be all mount people which i guess makes sense since it is tough to get all the necessaries from minnesota. 

you all have talked about the end of the game decisions enough and i agree, for a coach who never quits it looked like he quit with the punt with only 3 mins remaining.  after the first down i left the stadium and did not see the antics at the end of the game.  i was puzzled by the tommies lack of an effort to score at the end of the first half.  timeouts left and no sense of urgency with the clock.  they were getting the ball to start the second half, looked to me like they were happy with only being down 7.  the tommies had ops, many nice plays nullified by penalties, drops, or missed throws.  #87 was open all game and would have had sore hands if i was coaching.  mount played well in spurts, but did not dominate like many of us thought they would.  hscoach had some concerns about line play and they seemed to play out keeping the tommies in the game.

mount is still the top of the heap, but i think some teams are starting to close the gap which will make next year very interesting.  congrats again on the win.

[formerd3db]

wesleydad:

Sounds like you had a great time.  Indeed, the Mount people are very gracious in their hospitality at the Stagg tailgaiting.  Just like you did, I, too, experienced that when I have attended the Stagg Bowl in the past.  Anyway, glad you made it home safe.

Also, just to pick your brain at bit, what do you think your Wesley team needs to do to get "over the hump" and win that "big game" in the future (taking off from one of your posts on one of the other boards.

Also, I, too, will join in with raiderpa in thanking Pat and all his staff for providing us another great year of D3fb.com and this forum to participate in.  Hard to believe it has been 12-13 years already.  Thank you.

[mr_mom]

Just got back from the game ... still trying to get the chill out of these old bones, but are doing better then my frat brother who came up from Texas.  He may never be the same.

The Tommies were a bit bigger -- although some of that may be due to their white outfits -- that was expected.  But they were quicker than I had anticipated.

Was hoping to put some faces to the names on this board, but only ran into old Snake brothers and old flames [different folks!   ].  Managed to find the post-game reception and finally got the pleasure of hearing Larry speak in person.  Graceful, funny, and doesn't pull any punches, as he congratulated the defense on a great game, the offense on a pretty good game.

Had breakfast with some current students before I headed home ... their parents would be proud.

I'll get working on the final Pick-Em results soon.

[purpled]

Congrats to the entire Mount team! As the old, and obvious axiom goes, "defense wins championships," this year was just as fun watching our defense stop the opponent from scoring as it was watching our offense put up 50 or 60! What a great effort on both sides of the ball. And the special teams played on another level during the playoffs!

[wesleydad]

wesleydad:

Sounds like you had a great time.  Indeed, the Mount people are very gracious in their hospitality at the Stagg tailgaiting.  Just like you did, I, too, experienced that when I have attended the Stagg Bowl in the past.  Anyway, glad you made it home safe.

Also, just to pick your brain at bit, what do you think your Wesley team needs to do to get "over the hump" and win that "big game" in the future (taking off from one of your posts on one of the other boards.

Also, I, too, will join in with raiderpa in thanking Pat and all his staff for providing us another great year of D3fb.com and this forum to participate in.  Hard to believe it has been 12-13 years already.  Thank you.

formerd3db, having been to the last 7 staggs, i think it is that many, and talking to others who have seen wesley play the consensus seems to point to coaching.  the have played mount tough twice and have competed and beaten umhb a number of times.  they did not fair well against uww, but neither did anyone else except for mount.  the talent seems to be there, but for some reason when adjustments need to be made to make a difference they come out on the short end of them.  the offense seems to struggle when it comes to big games and i dont believe they have scored over 20 in any of the semis they have played in.  i understand that the d's are real good at that point, but so has wesley's offense been on more than 1 occasion. the mount folk have stated to me on several occasions that if the coaches switch teams wesley wins the game.  not suggesting that the coaches be replaced just that the mentality in the big game, mainly the second half of big games needs to improve.  just my 2 cents.

[Desertraider]

Just wanted to echo the thanks to D3football.com - staff and all. You guys do a heck of a job and a hearty thanks is in order. I also want to say thank-you to Dan Hawkins and Anish (forgot last name! damn!) from ESPN. They treated this game like a "real assignment" and it showed with an excellent call. I watched the game and have already watched the replay online twice. Dan sounded not only like a football guy who knows the game - but a guy who did his homework and knew the teams and the stories - he could pronounce the names too which has to be a bonus. So Kudos to Dan and Anish.

I have to give a special KUDOS to the Mount D! The articles I have read today mention the win - but seem to focus on what the tommies defense did. But the MOUNT D must be applauded. The tommies came in averaging 465 yds/game (242 rushing & 222 passing) and 36 pt/game. Mount held the tommies to 194 total yards - and gave up only 78 yds rushing on 36 attempts. In addition the tommies had given up 15 sacks all year and Mount got 5 last night. Way to go Mount D in stopping a offense with a bunch of D1 transfers.

As for Caruso - you reap what you sew. He reminds me of richrodriguez with all of his cliches. I don't think the tommies will put together much of a run because the coach seems to be about himself. He will be out of St. Paul within 2 years on to other challenges.

[formerd3db]

wesleydad:

Thanks for your replay/observations.  I can certainly understand that view.  Being in that type of situation i.e. being so close to getting to that next level is very frustrating for everyone from players, to coaches to the fans/alumni.  I've seen it both ways, for example, the situation that you describe and the observations of opposing fans that sometimes it is the coaching.  On the other hand, it sometimes is just the players in that the coaches are doing everything right (nothing lacking in their motivative efforts, coaching techniques, game plans, instructions to players, etc., etc.), but the players simply not responding or making the same repeated mistakes over and over and over. Sometimes that most latter aspect is a lack of talent and no coaching motivation can change that when it gets to that point.

Yet as you have said, it appears that Wesley has had the talent and is almost there, yet has just had some tough luck and times. I would compare it to Northwestern years back.  Going from simply lousy, they kept at it and at it, slowly improving from players to coaches, but in the end, a large part of it was simply changing that overall hanging losing attitude to the idea that they "could do it".  So hopefully, Wesley's entire contingent will continue that quest and eventually get there.  It would be great to see some additional great quarterfinals and semifinals with teams like them in it, getting to the likes of what Mount and some of the western, midwest final post season contests were.

Anyway, hope you get to rest up the remainder of the weekend after a busy but great Stagg Bowl trip and experience.