FB: Ohio Athletic Conference

[Ric]

I just watched McCarron flip the ball forward while falling down. It was ruled an incomplete pass. That confirms the OAC did not send officials to Auburn today. 

[rscl70]

Now THAT was Mt. Union football!  A close two quarters against a worthy opponent, then take charge and put it away.  First time I've seen it this year.  Great win Raiders!

[middlerelief]

Is this the OAC board? Or did I "click" on the wrong link?

If the NCAA keeps sending us East, then we better get used to it!   

NCAA has stopped regionalizing the brackets it seems the last few seasons. 

Linfield playing a team in VA, as I'm typing this, in MUC's bracket W&J, Hopkins and Wesley is south, and IC Framingham East.  In MHB's - Rowan, SJF and Hobart East, JCU North  and so on....

I like how the NCAA ha mixed it up producing uncommon but good brands, or good quality program match-ups.

As far as ". . . sending us East" -- I think MUC has stayed put in Alliance regardless of which region a team is from. Maybe on the road if they Bethel given Bethel has a mile long edge in SOS but doubt it.   

[Craft_Beermeister]

Great finish to the first half, and then totally putting on the gas in the 2nd. 

I will state right now if the kid doesn't suffer a major injury, Mitchell will end up in the stratosphere of Moore, Pugh, and the best Kmic.  That kid is just fun to watch.

It seems like Mount has trouble with bigger, stronger receivers.  The DB's "kind of" look to be in position, but #80 just made play after play.  That kid is a really good receiver.

Hurf......MtFan.....good seeing you guys at Pancho's.  On to next week!

WESLEY....not THOSE guys again!  (See you next Saturday WD if you can make it.)

Mitchell is looking better and better.  Mount needs to find a way to keep him in Alliance year round so he can bulk up some more and stay out of Detroit. I don't think anything good can happen in Detroit. 

As far a Mitchell putting up big numbers for college career total yards to rank up with Moore, Pugh, and Kmic there is a good chance that he will.  Mitchell is already benefiting by racking up big yardage numbers in the playoffs which like Kmic count towards total accumulated yards, but I think when Moore and Pugh played the playoff stats didn't count toward personal totals.

[wesleydad]

Any chance wesleydad makes it to Alliance for Friday night?

Unfortunately that is not the plan.  It is tough to do unless I make some arrangements and leave school early.  More than likely I will do my usual get up early, figure 4ish to be at Panchos by 10 for breakfast with Skunks sidekick and the gang.  But, you never know how things go, may end up doing so.  If I do I will let you know.

[Craft_Beermeister]

LK is going to the Browns game tomorrow to meet up with and watch Ceil Shorts.  Ceil and Larry's grandson have a special relationship.

[raiderpa]

I listened to Witt audio stream, could not get Ric, and the announcers kept whining about a non fumble being a fumble and that being the difference in the game...         and surprisingly when they interviewed head coach he whined about "a couple calls" that impacted game.  How does getting blown out by 35 related to a blown call?? I have always respected the coach and felt his is a very very good one, however, please don't  whine about officiating after a 35 pt loss. 
Mount's dominance was a real surprise to me, I thought Witt would hang, and they had a great start.  Maybe the ability  to make adjustments (which we were worried about when LK left) is alive and well on VK's staff..that is great news for the future.

[Craft_Beermeister]

Great day for a game today and we even had some sunshine!

A few thoughts from the 40 yardline:

1. Great execution from the Mount Offense today, their best performance for several games.

2. Wittenberg has a good team and they got after it early and were in the game.

3. The Raider D made some adjustments in the second half and stopped the Tiger's momemtum.

4. A playoff team has to have a running game and Wittenberg either did not or relied solely on
    the passing game which was good.

5. Kevin Burke is simply amazing. He would receive my vote for MVP in D3, but there are games
    yet to be played.

6. I question some of the calls and spots by the officials today, but that is the way it is.

7. Wesley brings a solid team on Saturday, so the Raiders need to be ready.

8. The new WR #18 did a good job filling in for Garner.

Hope the weather this coming Saturday is like today. and meet Wesleydad this  next Saturday!

Great game for Mount Union and great win, but the scary part for the rest of D3 teams remaining in the playoffs is that as impressive as they looked yesterday they still have room to improve.  The young Mount team has been maturing more and more each game which is a great way to be playing this late in the season. 

I had a great view of the game from my advantage point up in the press box and was able to see some very good execution as well as some breakdowns on plays that I'm Vince and the coaches will correct.  Burke look sharp at times and other times he didn't but had an overall dominating game.  Mounts defense had their safety play up close to the line and appeared to scheme very effectively to shutdown Witt's running game.  Witt's success this year was the result of a good balance offense and when Mount took away Witt's running game it required Witt to try to keep up with Mount in a high scoring game by primarily passing the ball.  Minus a running attack Witt's passing game had some early success in using some of the strategy JCU had against Mount and having a strong showing by WR #80 Cunningham who at 6' 3" 220 lbs at at considerable physical advantage over Tre Jones but the biggest advantage I could see from my advantage point in the press box was the refs consistently get seperation from Jones by pushing off.  The stiff arm is a good weapon but normally it works best after the reception not before.

Another good sign from the game was the ability of the Mount Union coaches to adjust which was a strength of LK and apparently Vince has gotten that skill from his dad which I think is as impressive as the Mount Union's performance yesterday.  Congratulations to to Vince on getting to 12 - 0 surpassing your dad's first year coaching mark.  I know LK is proud of you because I know that he quietly shared with a few that he was very surprised how far the young team has gotten and with only 1 returning starter on offense and an young offensive line he thought they would a big challenge this year.  It is good to see the team was up to that challenge and getting better each week.

[raiderpa]

Wittenburg Head Coach: "..a couple mickey Mouse calls went against us.."

I admit on the video of the game, it appeared he had an argument when it appeared Burke was stripped of the ball, but come on, VK and his staff completely  out coached you in the second half.  The refs didn't make the adjustments at the half, what was it after half?  35-7 ? Gotta coach and play the whole game guys...

Witt QB was very good, number 80 was super... Running game was shut down and that was that...What do most coaches say...try to make a team one dimensional?  Yep  VK did it to you...

I would like to see Witt or Wooster start scheduling MU again in game one.  those old rivalries are really missed..

[HScoach]

Good thing Fincham wasn't on the wrong end of a shuffle pass being called a fumble or his head may explode.

[Dr. Acula]

I kind of give him a pass only because he was undoubtedly emotional.  Their season just ended and he was understandably upset.  He knows it didn't matter, but my initial reaction would be the same as his.

The bottom line for Witt is that no single play either way changed the fact that they would have needed to score 60+ yesterday to have had a chance.  Mount scored 56 and they took the air out of the ball the last 10 min of the game.  Witt just could not get a stop at any point.  Perfect example?  You absolutely cannot let them do what they did to start the 2nd half.  Wilkinson gets deep for a 60 yd TD on the 2nd play?!  That's so demoralizing. It just reinforced that Mount was doing whatever they wanted offensively. 

[joelmama]

So does anyone think there is a chance Coach Monty will be back at Mount next year?

[rscl70]

Wittenburg Head Coach: "..a couple mickey Mouse calls went against us.."

I admit on the video of the game, it appeared he had an argument when it appeared Burke was stripped of the ball, but come on, VK and his staff completely  out coached you in the second half.  The refs didn't make the adjustments at the half, what was it after half?  35-7 ? Gotta coach and play the whole game guys...

Witt QB was very good, number 80 was super... Running game was shut down and that was that...What do most coaches say...try to make a team one dimensional?  Yep  VK did it to you...

I would like to see Witt or Wooster start scheduling MU again in game one.  those old rivalries are really missed..

VK could have made the same statement.  The officiating was what is was, and seemed to apply "Micky Mouse" pretty evenly.

The non-fumble looked like a close call, but when both players have possession at the whistle, the tie goes to the offense.  In the replay you cannot see exactly when Burke losses his grip in relationship to when the play was called dead.

[emma17]

Congrats to Mt, it seems the team is really coming together now.  I truly felt Witt was going to give Mt a 4 quarter game. 
Good luck to both Mt and Wesley next week. 

[mr_mom]

Now that I have recovered from the lunacy that was The Game and the Iron Bowl, the results of Round 2 are posted.

For you mathematicians, the scores very closely approximate a uniform distribution: we had three winners with 12 of 16 [02 Warhawk, praiderguy, rscl70] and three folks [including me  ] who would also have 12 if they reversed every pick.

Bleedpurple has pulled out to a slight lead going into Round 3.  Those spreads will be posted Monday night.