FB: Ohio Athletic Conference

[Dr. Acula]

Mount D starts with a Spencer sack forcing a 3 and out.  Offense starts with a TD pass from Scott to Namdar on a drive lighlighted by a 27 yard run from Mitchell to set up the 16 yard score.

And as I type the D posts another 3 and out.

[Dr. Acula]

Scott showed great touch hitting Namdar in stride deep for a 37 yd score.  He didn't even step into the throw.  Just flicked it 40 yds downfield.  Early on the 2 TD's have been the only longer throws. They've kept it short and quick for Scott other than that.  Probably a wise move until the nerves settle down a little.

[mr_mom]

No one can replace Ric & Mark, but these guys are pretty good.  This works!

[And just as I type that, I lose me feed ]

[Dr. Acula]

Good grief, Berg!  Cortland floats a 30 yard Hail Mary for a TD as the clock expires to beat Berg 26-24.  After watching that game Berg looks like they're going to really struggle if they can't run the ball well.  If they're forced to pass it didn't look like they could with much success (15-33 for 135 yds today).  And it wasn't because Cortland looked like world beaters on D. 

[Dr. Acula]

Great first half for Namdar.  Scott hit him deep again this time for a 60 yd score.  5 grabs for 125 and 3 scores for Namdar.  Friss and Gilbert were already rotating in at WR as was Johnson at RB. 

[pradierguy]

Ric and hscoach are all timers, but these guys on 1310 are strong. Really enjoying listening to them. I know the WRMU guys are just students, but it's rough sledding over there.

In regards to the game, Tom Lally.....wow.

[SaintsFAN]

What the heck is going on at TMC?  SJF is getting absolutely manhandled.  27-0 at half and looking at the stats they look like a 27-0 game.  Wow.

Thomas More returned everyone except for their All American RB and a WR.  They are loaded and experienced.  They finally have the size on the lines to compete.  The score surprises me but not the result.  Apparently the upperclassmen love playing for Scafe (word from camp). 

[Dr. Acula]

I heard Otterbein struggled mightily against OWU in their scrimmage.  Anyone have details?

Looks like the scrimmage may have been accurate. Ott lost 29-0 to Buff St and mounted almost nothing offensively.  They barely cracked 100 yds of total offense. 

How about Wilm winning though?!  Good for them.  And Cap showed some teeth fighting back against Witt late to make it respectable. 

[Dr. Acula]

What the heck is going on at TMC?  SJF is getting absolutely manhandled.  27-0 at half and looking at the stats they look like a 27-0 game.  Wow.

Thomas More returned everyone except for their All American RB and a WR.  They are loaded and experienced.  They finally have the size on the lines to compete.  The score surprises me but not the result.  Apparently the upperclassmen love playing for Scafe (word from camp).

I was just surprised by the score and complete dominance statistically. 

[Kira & Jaxon's Dad]

Mount Union had more offensive plays (71) than Bethany had in Total Offensive yards (69).

[Walt]

And Cap showed some teeth fighting back against Witt late to make it respectable.

Cap played hard.  I'm proud of them.  Cap shot themselves in the foot several times.  Trailing 14-6 they had a first and goal inside Witt's 10 with about 35-40 secs to go, but due to se questionable clock management inexplicably let time expire at Witt's 5 without getting any points.  Cap also gambled and went for 4th down deep in their own territory down 21-6 in the 3rd quarter...failed to convert and gave up a score the following play to fall down 28-6. 


Witt did not take their starters out after going up 35-6.  Cap went on a 21-3 run from the late 3rd quarter into the 4th.   

Wit was clearly the better team, but last year this same game would have been a 63-7 blow out.

Witt was also bailed out a few times by the refs.  Two non-fumble calls and a questionable "simultaneous catch" call on what a biased Cap fan thinks was clearly an INT helped their cause.  Without those Witt still wins but it certainly would have made it interesting.

[Dr. Acula]

Thoughts after watching the opener....

The D looked in mid season form already.  They were dominant.  Lally looked great getting pressure seemingly constantly.  With just a couple exceptions they did a great job tackling today.  Really clean.

The beat goes on for Mitchell/Nemeth.  It was interesting to see them come out early in the 3rd qtr with a full house backfield.  Scott in the shotgun with Mitchell behind him and Nemeth and Johnson flanking him.  I don't recall seeing that formation before.

Namdar was just in a different gear when he got a step on the DB.  In case we forgot, he's really, really fast.  He's just an absolute match up nightmare.

Kennedy had a nice punt return reminding us "Oh yeah, that guy can flip the field quickly". 

The question of the day was how Scott would look in his debut.  I thought he looked just about as good as I could have hoped for.  He took care of the football, was pretty accurate throwing it and showed beautiful touch on a couple long TD passes.  The thing I liked the most was that he used his athleticism to elude the pass rush and kept his eyes downfield looking for a throw rather than just tucking and running.  My biggest fear was that Scott would default to trying to make plays with his feet even when he didn't need to.  You see it all the time with guys who can run.  I thought he showed great judgment today.  He did run it (he was the leading rusher with 85 yds) but he did so wisely and mostly off of read option.  The scary thing is he has 3 more weeks to sharpen his feel against lesser opponents. 

Overall it was a good opener.  D looked ready to go from snap one.  Offense was a little slow to get going at first and a little bit methodical in their drives, but they were humming by the 2nd qtr.  After week 1 my biggest concern is whether the OAC schedule is going to push Mount much this year.  They're going to absolutely steamroll Berg and Ott.  I think JCU will be a tough game, but 26-3 over St. Vincent wasn't what I was looking for from the Streaks today.

[Raider 68]

Some First game thoughts:

- Was the warmest openers in a long time and the empty open stands reflect that.

- The Mount defense was great today, with movement to the ball faster than past years.

- Tom Lally had a great game today

- While the offense took awhile to get in sic, QB T. Scott had a very solid opening game, his completion percentage
  would have been higher except for some drops. He even blocked on running play, signs of a true team player
  and leader

- WR R. Namdar another great game. With his speed and hands, will not be many DB's during the season who will
  hold him in check.

- Running game and line play was not up to speed as yet, but L. Nemeth needs to play a lot, IMHO

- Anytime you hold a team scoreless and under 100 yards, bodes well for the upcoming conference play.

[mr_mom]

Week #1 results of the OAC Pick-Em have been posted.  It was brutal!  Only 02 Warhawk [8] and wally_wabash [6] managed to get more than half of the possible points.

[I would take a secret schadenfreude pleasure out of this had it not bit my butt as well!   ]

So if you missed playing this week, you didn't lose much.  You have ten weeks to catch up.  So think about joining next week.

A warm welcome to bluestreak66 and MediaGuy!  Welcome to The Game!

Week #2 spreads will come out on Monday night.

[ohiofan1954]

What a day , watched both Wilmington and Marietta play. Marietta may be bigger but they are what we thought they were. Congrats on the Quakers victory yesterday. I may have taken my best photograph ever at a game with the winning touchdown catch. Very exciting finish and loved watching the celebration.  I'd like to thank also whoever it was that turned my car keys in at Wilmington. It would have made for a interesting trip back to Columbus if they were not found.