FB: Ohio Athletic Conference

[hsbsballcoach7]

Just like last week, the play calling was well balanced, Oline gave Plunk time to throw and guys were getting open. The best part to me is that they didn't rely on Ruby (which he looks like he's getting closer to himself). Special teams looked different, in a good way,  with the change to the kicker. Last year many people saw what happens when your punter isn't a plus and hurt field position.

Defense looked good getting pressure, but that QB didn't seem very mobile. Del Valleys QB appears to be able to run and throw well. I hope they find ways to get negative plays and turnovers. Should be a good game and I hope our crowd shows up!

[D3fanboy]

Just like last week, the play calling was well balanced, Oline gave Plunk time to throw and guys were getting open. The best part to me is that they didn't rely on Ruby (which he looks like he's getting closer to himself). Special teams looked different, in a good way,  with the change to the kicker. Last year many people saw what happens when your punter isn't a plus and hurt field position.

Defense looked good getting pressure, but that QB didn't seem very mobile. Del Valleys QB appears to be able to run and throw well. I hope they find ways to get negative plays and turnovers. Should be a good game and I hope our crowd shows up!

Mount has been getting a little more and more healthy.  A punter that isn't kicking 9 and 15 yard boots in the semis should be an upgrade

[hsbsballcoach7]

Just like last week, the play calling was well balanced, Oline gave Plunk time to throw and guys were getting open. The best part to me is that they didn't rely on Ruby (which he looks like he's getting closer to himself). Special teams looked different, in a good way,  with the change to the kicker. Last year many people saw what happens when your punter isn't a plus and hurt field position.

Defense looked good getting pressure, but that QB didn't seem very mobile. Del Valleys QB appears to be able to run and throw well. I hope they find ways to get negative plays and turnovers. Should be a good game and I hope our crowd shows up!

Mount has been getting a little more and more healthy.  A punter that isn't kicking 9 and 15 yard boots in the semis should be an upgrade

Also nice to see a new wrinkle with the freshman TE, Wyatt Stiehl, catching some balls and showing some nice athleticism getting upfield. Seeing signs of progress on the field!

[Desertraider]

So after today - Mount needs a win against DelValley and then the winner of Aurora and Wartburg. No St. Johns and No UWWWWW. Not sure how much this draw cos What a fortunate draw.  Nothing against Aurora or Wartburg - they have to have something to knock those two teams off but I don't think I am alone in thinking this is a better set up for Mount...maybe.

Thought the Raiders played well for the most part. There are always little things. I think Utica really screwed up trying to strip the ball on every carry. Probably accounted for Mount getting an additional 5-7 on a crap ton of carries fro holding them upright to try for the ball. I get the reasoning - TO's are great. But did the film show Mount is prone to being stripped? Did it show Mount has a tendency to carry the ball away from body? Would have been smarter to just hit, wrap and tackle.

On that note I wasn't impressed with Mount's downfield tackling (mostly DB's). A lot of grabbing, some good "hits" - but not wrapping up. 4th qtr I thought the Utica guy scored after breaking about 6 "tackles". The score they did get was the result of the DB trying to push the WR out of bounds instead of tackling. Normally Mount is good at making sure open field and down field tackles so this could be a today thing.

BTW - I know Mount's WRs and a few DBs wear really short pants (just at the knee), but Utica came out with regular pants and 5 minutes in had them pushed up and tucked under to some lovely 1970s era basketball shorts. They had a LB with them at mid-thigh. Are knee pads no longer required? Can't really have them when you're wearing Daisy Dukes. Oh well

Go Everybody

[WRMUalum13]

I haven't watched a lot of the games this year... usually don't start to pay attention until late season / playoffs. Has Mount used that two running back formation before this game? I really liked what they were doing with it. It really seemed to create some of the assignment conflicts a previous poster was mentioning in terms of making the defense think.

Anyway I agree with Desertraider, NO playoff game should be taken for granted, but I do have to say pretty much every team I was really worried about going into the playoffs on our side of the bracket has been knocked out. I see a much more feasible path to the Stagg Bowl than a I did a few weeks ago.

Unfortunately I'm now a LOT more worried about Aurora and Wartburg than I was before the tournament. Both have certainly earned my respect with their playoff performances so far. I'm disspointed they kickoff at the same time as Mount, because I'd really like to watch that one. At least Kehres stadum has wifi.

[Pat Coleman]

Those games will kick off an hour apart, if that helps.

[WRMUalum13]

Those games will kick off an hour apart, if that helps.

OH! I saw noon on Wartburg's website... forgot that they were in the central time zone. Thanks Pat

[WRMUalum13]

hopefully with OSU not playing in the Big Ten title game, Mount can get a better crowd next week. With Wartburg winning Mount should be home until the Stagg Bowl.  Gotta get more people to the game

thanksgiving weekend games are always sparsely attended all the students are home for the holidays and lots of other fans are usually traveling. Next week should be better attended.

can't be any worse.   Mount has a pretty favorable path to the Stagg Bowl ahead.  Let's hope alumni and campus can create some sort of home field advantage

Okay this got me curious about playoff attendance in general. Apparently I'm a big enough D3fb fan to do a statistical breakdown of playoff attendance lol.

Average UMU home playoff game by attendance since 2010
Round 1: 1683
Round 2: 1557
Quarterfinals: 2420
Semi-Finals: 2954

A couple of notable attendance outliers were the 2015 semis against UWW (6,147) 2014 quarters against JCU (4,798) and 2012 semis against UMHB (3,225)

I'll never forget that 2015 game, that attendance was nuts. 6,000 + inside Mount Union Stadium Kehres Stadium was quite the atmosphere. Though apparently the 2014 regular season against JCU was 9397... I wish I would have gone to that one.

Also interesting to note that 2018 had the lowest attendance of any year that had 4 home playoff games since 2010. Only average 1491 and none of the games cracked 2,000. Seems odd for a team that was defending champs.

[Desertraider]

I just rewatched and noticed Mount had quite a few that also had the pants pushed up mid thigh. Oh well. Anyone else think that Noah Beaudrie could provide a nice wrinkle to the mount offense?

I think he is more complete that Plunk.

[hsbsballcoach7]

I just rewatched and noticed Mount had quite a few that also had the pants pushed up mid thigh. Oh well. Anyone else think that Noah Beaudrie could provide a nice wrinkle to the mount offense?

I think he is more complete that Plunk.

I think he'll definitely add another dimension to the offense.... when it's his turn. I'm not sure he could make some of those throws that Plunk made today,  yet.  The TD throws to Finley and Ruby on the sideline were quite nice. Beaudrie could open up the offense to be more "Burke-Scott" type of run/throw options which keeps defenses on their heals.

[edward de vere]

I just rewatched and noticed Mount had quite a few that also had the pants pushed up mid thigh. Oh well. Anyone else think that Noah Beaudrie could provide a nice wrinkle to the mount offense?

I think he is more

complete that Plunk.

Somebody on here - I should be able to remember but I can't - has been posting about Beaudrie for 14 months or so.

My suspicion - and it is only that since I don't actually know anything - is that Beaudrie is a better runner but Plunk is a better passer AND is obviously more experienced and therefore is the starting qb.

AND D3 will probably rank him 1-2-3 at the end o' the year.

[Desertraider]

Not suggesting Beaudrie should start, or even be in at QB. Thinking more of a Taurice Scott type of a role - just a wrinkle. I agree Plunk is a better passer - but Plunk (until VERY recently) has taken a lot of sacks because he doesn't pull it down and go. Beaudrie can pass, passes well actually, and isn't afraid to run it. I am looking forward to watching him for a couple of years.

Roll Raiders ~ Roll!

[D3fanboy]

Del Val ranks 239th in the nation in penalty yards per game and 240th in penalties per game....there are 240 teams in D3.  100 yards per game in penalties is not a great recipe to pull the upset in Alliance.  Keep your cool Raiders and get out of the game after 3 quarters

[raider-in-law]

   In D3's latest playoff bracket they have Mount traveling to Del Valley. Thoughts

[D3fanboy]

   In D3's latest playoff bracket they have Mount traveling to Del Valley. Thoughts

Pat's high

gotta be a typo, Mount's going to beat Del Val by a billion if they have to travel