FB: Ohio Athletic Conference

[hsbsballcoach7]

Highlights were just posted and I washed to make some other notes....
Marcus Jackson played a great game! He made big tackles, TFL, sacks and open field solo tackles. Some other LBs missed key tackles.

Beaudrie has that "it" factor to me. Just a winner. The knowledge while scrambling before half to get out of bounds and attempt a field goal with 2 seconds left was big.

Maric hit field goals of 38 and 40 yards. When is the last time a Mount kicker was 2 for 2 in a meaningful game beyond 25 yards?

Turner and Cooper made some tough catches when they were needed on the sideline and in traffic.....not easy!

[ADL70]

Totally agree that BW would be a great opener for JCU as a non conference opponent.  I predict you are correct that that will happen.

They have a trophy to play for.

[Desertraider]

On the statement that LK/VK didnt need slogans - what is "Faith, Family, Football" then? Or the black bracelets that VK rolled out for the 2017(?) season? They had a slogan on them about finishing. I dont mind the "Standard" stuff - but using it means Geoff at the very least understands A) there is a Standard, and B) he isnt measuring up to it.

[D3 Poster]

Impressed with Beaudrie, especially with a year off from football.  Anticipate he'll be greatly improved by the end of the season.  Also, liked the JCU grad transfers at QB, WR and TE.

Will be interested to watch the 'other'undefeated teams to see if anyone is real... BW, Marietta, Muskingum and ONU.

[WRMUalum13]

Totally agree that BW would be a great opener for JCU as a non conference opponent.  I predict you are correct that that will happen.

They have a trophy to play for.

YSU and Akron had a trophy to play for too, but they haven't played in years.

[Dr. Acula]

Impressed with Beaudrie, especially with a year off from football.  Anticipate he'll be greatly improved by the end of the season.  Also, liked the JCU grad transfers at QB, WR and TE.

Will be interested to watch the 'other'undefeated teams to see if anyone is real... BW, Marietta, Muskingum and ONU.

I think Etta is the best bet of those 4.  Waddle has been building that program up for several years now.  8-2 last year with their only losses being a 31-28 game with JCU and of course Mount.  Vierstra is a very seasoned QB and has put up really good numbers so far this season.  And they always seem to have a couple stud pass rushers.  It's tough to go 8-1 in the OAC especially a year like this where it seems like there are several solid-to-good teams bunched together, but I think JCU and Etta would be the favorites to do it.

I watched Musky against Ott.  They looked pretty good, but it's tough to tell against Ott.  I'll say this, they looked better than OWU did against Ott while I was watching that game. 

ONU I'm holding off judging.  Mainly because I'm not sure how good Berg is this year.  That did not look like the recent vintage Berg we've become accustomed to.  Overall roster could be up and down, but for the most part Berg stabilized their program by consistently having a solid QB and a pesky defense.  I definitely didn't see one of those things against ONU and I'm not sure about the other. 

I will begrudgingly admit that BW has impressed me early on this year.  I need to wash my hands after typing that.

[ADL70]

Totally agree that BW would be a great opener for JCU as a non conference opponent.  I predict you are correct that that will happen.

They have a trophy to play for.

YSU and Akron had a trophy to play for too, but they haven't played in years.

Maybe because FBS YSU won the last three meetings. The last in 1995. Per Wikipedia they were scheduled to meet in 2020, but didn't because of Covid cancellations.

[WRMUalum13]

Totally agree that BW would be a great opener for JCU as a non conference opponent.  I predict you are correct that that will happen.

They have a trophy to play for.

YSU and Akron had a trophy to play for too, but they haven't played in years.

Maybe because FBS YSU won the last three meetings. The last in 1995. Per Wikipedia they were scheduled to meet in 2020, but didn't because of Covid cancellations.

FCS YSU, Akron is FBS. But yes that's true but they still have a trophy to play for!

[Dr. Acula]

The only minor changes on the 2 deep that I noticed are Shaun Thomas is RB2 this week and Deuce Parker is not listed (presumably due to injury) so freshman Zack Liebler is CB2 behind Curtis this week.

[D3fanboy]

Liebler was a very good player down the road at Massillon. A little undersized, but he was the CB1 on a very good defense.  Safe to say that he will not be phased by the "bright lights" at BW

[raiderpa]

Have to support that Liebler was very good at Massillon. I thought he would go to the MAC.

[WRMUalum13]

Have to support that Liebler was very good at Massillon. I thought he would go to the MAC.

Honestly in its current state the MAC might be a step down in quality compared to Mount Union... Kent and Akron are disasters right now LOL

[D3fanboy]

Have to support that Liebler was very good at Massillon. I thought he would go to the MAC.

more Massillon Tigers at Mount wouldn't be a bad thing.  Probably the most college football ready kids of any NE OH school

[WRMUalum13]

I wonder if JCU and Mount would consider a first game home and home in the future?  I know that there are many still stung and angry that JCU left the league, but down the road both will be searching for an opener and the rivalry and lack of travel makes a lot of sense.

raiderpa,

It would make sense to schedule a quality opponent as a non conference, but JCU does not want to play the Raiders unless it is in the playoffs. Let's face the real reality of them leaving the OAC, it was not the so called "Academic synergy with the other NCAC schools". but tired of not earning a playoff spot in the same conference as the Raiders.

Yeah that academic synergy is BS. With the exception of Wittenberg NCAC schools are highly selective national liberal arts colleges with endowments around 500 - 1 billion.

JCU admits 82% of applicants and would have one of the smallest endowments in the conference. JCU is much more similar institutionally to Baldwin Wallace, and Mount Union than they are to Denison, Kenyon, Wooster, Oberlin etc.

[theaprof]

No video feed so far.