FB: Ohio Athletic Conference

[BillyRayJimBob]

Congrats to Mount Union and THE Ohio State University on taking steps towards another National Championship! Now, will an Ohio team fron D2 please step up and make it a clean sweep.

It looks like Tiffin University tried to (lost the last game of the year by one point to finish 10-1, ranked somewhere around #12, but did not make the D2 playoffs).

By the way...  it also looks like "the best college football team in Stark County" got slobberknockered yesterday!

[BillyRayJimBob]

That would be NAIA Walsh, for those who do not follow my sarcasm.

[skunks_sidekick]

Step One - leave them Hope (less)......CHECK!

Step Two - beat a "never seen before" Wheaton Thunder......pending

Step Three - FINALLY rip the oxygen unit off of that geriatric Pentello so he dies his long-awaited OAC death.......pending

Stop Four - beat those pantie-waisted, don't get no respect, liberal leaning
EAST goofs.....pending

Step Five - educate Whitewater as to what it feels like when LK gets to play you for a second time in two years.....pending

[Bill McCabe]

skunks_sidekick,  I like your 5 steps, except I would substitute UMHB for UWW.  Great game in Alliance 2 years ago and would like to meet up again.   

[boobyhasgameyo]

Guys forgive me if this has been mentioned before but this is my first time in about a year looking on the OAC board.... But word on the street is Mount Union plans to schedule St. John Fisher starting in 2008 hosting Fisher the first game of the year and Fisher hosting Mt. Union in 2009.  I frequently talk about Mt. Union's dominance and I think this will be really fun to see and good for Fisher in terms of a measuring stick.

Also Garcon is a transfer from the E8 and I have witnessed how he dominated games.  He is currently the only common link between the E8 and the OAC, so my question is does he still dominate in his posistion? Because if he is just a slightly above average WR in the OAC then that speaks volumes as to how good the conference is, but if he is still performing at the same level then maybe the difference is not as grand?  Just food for thought...

[boobyhasgameyo]

Stop Four - beat those pantie-waisted, don't get no respect, liberal leaning
EAST goofs.....pending

Ouch.....

[skunks_sidekick]

Booby - IMO he is one of the best (if not the THE best) wide receiver-athletes in DIII.  He turned the corner yesterday and finally got to turn the jets on fully and it was an amazing thing to see.  The HOPE DB was ten yards further downfield (and with an angle), and in about two seconds he was BEHIND Garcon.

[bushman]

I am sure the Raiders would like another shot at UMHB.   Hope to see you guys in Salem.   Whitewater may not get by La crosse.

[purpled]

``We thought we were ready for them,'' said Hope defensive end Matt Erb, ``but we've never seen that kind of speed before.

``Garcon is probably one of the best receivers in the nation,'' Hope defensive back Troy Blasius said, referring to Garcon catching the 10-yard screen pass then running down the left sideline 54 yards for the big score

The only problem I have with these quotes is the word "probably". I think he is the best but I would settle for arguably the best.

Wheaton...better have your jet packs ready or it will be a very loooong afternoon!

[Kira & Jaxon's Dad]

Guys forgive me if this has been mentioned before but this is my first time in about a year looking on the OAC board.... But word on the street is Mount Union plans to schedule St. John Fisher starting in 2008 hosting Fisher the first game of the year and Fisher hosting Mt. Union in 2009.  I frequently talk about Mt. Union's dominance and I think this will be really fun to see and good for Fisher in terms of a measuring stick.

Also Garcon is a transfer from the E8 and I have witnessed how he dominated games.  He is currently the only common link between the E8 and the OAC, so my question is does he still dominate in his posistion? Because if he is just a slightly above average WR in the OAC then that speaks volumes as to how good the conference is, but if he is still performing at the same level then maybe the difference is not as grand?  Just food for thought...

We have also heard that about St John Fisher vs MUC, but no confirmation yet.  Pierre does dominate in the OAC.

[reality check]

Congrats to both Mount Union and Capital on the wins yesterday.  Operation: "OAC only gets beat by OAC" is through week one.  he pressure builds to make sure the only OAC loss in another year's playoffs comes at the hands of a fellow OAC foe.

One week down guys.  Keep up the great work and continue to do the OAC proud.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Step Two - beat a "never seen before" Wheaton Thunder......pending

I can assure you you aren't going to see any of that 'smack' from the CCIW this week (and if any 'newbie' does try it, we'll smack him ourselves)!  Wheaton's been to Alliance before!  They won't fear the Raiders, but they will certainly respect them - we're all aware that the Thunder must play a perfect game, and even THAT may not be enough unless Mount also plays subpar.  From the looks of it, this may be the best Raider team yet.  My prediction is that you can forget about a 42-0 halftime, but the Mount should eventually pull away.

On the other hand (with NO disrespect at all for Capital), I'm predicting an upset in the other matchup.  The teams seem to be virtually mirror-images of one another - splendid senior qbs, strong defenses (NCC shut out Augie, 27-0, and shut out 10-0 CUW, 35-0, until CUW got a meaningless late TD against the scrubs), etc.  NCC has a freshman rb who is already a star; I predict (if he stays healthy) that he will be a Kmic/Beaver type superstar by the time he's a junior.  It should be one heckuva game, but I sense that the Cardinals will get their revenge on the Crusaders.

Is it Saturday yet?!

[formerd3db]

Dis T   I believe there is a penality for taunting the other team.  If the refs don't throw a flag then it must not be taunting.  He does look like he is just having a good time.  He appears to really like to play football.  He runs,tackles, blocks, holds at times and does much more than just catch passes.  Oh and he smiles a lot.

Not necessarily, bushman, especially with the officiating crew at yesterday's Mount/Hope.  At the risk of getting some "flak" for the following, I am going to mention some personal observations regarding this before posting some more positive comments/observations about the game.  Also, allow me to be perfectly clear about this - do not misinterpret these comments as the officiating had nothing to do with the outcome of the game whatsoever.

The officiating in yesterday's game was extremely poor and dangerous - among the worst I've seen this year (although not THE worst).  They refused to call continuous, repeated holding (on both sides, although I would argue more on Mount's than Hope ), grabbing of facemasks, yet more alarmingly was their blatent disregard for not calling clipping, hits in the back and pushing in the back which occured on more than several occasions.  This was most surprising as these occured directly in front of the 2-3 officials involved and very difficult to believe their claims of "not having seen these violations occur".  Even more alarming was their blatent disregard for even acknowledging they would watch for all of these aspects when asked to do so and especially for the latter occurances, which are obviously the more dangerous of those in question.  They simply did not respond in anyway, didn't care nor made any comment.  Their arrogant attitude about this was most evident.  This particular crew has officiated a Hope game in the past and it is very apparent they do not like the Hope team, however, that is irrelevent.  The aspect of concern here is the dangerous situation they allowed to occur for players on both teams by not paying attention to these situations.  Thankfully, no one was injured as a result of the "missed" or no-calls.  This is not only a disappointing issue but more importantly, one of serious concern, and IMO, that particular officiating crew should be reviewed by the NCAA.  I hope that Mount (nor any other playoff team) draws this crew for the remainder of the playoffs.  They don't deserve it (nor does the officiating crew either ).  That being said, I'll post my other positive comments/observations about the game in a separate post.       

[BisonBob]

Two things from a new poster.  They don't have anything to do with the playoffs, but . . . .

The word is that former JCU off co Joe Parella (sp) will be the next guy at Hiram

The best defensive end was former Blue Streak Scott O'Donnell '92-96
If my memory is correct, he won the national defensive player of the year as a senior.

[formerd3db]

Some other observations about yesterday's game:

1) First, congratulations to Mount and all you Mount faithful followers on the victory.  The quotes that Ric posted above I would agree basically say it all; indeed Mount's speed was the surprising and biggest factor.  None of our players were "psyched out" by playing Mount, yet were disappointed they did not have a better showing against them.  Certainly, that was not Hope's best effort; it just wasn't their day for that.  Having seen some Mount teams in recent years, I do not think this current team the best, however, they are an extremely talented team (obviously well coached) and, personally, I think they will win another national championship this year - I will be surprised if they don't.

2) BTW, Ric, I'm sorry we did not get a chance to meet yesterday (and your colleague hscoach) - no fault of yours - I got tied up in pre-game responsibilities.  I did get an opportunity to briefly meet and chat with your baseball coach and some other personel though.  I also enjoyed seeing the renovations to the stadium and field and the updates to the campus - very nice.

3) Thank you to all of you Mount supporters for your thoughts, prayers and concern for our injured player Nick Oostervan (neck injury).  He is doing fine/recovered, all tests negative and will have some final medical follow-up check at home this week; no problems expected.  We (and of course, he and his family) appreciated all your concern.  Also, thanks to the Mount personel, training staff, security staff, coaches and others who assisted us in that situation - much appreciated.

4) Mount's passing game was the big factor IMO (even though the first two TD's were scored on runs), and despite the rushing yards Mount finally totalled (118 at the half, yet the passing is what made the drives).  Hope could not adjust to the weak side pass (in flats or coming just across the line of scrimmage to the weak side) and once making the turn, the speed factor was on as has been mentioned.

5) The goal line stand that Hope made in the 1st quarter was one of the best I've seen and/or played in.  With the score only 14-0 at that point, I thought that would be the boost and if Hope came back and scored, a 14-7 deficit would not be that bad (Hope did come back against Alma this year after being down 35-10 at the half, yet that wasn't going to occur yesterday against a team like Mount).  As we all know, that did not happend as the next Mount score was the long TD pass (of which both Hope and Mount each missed additional opportunities of the same) and then Mount was rolling on its way.

6) Unfortunately, Hope's offense was essentially non-existant.  Not being able to move the ball put much pressure on the defense and the latter eventually just "ran out of gas".  They did have some huge defensive plays in those smashing fumble recoveries (2 out of 3 and almost the third; also the blocked field goal).  In fact, one of Mount's coaches commented to us that Hope played Mount the toughest of teams all years in those situations, including the goal-line stand.  Anyway, the speed, quickness and toughness of Mount was most evident in just wearing opponents down.  Again, our team is disappointed in not having a better showing against Mount, but that's the way it got. Perhaps we might get another shot at you again next year.


All the above being said, again, congrats on a good win and best of luck the rest of the way.  Mount is clearly a very excellent, talented and superior team this year - deserving of its #1 ranking.   Again, personally, I will be very surprised if Mount's quest for another repeat Stagg Bowl win is not accomplished.  All the best to you all.