FB: Ohio Athletic Conference

[HScoach]

Don't forget to post your picks.

[ncc58]

I served on a jury once in a civil case. A man was suing his doctor for causing his addiction to Tylenol-III (Codeine) which ruined his life. It was the cause for his divorce, he would lose his job, lose his house, condo, boat, and cars. His wife and daughter sat with him during the trial - only to find out how much money they would receive. He had sued every doctor who ever gave him a prescription.

They selected me and then I was questioned by the attorneys. They asked me my occupation and I said software engineer. The defendant's attorney smiled. The plaintiff was going to tug at your emotions, the defendant wanted logical thinkers. The plaintiff's attorney didn't want me on the jury but he couldn't come up with a question to ask where I might disqualify myself. Through the case, he kept looking at me (because he knew I wasn't going to be on his side) and I would smile back. Three days of testimony and the case went to the jury. We had about 11 items to decide on.

First item is how much was he entitled to. One person says maybe $1M, $2M, $3M. But three of us said how about $0. That's kind a range and it changed the discussion completely. He ended up getting something like $18,000. The defendant was ecstatic with that amount since several other doctors had settled for hundreds of thousands of dollars.

[Dr. Acula]

For those deep purple people who never see the JVs play,let me tell you what. Real talent. The wide receivers are big,fast and have moves.The backs are good and the quarterbacks are super prospects. The kickoff guy blasted two out of the end zone! On defense,we've seen real fine line and linebacker play. There are some stars coming and ,not to exaggerate, a few of these guys would be starting at some OAC schools.

Thanks for the update, purple.  That's one of the things I miss about not being around town is the JV games.  It was always fun to see the young kids before they were known.  Not to date myself, but I remember seeing Zac Bruney break off 2 LONG runs against JCU in a JV game that were absolutely electric.  I went home and asked my roommate (a varsity guy) "Who the h*ll is that sprinter you guys have playing QB on the JV?!?!" 

[JK]

Non-D3 related football question:

How is it that USC can look unbeatable against Ohio State and then lose to a mediocre (at best) Oregon State team last night?  They did nothing that I saw them do so well against Ohio State against a Beaver team that got absolutely dismantled by Penn State a couple of weeks ago.

What's really scary here is that if the Bucks take care of business in the Big 10 (not a given with Wisconsin and Penn State ranked higher than they are), it's very possible they could see USC again in the Rose Bowl.  Does anyone think a rematch would go the Bucks way??

[Blutarsky]

JK:  The "final" piece of the puzzle will be if/when OSU beats Penn State in October.....go figure.  I guess we need to constantly remind ourselves that these are still kids/young adults who do watch Sportscenter and read the papers about how good they are......

A comment also on some fear/trepidation about the MUC 2nd string expressed a few posts ago.....it seems that Mount's 2nd/3rd teamers are often competing against the opponent's varsity at the end of the game when the opponent is attempting a "moral victory" score.  I have often wondered if MUC's back-up's could finish maybe 3rd in the OAC?  Practices during the week must be pretty competitive!

[rocketraider]

About Mount's practices Blutarsky, you should see the times they go #1's against 1's. My gosh what  a show. When my son was at Mount that was the thing he looked forward to all week. Maybe more than the games. One of the myriad great things Mount's coaches do is instill in all of the kids the need to make the most of every opportunity in a JV game, varsity game or practice even if only for a few plays. They've created a super-competitive mind-set where truly kids can't wait for their turn on the big stage so they go hard all the time. That's why they're always so good--they're the most competitive bunch of people around.

[reality check]

Working my players out in the weight room yesterday, I picked up one of the numerous equipment and jersey catalogs that float around the coaches office.  I like seeing all the things we could never possibly afford or consider in our program's budget like transportable goal posts and create-your-own-logo field goal nets at three grand a pop.  As I made my way to the back of the book, I saw a series of posters called the Gilman Legends Series.  There were about thirty of them and they feature legendary coaches who use Gilman equipment in their programs.  Every one had two paragraphs from the coach; one which focused on the product usage and one to the coach's personal philosophy.   I am reading the names and seeing that just about every legendary coach you can think of endorses Gilman products.  I saw the names Joe Paterno, Barry Alvarez, Bobby Bowden, LaVell Edwards, Hayden Fry, Lou Holtz...... and then there was some guy named Larry Kehres.

Pretty cool.  And I was quick to point out his presence to the rest of the coaching staff whom all hail from the west coast and know next to nothing about D-III athletics. 


And on a completely different note, we got our first W of the season Wednesday night.  We're 1-3 (varsity is 2-1 going into tonight) but we finally have our pieces in the right places.  Strongest kid on the team was playing DE and RT for me on the line but he's also the fastest kid on the team and projects to be a skill guy at the next level so we have him at tailback and all of the sudden we can run off-tackle.  He's strong as an ox and I miss him on the line but I still get to watch him beat kids on the corner to pressure the opposing QB.

[seventiesraider]

BTW I was proud to serve on jury duty and excited to get to spend a day with people older than 14. Interestingly I was seated next to one of my former students

Also shouldn't McConagha Stadium be more correctly called McConagha Field. It's throwing the term stadium around rather loosely, sort of like old Hiram.

[JK]

Also shouldn't McConagha Stadium be more correctly called McConagha Field. It's throwing the term stadium around rather loosely, sort of like old Hiram.

LOL! 

Pray tell, what do you believe the difference to be, seventies? 

[Kira & Jaxon's Dad]

And on a completely different note, we got our first W of the season Wednesday night.  We're 1-3 (varsity is 2-1 going into tonight) but we finally have our pieces in the right places.  Strongest kid on the team was playing DE and RT for me on the line but he's also the fastest kid on the team and projects to be a skill guy at the next level so we have him at tailback and all of the sudden we can run off-tackle.  He's strong as an ox and I miss him on the line but I still get to watch him beat kids on the corner to pressure the opposing QB.

I am contemplating moving my starting Center/LB to FB and letting him lead block on our I formation as well as take the ball on quick dives and such.  He is a good leader on the line, but I think he may be better for our team at FB.

[Small but Slow]

Oh, yes.  The joys of coaching.  We lost 20-7 last night to bring our record to 1-2.  On a positive note we finally scored our first TD.  I love the advice I get from parents and others when we're not moving the ball consistently. 
kirasdad - May be a good move if you have someone who can snap the ball and slow down the nose along with a blitzing MLB.  GMS loves to do that.

[Blutarsky]

Also shouldn't McConagha Stadium be more correctly called McConagha Field. It's throwing the term stadium around rather loosely, sort of like old Hiram.

LOL! 

Pray tell, what do you believe the difference to be, seventies? 

About 5,000 seats

[Small but Slow]

Also shouldn't McConagha Stadium be more correctly called McConagha Field. It's throwing the term stadium around rather loosely, sort of like old Hiram.

LOL! 

Pray tell, what do you believe the difference to be, seventies? 

About 5,000 seats

Given the surrounding geological features it could be considered a valley. 

[reality check]

I am contemplating moving my starting Center/LB to FB and letting him lead block on our I formation as well as take the ball on quick dives and such.  He is a good leader on the line, but I think he may be better for our team at FB.

At the freshman level I have concluded that I am better suited to have smart but less athletic/physical kid at center.  I tried building my line around the physically gifted center last season but realized that I needed him more at tackle and the same thing crossed my mind this season as I set up my line.  If we play an even front, the center doesn't have a nose breathing down his throat and our blocking schemes tend to double with a backside guard when we run versus an odd front so I can get away with it.  Out here though, so few kids play organized football before high school.  I am truly, TRULY teaching football basics here and as much as I want to go undefeated every season, it's more about getting the kids in the spots they figure to play at the JV or varsity level and not necessarily where we need them most on our roster.  But go figure, my eventual smart but not so talented center from last season is still smart (ranks first in the sophomore class) and starts at DE and LS on the varsity and is the backup center on varsity while the athletic center I started last year with is splitting snaps at DT/RT on JV.  Go figure.

[seventiesraider]

Also shouldn't McConagha Stadium be more correctly called McConagha Field. It's throwing the term stadium around rather loosely, sort of like old Hiram.

LOL! 

Pray tell, what do you believe the difference to be, seventies? 

About a million dollars and a commitment to athletics. However, on the plus side McConagha "Field" much like Hiram offers a beautiful view when the game gets hard to watch.

PS I don't know if Hiram is still single sided. I haven't been there since the Puppies "moved up" to the NCAC. As I recall that last meeting, they locked us out of the locker room at half time so the team just lounged on the hillside. The game was over for all purposes other than statistics.

Go Raiders, Beat the Fishies