FB: New Jersey Athletic Conference

[Div3Fan]

Rowan with big plays late in the 4th.

[Div3Fan]

Terrible play calling on the last series for Rowan.

[gordonmann]

Jason:

It's still early, but what are your initial thoughts on how joining the NJAC shapes Wesley as a program instead of playing a Harlem Globetrotters' type schedule?

[TheOsprey]

Rowan's D played well enough to win this game, however, the offense let them down with the pick six and a fumble in Salisbury's red zone .  Kudos to the Gulls for a good win.

Interesting that the Profs have been in four different states in their first five games.  What state is left?  Oh yeah, DE. 

Go Profs!!

[wesleydad]

At this point it looks like the NJAC will come down to the Wesley/Salisbury game.  I don't see anyone beating either team before that game.  I want to see how Wesley handles Rowan's D.  With the Profs lack of a passing game they will struggle scoring since that is Wesley's weakness.  Possible best case scenario for the NJAC to get 2 teams in the playoffs would be for Salisbury to beat Wesley and win the AQ with Wesley going to Pool C.  The east is so wacky right now there is no way to figure out who will be regionally ranked.  The negative for a Wesley loss is that they may not have beaten/played any regionally ranked teams if the rankings come out after the Rowan game.  I want Wesley to win the league, then the playoffs will run through Dover, likely until the Semis at least.  I have other plans this weekend, but with Kean soundly beating CNU I think I will go to the game Saturday.  The national picture has changed up a bit with UWW losing.  Linfield looks good, but who have they played?  Really interesting all of a sudden.

[Teamski]

Interesting to say the least!  I watched the Salisbury game with extreme interest as it was one of the most important games of the year.  Wesley cannot afford to lose, pure and simple.  The defense is still a work in progress, primarily against the pass.  If Salisbury does what it does, I think Wesley will be fine as their run defense is decent.  Wesley obviously cannot overlook any of its games and, this no doubt, the coaches and the players know this after the NCC game.   Mistakes will be the crux of the matter.  Clean play means game wins.   

  By the way, I hope to see the Callahan strip in the play of the week this week.  In the play, Callahan threw a tipped interception and chased the guy down the field to the 10 yard line, and there stripped the ball from him and got it back.  The guy is a regular Chuck Norris on the field!

-Ski

[thewaterboy]

Im interested to see how good Kean is. They sit at 4-1 with the lone loss coming to Frostburg St. 29-15. Seems like they handled CNU though yesterday pretty easily. Kean, Rowan and Montclair are next! Those three teams have all beaten Wesley in the regular season dating back to 2007.

With big bad UWW going down, Wesley and the others near the top have a chance to be home til at least the semis. But one game at a time. A lot of meaningful ones left.

EDIT: Looking at last years schedule compared to this one, at this point last year, Wesley had finished playing its D3 opponents for the regular season and was considered a "lock" in the playoffs. I think this was something that hurt them in the long run against Mount. This year, the games are indeed of the most importance for Wesley's playoff hopes. The need to stay focused and sharp is huge.

[bman]

bman...tell JT hi from me.

Salisbury playing a good game it seems.

D.O.C.  I will shoot him a note today....

Rowan was over ranked at 15....I think the 20s are more likely where they should settle towards the end of the year....

[Teamski]

Im interested to see how good Kean is. They sit at 4-1 with the lone loss coming to Frostburg St. 29-15. Seems like they handled CNU though yesterday pretty easily. Kean, Rowan and Montclair are next! Those three teams have all beaten Wesley in the regular season dating back to 2007.

Looking at Kean's previous games, it looks like they have a pretty effective balanced offense.  They usually rack up over 500 yards of offense with Damien Corredor having some 100 yard games on the ground.  Wesley's defense will have to be able to defend both this weekend.  Even in their loss to Frostburg, Kean had 366 yards of offense with over 200 rushing yards.  Yeah, one game at a time.  That said, I think Wesley's offense will be able to execute well against their defense even though the Kean defense limited Frostburg to 194 yards offense.

-Ski

[Red Hawks Pride]

Nice win for the Red Hawks, very big game coming up this week to get to 500......Kean is for real, Migs has those boys ballin on defense...

[CNU85]

3 NJAC teams in top 25. Nice! I have to say this is a strange feeling for a CNU fan. 3 conference teams ranked while we sit at 1-4. Although, I did some research and found out that CNU has been 1-4 twice before and both times made the post season! But then again - that was a much easier conference! Not going to happen in 2015.

And for some reason I am actually enjoying this season. For the first time ever, the pressure is off from being the conference favorite. Perhaps now the focus will be about how to be more competitive in the NJAC, which means in order to do that, the entire program will improve. I have no doubts CNU will rise to the challenge and in years coming will be perennial contenders for the title.

[Teamski]

3 NJAC teams in top 25. Nice! I have to say this is a strange feeling for a CNU fan. 3 conference teams ranked while we sit at 1-4. Although, I did some research and found out that CNU has been 1-4 twice before and both times made the post season! But then again - that was a much easier conference! Not going to happen in 2015.

And for some reason I am actually enjoying this season. For the first time ever, the pressure is off from being the conference favorite. Perhaps now the focus will be about how to be more competitive in the NJAC, which means in order to do that, the entire program will improve. I have no doubts CNU will rise to the challenge and in years coming will be perennial contenders for the title.

And CNU is not that mismatched.  I think they are going to be competitive each year.

-Ski

[CNU85]

3 NJAC teams in top 25. Nice! I have to say this is a strange feeling for a CNU fan. 3 conference teams ranked while we sit at 1-4. Although, I did some research and found out that CNU has been 1-4 twice before and both times made the post season! But then again - that was a much easier conference! Not going to happen in 2015.

And for some reason I am actually enjoying this season. For the first time ever, the pressure is off from being the conference favorite. Perhaps now the focus will be about how to be more competitive in the NJAC, which means in order to do that, the entire program will improve. I have no doubts CNU will rise to the challenge and in years coming will be perennial contenders for the title.

And CNU is not that mismatched.  I think they are going to be competitive each year.

-Ski

Thanks Ski - +1

[Red Hawks Pride]

totally forgot to mention this but shout out to the film crew and commentators for Southern Virginia....Great picture, wasn't blurry at all annnnd they also had replay...awesome job! 

[Teamski]

Jason:

It's still early, but what are your initial thoughts on how joining the NJAC shapes Wesley as a program instead of playing a Harlem Globetrotters' type schedule?

If you don't mind another opinion..... 

Interesting question.  It has to help the team to know that they will have a more consistent schedule in which to keep the players engaged.  And engaged they must be.  A loss in the NJAC has far more weight to it for Wesley than before.  As an independent, Wesley could pretty much bank on a Pool B bid with 1 or even two losses.  Here, well, that one loss gets you sweating a Pool C bid, something Wesley isn't had to deal with.  The shorter travel distances are a huge break for the team.  Nothing tears you up more than having a 13 hour bus ride one week followed by a 8 hour flight the next!  Game planning is going to change as well.  With the exception of Salisbury, Wesley really hasn't had a yearly run of games with specific teams in which to become familiar with their play calling.  That is going to change of course.  NJAC teams will have a better idea how to deal with Wesley and vice versa.  I think that this will make for some very interesting games.

Another impact could be recruiting.  Wesley's hunting grounds is already rooted in New Jersey and the surrounding states.  I don't know how joining the NJAC could impact those prospects.  It shouldn't hurt.  The NJAC also features a smaller team roster (100 players) than what Wesley has traditionally had, so Wesley has to pick it's players with more care.

Regardless, Wesley joining the NJAC certainly makes it more fun for us fans.  Each and every conference game is critical.  With key games against Kean, Rowan and Salisbury coming up, let the nail biting begin!

EDIT:  Wanted to add a big congrads to Joe Callahan for somehow achieving both play of the week AND team of the week honors........

-Ski