FB: New Jersey Athletic Conference

[D3MAFAN]

Wow, just saw the Salisbury score and the stats, only two completed passes and 10 different players with touchdowns. I am wondering if I should reconsider my view of Salisbury (although it was Southern VA). If they get pass TCNJ next week, really looking forward to watching them against Rowan in a couple weeks and see how they fair against a good defense. Also, saw that Rowan had a close one against Montclair State yesterday. Congrats to Wesley, like UWW did for DIII on Thursday, you guys somewhat did it for the "East" Region. From what I read, appears the offense is firing on all cylinders, but there needs to be improvement on the other two facets of the game.

[AndOne]

I am always impressed with how Wesley can pull things together in the second half.  As with the Linfield game, the defense made some great adjustments to limit NCC's passing game.  That was critical.  The offense was always there. A tweak and Callahan's running ruined the NCC defense.  If he hadn't fumbled when  he did, Wesley would have gone up by 14 simply from the momentum that the offense generated.  Just like the Johns Hopkins game, Callahan's cool head engineered yet another long ass drive with less than 2 minutes left.  Simply amazing stuff.   Time and time again.

-Ski

It's an impressive come from behind win and gutsy 2 point conversion but I don't think it would be enough to win the Stagg Bowl. The problem is still the defense. UMU can outscore Wesley and UWW and MHBs lines can take control and run the clock like crazy and still put up big points.

I guess my main point is defense is still the main thing holding Wesley back. 49 points is a lot, even though they won.

Wesley fans,

Let me know if I'm crazy.
First of all, congrats on knocking NCC off yesterday. We might be the best 1-2 team in the country. Especially when you consider we're playing without our #1 RB who was averaging 9.2 yards per carry but who was lost for the season in the prior game, and are starting a freshman QB who is still closer to empty than full on the college level learning curve. Irregardless, that was a great last 2 minute drive and very gutsy 2 point conversion!

Wesley's problem, as I see it, is that North Central does not wear purple jerseys, and isn't UWW or Mt. Union. Yet, without their #1 RB, and with a freshman QB, NCC still scored 7 touchdowns.
Wesley's offensive, led by a great senior QB, hums. But, to match the purples, it appears some improvement is needed on the defensive end. Also, the Wolverines kick return teams don't seem to match their #5 ranking. There were at least 2 occasions yesterday where the KO returner should have taken a knee in the end zone. And the muffed punt near the end of the game almost did you in.
Overall, a great team that's at the top of the second tier. Just still a little space between the Wolverines and the very upper echelon.

It was great that both teams yesterday didn't have to settle for a nine game regular season. 😊

[Div3Fan]

Wow, just saw the Salisbury score and the stats, only two completed passes and 10 different players with touchdowns. I am wondering if I should reconsider my view of Salisbury (although it was Southern VA). If they get pass TCNJ next week, really looking forward to watching them against Rowan in a couple weeks and see how they fair against a good defense. Also, saw that Rowan had a close one against Montclair State yesterday.

Salisbury will, as far as I can see, perform extremely well against an 0-3 TCNJ team. Your point still stands though: Salisbury v. Rowan is going to be a great game. If Salisbury can emulate MSU's defense in containing Rowan's All-American RB, they'll be in a good position to win it.

[USee]

So here is a legitimate question for you guys.

Team A plays a top 15 team in the country. Their defense surrenders 402 yds (261 passing and 141 rushing), 5.9 yards per play, 3.1 yard per rush and they recover 1 fumble and have 2 sacks. Their team wins by 3 in the closing seconds.

Team B plays a top 15 team in the country. Their defense surrenders 465 yards (321 passing and 144 rushing) 5.5 yards per play, 3.3 yards per rush and they recover 2 fumbles and has 6 sacks. Their team wins by 1 in the closing seconds.

Team A is considered to have a national championship defense but Team B isn't good enough to win a championship.

Makes no sense to me.

[Teamski]

Question to all of the Wesley fans on the board. It this team the one that finally takes out Mount Youngstown State Union and the University of Wisconsin ww in the semi's and finals this year or will the defense leave them just a hair short?

I don't think the defense and special teams they showed yesterday can hold those teams. They will need to improve to have a shot.

Agree with jknezek. I'm sure they will improve its just a question of how much. And usually, if you are going to get to Wesley, it has to be early in the regular season.

The issue seems to be with the secondary and the coverage scheme.  CNU did the exact same thing to Wesley that NCC did:  they picked the secondary apart with crossing and slant routes.  I don't know if it is the players themselves or the coverage schemes that they are following.  More likely the later.  There was a huge hole in the middle of the field on just about every play.  As  Wesleydad mentioned, when Wesley played a pressed man to man, the Defensive line was given the time to pressure the QB. That is when things worked for the defense.  Is it a faulty zone?  That seems to be a logical choice here.  NCC had to see the open seams on the CNU game film and simply exploited them.  It was not a case where the receivers are beating out the secondary rather that there were no defenders there at all to contest the receptions.  I definitely think this is a fixable problem.  Close the passing lanes and watch the opponent's offense dealing with the pass rush.  Yeah, I know, it is never that simple, but it is a start.  I'm not panicking yet.

-Ski

[Div3Fan]

So here is a legitimate question for you guys.

Team A plays a top 15 team in the country. Their defense surrenders 402 yds (261 passing and 141 rushing), 5.9 yards per play, 3.1 yard per rush and they recover 1 fumble and have 2 sacks. Their team wins by 3 in the closing seconds.

Team B plays a top 15 team in the country. Their defense surrenders 465 yards (321 passing and 144 rushing) 5.5 yards per play, 3.3 yards per rush and they recover 2 fumbles and has 6 sacks. Their team wins by 1 in the closing seconds.

Team A is considered to have a national championship defense but Team B isn't good enough to win a championship.

Makes no sense to me.

I know who Team B is, but who is Team A?

[ncc_fan]

So here is a legitimate question for you guys.

Team A plays a top 15 team in the country. Their defense surrenders 402 yds (261 passing and 141 rushing), 5.9 yards per play, 3.1 yard per rush and they recover 1 fumble and have 2 sacks. Their team wins by 3 in the closing seconds.

Team B plays a top 15 team in the country. Their defense surrenders 465 yards (321 passing and 144 rushing) 5.5 yards per play, 3.3 yards per rush and they recover 2 fumbles and has 6 sacks. Their team wins by 1 in the closing seconds.

Team A is considered to have a national championship defense but Team B isn't good enough to win a championship.

Makes no sense to me.

I know who Team B is, but who is Team A?

Team A is UW-Whitewater and the stats are from the Morningside game.

[Div3Fan]

Team A is UW-Whitewater and the stats are from the Morningside game.

Ah... thanks for that, ncc_fan.

USee, I'm not sure we can really compare the performance Wesley's and UWW's defense against NCC and Morningside, respectively. There is no way to gauge the NAIA, at least in NCAA D3 terms, since there hasn't been long standing competition between the two (at least as far as I know).

[wesleydad]

Question to all of the Wesley fans on the board. It this team the one that finally takes out Mount Youngstown State Union and the University of Wisconsin ww in the semi's and finals this year or will the defense leave them just a hair short?

Not in the current condition, no chance.

[USee]

Team A is UW-Whitewater and the stats are from the Morningside game.

Ah... thanks for that, ncc_fan.

USee, I'm not sure we can really compare the performance Wesley's and UWW's defense against NCC and Morningside, respectively. There is no way to gauge the NAIA, at least in NCAA D3 terms, since there hasn't been long standing competition between the two (at least as far as I know).

Well we can certainly gauge UWW and Morningside this year.  Well see.  Wesleyan defense is not that bad.  My Opinion.

[thewaterboy]

Question to all of the Wesley fans on the board. It this team the one that finally takes out Mount Youngstown State Union and the University of Wisconsin ww in the semi's and finals this year or will the defense leave them just a hair short?

I don't think the defense and special teams they showed yesterday can hold those teams. They will need to improve to have a shot.

Agree with jknezek. I'm sure they will improve its just a question of how much. And usually, if you are going to get to Wesley, it has to be early in the regular season.

The issue seems to be with the secondary and the coverage scheme.  CNU did the exact same thing to Wesley that NCC did:  they picked the secondary apart with crossing and slant routes.  I don't know if it is the players themselves or the coverage schemes that they are following.  More likely the later.  There was a huge hole in the middle of the field on just about every play.  As  Wesleydad mentioned, when Wesley played a pressed man to man, the Defensive line was given the time to pressure the QB. That is when things worked for the defense.  Is it a faulty zone?  That seems to be a logical choice here.  NCC had to see the open seams on the CNU game film and simply exploited them.  It was not a case where the receivers are beating out the secondary rather that there were no defenders there at all to contest the receptions.  I definitely think this is a fixable problem.  Close the passing lanes and watch the opponent's offense dealing with the pass rush.  Yeah, I know, it is never that simple, but it is a start.  I'm not panicking yet.

-Ski

I dont think you can discount that Wesley is replacing every starting LB from last year as well. There has got to be some kind of learning curve for those guys.

[Teamski]

I dont think you can discount that Wesley is replacing every starting LB from last year as well. There has got to be some kind of learning curve for those guys.

Absolutely.  There are a lot of new faces out there on the field.  Callahan earned a game ball from Kieth McMillan this week.  He definitely earned it!

-Ski

[wesleydad]

I dont think you can discount that Wesley is replacing every starting LB from last year as well. There has got to be some kind of learning curve for those guys.

Absolutely.  There are a lot of new faces out there on the field.  Callahan earned a game ball from Kieth McMillan this week.  He definitely earned it!

-Ski

Depends on the discussion.  If it is about the current state of the Wesley defense it does not matter who is on the field, they are not playing very well.  If we are talking about the rest of the year and room for improvement than it does matter that they replaced players who will need some playing time to get better.  Can they get good enough, I hope so because right now if the opponent can throw the ball even a little they are going to be in for a tough game.  Benefit is that most of the NJAC runs the ball.

[redhawks]

After watching the Rowan-Montclair game, those 2 offenses made it difficult to watch. I understand they have a great running back but to switch to a pro-style from the spread didn't make much sense to me. Essentially both teams ran the same offense which produced very little excitement. For MSU it has been decades since they opened the season 0-3. Unless something crazy happens their chance for the NJAC crown is less than 1%. The defense played very well again but with such a vanilla offense there is only so much a defense can do.

For Rowan I don't see them scoring enough points to hang with Wesley and probably Salisbury. Right now it see as Wesley vs Salisbury to decide to conference race. (I know it is still very early.) Rowan could make it interesting but they have to go to Wesley, Newport and Salisbury. However I am still unsure of what to make of Newport, Frostburg and Kean.

[rams1102]

It's now time for me to get bold and tell it like it see is.

Same old **** for my Red Hawks. Can't play 110-60, Can't recruit, vanilla "O" at best and a real good "D". The problem we have this year is that we are 0-3. We had a chance at the end of the games to beat both Del-Val and Rowan. We lost our heart in the second half against Salisbury. Not even close. I even left in the middle of the 4th.

How good is Rowan? I do not think they are that good. They beat a OK Widner team, beat Willy P and could have lost to Montclair. Yet they are 15th in the D3 Polls. I realize that they can only play what is on their schedule. Time to prove me wrong.

Salisbury has played 1 good team, shot themselves in the foot and lost to Albright.

CNN is 1-2 but I give them a chance this week vs Rowan. Go get-em Captains.

I don't see anyone in the NJAC beating Wesley, IMHO.

The best conference in the East in  my opinion is the E-8. I am totally impressed with Ithaca and Cortland appears to be very strong. Right now I say the E-8 is better than the NJAC.

OK, back to work.