FB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[sju56321]

I wondered what the video money was used for. Thanks Jamtod

[jamtod]

I wondered what the video money was used for. Thanks Jamtod

+k 
Nice to see your money being put to good use with the product on the field!

[hazzben]

Let me play fellas!

Do you have any eligibility left?!?

Ha, nice catch. No, I'd get injured just trying to put the pads on at this point!

[hazzben]

@Tommie fans;

Are the Toms playing with essentially their same squad as the last time they played MIAC or has it been refilled?  Also, are the coaches the same or have they been turned over?

I'm curious to know if the Toms are competitive with essentially their D3 program or if they have had a big uplift since they left the MIAC.

Mostly the same squad and I believe all the same coaches.  This is effectively a D3 team, with some D1 freshman sprinkled in here and there.  Jam can fill in more for sure.

A few of the coaches are "new", but in the same mold as the D3 guys mostly. Ikuenobe is a former CB from UST. Grayvold is a former UWW guy (CB also I think). Watkins is new and maybe a couple others but most came on board to fill holes before the COVID 2020 non-season. Maybe a few extra roles in the operations (coordinating travel is a little different now) and S&C side

As far as kroots, a similar situation where a number of the young guys contributing are second year guys that would have been D3 recruits. Adebayo, Bunce, a couple WRs. Then there is a few impact freshman that would be "D1 recruits" on the o-line, and a couple TEs plus a few D1 type transfers (Hall the WR/DB from D2 Winona State, Herzog LB transfer from UND, Fallah CB from Crookston). So parts and pieces but largely a D3 squad with some raw young talent/size that would have otherwise gotten a bag of cash under the table to end up in Collegeville

UST was getting those types of transfers in the D3 era.  I'd say they had more talent on the roster when they made deep runs in the D3 playoffs.

I work with a UST defensive starter from some of the better UST teams. His opinion was that the talent on this team was good, but not quite as good as they had on their Stagg teams. Sounds like they've essentially got 1 class of "D1 recruits" and the rest are just the high level D3 guys that UST was getting for the better part of the last 8-10 years.

UST's ease of transition is a good look for the top of the MIAC and Top of D3. And it'll make it a whole lot easier for Caruso to recruit this year and sell HS players. Not that he needs any assistance coming up with a recruiting pitch.

[AO]

MIAC PICK-EMS
WEEK 7 STANDINGS


WEEK 8 OCTOBER 23

The Hammer: 4pts
Hamline (+9.5) @ Augsburg

Conference: 3pts
Concordia @ Carleton (EVEN)
#5 St. John's @ Gustavus (+21.5)
Macalester (+40.5) @ #15 Bethel
St. Scholastica (+30.5) @ St. Olaf

Other games: 1pt
Westminster (+9.5) @ #11 Washington and Jefferson
USC (+8.5) @ Notre Dame

[Wdavis5]

Will everyone in the MIAC have a Nov 13th game?

[AO]

Will everyone in the MIAC have a Nov 13th game?

You'll be at Hamline or Macalester depending on who wins the old paint bucket.

[SJU13]

Probably won't be noticeable for a few years, but does UST going D1 change the transfer trickle down in Minnesota? Seems like SJU has been a homecoming landing spot for a couple of guys each year. Maybe a few moves from FBS to FCS instead or Tommies becoming Johnnies. 'Transfer from D1 UST' would make for an amusing player bio line.

[jamtod]

UST's ease of transition is a good look for the top of the MIAC and Top of D3. And it'll make it a whole lot easier for Caruso to recruit this year and sell HS players. Not that he needs any assistance coming up with a recruiting pitch.

Or a bad look for the quality of the PFL (the dregs obviously still far superior to Carleton/Mac/Scholastica/Ham etc), depending on how one looks at it. Upcoming OOC games against Big Sky and MVFC opponents (and handling D2 Michigan Tech by more than FG next year) will be the real barometer.

[hazzben]

UST's ease of transition is a good look for the top of the MIAC and Top of D3. And it'll make it a whole lot easier for Caruso to recruit this year and sell HS players. Not that he needs any assistance coming up with a recruiting pitch.

Or a bad look for the quality of the PFL (the dregs obviously still far superior to Carleton/Mac/Scholastica/Ham etc), depending on how one looks at it. Upcoming OOC games against Big Sky and MVFC opponents (and handling D2 Michigan Tech by more than FG next year) will be the real barometer.

Totally a bad look for the PFL. I've long suspected the gap was tiny between the Top of D3 and the non-scholly FCS world. But everyone assumed UST would get handled by legit scholarship FCS opponents at this point. 75% of their roster are still technical D3 recruits/transfers at this point. Bottom line, Caruso has data to back up his recruiting pitch now.

[jamtod]

UST's ease of transition is a good look for the top of the MIAC and Top of D3. And it'll make it a whole lot easier for Caruso to recruit this year and sell HS players. Not that he needs any assistance coming up with a recruiting pitch.

Or a bad look for the quality of the PFL (the dregs obviously still far superior to Carleton/Mac/Scholastica/Ham etc), depending on how one looks at it. Upcoming OOC games against Big Sky and MVFC opponents (and handling D2 Michigan Tech by more than FG next year) will be the real barometer.

Totally a bad look for the PFL. I've long suspected the gap was tiny between the Top of D3 and the non-scholly FCS world. But everyone assumed UST would get handled by legit scholarship FCS opponents at this point. 75% of their roster are still technical D3 recruits/transfers at this point. Bottom line, Caruso has data to back up his recruiting pitch now.

Games against Marist and Davidson (both undefeated in the PFL) will be interesting. Drake is generally in that top tier as well, but they've dealt with some QB injuries and are struggling a bit... although of course they gave San Diego a run for their money. I expected us to fall in the middle of the PFL. The next month will tell us if that's true or if we are actually closer to the top tier than I expected.

[jknezek]

UST's ease of transition is a good look for the top of the MIAC and Top of D3. And it'll make it a whole lot easier for Caruso to recruit this year and sell HS players. Not that he needs any assistance coming up with a recruiting pitch.

Or a bad look for the quality of the PFL (the dregs obviously still far superior to Carleton/Mac/Scholastica/Ham etc), depending on how one looks at it. Upcoming OOC games against Big Sky and MVFC opponents (and handling D2 Michigan Tech by more than FG next year) will be the real barometer.

Totally a bad look for the PFL. I've long suspected the gap was tiny between the Top of D3 and the non-scholly FCS world. But everyone assumed UST would get handled by legit scholarship FCS opponents at this point. 75% of their roster are still technical D3 recruits/transfers at this point. Bottom line, Caruso has data to back up his recruiting pitch now.

Games against Marist and Davidson (both undefeated in the PFL) will be interesting. Drake is generally in that top tier as well, but they've dealt with some QB injuries and are struggling a bit... although of course they gave San Diego a run for their money. I expected us to fall in the middle of the PFL. The next month will tell us if that's true or if we are actually closer to the top tier than I expected.

I'm looking forward to the Davidson game. Two former D3 coaches. Davidson sports W&L's best coach of my lifetime and he's transformed the Wildcats. Frankly between St. Thomas, Davidson, and Presbyterian's no punt coach, the PFL is a fun little curiosity for me this year. St. Thomas is surprising me a bit with how competitive they are, Davidson is doing incredible, and Presbyterian is an interesting experiment in a radically different style, not something you see in football very often.

[wm4]

UST's ease of transition is a good look for the top of the MIAC and Top of D3. And it'll make it a whole lot easier for Caruso to recruit this year and sell HS players. Not that he needs any assistance coming up with a recruiting pitch.

Or a bad look for the quality of the PFL (the dregs obviously still far superior to Carleton/Mac/Scholastica/Ham etc), depending on how one looks at it. Upcoming OOC games against Big Sky and MVFC opponents (and handling D2 Michigan Tech by more than FG next year) will be the real barometer.

Totally a bad look for the PFL. I've long suspected the gap was tiny between the Top of D3 and the non-scholly FCS world. But everyone assumed UST would get handled by legit scholarship FCS opponents at this point. 75% of their roster are still technical D3 recruits/transfers at this point. Bottom line, Caruso has data to back up his recruiting pitch now.

I might have a good seat to some text exchanges between a group of dudes that played high school football together in suburban Chicago about 10 years ago.  They then went on to play in college at Dayton and UST (2013 - 2017).  The Dayton fellas certainly were proud of their D1 status when they played and the UST guy had a phenomenal experience at the D3 level.

The Dayton fellas were offering encouragement and good luck to UST this year, particularly noting how close the game was out in San Diego.  The UST guy, playing the long game, graciously accepted their texts and humbly kept the conversations low key. 

I'm told there hasn't been much texting these last two weeks. 

[sju56321]

There were and are definitely guys at Loyola that could play at top D3 or Dayton level-UST did a great job of selling the catholic education experience to the Loyola guys-I always wanted SJU to go that route.

[GoldandBlueBU]

I'm openly approaching this topic from a point of ignorance - looking for honest opinions.

With UST not having athletic scholarships, how much better will their players be than high caliber D3 players?  I would think that with the exception of recruits that come from a family where $$ isn't a major issue, any D1 caliber player who has scholarship potential is going to be very heavily influenced by scholarship $'s, and UST might not be much of an option, even if they wanted to.

I might be just not understanding how much having that "I'm going D1" label matters to players, and having the opportunity to test themselves against some scholarship D1 players is important? 

Is UST hoping to be scholarship D1 eventually, and that is part of the sell?