FB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[stanbob]

Congrats on the season Johnnies.  Was listening to the game traveling across I90 and may have caused a few other drivers some concern for awhile.

[retagent]

1800 sounds about right. About 1/4 - 1/2 were Johnnie fans in my estimation. Well, it started out OK, but someone must have given the Johnnies a sedative at halftime. Let's hope that a years worth of experience can help the O Line, in particular, to step it up. The one fumble by Boyle could have been averted if the lineman chasing the play would have just yelled a warning. Did he take a vow of silence? Boyle was unaware. Maybe some inspired play calling might help too. Four passes on a first and goal from the three?

[TC]

Gosh, that first half of a quarter was sure fun, wasn't it? 

The Johnnies sure came out fired up, but even if they played that way the whole game I think there's a good chance they still would have lost the game.  UW-Whitewater is on an entirely different level athletically than the Johnnies right now.

To pretty much echo Wonka's statements on the State of Johnnie Nation, I think the Johnnies are a little down, the rest of the MIAC a little up right now.  From the sounds of it, St. John's has recently lost some recruits that they really wanted and thought they had--some to other schools in the MIAC and higher divisions, some to admission troubles.  It happens, it's cyclical, the Johnnies aren't going anywhere any time soon.

I'm sure I'll have some more well developed thoughts when I'm not rushing to get to the bar to forget this game/trip.

Thanks to Janesville Flash for the liquid hospitality.  I would have guessed there were far more than 1,800 there (the same crowd would have been announced at, maybe, ~4,000 in Collegeville).  Good crowd in Red as always. 

We'll call the season a success.  MIAC Champs--suck it, St. Thomas, Bethel, Concordia, et al.

[OzJohnnie]

Thanks for the great season, Johnnies.  Looking forward to another MIAC championship next year.

[sju56321]

Well, it sure was fun to see Veek, Veek, Sr., TDT, JR, L. Bean, Dusty, 105, TC and everyone else. The tailgate was excellent, as usual, thanks JR. Thanks Veek for grilling and your Dad is the best.
Thanks Flash for the bevies, good to talk to you.
It was nice to meet some UWW fans, from Lombard, at the tailgate and thanks for the jumper cables.
Now the game: SJU came out fired-up and imaginative on offense, what a great start. But how do you snap the ball over the kickers head on the punt?? Too many mistakes. I venture to guess that UWW made some adjustments after that first drive, and boy was Lance mad. SJU didn't seem to adjust and, to make matters worse, when pinned deep in their end, they played like they didn't want to lose. Open up the offense, even at the ten, running up the middle, while open in the middle of the field, wasn't at your ten.
I don't know who was calling the plays after the first drive, but SJU needs to work on that area.
But in the end, SJU played like an 8-2 team, but is UWW really that good? Time will tell-but the big problem is UWW is young and in the West region-SJU needs to find some big time athletes next year as TC implied.
Thanks for the wild ride SJU and hopefully next year will be better and more consistent.

[sjusection105]

Game story/end of year story up on www.JohnnieFootball.com

[sju56321]

Excellent job, 105!

[57Johnnie]

Excellent job, 105!

Amen and +k to both of you.  8)

[stanbob]

Those triple 8's look good on you 57.

[janesvilleflash]

Not any more.....I made it 889

[DustySJU]

ouch!

[LBean]

Not any more.....I made it 889

Flash, nice to meet you on Sat.    And thank you much for the more than ample supply of suds.     Loved the stories too.      Best wishes.     

  56321, the Polish were great.   Thank you.   

  JR, nice show as usual.    thanks for all the hard work and tasty vittles.     

  Veek, TDT and Sr. Veek, thanks for the roadtrip to Whitewater, located in the middle of nowhere,  and related excursions.    Cady's does indeed make a mean cheese curd.     And the Nissan pickup is a great ride.     

   Theo Wick,  you're the best.    Thank you for all the hard work you put into The Underground.     I'll share a Stinger with you anytime.   

   Johnnie Football.com lads, wonderful wonderful job.    Keep it up.    Informative and endlessly entertaining.   

  Let's not forget the guys  in the booth and on the sidelines.     Nicely done.     

   Lastly and most importantly, thank you to the 2008 St. John's University football team.    I am very proud of all of you.    You comported yourselves, the team, and our beloved alma mater in a most dignified manner.       You had a very successful season.     Conference champions.     Made the NCAA playoffs.     And gave it your all.    You never quit.      Congratulations, men.      You have much to be proud of.   

    And to the graduating seniors on the team, welcome to Stiftungsfestivities.       

 

[chewey]

Well, the Johnnies have a lot to be proud of this season.  At least they were conference champs and they battled through a much improved MIAC.  They had heart and never gave up.  It's just too bad that no grade A offense was generated this year; this is very uncharacteristic of an SJU team.  Even though they lost, it was a fun 10 hours on the road with Brice and Big Fella at it was fun to have the season extended for one more week. 

Good luck to UW-WW next weekend.  I think Willamette will pass them to death and I think Willamette will win if they can stop the run.  It will be a good game to follow on the net.  Congrats to Wartburg for beating a tough UW-SP team!

[Retired Old Rat]

Game photos, with great thanks to Jeff Sowden, are now up on www.johnniefootball.com

[OzJohnnie]

Man, I don't know about you folks, but for me the "can't wait until next year" feeling is stronger than usual.  Maybe it's the combination of the closeness of the MIAC and the potential of this year's defense that has made the waiting (and hoping) for a big performance next year all the stronger.

My thoughts: I bet we pick up some good recruiting this year.  The ability for talented individuals to come in on the offense and put almost every position into consideration may be a compelling draw.  A conference championship caliber team with so many opportunities to contribute?  Doesn't happen often.

It may just be that this year's three or four star recruits that 'got away' when they went to somewhere with the chance to top the Johnnies have opened up the opportunity for the Johnnies to clean up this year with some stars that can step right in.  Anyway, here's keeping my fingers crossed.

Regardless, it's time to start counting: 293 days, 13 hours, 51 minutes and 56 seconds until Sunday, September 13, 2009 at 1:00:00 PM (Minneapolis time)