FB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[smedindy]

Yes, and they have to have exact counts, not the SID-audience estimator program!

[DustySJU]

I know officially this doesn't matter, but SJU playing at home would draw more dollars than Central or Linfield.

Untrue.  Granted while SJU draws crazy numbers during the regular season those numbers fall off by over 1/2 during the playoffs:

Here are the attendance numbers from the last 5 SJU home playoff games:

2007 vs Redlands: 3,771
2005 vs Monmouth 3,681
2003 vs RPI: 2,830
2003 vs Linfield: 2,830
2003: St. Norberts: 2,892

Linfield home attendance numbers from last 5 home playoff games:

2005 vs Whitewater: 5,000
2005 vs Concordia: 4,000
2005 vs Oxy: 3,500
2004 vs Rowan: 4,000
2004 vs Oxy: 5,000

While Linfield numbers were estimates the Catdome was packed during those runs and I believe the numbers were probably between 3,500 - 4,500 per game.  I couldn't find the Central home playoff attendance.

Guess those numbers then make you the unquestioned attendance leader.

Oops, guess we forgot to send you the trophy.

[Willy Wonka]

For what it's worth...

Sad news out of the Gustie camp today. Mongo's father passed away unexpectedly today. Blood clot got him. Service is tentatively scheduled for Wednesday night 

Just thought some of you out there might want to know.

[Redtooth]

If the Strength of Schedule was the sole factor in regional seedings, it looks like the Purple Machine from Alliance may have to win on the road in someplace other than Salem

The last time they had to play a road playoff game, the current players had to have been in the 2nd, 3rd or 4th grade.

[wildcat11]

Dusty,

Just give the trophy to TDT.  He can sell it as scrap metal to fuel his meth habit.

[Pat Coleman]

If the Strength of Schedule was the sole factor in regional seedings, it looks like the Purple Machine from Alliance may have to win on the road in someplace other than Salem

No doubt, Mount Union gets seeded first probably on something other than those published criteria. They weren't first in SOS last year or the year before.

[DustySJU]

Dusty,

Just give the trophy to TDT.  He can sell it as scrap metal to fuel his meth habit.

He's actually into long brown coats and pink sweaters now.  No need in sacrificing good wardrobe on bad drugs.

[wildcat11]

Dusty,

Just give the trophy to TDT.  He can sell it as scrap metal to fuel his meth habit.

He's actually into long brown coats and pink sweaters now.  No need in sacrificing good wardrobe on bad drugs.

+1

[bluenote]

+K Bluenote.  I'd like the chance to get out to Oregon and be asked how good I think our chances are and see Kellen Blaser run on Linfield the way Kent Crowley did.  Any David Russell's or Casey Allen's or George Carter's this year?

Yes...we have a back... Williams who is a prodogy of Russell. Very fast and powerfull. As far as receivers....nobody stands out like Carter, Hazenburg or Allen, but the group as a whole is very good. And larger than normal. I should add that we have a young guy coming up in the D-End spot I call the "StorK' somewhere around 6'9" and has meat on his bones....good pass rusher.

[TC]

The new top 25 poll is out and has SJU moving up to the 4th spot.  There has been chatter that Linfield would leapfrog SJU perhaps, but Linfield is ranked 5th for the time being.  I am looking forward to the regional rankings.  Question for the experts:  Will SJU slip in next week's rankings because of the bye week?  With the way the brackets have been made the last couple years (which has been an improvement by the way), it seems that staying in the top 4 could be a big advantage for seeding in the playoffs.

I don't see the bye hurting SJU's ranking.  Linfield is playing a winless Puget Sound team this week and also has a bye next week.  No reason for any rearranging to happen as a result of this week.

Ypsi (and a cast of thousands) beat me to it--Pat Coleman and Keith McMillan don't decide who makes the tournament or what their seeds are.  Which is a good thing for St. John's as no one here wants to open the playoffs on the road.

I'm interested to see what the regional rankings say when they are released this week.  St. John's anywhere from 2nd to 4th would make sense.  (Seeing the SOS numbers--Linfield, Central, and St. John's at 3, 5 and 6, respectively--make me even more interested.)

Skip the next portion if you're bored by Regional Rankings and just want to see me bash Chewey.

*****

In the 2008 West Regional rankings, the top 10 teams were always ranked by record (i.e., undefeated teams ahead of 1-loss teams ahead of 2-loss teams).  This was not always the case in other regions, which might suggest that the committee thinks there's more parity in the West.

Throughout last year's rankings, there were three undefeated teams, Willamette-NWC, Occidental-SCIAC, and Monmouth-MWC, and they were ranked in that order all three weeks.  The next highest-ranked teams were the 1-loss WIAC teams, followed by various 1-loss SCIAC teams, followed by 1-loss Northwestern.  Aside from the first rankings which had Concordia ahead of SJU, St. John's was always the highest-ranked 2-loss team, ahead of 2-loss teams like Wartburg--IIAC, Linfield-NWC and various MIAC teams.

These rankings held when the brackets were released:
1. Willamette
2. Occidental
3. Monmouth
4. UW-Stevens Point (beat UW-W)
5. UW-Whitewater
6. St. John's
7. Wartburg
8. Aurora (unranked 1-loss team from the North Region)

I won't bore you even further with the 2007 regional rankings, but they went like this:
Undefeated:  WIAC > MIAC > IIAC > MWC
The 1-loss teams were a bit murkier but, roughly:  MIAC > IIAC > SCIAC >  NWC is an approximation.
The actual bracket differed from the final rankings when UW-Whitewater was moved to the north as the #1 and 1-loss Bethel beat undefeated St. John's after the final public rankings.  Still, the MIAC had the highest two 1-loss teams in the West Region with the #2 and #4 seeds.

What I'm trying to say is that the NCAA has been quite (inexplicably?) kind to the MIAC in the rankings and eventual seedings the past couple of years.  

My guess at what this week's top 10 will look like:

1. UW-Whitewater (7-0)
2. St. John's (8-0, beat St. Thomas and Bethel*)
3. Central (8-0, beat Coe)
4. Linfield (7-0, beat Occidental)
5. Monmouth (8-0, beat St. Norbert*)
6. St. Thomas (6-1)
7. Coe (6-1)
8. UW-Stevens Point (5-2, 4-1 in region)
9. Occidental (7-1, beat Redlands)
10. Redlands (7-1)

And I think the next two schools under consideration will be Bethel (5-2, 5-1 in region?  I'm not sure if the Wheaton game counts in-region based on the schools' proximity) and St. Norbert (7-1).  

THIS IS NOT HOW I THINK THE SCHOOLS SHOULD BE RANKED, just my guess at what the rankings will be.  We can all laugh at how far off I am when they come out this week.  Can't wait for that!

*****

The J's have an absolute surplus of great backs and great receivers and the defense is top notch.  

Chewey, you're crazy.  Like, certifiably so.  

The big knock on recent St. John's teams is that they have lacked the elite offensive skill position players that they have had in the past.  I'm not sure what you've seen this year to make you change your mind, but I sure haven't seen it.

The next tackler that Jakob Reding makes miss will be his first.  Against Concorida, Bethel, St. Thomas and St. Olaf (the only defenses remotely close to what they'd see in the playoffs), Reding ran the ball 78 times.  His longest carry from scrimmage?  9 YARDS!  Sounds like a great back to me.  

Kellen Blaser is a great fullback but shouldn't be a team's feature back.  I think Jimmy Loonan should see the field more but he's, ahem, not from Central Minnesota so I'm not sure he'll get a fair shot.  Nick Schneider is out for the year.

I think that the most talented (healthy) running backs on the team are Stevey Johnson and Harry Awe.  They're freshmen, but this is Awe's second year in the program.  I'd like to think that those two with fresh legs in the playoffs could really help a struggling offense.

Vanderheyden's a great big target who is good for a catch a game and the team does absolutely nothing creative to get him the ball.  Sounds like a great receiver.  Overman's a nice tight end/wide receiver/whatever.  Sam Pederson and Andrew Rotschafer remind me of Casey Haugen:  Pederson because they announce his name before the game, he is on the field for the first play, and you don't hear from him for the next 60 minutes, and Rotschafer because it looks like they found him on a Pop Warner field.

Who are the great backs and receivers that I'm forgetting about?  Or are you living in the alternate reality where the Gophers never came calling for Decker, nobody on this board pissed off Flannery's grandpa, and Waldvogel's "scholarship" fell through at USTd?

*****

My Tommie-spawn nephew looks positively badass in his St. John's football jersey and pants.

*****

I agree with the earlier talk that the MIAC might be down this year.  Carleton and Augsburg graduate the best passing attacks in school history before this season (and no, I don't particularly care to reopen the Hvistendahl Debates).  Carleton is back down as a program but pluckier than they were 5+ years ago, while Augsburg really hasn't missed a beat.  St. Olaf has a nice little defense but nowhere near the talent they had a couple years ago.  Concordia followed a nice non-conference win by crapping all over themselves in conference play.  

The one program that was trending upwards and could have done the MIAC some favors with decent non-conference wins was St. Thomas.  In stead, they took the cupcake approach.  Not that I blame them.  Caruso has to know that 9-1 puts them in the playoffs, 10-0 gets them a home game and a legitimate shot at a playoff win.  8-2 does nothing for them.  No reason to risk a loss in non-conference play.  

These playoffs should be telling.  I could see St. Thomas getting in and losing in the first round and St. John's losing at home in the first or, for sure, second round--the SCIAC/MWC patsies that they used to feed top seeds in the first round don't exist anymore.  Bethel's run to Alliance is the last thing the MIAC has accomplished in the playoffs.  That was 2007.  And Bethel.  Yuck.

[OzJohnnie]

if whitewater is moved to the North and St. Johns and Linfield both go undefeated do you guys believe that st. johns would get the #1 even tough Linfield has a much better SOS?

According the Massey Ratings, SJU has a much strong SOS.  Yes, different than the committee's formula, but a marker all the same.

[TC]

I know officially this doesn't matter, but SJU playing at home would draw more dollars than Central or Linfield.

Untrue.  Granted while SJU draws crazy numbers during the regular season those numbers fall off by over 1/2 during the playoffs:

Here are the attendance numbers from the last 5 SJU home playoff games:

2007 vs Redlands: 3,771
2005 vs Monmouth 3,681
2003 vs RPI: 2,830
2003 vs Linfield: 2,830
2003: St. Norberts: 2,892

Linfield home attendance numbers from last 5 home playoff games:

2005 vs Whitewater: 5,000
2005 vs Concordia: 4,000
2005 vs Oxy: 3,500
2004 vs Rowan: 4,000
2004 vs Oxy: 5,000

While Linfield numbers were estimates the Catdome was packed during those runs and I believe the numbers were probably between 3,500 - 4,500 per game.  I couldn't find the Central home playoff attendance.

I wonder if St. John's isn't just reporting the actual tickets they collected money for?  As in, for every person they announce in attendance, don't they have to send (some portion of) $7 to the NCAA?

I can't remember ever paying to attend a playoff game at St. John's when I was a student, but I wouldn't be surprised if the school was willing to subsidize the $7 for the honor of having me as a fan.

Yes, attendance is down in Collegeville for the playoffs, but I doubt there were three times as many people at the USTd game than at the recent playoff games.  They still fill the grandstand for the playoff games, and now that the student sections have caught on I'd be really surprised if less than 5,000 people were in the stadium for potential playoff games this year, announced attendance be damned.

[tmerton]

How do any of the posters know whether Caruso and Gags speak with each other? Seems to me like a lot of venomous chatter based on hearsay and assumption.

Personally. I doubt any of the coaches spend a lot of time interacting socially with coaches from other schools, primarily because they are so focused on their job and that job consumes a lot of time and energy, leaving little of either for anything beyond their families. But for all I (or any of us on here) know the MIAC football coaches could have a weekly wine tasting get-together.

Ok...time to set the record straight on this issue...I know its "popular" to have dislike for Glen Caruso by Johnnies posters, but after doing some chatting with those who are involved with Johnnies Football those feelings may be a little mis-guided.

Coach Caruso has made a few overtures to meet with Coach Gagliardi, including once around the Minnesota High School All-Star football festivities, but as far as I know a meeting has not happened. 

Okay, then I eat some crow on that observation.  And I actually thought Caruso sounded like a pretty good guy in the pre-SJU game interview that was shared over on JohnnieFootball.com (understanding that I think Jersey guys can sound like pretty good guys).

Closed circuit to Wonka - Sonny, when I feel the need to respond to you, I will.  Now run along and play with your friends.  /s/ Old Man (thankfully, not yours)

[sfury]

Bethel's run to Alliance is the last thing the MIAC has accomplished in the playoffs.  That was 2007.  And Bethel.  Yuck.

The last thing? Yeah, but there has only been one playoff since then. It's not like it's been 15 years since the MIAC has done something.

[retagent]

For the record, SJU garnered 512 points in the Top 25, Linfield got 508.  Virtually a dead heat. I think the ideal spread between spots (according to one of the long time observers on this board) is 25 points. I'm just pointing this out in the event Linfield does pass SJU with a win over PLU. It wouldn't take much for a couple voters to change their thoughts.