FB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[faunch]

How did the state high school all-star game turn out?  Anyone bound for MIAC schools stand out?

See for yourself: http://www.webcast50.com/site/pages/eco/event.php?id=796&orgID=221&class=
   
                         http://www.allstarfootball.org/

BTW...listen to the announcer doing the pre-game intros.  This is the same guy that does the state basketball tournaments.  How did he ever get an announcing gig bigger than a Little League game?  He is horrendous!

[hazzben]

How did the state high school all-star game turn out?  Anyone bound for MIAC schools stand out?

See for yourself: http://www.webcast50.com/site/pages/eco/event.php?id=796&orgID=221&class=
   
                         http://www.allstarfootball.org/

BTW...listen to the announcer doing the pre-game intros.  This is the same guy that does the state basketball tournaments.  How did he ever get an announcing gig bigger than a Little League game?  He is horrendous!

that is pretty bad

[57Johnnie]

Same page for 11 days   where's the 'NATION'? 

[57Johnnie]

This is the new home of MIAC discussion. Welcome aboard, everyone.

[hazzben]

This is the new home of MIAC discussion. Welcome aboard, everyone.

I'll bite. Although it never seems like anyone's interested in playing pre-season prediction games around here, I'll throw out how I see the conference ending up this year. Along with some brief comments. Obviously biased, but fun none the less.

1st: Bethel University 10-0 - Positive: 4 O-Lineman, QB and solid Defensive core return. Transfer RB is supposed to be something special. Top 2 WR's from last years pre-season return from injury. Questions: Do we have a kicker yet? Pearson (NG), Svhila (OLB), Petterson (ILB), Flaherty (CB), Johnson (DE) are All-MIAC holes to fill on D but I think the young guns got some good experience last year.

2nd: University of Saint Thomas 9-1 - Positive: O-Line, QB, WR, RB all return plenty of experience. D returns some quality talent and they should have plenty of quality recruiting depth that starts to see the field for them. Questions: Lose some major Sr. leadership at Center, LB and Safety, in other words, right up the middle. 1st 3 Conference games will be key to setting the tone for the season. Have they turned the corner for good against SJU?

T-3rd: Saint John's University 7-3 - Positive: Always tons of talent on the roster, motivated offseason after sitting at home during the postseason. Talented secondary and Pederson at WR give them nice edge weapons. Bethel at home. Questions: QB. When the Johnnies struggle, its usually early in a season where a new signal caller takes the helm. Some very talented O/D-lineman must be replaced. UST and BU back to back weeks. UST on the road, we'll see if the SJU mystique is finally gone...

T-3rd: St. Olaf 7-3 - Positive: Established themselves as a team that's always knocking on the door. Offensive backfield returns with lots of talent. Defense returns some young talented players as well. Questions: can they finish the close games and keep themselves in it against the best teams in the league. Can they navigate the two rough runs of their schedule UST...GAC...BU...CC then closing with SJU...Conc.

T-3rd: Concordia 7-3 - Positive: Historically, they don't stay down long. They finished 2010 strong, going 4-1 down the stretch with a competitive loss on the road to BU. They should have plenty of experience after last year. Questions: Their offense goes as their QB goes, enough said. They were unusually small for a Cobber team last year. Can they regain the competitive edge usually associated with the program?

6th: Carleton College 5-5 - Positive: Ramler can coach. Favorable non-con games. Lien returns at RB and Skoglund at ILB to give them solid Sr. leadership on both sides of the ball. At SJU and then home against UST won't be pleasant, but it could be worse. Questions: Have they found the depth to stay competitive late in the season?

T-7th: Gustavus Adolphus 4-6 - Positive: Another year under the belt with the new staff and system. Bethel, SJU, and Concordia are all in St. Peter. Their only two All-MIAC guys are back. Questions: Can they compete with Wartburg and get confidence early in the season or is it the other way around? Bethel then SJU then UST is a killer stretch. Have they found their offensive identity yet?

T-7th: Augsburg 4-6 - Positive: Cake non-con games. No real death stretch in the schedule. Brumm returns as QB. Questions: Brumm loses his All-MIAC TE and WR. Their first two games do them no favors in preparing for SJU in week 3. Have they figured out how to run the ball yet?

9th: Hamline 1-9 - Positive: They've got a great kicking game, no seriously, they do. They always have a game or two that is closer than it should be and every once in a blue moon they pull one of these out. Their new coach has some great experience from winning programs. Questions: New coach and system. The Lutes won't look past them after the scare last year and MAC is actually making some improvements which means they aren't the gimme they used to be.

I'm least confident about projecting the 1st 3 teams on the list. I see UST either 1 or 2. SJU with a QB could be very good. Bethel has talent and experience. There will no doubt be some major surprises down the road. Who has a breakout star in the wings, does anyone get the injury bug, etc. But that's why this is fun and that's why they play the games.

What's your take?

[faunch]

What the hell is the University of St. John's?  It's SJU not USJ.

[hazzben]

What the hell is the University of St. John's?  It's SJU not USJ.

Ha! That's called a typo. Maybe somewhere in the kindness of your soul you can find a way to forgive me. 

Then again, seeing how much it seems to rankle you, maybe I just stumbled across the USJ equivalent of USTd  Some sort of freudian slip after having just typed University of Saint Thomas. My apologies to God, the monks and Gags for casting you in the same light as that institution on summit 

[Johnnie Red]

Time for all you MIAC fans to start planning to attend the Stiftungsfest in Norwood Young America the weekend of August 26-28. It is the 150th anniversary of the oldest celebration in Minnesota. Great that the 10th anniversary of the Stiftungsfestivities will be the following Saturday, September 3, in Collegeville. The website is Stiftungsfest.org. I would strongly recommend being there Friday night for Hairball, an excellent 80's band. They perform from 9 - 12:30 a.m. As always, the culinary delight of the Stiftungsfest burgers will be served all weekend long. They usually sell about 10,000 burgers.

[hazzben]

Correction JR, 10,000 of the best burgers known to mankind. I'm salivating just thinking of them...

[faunch]

What the hell is the University of St. John's?  It's SJU not USJ.

Ha! That's called a typo. Maybe somewhere in the kindness of your soul you can find a way to forgive me.  

Then again, seeing how much it seems to rankle you, maybe I just stumbled across the USJ equivalent of USTd   Some sort of freudian slip after having just typed University of Saint Thomas. My apologies to God, the monks and Gags for casting you in the same light as that institution on summit  

Here are my picks for the 2011  
1st: University of Macalester
2nd: St. Mary's State
3rd:  University of Augsburg  Auggie Tech 
T-4th:  Gustavus Adolphus University
T-4th:  Community College of Carleton
T-4th: University of Concordia
7th: St. Olaf University
8th: College of St. John's
9th: College of St. Thomas
10th: Bethel Evangelical College

[57Johnnie]

What the hell is the University of St. John's?  It's SJU not USJ.

Ha! That's called a typo. Maybe somewhere in the kindness of your soul you can find a way to forgive me. 

Then again, seeing how much it seems to rankle you, maybe I just stumbled across the USJ equivalent of USTd  Some sort of freudian slip after having just typed University of Saint Thomas. My apologies to God, the monks and Gags for casting you in the same light as that institution on summit 

Here are my picks for the 2011   

8th: College of St. John's

Annapolis or Santa Fe Campus

[Johnnie Red]

Faunch, I thought it was Augsburg Technical School.

[faunch]

Faunch, I thought it was Augsburg Technical School.

I figured someone would catch that....Auggie Tech it is.

[sju56321]

http://www.startribune.com/politics/blogs/125490398.html

What will the Posters drink? No Hamms!

[finsleft]

http://www.startribune.com/politics/blogs/125490398.html

What will the Posters drink? No Hamms!

A dark, dark day in Minnesota politics.