FB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[hazzben]

Here's the Bethel v. Augsburg preview. Game notes and a video interview with Coach J.

The SID and athletic department are doing a nice job with these videos and interviews.

[PurpleReign]

Here's the Bethel v. Augsburg preview. Game notes and a video interview with Coach J.

The SID and athletic department are doing a nice job with these videos and interviews.

So exciting!!!

[cobbernation]

Maybe UW-Whitewater isn't as strong as they think.  They are down 14-0 to Platville in the 2nd.

[faunch]

Johnnies will be lucky to finish 4-6.
Remain calm...All Is Well!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDAmPIq29ro

[chewey]

Johnnies will be lucky to finish 4-6.
Remain calm...All Is Well!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDAmPIq29ro

Another loss.........The sky is falling.  Can the coaching staff see the obvious?  Very apropos clip.

[Chubbs]

Johnnies will be lucky to finish 4-6.
Remain calm...All Is Well!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDAmPIq29ro

Another loss.........The sky is falling.  Can the coaching staff see the obvious?  Very apropos clip.

That their players aren't very good?  Yes, pretty sure they can see that.    SJU fans keep expecting this staff to make chicken salad out of chicken poop.  No amount of Gagliardi voo-doo will make that possible.

In other news...hopefully that was Bethel's one game that's closer than it should be that we seem to have every year.  Kudos to the Auggie staff for having the guts to go for two.  Though they didn't pull it off, it was probably the right decision.

[hazzben]

Kudos to the Auggie staff for having the guts to go for two.  Though they didn't pull it off, it was probably the right decision.

Totally disagree.

Down 21 - 14, they go for it on 4th and 4 from the 5 rather than kick the chip shot FG. Could have easily been 21 - 17 with almost 8 minutes to play. And they had totally stopped Bethel's Offense on the previous two possessions.

Then at 21 - 20, all they need is to kick a PAT and send it to OT. They are at home. They had all the momentum. Bethel hadn't done anything offensively in the last 20 minutes of game play. You kick the PAT in that situation...every time. It's not like they were lucky to be in that situation. Crazy decision by a coach who otherwise called a great game.

And Bethel picked a horrible time to get banged up.

Phenow's still out. Should play next week, but is he 100%? Marquardt is playing on one leg and respraining that ankle every other play. Your starting LT gets his appendix taken out. Another guy gets banged up. You have to play a TE at tackle and shuffle the entire Oline, and it was evident they were playing out of position. You lose a DB to a hip pointer today mid way through.

Oh well, at least we only have Concordia and UST coming up 

Time for guys to step up. This is the tough stretch of the schedule and they've gotta dig deep.

We need to treat this like a loss, take a close look at things, a la Carleton in 06 and BV in 07, and bounce back. This team has talent. But they've gotta get healthy and they've gotta overcome or figure out some deficiencies. in a hurry.

[faunch]

I too don't get why the Auggies went for 2.  At home you go for the tie...on the road you go for 2...right???
What would Bielema's card say?

[sfury]

Augsburg maybe thought they had a little Auggie magic going with the two Hail Marys so rolled the dice. It's definitely a strange call, probably the wrong one, but I do love when teams go for 2 in that situation. It worked for Mike Tice once. Johnnies tried it against Hamline in '94, the difference of course being there was no OT then. And I know tmerton, I believe, wishes they had gone for 2 two years ago against the Tommies, just because it seemed unlikely SJU would stop St. Thomas on D in anymore overtime.

[faunch]

Observation:
So SJU has at least two coaches that work on recruiting (Gary Fasching and Damien Duonceaux).  On their team website SJU lists 8 assistant coaches however they only identify Gary as the recruiting coordinator.

UST lists 8 assistant coaches on their website and 3 of them are listed as having recruiting responsibilities. 

I pulled this from the UST website:
Travis Walch : recruits the 952 and 651 south area codes, southern Minnesota, Alaska & Hawaii.
Digger Anderson:  recruits the 763 area code, central MN, the Des Moines, IA-area, and the western United States region.
Wallie Kuchinski:  recruits the 612 and 651 north area codes, the Milwaukee, WI-area, and the eastern United States region.

A closer look at  the coaching profiles of both websites and it would "appear" that UST is more committed to recruiting anywhere and everywhere.  Their coaches are young and most likely very driven to bring in talented players and build a successful football program
Are their assistant coaches full time staff in athletic department?  If they are that demonstrates a major league, institutional, commitment to winning.

A couple years ago I talking to Coach Caruso about my nephew's 9-man team in Nicollet.  I mentioned they were playing or going to be playing Cleveland in the sections.  He asked if the game was in Cleveland because that's a great place to watch a game.  I thought to myself and maybe even asked him, "How the hell do you (a guy from upstate New York) know where Cleveland, MN is?"
He said he went to game down there a couple years earlier to watch a lineman from another team....that's what I call a commitment to  recruiting.  That's why UST gets kids like Dakota Tracy...they find them and go after them. 

I think SJU really needs to redefine / reinvent themselves....nothing should be off the table. (Hiring a recruiting coordinator, adding recruiting staff, home visits, JV/Inter-squad team). The brand is damaged folks and needs to be fixed.  We have ordinary players doing ordinary things in a less than ordinary way.  I really don't mean to disparage the guys that suit up and play each Saturday.  They're are doing the best they can do and playing their hearts out.  Coaches can only coach and scheme so much with the talent they have. 
I also don't intend to disparage the SJU coaching staff.  This staff has coached teams to a handful of semifinals, 2 championship games and 1 National Championship in the last 20 or so years.  The talent pool used to be deep and now it's a puddle of what it once was. 

Thank God for the Ryder Cup!!!!

[bleedpurple]

Maybe UW-Whitewater isn't as strong as they think.  They are down 14-0 to Platville in the 2nd.

As strong as WHO thinks? I haven't read or heard (or done) a whole lot of boasting lately.  Or if you are referring to the team itself, they've never been about that. 

[cobbernation]

Maybe UW-Whitewater isn't as strong as they think.  They are down 14-0 to Platville in the 2nd.

As strong as WHO thinks? I haven't read or heard (or done) a whole lot of boasting lately.  Or if you are referring to the team itself, they've never been about that.

I was just referring to what the polls had them ranked and at the time they were down 14-0.  But a win is a win and they deserve the ranking they have due to their dominant history in the WIAC and nationally.

[bleedpurple]

Maybe UW-Whitewater isn't as strong as they think.  They are down 14-0 to Platville in the 2nd.

As strong as WHO thinks? I haven't read or heard (or done) a whole lot of boasting lately.  Or if you are referring to the team itself, they've never been about that.

I was just referring to what the polls had them ranked and at the time they were down 14-0.  But a win is a win and they deserve the ranking they have due to their dominant history in the WIAC and nationally.

Gotcha. Thanks for clarifying. 

I can imagine a pollster would have no idea what in the world to do with UW-W!!  Especially if they keep winning and improving (they definitely need to do that) and Buffalo State keeps losing.  The loss could conceivably look worse and worse and Whitewater could, as a team, look better and better.  Thankfully, for all of us who follow D-III teams, it all gets settled on the field!

[Chubbs]

Kudos to the Auggie staff for having the guts to go for two.  Though they didn't pull it off, it was probably the right decision.

Totally disagree.

Down 21 - 14, they go for it on 4th and 4 from the 5 rather than kick the chip shot FG. Could have easily been 21 - 17 with almost 8 minutes to play. And they had totally stopped Bethel's Offense on the previous two possessions.

Then at 21 - 20, all they need is to kick a PAT and send it to OT. They are at home. They had all the momentum. Bethel hadn't done anything offensively in the last 20 minutes of game play. You kick the PAT in that situation...every time. It's not like they were lucky to be in that situation. Crazy decision by a coach who otherwise called a great game.

Fair enough, and I do agree that the decision not to kick the field goal was a bit weird.  But the other way to look at the PAT decision is that when you have all the momentum you look to throw the KO punch, which they nearly did.  Auggie didn't want to go to OT against a team that, even banged up, would be favord to win a scoring contest starting from the 25 yard line.  Auggie moved the ball well on Bethel all day, but down close they had issues.  He made the type of call that Coach J makes that shows faith in his kids to execute in a big spot.  Good on him, but I know we'll agree to disagree.

[SUMMIT!!!!!]

I did a litle looking at the history secition of the SJU football site...last time SJU lost 3 MIAC games in a row was 1973; last time they lost 3 in a row to open the MIAC season was 1960. They lost 3 MIAC games in a row in 2012, 1973, 1960, 1956, 1945, 1941, 1930 and 1926. In 1956, they lost tied then lost 3 for their final five MIAC games. The only year SJU lost 4 MIAC games in a row was 1929 when they went 0-4 in league play.  They had lost the 1928 season ender for a 5 game conference losing streak but ended it by tying Hamline and then losing the next 3 MIAC games.

A loss to Auggie this coming Sat would be historic but not quite up there (down there?) withe the 1929-30 string of 0-7-1