FB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[57Johnnie]

I think John will be 90.

Only 88, I believe.  He's the same age as my grandpa.

My mistake. I guess he was 26 when he started at SJU. We all thought he would be there a couple of years and move on up. A lot of his first team are dead.

[sjusection105]

Oz,
I have a customized red cup ready for you!

Go Johnnies

[OzJohnnie]

geez, you guys make me feel honored. I don't have any roo meat but I did buy some Surly to share around. I'm going full Minnesota this trip.

[hazzben]

Do we as a culture allow our children to be preyed upon in this manner?

I think the Ducks are probably the least of this kid's problems. I have a friend who's grandson verbally committed to the Ducks early (like this kid). Played his senior year in high school, but was injured near the end of the season. The Ducks still offered him a full scholarship. They red shirted him for his freshman year and paid for the surgery to repair his injury. During spring training he reinjured himself. They paid to have that fixed. He missed playing his sophomore year because of rehabbing the injury. During that spring the coaches and medical staff sat him down and told him that after evaluating him, they couldn't risk him re-injuring himself again because it could have long term consequences that would impact his quality of life later on. They told him that he could still use the facilities (workout/rehab and academic support). They still wanted him to be around the team and come to practice even thought he couldn't participate and they told him that they would continue his scholarship. This is for a kid that had never even played a down for the team. Not all schools would do that. I have heard of coaching staff pressuring injured athletes to quit so that they can use the scholarship for someone else. I was impressed with how they handled it and it showed that they do try to have the best interest of their players in mind.

Yeah, Oregon's a model for all that's right about D1 football 

[BDB]

What an awesome day for D3 football in the northland. Welcome home Oz!!

[OzJohnnie]

What an awesome day for D3 football in the northland. Welcome home Oz!!

Thanks, BDB. I'm getting all excited. It's only minutes until tailgating commences!

(And last night #2 and her team won the state gymnastics championship for the second year running, this time one level higher.  I reckon that bodes well for a devastating Johnnie victory.)

(And a further comment on the miracle of the modern age, I was able to sit in the Country Inn late last night and watch her routines via FaceTime from Mrs Oz. Crazy.)

[57Johnnie]

What an awesome day for D3 football in the northland. Welcome home Oz!!

Thanks, BDB. I'm getting all excited. It's only minutes until STIFTUNGFESTIVITY commences!

(And last night #2 and her team won the state gymnastics championship for the second year running, this time one level higher.  I reckon that bodes well for a devastating Johnnie victory.)

(And a further comment on the miracle of the modern age, I was able to sit in the Country Inn late last night and watch her routines via FaceTime from Mrs Oz. Crazy.)

I corrected that

[RoyalsFan]

What a fabulous day for some D3 football!  A Royals win over the Tommies today would be a big step towards winning the MIAC. Good luck Royals!!!

[Mr.MIAC]

What a fabulous day for some D3 football!  A Royals win over the Tommies today would be a big step towards winning the MIAC. Good luck Royals!!!

And here I thought you were a supporter of F.A.M.I.L.Y values...

[faunch]

Carleton is giving up over 230 yards per game through the air.  I'd really like to see the Johnnies try to develop the passing game a bit today.  Gonna need to complete more than three passes in a game to have success against better teams

[57Johnnie]

Game Day

GO JOHNNIES

[hazzben]

Nice win for the Royals. Didn't need to be that exciting, but good to see them respond to a little adversity in the second half.

Still can't figure out how UST got the onside kick when it didn't go 10 yds. They started the drive on their own 44  But against Caruso, you just need to be ready for that kid of stuff.

Very windy day. Definitely affected both teams throwing the ball.

Solid day for Klitske and Tusler, with 2 TD's apiece. D made some big plays as well when they needed to.

Great play calling by Peterson and Kirchoff. The offense really got into a grove. Which is why that gutsy call for the onside was so good by Caruso. They didn't seem to have an answer up to that point, but it kept the O off the field for basically the entire 3rd Q it seemed like.

Interesting stretch run in the MIAC ... The Tommie/Cobber game is gonna be fun to watch play out.

[SagatagSam]

Nice win for the Johnnies today. Sura got his keep for the day (13 carries, 100 yards, 7.7 yards per carry). I'm hoping for a great, balanced attack next week against Augsburg heading into Bethel. Augsburg worries me because Ayrton Scott is the kind of guy that can jump up and snakebite any team that is looking ahead to the following week.

Speaking of Bethel, that game was the most exciting of the day. Hats off to UST for fighting back in the second half to keep it close.

[RoyalsFan]

Nice win for the Royals. Didn't need to be that exciting, but good to see them respond to a little adversity in the second half.

Still can't figure out how UST got the onside kick when it didn't go 10 yds. They started the drive on their own 44  But against Caruso, you just need to be ready for that kid of stuff.

Very windy day. Definitely affected both teams throwing the ball.

Solid day for Klitske and Tusler, with 2 TD's apiece. D made some big plays as well when they needed to.

Great play calling by Peterson and Kirchoff. The offense really got into a grove. Which is why that gutsy call for the onside was so good by Caruso. They didn't seem to have an answer up to that point, but it kept the O off the field for basically the entire 3rd Q it seemed like.

Interesting stretch run in the MIAC ... The Tommie/Cobber game is gonna be fun to watch play out.

Actually the on-side kick did go 10 yards but then it bounced backwards a yard before the kicker recovered it. It was kind of strange looking as the kicker actually  overran the ball when it took a bounce backwards, but he did recover it and it did go 10 yards at one point.

Nice win for the Royals, got to give credit to the Tommies for coming back in the 2nd half. Not sure why Gould isn't starting over O'Connell, they look like a much better team with Gould under center. Saw the same thing at the St. John's game when Gould replaced O'Connell in the second half and they moved the ball better.

Got to give a lot of credit to the O-line at the end of the game. Bethel got the ball leading 28-24 with about 7:38 remaining and went to the power running game and basically ran out the clock, getting a td with 1.3 seconds left in the game (17 play drive). It was good to see them take control and put the game away when they needed to. The D also played a solid game against the #1 offense in the MIAC. Ended up being an exciting game to watch.

[hazzben]

I was going to post before the games today that I was really surprised no one on Triple Take took St. Thomas v Bethel as the Game of the Week. Keith did say Bethel was most likely to get upset, with the caveat he was really just saying it would be a very competitive game, not necessarily that he was picking the upset.

In hindsight, these two might not have been the best Triple Take picks we've ever seen:

Game of the week
Keith's take: No. 2 Mary Hardin-Baylor at Texas Lutheran.
We hear this all the time: "You guys don't give us any respect." "No love for my team in the top 25?" Here's the thing: Respect is earned, not given. That's the difference right now between the two 6-0 teams in Texas, but what a giant opportunity this is for Texas Lutheran, which was 0-10 before coach Danny Padron was hired in 2010 following a highly successful run coaching in high school. UMHB is one of the five most successful programs in D-III over the past 10 or 15 years, and this year's squad is well worth its No. 2 ranking. Both teams come in top 5 nationally in scoring offense, averaging more than 49 points per game. Defense is where the separation is; UMHB allows 11.5 points per game, TLU 26.3. That puts the spotlight on a Bulldogs defense led by DBs Drake Dowling and Michael Wall, although seniors Adam McGuire, Joey Meza and Ethan Powell have a chance to leave a mark. The crazy thing is TLU doesn't even have to win to earn respect, move up in the top 25 or preserve its playoff hopes. They're in front of their home crowd, and UMHB is expected to win, and maybe win big. It's an opportunity.

Pat's take: No. 2 Mary Hardin-Baylor at Texas Lutheran.
Sorry, I have to repeat Keith's pick here because it's just a game that can swing a lot of things: UMHB's hopes at a top seed, Texas Lutheran's playoff hopes (and perhaps the hopes of others) as well as rankings for both of them. Texas Lutheran has been through a few changes recently: leaving the ASC for the SCAC, leaving a local high school stadium for a more intimate stadium of its own on campus ... oh, and it's started winning more games. TLU has a lot of former Mary Hardin-Baylor players and coaches on its sidelines as well, in case anyone needs any extra motivation.

Result
UMHB: 72
Texas Lutheran: 16