FB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[OzJohnnie]

The Johnnie Nation can feel you pulling for us, Linfield.  We wish you well and hope to have a semi-final match-up.  This one back on your turf.

[Mr.MIAC]

The Johnnie Nation can feel you pulling for us, Linfield.  We wish you well and hope to have a semi-final match-up.  This one back on your turf.

Have SJU and Linfield made it to second base yet or are you two still awkwardly groping each other with all your clothes on?

[tommiegun]

The Johnnie Nation can feel you pulling for us, Linfield.  We wish you well and hope to have a semi-final match-up.  This one back on your turf.

Have SJU and Linfield made it to second base yet or are you two still awkwardly groping each other with all your clothes on?

Can't blame them for wanting to upgrade from St. Ben's.

[hazzben]

In all seriousness, for any Johnnie fan who has been paying attention, the play of Nick Martin has been the key for SJU since the UST game in September. If the UST game was the low point for him this year, he certainly has elevated his play and has been making good decisions,throwing the ball away instead of forcing into double coverage like he did in the 2nd half of the Sept. game.

Both SJU & UST have stud RB and big play WR. Their defenses are stingy. The game next Saturday will come down to Nick Martin vs. John Gould. Who can manage the game the best,limit turnovers and take what the opposing defense has to give. It should be interesting.

Go Johnnies!

QB play will be important, but like the first meeting, this game will be decided up front. These are both teams that are built around their ability to run. Doesn't mean they are one dimensional (they aren't), but the team that establishes the LOS wins this. Neither offense is designed to be carried by their passing game.

[retagent]

Maybe not surprisingly though, Martin is rated fairly high in DIII passing in some areas.

[Gig Harbor Cat]

I like groping...

[USTBench]

I think the Johnnies will pull it out in close one. Defense will score in second half. 

Prior to Tommie/Johnnie 1 I thought SJU would win by 10 or so. At the time I didn't know much about Roberts, and didn't know what we had as far as an offensive line, but I did know Sura and Bungum and the Johnnie D.  Fast forward to now, and I really think it's going to be tough for SJU to hang in the trenches come the second half. Caruso says this is not his most talented team, but I think it is. We don't have Wartman, (Fritz) Waldvogel or Tracy, but this is the absolute best the UST o-line and team defense has ever looked, our backs are all big and talented, and I think UST has the best TE in the country in Charlie Dowdle. As far as skill guys go, Nick Waldvogel, Fitzsimmons and Gilliand are solid, and capable of making plays.

SJU wins if they can hit UST in the mouth early and often (UST has been having trouble finding rhythm offensively and defensively in the first quarter for the last few weeks), UST commits too many penalties (as they are wont to do from time to time), and the Johnnies can get after Gould, who seems to make some ill-advised decisions when running for his life (THROW IT OUT OF BOUNDS!). SJU has to play the game of their lives to win this one.

UST will certainly look to establish the run early and often, but I could see them attempting to hit a home run in their first play of their first possession. Dowdle or Gilliand deep. Other than that, I don't know if Kaiser will be healthy by this weekend but I certainly can see Roberts carrying the ball 35+ times, and Trettel or Kaiser carrying it 15 times. La Verne did the best job of any team I've seen this year against Roberts, but I think UST yanked him early in the second half before he really started to get going. Trettel and Molina started to rip off bigger chunks of yardage as the second half wore on. 

SJU keeps it close at the half, but my prediction is:

UST 28
SJU 14

[ChicagoTommie]

The Johnnie Nation can feel you pulling for us, Linfield.  We wish you well and hope to have a semi-final match-up.  This one back on your turf.

Have SJU and Linfield made it to second base yet or are you two still awkwardly groping each other with all your clothes on?

Can't blame them for wanting to upgrade from St. Ben's.

+K

[ChicagoTommie]

Bench,

Your right on in your assessment!  Total agree...

[DoubleO]

The Johnnie Nation can feel you pulling for us, Linfield.  We wish you well and hope to have a semi-final match-up.  This one back on your turf.

And Tommie nation is flattered that you don't want to see UST!!!!

[Retired Old Rat]

Bench, good analysis.

The narrative last week was how much Dubuque had improved since the first game of the season against St. Johns.  I posted that the improvement made by St. John's were not being taken into consideration.

So, we see from Saturday's outcome the Johnnies have indeed improved significantly.

Question is, has UST made an equivalent improvement?

[retagent]

I don't agree that the Johnnies have to play the game of their lives, but I do believe they have to play as well as they are able to play in order to win.

[USTBench]

Bench, good analysis.

The narrative last week was how much Dubuque had improved since the first game of the season against St. Johns.  I posted that the improvement made by St. John's were not being taken into consideration.

So, we see from Saturday's outcome the Johnnies have indeed improved significantly.

Question is, has UST made an equivalent improvement?

This is hard to quantify. I want to say yes, but they've just been so cohesive throughout the year it's hard to tell where they have improved and where they have dropped off. I think if you were to say what games they were at their best against quality opponents, I'd say SJU, GAC, Augsburg and Bethel. They were sluggish and not playing up to their potential against La Verne and Concordia.

So, they've had some rough starts to games recently, but this team has some sort of zen-like approach to the game that minor adversities really don't seem to phase them at all. After half time of the SJU game they just seemed so, calm. As in, they were relaxed, joking with each other, even during the game. Not in a, "We're not taking them seriously" kind of way, but more a confident, like, we've got them figured out and now we know what to do, kind of way. If that makes sense. Same with the Concordia game, where the Cobbers were making it interesting, then they sort of regrouped and put it away.

[sjusection105]

this team has some sort of zen-like approach to the game.

Is that even legal under NCAA regulations 

[USTBench]

I will say this. In 1995 I watched UND beat NDSU for the Nickel Trophy on November 4, 21 to 7.  Two weeks after UND won the Nickel Trophy they found out they would be hosting the Bison at the old Memorial Stadium in Grand Forks. It wasn't the same atmosphere, maybe it was the weekend before Thanksgiving and there weren't nearly as many students, or maybe it was because it was an NCAA game and students had to pay, or possibly because it was really cold. Back then, the opposing team got dressed in the old Ralph Engelstad Arena and WALKED THROUGH THE UND TAILGATE to get to the stadium. This is where I learned how to curse. I remember Bison CB Jerome Cheatham (Who's brother James was a 2 time All-American safety for UND) walking through our tailgate screaming, "Y'all can keep the f**king trophy, we're taking this one." Long story short, the Bison won 41 to 10. UND has always had a tradition of running the UND flag around the stadium after every touchdown. Some brave Bison fan decided to mock that tradition in the second half after NDSU was up big. He got hit by about 9 million snowballs and then tackled by UND PD to cap it off.

So, in short, UST better not take SJU lightly because of what happened earlier this year.