FB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[BDB]

I see Chicago Tommie has wandered off the reservation over to the Southern California board. The Beach Boys meet The Mob.

[OzJohnnie]

Ha!  I had just discovered that as well and was bringing it back over here.

TOMMIES were not at their best! They were looking ahead, very lethargic and usually not that slow...really they had steady looked past you guy! No disrespect

A genuine one of a kind, CT.  He accomplishes with pure talent what TDT put real effort into.  The President is dead, long live the President.

[USTBench]

Ha!  I had just discovered that as well and was bringing it back over here.

TOMMIES were not at their best! They were looking ahead, very lethargic and usually not that slow...really they had steady looked past you guy! No disrespect

A genuine one of a kind, CT.

Sigh. I'll go get him.

[USTBench]

Some interesting points made about UST's team speed on the SCIAC Board. I'll admit, they've been faster on offense before, but I think defensively it's pretty solid and one of their strong points. Don't know if Roberts just had trouble getting it going, but I haven't heard an indictment regarding their speed this year. Interesting. Come to think of it, never heard a UST team be called slow before, I guess my question is, compared to what?

[DuffMan]

They're bound to be even slower this weekend, weighed down by turkey, gravy, and mashed taters.  Plus, I'm sure Chicago Tommie will be shooting scotch down their gullets with a fire hose.

In all honesty, I thought U$T's speed on defense was quite good.  Their speed on offense was nothing to brag about.  Roberts is a hell of a back, but I don't think he's necessarily fast.  This is all based on the SJU/U$T game.

[AO]

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.

Speaking of the Fighting Hawks, how did they get left out of the FCS Playoffs?  As far as I can tell it's a completely subjective vote at the FCS level, but I don't see how they took Eastern Illinois instead of your Hawks.  They also managed to set it up so that NDSU might not face a non-conference opponent until the title game.  I think it's about time they reorganized D-1 and threw the MAC and Sun Belt in the same division with the Big Sky and Missouri Valley.

[OldAuggie]

Some interesting points made about UST's team speed on the SCIAC Board. I'll admit, they've been faster on offense before, but I think defensively it's pretty solid and one of their strong points. Don't know if Roberts just had trouble getting it going, but I haven't heard an indictment regarding their speed this year. Interesting. Come to think of it, never heard a UST team be called slow before, I guess my question is, compared to what?

I thought the smaller LaVerne LB's and DB's were faster than the UST offensive skill players. At the start of the game the ULV defenders were just on top of Roberts before he could get going or were able to get to those spots very quickly. Hey UST won the game because you wore them down but I noticed the difference.

[57Johnnie]

Gagliardi Trophy semifinalists are out: http://www.d3football.com/notables/2015/11/gagliardi-semifinalists-announced

We host the fan voting this year, once again! You may cast one vote per device.

Time to get with it Johnnies

[OzJohnnie]

turkey, gravy, and mashed taters.

Mmmmm....  Thanksgiving. The single best national celebration on the planet.

[tommiegun]

Some interesting points made about UST's team speed on the SCIAC Board. I'll admit, they've been faster on offense before, but I think defensively it's pretty solid and one of their strong points. Don't know if Roberts just had trouble getting it going, but I haven't heard an indictment regarding their speed this year. Interesting. Come to think of it, never heard a UST team be called slow before, I guess my question is, compared to what?

I thought the smaller LaVerne LB's and DB's were faster than the UST offensive skill players. At the start of the game the ULV defenders were just on top of Roberts before he could get going or were able to get to those spots very quickly. Hey UST won the game because you wore them down but I noticed the difference.

I agree with this. LV was, I think, overall a faster team.  But only marginally faster, and they were way smaller and had no power.  I'll take "pretty fast," big, and strong any day.

[DuffMan]

You know who was fast?  Ryan Hoag

[SJUrube]

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....

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

Not much to disagree with Bench - besides your final score. 

Without a doubt Roberts was the key in the first game. In the second half he busted off a couple of big time runs. I don't know if UST has the second half they did that day, or have continued to throughout the year, if Roberts doesn't answer the call from above. Unless he's had a change of heart and is leaving the seminary I'm assuming he'll be lined up under center.

To offset his impact, and apparent ability to wear down the opponent, the SJU defense will need to get off the field early on 3rd down and create some TOs, and the SJU offense will need to sustain drives. They don't need points on every drive but they do need to allow an undersized defensive unit to rest, and break up the rhythm of the UST offense. I'll conceded that is generic analysis but the Jays aren't built to play catch up so shortening the game will be important.

Martin's play has improved throughout the year - with Bungum being the main benefactor. Being able to keep the UST defense on their heels by mixing in a healthy dose of Sura and the passing game.

I don't think it will take the game of their lives - it's more continued growth of what they've been doing the last 7-8 weeks. 

[USTBench]

AO,

When NDSU players are Tweeting out "UND got screwed" you know it's bad. Eastern Illinois bothered me, but not as much as Western Illinois. When they asked the chair of the committee they said Western Illinois had more "quality losses." That set everyone off. WIU was 6-5 and lost to NDSU 56 to 7. Unreal.

First of all, what is a "quality loss" and why in the hell would that ever be considered? Second of all, UND played NDSU as well. UND lost, but only 34 to 9, guess the bigger the margin, the higher the quality of the loss? Third, UND is the only FCS school with an FBS win (they count, or at least the committee claims they do) that was left out. Fourth, UND had a win over the 6 seed, Portland State, who beat TWO FBS schools, Washington State and North Texas. Finally, UND WON MORE GAMES!

That whole thing made me ill. UND has a true freshman named John Santiago that ran for almost 1500 yards and 16 TDs this year, and a safety in Cole Reyes that will be an All-American. They are young and I think capable of going 9-2 or 10-1 next year. Let's see if the committee snubs them then. They beat the hell out of Cal Poly on Saturday too. Just, ugh, so infuriating.

Also, agree. Why would they put everyone from the MVC in the same side of the bracket? Imagine your first 3 playoff games being against MIAC teams. Ridiculous. If you're playing the same teams over again, what's the point of the playoffs? Especially in FCS where I imagine the travel budget may be a bit larger.

OldAuggie,

Number 31 (nickel corner or safety, couldn't tell from the angle) from La Verne got torched by Waldvogel and big ol' Dowdle. So, at least he wasn't faster.

[tommiegun]

I think we can all agree that Faith, Family, Football was in another league with respect to speed and overall greatness.

[TitanPride]

Any ideas on attendance for Saturday? I'm planning to attend and wondering how early I'll need to get there to get a decent spot.  Assuming it will be a good crowd but no where near the regular season game given it's Thanksgiving weekend.  Any recommendations?