FB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[sowilson]

So how did Haugen respond? Does GAC want to be competitive or are they okay with being relevant? Also, as an aside, it's interesting that Haugen namedrops Caruso in his official biography on the GAC football webpage. I wonder why more MIAC coaches don't do the same.   

Link: https://gustavus.edu/profiles/phaugen2

I know you enjoy being an ass but why do you think I would have asked coach Haugen?  GAC doesn't have roster size issues, they are competitive and relevant in the MIAC.  You really are a fine example of what UST produces.

FLUSH

[sowilson]

I look forward to GAC's attempt to unseat UST for second place in the MIAC. That mid-80's revival is just around the corner. We've been fearing it for years. 30 to be exact.

I think you should be more concerned with your own spot in the standings than what happens to UST.  I wouldn't be surprised if the Johnnies loose to one or more of the next 3 in the conference rankings.

[Mr.MIAC]

So how did Haugen respond? Does GAC want to be competitive or are they okay with being relevant? Also, as an aside, it's interesting that Haugen namedrops Caruso in his official biography on the GAC football webpage. I wonder why more MIAC coaches don't do the same.   

Link: https://gustavus.edu/profiles/phaugen2

I know you enjoy being an ass but why do you think I would have asked coach Haugen?  GAC doesn't have roster size issues, they are competitive and relevant in the MIAC.  You really are a fine example of what UST produces.

FLUSH

Every parent wants to make sure their student athlete finds a collegiate home where they might flourish. I figure with your extensive experience gained at a D1-FBS big man camp a few years back you might have some concerns about the MIAC and plenty of questions for Haugen. It's not like GAC is a D1-FBS Power 5 conference team and anything. 

[art76]

Back to the "usual suspects" discussion about who's more likely to be where in the MIAC stack at the end of the season, we all should temper our predictions with the knowledge that the MIAC is one of the better conferences in all of D3 football-dom. Many, if not all these schools would/could do much better in another conference, if they were located geographically to do so. Who knows, (Well, Pat and Keith might), maybe the MIAC makes it to the top of the stack this year with the Tommies getting to the big dance last year and the rest of the conference being competitive. We won't know what those two are thinking until Kickoff is released. Iron sharpens iron, and even the teams that end up at the bottom at the end of the year are better players for being in the MIAC, than playing somewhere else - even if they might get more playing time at another school. But I'm biased, what can I say?

[OldAuggie]

Augsburg will be interesting this year indeed. In addition to the graduation losses, they seem to have underwent some offseason turmoil and an additional 30 underclassmen quit the team. No idea how many seniors they had, we'll just say 15, so that's a 45ish players lost from one season to another. Interesting to watch indeed

OldAuggie, did you hear anything backing that bit up?^

No I did not. I try not to pry in to team matters though. What the "h" happened?

Well I don't want to say too much, as I have no idea how much is rumor and how much is true, and how much I trust my source, but it seems that the coach made some changes during the off-season and that was the fulcrum

I can't find anyone that has heard of this problem.  I would guess that maybe the normal turnover of underclassmen from one year to the next might be the catalyst of the rumor. Are we trying to get better? Oh H#!! yes. Does it take a long time? Yes. Is it easy? No.

[carletonknights]

Could be the case.  We'll find out when the roster is released for this year. 

[OzJohnnie]

My projected 2016 MIAC finish (without considerations for returning starters, that'll come after Kickoff comes out):

Team	Wins	Losses
St. Thomas	7.6	0.4
St. John's	6.5	1.5
Bethel	5.1	2.9
Concordia-Moorhead	4.8	3.2
Gustavus Adulphus	4.3	3.7
Augsburg	3.6	4.4
St. Olaf	1.7	6.3
Hamline	1.6	6.4
Carelton	0.9	7.1

I would say this fits Reverend MIAC's view of things a little better than Art76's

I'm curious when you shuffle the deck weighing in returning starters. With SJU losing an All-American RB and 4 yr. starters at QB & WR I would be thrilled with a "6.5" weighted designation in wins.
Being a pessimist until I see the product perform on the field, I always have low expectations going into a new season. I'm from the "what have you done lately" school of thought.

Because it would be too difficult to get to that level of granular detail for every school, and in the interest of keeping the model unbiased, every returning starter is treated equally. I have had three years of data to work with, and the trend so far has been that an average returning starter is worth about 1.5 points per game for their unit. The national average is 6.75 returning starters per unit, so a team with 9 returning starters would see a 3.375 boost in their offensive or defensive rating.

In their July podcast, Pat & Keith mentioned that they have returning starters broken down by position for every school. I emailed them to see if they would be willing to share that sort of information, but haven't heard anything back yet.

FYI - If don't have the best pick 'ems on the planet this year then something is going screwy.  This could be a very fun season on the boards.

[OzJohnnie]

I've been told there is a Pokemon at the boat landing by my house and it's kinda creeping me out.

[DuffMan]

I look forward to GAC's attempt to unseat UST for second place in the MIAC. That mid-80's revival is just around the corner. We've been fearing it for years. 30 to be exact.

I think you should be more concerned with your own spot in the standings than what happens to UST.  I wouldn't be surprised if the Johnnies loose to one or more of the next 3 in the conference rankings.

Oh, boy.  This'll be an interesting season!

[DuffMan]

Of course there is probably a point at which a roster gets too big to manage successfully and that size hurts you.  Personally I believe that St. Johns would be a better football team with 50-70 less players on the squad and is one of the reasons why they may be ripe to move down the standings. I think that a roster around 85 players is competitive and 120-130 is optimum, above that and you can have issues.

[sarcasm]Yeah, a big roster really has hurt SJU.[/sarcasm]   

[DuffMan]

As it is the off season, I will mention that the Mrs. and I just returned from a houseboat trip on the Mississippi with 5 other couples.  We had a great time exploring the river.  Of course, way too much booze was consumed, as well.  This was our first time taking a getaway from the little Duffs, so it was a well-deserved and appreciated vacation!

[Greggers]

Can't speak for the whole conference but I did get a chance to look into St Johns and St Thomas's recruiting classes and I felt overall that the johnnies have a stronger class, I feel like they got a lot of big lineman, and a lot of impressive athletes that can play all over the field. St Thomas has some really good players and it's always interesting to see how kids pan out but I think somehow SJU out recruited UST. Could be interesting though how UST's transfers pan out and fit in

[OzJohnnie]

As it is the off season, I will mention that the Mrs. and I just returned from a houseboat trip on the Mississippi with 5 other couples.  We had a great time exploring the river.  Of course, way too much booze was consumed, as well.  This was our first time taking a getaway from the little Duffs, so it was a well-deserved and appreciated vacation!

Ah, the first trip away.  It was a killer for Mrs Oz but I didn't blink. Possibly because I'm an emotional vacuum or some such thing. I wasn't really listening.

[Boys of Fall]

The biggest difference in the conference this year is going to be at QB.  Last year it was a senior dominated position, many with multi-years of experience.  There will be a number of new faces this year.

Also, the standings don't often change much from year to year, and that will probably be the case again this year.  I would think the teams looking to move up the most in the standings would be Bethel and Hamline.  Bethel had many injuries last year and is probably looking to get back to the top.  Hamline's resurgence might only get them to the middle of the pack, but they've made some good coaching moves recently and have a growing roster.  The two teams with the biggest risk of falling in the standings might be Augsburg and GAC.  The Auggies lose Scott, Sonnenfeld, and Martin on offense, and the defense wasn't top-notch itself.  Similar story line at GAC where they lose Hendricks and the Boyce brothers.  I would suspect both squads will re-stock with good players to prevent too far of a fall, but it would be a surprise if either becomes a contender this year.

[OzJohnnie]

Can't speak for the whole conference but I did get a chance to look into St Johns and St Thomas's recruiting classes and I felt overall that the johnnies have a stronger class, I feel like they got a lot of big lineman, and a lot of impressive athletes that can play all over the field. St Thomas has some really good players and it's always interesting to see how kids pan out but I think somehow SJU out recruited UST. Could be interesting though how UST's transfers pan out and fit in

Thanks but ixnay the etterbay ecruitmentray. We're flying under the radar.