FB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[art76]

Yikes! 227 to 3? Seriously? Ugh, and then Pat steals my punch line, to boot! I looked in on the scores late and realized that this might be the most lopsided margin of victory within the MIAC ever. I've not got the resources to prove or disprove it, but I cannot recall a week where there was so much disparity. And we've already talked about it this year ad nauseum, but never-the-less, I suspect some programs around the conference are talking behind closed doors about their options. FWIW, I am on record for keeping the conference together and sharing resources.

This past week, all the home teams won big. This week, it looks like all the visiting teams are in the driver's seat. There are only four games this week, as Gustavus has their bye this week. Going by past performance, it appears that the likely blow-out game this week will be the Johnnies visiting the Auggies. I don't expect Augsburg will score any points this week.

Bethel visits Carleton and St. Olaf visits Hamline for the last night game in the conference this year. It will be interesting to see if either of the home teams can score some points, but I suspect they will.

The game of the week has the Tommies visiting Concordia up in Moorhead. This is the first real test for the Tommies, as Concordia has already faced Whitewater this year. Being this is a home game for the Cobbers, there is a real chance they could win this one. I will be surprised if there is more than a 10 point spread in this game at any time during its duration.

[BDB]

I'm not a gambling man anyway "bet" was just a figure of speech. My point really was that they are vastly improved and I will not be surprised one bit if they beat all three of those teams.?

They could I suppose. I heard they were improved. But last year in the "War On 94" Stout won 55-7 so there would need to have been a lot of gain, and Stout finally settled on a QB this past Saturday in the win over Cal Lutheran.

[BDB]

BDB, On a separate note. I saw noticed the starting QB for Iowa is a Menomonie kid (Stanley?) do you know anything about him?

Yes I know Nate Stanley. He was a year ahead of my son in school and I coached him 1 year in youth baseball. He's a great kid that comes from a great family. His parents have Iowa roots which I'm guessing helped in his decision to go there. Nate owns the all time scoring record for the high school basketball also.

Two of my son's best friends were Nate's main receivers at MHS. They would complain about how hard he threw the ball. One had a classic quote "Nate never was a high school quarterback." LOL

I expect he will be in the NFL soon. He also is an excellent punter.

[MiacMan]

BDB, On a separate note. I saw noticed the starting QB for Iowa is a Menomonie kid (Stanley?) do you know anything about him?

Yes I know Nate Stanley. He was a year ahead of my son in school and I coached him 1 year in youth baseball. He's a great kid that comes from a great family. His parents have Iowa roots which I'm guessing helped in his decision to go there. Nate owns the all time scoring record for the high school basketball also.

Two of my son's best friends were Nate's main receivers at MHS. They would complain about how hard he threw the ball. One had a classic quote "Nate never was a high school quarterback." LOL

I expect he will be in the NFL soon. He also is an excellent punter.

Awesome, Thanks BDB! I figured he was a Rockstar athlete in several sports at Menomonie. Guys like that always are. Thanks for sharing!

[OldAuggie]

Yikes! 227 to 3? Seriously? Ugh, and then Pat steals my punch line, to boot! I looked in on the scores late and realized that this might be the most lopsided margin of victory within the MIAC ever. I've not got the resources to prove or disprove it, but I cannot recall a week where there was so much disparity. And we've already talked about it this year ad nauseum, but never-the-less, I suspect some programs around the conference are talking behind closed doors about their options. FWIW, I am on record for keeping the conference together and sharing resources.

This past week, all the home teams won big. This week, it looks like all the visiting teams are in the driver's seat. There are only four games this week, as Gustavus has their bye this week. Going by past performance, it appears that the likely blow-out game this week will be the Johnnies visiting the Auggies. I don't expect Augsburg will score any points this week.

Bethel visits Carleton and St. Olaf visits Hamline for the last night game in the conference this year. It will be interesting to see if either of the home teams can score some points, but I suspect they will.

The game of the week has the Tommies visiting Concordia up in Moorhead. This is the first real test for the Tommies, as Concordia has already faced Whitewater this year. Being this is a home game for the Cobbers, there is a real chance they could win this one. I will be surprised if there is more than a 10 point spread in this game at any time during its duration.

No comment on the point total for the Johnnie/Auggie game but it will be very one sided. I did notice this ever increasing talent gap within the MIAC and mentioned it earlier this year on a post but this is getting ridiculous.  Congrats to St. Olaf and it is not too surprising when you watch them hire UST talent for coaches who, if you follow them on Twitter have been knocking the ball out of the park on the recruiting side of the battle. No surprise at all. Maybe a misprint but I saw the Oles claimed over 4,000 in attendance for this last game? I was surprised at that number; that is a great crowd for STO. They are also finishing up a very nice new hockey arena so they are on the rise down there in Northfield.

[jamtod]

Yikes! 227 to 3? Seriously? Ugh, and then Pat steals my punch line, to boot! I looked in on the scores late and realized that this might be the most lopsided margin of victory within the MIAC ever. I've not got the resources to prove or disprove it, but I cannot recall a week where there was so much disparity. And we've already talked about it this year ad nauseum, but never-the-less, I suspect some programs around the conference are talking behind closed doors about their options. FWIW, I am on record for keeping the conference together and sharing resources.

This past week, all the home teams won big. This week, it looks like all the visiting teams are in the driver's seat. There are only four games this week, as Gustavus has their bye this week. Going by past performance, it appears that the likely blow-out game this week will be the Johnnies visiting the Auggies. I don't expect Augsburg will score any points this week.

Bethel visits Carleton and St. Olaf visits Hamline for the last night game in the conference this year. It will be interesting to see if either of the home teams can score some points, but I suspect they will.

The game of the week has the Tommies visiting Concordia up in Moorhead. This is the first real test for the Tommies, as Concordia has already faced Whitewater this year. Being this is a home game for the Cobbers, there is a real chance they could win this one. I will be surprised if there is more than a 10 point spread in this game at any time during its duration.

No comment on the point total for the Johnnie/Auggie game but it will be very one sided. I did notice this ever increasing talent gap within the MIAC and mentioned it earlier this year on a post but this is getting ridiculous.  Congrats to St. Olaf and it is not too surprising when you watch them hire UST talent for coaches who, if you follow them on Twitter have been knocking the ball out of the park on the recruiting side of the battle. No surprise at all. Maybe a misprint but I saw the Oles claimed over 4,000 in attendance for this last game? I was surprised at that number; that is a great crowd for STO. They are also finishing up a very nice new hockey arena so they are on the rise down there in Northfield.

So we are seeing St Olaf move up from the bottom. Gustavus is typically not getting walloped by the same score as these other teams and is occasionally fighty. So it's Hamline, Augsburg, and Carleton that remain the have-nots. Are they actually getting worse or is the top just getting better? SJU and UST are legit national title contenders and have been for several years. But maybe the very top of D3 continues to improve and the D3 talent gap is accentuated in the MIAC which is so top heavy?

[DuffMan]

...Carleton fell behind early but stiffened on up on defense, limiting the No. 9-ranked Johnnies to only seven points in the second half.

So there's a silver lining. 

[DuffMan]

And we've already talked about it this year ad nauseum, but never-the-less, I suspect some programs around the conference are talking behind closed doors about their options. FWIW, I am on record for keeping the conference together and sharing resources.

I heard from a fairly reliable source this weekend that there are 3 schools interested in leaving the MIAC (though one is Mac).  Surprisingly, Carleton wasn't one of them.

[jamtod]

...Carleton fell behind early but stiffened on up on defense, limiting the No. 9-ranked Johnnies to only seven points in the second half.

So there's a silver lining. 

I am certain that it was entirely Carleton's tough defense that caused that and not at all a result of St Johns (holy crap, I just looked at the boxscore/play by play):
* Punting the ball from the Carleton 35 after driving with the 3rd and 4th string RBs and
* 11-minute drive which ended with SJU turning the ball over on downs at the Carleton 15 after runs with RBs even further down the depth chart. That's an impressive drive and clock-milking job

[wm4]

. But maybe the very top of D3 continues to improve and the D3 talent gap is accentuated in the MIAC which is so top heavy?

This is a general statement, but I agree with you that the very top of D3 is getting better and the gap is widening.  And by "very top", I mean like the top 12-15 teams in nation.  I think talented athletes with options to consider are looking more and more at D3 as a legit option for their college football careers.  I know that's not new, but it seems to me it's more prevalent over the last 3-5 years. 

This is especially true in the MIAC.  St Thomas and St John's are just loading upon talented kids and have really deep rosters.  Concordia is a notch behind, but then there's a really big drop off in my view.  I think in just the last 5 years the gap in talent between MIAC #1 and MIAC #4-5 has widened considerably. 

[jamtod]

. But maybe the very top of D3 continues to improve and the D3 talent gap is accentuated in the MIAC which is so top heavy?

This is a general statement, but I agree with you that the very top of D3 is getting better and the gap is widening.  And by "very top", I mean like the top 12-15 teams in nation.  I think talented athletes with options to consider are looking more and more at D3 as a legit option for their college football careers.  I know that's not new, but it seems to me it's more prevalent over the last 3-5 years. 

This is especially true in the MIAC.  St Thomas and St John's are just loading upon talented kids and have really deep rosters.  Concordia is a notch behind, but then there's a really big drop off in my view.  I think in just the last 5 years the gap in talent between MIAC #1 and MIAC #4-5 has widened considerably.

If this is true, it means we won't struggle our way to a 20-13 victory over Bethel in the rain at their place this year, which would be nice I guess.

I'll believe it when I see it.

There is some data to be mined in this. I also wonder if the bounce-back D1 transfer is becoming more prevalent than it was.

[faunch]

...Carleton fell behind early but stiffened on up on defense, limiting the No. 9-ranked Johnnies to only seven points in the second half.

So there's a silver lining. 

I am certain that it was entirely Carleton's tough defense that caused that and not at all a result of St Johns (holy crap, I just looked at the boxscore/play by play):
* Punting the ball from the Carleton 35 after driving with the 3rd and 4th string RBs and
* 11-minute drive which ended with SJU turning the ball over on downs at the Carleton 15 after runs with RBs even further down the depth chart. That's an impressive drive and clock-milking job

I've got a sense that there's a concerted effort among the big 3 to attempt to limit the destruction of their opponents as much as possible. SJU could have score 80+ on Carleton this past Saturday and the Tom$ could have hung more on the Pipers. It's just a gut feeling I have.

[wm4]

I also wonder if the bounce-back D1 transfer is becoming more prevalent than it was.

Just eyeballing it, at least 3 of the top 10 teams are QB'd by D1 transfers (UST, SJU and NCC).  Maybe others can provide historical context but that certainly stands out to me.

[art76]

I also wonder if the bounce-back D1 transfer is becoming more prevalent than it was.

Just eyeballing it, at least 3 of the top 10 teams are QB'd by D1 transfers (UST, SJU and NCC).  Maybe others can provide historical context but that certainly stands out to me.

FWIW - It appears that Bethel's starting QB is also a D1 transfer from the U of MN.

[jamtod]

...Carleton fell behind early but stiffened on up on defense, limiting the No. 9-ranked Johnnies to only seven points in the second half.

So there's a silver lining. 

I am certain that it was entirely Carleton's tough defense that caused that and not at all a result of St Johns (holy crap, I just looked at the boxscore/play by play):
* Punting the ball from the Carleton 35 after driving with the 3rd and 4th string RBs and
* 11-minute drive which ended with SJU turning the ball over on downs at the Carleton 15 after runs with RBs even further down the depth chart. That's an impressive drive and clock-milking job

I've got a sense that there's a concerted effort among the big 3 to attempt to limit the destruction of their opponents as much as possible. SJU could have score 80+ on Carleton this past Saturday and the Tom$ could have hung more on the Pipers. It's just a gut feeling I have.

My observations thus far support this. I'm not 100% certain it will apply when UST plays St Olaf again, but we'll see.