FB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[coco]

Congratulations to St. Thomas on your win this weekend. You guys are the real deal. Waldvogel is a heck of a runner, and your defense is tough.
Good luck to you the rest of the way.

[DustySJU]

Bethel shocked everybody and kicked a FG saturday. 2-6 on the year and the kicker, Nick Love, is 1-1. It was a spiral, knuckleball, sidewinder from about 36 yds but it split the uprights. I watched him go about 1-6 in pregame warmups so was shocked they let him kick one, but he made it and it was a huge kick. Made Wheaton go for a TD late instead of a FG to win it.

I was shocked to see they did that as well. Especially since they went for two after their first touchdown.

It'd be great to see Bethel in the championship game albeit without a passing game and without a kicking game... set us back 30 or 40 years.....

As it stands the Royals will control the ball for 45 minutes and win this one vs the Tom Cats 8 - 7. 

Developing....

[USTBench]

I am anticipating a street fight on Saturday. I'm sure Bethel is dying for another crack at UST and there's probably nobody the Tommies want to see less. Either way, these are two teams that know each other too well. Can't wait for Saturday.

[usee]

Well, Bethel gets to play with Mitch Hallstrom, no wedding this week so the Tommies better beware. Just look at what he did to Wheaton last week!

[GoldandBlueBU]

I am anticipating a street fight on Saturday. I'm sure Bethel is dying for another crack at UST and there's probably nobody the Tommies want to see less. Either way, these are two teams that know each other too well. Can't wait for Saturday.

I'm also very much looking forward to saturday...I hope that BU can show up and deliver an entertaining game.

For someone who's never been to a football game @ UST, how early do you think I'd have to show up to get seats this saturday?

(Cue up the SJU fan's jokes about UST football attendance)

[Retired Old Rat]

FYI, St. Cloud Times obituary for miacmanic's father is here

Papa Maniac was a good man.  He attended St. John's University. 

[hazzben]

I am anticipating a street fight on Saturday. I'm sure Bethel is dying for another crack at UST and there's probably nobody the Tommies want to see less. Either way, these are two teams that know each other too well. Can't wait for Saturday.

I'm also very much looking forward to saturday...I hope that BU can show up and deliver an entertaining game.
For someone who's never been to a football game @ UST, how early do you think I'd have to show up to get seats this saturday?

Hard to say. The price will probably keep some fans away, but Bethel had to pay during the regular season and still brought a very nice crowd (I'd estimate they were 40-45% of the attendance). You've got to think the West Region final will raise the stakes enough that we can draw big numbers. Love to see upwards of 5-7k...but we'll have to see. No idea how early you need to get there for seats though? My advice, get there before 11 and enjoy warmups!

@USTBench: Yeah, this is such an intriguing remarch. Can Bethel's D repeat its performace? Can UST do the same? What happens with the kicking game for BU?

And they do know each other so so well. They've got to have almost every game from the season on film...Heres hoping it lives up to the hype!!

[Johnnie]

FYI, St. Cloud Times obituary for miacmanic's father is here

Papa Maniac was a good man.  He attended St. John's University. 

A very good man,  he is now in the Johnnie Heaven Nation.

[Pat Coleman]

Well, Bethel gets to play with Mitch Hallstrom, no wedding this week so the Tommies better beware. Just look at what he did to Wheaton last week!

Which wasn't anything, from what I saw in the box score. Did he play? I know Bethel only completed seven passes so opportunities weren't frequent.

I know Wheaton has a lockdown corner so I guess I would presume he shut down Hallstrom.

[usee]

They threw it to him probably 6 times but Wheaton had him well defended. Plus, Aakre had very little time to throw the ball. The only real completion of substance was the one they needed, to Flannery for 27 yrds on a throwback off a jet sweep look.

[hazzben]

Wheaton had excellent coverage in the pass game, no taking that away. Bethel did have a deep pass to Hallstrom, with very good coverage, that went just off his finger tips at one point. They had the TD to Flannery and a very nice slant completion against the blitz on 3rd and long in the second half. There only real big pass plays of the game, but each was at a critical point in the game.

But I think the biggest reason was the smothering nature of Wheaton's pass rush. They were up in Aakre's grill all day long. Excellent contain, quick to the football, some nice blitz packages, took advantage of the backup left tackle all day. Very impressive. No doubt the pass pro will be a major point of emphasis this week for Bethel as UST will want to exploit the same things with their own big boys...

[tommiegun]

Anybody check out the flack Pat and Keith are taking on the comments board for ATN...

To me it just makes sense that two states with 3/8 of the teams remaining in the playoffs would get more coverage...

[Johnnie Red]

So how long has UST been playing the rap, hip hop, Eminen music before the football games? Trying to keep up with Carleton and St. Olaf?

[retagent]

............and UWW.

[USTBench]

I am anticipating a street fight on Saturday. I'm sure Bethel is dying for another crack at UST and there's probably nobody the Tommies want to see less. Either way, these are two teams that know each other too well. Can't wait for Saturday.

I'm also very much looking forward to saturday...I hope that BU can show up and deliver an entertaining game.
For someone who's never been to a football game @ UST, how early do you think I'd have to show up to get seats this saturday?

Hard to say. The price will probably keep some fans away, but Bethel had to pay during the regular season and still brought a very nice crowd (I'd estimate they were 40-45% of the attendance). You've got to think the West Region final will raise the stakes enough that we can draw big numbers. Love to see upwards of 5-7k...but we'll have to see. No idea how early you need to get there for seats though? My advice, get there before 11 and enjoy warmups!

@USTBench: Yeah, this is such an intriguing remarch. Can Bethel's D repeat its performace? Can UST do the same? What happens with the kicking game for BU?

And they do know each other so so well. They've got to have almost every game from the season on film...Heres hoping it lives up to the hype!!

The thing that worries me about UST is their receivers outside of Waldvoget get the yips. On Saturday they had some bad drops against Linfield. If UST's webcast wasn't terrible I could verify for sure, but I think Margarit dropped an easy 40+ yard go route, and either Nohering or Gliesner dropped a for sure 1st down late. Tracy also needs to protect the football, but if he doesn't trust his other receivers to step up, he's going to force the ball where it doesn't belong. Someone outside of Wartman, Tobin, Waldvogel and Tracy NEEDS to step up. Obviously those four guys are capable of putting a lot of points on the board, but it makes Bethel's job easier if they only have to worry about one receiver.

In re: Bethel's kicking game.

You have 100 guys on the roster, I would've hosted open tryouts yesterday.

I think if UST tackles better than they did on Saturday, and establishes the run early, then goes for the deep ball, I think they win. Obviously Bethel's D will make you regret trickeration, so a steady dose of the run even if you have to punt a few times is the way to go. And if the last Bethel matchup is any indication of which RBs style is more suited to this game, I think we see more Tobin than Wartman.