FB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[DuffMan]

This recruiting talk reminded me of a story my dad told me this weekend.  He's a high school teacher.  He said one of his students had some material from Hamline--they were recruiting him for track, I believe.  The heading at the top of the brochure read HAMINE UNIVERSITY. 

[OldAuggie]

Take note...Aryton Scott: FY QB at Augsburg could end up as one of the best offensive players in the MIAC.  I watched him play as a senior at Southwest.  Had he played at on a Lake Conference team in high school he would have gotten more attention.

I agree. He is doing a great job as a freshman and I am looking forward to the matchup this weekend. If he continues to develop his game he will be seriously dangerous to defend.

http://athletics.augsburg.edu/news/2012/9/24/fb092412.aspx

[USTBench]

Cobbernation - I live in Grand Forks, and a few attorneys in my office go to Crookston on almost a daily basis for court. The "stadium" (toilet for livestock) is right off the side of Highway 2 on the west end of town as you enter. UMC is widely known as the worst football school the NSIC has to offer and I highly doubt they could beat Mayville State, let alone finish in the top 2/3 of  the MIAC. Sad part is, they're NCAA Division II. I think they should probably reconsider and go the way of U of Minnesota-Morris, another Division II team that simply could not compete and found the UMAC/Division III to be a better fit.

I also thought Mayville St., Valley City St. and Jamestown College should have considered the Division III/UMAC instead of wasting money and classroom time traveling all over the country just to find NAIA teams to play. Whatever.

Redtooth - Caruso did have pleny of leftovers from Roney and immediately turned that program around with mostly Roney's guys. There was always a decent level of talent at UST (mostly by default, read: great location + pretty girls = decent athletes just winding up there) , especially in the early 2000s. There just wasn't much of a plan of what to do with it.

[Pat Coleman]

Take note...Aryton Scott: FY QB at Augsburg could end up as one of the best offensive players in the MIAC.  I watched him play as a senior at Southwest.  Had he played at on a Lake Conference team in high school he would have gotten more attention.

He really impressed me, for a freshman. If he can stay healthy and throw downfield well at some point, he is going to be a force to be reckoned with.

[sjusection105]

Take note...Aryton Scott: FY QB at Augsburg could end up as one of the best offensive players in the MIAC.  I watched him play as a senior at Southwest.  Had he played at on a Lake Conference team in high school he would have gotten more attention.

He really impressed me, for a freshman. If he can stay healthy and throw downfield well at some point, he is going to be a force to be reckoned with.

Great,another Auggie QB to shatter the dreams of Johnnie fans nationwide at some point in the next 4 years 

[faunch]

Take note...Aryton Scott: FY QB at Augsburg could end up as one of the best offensive players in the MIAC.  I watched him play as a senior at Southwest.  Had he played at on a Lake Conference team in high school he would have gotten more attention.

He really impressed me, for a freshman. If he can stay healthy and throw downfield well at some point, he is going to be a force to be reckoned with.

Great,another Auggie QB to shatter the dreams of Johnnie fans nationwide at some point in the next 4 years 

He could run circles around the SJU defense in a couple weeks...I hope he doesn't.

[SUMMIT!!!!!]

Two big games this weekend, not much in the way of talk about them...IMO the biggest one is Bethel @ Augsburg. I took in the Auggie-Hamline game and was very impressed with Mr Scott, but it was a question of was he as good as he looked or was Ham's defense as bad as he made them look.  He & the Auggies get a challenging test when they try to move the ball against The Blue Wall. The game has the potential to be a high scoring affair and should be well worth the trip over to Riverside Ave.

The second intriguing battle is St Olaf @ SJU. A loss by Olaf pretty much eliminates them from title contention, while a loss for the Johnnies could really revv up the "the sky is falling" commentaries/concerns. Olaf has a recent history of pretty decent success at Collegeville.  How SJU's defense copes with Dobson is the key to the game....if they limit his effectiveness, they can get off the schneid....if not, the specter of a 4-4 or even 3-5 MIAC season grows larger.

Ham/GAC has been a nailbiter for most the past 5 seasons...while it may be a thriller of a game, it really has little impact on the title/playoff chase.

UST/Car....not a question of who wins this one, but a question of by how much.

[GoldandBlueBU]

After BU's 42-7 win over Auggie last year, I have a hard time believing that Bethel has declined enough (I actually believe they're improved on both sides of the ball) or that Auggie is improved enough in order to make it a terribly close game.

If AO's spread was more in the 15-20 range, I'd have a tough time making a pick 'em call.

However, I do think it gives BU a chance to get a little bit of a tune up if they're going to be more challenged than they were against Carleton or Buena Vista.  That would certainly be beneficial before next week's Cord. game.

[OzJohnnie]

I've finally taken the time to find this quote from Gagliardi, this in a NYT article:

... [H]e always says, 'I'm looking for ordinary guys to do ordinary things extraordinarily well.' ...

I bring this quote up because I'm not looking for better recruiting, but who would complain about that, but I'm looking for better execution. We're not doing the ordinary things extraordinarily well. If we play smart and lose, well we got beat an that happens.  If we make mental mistakes and lose, well we threw the game away and that's a real disappointment.

To be clear, I'm unhappy with the losing but we need to accept it from time to time. But I'm disappointed in the last three years of mental mistakes an how they have continued this year. That's the issue that needs to be addressed, not the recruiting. Because we we recruit the worlds greatest players and they still make mental mistakes then we're still going to lose.

And the Hawks are in the Grand Final this weekend!  Woohoo!  I've got a couple options to go to it. Lucky to be me. A biiiiig Saturday night is coming up.

[Chubbs]

I've finally taken the time to find this quote from Gagliardi, this in a NYT article:

... [H]e always says, 'I'm looking for ordinary guys to do ordinary things extraordinarily well.' ...

I bring this quote up because I'm not looking for better recruiting, but who would complain about that, but I'm looking for better execution. We're not doing the ordinary things extraordinarily well. If we play smart and lose, well we got beat an that happens.  If we make mental mistakes and lose, well we threw the game away and that's a real disappointment.

That sounds all Minnesota nice, folksy, and makes for good news stories, but the studs who drove the great SJU teams of the last 20 years and before that weren't exactly "ordinary" bubbas.  You can game plan and coach up ordinary kids all day long, but without some measure of athleticism, football aptitude, and instincts it becomes an exercise in futility. 

I've mentioned it many times, but this reminds me of a quote from another coach who knew a thing or two about winning.

"To me, coaching is very simple.  If you have the best players, you will win."  -Dr. Tom Osborne

[hazzben]

Two big games this weekend, not much in the way of talk about them...IMO the biggest one is Bethel @ Augsburg. I took in the Auggie-Hamline game and was very impressed with Mr Scott, but it was a question of was he as good as he looked or was Ham's defense as bad as he made them look.  He & the Auggies get a challenging test when they try to move the ball against The Blue Wall. The game has the potential to be a high scoring affair and should be well worth the trip over to Riverside Ave.

The second intriguing battle is St Olaf @ SJU. A loss by Olaf pretty much eliminates them from title contention, while a loss for the Johnnies could really revv up the "the sky is falling" commentaries/concerns. Olaf has a recent history of pretty decent success at Collegeville.  How SJU's defense copes with Dobson is the key to the game....if they limit his effectiveness, they can get off the schneid....if not, the specter of a 4-4 or even 3-5 MIAC season grows larger.

I think this matchup with Augsburg is intriguing. It'll be a good test for the defense, who haven't been pushed since week 1 against Wartburg.

Top to bottom, I don't think Augsburg has the horses. That said, an athletic, mobile quarterback is always a wildcard. The last thing you want to do is to get into a shootout. It sounds like the Frosh QB is legit and a game changer. If you've got good speed on D, which Bethel does, then it really comes down to playing disciplined, smart football. An athletic QB will obvious give nightmares to a slow D. But if you're not disciplined with your gaps and containment you are constantly at risk for the big play once things break down.

Should be a good test for Bethel.

The Johnnie/Olie matchup an underrated game. The winner regains some traction and confidence with a lot of season in front of them. The loser is in a tough spot. Seems like more on the line for SJU though. To lose 3 straight and 2 at home would be tough pill to swallow. You're right, it'll stir up the hornets nest in terms of unrest. But it would also seem pretty brutal to the players confidence and leave the rest of the league smelling blood in the water. There are a lot of teams who have experienced decades long futility against SJU that would love nothing more than to kick them while they're down.

After BU's 42-7 win over Auggie last year, I have a hard time believing that Bethel has declined enough (I actually believe they're improved on both sides of the ball) or that Auggie is improved enough in order to make it a terribly close game.

I hope you're right. Bethel is playing well right now. If this game is close or Augsburg wins it will say more about how far they've come. That said, this will be a stiff test for a freshman QB who's shown he can play, but he hasn't seen an elite D or team yet. This will be the biggest game of his brief career.

The one wildcard is playing at Augsburg. It's just such a weird environment. It can make for a strange atmosphere and definitely affects substitutions on both sides of the ball.

[DuffMan]

That sounds all Minnesota nice, folksy, and makes for good news stories, but the studs who drove the great SJU teams of the last 20 years and before that weren't exactly "ordinary" bubbas.

I disagree.  Sure, there were a few incredible athletes (Elliot, perhaps  ), but the bulk of the teams were made up of ordinary guys--good athletes, but not DI rejects.  Tom Linneman threw a nice ball and had charisma pouring out his ears, but if you ever saw the guy in the locker room, "athlete" is not the word that would come to mind (once, after a playoff game, he got drawn for a drug test, and I heard him say, "if they want proof that I'm not on steroids, I'll just lift up my shirt).  Much of John's success has been built on that principle of ordinary guys doing ordinary things extraordinarily well.

[retagent]

To go along with the above, Mt Union has guys in the NFL right now, as do other D III teams who have NOT had the success that SJU has had. SJU has had very few grads get looks by the NFL, CFL or AFL or, for that matter, the Lingerie League. They have done extraordinarily well without those type of athletic studs.

[OldAuggie]

Two big games this weekend, not much in the way of talk about them...IMO the biggest one is Bethel @ Augsburg. I took in the Auggie-Hamline game and was very impressed with Mr Scott, but it was a question of was he as good as he looked or was Ham's defense as bad as he made them look.  He & the Auggies get a challenging test when they try to move the ball against The Blue Wall. The game has the potential to be a high scoring affair and should be well worth the trip over to Riverside Ave.

The second intriguing battle is St Olaf @ SJU. A loss by Olaf pretty much eliminates them from title contention, while a loss for the Johnnies could really revv up the "the sky is falling" commentaries/concerns. Olaf has a recent history of pretty decent success at Collegeville.  How SJU's defense copes with Dobson is the key to the game....if they limit his effectiveness, they can get off the schneid....if not, the specter of a 4-4 or even 3-5 MIAC season grows larger.

I think this matchup with Augsburg is intriguing. It'll be a good test for the defense, who haven't been pushed since week 1 against Wartburg.

Top to bottom, I don't think Augsburg has the horses. That said, an athletic, mobile quarterback is always a wildcard. The last thing you want to do is to get into a shootout. It sounds like the Frosh QB is legit and a game changer. If you've got good speed on D, which Bethel does, then it really comes down to playing disciplined, smart football. An athletic QB will obvious give nightmares to a slow D. But if you're not disciplined with your gaps and containment you are constantly at risk for the big play once things break down.

Should be a good test for Bethel.

After BU's 42-7 win over Auggie last year, I have a hard time believing that Bethel has declined enough (I actually believe they're improved on both sides of the ball) or that Auggie is improved enough in order to make it a terribly close game.

I hope you're right. Bethel is playing well right now. If this game is close or Augsburg wins it will say more about how far they've come. That said, this will be a stiff test for a freshman QB who's shown he can play, but he hasn't seen an elite D or team yet. This will be the biggest game of his brief career.

The one wildcard is playing at Augsburg. It's just such a weird environment. It can make for a strange atmosphere and definitely affects substitutions on both sides of the ball.

I hope the Auggies can keep that big Bethel Defense on the field and tire them out chasing Mr. Scott and Co.. This will keep the Bethel offense off the field. If Augsburg can do this they have a chance to keep it close and maybe win. As far as last years Auggies; this team has improved on defense and show a different look on offense. As far as the environment being weird; that place will get really "weird" if Augsburg keeps winning. I am expecting a good effort from the Auggies.

So that makes two wild cards; 1) Athletic, Mobile QB and  2) Weird Environment (I won't argue; it is different but it is home)

[RoyalBU]

I would have to agree that when SJU has been good, they've had more than just a couple "extraordinary" guys on the team.

I wouldn't call playmakers ordinary. Playmakers make all the difference in big games....doesn't that make them "extraordinary"? Elliot, Hood, Dumonceaux, Good, Weinandt, Gearman, McCambridge, Steffensmeier, McNamara, Keating, Linnemann, & Clintsman just to name a few of the playmakers that SJU has had over the past 10 years. I'd say these extraordinary guys made a pretty big difference for SJU.

While some of these guys may be ordinary guys in the locker room or in life, they certainly weren't ordinary on the field. It reminds me of the first time I saw Phil Porta as a freshman at Bethel. He was supposed to be the "best recruit bethel has ever had", so I was expecting this freakishly looking dude. He could have been mistaken for a 4th string defensive back or the film tech guy. It was classic Phil Porta to walk into the weight room with a 20 oz Pepsi, do a couple of lifts, and leave 15 minutes later without saying anything more than "hi" to a few teamates. He was totally an ordinary guy, but had ridiculous skills at running the football.

I'll take it a step futher and suggest that SJU's recent struggles have a large part to do with not having any extraordinary guys on the D-Line. When SJU is really good, they have a lights out D-line(note: most of the names listed above were d-lineman). It seemed like they always had 1 or 2 all-americans on the d-line, with some freshman or sophmore that ended up being a 1st team all-american a year or two later. While most of them weren't your typical d-lineman, they were all extemely athletic and quick...which created huge matchup problems for DIII O-lineman.

I'm much more of a reader on here, but just wanted to throw in my 2 cents on the matter.