FB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[OldAuggie]

Ok I made a last second audible and went over to watch Auggie Tech at Bethel last Saturday.  Rolled into the parking lot just off Snelling at 12:30pm and there were still plenty of spots (Bethel's homecoming).  Nobody was tailgating where we've tailgated in the past (and I've declared the best tailgating spot in the MIAC).

My observations:
-Made the right choice to scout Tech/Bethel versus the drive to Northfield
-Auggie might be the smallest team I've seen in years.  My buddy thought there are 4-6 West Metro All-Star teams that would be bigger than them.
-Ayrton Scott is skilled and probably should be playing D-2, but he makes poor decisions when pressured.  A similar gameplan/execution to what SJU brought against St. Thomas will do the trick this Saturday.  Keep Scott in the pocket, maintain outside leverage/containment to force him back to the pursuit, and make Tech pass to win.
-Auggie Tech is very poorly coached.  Typical personal foul/late hit penalties, real bad time management (down 31-28, kicking off with 3:22 to go, with all 3 timeouts remaining, they waste one on the deadball before the kickoff and then proceed to onside kick which was quickly recovered by Bethel and gave up all chance at decent field position if you got the ball back), allowed a fake punt to Steve Johnson in the 1st half (totally obvious to everyone in the stadium except the Tech 11 & Frank Haege, 4th and about 2 on around the 35-40 Tech yardline).  I mean cmon have you never watched a tape of Bethel/Steve Johnson.  He is the king (okay maybe co-king with Glenn Caruso) of the trick play/fake punt.
-Bethel is huge again on the OL.  I mean their RG and RT could definitely create a solar eclipse.
-They have 2 sets of brothers who can really play.  The Marquardts from Champlin Park and the Mathis' from Anoka.
-Peterson throws a real nice, accurate deep ball.  Not Kirchoff, but he is skilled.
-The Royals kicker looks weak.  Is this just my perception or does BU have problems at kicker nearly every year?
-Really liked the simple, straightforward 6-8 pages program pamphlet that Bethel had upon entering the stadium.  Had both teams' depth charts, travel rosters, and all the MIAC teams schedule/records for easy viewing.  I'd take this over the 298 pages color glossy waste that is the SJU "award winning" program.  Wonder how many of those get recycled?  I know I've seen Tom Stock pass them out to any Tom, Dick, and Harry who looks like they might have $5 in the their pocket to donate...

See you Saturday Tmerton.  You and Noel are welcome to sit with me in Veek's VIP 50 yard line seats.

Over on the Augsburg side we could hear the coaches yelling to look for the fake punt. Auggies did not stop them on that play. Stuff happens. Player was extremely wrapped around the axle after that one. On the next tackle I saw him make, Bethel kid went down in a hurry, like a ton of bricks. Looking forward to the game on Saturday.

[OzJohnnie]

Ok I made a last second audible and went over to watch Auggie Tech at Bethel last Saturday.  Rolled into the parking lot just off Snelling at 12:30pm and there were still plenty of spots (Bethel's homecoming).  Nobody was tailgating where we've tailgated in the past (and I've declared the best tailgating spot in the MIAC).

My observations:
-Made the right choice to scout Tech/Bethel versus the drive to Northfield
-Auggie might be the smallest team I've seen in years.  My buddy thought there are 4-6 West Metro All-Star teams that would be bigger than them.
-Ayrton Scott is skilled and probably should be playing D-2, but he makes poor decisions when pressured.  A similar gameplan/execution to what SJU brought against St. Thomas will do the trick this Saturday.  Keep Scott in the pocket, maintain outside leverage/containment to force him back to the pursuit, and make Tech pass to win.
-Auggie Tech is very poorly coached.  Typical personal foul/late hit penalties, real bad time management (down 31-28, kicking off with 3:22 to go, with all 3 timeouts remaining, they waste one on the deadball before the kickoff and then proceed to onside kick which was quickly recovered by Bethel and gave up all chance at decent field position if you got the ball back), allowed a fake punt to Steve Johnson in the 1st half (totally obvious to everyone in the stadium except the Tech 11 & Frank Haege, 4th and about 2 on around the 35-40 Tech yardline).  I mean cmon have you never watched a tape of Bethel/Steve Johnson.  He is the king (okay maybe co-king with Glenn Caruso) of the trick play/fake punt.
-Bethel is huge again on the OL.  I mean their RG and RT could definitely create a solar eclipse.
-They have 2 sets of brothers who can really play.  The Marquardts from Champlin Park and the Mathis' from Anoka.
-Peterson throws a real nice, accurate deep ball.  Not Kirchoff, but he is skilled.
-The Royals kicker looks weak.  Is this just my perception or does BU have problems at kicker nearly every year?
-Really liked the simple, straightforward 6-8 pages program pamphlet that Bethel had upon entering the stadium.  Had both teams' depth charts, travel rosters, and all the MIAC teams schedule/records for easy viewing.  I'd take this over the 298 pages color glossy waste that is the SJU "award winning" program.  Wonder how many of those get recycled?  I know I've seen Tom Stock pass them out to any Tom, Dick, and Harry who looks like they might have $5 in the their pocket to donate...

See you Saturday Tmerton.  You and Noel are welcome to sit with me in Veek's VIP 50 yard line seats.

I'm confused. Which bandwagon are you jumping onto now that the shine is off the U$Td bandwagon? 

Ha!  Perfect.

[Texas Ole]

Rk    Name           gp          rush          pass           tot off          ypg

8    St. Olaf            5          336         1180           1516      303.2

Wow, St. Olaf's run to pass ratio is really skewed!

It is tough to win many ballgames if you can't run the football.

What would you attribute this to? Play calling? Lack of a solid RB? Poor O-Line play? All of the above?

Granted, Asp, Schmeising and Co. make tempting targets for any offense. But I was really surprised to see the Oles only averaging around 65 ypg rushing. This would seem to only get more dicey the colder it gets and in any sort of inclement weather.

My initial reaction was, small sample size of games with two of those being blowout losses resulting in more passes because of playing from behind which lead to less rushing yards. Looking at per game totals though they actually have pretty good balance in the number of rushing/passing attempts. It seems like the bigger issue is they can't pick up effective yards. Outside of the Northwestern game they've been below 3 yards per carry in every game. This past weekend SJU set a school record in time of possesion. Olaf wasn't able to establish anything on the ground and ended up 10-24 passing so the J's had the ball a lot.

Northwestern - 37-18 W                 Luther - 20-13 L                                 Concordia: 33-29 L
Attempts: 26 (33 passing attempts)     Attempts: 29 (30 passing attempts)     Attempts: 30 (30 passing attempts)
Net Rushing Yards: 102                       Net Rushing Yards: 44                        Net Rushing Yards: 78
Ave: 3.9                                             Ave: 1.5                                            Ave: 2.6
Yards lost: 25                                     Yards lost: 38                                     Yards lost: 17

GAC 45-19 L                                  SJU 31-0 L
Attempts: 27 (27 passing attempts)     Attempts: 20 (24 passing attempts)
Net Rushing Yards: 75                        Net Rushing Yards: 32
Ave: 2.8                                             Ave: 1.6
Yards lost: 32                                     Yards Lost: 22

Nice breakdown. So it's definitely not play calling, as they're around 50/50 run to pass ration.

I'm guessing it's an Oline & RB issue.

Olaf is also dead last in 3rd Down Conversions at 29%, 2nd to last in pts and yds. The 3rd down percentage makes sense, if you're struggling to run you're likely facing a lot of 3rd and long situations.

Some of those lost rushing yards are sacks, but Penz seems to be getting enough time to throw the ball so the OL may not be as much of a problem.  I'm not sure St. Olaf has the backs they did in the past, but I would also look at the coaching.  There has been some significant turnover on the staff in some key areas.  I know they have had a guys on the line quit recently.  Part of a good running attack is knowing when and where to run.  It also involves using the run to set up other plays.  Some teams are very effective at doing that.  I am not sure the current coaching staff understands how to use the run.  I think this further shows that losing Coach OJ was a big deal.  He did a lot more with less than anyone I knew at St. Olaf.

[hazzben]

Some of those lost rushing yards are sacks, but Penz seems to be getting enough time to throw the ball so the OL may not be as much of a problem.  I'm not sure St. Olaf has the backs they did in the past, but I would also look at the coaching.  There has been some significant turnover on the staff in some key areas.  I know they have had a guys on the line quit recently.  Part of a good running attack is knowing when and where to run.  It also involves using the run to set up other plays.  Some teams are very effective at doing that.  I am not sure the current coaching staff understands how to use the run.  I think this further shows that losing Coach OJ was a big deal.  He did a lot more with less than anyone I knew at St. Olaf.

They haven't been too bad with sacks. Averaging around 2 per game. Not amazing, but not horrible. You're right on the play calling. It's certainly more than just maintaining a ratio, it's the art of knowing when to run or pass and which type of each to do in a given situation.

And I definitely agree on Olszewski. He was a very good coach, underrated in terms of X's and O's and running a program.

[USTBench]

Sorry for the late post boys, been out in Western ND playing country lawyer.

As for the UST/Carleton tilt, I was interested to see John Gould and Alex Fenske get some playing time while Matt O'Connell is recovering.

John Gould was an impressive athlete. Hate to compare him to Dakota Tracy but that's the most accurate I can be. Ran extremely well, made and completed the smart throws, and ran the offense decently.

Alex Fenske was more your prototypical QB. 6'4", liked to take shots down field, could run a little bit. He was a bit inaccurate at times, especially in the redzone.

Overall, I was impressed with both guys.

Sidenote: Dan Cook for Carleton is a great player, kid was all over the place. And Jamie Carter, a freshman for the Knights made the hit of the year on a 1st and goal IMO. 

[bennie]

I came across a nice article about Augsburg's program for students in recovery. Drug and alcohol abuse is certainly an issue on most campuses. While many schools have prevention/education programs, it is more rare to have programs that are quite so all encompassing (housing, transfer GPA policies) for students in recovery. I commend Augsburg on providing hope, support and opportunities to students that might not otherwise stand a chance.

http://recoverycampus.com/a-shared-mission/

[Retired Old Rat]

I read the article above posted by Bennie.  What an impressive program.  Huge kudos to Augsburg for recognizing the need and doing such a fine job filling that need.

+k to all Auggies everywhere.

[SJUrube]

D3 football, and the MIAC, is getting some national attention again. This time for a game played in 1977.

http://regressing.deadspin.com/the-liter-bowl-the-first-ncaa-football-game-to-use-the-1443414296/@kylenw

I'm pretty sure the Liter Bowl, between St Olaf and Carleton, has been discussed on this board before. The article at the above link provides some details and also includes a link to a story from the Northfield News. Good think Olaf no longer uses meters or else their minimal rushing yards would look even smaller.

[D O.C.]

I believe TDT has rather subtlety indicated this is a LINFIELD bandwagon year and it's just a matter of the MIAC to get a 2nd place team in to travel West for his take to appear.

[DuffMan]

I believe TDT has rather subtlety indicated this is a LINFIELD bandwagon year...

Take him...please.

[tmerton]

Nice article about former SJU linebacker John Stanton from Japan's leading English language newspaper.  He's tied for the X League lead in touchdown receptions.  His quarterback is Kevin Kraft from UCLA.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/sports/2013/10/08/more-sports/stanton-finds-niche-in-japan-as-tight-end-teacher/#.UlXodGi9KSO

Unpossible.  He never caught a pass as a Johnnie.   Big game this weekend, though, to decide if his team, IBM BigBlue, gets into the X League playoffs.

Looking forward to the Auggie game this weekend and BigBlue's first playoff game in Tokyo on 11/2.  Then maybe I'll look for one of the boom-a-rangs when I'm back in OK for high school reunion in the spring (or, maybe not).

[OzJohnnie]

Good to see #13 burning up the turf over in the Land of the Rising Sun. It will be strange seeing a promotional video where he's taking a fingertip grab rather than laying a poor Gustie out flat.

[corn horn]

D3 football, and the MIAC, is getting some national attention again. This time for a game played in 1977.

http://regressing.deadspin.com/the-liter-bowl-the-first-ncaa-football-game-to-use-the-1443414296/@kylenw

I'm pretty sure the Liter Bowl, between St Olaf and Carleton, has been discussed on this board before. The article at the above link provides some details and also includes a link to a story from the Northfield News. Good think Olaf no longer uses meters or else their minimal rushing yards would look even smaller.

I hate to spoil a pretty humorous comment--in concept, but if the Oles used meters, their yardage would still be the same. Their "meterage" would be the smaller number. However, when the meager number is scoffed at they could say, "oh, but our offensive (double meaning) production is metric.  When converted to yards, it is actually _______ (pick a laudable number). Few would dare argue.   

[corn horn]

Dear cobbernation, FearTheEar, cornhorn and so on:



I saw this on another site. The ears are everywhere.

Thanks for the show of support, BDB. Since the first "Fear the Ear" apparel came out along with the angry lookin' kernel about a decade ago, the Cobber bookstore has been doing good business. I expect a good mob at the Jake this weekend vs. Bethel.

[SJUrube]

D3 football, and the MIAC, is getting some national attention again. This time for a game played in 1977.

http://regressing.deadspin.com/the-liter-bowl-the-first-ncaa-football-game-to-use-the-1443414296/@kylenw

I'm pretty sure the Liter Bowl, between St Olaf and Carleton, has been discussed on this board before. The article at the above link provides some details and also includes a link to a story from the Northfield News. Good think Olaf no longer uses meters or else their minimal rushing yards would look even smaller.

I hate to spoil a pretty humorous comment--in concept, but if the Oles used meters, their yardage would still be the same. Their "meterage" would be the smaller number. However, when the meager number is scoffed at they could say, "oh, but our offensive (double meaning) production is metric.  When converted to yards, it is actually _______ (pick a laudable number). Few would dare argue.   

True. I was talking about if you looked only at the raw numbers. 30 yards would become something like 28-29 meters and thus look smaller.