FB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[SagatagSam]

Hats off to the Gusties. They wanted it bad and took it.

[OzJohnnie]

Dang. Congratulation Gusties, but I think we let you have a game we could have won. The johnnies are definitely better than last year but they still lack top of the table execution. I think we suffered from a lack of deep passing capability in particular. We had maybe two catches forever 20 yards and maybe only four attempts. The defense again was a little easy to carve up from the air.

Good luck Bethel (and maybe Con). Represent us well in the post season.

[SagatagSam]

What's worse is these injuries. I hope they aren't anything too serious.

It would be tough to lose these guys for the rest of the season. I'd like to have those guys in against Bethel--maybe they can go into that game with a nothing to lose attitude and snakebite the Royals.

[sju56321]

Coming off a bye week -not a good showing by SJU. Seemed like weird play calling in ot-gotta try to win on the second possession.

[sju56321]

I thought SJU kicker was better? He only kicked that ball about 30 yards on the second kick.

[SJUrube]

Yowsers. Not an impressive performance. SJU let an early lead dwindle & allowed GAC to bring the running game back. Offense needs to be better & finish drives. So many 3rd & 5 possessions. Felt like 1st & 2nd down were used only to gain a couple if yards.

Oh well, at least my Gustie wife is happy, right?

[SagatagSam]

Johnnies were 2 for 14 on third down today. Yikes.

[Robert Zimmerman]

Nice game GAC, your defense played well today.  Not impressed with Martin, at least not throwing the ball anyway.  Very inconsistent.  I was really hoping SJU would be playing for a playoff berth against Bethel.

[sfury]

Tommies, Cobbers and Johnnies all finish 8-2. Johnnies make playoffs as committee takes the two-loss team that has a victory over Bethel.

Anyway, not surprised at all. Gusties are solid, Johnnies had won four tight games; were bound to lose one and could have lost all of those. I wonder if Bruns really was available. Seemed like he could have been thrown in there if so; he's proven to be superior passer. Feel like the momentum shifted when Johnnies had six plays inside the 10 but could only get a field goal out of it. Instead of 14-0, it was only 10-0 and Gusties had some confidence. Still, SJU had another 10-point lead at 17-7. Long kickoff return after that score was a big play too that set Gustavus up.

[sju56321]

I don't think a 2 loss team gets in, but we will see.
I agree with your analysis-also that interception in the end zone was a killer -otherwise SJU wins by 3, assuming the field goal. Kinda like kofed against UWW.

[hazzben]

Weird to find myself cheering for SJU at the end of that one, but I wanted a 1 loss SJU heading into the first Regional Rankings. Oh well, at least UST held on. Hopefully the Tommies can sneak into the rankings. Wartburg making it a game against Coe, at least it looks like its still ongoing. A Knight win would help the Royals.


Interesting tidbit from last week's Bethel v. GAC game.

Bethel went for a TD at the end in stead of letting time run out. Haugen, a former Bethel player under Coach Johnson, responded by flicking the Bethel Sideline off (I have this on good authority). He was pissed Bethel went for the points.

My reaction:

1) It doesn't matter now that GAC has beaten SJU, but if Bethel, Conc and SJU had all finished 9-1, point differential is the tie breaker. So those points mattered last week, at least potentially.

2) Bethel is trying to ensure the Pool A bid and get the highest possible seed in the playoffs. We might not like it, but the Top 25 and Regional Rankings will definitely be a bit of a beauty contest. With teams like Mount, UWW, Linfield, UMHB and North Central all unbeaten and in the hunt for 1 seeds, Bethel does need to care how their scores look. It's unfortunate that this is the way the world works, but it's reality. As much as I'm sure Coach J wants to see Haugen succeed, his first priority has to be doing what's best for Bethel.

3) As always, if you don't like it, stop it!

4) Still pumped for Haugen to get the win today against SJU. I was cheering for the Johnnies, for the reasons stated at the top of the post. But once the game was over, I was glad for the Bethel Alum coaching at GAC. He's a good guy and doing good things at GAC. I cheer for him every Saturday that a win doesn't hurt Bethel in some way.

All that to say, hopefully he has a chance to think things through a bit in the weeks to come. Hate to see that relationship spoiled over something like this. If he's still prickly, it could make for an interesting end of the year MIAC coaches meeting 

[Chubbs]

Bethel went for a TD at the end in stead of letting time run out. Haugen, a former Bethel player under Coach Johnson, responded by flicking the Bethel Sideline off (I have this on good authority). He was pissed Bethel went for the points.

Hmm, I bet Dottie was none to pleased with that.

What's worse than running up a score?  Complaining about being on the wrong end of it (especially with an obscene gesture).  He must have dressed up as Bobby Petrino for Halloween.

[hazzben]

Tommies, Cobbers and Johnnies all finish 8-2. Johnnies make playoffs as committee takes the two-loss team that has a victory over Bethel.

The wins over UST and Bethel (in this scenario) would be nice. SJU needs to hope UST sneaks into the regional rankings this week.

That said, I think it's a stretch to make it in with 2 losses this year. They'd also be up against the UWO/UWP loser. That team will have losses to an undefeated (presumably) Whitewater and one loss WIAC runner up. I'm thinking all three MIAC two loss teams are below the WIAC two loss team in this scenario.

EDIT: Add to that the OAC results. Either three 9-1 teams or a 2 loss team with one loss to Mount and to another 1 loss team.

The best case scenario for the MIAC getting a second team in is if Concordia wins out. Not what UST or SJU want to hear, I realize, but 9-1 Cobbers would be in very good shape.

That said, still two weeks to football left and the Bethel - SJU game to end the season will still have plenty of emotion involved. Obviously UST v. Cobbers will be a great matchup as well.

[sfury]

Yeah I don't really expect that but who knows. I remember in 04 SJU thought it was out of it with two losses but a crazy last week probably would have gotten them in...except St. Olaf beat the Johnnies.

That's a great story about the end of the Gusties-Bethel game. Tribute to how far Bethel's come under Johnson that the Royals are on the other end of those things. Wasn't there some upset people in 1993 when SJU ran it up in Gagliardi's 300th victory?

[AO]

Tommies, Cobbers and Johnnies all finish 8-2. Johnnies make playoffs as committee takes the two-loss team that has a victory over Bethel.

That said, I think it's a stretch to make it in with 2 losses this year. They'd also be up against the UWO/UWP loser. That team will have losses to an undefeated (presumably) Whitewater and one loss WIAC runner up. I'm thinking all three MIAC two loss teams are below the WIAC two loss team in this scenario.

The WIAC might still not end up with a 1-loss runner up.  LaCrosse has a shot to knock Platteville down to 2 losses next week.  Platteville then beats Oshkosh but it might not a big enough win for Platteville to rise above the MIAC runner up.