FB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[BDB]

I've got some old hockey shin pads I can loan you Oz. 

[OzJohnnie]

I've got some old hockey shin pads I can loan you Oz. 

EDIT: deleted a big long story about how I'm an idiot. It's what led to BDB's post following.

A proper response would be: thanks for the shin guards. I would like to think I'm on her 'kick and run list' but I bet I'm probably on her 'I don't need to run 'cause I can take him list.'

[BDB]

There is no greater compliment than when someone says positive things about one's offspring, and the opposite is true as well.

[sjusection105]

3.  Damn, it was cold

Were you at the SJU/Coe game in 2002?  That day made the 2003 SJU/Bethel game seem balmy.  I still refused to wear long sleeves. 

It was cold enough to freeze the nuts off a John Deere plow......that's cold.

Duff, didn't you keep future NFL RB,Fred Jackson in check that day?

[BDB]

It was cold enough to freeze the nuts off a John Deere plow......that's cold.

Just when I checked the box confirming I'd heard every cold comment ever uttered.

[RoyalsFan]

So what's the justification for St. Thomas being ranked 18th overall and SJU not even being ranked?

Often the Top 25 is interested in looking at how a team trends, as in what have you done for me lately.

As it should be - I would think the regional rankings would be also ranked on how well a team is doing 'lately'.

[RoyalsFan]

1391696_10151783963132695_507795493_n by wardo78, on Flickr

Win number 409 against Bethel, 10 years ago on Friday.  I remember it like yesterday.  Three things that stuck:

1.  Scott Kirchoff being taken off the field in an ambulance
2.  Johnnies won
3.  Damn, it was cold

Notice 5 defenders converging on Blake Elliott.  He was the playmaker that took St. Johns from a "good" team to a national champion team.

I'll be dusting off the DVD of this game over the weekend.

Go Johnnies!

I also remember that the game was supposed to be a home game for Bethel and they allowed it to be played at SJU.  Classy.

I don't remember that. I remember that there was a few years where they didn't alternate every year, and that there were 2 years in a row played at SJU and then the next 2 years were at Bethel. But I don't think that game was originally scheduled to be played at Bethel, but I could be wrong. Anyone know for sure?

[DuffMan]

Duff, didn't you keep future NFL RB,Fred Jackson in check that day?

Come to think of it, yes, we laid the smackdown on Freddie Jackson and the rest of the Kohawks. 

[DuffMan]

Rumors are swirling the SJU put in a non-pistol goal-line offense this week! 

[ron doney]

Any idea how Wartburg is in at 6-2?

Same should be asked about St. John's.

Doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me if St. Thomas is ranked 18th overall while St. John's isn't even ranked in the top 25, how is St. John's ranked in the top 10 regional rankings and not St. Thomas? I know St. John's beat St. Thomas in head to head, but that was only 1 game and it was because of a missed field goal.

It's because Tommies suck. Even the selection committee knows that.

UST and SJU must be in a near dead tie for 10th. They have the same record and have both dropped thier games to other regionally ranked teams. The HTH is the differentiating factor.  If UST beats CON then they move into the rankings, I would think.

Like when UST was tied for #1 at the beginning of the year

[ron doney]

So again ....what about Wartburg?  Any answers on why they are ranked?

[Knightstalker]

Excellent points and well said.  "Yell for your team, not at them" is exactly what I was trying to convey. 

And to think I'm also a Oregon Duck fan!

Even a stopped clock is right twice a day.

Unless it is a 24 hour clock.

[sfury]

1391696_10151783963132695_507795493_n by wardo78, on Flickr

Win number 409 against Bethel, 10 years ago on Friday.  I remember it like yesterday.  Three things that stuck:

1.  Scott Kirchoff being taken off the field in an ambulance
2.  Johnnies won
3.  Damn, it was cold

Notice 5 defenders converging on Blake Elliott.  He was the playmaker that took St. Johns from a "good" team to a national champion team.

I'll be dusting off the DVD of this game over the weekend.

Go Johnnies!

I also remember that the game was supposed to be a home game for Bethel and they allowed it to be played at SJU.  Classy.

I don't remember that. I remember that there was a few years where they didn't alternate every year, and that there were 2 years in a row played at SJU and then the next 2 years were at Bethel. But I don't think that game was originally scheduled to be played at Bethel, but I could be wrong. Anyone know for sure?

I don't remember that either. Robert Zimmerman has been known to indulge in whiskey drinking in his garage while working on his tunes so maybe he's drunk. They played in SJU in 01, one of the few games I've actually seen in person since graduating, and then the dome in 02. Plus, they wouldn't have known going into the year that that game would mean what it did (although they could have guessed. But SJU could have lost three games before even playing that game, in theory). We need an official ruling from someone in the know otherwise this might simply be another misguided Bob Zimmerman idea, like his Christian years.

In the new Sports Illustrated there's a feature on Baylor coach Art Briles and his revolutionary coaching. They're averaging 63.

As he did in high school, Briles still works without a playbook -- just, he says, a "Big Chief yellow pad." Those ideas get fleshed out on the practice field. The Bears do not hand offensive players a three-ring binder when they arrive on campus. They may have a few formations and diagrams loaded on an iPad but there is no real offensive installation period during spring practice or fall camp. The Bears learn by repeating each play at practice and no one gets in a game until he knows them perfectly.

Sound like an old SJU coach who certain people on Twitter get upset about if anyone still writes about him just because he's retired? Once again, John Gagliardi was about 60 years ahead of everyone.

[SagatagSam]

Rumors are swirling the SJU put in a non-pistol goal-line offense this week! 

I'll believe it when I see it.

[art76]

Throwing my two pennies into the fray:

With the Regional Rankings now out and looking at the hypothetical possibilities for who gets put in the pool B and Pool C teams for possible selections, the only sure thing is that if Bethel wins out they get the automatic qualifier as MIAC champs.

If Concordia wins out, they are almost a shoe-in for a pool C selection.

The rest of the MIAC sits out this year, as both the Tommies and the Johnnies have 3 losses.

Only Bethel can "afford to lose" and still stand a good chance at getting into the playoffs. Two things concern me about that potential loss. The first is that even though they would have the same record as Concordia, and have beaten them during the year I seem to recall that the MIAC has a tie-breaker rule saying the team that has been out of the playoffs the longest would win the conference automatic qualifier. Does anyone know for certain if this is the case? Secondly, I believe I also read somewhere that the NCAA selection committee can take into account how a team is trending at the end of the season in determining between two fairly equal teams. As Bethel's defeat would be in the last game of the season I see that as a downward trend and hurts their pool C standings. Again, did I read too much into the NCAA criteria or mistakenly interpret it incorrectly?

Lastly, If Concordia hangs with the Tommies and loses a close game, I think they still are in the hunt for a play off spot. However, it also lifts the Tommies into the discussion and the whole trending discussion comes into play as the committee chooses between St. Thomas and the Cobbers. The Cobbers really have to win the game in St. Paul this week - I think, even more than Bethel has to beat St. John's next weekend.

Thoughts?

PS. And with the Johnnies already regionally ranked, if Concordia loses and the Johnnies beat Bethel and there are now 3 MIAC teams setting at 8 and 2, I see the pecking order as Concordia, St. John's and lastly St. Thomas as it sits now. But this week's regional rankings would certainly change with a Tommie victory, so it could still be a wild ending in the MIAC.