FB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[DuffMan]

I'll give props to the Tommies for their webcast.  I haven't seen the Johnnie production yet, but the Tommie game was better than expected.  I ran an HDMI cable from my laptop to my TV and watched the 2nd half on the big screen.  It was better than expected.

[DuffMan]

As dejected St. Thomas fans walked off the field at the close of the fourth quarter, freshman Will Beardmore was looking to the future.

"It's definitely going to give us a lot more motivation to get back in there and take it back," Beardmore said. "From what I've heard, we're the better team, or we should be, and we just need to get back in there and take it back."

(http://www.tommiemedia.com/news/public-safety-makes-1-arrest-treats-11-intoxicated-fans/)

Oh really, Mr. Beardmore?  Talk about a dumb-arse quote. 

[faunch]

I'll give props to the Tommies for their webcast.  I haven't seen the Johnnie production yet, but the Tommie game was better than expected.  I ran an HDMI cable from my laptop to my TV and watched the 2nd half on the big screen.  It was better than expected.

Agreed...and they even showed replays at halftime and following the game.  I think they get a little help from Hubbard on taht.

[DuffMan]

I wonder what the rubes will find to bitch about on Frank's weekly SJU chat today??? 

[DuffMan]

Top 25 update:

Bethel jumps from #15 to #12
Concordia moves from #25 to #22
St. John's goes from receiving votes to #23
St. Thomas drops from #10 to #24

I was also surprised to see U$T drop as far as they did and for SJU to crack the top 25.  I figured voters would look at the "rivalry" factor.  Not that it doesn't please me...

[retagent]

Crap...don't tell me we have to play the Johnnies! We always loose! 

You may not need to play us this year, but next year for sure.

I am bouyed by the number of non-seniors that keep showing up on the stat leader sheet. I also rue the fact that Certeza decided to leave. Can you imagine the backfield of Sura and Certeza for two more years?

[art76]

Top 25 update:

Bethel jumps from #15 to #12
Concordia moves from #25 to #22
St. John's goes from receiving votes to #23
St. Thomas drops from #10 to #24

I was also surprised to see U$T drop as far as they did and for SJU to crack the top 25.  I figured voters would look at the "rivalry" factor.  Not that it doesn't please me...

I will be more surprised if the top 25 stabilizes/shows little movement as we head into the middle part of the season as I expect there to be a fair number of teams that are there to tumble. There are 4 MIAC and 3 WIAC teams there now - that ain't gonna stay that way as these teams start to play one another. The bottom half of the top 25 will see a lot of teams coming and going as the season wears on.

Obviously, the cream will rise to the top so that at the end of the season those teams deserving of being in the top 25 are actually there.

[DuffMan]

Now, this was nice!

[02 Warhawk]

Now, this was nice!

Nice, I did the same thing. My iPad and Apple TV are my best friends on Saturday when at home watching D3 games.

[hazzben]

A couple thoughts regarding the SJU/U$T game yesterday:
As an SJU supporter I really believe yesterday's win trumps the victory last year.  Looking back three or four years ago...many people believed the Johnnie magic was gone and the program would be relegated to a middle of the pack MIAC team for a number of years if not forever. 
A lot of people thought last year's win was a fluke and the Johnnies dodged a bullet when the field goal went wide left.
Yesterday's win was a statement that Coach Fasching and his staff have things well in hand and are progressing in the right direction.  I'm not ready to crown the Johnnies as a conference title contender....they could easily finish up the season with 3  or more losses.

I definitely think this win more clearly showed SJU as the better team. But we can't discount how significant that victory was for getting Gary and Co. off to a good start. 6-4 with another loss to UST and there would have been some serious questioning in Collegeville. Instead, 7-3 with a win over the Tommies and things definitely seems on the right track.

As for lots of people predicting a slide to conference mediocrity, I don't remember it that way. At least not credible people on the board. Were these Johnnie posters overreacting, Tommies being dumb and obnoxious? I would have been shocked if SJU had ended up as a perennial middle of the pack team. Too much history, will to get back on top and administrative support for that to happen long term.

For the MIAC, it's good to have them trending up. They are our most recognizable brand (much as it pains me to point out the obvious). I just hope they settle into a consistent #2 or #3 slot, behind my Royals 

[USTBench]

They definitely didn't have the speed on defense that we've been accustomed to seeing.

Agreed. As talented as Sura is, on many of those occasions where SJU set the edge on the DE and he bounced it outside, in years past UST had the speed on the edges w/ their OLBs to run him out of bounds for little or no gain. The last few years UST did a good job of getting teams to going horizontally by sticking to their assignments and not getting sucked in. A lot of that is discipline, but good tackling corners and mobile LBs are needed. I have trouble believing Coach Kuchinski didn't have his guys in the right place, they just couldn't get there. I could be off-base, not like I watched the game back. Just initial impressions.

That being said, Sura is solid.

A few other takeaways. I love Coach Caruso (I know most people on this board don't, but you probably would if he coached your squad) because he is generally pretty innovative offensively and a ballsy play caller. That being said, (1) everyone in the stadium knew UST was going to fake that FG. (2) Kaiser is your RB. Take the reigns off of him and let him win some games for you.

I like Waldvogel as an occasional change of pace, maybe some designed runs for him out of the slot in motion, some jet sweeps, things like that. But if you want to control the clock, the ball and dictate the pace of the game, Kaiser is your man. Big, strong, and surprisingly shifty, and was reading his blocks and making things happen between the tackles. I still think UST can compete for a conference title, but they're going to have to do it a different way than they did in the past. Control the ball and keep the score low. Braddock will be a fine back up to Kaiser. But I think with all of the things they have Waldvogel doing on special teams, I'd just like to see him used sparingly as RB. He was taking some absolutely brutal hits on Saturday.

The Gould/O'Connell situation kind of reminds me of the Tracy/Morse dilemma. Never like to see a guy play himself out of a job, but sometimes efficiency trumps talent. Maybe O'Connell will get his rhythm back, but right now he just doesn't seem like himself.

[Pat Coleman]

They definitely didn't have the speed on defense that we've been accustomed to seeing.

Agreed. As talented as Sura his, on many of those occasions where SJU set the edge on the DE and he bounced it outside, in years past UST had the speed on the edges w/ their OLBs to run him out of bounds for little or no gain. The last few years UST did a good job of getting teams to going horizontally by sticking to their assignments and not getting sucked in. A lot of that is discipline, but good tackling corners and mobile LBs are needed. I have trouble believing Coach Kuchinski didn't have his guys in the right place, they just couldn't get there. I could be off-base, not like I watched the game back. Just initial impressions.

That being said, Sura is solid.

A few other takeaways. I love Coach Caruso (I know most people on this board don't, but you probably would if he coached your squad) because he is generally pretty innovative offensively and a ballsy play caller. That being said, (1) everyone in the stadium knew UST was going to fake that FG. (2) Kaiser is your RB. Take the reigns off of him and let him win some games for you.

Report from the sideline was that Kaiser was limping a bit after the first drive. He was out for quite a while.

[art76]

Games in the MIAC for the week of October 4th, 2014

If the weather prediction for five days out holds, we'll enjoy upper 50's with clear skies and a 10+ mph breeze out of the West, which will make it nice to be in the stands for some great football in the state of MN this coming weekend.

Augsburg is idle this week.

St. Thomas at St. Olaf – The Oles will get pummelled as the Tommies take out their frustrations after losing to the Johnnies this past weekend. I suppose another possibility is that St. Thomas is now in a funk and the Oles make it surprisingly close but still lose.

Carleton at Gustavus – The Gusties will pick apart the Knights with their aerial attack and in the past I might have said that it would have been a "run-away" game, but in this case it will be a "throw-away" game.

Hamline at St. John's – The Pipers will rumble into Collegeville with their own ground game to try to make it an even contest but in the end it will be the Johnnies' ground game that will prevail. I wouldn't be surprised if less than 30 points are scored between these two teams.

Concordia at Bethel – Easily, the game of the week that's too close to call. I'm hopeful that Bethel will prevail in front of the homecoming crowd at Royal Stadium, but field position from turnovers may decide this one. If Bethel wins and then if both teams run the table with the rest of their games, my prediction is that both of these teams will be invited to play in the field of 32 at the end of the season. If Bethel loses, they are out of the playoffs, unless Wartburg wins out as well which would make their 8 and 2 record appear better than someone elses one loss record in another conference. Without trying to sound like an alarmist, this could be the conference championship game for the year. I'll be in the stands to see it all unfold. See you there!

[USTBench]

They definitely didn't have the speed on defense that we've been accustomed to seeing.

Agreed. As talented as Sura his, on many of those occasions where SJU set the edge on the DE and he bounced it outside, in years past UST had the speed on the edges w/ their OLBs to run him out of bounds for little or no gain. The last few years UST did a good job of getting teams to going horizontally by sticking to their assignments and not getting sucked in. A lot of that is discipline, but good tackling corners and mobile LBs are needed. I have trouble believing Coach Kuchinski didn't have his guys in the right place, they just couldn't get there. I could be off-base, not like I watched the game back. Just initial impressions.

That being said, Sura is solid.

A few other takeaways. I love Coach Caruso (I know most people on this board don't, but you probably would if he coached your squad) because he is generally pretty innovative offensively and a ballsy play caller. That being said, (1) everyone in the stadium knew UST was going to fake that FG. (2) Kaiser is your RB. Take the reigns off of him and let him win some games for you.

Report from the sideline was that Kaiser was limping a bit after the first drive. He was out for quite a while.

Don't get much in terms of injury reports from Dave Lee and Fritz. Not sure if that's by design.

Regardless, it's a league game Smokey. I thought Nick Waldvogel was going explode into a fine powder after a few of the shots he was taking, but he just kept popping back up. Albeit gingerly at times.

[DuffMan]

I thought Nick Waldvogel was going explode into a fine powder after a few of the shots he was taking, but he just kept popping back up.

He did take some brutal hits!