FB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[AO]

It appears to get high points for the week Chicago Tommie took the Johnnies to win last week in St. Paul! 

I doubt it. I just don't think any of us thought UST would win by 14.

closed circuit to miacmaniac:  Bench needs an injection of F.A.M.I.L.Y.  There were believers like you and Will Beardmore who thought the Tommies would cover the spread.

[DuffMan]

There were believers like you and Will Beardmore who thought the Tommies would cover the spread.

As rarely as you and I are on the same page, I have to give you +K for that one. 

[ChicagoTommie]

Ouch! I tip my hat to the johnnies! Being at the game with my extended family and friends from Chicago it was nice to see my son get a chance to play! He was extremely upset after the game he took the loss to heart but I feel like a Cub fan and saying "Wait till next year" I look forward to my first game at the natural bowl.

[USTBench]

It appears to get high points for the week Chicago Tommie took the Johnnies to win last week in St. Paul! 

I doubt it. I just don't think any of us thought UST would win by 14.

closed circuit to miacmaniac:  Bench needs an injection of F.A.M.I.L.Y.  There were believers like you and Will Beardmore who thought the Tommies would cover the spread.

It's not all duckies and bunnies with me. I'm a member of the tough-love covenant. F.A.M.I.T.L.Y.

I remember how upset some of the guys on our team got when The Aquin pretty much wrote an article that said we played like sh*t one year. I never understood that, I just kind of shrugged my shoulders, you know, because it was true.

UST will bounce back, but if it's an arms race all UST got was a head start. It's not like SJU alums, Gary Fasching, Bethel and Steve Johnson were just going to sit on their hands and not alter the way they do things. Chuck Klosterman wrote a great essay about the progressive nature of football http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=klosterman/091019 Conceptually, it's one of the most interesting things I've ever read about the sport. Essentially, the point being, in order to be competitive you have to evolve and perpetually innovate. I think that trickles down from Xs and Os, to offseason workouts, to recruiting.

Glenn Caruso, Terry Horan, Gary Fasching and Steve Johnson are all great coaches. All things being equal: investment from the university, recruitment of similar athletes, etc.  the guy who's the most willing to adapt, change and alter the message depending on the situation that will take the MIAC. I would submit, for the next few years we may not see a team repeat as conference champs.

[AlmostEx]

MY apologies if this has been posted already, but found this in my Facebook feed this morning.

http://gamedayoncampus.com/2014/09/the-real-johnnie-football-concordia-23-st-johns-mn-14/

As one who is only affiliated with SJU by virtue of a tuition payment for my son, I found the article to echo my own experience in getting to know St. John's and the reason I still maintain at least a thread of a relationship thru D3 football.

Enjoy.

[sjusection105]

Glenn Caruso, Terry Horan, Gary Fasching and Steve Johnson are all great coaches. All things being equal: investment from the university, recruitment of similar athletes, etc.  the guy who's the most willing to adapt, change and alter the message depending on the situation that will take the MIAC. I would submit, for the next few years we may not see a team repeat as conference champs.

I'm interested to see how GAC gets through it's toughest part of their schedule. The MIAC could see a 2 loss champion if things shake out over the next couple years. The Jr. class in the MIAC has some real good players- many who have been 2 yr. starters going into this year.

[USTBench]

Glenn Caruso, Terry Horan, Gary Fasching and Steve Johnson are all great coaches. All things being equal: investment from the university, recruitment of similar athletes, etc.  the guy who's the most willing to adapt, change and alter the message depending on the situation that will take the MIAC. I would submit, for the next few years we may not see a team repeat as conference champs.

I'm interested to see how GAC gets through it's toughest part of their schedule. The MIAC could see a 2 loss champion if things shake out over the next couple years. The Jr. class in the MIAC has some real good players- many who have been 2 yr. starters going into this year.

Not sure if I'm ready to put GAC in that category yet, but it seems like Haugen has something going there. That, coupled with a stadium that I personally feel is on par with any in D3, could be lead to a very interesting next few years.

[hazzben]

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!

I think it's too early to say this is the de facto conference title game. Or that a loss means Bethel is out. The winner would seem to have an inside track to the title, especially Concordia, since they'd already have a  win over SJU under their belts. But with 5 teams either in the Top 25 or unbeaten right now, it's really too early to say how this could go down. This could definitely be one of those years where a team with 1 conference losses wins the title. The Wartburg loss only hurts us if we're forced to compete for a Pool C bid. And 2 loss teams have snuck in before there.

This MIAC season is still really young. We'll learn a lot about the Cobbers and especially Bethel (this is their first real test since week 1) come Saturday.

[RoyalsFan]

Enjoyed the Tommie cast (despite the horrendous Lee). The video quality was truly worthy of the game that included two teams that have combined to win four national football titles. 

I must be a little slow this morning so please forgive me for asking. I'm guessing the 'combined' comment is poking fun at St. Thomas because they don't have any national titles?

[AO]

Great blog piece on the Real Johnnie Football...share this with every potential recruit and we will be ok.

http://gamedayoncampus.com/2014/09/the-real-johnnie-football-concordia-23-st-johns-mn-14/

It is a good read, although the author tends to over-exaggerate a bit on the "small-town" shtick.

Walking around campus, even between classes, feels like hiking in the woods. You're aware of other people, but most of the time the combination of wind and rustling leaves prevents you from actually hearing them.

Couldn't agree more - his GPS put him on a dirt road to the campus???  Really??  Time for a new GPS.  Collegeville is about as remote as college football gets?  I don't think so - it's 5 minutes away from the St. Cloud/Waite Park/St. Joe "metroplex" -  - and only 45 minutes from the Twin Cities.

But I'd agree with his overall assessment of the "mood" of things.

Sophomore Antoine Taylor, a backup running back from Hollywood, CA described the football culture best. After initially agreeing to a full scholarship at San Jose State, Taylor reconsidered when coaches from St. John came calling. "San Jose was great, don't get me wrong, I would have had a really fun four years. But it would have been all about football.

I don't see any evidence of a scholarship offer from San Jose State anywhere online.  This would obviously be a big deal if St. John's got a guy with a FBS offer.  Academic trouble perhaps?   I did find that he's old enough to be a junior and he transferred from a private high school to a public before his senior year.  Would be quite the story to go from that to a doctor. 

[tommiegun]

Well.  I suppose congratulations are in order.  From online it looked like SJU made some major improvements in line play since last year (or UST has had major regressions) and SJU's back is a beast.  Congrats to the forest-dwellers.

[tommiegun]

I guess we here in Tommieland will just have to be content with our back to back to back to back to back to back to back to back to back to back to back to back to(soon to be) back Baseball titles and back to back to back to back to back to back to back to back to back to (soon to be) back Basketball titles.

[Retired Old Rat]

There were believers like you and Will Beardmore who thought the Tommies would cover the spread.

As rarely as you and I are on the same page, I have to give you +K for that one. 

Ok, someone clue in the out of touch with pop culture among us.  I googled him and found a twitter feed that wasn't especially interesting.

I continue on my (mostly) one man quest of getting AO in positive karma territory.  Only 847 "applauds" to go.

[Retired Old Rat]

I thought this was the football board?  It says Post Patterns, did the baseball and basketball boards get merged in here?

If you can't handle the topic, change it?

You'll get over it, tommie.  It will become easier and easier to accept as this streak continues.

Go Johnnies!

[AO]

There were believers like you and Will Beardmore who thought the Tommies would cover the spread.

As rarely as you and I are on the same page, I have to give you +K for that one. 

Ok, someone clue in the out of touch with pop culture among us.  I googled him and found a twitter feed that wasn't especially interesting.

I continue on my (mostly) one man quest of getting AO in positive karma territory.  Only 847 "applauds" to go.

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.