FB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[SagatagSam]

Happy birthday to SagatagSam.  Trip to Collegeville is a great birthday present to yourself.

Thank you, ROR! I look forward to getting back to that beautiful place high above the Sagatagan, towering o'er the oak and pine!

[DuffMan]

My 3-year old son is excited for the game, but he's even more excited for the Homecoming bounce houses on the Tundra afterwards. 

[BDB]

My 3-year old son is excited for the game, but he's even more excited for the Homecoming bounce houses on the Tundra afterwards. 

He's not most excited about seeing the man, the myth, the legend, TDT? 

[57Johnnie]

My 3-year old son is excited for the game, but he's even more excited for the Homecoming bounce houses on the Tundra afterwards. 

Enjoy the game. I will miss at least the first half as I will be working a 'Speciial Olympics' event tomorrow. Another one of life's joys along with JOHNNIE football 

[OzJohnnie]

Sounds like it's time to get #3 in the hopper.

More like it's time to get a vasectomy! 

DAD: So, you see my problem, little ones: I can't keep you all here any longer.

GIRL: Speak up!

DAD: I can't keep you all here any longer! God has blessed us so much, I can't afford to feed you anymore.

NIGEL: Couldn't you have your balls cut off?

DAD: Hohh, it's not as simple as that, Nigel. God knows all! He'd see through such a cheap trick. What we do to ourselves, we do to Him.

GIRL: You could have had them pulled off in an accident.

CHILDREN: [talking]

DAD: No. No, children. I know you're trying to help, but, believe me,...

CHILDREN: Ohh...

DAD: ...me mind's made up. I've given this long and careful thought, and it has to be medical experiments for the lot of you.

[USTBench]

Sounds like it's time to get #3 in the hopper.

More like it's time to get a vasectomy! 

I heard that the State of Minnesota offers that free if you enroll at SJU.

[WarhawkDad]

Sounds like it's time to get #3 in the hopper.

More like it's time to get a vasectomy! 

I heard that the State of Minnesota offers that free if you enroll at SJU.

Hey, that's kind of below the belt!     

[USTBench]

Sounds like it's time to get #3 in the hopper.

More like it's time to get a vasectomy! 

I heard that the State of Minnesota offers that free if you enroll at SJU.

Hey, that's kind of below the belt!   

Excellent dad joke!

Speaking of which, found out I'm going to be a dad this spring.

I think with my genetic makeup and my wife's intellect we could have a back up fullback at Carleton on our hands!

[WarhawkDad]

Sounds like it's time to get #3 in the hopper.

More like it's time to get a vasectomy! 

I heard that the State of Minnesota offers that free if you enroll at SJU.

Hey, that's kind of below the belt!   

Excellent dad joke!

Speaking of which, found out I'm going to be a dad this spring.

I think with my genetic makeup and my wife's intellect we could have a back up fullback at Carleton on our hands!

Congrats!   Start saving for college now!   

[sjusection105]

Sounds like it's time to get #3 in the hopper.

More like it's time to get a vasectomy! 

I heard that the State of Minnesota offers that free if you enroll at SJU.

Hey, that's kind of below the belt!   

Excellent dad joke!

Speaking of which, found out I'm going to be a dad this spring.

I think with my genetic makeup and my wife's intellect we could have a back up fullback at Carleton on our hands!

Congratulations Bench.
I certainly hope you know that you out punted your coverage with Mrs. Bench. Just let her keep thinking she can mold you into the man of her dreams 

[SJUrube]

I couldn't let a full week go by without sharing my thoughts from a BEAUTIFUL day last Saturday at UST. I was unsure what to expect heading into the game. I honestly had more confidence going into the game last year - Bruns, Ramler, & nice win over UW-EC being some of the main reasons. There were reasons to be optimistic this year as well - Sura, BIG win over UW-EC/narrow victory for UST, and the win last year. Watching the loss to CON and seeing how they imposed their will on SJU did more than chip away at my positivity.

More than anything I think the play of the game had to be the roughing the kicker on SJU's punt at the end of their opening drive. The Jays offense did not look great on their initial three plays and UST was positioned to have the ball in great field position. And considering what UST did on their opening drive it easily could have been 7-0 UST. SJU was fortunate to get a penalty but at least they did something with it. 

Two thing stuck out to me about the Tommies - the number of penalties and how much Glenn over coached. Penalties ran the gamut - false starts, personal fouls, holding - and seemed to happen at inopportune times. SJU's opening TD was a nominee for the MIAC play of the week and I couldn't help but notice a roughing the passer could have been called on the play. It wasn't the worst use of late contact I've seen but the defender did take multiple steps before giving Martin a nice shove out of bounds. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oa59-wUD6cU

Some of the coaching decisions, in particular what UST did when within field goal range, were nice to see as an SJU supporter. I know Glenn is a bit of a gambler but I would have trotted my kicker out the first chance I had. A fake FG was the play on their first opportunity, with the kicker being welcomed to the field by a chorus of "wide left" chants. On their next opportunity they did elect to kick a 44 yard FG, no gimme at the college level & 6 yards further than first would have been, and it resulted in another wide left. And the final FG opportunity was after a nice opening drive of the 3rd QTR. Facing 4th & 6 & the option of a 38 yard field goal in a game they needed two scores to win - unless they went for 2 after a TD, UST went for it, didn't convert, and SJU scored on the next possession to make it a 14 point lead.

IMO the smart option would have been to kick a FG instead of faking, especially after the false start made it 4th & 6. The UST kicker has a big leg but did miss a HUGE kick last year. I'd want to get him out there as soon as it was logical to see where his head was at and to help him move on from the miss last year. Think of the number of talented FSU kickers that had to deal with mounting Wide Left/Right pressures over the years. And after deciding that a 38 yard FG wasn't in the cards I'm not sure why a 44 yard attempt seemed like a good idea.

As for SJU, it was a very workmanlike game, but impressive nonetheless. Sura, as others have indicated, is the real deal. He's not flashy but he has just enough shuffle to set defenders up to get around the edge. He does a really nice job of showing an initial cut or move while still going forward. There were some Johnnie faithful around me who started questioning the repeated dive plays as the game wore on. I'd love to see SJU open it up some but I don't think that plays to their strengths - at least not right now. A lot of the success passing the ball, the final TD and a few first downs, came off of play action - built off getting UST to overcommit based on the run game. During the CON game SJU was unable to get the run game going in the first half - the result of long CON drives and general lack of possession. I have to assume they are willing to role the dice with Sura as much as they can, in particular in late and big situations.

[bennie]

Happy Birthday SagatagSam!!

Congratulations Bench! If you're lucky he/she will grow-up to be a Johnnie or a Bennie!

[OzJohnnie]

+k for the best game analysis post in years, rube!

[OzJohnnie]

We're going to a friend's place for dinner tonight so I may be nursing a level three tomorrow. If I miss the first half (or maybe the whole game) this is my big GO JOHNNIES!  Let's get a stomping victory.

[OzJohnnie]

Rum commercial!