FB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Retired Old Rat]

Do regional rankings come out today?

Oz, they are released on Wednesday.

[retagent]

Rodney Dangerfield move over. St John's get no respect.

[OzJohnnie]

Rodney Dangerfield move over. St John's get no respect.

Well, they were always going to drop behind Hardin-Simmons.

Plus, I think the Johnnie D is a little inconsistent for a top 10 ranking.

Why am I being so conciliatory?  I dunno.  Must need another coffee this morning to get my fight up.

CC managed to hang onto the top 25, which is good for the MIAC.  I reckon this Johnnie team, just quietly, is pretty strong and they don't need a lot of help to win games. They can certainly win one or two games in the post-season (knock on wood they get there) before they start needing breaks to get on top.

[wartknight]

Rodney Dangerfield move over. St John's get no respect.

As much respect as the previous week. Were only jumped by HSU, which was almost a given after Sat game.

[art76]

Week Ten in the MIAC

St. Olaf gets the week off after losing a heart breaker to the Pipers by a single point.

OK, I'm going to rant. You would think that a large newspaper like the Pioneer Press could afford a sports copy editor to at least look at the headlines and content of the local college football article. Bethany beat Gustavus this past week if you read the write up there. They even attributed players to the same school that are Bethel players. UGH!!!

Off my soapbox now.

With just two weeks left, there are still a fair number of possible scenarios coming out of the MIAC for the post season. The first game has minor implications as the Tommies host the Knights. This will be a week of rest for St. Thomas after two weeks facing Bethel and Concordia.  If the Tommies win by less than 5 touchdowns, I'd be surprised.

The second game to highlight this week is Augsburg going over to Hamline to take on the Pipers. There was no mention of Duncan in the box score this past week, so Hamline beat the Oles without their workhorse. I've not heard anything about his demise or status for the remainder of the year. Ayrton and squad should be able to win this one on the road, maybe by two or three scores.

The third game this week has the Cobbers travelling down to St. Peter to take on the Gusties. Bethel was able to keep the Gustie passing attack somewhat in check, at least enough to win by 9. I'm not sure the Cobbers have as good a defensive backfield as BU does, and Gustavus would sure like to beat one of the 4 teams that beat them last year. They couldn't get it done against the Royals and the chances of them getting past St. Thomas in the final week of the season is unlikely. If Gustavus wants to "break through" it has to want to win this game at home. I think this one is too close to call.

The game of the week has to be St. John's coming down to Bethel and playing on the grass field (cough) that got pretty chewed up this past week against the Gusties. As I said last week, if BU could beat the Gusties, then they stood a chance of containing the Johnnies and playing spoiler. I'm an optimistic realist and have to hope that Bethel's Defence can contain the Sura and Bungham tandem that has been St. John's weaponry throughout this season. Bethel is not a "make up team" this year. They'll need to score first and own time of possession for them to have a chance. If the Johnnies can get a couple of scores ahead and then play tit for tat with scores, then the Johnnies will be the victors. That seems more likely to me. As a Royal supporter I'm not terribly optimistic of them pulling it off. But they might, and I'll be there to take in the game.

Potential fallout from the games this coming week: If BU were to win, it gives the Johnnies their second loss for the season, though still solidly in second place in the conference. They host St. Olaf in the final game of the season and that one will be a coaster. They'll need to win it, but once they are in control, I would think that they will pull starters to get them out of harms way for the post season. I think an 8 and 2 St. John's team would get picked for a Pool C spot. If they beat Bethel, then they are definitely in as a Pool C team with their 9 and 1 record.

If Gustavus can beat the Cobbers, that knocks Concordia out of any post season discussion with a third loss. Concordia is idle the last week of the season, so this might be the last game of the season for the seniors on that team if they do lose. If the Cobbers do win, then they stand a chance for post season play with their 8 and 2 record. If Gustavus wins, then they'll be hoping to be dragon slayers the following week when St. Thomas goes down to St. Peter for the last game of the season.

Each of these last two games this week are important for the Johnnies and the Cobbers for post season play. Both the Royals and the Gusties are hoping to play spoilers. It's going to be a fun week!

[OzJohnnie]

I was all good with your preview, art, until you said the key to a Royal victory is them getting the first score. My recollection may be a little faulty but I think the johnnies have been scored on first with troubling regularity this season.  We'll see, I guess.

I'm also thinking that a lot has to go the Johnnies' way to get an 8-2 pool C bid. There will be quite a few one loss teams out there.  I think every game has been a playoff game since we lost to UST.

[Retired Old Rat]

At the risk of being unoriginal, will Bethel ever do anything about that field?  It's awful when it's a wet fall.  So easily torn up.  Seems like 1/2 the student body is out replacing divots after some games.

With all the maintenance required on a sand field I would think the economics of turf would be advantageous.  I hate to see the condition of a field impact the outcome of a game.  One way or the other.  One of the best things St. John's has done in recent history is the turf field.

[Boys of Fall]

I wasn't at the Bethel game last weekend, but didn't see Tusler's name at all when looking through the box score.  Did I miss something, is he out for some reason?

[DuffMan]

SJU playing at Bethel probably scares me more than anywhere.  Maybe it's bad memories of '99 and '00, but I never feel like SJU plays well there.  Couple that with the lack of ambiance, and I just hate it. 

[hazzben]

At the risk of being unoriginal, will Bethel ever do anything about that field?  It's awful when it's a wet fall.  So easily torn up.  Seems like 1/2 the student body is out replacing divots after some games.

With all the maintenance required on a sand field I would think the economics of turf would be advantageous.  I hate to see the condition of a field impact the outcome of a game.  One way or the other.  One of the best things St. John's has done in recent history is the turf field.

The field is bad when it gets cold and frozen. The field is a brilliant grass field in wet weather. It's a sand base. Carleton and Olaf had traditionally bad fields when it was wet. But Bethel's field is specifically designed to drain quickly and recover quickly.

[art76]

I wasn't at the Bethel game last weekend, but didn't see Tusler's name at all when looking through the box score.  Did I miss something, is he out for some reason?

Unknown by me. He wasn't even on the sidelines in street clothes this week.

[USTBench]

Went to the Concordia/UST game on Saturday. It took a series for UST's D to get settled in but they sure looked good after that. Horan did make a brilliant play call on a 4th down in the 3rd quarter and Jon Baune was able to beat UST's man coverage for a quick 6, but UST was able to hold the Cobbers to just 179 yards of total offense. I do have to tip my cap to Concordia's QB Herzog. He is as tough as they come. I think UST had 8 sacks and he took some vicious hits but just kept getting back up.

Offensively, it was probably UST's worst game. I think about 3 trips to the redzone they came up empty. Penalties, penalties and more penalties. 13 for 157 yards. So many plays negated by a holding. Also, I think there were 3 penalties by UST on kickoffs that went out of the back of the endzone, I honestly have no idea how or why you'd get a penalty in that situation, the ball is clearly not going to be returned. I can't recall exactly but I think there were 3 or 4 personal fouls by UST, which I have never seen. Things were pretty chippy through a lot of the game, but UST was getting picked on a bit I felt (OF COURSE I feel that way ;-)). The referees absolutely lost control at one point and didn't throw the flag after a fair catch was called on a punt return by UST and our returner (pretty sure it was Waldvogel) just got lit up. it was as egregious of a non-call as I've ever seen with two side judges looking right at the play. The refs were mic'd up and talked about it for awhile but gave no explanation to the crowd. It looked like your standard fair catch to me, and he fielded it cleanly, so I was really scratching my head on that one. It certainly was about as dangerous of a play as I've ever seen, and that kid could have gotten seriously injured.

Outside of that, Gould's 248 yards passing is a bit deceiving because he hit Roberts on a swing pass and Roberts broke about 900 tackles to take it to the house for a 68 yard score. Gould made some poor decisions when he got flushed out of the pocket, tried forcing a few things and ended up getting picked off a few times when he should have just thrown it out of bounds. Really tried fitting the ball in some tight spots throwing back across his body. No bueno. The fumble wasn't his fault at all, but it did happen close to, or in the redzone, which was a buzzkill. To his credit, Gould made a brilliant run to pick up a first down on 3rd and long I believe and did hit Gilliand for a few big scores.

Certainly not calling for Fenske to start over Gould because I'm sure there's a good reason for the arrangement, but he really just needs to take what the D gives him and be a game manager. It has to be tough being 5'9" and trying to see over a RT that is 6'9", but if you're running arguably the best RB in DIII 30+ times a game, there's going to be some shots you can take down field, no need to force anything. Just chuck the thing out of bounds and live to play another down I guess.

Kaiser wasn't able to go on Saturday but instead of Tucker Trettel spelling Roberts, Waldvogel reprised his roll as RB2 and did a good job, 10 carries for 57 yards or so. Roberts had 31 carries this week, which is a ton, and I'd like to see him keep it around 20 the next two weeks going into the playoffs. Sounds like Kaiser should be ready to go by next week, it'd be nice to lean on him a bit and get Trettel some more touches going into the playoffs.

[badger1845]

Art, With UWW, UMHB and a number of other 1 loss teams I think SJU needs to win out to make it.  The Cobbers I feel are done with two losses and sitting in third.  Besides that three teams from one conference I just don't see happening. 

USTBench - Herzog was actually the starting FB to start the year but he's been pretty good stepping in at the QB.  Very tough kid.  Not sure what happened to the other guy. 

[Boys of Fall]

Art, With UWW, UMHB and a number of other 1 loss teams I think SJU needs to win out to make it.  The Cobbers I feel are done with two losses and sitting in third.  Besides that three teams from one conference I just don't see happening. 

USTBench - Herzog was actually the starting FB to start the year but he's been pretty good stepping in at the QB.  Very tough kid.  Not sure what happened to the other guy.

Alex Grove was the Cobber QB to start the year, but he got hurt at the very end of the Johnnie game, Herzog came in for the last series of that game, and has been there since.  He has played very well, too.

[GoldandBlueBU]

I wasn't at the Bethel game last weekend, but didn't see Tusler's name at all when looking through the box score.  Did I miss something, is he out for some reason?

Unknown by me. He wasn't even on the sidelines in street clothes this week.

Curious about this as well...he was very slow to get up a couple of times and hobbled off of the field in the UST game.