FB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[jamtod]

Congrats to the Tommies! As a Johnnie, I usually hate the Tommies. But this team isn't hard to root for.

The coach, on the other hand...Anyone catch Glenn on SId's show this morning? DId a good job figuring out what the hell Sid was trying to say, but bristled when Dave Lee suggested that their facilities had anything to do with his success. Then he rambled about how he wants recruits to get a feel for the place..blah blah blah. You better not dare question that recruiting and facilities have lead to his success - it's all Glenn .

Link to listen?  Would love to hear for my own ears the part where he bristles.

I tracked down the link and I am about to listen:
http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/audio/sports-huddle-with-sid-and-dave/

I just listened to this very reasonable interview with Coach Caruso. Either the haters are scraping the bottom of the barrel for stuff to discredit Caruso or they've grown absolutely delusional.

End the tyranny of OR.

[skunks_sidekick]

Mmmmmm - the crow is tasty this morning.

Boy was I way wrong about the Mount Union-Whitewater match-up. I was pretty certain that the Purple Raiders were over-hyped and hadn't been tested. Nope, they are that good this year.

I was half-right, as St. Thomas was dominant in their game against Linfield.

You'd think I'd be gun-shy by now, but I'm not - after this weekend's results I'm leaning towards a Tommie win. I'm also hoping for a better (read closer) game on Friday night. I just think that even though Mount is "that good" this year, I don't think they'll have quite enough to get by the Tommies.

It'll be interesting to see how this all plays out, because some of the teams that have lost to these two Stagg Bowl contestants are tied to their results when it comes to the final Top 25 Poll put out after the game. There's already been some discussion on this board about that.

Wow...Art is picking against Mount Union.  SHOCKING!!!

[OzJohnnie]

I'd love to see a VK/GC cage-match!

My money is on Ramses

[OzJohnnie]

SJU had field turf before we did. Schoenecker arena was not in great shape, the training rooms were small, the weight room was old and outdated, and some donors and the powers that be thought we should have some nicer athletic facilities. I don't think UST's stadium is any more impressive than GAC, Hamline or SJU. Outside of the video board, it's just kind of your basic DIII stadium. The AARC and the locker room is impressive, but it's not exactly what Phil Knight built for Oregon. Just some nice locker stalls and the ability to show film in the room. SJU could use a new scoreboard. Bethel, St. Olaf and Carleton could use some turf, and there are schools (Concordia, Augsburg, Carleton) that could really use an overhaul. I don't think it's anything UST has to apologize for.

SJU does need a new scoreboard. The current display was one of the first in the league that would show scores from conference games.  It pains me to admit it but they probably should put in a video board.  I had a conversation a couple years ago w/ former SJU basketball coach Jim Smith and told him they should put one up that's the same shape as the Abbey bell banner.  He said that those that call the shots at SJU will never put one up.


Kids these days have a screen in their face from the day they are born.  Now high schools are even feeding their self-indulgent personalities by putting together highlight reels and playing them before and even during games.  At Prior Lake the PA guy tells the fans to watch the "entrance video." Like they wouldn't notice??

Adelaide Oval (in Adelaide) is the international-grade cricket pitch in South Australia and they regularly refurbish the old-time scoreboard.  There's even a guy that sits in it still turning over the numbers. It adds real character to the ground.

If the Johnnies replace their board I hope they don't go with the video and instead do something that compliments the character of the Natural Bowl. The light poles are bad enough.

.

EDIT: And you may notice the nice homage to tradition during recent renovations at the ground. About a quarter, maybe a little less, doesn't have a grand stand around it as they have kept the bit by the old scoreboard the same old grassy hillside that made the oval for a hundred years



Maybe SJU, if they decide to put up a video board, could hang it on the Palestra and leave and the old board at the church end of the ground.

Anyway, I'm not paying for it so my opinion is worth about just that much.

[sjusection105]

Seems like the proper time to spin the tale that is "Saint Glen".

It's 2011, and Mount had just lost to UWW for the third time in a row.  Caruso had been in Salem for a few days, as one of his players was up for the Gagliardi trophy.  He heads to Mount's locker room, and encounters Larry Kehres.  Coach Kehres, after just losing the national championship game, sits with Caruso for around 45 minutes to let him pick his brain, talk football, etc...  LK leaves that meeting thinking that Caruso is a pretty good guy.

Jump forward a year, and it's the Tommies vs. Mount in the Stagg Bowl.  Caruso was acting ummm..."jerky" all week (insert your own word here), and then came the game.  As well documented, Mount has an insurmountable lead, and as per usual classy LK style, starts to take a knee knowing the game is over.  First time they do it, here comes the Tommies through the line wacking the QB.  Caruso calls time-out, gets his men together, and everyone assumes it to tell them to chill out and stay classy.  BUT NOOO...he pretty much tells them to "play to the end of the whistle", and they hit the QB again.  Now LK is totally pissed, and we then run a play.  The Mount players were besides themselves, and wanted to either punch one in the end zone, or punch a certain coach and some of this players. 

After the game LK was hot, and really didn't want to shake Caruso's hand, or hear anything he had to say.  VK will have that memory running through his head this week, so it could get really interesting in the Stagg.  With the Tommies showing they play to the very "end of the whistle", I can see this game getting chippy pretty quickly.  VK might just rip off Caruso's head if that crap happens again.

Like I said...should be fun!

I can't wait.......

[miac952]

It may be crazy talk but I wonder if they would ever consider flipping the student section to the scoreboard end. Maybe a little lower profile bleachers, but a couple side sections as well. Then the video board could go on the bball gym / indoor track end and be less obtrusive to the natural bowl aesthetically.

[tommiegun]

Vegas (or at least some sports book) likes it to be a close game, and there has at least been some action.  Line started at Mount by 3.5 this morning, and it is Mount by 4.5 right now. 

[bluenote]

I think MUC will win. Based on what I've seen. I believe MUC can stop the STU running game....And force them into desperate passing situations. And I think the MUC offense is pretty much un stoppable.

[ron doney]

"Let me be really blunt about this: That is not at the forefront of our recruiting." "That is not what drives the program and what drives recruiting."

You're cherry-picking. He does acknowledge their importance in the very same answer, but he articulates that the facilities aren't what they sell recruits on. You're trying way too hard.

Of course I'm cherry-picking. I'm making an argument that Glenn is all ego. I'm going to pick statements that prove that. Glenn's first response to a statement about the facilities (I don't think it was even a question - Dave Lee just said they were great) was that they aren' t the reason he's successful at recruiting. He said all the right things after that, but his first statement was that it doesn't make a difference. He didn't have to object to that statement - he made a clear and purposeful answer ("Let me be blunt:") that the facilities were not the reason for his success. The implication being that he was the reason for the success.

There were a bunch of other things in the interview that I found very "me me me" (like when someone asked about Mount Union's success, he first pointed out the success he'd had. True, he was honoring Mount Union with that response by comparing his two title game appearances that any team in the country would love to have with Mount's 20, but he could have honored Mount Union just by pointing to Mount Union's success, instead of first pointing out how great he was).

And yes, I'm cherry-picking that, too. Because the guy rubs me the wrong way. If he was coaching at Macalester still and saying these things, it'd still rub me the wrong way. It has some to do with him being the coach at St. Thomas, but more to do with his inflated self importance.

Bethel was our biggest rival for a decade. And beat us a lot. I love Steve Johnson. Good guy and a great coach. This isn't sour grapes.

Like I said earlier - I really like this St. Thomas team. They're a team and better than the sum of their parts. And their coach is largely responsible for that. He's a great coach. He just rubs me the wrong way.

You should charge GC rent for all that time he takes up in your mind.  Just a thought.

+K

Box!!!!

[purpled]

Really Skunks? Do we have to have the same conversation again?

[ron doney]

In the post game presser Linfield's head coach made a remark that caught my ear.  He said, and I'm paraphrasing, "that is a very good offensive line - linemen and tight ends."
Caught my ear b/c its unique to call out the tight ends as part of the offensive line - technically true, but often excluded. 

So I went back and watched the ESPN3 film for both semi final games. 

UST's two tight end rolled Linfield's down lineman and up backs.  Dowdle made blocking Hoff look routine*.
Whitewater's TE's were not as impressive against Mount.  And that's not a compliment to Mount.  I wish I could post a picture of how one WW tight end gets down in his stance - when you are 6'6" and your stance looks like you are squatting in the woods, doesn't bode well for leverage off the line (guy gets away with just being a big lug).

I think the superior TE play for UST will be a material difference in the game against Mount.  And I like those chances.

*btw, Hoff routinely lined up 3 to 4 yard off of Simmet's right shoulder.  In doing so, he took himself out of a lot of plays - hard to cover that much ground and get to the QB in time.  Also, Simmet simply let him rush up field and Roberts came underneath.  Hoff made a comment in the post game presser that they ran away from him all day and he took that as a compliment.  But that simply wasn't true - in fact on the first three drives they ran at him more often than not (at least to his side, which he was running himself out of position to otherwise crash down on). 

More things to share later this week.......both on Mount's 8 men in the box strategy and WW abandoning the run last weekend for no apparent reason (they avg something like 4 yrd a carry in their first dozen or so carries of their first 2 or 3 possessions).

 

[miac952]

I noticed they were running at Hoff quite a bit as well. Against an athletic edge player that isn't a bad strategy, because those types of players can be very destructive with play flowing away from them.

Separately, I recorded the game on ESPN U this week and it was very interesting to hear Pete Najarian of CNBC fame on the color. Thought he actually did a pretty good job. Added some nice anecdotes on the MIAC since he is from here and played for the Gophers. His brothers also played at Gustavus.

Najarian is the sleeper candidate for the Gopher AD job, although it looks more likely they stay in house with Beth Goetz. Another candidate is former Tommie, Assoc AD & now a coach on Tracy Claeys staff, Dan O'Brien. He was also Hamline's AD. Great Guy!!

[Desertraider]

I think MUC will win. Based on what I've seen. I believe MUC can stop the STU running game....And force them into desperate passing situations. And I think the MUC offense is pretty much un stoppable.

I hate to post this but - Mount had an offense that was pretty much unstoppable and a great D headed to the Stagg in 2003. I don't think anyone outside of St. John's gave the Johnnies a chance. That is why they play the game. The Tommies are a great team with a beast oline and one hell of a RB tandem. Add in a stout D and this has everything needed for a great game. Good luck to the Tommies and safe travels to all headed to Salem.

[thewaterboy]

In the post game presser Linfield's head coach made a remark that caught my ear.  He said, and I'm paraphrasing, "that is a very good offensive line - linemen and tight ends."
Caught my ear b/c its unique to call out the tight ends as part of the offensive line - technically true, but often excluded. 

So I went back and watched the ESPN3 film for both semi final games. 

UST's two tight end rolled Linfield's down lineman and up backs.  Dowdle made blocking Hoff look routine*.
Whitewater's TE's were not as impressive against Mount.  And that's not a compliment to Mount.  I wish I could post a picture of how one WW tight end gets down in his stance - when you are 6'6" and your stance looks like you are squatting in the woods, doesn't bode well for leverage off the line (guy gets away with just being a big lug).

I think the superior TE play for UST will be a material difference in the game against Mount.  And I like those chances.

Wesley's TE was a major part of the receiving game. He was open over the middle for some big key plays (9 rec, 61 yards, TD) in the game. Looks like Dowdle is a capable receiver as well as a blocker.

IMO, if St. Thomas wants to win this game, it will depend on the QB Gould. Mount's run defense will slow down the UST run game to where UST has to have a good passing game to score, and yeah, Ratliffe was averaging 4.1 ypc, but he was not helped by a dismal passing performance by UWW.

[miac952]

Good thoughts. Very excited to see UST play against UMU. As Caruso has noted this week they are the standard for all D3 to measure up to. After watching Saturday's performance by Mount I am most impressed by how many contributors there are on each side of the ball. Previous Mount teams have had that, but this year seems to be an even stronger case for that. They are not dependent on any particular star or focal point and can adjust the game plan accordingly.

For UST it has been a thrill to see the offense mature this year. While they are run heavy against stronger opponents, the passing game is  more dynamic in how it is used. Passing is still 55% of the total offense. Play calling has improved quite a bit. The addition of Roberts into the backfield has not only boosted the backfield, but also added to the receiving core by being able to slide Waldvogel into the slot as well.

I do thinking running the ball will be tough sledding for UST against the Mount D. Looking at Massey, Mount has the #1 D and #1 O. Tommies are #2 and #2 (excl NESCAC) respectively. Wabash has the #3 D (excl NESCAC). UST will need to sling it a bit like they had to against Wabash. Another strong special teams effort is big too.

Should be fun!