FB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[jamtod]

I would say based off this past week St. John's seemed to be the most impressive team in the MIAC, St. Thomas won pretty big but if you compare it to last year it was a bit disappointing. Will be hard to tell much for each of their first 3 games as neither team really plays stiff competition before they matchup on the 24th.

Only one weekend in the books so it's really too early to prognosticate too much.  SJU's offense did look pretty impressive at times and I think their D could be better this season.   Erdmann is possibly the best QB that the Johnnies have had in a number of years.  I also watched most of the U$T game and their offensive line didn't look as impressive as they did last year.  The first half was actually fairly competitive.  UWEC looks like they are improved and better coached than they were a year ago.  U$T also had their starting center go down with a knee injury.

Small sample size and all, but I don't disagree at all. I watched a chunk of the St John's game and the first 3 quarters of UST. St John's looked really solid. Erdmann was good and a lot of rushing contributors. St Thomas has a lot to work on, especially with the o-line.

U$T does not have the same o-line as last season.

Last year's line took a while to gel also. I'm not worried yet.
My plans are coming together to drag my wife and some friends up for the big game.

[OzJohnnie]

No one with an at-the-game report?

[sjusection105]

No one with an at-the-game report?

Oz, from my perspective the Johnnies have the potential to be good this year. I'm not ready to crown them anything just yet. CSS is the best team in a terrible conference,that is why for the past 5 years they get destroyed by the MIAC representative in the 1st round of the play-offs.

Speed kills and the Johnnies have a lot of team speed,thank you Justin Rost. There are also some very versatile athletes on this team,especially on offense, that can create match up problems for the opposition,than you Dumo.

Overall I was pleased with the first game. There is typically a great improvement for the first to the second game,we will see how that goes,or if these guys are reading the newspaper clippings and look past certain opponents. I don't think the coaching staff will allow that to happen. The Johnnies have the potential to win the MIAC and make a nice run in the play-offs,but that why they play the games. We will have to see what happens.

[MadRedFan]

No one with an at-the-game report?

Here's my 2 cents, for what it's worth:

I said to my seat neighbor, Erdmann's a freshman, we have to remember that.  He said, yeah, and so was Alex Kofoed and look how that turned out.  I was trying to temper expectations.  That said, the guy played pretty well, looked to be making some good decisions, was mobile enough to make some good runs and tough enough to grind out a few with guys hanging on him.  And when he had to deliver the ball, he could.

The Johnnies look to have a lot of weapons - several decent WR's, nice bunch of TE's.  The line looked to be opening things up pretty well and protected Erdmann for the most part.

I have said before on the board in other seasons I wish they were bigger on D, and I'll say it again.  I hate going to war with a bunch of 200 pound LB's and a DL with 230 pounders in the middle.  I worry about that against the Tommies and a few others, especially in the post-season if all goes well.  But geez some of those guys can hit.  Hanson is tough, Parker Anderson played a pretty good game at LB.  They obviously held Ramler's offense to under 100 yards total O I believe?  Something like that.  There's a s&%load of D backs, and for God's sake a backup got 3 interceptions.  They started a freshman in the DB.

I'd really like to see them settle on Barber at RB, run Barber and Sundly together.  The Buening kid looked pretty decent with some size too.  I'm not sure I see a "star of the future" in any of the smaller backs, Taylor, Johnston, Essler, Marshall, etc. but they all had some moments.

Overall, you have to feel pretty good going in.  As Section105 pointed out, looking for improvement for the road game at Buena Vista.  Should be a decent test, but SJU won at home last year 56-7.

[57Johnnie]

No one with an at-the-game report?

I suspect Duff was at the sturgeon festival   

[OzJohnnie]

I'm like a kid on Christmas Eve with this team. I feel like I got great presents last year but this year might still be better.  Maybe even a Red Rider BB gun.

[sjusection105]

I'm like a kid on Christmas Eve with this team. I feel like I got great presents last year but this year might still be better.  Maybe even a Red Rider BB gun.

You'll shoot your eye out....... 

[art76]

I'm going to put the first five games into a group this week, as there are too many variables in my mind to be able to pick a clear winner in any of them. Particularly, the St. Olaf/Grinnell, Crown/Hamline, Carleton/Macalester, Augsburg/Northwestern and Bethel/Dubuque games. I suspect the MIAC will win at least three of these five games, maybe four, and I'll be pleasantly surprised if all five. In all cases, we'll see if the MIAC teams have what it takes to compete in the conference this season once conference play starts in week three. All five of these are games are amongst peers, so we get some feedback on how this years' MIAC squads deal with that kind of pressure. (I find it interesting that over on the pick-em's board that the spreads on some of these games are so wide.)

The Cobbers game doesn't count for anything in the NCAA, so it really doesn't matter what happens, though I think they'll win like they have the last couple of times they have played the Jimmies.

Gustavus will beat Westminster. What will be telling is by how much. If it is less than four touchdowns, then it could be a long season for the Gusties.

I see the St. John's/St. Scholastica game somewhat the same way – except that the Johnnies could "coast" after getting control of the game and the score could be deceiving as to how good they really are.

The Tommies will crush the Bluegolds, but I would be surprised to see any "behind the back extra point" plays, as they will be trying to impress on anyone that looks, how good they think they are. But this game will not really be that test  That won't happen until week four when they meet the Johnnies.

What I thought would be 5 closer games ended up being only two close games, both lost by the MIAC squads, and Bethel kept it close until the fourth quarter when they let 27 points score. Can you say UGLY? And then Hamline and St. Olaf pretty much had their way.

And Concordia gets beat.

Just start calling me Mr. Obvious concerning the final three games, as the MIAC squads drubbed through their opponents. So the MIAC starts off in non-conference play with a record of 5 and 4.

For the upcoming week, the "more equal" match-ups look to be Concordia and Eau Claire, Bethel and Carthage, Carleton and Lake Forest, Hamline and Macalester, and the Augsburg and Concordia (Wisconsin). Like last week, the MIAC should be able to win 3 of them, maybe 4 of them and an outside chance for all 5 of them.

The Gustavus River Falls game could be a close game as well. If it is, I will continue being Mr. Obvious in saying Gustavus' season could get long.

St. Olaf put up a lot of points last week against Grinell. I don't see Luther as being a whole lot better than Grinell, so I expect much the same for a score. Could the Oles' be the dark horse of the conference this season?

And the Johnnies and the Tommies will roll again against their opponents, the Beavers and the Blue Devils, respectively.

Can the MIAC go undefeated this week? I wouldn't bet on it.

[DuffMan]

I suspect Duff was at the sturgeon festival   

I was out in the boat but made occasional Twitter check-ins for score updates.

[nkwest]

Last year's line took a while to gel also. I'm not worried yet.

This is accurate. It's also worth mentioning the offensive line's pass protection was pretty terrific. Fenske had all day & night to throw.

[DuffMan]

I was just glancing through the box score from SJU's game.  CSS:  27 rushes for 11 yards.  Ouch.

I think my biggest surprise was Bethel giving up 70 to Dubuque.  I realize that this is not the same Dubuque team as last year, but the Johnnies throttle them in 2015...twice.

[Walter Eagle]

Coach Caruso and two of his assistants were on a recruiting trip when their single-engine airplane sputtered and crashed.
The three coaches climbed out of a snowbank and immediately proved their resourcefulness. They drained a bit of gasoline out of the fuselage and started a fire. Later, when they got thirsty, they put a bit of snow in a twisted piece of metal and melted it to make drinking water. A few days later, dying of hunger, they ripped strips from the leather seats, dipped them in motor oil, and fried them up like bacon for a nourishing treat.
The people up the street in the Hilton all admitted it was the most amazing thing they had ever seen.

[USTBench]

Coach Caruso and two of his assistants were on a recruiting trip when their single-engine airplane sputtered and crashed.
The three coaches climbed out of a snowbank and immediately proved their resourcefulness. They drained a bit of gasoline out of the fuselage and started a fire. Later, when they got thirsty, they put a bit of snow in a twisted piece of metal and melted it to make drinking water. A few days later, dying of hunger, they ripped strips from the leather seats, dipped them in motor oil, and fried them up like bacon for a nourishing treat.
The people up the street in the Hilton all admitted it was the most amazing thing they had ever seen.

This is just a mad libs version of a UST joke. Let's see some original material folks.

[AO]

MIAC PICK-EM'S
WEEK 1 STANDINGS


Week 2 Sept. 10
Rivalry: 4pts
Macalester (+14.5) @ Hamline  "The Old Paint Bucket"

Non-Conference: 2pts
UW-Eau Claire (+14.5) @ Concordia-Moorhead
Augsburg @ Concordia-Wis. (+6.5)
#8 St. John's @ Buena Vista (+35.5)
UW-River Falls (+7.5) @ Gustavus
Carthage (+6.5) @ Bethel
Lake Forest (+7.5) @ Carleton
Luther @ St. Olaf (+5.5)
UW-Stout (+35.5) @ #4 St. Thomas

National: 1pt
#5 Mary Hardin-Baylor @ Texas Lutheran (+28.5)

[GoldandBlueBU]

I was just glancing through the box score from SJU's game.  CSS:  27 rushes for 11 yards.  Ouch.

I think my biggest surprise was Bethel giving up 70 to Dubuque.  I realize that this is not the same Dubuque team as last year, but the Johnnies throttle them in 2015...twice.

Yeah, seeing them surrender that many points was a big surprise to me.  First, credit to Dubuque...their QB was hitting guys in stride, and they have some very fast receivers. 

As Oz pointed out, it's never just one guy's fault, but there were 4 or 5 deep balls thrown to his guy where he (previously mentioned corner) was a good 5 yards behind his receiver who just ran past him on a fly or post route. 

I was never a super defensively minded player, but I was surprised that they didn't sell out with giving him consistent safety help, if he was going to have that much trouble.  I'm concerned if they have nobody behind him on the bench, but maybe this weekend's performance will give a younger guy a chance to step up.

The good news was that the offense looked great, and I was impressed with Dzurik for the most part.  Hard to say if that was due to BU's offense legitimately good, or if Dubuque's defense is suspect.

I'm confident that they'll figure things out to at least some degree, and we'll see better performances going forward, but maybe this year's BU squad will look more like Augsburg of the Ayrton Scott era, and rely on the ability to outscore the opponent, which will clearly fall short against the UST / SJU / CORD (maybe?) and possibly GAC.

Definitely odd to see the defense as the weak link.