FB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[GoldandBlueBU]

He has both. Not many DBs in the MIAC can catch him in a all out sprint down the sideline,but he can also make defenders miss with change of pace & putting the move on.

[Robert Zimmerman]

This Cobber alum summarizes last week's game:

http://www.startribune.com/i-went-from-stunned-jubilation-to-gut-wrenching-sadness/396716901/

[sjusection105]

He has both. Not many DBs in the MIAC can catch him in a all out sprint down the sideline,but he can also make defenders miss with change of pace & putting the move on.

NO! Not THAT move, an elusive football move like shoulder shimmy or head fake to get the defender off balance in order to shift into high gear and leave him in the dust....geez! 

[OzJohnnie]

He has both. Not many DBs in the MIAC can catch him in a all out sprint down the sideline,but he can also make defenders miss with change of pace & putting the move on.

Ha!  Belly laugh.

[faunch]

Thats a question I have asked before as well. Being a Tommie fan, I only see a small sampling of it, but I have been curious why they dont get him more involved with a jet sweep or two a game. More how UST leverages Waldvogel. Maybe he is just a burner and straight line runner.

He has both. Not many DBs in the MIAC can catch him in a all out sprint down the sideline,but he can also make defenders miss with change of pace & putting the move on.

Sounds like Clark got a medical redshirt for last season and will be able to play again next year.

http://www.sctimes.com/story/sports/football/johnnie-football/2016/10/11/sju-blog-tuesday-update-breaking-gagliardi-field/91929982/

Also Gagliardi Field is nearing completion.  Team is already using it for practices.

[USTBench]

The SJU vs. Cobbers game to end the season should be a good one. Its not often that an end of the year game can have so much at stake. Wondering if there might be some records broken at the Jake that weekend. Weather could play a factor too.

Concordia was a well coached, physical team. Other than a single quarter in 2015 the Cobbers have played the Tommies as tough as anyone over the last five years.

I tend to lean SJU, based on much of what people have said. Taking out the hook and ladder, the Concordia passing game was 1-7 for 7 yards, 2 sacks, and 1 interception. SJU has some fast outside backers that can flow with the option attack pretty well. And, at the end of the day, you dont need to stop it completely, just contain it, because it is the ONLY thing Concordia can do. If SJU can get a takeaway and two good scoring drive out of their offense I like their chances.

If the Cobbers make the playoffs they could be a tough out. Triple option isnt easy to prep for in one week. Combine that with a very strong defense and you have a recipe for some playoff success.

I think one thing that stood out to me is that Coach Caruso kind of coached this game like they were playing Carleton. Which was understandable going INTO the game due to the Cobbers getting blown out by 1-5 Jamestown, but he should have quickly realized this was not the case today. In the 1st quarter UST had a 4th and 3 on Concordia's 11 and instead of kicking the FG they throw an incomplete pass. Their second drive they settled for a FG because they had a 4th and Goal from the 16 due to a false start. At the beginning of the 4th quarter Tucker Trettel punches one in from 2 yards out to go up 16 to 7. Instead of lining up to kick the XP, the center lines up on an island with all the linemen lined up way out to the left, and the holder, kicker and two WRs to the right. I thought for sure this was just for show and they'd line back up and kick the XP, but the ball was snapped, and clearly the play failed, because that formation worked once in the 80s and never worked again. Like how the "wrong ball" routine is always good for one Pop Warner TD a year, but no one ever sees the hundreds of QBs a year who do that and how astute LBs now get a 10 yard headstart prior to decapitating them.  I stood there, mouth agape, for a good 30 seconds after the failed 2pt conversion wondering why in the hell they wouldn't just go up 10, thinking "well, this may well come back to haunt them." Which it did. Since Concordia sort of realized that UST had been so focused on setting the edge to contain the triple option, they had some success with misdirection, waiting a tic, and then sprinting up the middle in the vacated area for BIG gains, which is how they got the TD to pull within 2. UST promptly drives down to Concordia's 1 yard line, and gets stuffed, twice and Concordia takes over on downs. So, out of 4 trips inside Concordia's 10 yard line  (barring Reed's 56 yard TD) UST doesn't score on two of them. On 4th and 23 the clock is stopped so UST calls a timeout. I would not have done this because it now gives the Cobbers an opportunity to come up with a play. UST has the right defense called, a prevent with 4 defenders lined up horizontally 20 yards off the ball, but they CANNOT help themselves into getting sucked in way too deep and instead of staying home, Jason Montonye now has a full head of steam and all 4 DBs that were playing deep enough to stop that from gaining even enough for a first down, now have to start from a dead stop, change directions and attempt to catch Montonye, which, to Alada's credit, nearly happened. BUT, it turned out it worked out fine, because the Cobbers could have tried to run the clock down to 1 second and kicked a FG to win the game. Alada NOT making that tackle was the best thing that happened on that play. Cobbers are now up 4, miss the 2 pt try, Herzog gets a penalty, UST gets a pass interference to go their way for once, and the rest is history. However, they wouldn't have NEEDED a TD if they had just gone up 10 to begin with, they could have kicked a FG. It all worked out, but it's not just the players that have some things to work on (running the football! Holy smokes, they could not run on Concordia, at all), Horan somewhat out-coached UST without being able to even throw the football, but mostly it was unforced errors caused by overconfidence.

[hazzben]

[cough/] paragraph break [cough]

[wm4]

The SJU vs. Cobbers game to end the season should be a good one. Its not often that an end of the year game can have so much at stake. Wondering if there might be some records broken at the Jake that weekend. Weather could play a factor too.

Concordia was a well coached, physical team. Other than a single quarter in 2015 the Cobbers have played the Tommies as tough as anyone over the last five years.

I tend to lean SJU, based on much of what people have said. Taking out the hook and ladder, the Concordia passing game was 1-7 for 7 yards, 2 sacks, and 1 interception. SJU has some fast outside backers that can flow with the option attack pretty well. And, at the end of the day, you dont need to stop it completely, just contain it, because it is the ONLY thing Concordia can do. If SJU can get a takeaway and two good scoring drive out of their offense I like their chances.

If the Cobbers make the playoffs they could be a tough out. Triple option isnt easy to prep for in one week. Combine that with a very strong defense and you have a recipe for some playoff success.

I think one thing that stood out to me is that Coach Caruso kind of coached this game like they were playing Carleton. Which was understandable going INTO the game due to the Cobbers getting blown out by 1-5 Jamestown, but he should have quickly realized this was not the case today. In the 1st quarter UST had a 4th and 3 on Concordia's 11 and instead of kicking the FG they throw an incomplete pass. Their second drive they settled for a FG because they had a 4th and Goal from the 16 due to a false start. At the beginning of the 4th quarter Tucker Trettel punches one in from 2 yards out to go up 16 to 7. Instead of lining up to kick the XP, the center lines up on an island with all the linemen lined up way out to the left, and the holder, kicker and two WRs to the right. I thought for sure this was just for show and they'd line back up and kick the XP, but the ball was snapped, and clearly the play failed, because that formation worked once in the 80s and never worked again. Like how the "wrong ball" routine is always good for one Pop Warner TD a year, but no one ever sees the hundreds of QBs a year who do that and how astute LBs now get a 10 yard headstart prior to decapitating them.  I stood there, mouth agape, for a good 30 seconds after the failed 2pt conversion wondering why in the hell they wouldn't just go up 10, thinking "well, this may well come back to haunt them." Which it did. Since Concordia sort of realized that UST had been so focused on setting the edge to contain the triple option, they had some success with misdirection, waiting a tic, and then sprinting up the middle in the vacated area for BIG gains, which is how they got the TD to pull within 2. UST promptly drives down to Concordia's 1 yard line, and gets stuffed, twice and Concordia takes over on downs. So, out of 4 trips inside Concordia's 10 yard line  (barring Reed's 56 yard TD) UST doesn't score on two of them. On 4th and 23 the clock is stopped so UST calls a timeout. I would not have done this because it now gives the Cobbers an opportunity to come up with a play. UST has the right defense called, a prevent with 4 defenders lined up horizontally 20 yards off the ball, but they CANNOT help themselves into getting sucked in way too deep and instead of staying home, Jason Montonye now has a full head of steam and all 4 DBs that were playing deep enough to stop that from gaining even enough for a first down, now have to start from a dead stop, change directions and attempt to catch Montonye, which, to Alada's credit, nearly happened. BUT, it turned out it worked out fine, because the Cobbers could have tried to run the clock down to 1 second and kicked a FG to win the game. Alada NOT making that tackle was the best thing that happened on that play. Cobbers are now up 4, miss the 2 pt try, Herzog gets a penalty, UST gets a pass interference to go their way for once, and the rest is history. However, they wouldn't have NEEDED a TD if they had just gone up 10 to begin with, they could have kicked a FG. It all worked out, but it's not just the players that have some things to work on (running the football! Holy smokes, they could not run on Concordia, at all), Horan somewhat out-coached UST without being able to even throw the football, but mostly it was unforced errors caused by overconfidence.

Same, could not believe Caruso was going for 2 in that spot, made zero sense to do so.  Or, if you want to go for 2, do it out of a different formation for goodness sake.

[57Johnnie]

[cough/] paragraph break [cough]

Thank you for the post I might live long enough to read.

[miac952]

The SJU vs. Cobbers game to end the season should be a good one. Its not often that an end of the year game can have so much at stake. Wondering if there might be some records broken at the Jake that weekend. Weather could play a factor too.

Concordia was a well coached, physical team. Other than a single quarter in 2015 the Cobbers have played the Tommies as tough as anyone over the last five years.

I tend to lean SJU, based on much of what people have said. Taking out the hook and ladder, the Concordia passing game was 1-7 for 7 yards, 2 sacks, and 1 interception. SJU has some fast outside backers that can flow with the option attack pretty well. And, at the end of the day, you dont need to stop it completely, just contain it, because it is the ONLY thing Concordia can do. If SJU can get a takeaway and two good scoring drive out of their offense I like their chances.

If the Cobbers make the playoffs they could be a tough out. Triple option isnt easy to prep for in one week. Combine that with a very strong defense and you have a recipe for some playoff success.

I think one thing that stood out to me is that Coach Caruso kind of coached this game like they were playing Carleton. Which was understandable going INTO the game due to the Cobbers getting blown out by 1-5 Jamestown, but he should have quickly realized this was not the case today. In the 1st quarter UST had a 4th and 3 on Concordia's 11 and instead of kicking the FG they throw an incomplete pass. Their second drive they settled for a FG because they had a 4th and Goal from the 16 due to a false start. At the beginning of the 4th quarter Tucker Trettel punches one in from 2 yards out to go up 16 to 7. Instead of lining up to kick the XP, the center lines up on an island with all the linemen lined up way out to the left, and the holder, kicker and two WRs to the right. I thought for sure this was just for show and they'd line back up and kick the XP, but the ball was snapped, and clearly the play failed, because that formation worked once in the 80s and never worked again. Like how the "wrong ball" routine is always good for one Pop Warner TD a year, but no one ever sees the hundreds of QBs a year who do that and how astute LBs now get a 10 yard headstart prior to decapitating them.  I stood there, mouth agape, for a good 30 seconds after the failed 2pt conversion wondering why in the hell they wouldn't just go up 10, thinking "well, this may well come back to haunt them." Which it did. Since Concordia sort of realized that UST had been so focused on setting the edge to contain the triple option, they had some success with misdirection, waiting a tic, and then sprinting up the middle in the vacated area for BIG gains, which is how they got the TD to pull within 2. UST promptly drives down to Concordia's 1 yard line, and gets stuffed, twice and Concordia takes over on downs. So, out of 4 trips inside Concordia's 10 yard line  (barring Reed's 56 yard TD) UST doesn't score on two of them. On 4th and 23 the clock is stopped so UST calls a timeout. I would not have done this because it now gives the Cobbers an opportunity to come up with a play. UST has the right defense called, a prevent with 4 defenders lined up horizontally 20 yards off the ball, but they CANNOT help themselves into getting sucked in way too deep and instead of staying home, Jason Montonye now has a full head of steam and all 4 DBs that were playing deep enough to stop that from gaining even enough for a first down, now have to start from a dead stop, change directions and attempt to catch Montonye, which, to Alada's credit, nearly happened. BUT, it turned out it worked out fine, because the Cobbers could have tried to run the clock down to 1 second and kicked a FG to win the game. Alada NOT making that tackle was the best thing that happened on that play. Cobbers are now up 4, miss the 2 pt try, Herzog gets a penalty, UST gets a pass interference to go their way for once, and the rest is history. However, they wouldn't have NEEDED a TD if they had just gone up 10 to begin with, they could have kicked a FG. It all worked out, but it's not just the players that have some things to work on (running the football! Holy smokes, they could not run on Concordia, at all), Horan somewhat out-coached UST without being able to even throw the football, but mostly it was unforced errors caused by overconfidence.

Same, could not believe Caruso was going for 2 in that spot, made zero sense to do so.  Or, if you want to go for 2, do it out of a different formation for goodness sake.

Agree, agree. And, for both the 2 pointer and non FG try, I was wondering at the time if that would come back to haunt them. Caruso said as much in the post game CCO interview. He said Horan out-coached him (pretty sure the 2 of them are good friends...makes sense since both coaches walk out with their teams arm in arm after-all  ). Caruso also said he shouldn't have made a coverage switch to the soft zone on the hook and ladder when they had been in man most the game, including the previous two plays where they got to the qb.

And yes, I have thought about the odd sequence leading to the final 1:48 of chaos. 1. the questionable 4th down interference call on UST 2. Flawlessly executed hook & ladder 3. Alada missing the tackle, luckily. 4. The unsportsmanlike on the XP 5. The interference penalty 6. The dropped interception The TD pass. 7. could have been the offside on the TD pass if it didn't get completed.

And for the Cobbers I cant imagine they could find one more devastating way to lose. Bethel, Gustavus, 1-2 previous close games with the Tommies, and now this. The Bethel game still takes the cake though.

The cobbers still have a shot. Hope for a November blizzard and beat SJU with the ground and pound. Then hope for Whitewater to run the WIAC and the rest of the conference to beat each other up a bit among Platteville, Oshkosh, Point, and LaCrosse.

[jamtod]

The SJU vs. Cobbers game to end the season should be a good one. Its not often that an end of the year game can have so much at stake. Wondering if there might be some records broken at the Jake that weekend. Weather could play a factor too.

Concordia was a well coached, physical team. Other than a single quarter in 2015 the Cobbers have played the Tommies as tough as anyone over the last five years.

I tend to lean SJU, based on much of what people have said. Taking out the hook and ladder, the Concordia passing game was 1-7 for 7 yards, 2 sacks, and 1 interception. SJU has some fast outside backers that can flow with the option attack pretty well. And, at the end of the day, you dont need to stop it completely, just contain it, because it is the ONLY thing Concordia can do. If SJU can get a takeaway and two good scoring drive out of their offense I like their chances.

If the Cobbers make the playoffs they could be a tough out. Triple option isnt easy to prep for in one week. Combine that with a very strong defense and you have a recipe for some playoff success.

I think one thing that stood out to me is that Coach Caruso kind of coached this game like they were playing Carleton. Which was understandable going INTO the game due to the Cobbers getting blown out by 1-5 Jamestown, but he should have quickly realized this was not the case today. In the 1st quarter UST had a 4th and 3 on Concordia's 11 and instead of kicking the FG they throw an incomplete pass. Their second drive they settled for a FG because they had a 4th and Goal from the 16 due to a false start. At the beginning of the 4th quarter Tucker Trettel punches one in from 2 yards out to go up 16 to 7. Instead of lining up to kick the XP, the center lines up on an island with all the linemen lined up way out to the left, and the holder, kicker and two WRs to the right. I thought for sure this was just for show and they'd line back up and kick the XP, but the ball was snapped, and clearly the play failed, because that formation worked once in the 80s and never worked again. Like how the "wrong ball" routine is always good for one Pop Warner TD a year, but no one ever sees the hundreds of QBs a year who do that and how astute LBs now get a 10 yard headstart prior to decapitating them.  I stood there, mouth agape, for a good 30 seconds after the failed 2pt conversion wondering why in the hell they wouldn't just go up 10, thinking "well, this may well come back to haunt them." Which it did. Since Concordia sort of realized that UST had been so focused on setting the edge to contain the triple option, they had some success with misdirection, waiting a tic, and then sprinting up the middle in the vacated area for BIG gains, which is how they got the TD to pull within 2. UST promptly drives down to Concordia's 1 yard line, and gets stuffed, twice and Concordia takes over on downs. So, out of 4 trips inside Concordia's 10 yard line  (barring Reed's 56 yard TD) UST doesn't score on two of them. On 4th and 23 the clock is stopped so UST calls a timeout. I would not have done this because it now gives the Cobbers an opportunity to come up with a play. UST has the right defense called, a prevent with 4 defenders lined up horizontally 20 yards off the ball, but they CANNOT help themselves into getting sucked in way too deep and instead of staying home, Jason Montonye now has a full head of steam and all 4 DBs that were playing deep enough to stop that from gaining even enough for a first down, now have to start from a dead stop, change directions and attempt to catch Montonye, which, to Alada's credit, nearly happened. BUT, it turned out it worked out fine, because the Cobbers could have tried to run the clock down to 1 second and kicked a FG to win the game. Alada NOT making that tackle was the best thing that happened on that play. Cobbers are now up 4, miss the 2 pt try, Herzog gets a penalty, UST gets a pass interference to go their way for once, and the rest is history. However, they wouldn't have NEEDED a TD if they had just gone up 10 to begin with, they could have kicked a FG. It all worked out, but it's not just the players that have some things to work on (running the football! Holy smokes, they could not run on Concordia, at all), Horan somewhat out-coached UST without being able to even throw the football, but mostly it was unforced errors caused by overconfidence.

Same, could not believe Caruso was going for 2 in that spot, made zero sense to do so.  Or, if you want to go for 2, do it out of a different formation for goodness sake.

Agree, agree. And, for both the 2 pointer and non FG try, I was wondering at the time if that would come back to haunt them. Caruso said as much in the post game CCO interview. He said Horan out-coached him (pretty sure the 2 of them are good friends...makes sense since both coaches walk out with their teams arm in arm after-all  ). Caruso also said he shouldn't have made a coverage switch to the soft zone on the hook and ladder when they had been in man most the game, including the previous two plays where they got to the qb.

And yes, I have thought about the odd sequence leading to the final 1:48 of chaos. 1. the questionable 4th down interference call on UST 2. Flawlessly executed hook & ladder 3. Alada missing the tackle, luckily. 4. The unsportsmanlike on the XP 5. The interference penalty 6. The dropped interception The TD pass. 7. could have been the offside on the TD pass if it didn't get completed.

And for the Cobbers I cant imagine they could find one more devastating way to lose. Bethel, Gustavus, 1-2 previous close games with the Tommies, and now this. The Bethel game still takes the cake though.

The cobbers still have a shot. Hope for a November blizzard and beat SJU with the ground and pound. Then hope for Whitewater to run the WIAC and the rest of the conference to beat each other up a bit among Platteville, Oshkosh, Point, and LaCrosse.

Caruso has a lot of respect for Horan and I've heard him say several times that he was absolutely outcoached. The way he emphasizes it makes me wonder if he has specific concerns about other coaches in the MIAC, but I digress. Agree with the rest of both analyses.

[miac952]

Thats a question I have asked before as well. Being a Tommie fan, I only see a small sampling of it, but I have been curious why they dont get him more involved with a jet sweep or two a game. More how UST leverages Waldvogel. Maybe he is just a burner and straight line runner.

He has both. Not many DBs in the MIAC can catch him in a all out sprint down the sideline,but he can also make defenders miss with change of pace & putting the move on.

Well aware of the speed. If that is the case, and he is the weapon described, then I dont get why he only saw the ball once in the UST game? And that came on a fortuitous deflection that wasnt even intended for him. 

[DuffMan]

Well aware of the speed. If that is the case, and he is the weapon described, then I don't get why he only saw the ball once in the UST game?

I think that's a question that many of us would like the answer to. 

[USTBench]

[cough/] paragraph break [cough]

Sorry. Stream of consciousness was the only way to describe that game, especially since the last 5 minutes or so was like a David Foster Wallace novel. When you say to yourself, "What is happening right now? This can't be real." at least 4 or 5 times in a 40 seconds of football, it taxes the brain.

[MIAC23]

Agree! There is a time and place to run the swinging gate. Up 9 in the 4th quarter of a closely contested football game didn't seem to be one of them. Maybe that is what Caruso was thinking..... try to catch them off guard here? Man, what a heartbreaker for the Cobbs! Interesting point about the missed tackle by Alada on Montonye. The way the Cobbers kicking game has gone so far this year, was probably better to put it in the end zone whenever they could. The Toms were pretty close to blocking both extra points, especially the first one, where it looked like the edge rusher over ran it and the ball was kicked after he dove. Again tough loss, but no matter how you slice it, the Cobbers need to find some semblance of a passing attack. 1-7 is not going to cut it. I don't count the hook and ladder, as a 9th grade QB could and would have completed the pass, as the Tommies were willing to give up the 10 yard out that was on the QB to complete.