FB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[sjusection105]

All football aside, as someone who has recently toured the College of St. Scholastica let me say it is an extremely beautiful campus and looks to be an incredible school. The drubbing on the gridiron yesterday doesn't change any of that.

The view of Lake Superior is fantastic. The architecture is outstanding. I agree. 

[gbpuckfan]

Not to sound like an ass but 98-0?!?!  I could be way off but it seems like St. Scholastica dominates the UMAC in most sports but get their butts handed to them outside of the UMAC.  Am I way off or is that conference really that bad?

They are really that bad.  Unless the ECFC manages to beat them out, they are consistently ranked dead last in the D3Football.com conference rankings.  And lately, even the ECFC can't surpass them for ineptitude.

The sad thing is CSS has a decent chance to win the UMAC & get an AQ for the play-offs. Some other team that is 8-2 with losses to Top 25 teams (which is a real possibility for 3rd place MIAC or WIAC team) does not make the play-off field. That's the double edge sword with the AQ conference winner scenario.  No matter how poor your conference is, win & get in. Serious flaws in the system.

No "serious flaws" - just a different philosophy.

As I have noted, the NCAA (D1 football excepted. as mentioned) operates national tournaments, not tournaments with the best teams.

A national tournament includes the conference champions, with at-large teams to fill out the field. The NCAA has decided - meaning the member schools have decided - it wants broad participation in the championships, representing all of the members. And, giving basically all teams a legitimate path to make the tourney.

Using D1 hoops as the example, most wouldn't argue that the champion of the MEAC, Atlantic Sun or some other lower conference is really one of the best 68 teams in the country. But the idea of a George Mason, Florida Gulf Coast or some other Cinderella team crashing the Sweet 16 is what makes the tournament the exciting thing it can be.

The size is different but the same thing happens at D3. Maybe a CSS upsets someone in the football playoffs. Regardless, it's part of the NCAA operating a national tournament.

In football, it may cost the WIAC or MIAC a bid for football, due to the size of the field and relatively few at large bids. It also may ensure that the MIAC gets a hockey bid some years...

So, I wouldn't say it's a flaw in the system. It's a just a very different approach than trying to determine a field of the 32 'best' teams for the football championships.

[faunch]

Perhaps the MIAC coaches should make an agreement to NOT schedule any further games with the UMAC.

SJU-98-     St. Scholastica-0
GAC-38     Westminster- 0
Hamline-51  Crown 0
Augsburg-42 Northwestern 7

MIAC-229- UMAC 7 who gains anything of value out of games like these?

Could any of these UMAC teams beat the MSHSL state champ? I sure hope they could however it's apparent that the UMAC is fairly horrible at football.   

Still wish SJU had worked on the behind the back passes today. Imagine pulling that off to take a 104-0 lead...we would have made Sportscenter for sure!

[Tom Thumb]

With all this love for the Johnnies and their big (yuuuuuge) victory, I suppose somebody ought to provide an update on the St Thomas game.

* Started slow, letting Eau Claire get on the board first with a big play. Our defense struggled a bit at times, but made some adjustments to keep the run game in check, after seemingly having our number early.
* Jordan Roberts looked good. Maybe a little tentative for his first few carries, but more comfortable after that. Trettel looked good and Parks was on the sidelines and didn't dress. Hopefully just getting him rested so he'll be ready to go full-steam in a few weeks as a nice change of pace.
* Perra struggled at first, missed on some deeper throws and the o-line had some difficulty with some of what Eau Claire's D brought early on. Again, adjustments were made and he regained some confidence on some shorter throws. Also runs a bit better than Fenske.

A few observations to add. In addition to Parks, Jeremy Molina, Cody Stanger, and Jack Newell were out. I'm assuming that is what led to Matt Mitchell starting at DL today. Two players also went down during the game, Gavin Dauwalter and Michael Franzese.

Blake Weber started the game. It looked like Eau Claire brought in an extra blocker to deal with him. Pretty much the same game plan they used last year against Addo. On the opposite side of the field, Dylan Andrew had a nice game.

QB Ronnie Jones struggled a bit with the second team. He seemed a little nervous, which is normal for your first game. However, Michael Frankl came in and looked poised. Once he learns the system I think he'll jump ahead of Jones on the depth chart.

Vinny Pallini is going to be special. They need to get him the ball.

The average weight for the OL this year is 301 lbs (Lamke 335, Longstreet 304, Beck 281, Koppelman 301, and Dauwalter 284).

Johnnie D-line and line backers are strong and fast. Just a fair warning...

No doubt they are solid. I expect nothing less from SJU. Just kind of hard to gauge how good they really are after playing 2-3 series against CSS...

We would have learned more about SJU from watching an intrasquad scrimmage.

[Mr.MIAC]

All football aside, as someone who has recently toured the College of St. Scholastica let me say it is an extremely beautiful campus and looks to be an incredible school. The drubbing on the gridiron yesterday doesn't change any of that.

I've heard it called St. Thomas of the North Shore...

[Mr.MIAC]

The classy Johnnies made the front page on CNN.com:

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2731146-division-iii-st-johns-pummels-st-scholastica-in-98-0-rout?utm_source=cnn.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=editorial

[ron doney]

Sure - but it's also the part of the system that administers chose to move between divisions and leagues routinely for reasons of competitiveness and branding.  And it happens every year - this 'system' isn't some religious body that changes over centuries. 

Point being, SJU and the MIAC have every right to play there best football, regardless of the score.  And if that is a problem, or begins to raise morality questions, then the only people that should answer the critics are the Administration at CSS and the D3 board.  Every year that they evaluate and approve the CSS and it's league to be in the division they are throwing these kids into a moral predicament.  Further, they are robbing a deserving and competitive team of a playoff spot. 

If the administration at CSS thinks it's good do the schools brand to be inthe division and have a automatic bid into the playoffs. Then they can also explain to these kids why it's good for the schools brand and the kids self worth to get humiliated (risking injury) twice a year. 

The evidence of the last few years doesn't seem to support CSS or their leuague. 

[RoyalsFan]

Hmm, running up the score 98-0...stay classy Johnnies, stay classy.

I don't get too caught up in this Tommie-Johnnie pi$$ on each other business, because I'm not a Johnnie or from Minnesota and I don't care about the crap that gets thrown back and forth.

BUT, most of the Johnnie starters were on the sideline at the start of the second half and most had their pads off, they never went back in the game.  I think the Johnnies played 6 quarterbacks.  SIX.  Maybe 7.  Only 2 passes were thrown in the second half by SJU.  Not sure what else they could do, take a knee every down?  They played everyone and only ran the ball.  What are you supposed to do?  There were no behind the back passes, that much can be said.

Seems to me that the mercy rule could have been applied in this game.

The National Collegiate Athletic Association's mercy rule provides, "Any time during the game, the playing time of any remaining period or periods and the intermission between halves may be shortened by mutual agreement of the opposing head coaches and the referee." (NCAA Football Rule 3-2-2-a)

[RoyalsFan]

That's not a flaw. That's the way that intercollegiate athletics works, in every sport and at every level.

Just because 'that's the way it is' doesn't mean it can't be flawed. The flaw is that some of the teams that make the playoffs aren't the better teams than some that don't make the playoffs. Personally I think that rankings, while not perfect, would be a better method to determine playoff teams rather than AQs.

[RoyalsFan]

Perhaps the MIAC coaches should make an agreement to NOT schedule any further games with the UMAC.

SJU-98-     St. Scholastica-0
GAC-38     Westminster- 0
Hamline-51  Crown 0
Augsburg-42 Northwestern 7

MIAC-229- UMAC 7 who gains anything of value out of games like these?

I totally agree. However, I think the issue is that a non conference loss will hurt your team's playoff chances too much so scheduling any easy non conference opponent is better than risking a loss. I believe that's what kept Bethel out of the 2014 playoffs  when they had a non conference loss to a tough Wartburg team. If they had played an easy non conference team, they would have had the same record as UST and gotten into the playoffs instead of UST because they beat UST 35-24 that year.

[57Johnnie]

Johnnies made the Denver Compost also. Story was written fairly.
Those who saw the game know that both Jonhnnies and Saints were very classy.

[sjusection105]

Seems to me that the mercy rule could have been applied in this game.

The National Collegiate Athletic Association's mercy rule provides, "Any time during the game, the playing time of any remaining period or periods and the intermission between halves may be shortened by mutual agreement of the opposing head coaches and the referee." (NCAA Football Rule 3-2-2-a)

According the the St. Cloud Times, Fasching asked for running time in the 2nd half,Ramler didn't want running time.

[OzJohnnie]

No "serious flaws" - just a different philosophy.

This argument would justify Hit...  curse you Godwin's Law!!!

New Coke would still be on the shelves with this argument.

[RoyalsFan]

Seems to me that the mercy rule could have been applied in this game.

The National Collegiate Athletic Association's mercy rule provides, "Any time during the game, the playing time of any remaining period or periods and the intermission between halves may be shortened by mutual agreement of the opposing head coaches and the referee." (NCAA Football Rule 3-2-2-a)

According the the St. Cloud Times, Fasching asked for running time in the 2nd half,Ramler didn't want running time.

Then no one can blame St. John's - they tried to shorten the game. Wonder what Ramler's reasoning was for not wanting to shorten the game. I'm sure the kids wanted to get off the field faster. When 2 teams are that badly mismatched, there is nothing good that can come from continuing to play IMO.

[OzJohnnie]

From the d3football.com snap judgements column on the weekend:

"The hot topics getting national attention are St. John's 98-0 victory over St. Scholastica and third-ranked UW-Whitewater being upset by Illinois Wesleyan. On the surface, both results are surprising. But it's not the number of points that the Johnnies put up, or the fact that the Warhawks lost that shocked me. I think the bigger issue here is that St. Scholastica is a good football program. The Saints have made the playoffs five of the past six years. That's why one prominent head coach complained to me recently about the "socialist" playoff system. This result again shows that St. Scholastica is probably not one of the top 32 teams in the country, even when it earns a Pool A bid. That's what is going to bother those in the D-III football community more than the staggering point total of one game."

Could someone please tell these guys about New Coke?

http://d3football.com/columns/around-the-nation/2017/snap-judgments-week-one