FB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Pat Coleman]

Dangit. I've run out of microwave popcorn to watch this conversation with.

Don't hold your breath. There's no legitimate rebuttal. Don Roney scheduled Division II Bemidji State, UW-Stout in their top form, St. Norbert's when they were winning conference championships, Coe College, man! What a lineup. Never beat any of them, but still! Don Roney took on all-comers! Fasching schedules UMAC teams and ducks the Titans. Pretty obvious why UST has usurped SJU as the pride of the MIAC.

I'm loathe to challenge somebody that I know possess superior intellect based on a degree from the prestigious University of St Thomas. HOWEVER, what evidence do we have that Fasching ducked playing Oshkosh? I could totally see Oshkosh thinking they've already got 1 tough matchup in their OOC and not wanting to add another.

Until Aug. 1, Oshkosh had just 8 games. They tried to schedule a club team. Pretty sure they would have be willing to play St. John's.

[sjusection105]

Dangit. I've run out of microwave popcorn to watch this conversation with.

Don't hold your breath. There's no legitimate rebuttal. Don Roney scheduled Division II Bemidji State, UW-Stout in their top form, St. Norbert's when they were winning conference championships, Coe College, man! What a lineup. Never beat any of them, but still! Don Roney took on all-comers! Fasching schedules UMAC teams and ducks the Titans. Pretty obvious why UST has usurped SJU as the pride of the MIAC.

I'm loathe to challenge somebody that I know possess superior intellect based on a degree from the prestigious University of St Thomas. HOWEVER, what evidence do we have that Fasching ducked playing Oshkosh? I could totally see Oshkosh thinking they've already got 1 tough matchup in their OOC and not wanting to add another.

Until Aug. 1, Oshkosh had just 8 games. They tried to schedule a club team. Pretty sure they would have be willing to play St. John's.

Do you think we like paying for two home games on our season ticket package to see Lake Superior Nursing College and The Convent on the Prairie come to Clemens Stadium?
They don't ask me to chime in on scheduling,but maybe all the negative national coverage (even though there was NO RUNNING UP THE SCORE) there may be a reconsideration of non-conference opponents. I've sat through games with Crown College, Northwestern (before they were a decent team) then of course the Macalester years, St. Olaf,Carleton,Hamline (years gone by) UST (during Bench's years) and there are enough conference games that can be blow outs without adding two non conference games that don't resemble competitive football. Rant over.

[Pat Coleman]

Do you think we like paying for two home games on our season ticket package to see Lake Superior Nursing College and The Convent on the Prairie come to Clemens Stadium?

Good question. I feel like there's an incentive to play home games because the gate is significant at SJU where it isn't at 98% of Division III schools.

I also know that there was a reluctance to go on a long bus trip when John was in charge and getting up in years, and once that was made clear to me, I totally was on board. I was hoping that would change. Hopefully there's a UWO/SJU series in the offing for 2018/19.

[sjusection105]

  The underrated part in this discussion is how good the MIAC and the Johnnies are.

We will all find out if the Johnnies are the cream of the crop in the MIAC on September 23rd. Up until then,they will be untested. I certainly hope that the soft early schedule leaves them ready to play top tier competition in what will be yet another Twin Cities media circus for the attendance record D3 game. I hope the game can live up to the hype.

[OzJohnnie]

I don't know guys. Even Don Roney avoided scheduling UMAC teams (I think Northwestern being on the schedule in 2008 was probably his doing, but still!). Does Don Roney have more guts than Gary Fasching? Starting to look like it.

Not a good sign. I expect Hamline to beat SJU within the next 3 years. 

Roney knew that his UST would drop a game to UMAC.  There's only so much crap a guy can deliver before he gets the bullet.  Although you must admit he delivered a lot.

[OzJohnnie]

  The underrated part in this discussion is how good the MIAC and the Johnnies are.

We will all find out if the Johnnies are the cream of the crop in the MIAC on September 23rd. Up until then,they will be untested. I certainly hope that the soft early schedule leaves them ready to play top tier competition in what will be yet another Twin Cities media circus for the attendance record D3 game. I hope the game can live up to the hype.

Not knowing the answer (but suspecting I do) I've gone to check the history books to see who the Jays have played non-conference to start a season since I started following them.

In the 90's we played UW-Superior, Bemidji St, Concordia St Paul, and Mayville St.  9-1 record.
In the 00's we played UWEC, UWRF, Northwestern, Marrietta, East Texas Baptist, Crown, and UWW.  16-4 record.
In the 10's we have played Northwestern, UWEC, UWRF, Dubuque, Buena Vista, St Scholastica, and Presentation coming.  Record 13-2 (so far).

So for almost 30 years this is the way it's been.  Looking at that, UWEC should be the undisputed champions of all football with the non-conference schedule they have pursued for 30 years.  It's almost like John and Gary have something figured out that everyone here is missing.

[sjusection105]

I feel like there's an incentive to play home games because the gate is significant at SJU where it isn't at 98% of Division III schools.

I will use my own personal experience as an average. I'm sure there are people who spend more & some that spend less, but I would estimate the economic impact on campus between book store spending (you can't get enough SJU clothing) and stadium spending (concessions, game day program, Johnnie Bread) to be roughly $10-$15 per person. So if there are 6,000 people on campus for the game thats $60K-$90K per average game to various outlets on campus. Now, take that by the numbers of Homecoming or the Johnnie-Tommie game and you are talking some real money. The Johnnie-Tommie game last year had an approximate economic impact of $250K just for one game. There are schools around the country that would kill to have that for an entire season.

I love home games, I would really appreciate an entertaining game for every one that is on the schedule,but that's not reality.

[OzJohnnie]

I know many people like the mega contests all the time but I'm not one of them.  My goals as a fan for a generic season are:

1. Conference championship
2. Post-season run
3. National championship

There are a few things that have always been true:

- To get to the post-season from the MIAC you need just one loss.  As the second strongest conference, a one loss team always gets in. (Did BU miss once?)
- To get ready for the conference championships you need a couple games to work out the new starters. Easy games are better so they don't threaten your post-season chances.

The game against CSS was an aberration. A perfect storm that led to an absolute thrashing. With only 5 plays we had scored three touchdowns, including a big fumble return by the defense. CSS's will to play was broken and all game plans went out the window. I'm sure both coaches expected a game around 45-10, give or take.  That would have been a good result for both squads. Enough of a warmup for SJU and an honourable loss for CSS.  Play that same game, same squads and you'll never see that result again.

So, although I like to see us square up against the big non-conference squads I'm happy to see that in the post-season where it's always happened. During the conference play I'm happy to see us square up against two or three tough programs in order to find out how we stack up.

What I really wish was that the UST game was near the end of the season. Having the conference championship decided in the fourth week sucks.

[Pat Coleman]

What I really wish was that the UST game was near the end of the season. Having the conference championship decided in the fourth week sucks.

I've never liked this either -- I don't even care if the conference title is typically on the line or not. This is a rivalry that ought to be played late in the season. I don't think it would kill the MIAC to make sure that it ends up that way.

[Mr. Ypsi]

What I really wish was that the UST game was near the end of the season. Having the conference championship decided in the fourth week sucks.

I've never liked this either -- I don't even care if the conference title is typically on the line or not. This is a rivalry that ought to be played late in the season. I don't think it would kill the MIAC to make sure that it ends up that way.

Agreed.  The Big Ten was smart enough that UM/OSU is ALWAYS the final week, even if one (or both) is in a down cycle.

[faunch]

Tommie$ did schedule a UMAC team in football / futbol and beat the crap out of them!

https://twitter.com/TommieAthletics/status/905261819366920192

[OzJohnnie]

I love soccer. Such an honest, manly game.

https://youtu.be/LC-H2wXK4T4

[USTBench]

What I really wish was that the UST game was near the end of the season. Having the conference championship decided in the fourth week sucks.

I've never liked this either -- I don't even care if the conference title is typically on the line or not. This is a rivalry that ought to be played late in the season. I don't think it would kill the MIAC to make sure that it ends up that way.

I don't think SJU can qualify as a rival anymore. Sad. Used to be such a storied program. I would say it's probably UWO or someone with more national prestige.

[GoldandBlueBU]

I know many people like the mega contests all the time but I'm not one of them.  My goals as a fan for a generic season are:

1. Conference championship
2. Post-season run
3. National championship

There are a few things that have always been true:

- To get to the post-season from the MIAC you need just one loss.  As the second strongest conference, a one loss team always gets in. (Did BU miss once?)
- To get ready for the conference championships you need a couple games to work out the new starters. Easy games are better so they don't threaten your post-season chances.

I wish that it weren't the case, so that the top teams could schedule some bigger games early on without fear of it hurting their post-season chances, but that is basically my take as well.  (I don't believe that BU ever missed a spot in the playoffs with one loss?)

Generally SJU and UST will own the top two spots in the MIAC.  BU and Concordia will make their way into the top pair occasionally, but for the most part, they can plan on either having the auto bid, or, knowing that they can take that one loss to whoever the champ will be in a given year, and be just about guaranteed a bid at 9-1.  8-2 gets in sometimes from the MIAC, but it's not the (almost) sure thing that 9-1 is.

So, if I'm Gary or Glenn, that would be my strategy too.  Make sure you don't drop a non-conference game, and you will be in good position by the end of the year if you can take care of business with the rest of the MIAC.

I'm sure that SJU would have hoped to have CSS give them more of a test, and I vaguely remember reading an article a couple yeaers back that Ramler was wanting to get SJU on the schedule so that their team would be better prepared to actually win a playoff game at some point.

[finsleft]

Do you think we like paying for two home games on our season ticket package to see Lake Superior Nursing College and The Convent on the Prairie come to Clemens Stadium?

Good question. I feel like there's an incentive to play home games because the gate is significant at SJU where it isn't at 98% of Division III schools.

I also know that there was a reluctance to go on a long bus trip when John was in charge and getting up in years, and once that was made clear to me, I totally was on board. I was hoping that would change. Hopefully there's a UWO/SJU series in the offing for 2018/19.

I don't have the facts here, but I suspect there is a financial incentive for the non-conference teams to come to SJU and play a preseason game. It just might be that they make more than they would playing a preseason game at home?