FB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[OzJohnnie]

An Aussie Rules players has been diagnosed with testicular cancer.  Fortunately for him the season has finished and he should be ready to go by the start of the coming season.

Mid-year this just completed season a different player was also diagnosed with testicular cancer.  He was back playing six weeks after surgery to remove the, uh, offending orb.  I didn't expect you could recover that quickly from that sort of procedure.

I suspect there may be something in the water.  It's one of the reasons that I only drink alcohol.

[Pat Coleman]

It doesn't help that the CCIW has sat geographically in between Mount Union and UW-Whitewater and has often gotten routed to play one or the other pretty quickly.

[art76]

MIAC Week 7 2017

So all teams in the MIAC have now played at least 5 games, so we are at mid-season. In the podcast this morning Pat and Keith are talking about the play-offs already, so let's do a bit of speculating a little closer to home. How many "big games" are left this year in the conference? I suppose that depends on who you are rooting for, but stepping back and trying to maintain some objectivity by using performance so far in the season, let's take a look at how things might shake out.

Starting at the top with St. Thomas, who has the bye this week, they are coasting through the final four games in the MIAC. Bethel or Gustavus might give them some sort of scare, but I foresee no upsets there.

St. John's still has Gustavus and then the Cobbers in the final week of the season. If Concordia can get its senior QB back by then, it could be the game to decide which team winds up sitting on the bubble for the playoffs as the number two team in the conference.

However, Concordia has to get to that final game playing four games ahead of it, as they had their bye week early in the season.  If there is anything that they benefit by in the schedule, they have pulled the bottom four teams in the league, at least at this point in the season, leading up to that final game of the season.

With the next best record at this point in the season is Gustavus. However, they have a tough row to hoe as they look ahead. They have Bethel this week at home, then the following week they go to St. John's and then two weeks later are at St. Thomas. They have to win the Bethel game to maintain their current position in the league at the end of the season.

Bethel is the next team as we go down the list, and they have to win the game against Gustavus to have any hope of finishing the season with a 5 and 5 record, for the third straight year. Then they have their bye week to have two weeks to prepare for St. Thomas to try to play spoiler.

Next comes the Pipers and they have the toughest schedule left, in my opinion, and will win no more games for the remainder of the season. In order they have Concordia, St. Thomas, Augsburg. St. John's and finishing with Bethel. Their loss to St. Olaf this past week will place them just above Carleton at the end of the season.

St. Olaf currently is the next team in the league and has the next toughest schedule because they have Augsburg, Carleton, Gustavus, Concordia and then ending the season with St. Thomas. The Oles stand a chance of improving their lot in the MIAC with their next game against Augsburg. I don't think it will happen, as Augsburg seems to have improved since last year.

While Augsburg's schedule isn't a cake walk because they still have Concordia in two weeks. They also must win next week against the Oles if they want to be slated above them at the end of the season. They finish at Bethel and have become the Royal's nemesis the past number of years, so that could be a great game as well.

At the bottom of the league is Carleton. They still have St. John's, Concordia and end at Gustavus. The only game they have an outside chance at winning is the Goat Trophy game against St. Olaf in a couple of weeks. It's been a tough year for the Knights.

So, after the long intro, we can spend just a few moments with this week's games.

St. John's goes down to Carleton for the annual red and white game in the conference. I hope the Knights can come out of the game with enough confidence to prepare for the trophy game the following week.

Concordia goes to Hamline, where they'll have more success than they did against the Tommies this past week. I suspect Hamline is hoping they can upset the Cobbers, but I don't see it that way.

The last two games in the league this week are both important to the teams playing, as these games will have a lot to say in determining the pecking order in the league at the end of the year. I think both of these games could be "the game of the week" because of the importance to all four programs. Bethel travels and has the tougher job against the Gusties. Likewise, St. Olaf travels to Augsburg and wants to prove itself. I do see both of the home teams as having the advantage and the visitors having to work harder for the win.

[miac952]

Concordia & SJU for all practical purposes will be the next BIG game of the year in the MIAC, with a likely at large bid to the playoffs on the line. Forgive me for getting ahead of myself.

It should be interesting, having seen both. Concordia seemed to give up some rushing yards in chunks to UST, especially against Trettel. However the Cobber pass D was as tough as UST has faced all season. They were step for step on many of the deep routes, flushed Perra out of the pocket a number of times, and got to him a few times as well. This is strength against strength as Johnnie O seems to get the scores from big plays in the air.

The other side of the ball for both teams go strength on strength as well. The triple option is the bread and butter. The pass game is limited to non-existent for the Cobbers. This is all going against a Johnnie D that is great against the run. The only saving grace may be the Johnnie Run D is slightly below UST, albeit still top 5 or 10 in the country. Also, when SJU did give up rushing yards it was up the middle against UST. I would expect zero to minimal yards through the air though as SJU has one of the better pass defenses in the country against a team that really only knows how to run the ball.

Concordia can not play from behind. If they get an early score or two this game will be interesting. If SJU has a double digit lead going into the half, good night.

[RoyalsFan]

http://d3football.com/top25/2017/week6

Tommies remain in 6th
Johnnies remain in 8th
Concordia drops to 23rd

And Stout gets nine votes.

I typically don't pay too much attention to the top 25, but I was looking at the new rankings and noticed that Wheaton dropped out of the top 25 even though they were ranked 13th last week. I realize they lost to an unranked Millikin team, but it doesn't appear that they were a pushover as they have a 4-1 record. Plus the fact the game was close as Wheaton had 24-14 lead going into the 4th quarter. Is it common for that high ranked of a team to be voted out of the top 25 this late in the season because of basically 1 bad quarter? 

[Pat Coleman]

Two losses in a row is typically seen as a bad sign, and that compounds it as well.

[jamtod]

http://d3football.com/top25/2017/week6

Tommies remain in 6th
Johnnies remain in 8th
Concordia drops to 23rd

And Stout gets nine votes.

I typically don't pay too much attention to the top 25, but I was looking at the new rankings and noticed that Wheaton dropped out of the top 25 even though they were ranked 13th last week. I realize they lost to an unranked Millikin team, but it doesn't appear that they were a pushover as they have a 4-1 record. Plus the fact the game was close as Wheaton had 24-14 lead going into the 4th quarter. Is it common for that high ranked of a team to be voted out of the top 25 this late in the season because of basically 1 bad quarter?

This was Wheaton's 2nd loss, although the other was to IWU who is up to #11 now.
Wheaton has the most points of any 2 loss team in ORV, so they've got that going for them.

[faunch]

First there was One Armed Scott....now there's One Major Scott / Austin
http://www.startribune.com/jeopardy-champ-wins-fans-with-quirky-antics-big-bets/449770013/

[USTBench]

Things I Liked:

The Cobbers o-line and their QB looked a bit overwhelmed on Saturday, to put it mildly. UST had 11 TFLs on Saturday and  played smart disciplined football. They looked every bit the part of a national championship caliber defense. They held the MIAC's best running back in check, and if I remember reading correctly, did not allow the Cobbers to cross the 50. Which is pretty good! The Cobbers were their own worst enemy with turnovers, and as I suspected, Herzog was missed more than people anticipated. Regardless of what you think of the Cobbers passing attack, they typically run a very efficient offense, and the footwork and anticipation required from the QB to run it well probably takes a good two years to master.

The penalties were cleaned up big time (only 3 for 20). The punt game was pretty good.

Jeremy Molina continues to be a much bigger part of the offense as a ball carrier. 5 carries and three receptions. I like this. Probably not what you want or expect out of your fullback, but it has been effective.

Things That Can Improve:

The offense left something to be desired. Granted, the quality of the opponent needs to be factored in, but the o-line gave up 4 sacks and Perra took some shots to his blind side that you don't like seeing. There was a fumble inside the redzone by Trettel, a few dropped passes, and Gabe Green was overthrown on a post pattern (similar to the one he took to the house against SJU). I would say, they left about 14 points on the field.

UST missed field goals of 41 and 42 yards. The first attempt was ugly. The second appeared to go just wide left but had plenty of distance. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and say 3 points were left on the field there.

Things I Demand Answers To (But Probably Won't Get):

Where was Jordan Roberts in the second half? Is he injured/dinged up or is it now the Tucker Trettel show and Josh Parks show? I wasn't listening to the game, but I was there, so maybe Dave Lee touched on it. It's really too bad that he hasn't hit his stride this year. Trettel looks like the obvious choice to be the feature back, and Parks looks like he can bust one at any time (seriously, he looks so much faster than anyone else on the field, it's alarming). It's getting increasingly harder to deny that Trettel is the best back of the three, should be an interesting final month of the regular season. I hope Roberts is okay and can regroup to find his 2015 form during the bye week.

[DuffMan]

On a second examination,it appeared there were over 2K tailgaters in the tailgate lot who never attended the game,but listened to the call on WBHR and continued their grilling and bean bag games in what is unquestionably the biggest & best tailgate experience in D3.

That was pretty crazy!  My kids shut down the bouncy houses while we had a few beers, and there were still people tailgating down there!

[jamtod]

Things I Liked:

The Cobbers o-line and their QB looked a bit overwhelmed on Saturday, to put it mildly. UST had 11 TFLs on Saturday and  played smart disciplined football. They looked every bit the part of a national championship caliber defense. They held the MIAC's best running back in check, and if I remember reading correctly, did not allow the Cobbers to cross the 50.

The penalties were cleaned up big time (only 3 for 20). The punt game was pretty good.

Things I Demand Answers To (But Probably Won't Get):

Where was Jordan Roberts in the second half? Is he injured/dinged up or is it now the Tucker Trettel show and Josh Parks show? I wasn't listening to the game, but I was there, so maybe Dave Lee touched on it. It's really too bad that he hasn't hit his stride this year. Trettel looks like the obvious choice to be the feature back, and Parks looks like he can bust one at any time (seriously, he looks so much faster than anyone else on the field, it's alarming). It's getting increasingly harder to deny that Trettel is the best back of the three, should be an interesting final month of the regular season. I hope Roberts is okay and can regroup to find his 2015 form during the bye week.

Per the ATN podcast, the Cobbers didn't get past their own 44, and that's where the game ended.

Penalties and general discipline was much improved. We played a pretty clean game except for several very ugly mishaps on punt return. I don't know if there punter was just getting more air or punting shorter or what the deal was. I'm not used to seeing this many fair catches or poorly managed punt return situations. Would love to see Pallini get right on the punt returns as his elusiveness and ability to field just about every punt (and get some yards out of it) was really impressive, muffed punts aside.

I think Parks left the game with an injury also, but don't really know anything about that. Trettel has looked great and I love to see Parks get involved and see his limbs flailing every which way on every touch.
I'm with you in the hopes for Roberts getting right with the bye week.

[jamtod]

On a second examination,it appeared there were over 2K tailgaters in the tailgate lot who never attended the game,but listened to the call on WBHR and continued their grilling and bean bag games in what is unquestionably the biggest & best tailgate experience in D3.

That was pretty crazy!  My kids shut down the bouncy houses while we had a few beers, and there were still people tailgating down there!

At UST, I didn't get to drink the beers while my kids were in the bouncy house, but we did get to witness a newly married couple taking pictures on campus that got some photos in the bouncy house and coming down the slide. That was pretty awesome and brought back memories of my own wedding photos on campus (sans bouncy house) # years ago.

[USTBench]

On a second examination,it appeared there were over 2K tailgaters in the tailgate lot who never attended the game,but listened to the call on WBHR and continued their grilling and bean bag games in what is unquestionably the biggest & best tailgate experience in D3.

That was pretty crazy!  My kids shut down the bouncy houses while we had a few beers, and there were still people tailgating down there!

At UST, I didn't get to drink the beers while my kids were in the bouncy house, but we did get to witness a newly married couple taking pictures on campus that got some photos in the bouncy house and coming down the slide. That was pretty awesome and brought back memories of my own wedding photos on campus (sans bouncy house) # years ago.

Was there a beer garden? I showed up a little bit late to the game so if there was one it was taken down. There's been one on the Plaza for homecoming in the past.

[jamtod]

On a second examination,it appeared there were over 2K tailgaters in the tailgate lot who never attended the game,but listened to the call on WBHR and continued their grilling and bean bag games in what is unquestionably the biggest & best tailgate experience in D3.

That was pretty crazy!  My kids shut down the bouncy houses while we had a few beers, and there were still people tailgating down there!

At UST, I didn't get to drink the beers while my kids were in the bouncy house, but we did get to witness a newly married couple taking pictures on campus that got some photos in the bouncy house and coming down the slide. That was pretty awesome and brought back memories of my own wedding photos on campus (sans bouncy house) # years ago.

Was there a beer garden? I showed up a little bit late to the game so if there was one it was taken down. There's been one on the Plaza for homecoming in the past.

I believe so, as has been the case on the plaza for homecoming, but I arrived to the game just before kickoff and we only went on campus after the game when it was gone. Apparently my 10-year class reunion was taking place in OEC during the game. I talked to the Alumni guy for UST and I was glad I didn't attend. He said they didn't even have the game on in there. What a bunch of hosers.

[miac952]

Roberts was really slow to get up on a play at some point late in the 1st half or early in the 2nd. Didn't need help getting off the field, but I don't think appeared after that play.

Trettel's vision, power, and burst is unmatched from the other two right now. He sees the cutback lanes better and hits them harder. Part of it might just be a function of him fitting better with this year's offensive line too. Lamke is a big boy, but the rest of the line appears to be a little more athletic and finesse than prior years. Trettel seems to manage that better between the tackles with some patience. Parks is a fantastic athlete and is great with the pitch out to the edge and in some pass catching situations. Roberts appears to have gotten better in recent weeks, but something is still missing from 2015. He is running angry; he ran over a couple of Cobber defenders on Saturday. But, the vision, patience, and burst all appear a little off from the 2015 campaign.

The defense was outstanding again. The young QB obviously still needs some time to settle into the offense, but even on most of the strongly executed plays, the UST d was running downhill and making plays. They gave up basically nothing between the tackles which is a stark contrast to the game a year ago against Concordia. Other than getting caught on the edge once or twice and the potential homerun shot to start the game the D played fantastic.