FB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[art76]

Week 4 2018

Saturday's weather looks to be mid 60s and damp - doesn't appear to be any danger of altering start times this week. Switching the game times were the most surprising aspect of last week's games, as all the teams picked to win, did. This week we are treated to five games, as St. Thomas hosts the Blugolds from Eau Claire this week.

It's a toss up on the blow out game of the week between the Cobbers and the Pipers, and the Johnnies and the Knights.  As has been discussed of late on this site the gap between the top and the bottom seems to have grown larger. The Cobbers and Johnnies cruise.

And I've already touched on the third game, which will be the Tommies biggest challenge to date this year. Eau Claire has a couple of wins, but they are against much lesser opponents. The tables will be turned on them this week. Tommies roll.

The fourth game this week is Gustavus traveling up to Bethel, who has had two weeks to get ready. It will be interesting to see which QB Coach Johnson starts, but I don't expect it to matter much in the outcome, as Bethel should prevail.

For the game of the week I am choosing Augsburg traveling down to St. Olaf. The Auggies will be licking their wounds, being pummeled by the Cobbers this past Saturday morning. The Oles are riding high at 3 and 0, but this game could end up with both teams having a loss on the year. I think it is too close to call.

[faunch]

Could this be a kinder/gentler Glenn Caruso?

UST was 6/9 with 55 yards passing and 1 TD.

The 3rd stringer did throw 4 times, but it was one slant to a TE he sailed and a few bubble and WR screens he missed on, one of which the QB threw so poorly it resulted in a 4 yard loss (so technically 5 times because I think that went down as a rushing play). Other than that, it was a steady diet of fullback dives and freshmen RBs running between the tackles.

I mean, it was 35-0 with 14:54 left in the 2nd quarter. Vatican should consider canonization IMO.

Add to that the kneel down on 4th down in the redzone against Trinity Int'l mid-way through the 4th and the fact that we have yet to go for 2-pt conversion.

Maybe Coach C has taken all the heartfelt, well-intentioned criticism here to heart.

Probably had his $$$ on the under.

Anybody know what happened to Chicago Tommie?

[jamtod]

Could this be a kinder/gentler Glenn Caruso?

UST was 6/9 with 55 yards passing and 1 TD.

The 3rd stringer did throw 4 times, but it was one slant to a TE he sailed and a few bubble and WR screens he missed on, one of which the QB threw so poorly it resulted in a 4 yard loss (so technically 5 times because I think that went down as a rushing play). Other than that, it was a steady diet of fullback dives and freshmen RBs running between the tackles.

I mean, it was 35-0 with 14:54 left in the 2nd quarter. Vatican should consider canonization IMO.

Add to that the kneel down on 4th down in the redzone against Trinity Int'l mid-way through the 4th and the fact that we have yet to go for 2-pt conversion.

Maybe Coach C has taken all the heartfelt, well-intentioned criticism here to heart.

Probably had his $$$ on the under.

Anybody know what happened to Chicago Tommie?

I presume his kid graduated (never did figure out who he was, despite significant evidence) so he crawled back into his hole.

[DuffMan]

I presume his kid graduated (never did figure out who he was, despite significant evidence) so he crawled back into his hole.

Did he really entertain us for 4 years??? 

Edit:  After research, he joined up in July of 2013, so I'd guess his kid probably graduated by now.

[GoldandBlueBU]

Probably had his $$$ on the under.

I had the same thought!  I saw the number of points they had at halftime and figured they'd cover the pick 'ems line for sure (I had Hamline +70)

[faunch]

Could this be a kinder/gentler Glenn Caruso?

UST was 6/9 with 55 yards passing and 1 TD.

The 3rd stringer did throw 4 times, but it was one slant to a TE he sailed and a few bubble and WR screens he missed on, one of which the QB threw so poorly it resulted in a 4 yard loss (so technically 5 times because I think that went down as a rushing play). Other than that, it was a steady diet of fullback dives and freshmen RBs running between the tackles.

I mean, it was 35-0 with 14:54 left in the 2nd quarter. Vatican should consider canonization IMO.

Add to that the kneel down on 4th down in the redzone against Trinity Int'l mid-way through the 4th and the fact that we have yet to go for 2-pt conversion.

Maybe Coach C has taken all the heartfelt, well-intentioned criticism here to heart.

Probably had his $$$ on the under.

Anybody know what happened to Chicago Tommie?

I presume his kid graduated (never did figure out who he was, despite significant evidence) so he crawled back into his hole.

I was thinking more like he's wearing a Sicilian necktie and his body is in the trunk of an abandoned car or the bottom of Lake Michigan.

[jamtod]

Probably had his $$$ on the under.

Anybody know what happened to Chicago Tommie?

I presume his kid graduated (never did figure out who he was, despite significant evidence) so he crawled back into his hole.

I was thinking more like he's wearing a Sicilian necktie and his body is in the trunk of an abandoned car or the bottom of Lake Michigan.

Why not both?

[wm4]

Anybody know what happened to Chicago Tommie?

I swear I saw him not long ago stumble out of a bar on Rush St, proclaiming Cutler got a raw deal in Chicago.  He had money falling out of his pockets so he must have done well that weekend.

[jamtod]

Anybody know what happened to Chicago Tommie?

I swear I saw him not long ago stumble out of a bar on Rush St, proclaiming Cutler got a raw deal in Chicago.  He had money falling out of his pockets so he must have done well that weekend.

And all this time, I just thought CT was your alter-ego when you'd had a bit too much malort to drink.

[OzJohnnie]

Could this be a kinder/gentler Glenn Caruso?

UST was 6/9 with 55 yards passing and 1 TD.

The 3rd stringer did throw 4 times, but it was one slant to a TE he sailed and a few bubble and WR screens he missed on, one of which the QB threw so poorly it resulted in a 4 yard loss (so technically 5 times because I think that went down as a rushing play). Other than that, it was a steady diet of fullback dives and freshmen RBs running between the tackles.

I mean, it was 35-0 with 14:54 left in the 2nd quarter. Vatican should consider canonization IMO.

Add to that the kneel down on 4th down in the redzone against Trinity Int'l mid-way through the 4th and the fact that we have yet to go for 2-pt conversion.

Maybe Coach C has taken all the heartfelt, well-intentioned criticism here to heart.

Westworld. He's been replaced by a robot clone.  And as we learned in The Terminator 2, even machines can have compassion.

[jamtod]

Could this be a kinder/gentler Glenn Caruso?

UST was 6/9 with 55 yards passing and 1 TD.

The 3rd stringer did throw 4 times, but it was one slant to a TE he sailed and a few bubble and WR screens he missed on, one of which the QB threw so poorly it resulted in a 4 yard loss (so technically 5 times because I think that went down as a rushing play). Other than that, it was a steady diet of fullback dives and freshmen RBs running between the tackles.

I mean, it was 35-0 with 14:54 left in the 2nd quarter. Vatican should consider canonization IMO.

Add to that the kneel down on 4th down in the redzone against Trinity Int'l mid-way through the 4th and the fact that we have yet to go for 2-pt conversion.

Maybe Coach C has taken all the heartfelt, well-intentioned criticism here to heart.

Westworld. He's been replaced by a robot clone.  And as we learned in The Terminator 2, even machines can have compassion.

Somebody needs to fix his programming because I wanna see some 2 point conversions.

[USTBench]

New MIAC policy:

If your team can't score, UST/SJU will keep it under 70.

If you score once, UST/SJU will keep it under 80

If you score twice, you've shown offensive competence, which means you're big boys, stop crying. No limit on what UST/SJU can score.

Seems like a fair trade to get some of the bottom feeders to stop threatening to leave the MIAC.

[DuffMan]

New MIAC policy:

If your team can't score, UST/SJU will keep it under 70.

If you score once, UST/SJU will keep it under 80

If you score twice, you've shown offensive competence, which means you're big boys, stop crying. No limit on what UST/SJU can score.

Seems like a fair trade to get some of the bottom feeders to stop threatening to leave the MIAC.

This has got to be in the running for top post of 2018. 

[OzJohnnie]

Unbelievably, I'm torn about the mismatched competition between the top and bottom of the MIAC.  I can empathise with how some of the lesser teams may feel. It's like they signed up for amateur boxing night and find themselves in the ring across from Mike Tyson.  But then it's an open weight division and boxers are encouraged to do their best.

So I settle on thems the breaks, it's just too darn bad. As long as Tyson isn't putting the amateurs at undue risk due to the mismatch then it's game on.  Maybe if a trail of broken bones are left in the wake of the top teams then something should be done, but until that point nope.

[USTBench]

Unbelievably, I'm torn about the mismatched competition between the top and bottom of the MIAC.  I can empathise with how some of the lesser teams may feel. It's like they signed up for amateur boxing night and find themselves in the ring across from Mike Tyson.  But then it's an open weight division and boxers are encouraged to do their best.

So I settle on thems the breaks, it's just too darn bad. As long as Tyson isn't putting the amateurs at undue risk due to the mismatch then it's game on.  Maybe if a trail of broken bones are left in the wake of the top teams then something should be done, but until that point nope.

It's a tough spot to be in. UST and SJU (and Concordia and Bethel) need the rest of the conference to survive, but UST and SJU are building to compete for national championships and Concordia and Bethel are building to get to the playoffs. I think Gustavus with their stadium, and St. Olaf with their coaching hire, is working towards being competitive, but I don't see Hamline and Carleton giving much more effort, and Augsburg is sort of a victim of their resources and will always just kind of have to do more with less. If Hamline and Carleton bail for the MWC or UMAC (or Carleton cuts football all together), then the MIAC will be forced to bring schools in, which is something I think they should consider exploring now. I think Northwestern and St. Scholastica (despite the lopsided loss to SJU) are looking to be decent fits. Northwestern seems to be a natural rival for Bethel and has MIAC level facilities. CSS lacks the facilities, but will be the sole DIII school recruiting the Duluth area heavily, and could have an opportunity to steal some central lakes kids.

If you don't agree with me, then I'll just fire up my UST and SJU/CSB should leave for the Pioneer League/Horizon League argument again. JK.