FB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[OzJohnnie]

Since I don't watch the Narcissis Football League games I go to the Library on Sunday. Today I saw a book called 'Beer Cocktails'. I scanned the first few pages and determined it should be shelved under toxic and hazardous substances. 

I've been trying to figure out why I've drifted away from the NFL over the last 15 years (despite the fact that Vikings suck, which is, to be honest, a highly motivating factor) while my interest in the Johnnies has steadily increased.  I think it's because there is so much money in the NFL now, not with the players but with every single aspect of team performance, that it isn't a sport anymore.  It's pure business.  Every aspect of performance and excellence has been managed to within an inch of its life.

The variability in play is largely gone in the NFL.  Off days rarely happen.  Only very infrequently does a team having a down day get punished by a team playing on pure motivation to win (as per GAC's near upset of UST on the weekend).  DI has been this way for a few years now and we can see with the small number mega-teams in DIII that the trend is similar.  It's unlikely that the money buckets will ever be filled for our clubs they way they are at the higher levels so I think the scope for randomness due to lack of 'professionalism' will remain for quite a while yet.

Anyways, I don't know for sure, but it feels like this to me.

[57Johnnie]

Since I don't watch the Narcissis Football League games I go to the Library on Sunday. Today I saw a book called 'Beer Cocktails'. I scanned the first few pages and determined it should be shelved under toxic and hazardous substances. 

57Johnnie

"Narcissis Football League"? Now that's good. May I use that in some of my conversations? Thanks.!
Oh and Go Johnnies!

Be my guest. 

[sjusection105]

The Bethel-UST game will showcase two former Gopher QBs. This is a perfect opportunity to witness QB development with Roste in the Bethel system for one year & Parra in the UST system for three years.

[sjujohnnie]

I've also found myself more excited to watch St John's than Iowa at the FBS level or the Vikings on Sundays. Iowa disappoints all too often & I look at Sundays as a bonus day of football. With St Thomas struggling against Gustavus, it'll be interesting to see how their game against Bethel goes! I'm hoping the pendulum has swung back in St John's favor for years to come against St Thomas! Surprising to see the Cobbers struggles!

[57Johnnie]

Since I don't watch the Narcissis Football League games I go to the Library on Sunday. Today I saw a book called 'Beer Cocktails'. I scanned the first few pages and determined it should be shelved under toxic and hazardous substances. 

I've been trying to figure out why I've drifted away from the NFL over the last 15 years (despite the fact that Vikings suck, which is, to be honest, a highly motivating factor) while my interest in the Johnnies has steadily increased.  I think it's because there is so much money in the NFL now, not with the players but with every single aspect of team performance, that it isn't a sport anymore.  It's pure business.  Every aspect of performance and excellence has been managed to within an inch of its life.

The variability in play is largely gone in the NFL.  Off days rarely happen.  Only very infrequently does a team having a down day get punished by a team playing on pure motivation to win (as per GAC's near upset of UST on the weekend).  DI has been this way for a few years now and we can see with the small number mega-teams in DIII that the trend is similar.  It's unlikely that the money buckets will ever be filled for our clubs they way they are at the higher levels so I think the scope for randomness due to lack of 'professionalism' will remain for quite a while yet.

Anyways, I don't know for sure, but it feels like this to me.

What would Lombardi think of today's NFL?

[OzJohnnie]

To be fair, I reckon Lombardi would be right into the middle of the developments in terms of sports science, player strategy, etc.  I'm sure he would be less enamoured with the showboating, et al, but that's likely more of a cultural thing.

EDIT: And although the showboating is something that gives me the irrits (Aussie slang for irritations), it's not really what I think ails the sport.  It's the fact that the sport is engineered to within an inch of perfect that gets me, I think.  It's lost so much of its randomness.  Maybe I'm wrong, though, and would be interested to hear different.

[faunch]

I've also found myself more excited to watch St John's than Iowa at the FBS level or the Vikings on Sundays. Iowa disappoints all too often & I look at Sundays as a bonus day of football. With St Thomas struggling against Gustavus, it'll be interesting to see how their game against Bethel goes! I'm hoping the pendulum has swung back in St John's favor for years to come against St Thomas! Surprising to see the Cobbers struggles!

Going to my first Hawkeye game at Kinnick this weekend....parents weekend...gonna be a chilly one!

[sjujohnnie]

Enjoy Kinnick (& Iowa City)! Hopefully you see a win!

[wm4]

Updated MIAC margin of victory totals....still at 36.4 points, with now ten blowouts of 50+ or more.  Both way up over recent years.

[DuffMan]

Both way up over recent years.

The rich get richer.

[57Johnnie]

BDB:
Condolences and prayers from the 57s to the folks in your area, especially the families of the young Girl Scouts who were senselessly killed while doing community service. 

[MUC57]

BDB:
Condolences and prayers from the 57s to the folks in your area, especially the families of the young Girl Scouts who were senselessly killed while doing community service. 

BDB

Me too. Tragic!

[DustySJU]

It's a big week of football in the MIAC and the West.  I'm amazed how frequently it turns out the decider is in the last round.

Game #1: UST @ BU, Thunderdome at Arden Hills
Game #2: Thomas More @ SJU, sneaky tough game that means a lot to both teams
Game #3: Wartburg @ Dubuque, Thunderdome which can be seen for miles because it's flat in Iowa (yes, they too have a clash for all the cookies)
Game #4: GAC @ STO, the Manpants game, who will be the threat for the top 3 or better next year?  Is GAC the real deal and can they prove it?
Game #5: UWLC @ UWEC, the spoiler's party, can EC continue the spoiler fun and fully ruin UWW's RRO?
Game #6: UW-Stout @ UWO, Bob's Boys Bury Bumbling Ballers and spoil the whole dame WIAC hierarchy

How you miss this one.....

#7.  UWW at Platteville

[faunch]

Updated MIAC margin of victory totals....still at 36.4 points, with now ten blowouts of 50+ or more.  Both way up over recent years.

To me this is one of the most surprising scoring statistics on the year. If I calculated correctly the Cobbers in 5 losses have given up 180 and scored 54....average score of 36-6.

[USTBench]

The Bethel-UST game will showcase two former Gopher QBs. This is a perfect opportunity to witness QB development with Roste in the Bethel system for one year & Parra in the UST system for three years.

It was tough sledding on Saturday but UST's O should be the Josh Parks show from here on out. I think it's pretty clear at this point that Perra is much more effective when he's comfortable, and if they plan on sticking with Perra any passing game UST hopes to to capitalize on probably needs to be developed off the play action or some short passes early to build some confidence. It would help if Perra had a game breaking WR, but nobody seems to be "that guy" right now.

For the second time this year UST showed major vulnerability in their secondary on Saturday (probably the third time, they didn't look too hot in the first half against Augsburg either). In the fourth quarter UST's front 7 really pinned their ears back and made Veldman uncomfortable but he was still able to make some plays. If it wasn't for some dropped balls by GAC late in the 4th, a missed extra point, and a late hit on Jones, I'd could easily be doing a postmortem on 2018.

UST still has plenty of talent, and plenty of guys who've made big plays in big spots, but they REALLY need to sack up and be present for 4 quarters on Saturday. Playoffs have come early for the Tommies and Royals. Pretty excited to see how it plays out.

I expect a low scoring and VERY physical game on Saturday.