FB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[SagatagSam]

Mount Union waltzes past winless Capital

ALLIANCE — Mount Union scored touchdowns on seven of its first eight possessions and kicked six field goals the rest of the way on Saturday to waltz past winless Capital, 66-0, and remain undefeated and in first place in the Ohio Athletic Conference.

It all added to a happy, if not boring, Homecoming.

Hoping to spare the Crusaders another ultra-lopsided loss – it fell to John Carroll, 90-0, last week – Mount Union coach Vince Kehres elected to kick a field goal on a first down play with 5:35 remaining in the first half and his team on top, 48-0

Is this what it comes down to? Is having your opponent kick a FG on 1st down less embarassing to the losing team?  I guess it keeps the final score down a bit, and most outside observers just see the final score.  No disrepect at all to UMU and VK, just musing a bit here.

I even heard (in the media, not necessarily from someone I have a ton of respect for) some questions about whether it was right for St John's to score that last touchdown. I laughed when I heard that and thought that was ridiculous. Given what I have seen from Erdmann, I didn't feel great about stopping him on that 4th and 15, but hoped that if he did convert, it would be for a touchdown and put me out of my misery. Instead I got a stop and a defensive pass interference, just to compound my suffering.

Given the kicking game woes for SJU, there's no way they were going to attempt a 33-yard field goal there. And, given that SJU was leading by 11 at that point, I say go for it. The last thing I could have stomached on Saturday would have been a quick Tommie score following a missed SJU field goal to cut the deficit to 31-27/28 (depending on whether the Toms convert an XP or 2-Pt Conversion), and then an onside kick. No way. I know there was a 99% chance that doesn't happen, but just ask any of the kids from St. Michael-Albertville or Maple Grove how quickly you can go from being up/down 19 points with 59 seconds left to being on the other side of that margin.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8BDbX3v8Tg

There are kids on both rosters that played in that STMA-Maple Grove game.

[jamtod]

Mount Union waltzes past winless Capital

ALLIANCE — Mount Union scored touchdowns on seven of its first eight possessions and kicked six field goals the rest of the way on Saturday to waltz past winless Capital, 66-0, and remain undefeated and in first place in the Ohio Athletic Conference.

It all added to a happy, if not boring, Homecoming.

Hoping to spare the Crusaders another ultra-lopsided loss – it fell to John Carroll, 90-0, last week – Mount Union coach Vince Kehres elected to kick a field goal on a first down play with 5:35 remaining in the first half and his team on top, 48-0

Is this what it comes down to? Is having your opponent kick a FG on 1st down less embarassing to the losing team?  I guess it keeps the final score down a bit, and most outside observers just see the final score.  No disrepect at all to UMU and VK, just musing a bit here.

I even heard (in the media, not necessarily from someone I have a ton of respect for) some questions about whether it was right for St John's to score that last touchdown. I laughed when I heard that and thought that was ridiculous. Given what I have seen from Erdmann, I didn't feel great about stopping him on that 4th and 15, but hoped that if he did convert, it would be for a touchdown and put me out of my misery. Instead I got a stop and a defensive pass interference, just to compound my suffering.

Given the kicking game woes for SJU, there's no way they were going to attempt a 33-yard field goal there. And, given that SJU was leading by 11 at that point, I say go for it. The last thing I could have stomached on Saturday would have been a quick Tommie score following a missed SJU field goal to cut the deficit to 31-27/28 (depending on whether the Toms convert an XP or 2-Pt Conversion), and then an onside kick. No way. I know there was a 99% chance that doesn't happen, but just ask any of the kids from St. Michael-Albertville or Maple Grove how quickly you can go from being up/down 19 points with 59 seconds left to being on the other side of that margin.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8BDbX3v8Tg

There are kids on both rosters that played in that STMA-Maple Grove game.

Agreed. Kicking a field goal was not in consideration and there was still enough time left that SJU couldn't just kneel out the clock (and even if they could, I have no issue with them still trying to score anyway, imo).

St Thomas will have to take care of business these next few weeks. Gustavus and Bethel both look to present a challenge. And if they can do that, we'll see if there is any chance to get in to the postseason with 2 losses. You might call me a Doubting Tommie about those odds.

[hazzben]

But, before Selection Sunday, there are 4 games to play, starting wit St. Olaf.

Big win this weekend, yes, but let's just take a step back and worry about the remainder of the regular season.  Concordia hung with UWW and always plays SJU tough.  STO can be scrappy.  Injuries happen.  Worry about Selection Sunday after the next 4 games have wrapped up.  SJU can only control how they play.  The rest will sort itself out.

SJU will crush St. Olaf. My guess is they just started their 0-5 run to finish out the season. Bethel ran and passed all over them. And the Cobbers have regressed to the pre-forward pass era of football. No way they can keep up with Air Erdmann & Co. and the SJU team speed on D will have no problem shutting down a one dimensional Cobber offense. Keep in mind, the UWW game was early in the season, before everyone realized the Cobbers literally aren't capable of completing a pass.

[AO]

Some of you seem to be stuck in a time-warp.  It has been almost a decade since the NCAA moved away from region-based quadrants.  The committee selects the four top national seeds, then builds quadrants around them.  No one gets SENT east; the east region teams simply get put into whichever quadrant works out best for travel purposes - most typically that has meant UMU (they are at the eastern edge of Ohio, after all), but not always.

Right now, the top four would seem to be UMHB, UMU, UWW, and SJU (with Wheaton, Muhlenberg, and Ithaca breathing down their necks), though that is based on the (irrelevant to the NCAA) d3football poll - I haven't taken a look yet at SoS or RR%; maybe in a week or two.

The committee chair admitted last year that they don't truly do the top four seeds nationally.  If they've got someone in the East that looks remotely deserving of a 1 seed they won't even bother to compare them to a team like St. John's.

You beat me to the punch. It's hard to imagine that the committee really thought Brockport was better than St. John's last year. UMHB people probably disagreed too as some I know were higly complimentary of the Johnnies. This year will be the real test of the supposed non-regional top seed philosophy assuming both St. John's and UMHB win out. Selection Sunday could be interesting.

Sorry, I either missed or forgot the committee chair's admission.  (With Joe Germinerio at QB, Brockport was NOT an outlandish choice.  I'd say them vs. SJU would be a 'pick-em', with a slight nod to the Johnnies.)

This year, Ithaca (with Joe G. at QB) as a top four is a bit more unlikely, but there are still several weeks to go.

Massey had that potential 2018 Brockport vs St. John's matchup as a 25 point monkey stomp.  I think that's being generous to Brockport.

[hazzben]

Hey all, I had a great trip to KC!, Went to Q39, Stroud's and Joes (take-out) loved these places! Thank you for the suggestions! Had never had burnt ends before. They are my new favorite, yum! I was able to stream the 2nd half of the game on Saturday. I was pleasantly surprised to see the Tommie's up at half, however it didn't last long obviously. While I was happy to see the Toms hang around for 3 qtrs., the better team clearly won. I must say I am very impressed with the Jays. That is an outstanding football team. Dare I say it, but I think they have great chance to win it all! Erdmann lived up to his billing and the defense was way better than I anticipated. It's going to take a great team to beat them (along with an off day for Jays). Still lots of football to be played.

Glad you enjoyed it. Burnt ends are amazing aren't they! You nailed three really good, very unique to KC restaurants. And also made me really hungry for lunch 

[hazzben]

Some of you seem to be stuck in a time-warp.  It has been almost a decade since the NCAA moved away from region-based quadrants.  The committee selects the four top national seeds, then builds quadrants around them.  No one gets SENT east; the east region teams simply get put into whichever quadrant works out best for travel purposes - most typically that has meant UMU (they are at the eastern edge of Ohio, after all), but not always.

Right now, the top four would seem to be UMHB, UMU, UWW, and SJU (with Wheaton, Muhlenberg, and Ithaca breathing down their necks), though that is based on the (irrelevant to the NCAA) d3football poll - I haven't taken a look yet at SoS or RR%; maybe in a week or two.

The committee chair admitted last year that they don't truly do the top four seeds nationally.  If they've got someone in the East that looks remotely deserving of a 1 seed they won't even bother to compare them to a team like St. John's.

You beat me to the punch. It's hard to imagine that the committee really thought Brockport was better than St. John's last year. UMHB people probably disagreed too as some I know were higly complimentary of the Johnnies. This year will be the real test of the supposed non-regional top seed philosophy assuming both St. John's and UMHB win out. Selection Sunday could be interesting.

Sorry, I either missed or forgot the committee chair's admission.  (With Joe Germinerio at QB, Brockport was NOT an outlandish choice.  I'd say them vs. SJU would be a 'pick-em', with a slight nod to the Johnnies.)

This year, Ithaca (with Joe G. at QB) as a top four is a bit more unlikely, but there are still several weeks to go.

Massey had that potential 2018 Brockport vs St. John's matchup as a 25 point monkey stomp.  I think that's being generous.

I think this highlights the issue with using the prior years playoff criteria to tie-break between unbeaten teams when it comes to 1 seeds.

In theory it makes perfect sense, and was born out of Mount getting potentially sent on the road for a semi-final playoff game I believe (which didn't ultimately happen). However, this only works if you are truly building balanced regions that don't have geographic/travel restrictions. As it stands, the East region teams are in a somewhat protected bubble. So Brockport made a deep run in 2017 and looked super good, shielded by a weak region around them. Fast Forward to 2018 and Brockport went deeper so gets the nod over SJU, who looked better on paper, in advanced analytics, and just the eye test. Brockport was a very good, not quite elite team. SJU was definitely an elite team (probably the second best in the country) and should have been playing in the semifinals. If SJU gets a 1 seed and gets UWW or Mount's side of the bracket, they may have been playing for the Stagg Bowl.

Until the East can hold its own (hasn't happened in the 20 year expanded playoff era) and has teams that can actually win the Stagg, this isn't an equitable element in the selection process. Right now there are teams in the South (UMHB), West (SJU, UWW), and North (Mount, Wheaton) who have Stagg Bowl potential. The East remains the obvious outlier.

Assuming no upsets, regions should be built around UMHB (South), SJU (West), UWW (North), Mount (East). And I know, I know, technically they aren't geographic regions. But for all intents and purposes, they do build the regions around 1 seeds that have some proximity to those areas.

Part of what makes this possible is that the MIAC, CCIW, WIAC, ARC, MWC, UMAC, etc. have teams that can easily be slid into the "north" or "west" regions when they build these brackets.

[hazzben]

also (I'm almost done), thanks to Jamtod for the hospitality on Saturday. Great guy, how he landed his wife I have no idea. Thankfully his daughter takes after mom  In all seriousness, really beautiful family. You're blessed brother.

UST has a horse in Parks. Unfortunately they lack the WR talent they've had in years past so they struggled to stretch the field. Their Oline is very good, but not as good as their best ones. Thought Dolan was solid, he just lacks real game changers on the outside. Same on D. Very good across the board, but not sure they have any real game changers like in years past.

It makes Caruso's conservative, run heavy play calling less lethal since they don't have such a talent gap over the competition. But man, they've got two very good running backs. You can win a lot of games with that formula.

[DuffMan]

SJU will crush St. Olaf. My guess is they just started their 0-5 run to finish out the season. Bethel ran and passed all over them. And the Cobbers have regressed to the pre-forward pass era of football. No way they can keep up with Air Erdmann & Co. and the SJU team speed on D will have no problem shutting down a one dimensional Cobber offense. Keep in mind, the UWW game was early in the season, before everyone realized the Cobbers literally aren't capable of completing a pass.

Don't you jinx us.

[DuffMan]

But man, they've got two very good running backs.

Too bad Parks didn't stay at SJU.   

I'm very happy with Barber and Trost, though. 

[DuffMan]

Great guy, how he landed his wife I have no idea.

The same can be said for USTBench. 

[jamtod]

also (I'm almost done), thanks to Jamtod for the hospitality on Saturday. Great guy, how he landed his wife I have no idea. Thankfully his daughter takes after mom  In all seriousness, really beautiful family. You're blessed brother.

UST has a horse in Parks. Unfortunately they lack the WR talent they've had in years past so they struggled to stretch the field. Their Oline is very good, but not as good as their best ones. Thought Dolan was solid, he just lacks real game changers on the outside. Same on D. Very good across the board, but not sure they have any real game changers like in years past.

It makes Caruso's conservative, run heavy play calling less lethal since they don't have such a talent gap over the competition. But man, they've got two very good running backs. You can win a lot of games with that formula.

Thanks for the kind words. Was good to have a (mostly) unbiased eye that understands the football intricacies more than my amateur eye.

Our primary 2 WRs have been Green and Pallini for a few years now. Green has really developed into a reliable #1, but some additional depth would be key. Pallini never quite evolved into Waldvogel v3.0. Loeffler lined up out wide some (had 1 nice gain) but I don't think he was 100%. TE Slavik is a receiving weapon and would have liked to see him be more involved.

Agreed on D, not really a guy there that's going to change the game the way some in the past might have. And not the talent level at corner to be able to handle 1-on-1 with Erdmann's accuracy.

[AO]

Assuming no upsets, regions should be built around UMHB (South), SJU (West), UWW (North), Mount (East). And I know, I know, technically they aren't geographic regions. But for all intents and purposes, they do build the regions around 1 seeds that have some proximity to those areas.

The major takeaway from the chair's comments last year was that they were unwilling to attempt a bracket with those teams as the #1 seeds.  I'll leave it to other people to try to calculate the number of flights added when you take away Brockport and add St. John's but it's probably more than zero.  The committee didn't try to calculate that either, they just assumed it wouldn't work.  They didn't go into the criteria to compare Brockport's SOS and 2017 semi-final run against St. John's. 

[hazzben]

But man, they've got two very good running backs.

Too bad Parks didn't stay at SJU.   

I'm very happy with Barber and Trost, though. 

To quote Gagliardi to Mike Johnson after the SJU dome game in 2002 "If we'd have had you at RB we'd have run the table the last three years."

I think I'd say the same for SJU with Parks in the backfield last year. He'd have been a lethal change up with Erdmann. A rare combo of power and the ability to take it to the house from anywhere on the field. And lining him up wide like you do with Barber, I'm way more afraid of Parks lined up wide in that spot. Tunnel screen anyone?!

[DuffMan]

To quote Gagliardi to Mike Johnson after the SJU dome game in 2002 "If we'd have had you at RB we'd have run the table the last three years."

That SOB hit harder than any RB I've ever tackled (including Fred Jackson).

[sjusection105]

UST has a horse in Parks. Unfortunately they lack the WR talent they've had in years past so they struggled to stretch the field. Their Oline is very good, but not as good as their best ones. Thought Dolan was solid, he just lacks real game changers on the outside. Same on D. Very good across the board, but not sure they have any real game changers like in years past.

It makes Caruso's conservative, run heavy play calling less lethal since they don't have such a talent gap over the competition. But man, they've got two very good running backs. You can win a lot of games with that formula.

Any speculation if  not being able to recruit "game changers" has anything to do with the current uncertainty with  the program a larger problem with kids not wanting to come  UST for a variety (personal choices) reasons?