FB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[art76]

Congratulations to Bethel! Now onto Texas to face UMHB in the quarterfinals? When was the last time that Bethel made the quarterfinals?

Lost to Whitewater in 2018; Lost to North Central in 2013.

In 2007 and 2010, BU made it to the semi-finals and lost to Mount Union both times.

All other post season appearances had us bowing out in the first or second round. So the question is, can this squad get at least as far as the 2007 and 2010 squads made it and win one more? I think so.

[oldsju67]

FWIW...I've played and or have watched football for 45+ years, and I just don't understand why teams line up in shotgun or pistol formations on whatever down and goal to go needing a foot AND THEN RUN THE BALL!!  There must be some analytics out there that says you have better than a 50% chance of converting, but man, the teams I watch sure don't.  At yesterdays SJU game, every one in the area I sit in just yelled in unison to QB sneak the ball when St John's had the ball 2nd and goal from a foot out.  And do it three times in a row if you have to!  I get that Aaron is smaller stature, but come on.  A former SJU QB legend sits behind me and made the comment that Alabama runs their offense out of the gun too, but in goal line, the QB is under center.  Last I heard Alabama in general has a pretty good football program.  I just don't get it...

[AO]

FWIW...I've played and or have watched football for 45+ years, and I just don't understand why teams line up in shotgun or pistol formations on whatever down and goal to go needing a foot AND THEN RUN THE BALL!!  There must be some analytics out there that says you have better than a 50% chance of converting, but man, the teams I watch sure don't.  At yesterdays SJU game, every one in the area I sit in just yelled in unison to QB sneak the ball when St John's had the ball 2nd and goal from a foot out.  And do it three times in a row if you have to!  I get that Aaron is smaller stature, but come on.  A former SJU QB legend sits behind me and made the comment that Alabama runs their offense out of the gun too, but in goal line, the QB is under center.  Last I heard Alabama in general has a pretty good football program.  I just don't get it...

From what I saw Wartburg was selling out to stop anything between the guards and it's not like an offsides penalty is going to hurt them when it's already that close so they're going to get a good jump. 

[oldsju67]

FWIW...I've played and or have watched football for 45+ years, and I just don't understand why teams line up in shotgun or pistol formations on whatever down and goal to go needing a foot AND THEN RUN THE BALL!!  There must be some analytics out there that says you have better than a 50% chance of converting, but man, the teams I watch sure don't.  At yesterdays SJU game, every one in the area I sit in just yelled in unison to QB sneak the ball when St John's had the ball 2nd and goal from a foot out.  And do it three times in a row if you have to!  I get that Aaron is smaller stature, but come on.  A former SJU QB legend sits behind me and made the comment that Alabama runs their offense out of the gun too, but in goal line, the QB is under center.  Last I heard Alabama in general has a pretty good football program.  I just don't get it...

From what I saw Wartburg was selling out to stop anything between the guards and it's not like an offsides penalty is going to hurt them when it's already that close so they're going to get a good jump.

As an old offensive and defensive lineman, that's a given in my mind.  I guess I should have said that.  That being said, it still doesn't change my opinion.

[criswyly]

Have to give Bethel credit for playing mistake free football.  If they play like that against UMHB, who knows.

[timmyturtle]

FWIW...I've played and or have watched football for 45+ years, and I just don't understand why teams line up in shotgun or pistol formations on whatever down and goal to go needing a foot AND THEN RUN THE BALL!!  There must be some analytics out there that says you have better than a 50% chance of converting, but man, the teams I watch sure don't.  At yesterdays SJU game, every one in the area I sit in just yelled in unison to QB sneak the ball when St John's had the ball 2nd and goal from a foot out.  And do it three times in a row if you have to!  I get that Aaron is smaller stature, but come on.  A former SJU QB legend sits behind me and made the comment that Alabama runs their offense out of the gun too, but in goal line, the QB is under center.  Last I heard Alabama in general has a pretty good football program.  I just don't get it...

From what I saw Wartburg was selling out to stop anything between the guards and it's not like an offsides penalty is going to hurt them when it's already that close so they're going to get a good jump.

In my mind that's even more of a reason to go under center...but these coaches must have their reasons, I watched my team, UWW, go out of the shotgun several times this year from inside the 2 yard line. I would be interested to hear the philosophy/strategy...I can only assume they are trying to "slow the defense" by forcing them to stay honest for a play action?

[Ralph Turner]

Weather forecast for Belton next Saturday is 44% chance of rain and temperatures in the mid-60s.

UMHB fans are very hospitable so I encourage Bethel/MIAC fans to come on down.  (No, I am not a UMHB grad.)

If you fly into San Antonio, I suggest that you look into spending a night in Gruene (pronouced "green").

https://www.gruenetexas.com/eat.php

[SagatagSam]

Back in Sioux Falls after a hectic weekend.

Great seeing so many of you in Collegeville. I don't get back all that often, so it was great to reconnect (Section, Dusty)—or for some of you connect for the first time (Duff, Pat, Logan, Wartknight & the civil-ish crew from Wartburg).

Super tough loss for the Johnnies. It really felt like they were going to scrape together barely enough Johnnie Magic^TM to "win ugly." All the momentum seemed to shift to the Johnnies after McLaughlin got hurt, but then the turnover bug bit the Johnnies offense and gave that momentum back to Wartburg.

Many things for the Johnnies to work on this offseason, but we can save that discussion for January.

My prediction for the left side of the bracket: whoever wins the Aurora-Wartburg game will make it to the Stagg Bowl. Phone it in.

[SagatagSam]

Great tailgate.  Aside from the regulars, it was nice to share a few brews with Wartknight and his son, Logan Hansen, and even Pat Coleman.

Same! It was worth getting there early, and also missing the first quarter of the east coast games, to come hang out with you folks and Sagatag Sam.

[Ice Bear]

Great tailgate.  Aside from the regulars, it was nice to share a few brews with Wartknight and his son, Logan Hansen, and even Pat Coleman.

Same! It was worth getting there early, and also missing the first quarter of the east coast games, to come hang out with you folks and Sagatag Sam.

Ice Bear picks some leftover seal meat from his teeth with a sharped caribou bone and says, "Sam you were always someone in Ice Bears book." Ice sighs and says this realizing his MIAC book is only a year old...but it still means something 

[art76]

Joey Kidder gets Greg's Game Ball on the Podcast.

[SagatagSam]

Monday morning and I'm still catching up. Big congrats to the road warriors at Bethel, shutting out Linfield in the second half. Going to be an interesting next weekend because I think the Royals could surprise the Cru in Belton.

[Ralph Turner]

Monday morning and I'm still catching up. Big congrats to the road warriors at Bethel, shutting out Linfield in the second half. Going to be an interesting next weekend because I think the Royals could surprise the Cru in Belton.

Respectfully, I don't think so.  This will be the 5th top-level QB that UMHB has seen this year. (UWW, HSU, HPU, Trinity).

[hazzben]

Monday morning and I'm still catching up. Big congrats to the road warriors at Bethel, shutting out Linfield in the second half. Going to be an interesting next weekend because I think the Royals could surprise the Cru in Belton.

I don't think so.  This will be the 5th top-level QB that has seen this year. (UWW, HSU, HPU, Trinity).

I don't think this was a comment meaning 'surprise' as in, you haven't seen a team of this caliber yet. That's obviously not the case for UMHB. The Cru have faced great teams and beaten more than their fair share of those great teams over the last several years. I think he's saying Bethel, coming in with two losses, is better than they probably appear at first glance.

I do think a healthy Roste at QB (v. SJU week 3) is better than any QB on the list of teams above. But while he's definitely better than he was against SJU (week 11), I'm still not sure he's 100%. I'm hoping another week of treatment gets him in the ballpark, so there's confidence for him and Parnell to let it rip with him as a runner. To this point in the postseason we've been very cautious about him carrying the ball.

Not sure if anyone caught the post game presser, but Coach J had a pretty funny joke that was lost on the local media. They asked something about UMHB or the next weeks game and Coach J quipped "Yeah, we're excited to go down and play UMHB, or the (Dallas) Cowboys, whoever it is." The implication being, they're well aware of the challenge in facing the Cru. Roste chuckled, he got the joke and what Coach J was saying.

From where I'm sitting, having watched last years Stagg bowl game, I have no illusions about what Bethel will or won't face. UMHB will absolutely be the most physically gifted team we've faced this year. It will raise the bar in terms of physicality, and in terms of athleticism. That's a rare combination/challenge to overcome. Looking forward to seeing us take our shot!

[DuffMan]

That Sheck Wes - Mo Bamba is somewhat of an unofficial team anthem. They played it at least 5 times last week, usually either right before or right after a big play.

I have had this song stuck in my head since Saturday.  I actually pulled it up on Spotify--it's pretty terrible, lyrically and otherwise.  It must be pretty big with the college crowd, though, as we were watching the Gopher women's VB team play Ohio State on Friday, and OSU played it quite a bit, too.