FB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[SUMMIT!!!!!]

Should UST win out, it becomes a bitter pill to swallow, knowing that your only losses came in 6 OTs and under such close and crazy circumstances as they lost to SJU. But for a team not expected to do more than rebuild, it makes for a good season.

I wonder if 8-2 with those being the 2 losses merits any consideration for Pool C? Doubtful, but it should earn them at least a look/thought.

[snoop dawg]

Great.  AO has been proclaimed correct on something by the PC.  Easy for him to do, but now we have to live with it.

Sorry. It had to happen eventually.

Even a blind squirrel ...

........finds a nut(AO)

So the tommies got a bad call by the refs......the biggest bad break they brought on themselves.....it's called a f-u-m-b-l-e.  Don't f-u-m-b-l-e  and gain one inch one of of the next three plays and the bad call becomes moot.  Sounds like the tommies just.....suck.  Just sayin'.

[tmerton]

Yes, the refs blew that call, but unless it is corrected before the clock expires, it has no impact on the game, beyond serving as a revenge motivator next year. An apology is nice (although a public apology would be better), but other than a feel-good gesture, what good does it do in terms of the outcome and the standings? Zip. Nada. I agree with TMert that it is a moot issue.

But did that call "cost" UST the game? The numerous failed drives between the first quarter TD and the fumble probably did far more damage to the Toms chances of winning. There really is no excuse for the game ending up as close as it did. Give the ball to Wartman more, throw a few short (3-6 yard) completions and build a sustained drive (if BU and Cord can do it vs SJU's defense, I'd say UST can, too) instead of throwing 12-20 yards and incomplete far too often.

UST, like everyone in the chase, needs to win out. they need a little help in the form of Cord & SJU losses, to get the autobid. Looking at the schedules, Id say the title is Concordia's to lose and I doubt the Cobbers will cough it up. I don't envision a scenario where the MIAC gets a Pool C, but it is more likely than the UMAC getting a Pool B.

Re sustained drives on the SJU defense, I'll have to check but I think of the games mentioned only Bethel had a sustained drive that resulted in a touchdown.  The Cobbers' TD, the first Bethel TD and the UST TD all came on short fields following interceptions.  I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm mistaken.

[Rugman]

say it with me johnnie fans, "we were lucky.  we did not deserve to beat the tommies.  we are not going to the playoffs." 

Hell, I got no problem with saying it with one modification, even though the taunt is coming from AO, who I personally smite first thing every morning.

"We were lucky.  We did not deserve to beat the tommies.  We do not deserve to go to the playoffs...even though we still might."

It still kills me that, change around one play in the Concordia game and another one in the Bethel game, we would be undefeated and ranked in the top 10 in the country, maybe even the top 5.

As bad as we have been this year on offense (averaging under 20 points per game; come on that is a normal first quarter for us in the past....and does everyone realize we have the only two safeties in conference play this year), the defense has managed to keep it close and who knows what will happen in the last four weeks.

[sfury]

Johnnie fans, what was your team thinking taking a safety with 3 mins to play? That was one of the dumbest things I've ever seen done in a big rivalry game.

I didn't think it was that bad a play at the time. But then I realized the Johnnies got the idea from...the Tommies, so, yeah, it probably was pretty dumb.

http://www.tommiesports.com/ftbl/news/archives/2003/11012003.html

St. Thomas took a safety rather than punt out of its own end zone with 7:07 left in the game, cutting the lead to 12-9.

Keller's 20-yard field goal had tied the score at 12-12 with 3:16 to play. After a Tommie fumble was recovered by SJU's Mike Zauhar at the St. Thomas 43-yard line with 3:04 left, the Johnnies had one first down and reached the 18-yard line before the drive stalled to set up the game-winning field goal.

[snoop dawg]

  ::

Stalking.....................

[janesvilleflash]

Sounds like MIAC needs some new referees.



Works for me.

[LBean]

Attention all Johnnie tailgaters! The Stiftungsfestivities will be located at Sechlar Park in Northfield this Saturday for the Ole game. Starting time is 10:30 a.m.. As you are coming east on hwy 19 off I-35, take a right on Armstrong Road (just past the St. Olaf campus). Travel this road for approx. 1/2 mile to Sechlar Park Road on your left. This road will take you to the park pavilion. Bring a culinary delight to share along with the beverage of your choice.

    Hats off to  many, but Dusty & Family,  J Tatz, and Veek  did a helluva job at the tailgating on the boulevard at USTD.     OAS was right in there too.     thank you for the great pregame.       And St. Paul's finest really seemed to enjoy themselves.     

[familyguyfaneightyfour]

Ole Fans;  Anybody know if Manitou Field will be a mud bowl come Saturday?

No, Meidt is gone 

Yes, but his father is still there!   

Can I get everyone's advice?  should I go with the angry response (option A) or the sarcastic response (option B)?

A.)
Suppose the Johnnies didn't play a sh*tty game that day.  Suppose they won. Suppose they made the playoffs.  Now think about what would have happened had they played Linfield.  You should be writing the Oles a friggin thank you note for beating SJU that year.  That loss prevented them from embarrassing themselves in the playoffs.

B.)
They most remarkable thing about that rain game though? That somehow, someway, the Oles played in it too, and did not get psyched out by the weather.  The nice thing about the rain is that it gave the Johnnies an excuse for losing! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY despite the fact that SJU lost they were still the better team because it had been raining in Northfield for over a day!  I'm glad that we could finally get all of that out in the open.  I for one think that the four years of post patterns group therapy has been VERY helpful.

So which one should I use?

[janesvilleflash]

My advice would be to just shut up.

[Redtooth]

A couple of quick thoughts on the last few pages/topics:

The one thing everyone complaining about the goal line call at UST has failed to acknowledge; BOTH officials on the line of scrimmage made the same call--No TD, which is likely indicative of forward progress being stopped in their estimation which is a judgement call.  Both officials came in with a spot quite quickly which may have been preceded by whistles that signify the end of the play.  Everything after the whistle is irrelevant---with the exception of cheap shots from Bethel and St. Olaf

The existence of still photos and video that imply that UST was screwed have been treated like the damn "Zapruder films" by the staff at d3football.  I hardly remember this level of scrutiny on the blown non-TD call in the 2003 Stagg Bowl (which ESPN had in real-time), the infamous time scandal when Kasey Keeler was at Rowan (which was also videoed) or the others that occur weekly in this level of football.  I find it hard to believe that had the roles been reversed with SJU on the other side of the play that it would have been the cover story with a link to the video.

I will echo the comments from Chewey regarding poor O-Line play being a major factor in the lack of consistent offense for SJU this season.  In the game I saw (GAC) they seemed to lack any fire or heart, they get off the ball passively when they are run blocking and are slow with poor footwork when they are pass blocking......All fixable things that player leadership should be able to address.

[Pat Coleman]

The existence of still photos and video that imply that UST was screwed have been treated like the damn "Zapruder films" by the staff at d3football.  I hardly remember this level of scrutiny on the blown non-TD call in the 2003 Stagg Bowl (which ESPN had in real-time), the infamous time scandal when Kasey Keeler was at Rowan (which was also videoed) or the others that occur weekly in this level of football.  I find it hard to believe that had the roles been reversed with SJU on the other side of the play that it would have been the cover story with a link to the video.

Then you don't hardly remember very well, because we had two whole columns on the clock debacle and the video in 2001 and in 2003 we did run a photo that showed Elliott had caught the ball. Because SJU won that 2003 game anyway, however, we didn't make a big deal out of it.

In short, we made more out of the 2001 story, by a long shot. The 2003 story was made moot by SJU winning the game, handily, anyway.

To review the photo gallery from 2003:
http://www.d3football.com/gallery.php?photo&event=5935&photo=105
http://www.d3football.com/gallery.php?photo&event=5935&photo=106
http://www.d3football.com/gallery.php?photo&event=5935&photo=107
http://www.d3football.com/gallery.php?photo&event=5935&photo=108

[OzJohnnie]

The one thing everyone complaining about the goal line call at UST has failed to acknowledge; BOTH officials on the line of scrimmage made the same call--No TD, which is likely indicative of forward progress being stopped in their estimation which is a judgement call.  Both officials came in with a spot quite quickly which may have been preceded by whistles that signify the end of the play.  Everything after the whistle is irrelevant---with the exception of cheap shots from Bethel and St. Olaf

And that, my friend, puts an end to this discussion.  Case dismissed, in my opinion.

[OzJohnnie]

My advice would be to just shut up.

Ah, come on, flash.  You've got to let a guy have a bone to chew as he grows older and the world passes him by.

[justadad]

Ole Fans;  Anybody know if Manitou Field will be a mud bowl come Saturday?

No, Meidt is gone 

Yes, but his father is still there!   

Can I get everyone's advice?  should I go with the angry response (option A) or the sarcastic response (option B)?

A.)
Suppose the Johnnies didn't play a sh*tty game that day.  Suppose they won. Suppose they made the playoffs.  Now think about what would have happened had they played Linfield.  You should be writing the Oles a friggin thank you note for beating SJU that year.  That loss prevented them from embarrassing themselves in the playoffs.

B.)
They most remarkable thing about that rain game though? That somehow, someway, the Oles played in it too, and did not get psyched out by the weather.  The nice thing about the rain is that it gave the Johnnies an excuse for losing! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY despite the fact that SJU lost they were still the better team because it had been raining in Northfield for over a day!  I'm glad that we could finally get all of that out in the open.  I for one think that the four years of post patterns group therapy has been VERY helpful.

So which one should I use?

You did well in using both.  Just be aware that the next four years of therapy, most likely, will not be as helpful.