FB: USA South Athletic Conference

[CNU85]

this is what d3 is all about

http://www.cnusports.com/news/2012/10/18/FB_1018121308.aspx?path=football

[Allen C]

85- I have to say, I was surprised at the loss for the Captains last week. I was at the Ferrum CNU game, and while I was disappointed at the outcome, it was a good game, and not a real surprise. CNU looked strong as usual. The week before that, I went to Danville, and saw Ferrum play Averett. Averett was not all that impressive, but they were able to put together a few good drives. Ferrum controlled the game, leading 49-7 in the 4th quarter before removing the starters.
So while Ferrum was losing to CNU, Averett had beaten LaGrange...That led me to believe that LaGrange was likely gonna come out on the short end of the stick against the Captains....not quite how it turned out. Based on what I have seen, I feel like CNU will have no problem with Averett. I see the Captains winning by 20 easily....but I thought the same about CNU vs.LaGrange.

[narch]

another hard-fought loss for the monarchs...they gave ferrum everything they had, and took everything that ferrum gave them, only to fall 21-13 - the monarchs were 0-3 on 4th down, with two of them coming deep in ferrum territory - in the first half mu failed on 4th and 1 from the fc 9 and with 2:30 left in the game, the monarchs failed on 4th and 1 from the fc 14 on a drive that looked like it could potentially be a game-tying drive - mu outgained ferrum 393 to 281 and held the ferrum rushing game to just 3.1 ypc and 159 total yards, and even won the turnover battle, but couldn't close it - red-zone offense has struggled this season, converting less than 50% of their redzone chances to td's, and it bit them again today

reber had another outstanding day...he threw a bad interception which ferrum turned into a td, but he was right at 50% completion rate for 295 and a td...he's the best qb in the conference, in my mind - cross caught 7 balls for 135 and bevans and gillis had big games, as well - the mu defense played their back-sides off today, especially bing, jones and brad wade...those three were BEASTS today

another surprising week of results across the usasac...lagrange beats maryville, ncwc hammers gc...still a 3 way tie at the top

[narch]

check out this third quarter for ncwc vs. gc

3  14:45 N.C. Wesleyan - Dwayne Hollis 90 yd kickoff return. (Jamias Williams kick is good).  17 - 14
3  07:42 N.C. Wesleyan - Hampus Lithen 26 yd field goal. Drive: 12 plays, 81 yards in 4:13.  17 - 17
3  03:21 N.C. Wesleyan - Jacques Alston 70 yd pass from John Jackson. (Hampus Lithen kick is good).
                                   Drive: 1 plays, 70 yards in 0:14.  17 - 24
3  01:33 N.C. Wesleyan - Jamal Smith 90 yd run. (Hampus Lithen kick is good). Drive: 1 plays, 90 yards in 0:14.  17 - 31
3  00:16 N.C. Wesleyan - Dwayne Hollis 40 yd interception return. (Hampus Lithen kick is good).  17 - 38
3  00:00 N.C. Wesleyan - Jamias Williams 59 yd pass from John Jackson. (Hampus Lithen kick is good). Drive: 1 plays, 59 yards in 0:01.

39 points on a 90 yd ko return, an int return and THREE 1 play drives (to go along with a 12 play drive) - ncwc was down 17-0 and ends up winning 45-23 thanks to that 3rd quarter

[Allen C]

Narch- I sat here and watched the broadcast from beginning to end...(almost, was a little late signing on.) Ferrum played good enough to win, but I think they got away with one. MU looked really strong, and I knew they would not roll over and play dead. They are a very good team, and from what I saw, are better than their record indicates.
They have had some close games, and played some good teams. My hope is that the Monarchs win out the rest of the way. I do believe it's possible.

Go MU! ( ok I admit I have selfish reasons for wanting them to win) but in all honesty, I think they are good enough to win out.

[narch]

My hope is that the Monarchs win out the rest of the way. I do believe it's possible.

i appreciate the confidence, but i just want them to win this week...then we'll worry about the rest of the season

for the third straight week, the monarch defense gets the team ranked #1 in the conference in rushing...i'm hoping that mu can withstand that lagrange attack which put up 269 on the ground against m'ville last week and 227 the week before vs. cnu - what concerns me even more, though, is the lagrange defense...they gave up just 117 yards to a m'ville offense that i thought looked pretty solid the week before - m'ville had just 20 net rushing yards on 24 attempts and m'ville had just 7 first downs (2 by penalty) - this comes just a week after lagrange held cnu to just over 200 yards and 6 points...if the monarchs can't get going offensively, it won't matter what the defense does

[narch]

lost in the frustration of team results are some outstanding individual performances for the monarchs

max reber has moved into 5th place all-time in career passing yardage for mu, passing brandon parks last weekend...he is around 700 yards behind admiralpapi (dustin daniels) for 4th place and could potentially get there by the end of the year - his 22 career td passes put him in 4th all-time at mu, 4 behind daniels, 9 behind the rocket and 22 behind all-time leader brian turner...the career marks for both daniels and roncketti are within range for this season - his 1,669 yards this season already ranks as the #6 best single season in mu history as do his 120 completions - the 15 tds he has thrown this year are tied for the #2 season, 1 behind the 16 that brian turner threw in 1998...with 3 games left, the yardage and td season marks are in jeopardy

with 758 yards this season, vaughn cross has moved into 4th all-time in receiving yardage at mu with 1,544 career yards - he is exactly 100 yards behind patrick doleman for 3rd place, 374 behind len bellamy for 2nd, and 554 away from the career record held by antonio wilkerson..i think it is very likely he'll be at #3 by the end of the season - with 51 catches this season, he has moved into 2nd place on the career reception list with 105 and needs just 23 to set the new mark at mu - his next receiving td will put him alone atop the mu career list, as he is currently tied at 14 with len bellamy and william ray - those 758 yards are currently the 4th best single season mark at mu, and with 62 more, they become the best receiving yardage season in monarch history - the season mark for td's is 9 (cross sits at 7) and the season mark for receptions is 56 - there is a good chance that cross will be setting marks in all of these areas

brad wade has 8.5 sacks this season, good for 3rd on the single season list - jamaal leggette had 9 in 2002 and quincy malloy set the mu record with 14 in 2001 - keltcey richardson's 6 interceptions this season match the mark set by james brown (jump back, heeeeyyy) in both 1990 and 1991 and his 7 career ints (through 17 games) puts him in a tie for 3rd place all-time

[/silver lining discussion]

[Titan29]

Just want to respond to Narch's comments from last week about our fans during the Maryville-Methodist game.  .  I was in the stands during the game and, must admit, very embarrassed by the way several of our fans acted during the game.  Especially the one's who were clearly sitting outside of the visitors section.  My wife and I were amazed by how confrontational our fans were towards the mu fans.  I saw several purposefully blow the horns right next to the heads of several mu supporters.  We knew problems were going develop and thankfully security was able to breakup a few confrontations

There seems to be several parents and, in particular, a couple who don't have a son playing on the team, but has full access to the football program by Coach Radar and Athletic Director Schram, that is leading this type of behavior which many don't approve of.  They clearly crossed the line between supporting the team and causing problems in the stands during the game.  My wife commented how our fans would react if opposing fans would sit in our home stands, blow loud horns and ring cowbells in our cheering section.  Our fans would react the same way as the mu fams.

I remember a game last season at home against Averett when several drunk MC students went over into the Averett stands and started having confrontations with their players, coaches and fans.  Coach Ierulli saw this, stopped the game and signaled security to remove our fans out of the stands holding the Averett parents and fans.  A class move by Coach I.

We want our son's final season to be a great experience for him and the 2012 Fighting Scots.  Coach Radar and the new coaching staff are doing a fine job putting this team together and are excited about the upcoming game against Averett.

At the same time, we have nothing but the highest respect for Coach Ierulli who recruited and coach our son during his first 3 years at Maryville.  Many parents, alums and fans were disgusted by the way Coach Ierulli was removed by AD Schram and VP Kemp. 

So responding to DGPugh's comments, the smoke is slowly clearing, because we support our players, Coach Radar and MC football.  But there are still many hard feelings toward these 2 women and will be there for a very long time......

[DGPugh]

Titan29
Thanks
i really know nothing at all about the problems about the Coaching change, accept what i read here and in a few news links that folk put on this discussion. I do know the campus is real nice, and i enjoy traveling through that part of Tn. 

i believe Coach Rader is a good coach and real nice guy (a bit intense..... but that's ok) and i am glad yall are rally-ing around him and the program.

i will continue to hope yall finish out the season strong, and all the senior kids enjoy their final season

thanks for the update
keep the faith

[narch]

titan29 - don't absolve the mu fans...there was plenty of boorish behavior to go around on both sides - it is good to get a different perspective, though, as i thought perhaps my view of the situation was tainted green & gold

the problem won't be solved until mu gets the opposing fans on the other side, though...this past weekend there were a number of ferrum fans sitting well into the mu section - for 99.8% of the game, there were no problems, but i observed the mother of a ferrum player (i assume this, as she was wearing a ferrum jersey with a number on it, and her husband/friend had the same numbered jersey on) tell a mu fan to "sit down and shut up" when a group of mu fans protested the fact that there was not a personal foul/late hit called (the play was borderline and could have been called either way, in my eyes) - this fan was seated almost at mid-field and had 2 or 3 younger kids with him - it didn't escalate at all, but i just don't think that kind of personal attack has a place at a football game, especially for something that i've seen in just about EVERY game i've ever attended - i can't remember many games where fans didn't jeer officials for what they perceived as missed calls...it's part of the game and it's what fans do - i don't recall mu fans telling the ferrum fans to "shut up" when they protested in a similar way - the problem is, when you put opposing fans in close proximity to each other and the teams are playing close, tense games, tempers are more likely to flare

unfortunately, i did a google search for aluminum bleachers, and i can't afford to donate any to mu quite yet seating for around 150 is over $12,000...i had no idea they would be that pricey

[DGPugh]

narch said "plenty of boorish behavior"

AUsome.. i really mean it.
i'll bet a cola that the only football discussion board where that phrase is used is D3.com

heck, in UCLA (the part of bama where i live) 'boorish behavior' is such a part of the norm, we ain't even got the phrase in our lexicon

sorry, i couldn't help myself.
keep the faith
and
Go Hawks

[D O.C.]

Opinions please....if I'm going to be in Silver Spring, MD, on  Saturday the 27th, what would be my best game to see within an hour and a half?

[kickerdad]

i would be ignoring the elephant in the room if i didn't talk about another issue today...it's past time that mu does something to get the visitors on the other side of the field - there was nearly a brawl in the stands today, and thankfully cooler heads prevailed, and mu security did a nice job

when i arrived at the game, i was impressed by the amount of maroon and orange i saw in the stands, especially given the distance traveled by the m'ville crew...what i immediately noticed, and didn't like, is that a good percentage of the m'ville fans were not sitting in the section reserved for visiting fans AND there were NUMEROUS cowbells and plastic horns...well, the horns seemed to be at the root of the problem today

i witnessed a 45-50 year old m'ville fan blowing one of these horns non-stop, right in the ear of a monarch fan for about 3 or 4 minutes at the start of the game - after asking the gentleman to stop 2 to 3 times, the monarch fan turned around and said "stop blowing that effing horn"...words were exchanged, security stepped in and the m'ville fans were asked to stop blowing the horns...which produced the single funniest line i think i've ever heard...a particularly loud and obnoxious m'ville mother responded by saying "why can the marching band blow their horns and we can't"...and she was serious - this same horn blowing fan and the dozen or so folks around him continued to complain loudly about "not being able to support their team" and how "unwelcome" they felt on our campus...and they complained about EVERY SINGLE CALL made by the officials - in fact, there was even one point that they complained about a penalty called against MU (they apparently thought it was called against m'ville, but i agreed that it shouldn't have been called ) - listening to this group of fans for 3 hours was exhausting...the loud and obnoxious mother even tongue-lashed the mu coaching staff because they didn't remove our team from the field when her son was injured...honestly, i've NEVER heard of a team being removed from the field when a player was injured, and the m'ville staff didn't have their players off the field, either...but this didn't stop this mother from calling the mu coaches classless...at the top of her large lungs

fast forward to the end of the game, when mu attempts an on-side kick...for some inexplicable reason, the refs blew the play dead before the ball was touched by either team - when the officials (correctly) granted mu a re-kick, these m'ville fans went crazy since m'ville recovered the kick - their over-the-top belly-aching about officials who had been paid off and were cheating the scots apparently was enough for the mu fan who had been putting up with a horn in his ear at the start of the game, and he turned around and said "the play was whistled dead, dumb@@@, give it a rest"...that didn't go over well, but i've got to be honest...if security hadn't stepped in, that would have been a matchup that favored mu...that mu fan was BIG and mad - i observed those same m'ville fans berating mu greeks as they left the stadium - these are 50+ year old PARENTS of college students, who are shouting at 18-22 year old kids who did nothing beyond having fun on a beautiful fall afternoon (i didn't witness any issues during the game with the mu greeks and m'ville fans, since they were sufficiently far apart) - even after the altercation, the mu fan was removed from the stadium, and his girlfriend/wife was collecting their things and m'ville fans had the audacity to tell her to "sit your @@@ down"...amazing - obviously this isn't an indictment of all m'ville fans, and the mu fans weren't exactly the most gracious hosts, but it does underscore the importance of mu making some changes to the seating arrangements, because i could easily see a situation that gets ugly with those teams sharing stands

Went to Methodist twice and never had any problems with their fans. It was strange to have to sit on the same side, but they were nice and friendly and didn't cause any problems. And yes AU won and still no issues. By the same token we went to Maryville twice and never had any issues there. Their fans were loud especially the coaches wife but they were having fun and never got out of line with us. Been to some other NC sites and that was a different story.

[kickerdad]

85- - - -one of these years we will win another one against you guys. Don't ask me when but one of these years. (I hope)

[Captain Bob]

unfortunately, i did a google search for aluminum bleachers, and i can't afford to donate any to mu quite yet seating for around 150 is over $12,000...i had no idea they would be that pricey

Many places opt to rent instead of buy.  Maybe you could get a different group to "sponsor" the opposition bleachers for different games.