FB: Empire 8

[Jonny Utah]

Jose loves Bostic, but the program seems to be down on him.  I saw him get outjumped by guys a foot shorter than him on more than one occasion.  If he wants it, I think he could have a big senior year...

To be honest, I don't know much about Bostic but was begging for some PT just for a change.  Outside of Crandall, we didn't have a WR capable of getting separation.  That left Juvan to make perfect throws and, when he made those throws, they weren't always caught.

I agree about Weverburg.  I am excited about him in 2008.

Yea, Weverburg is like a WR anyway and with Crandall those are 2 very good Wrs.

Bostic still seemed a step slower than the other guys, but he has the ability to be a factor next year.

Add a good RB and maybe a another frosh WR or two and I think Ithaca might have a contender next year. 

That kid Lonson Becker seemed like a stud and made a crowd numbing hit in the MUC game.....

Byers will be key too...

[skunks_sidekick]

Was that the hit on Garcon coming over the middle?  That was nice...and brought a pretty big ooooohhhhh from the MUC crowd. 

[raiderpa]

note for College of New Jersey and DB Dave Fountura,,,,pic in USA today...get the link on latest page of OAC web site....

[JQV]

Post that in the NJAC.  TCNJ guys don't post in here and probably don't lurk in here either.

[Frank Rossi]

Well, after resting up from a challenging travel weekend (and, no, I'm not saying my travel was nearly as bad as Robby's or Pat's), I thought I'd wrap up Saturday's game with a list of ten topics ranked on a scale of 1 to 10.  Here it goes:

1) How impressed I was with Mt. Union's gameplay -- 7 out of 10.  I'm tough to impress, so don't take too much from a "low" score like that.  It felt, though, after the first quarter, that the MUC play calling was a bit bland.  I think the problem often in Division III is that coaches go to the well way too much before trying to catch the opponent off-guard elsewhere -- in Saturday's case, the runs up the middle in the second quarter with Kmic were obviously being snuffed out.  Yet, it required a halftime before the coaches made the adjustment to banging the ball to the outside.  Kmic has the speed; use it.  Also, Micheli was good, but I'd assume he'd admit he wasn't at his sharpest on Saturday -- missing some throws to Garcon and other receivers.  I don't expect him to be 100% efficient, but some of the throws were basic.  Otherwise, Mt. Union produced as expected, and take nothing away from them from these few nits I wrote.

2) How impressed I was with SJF's gameplay -- 4 out of 10.  There were some things in the Curry game that I saw that made me a little worried about whether SJF could produce on Saturday -- for instance, the no-huddle offense wasn't crisp against Curry, and Kramer had a so-so game.  The question was whether these were anomalies or repeatable offenses.  I think it became the latter.  My biggest gripe about SJF's gameplan was the bunched formation being run about 75% of the time.  You're a spread offense for a reason -- SPREAD OUT and get the defense away from the middle of the field for Kramer's and Reile's/Hanson's sake.  I think it eventually made a big difference in the game when the teams were using only 20 yards of the 50 yards of width of the field -- it's a lot easier to luck into a sack or standing up the runner up the gut.  So, overall, I was a little disappointed with SJF's play, although Kramer showed improvement from the prior week against Curry.

3) How much Steve Stepnick's injury contributed to the loss -- 2 out of 10.  Steve is a great player, so this is not a knock on him.  Where you need to look to assess this topic is at the MUC plays in the first quarter -- Kmic's running is what won them the quarter, regardless of Garcon's two TDs.  MUC didn't attempt to exploit the secondary until much later without a huge amount of success in the second quarter -- so the secondary actually did play decently on Saturday.  It was the run defense that just couldn't keep up with the Raiders -- rendering an SJF team with or without Stepnick pretty much powerless.

4) How much Mark Robinson's graduation contributed to the loss -- 4 out of 10.   FA91 was a big proponent of my partner in the booth to strap up the gear and get into the game with the imaginary year of eligibility FA91 was granting Mark.  This isn't a knock against Reile or Hanson, but sometimes the rotation in the backfield can help and sometimes it can hurt.  Robinson's experience, I think, would have allowed a couple more breaks for great yardage, especially in the red-zone area -- whereas the play of Reile and Hanson seemed, at times, confused in terms of timing.  Would Mark have run for 110+ yards again?  Probably not.  However, if he could've run for about 50 or 60 in the first half, it might have been enough to keep the game closer -- so I think he was definitely missed on the field.

5) How objective was Mark in the booth? -- 9 out of 10.  The OAC made a big deal out of this topic, aside from crucifying me.  As expected, though, Mark did a professional job in focusing on the game in a balanced manner.  First, you need to understand the following, that I didn't say last week at the sake of getting beheaded in Alliance:  even though it's a national broadcast, two of the three categories of listeners (SJF fans and fans without a dog in the fight) are rooting for the upset.  In addition, it's very tough to become loud and excited when a team is routinely winning by huge margins (I even experienced this in 2006 calling Union games after the 11-1 2005 season).  So, voice inflections and excitement levels will normally lean slightly in one direction because of the nature of the beast (see Al Michaels and John Madden during the Eagles/Pats game two Sundays ago for evidence).  That being said, Mark was joking about the loud MUC fans in the third quarter, complaining about Jackson's drum solo, complimenting MUC during their gameplay, and only bringing up his experience at SJF when I asked him a specific question about it.  Every so often, he caught himself, as did Mark catch me, getting too excited about an SJF play -- but it was rare it came to that.  He was a great addition to the NCAASports.com broadcast teams this year, and I hope Pat considers keeping him in the rotation for the seasons to come to reward his ability.

6) How did the Press Box compare to others in Division III? -- 9 out of 10.  In terms of hospitality alone, the Press Box was a pleasant place to be all day.  Add to that flat screen monitors with the local broadcast of the game, Internet ports and wireless Internet, long tables, two floors, plenty of food and, most importantly if you ask me, bathrooms -- this was virtually unrivaled.  The only Press Boxes that, for their time, were at or slightly above this experience were Cortland this year and Carnegie Mellon in 1996.  MUC does it right, no doubt.

7) How bad were the MUC fans under the Press Box compared to the rhetoric we heard over the prior week? -- 3 out of 10 (or 7 out of 10 if viewed as "how behaved were they?").  They were tame this week -- only really turning up the heat when there were two penalities they questioned called in the third quarter -- when they were up by over 30 points already.  The one thing I'll say is that the whole mock cheering thing when a kicker does something well down by 40 needs to stop -- whether you really believe it's well-intentioned banter or not, it feels sarcastic and won't be viewed as supportive 90% of the time.  Clap, sure -- but whistling and cheering?  Naw.  Don't go there -- let the other team's fans take care of that.

8 ) How good was Pierre Garcon on Saturday?  6 out of 10.  It's a lower score than you'd probably expect for this, except that I've seen Garcon play in two other games -- the National Semifinals and the Stagg Bowl from last year.  I was a lot more impressed with his play last year, especially in the Stagg Bowl, than I was this weekend.  He dropped a couple passes and his TD total was a little deceiving in terms of the yardage that went along with them.  Is he a good receiver?  Absolutely.  Is he NFL material?  I think he showed it moreso last year than in this game.  Would I take him lightly this weekend and, if they advance, the following weekend?  HELL NO.  However, he's got room for improvement this week when using the SJF game as a dipstick.

9) How sure am I that Mt. Union will win the Stagg Bowl this year? -- 9.5 out of 10.  The only reason that it's not 10 out of 10 is because I haven't really seen the other teams play.  However, while I still believe the East had a down year this year (and a result like Saturday helps give a slight bit more proof of that), Mt. Union has the ability to execute almost at will at times -- and that's scary.  Like I said, I don't think we saw their "A" game on Saturday -- and I pity the two remaining teams they'd face in a Stagg Bowl run.  Remember, SJF and MUC combined for -- ZERO turnovers Saturday.  Time of possession was nearly even.  Yardage was only about 210 yards apart (with the teams combining for over 900 yards).  Yet, the score was 42 points apart.  It would take a LOT of mistakes by the current cast at MUC to completely lose a game before they hoist the walnut and bronze yet again.

10) How bad was the Jackson drumming situation? -- 10 out of 10.  As I said on the air, I often try to defend players on the field when they do somewhat stupid things, but this one was indefensible -- and the actual drumming wasn't the worst part.  First, Jackson, you know better -- down by 43 at that point, you're doing nothing but selfish showboating that made Garcon's mini-endzone celebration seem like a walk in the park.  However, my biggest concern was not Jackson, but the sideline's response to Jackson.  Vosburgh was ready to lay him out, it was obvious -- and he walked away from that and into the arms, or chest bumping, several SJF players on the sideline.  Sure, some may not have heard or seen what exactly happened while sitting on the benches, but most players did know.  So, how would I handle this if I'm Vosburgh, somewhat powerless over Jackson assuming Jackson is done at SJF?  I grab a video of the sideline during Jackson's walk from the field and I punish every player that hugged, chest bumped or jumped up and down during his prank -- to the point of holding it against the captaincy of any player that may have done so for next year.  Strip them completely of the "C"?  No.  But definitely weigh it in the determination -- even if the team itself picks the captains.  After assessing normal punishment to all of these players, write an open letter to the MUC and Alliance newspapers apologizing to Coach Kehres and the team for such a stupid act on the part of SJF -- regardless of whether Kehres was laughing.  In my estimation, Vosburgh is a very classy coach -- and you really don't want to be associated with that act -- much like the team itself should have walked away from Jackson after he committed the act.  So, as a leader, Vosburgh needs to lead in terms of sportsmanship whether or not his team lost by 42.  Otherwise, this is going to just fester for the next nine months until these teams meet again.  The newspapers in the Ohio area should feel obligated to run such a letter -- they got a lot of mileage on the drumming in their 1,000 word articles instead of focusing on the game itself in their headlines.  From top to bottom, the incident was handled in a class-less manner from Jackson all the way down to the local media -- and while looking back it may make people laugh, the implications are not something you want to risk in the first place, in my opinion.

------

I know it's a lot, but with all the hype last week, I wanted to give an assessment of all the controversies and questions people have discussed.  Thanks for all the compliments on Saturday -- and it was our pleasure to bring the game to you (thanks to Pat for the opportunity).

[Jonny Utah]

Was that the hit on Garcon coming over the middle?  That was nice...and brought a pretty big ooooohhhhh from the MUC crowd. 

I think it was.  It was around the 25-45 yardline towards the scoreboard.....

[fisheralum91]

Frank,
I got railed on pretty hard for asking for Mark to come back--sheesh---it was supposed to be funny.
Anyway- good job again, and keep up the good work.

[Frank Rossi]

Frank,
I got railed on pretty hard for asking for Mark to come back--sheesh---it was supposed to be funny.
Anyway- good job again, and keep up the good work.

Naw, not railed on -- we were all laughing about how persistent you were about it.  It was a fun subplot to play off of in the booth.

[fisheralum91]

Oh- not by you Frank- by some of the posters.
I was glad that Mark mentioned the Fisher faithful a few times---got a charge out of it!

[fisheralum91]

I will say this- you made a game that was very tough to listen to --somewhat manageable.
I was glad that Mark was in the booth with you.


And holy crap- I just noticed- my karma took a nose dive after the weekend----wow- hope the MUC posters stay off the board for a while until i can replenish it!

[labart96]

I will say this- you made a game that was very tough to listen to --somewhat manageable.
I was glad that Mark was in the booth with you.


And holy crap- I just noticed- my karma took a nose dive after the weekend----wow- hope the MUC posters stay off the board for a while until i can replenish it!

K+ to Frank for his candid insights.

FA91 - guys from the OAC seem to be extremely sensitive about criticism (valid or in jest) of their teams.  I got into a ridiculous argument with a MUC fan last season on the Daily Dose over the fact the MUC DBs had let the UWW WRs get behind them a couple of times during the Stagg Bowl and the UWW QB overthrew the WRs for what would have been a couple of TDs.  Not saying anything negative about MUC nor their DBs, just an observation that as a former DB myself, the cardinal rule (no pun intended) is to always keep your man in front of you.  I still think MUC would have won, but this guy went absolutely nuts that I even insinuated that the MUC defenders did anything wrong. 

[boobyhasgameyo]

So I think Juvan is getting a lot of props for his performance against Mount Union which was deserved, but is Kramer not getting his love because he looks like he has a special interest in small children?? I cant remember his stats specifically but he had almost 300 yards passing with a touchdown and no interceptions, and the Fisher players had 2 passes they could have caught for touchdowns in the first half but it fell through their hands.  I think Kramer did an outstanding job and it's too bad his last game won't be remembered for how well he performed but instead it will be remembered as a blowout.

Also Fisher had more rushing than anybody this year I'm assuming, they actually got to around 60 something yards and Reile averaged 4.1 per carry but I think Kramer being sacked took that total back 24 yards or so and we finished rushing in the 40's.  I didn't realize Hanson was a senior as well, does he have junior eligibility? or is he done?

I have only seen Kramer's backup play twice this year and was not impressed either time, maybe he is better than I give him credit for but I hope we get some stud freshman qb coming in.

Lastly I'm glad we face Mount Union first next year, sure we will most likely come away with an L and that's not a good way to start out the season but I think it will make the Empire 8 competition seem a touch easier in comparison (I don't know, just looking at the glass half full)....Plus Ithaca has to come to Fisher this upcoming season so I look forward to that. 

[skunks_sidekick]

Booby...I will admit that I am not a fan of Kramer's, and when you look at the stats he really did have a decent game.  He did move a bit better this year (more side to side to escape pressure a few times) compared to last year, but he just didn't ever give me the impression that he was the strong, let's get it done leader SJF needed.  Maybe it's those black, wrestling shoes lookin' spikes he wears that emphasizes his pigeon-toed walk even more.   

One thing about the rushing (a little nitpicking I know), but about 30 of those yards came on SJF's last possession against Mount's second D.  It appeared that SJF's running was better last year, but that also might have been a product of Mount's run defense being that much better this year.

[boobyhasgameyo]

I wasn't aware 30 of the yards came on the last possession because I booked it by then, but I still don't think that matters because teams tried running against that 2nd unit with just as much failure since the 2nd unit probably got just as much time as the 1st this season and therfore contributed to the nasty 12 yards allowed per game...Plus that 2nd unit becomes your first unit next year lol

Also I think Kramer did display leadership, I think our offense was efficient the first half and parts of the 2nd, Mount just did a great job of shutting us down on the plays that mattered the most (redzone).  If you got points for moving it down the field we would have been golden

[HScoach]

Not that it matters, but the last play of the game was a 30 +/- yard run for SJF.

No doubt Robinson was the much better back over Hanson and Reile.  Not even close.  Kramer was about the same as last year.  The porous rush defense (again) was my biggest surprise.  I was confident that MUC would score well into the 30's at the least, but I assumed they'd have to go to the air more than they did.  410 yards rushing as a team was a complete surprise given what Kmic did last year.


Frank:  good synopsis of your trip to MUC.  Hope you enjoyed it.