FB: Liberty League

[Frank Rossi]

TGP:  Great write-up.  One minor correction though.  Mount lost their field goal kicker to an injury mid-season.  And unless he returns to the lineup this week, you can forget about a FG attempt.  Their replacement kicker can barely kick extra points.  And Mount has punted 14 times in 11 games.


Also, I participated in the press conference call with Coach Cragg this afternoon and thought he was a great interview.   Very lively and quite a sense of humor.  I've never met him, and know nothing about his coaching style or team, but after a 30 minute call, I found myself wishing him luck in future seasons.  Sounds like a good man. 

Here's some quotes from him:


On playing Mount Union
"You have to know who you are going against and it is a challenge.   It is a great challenge because they have great players and are well coached.  It has been a dream of mine to play Mount Union, we have a chance to make a dream come true Saturday."


On the status of Hobart"
We think our players our playing their best football right now; our defense is strong and offense has been up and down, but we have won some game are here right now and I am proud of our players and coaches and what they have done."

On strategy for Saturday
"We have to try and stay balanced and somehow keep them off balance.  We must try to find a way to be in the game in fourth quarter then see what happens."

On how your defense has 19 interceptions in 10 games
"We watch a lot of film and look for matchups and if there is something we feel like we can mix in with our base defense."

He gave us a great interview during the 11/16 episode of "In the HuddLLe" toward the end of the show.  Go to http://blogtalkradio.com/LLRecap and look for the archive on the left side of the page.  It's worth a listen... And remember, I'm a Union guy, so I always have feared his coaching style :-). But he gave us some good laughs and some pretty good candid responses throughout.

[theaprof]

Hey--if I'm not on here for the next couple of days--Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours--safe travels to all.  I'd love to meet some of the Hobart fans before the game.  PM me and we can try to set something up.  I offered last week to trade a t-shirt or hat with any opposing fan--the offer still stands--MUC gear for HOBART gear.  I just try to collect stuff from DIII teams--so far CNU, Bridgewater, UWW, Wooster, Oberlin, Trinity, Heidelberg,.......

Here's hoping for a great weekend of football!!

[HScoach]

hscoach-
Coach Cragg is very aggressive. On offense, defense and special teams.  He's always pulling something out of his bag of tricks.  His defense is very aggressive and often bring 4 to a side.  Seeing as you've seen way more MUC games than I have, have teams often come in and been aggressive on Defense?  Bart likes to bring the heat!! 

Mount is by far the most aggresive team in the OAC defensively, but Capital over the last few years has been pretty tough by playing tight coverage and stacking the box to shutdown the run game.  They don't blitz a ton, but they bring it enough to keep you guessing .  The last team that really brought the house was New Jersey last season, but they blitzed every play and was very predictable.  If you picked it up, there was a huge play to be made.   Whitewater was very aggressive too with their front four.  Lots of stunting and gap assignments to get penetration.

I can't guarantee that an ultra-aggressive defense will work, but I can guarantee that a read & react defense will not.  The best way to stop Kmic is to make him cut in the backfield and then gang tackle.  If he gets to the linebackers untouched, he's a handful.

[HScoach]

Theaprof,

Any chance you could trade with the guy from Marietta that stole my 2005 Mount championship sweatshirt out of the pressbox while we were on the air?

[theoriginalupstate]

Theaprof,

Any chance you could trade with the guy from Marietta that stole my 2005 Mount championship sweatshirt out of the pressbox while we were on the air?

What the 8 other ones dirty?

[MUC57]

Hobart fans -

As you are, hopefully, preparing to come to Alliance this weekend, I give you something fun to think about.

Prominent teams Mount Union has NEVER beaten (with records in parentheses):
   Michigan (0-8)
   Michigan State (0-4)
   Ohio State (0-1)
   Notre Dame (0-1)
   Pittsburgh (0-2)
   Hobart (0-2)

Have a safe trip and look forward to seeing you in Alliance!

[skunks_sidekick]

The last "aggressive" team (not including that not to be mentioned team Mount played in the Stagg) Mount faced was TCNJ last year in the second round.  TCNJ made the committment that they were not going to get beat by Kmic.  The shut him down all day.

HOWEVER.......Micheli lit them up without much resistance. 

Final.........Mount - 59   TCNJ - 7

It will take that kind of effort to stop the run, coupled with GREAT man to man coverage from the DB's. 

Someone from the OAC board mentioned that they remembered going/playing in the last MUC vs. Hobart game at Hobart (1973?), and there was a beer tent there by the stadium/field?  Tell me THAT is still happening and I think Jr. needs to get Hobart on his consideration list!   

[res ipsa loquitur]

The last "aggressive" team (not including that not to be mentioned team Mount played in the Stagg) Mount faced was TCNJ last year in the second round.  TCNJ made the committment that they were not going to get beat by Kmic.  The shut him down all day.

HOWEVER.......Micheli lit them up without much resistance. 

Final.........Mount - 59   TCNJ - 7

It will take that kind of effort to stop the run, coupled with GREAT man to man coverage from the DB's. 

Someone from the OAC board mentioned that they remembered going/playing in the last MUC vs. Hobart game at Hobart (1973?), and there was a beer tent there by the stadium/field?  Tell me THAT is still happening and I think Jr. needs to get Hobart on his consideration list!   

Yes.  As late as 1996, and maybe later, the SSA (Statesmen Athletic Assoc.) tent was literally on the grass.  Usually just off sideline, near the south endzone.  Rumor has it that a flying beer bottle or two prompted its removal to the track, where they set it up now.

Sadly the tent on the field has gone the way of the Dodo.




Here's wishing a happy thanksgiving to all, and go 'Bart.

[D O.C.]

Their replacement kicker can barely kick extra points.

Aha! An Achilles heal.

[MUC57]

 Mount Union's kicker is 48 of 49 on extra points (the 1 miss hit the upright).
No achilles heel here.

[radiomike]

Though no longer in the booth for the Statesmen, my heart and loyalty is still with them. I wish them the best in the game this weekend and I know Coach Cragg will have prepared his team. It would be great to have Hobart take that next step and become "giant" killers this weekend. Go 'Bart!

[dlippiel]

Though no longer in the booth for the Statesmen, my heart and loyalty is still with them. I wish them the best in the game this weekend and I know Coach Cragg will have prepared his team. It would be great to have Hobart take that next step and become "giant" killers this weekend. Go 'Bart!

With you on that radiomike

GO BART....GO PUMPKIN HEADS...!

[radiomike]

Though no longer in the booth for the Statesmen, my heart and loyalty is still with them. I wish them the best in the game this weekend and I know Coach Cragg will have prepared his team. It would be great to have Hobart take that next step and become "giant" killers this weekend. Go 'Bart!

With you on that radiomike

GO BART....GO PUMPKIN HEADS...!

Thanks. It is odd not traveling to cover sports on Thanksgiving weekend for the 2nd year in a row. I look forward to listening to Ted call the game from Ohio this weekend.

[HScoach]

Going back to the question about defenses against MUC, though they didn't really blitz, Ohio Northern consistently stacked 8 tight in the box to stop Kmic and they tackled very well.  They succeeded in stoppping Kmic (89 yards and 1 TD on 25 carries), however Greg Micheli lit them up going 23 of 25 passing for 323 yards, 3 touchdowns, and added another 50 yards on six rushes.   

One big difference between ONU and Hobart this week is the weather.  The Nothern game was in September on a perfect day.  The weather forecast for this Saturday is upper 30's with a chance of rain/snow mix.   At this time of year, I think the best approach would be to sellout against the run and take your chances with the passing game not being consistent enough to beat you in questionable weather conditions.


The biggest key in stopping Kmic isn't the scheme or number of guys tight to the line of scrimmage or your blitz packages.  It's tackling.  He gets a ton of yards after contact.  He isn't big (5'-9" 193 lbs) and doesn't have great speed, but what he does have is incredible vision, balance and a relentless attacking attitude with the ball.  He delivers as many hits to the secondaries as he takes.  I wish I knew how to cut video clips from my TiVo and post them to You Tube, because I have a half dozen or so recordings of him this season where he turned back into the field instead of going out of bounds to blast a safety coming across the field.  It's rather hilarious to see in slow motion.  The best hit was against John Carroll where he drilled the free safety right in front of the JCU bench, knocked him backwards 3-4 yards, and then stepped on the kid as he ran him over.  It was a thing of beauty.

If you want to stop Kmic from getting 100+ yards the first guy has to make the tackle.   To stop him from getting 200+ then the secondary needs to tackle well. That's what separated teams that handled Kmic (Whitewater, Ohio Northern, Capital in previous years) from those that couldn't.  This season's offensive line is average, but Kmic does so much braking of tackles in the open field that his production hasn't dropped off even though the entire O-line graduated from last season.

Whitewater controlled Nate with very disruptive front four and the best collective group of LB's I've ever seen.  Ohio Northern did it by flooding the line of scrimmage and tackling Kmic before he could really get going, and when he did get loose, the secondary pursued very well.  And the good Capital defenses held Kmic in check because of great safeties that flew to the ball and never missed a tackle in space.  He had a ton of 5-8 yard runs against Capital that normally would have been 20+ yards due to the Hausler brothers at strong and free safety.

I know it sounds overly simplistic, but I've seen every game the kid has played and watched a ton of film on him too, and the difference between his average games (100-125 yds) and the great ones (200+) isn't the scheme played against Mount, it's how well you tackle him in open space.

[rkp1]

hscoach

So you have seen all of Kmic's games?  Were you at W&J his only JV game?  Father and I were.  After watching the first series, my 85 year old father said " I got to live four more years."  Father will be at the game Sat.  He did not go last week, but listened to you and Ric on the radio, that made him deside to come to the game this week.