FB: Midwest Conference

[scottie]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCnZqg1RgGA

That is good! Where did blue's boy end up?

Still on the IC roster, I believe. 

[fulbakdad]

Congrats to Bryce Jones.  Lake Forest outside linebacker named MWC Defensive Player of the Week.  He was hitting Lawrence players like a cement truck in the backfield all day Saturday. 

[Maverick]

Congrats to Brik Wedekind of Monmouth College on being named an Athlete of the Week by the Beyond Sports Network for his punting performance against Beloit!

[TitanPride]

Only 4 games this week.  Cornell, Illinois College and Monmouth are on bye.

   Lake Forest @ Grinnell
   St. Norbert @ Ripon
   Carroll @ Knox
   Beloit @ Lawrence
   
I'm really interested in how the St. Norbert/Ripon game plays out.  This is a big game for both teams.  With a loss, Ripon would be 0-3 and staring at a trip to Jacksonville in Week 4.  St. Norbert can't afford to lose a game to a Ripon squad which appears to be headed for a middle of the pack finish, at best.

In the other games, I think Lake Forest's offense will exploit Grinnell's D and win by a couple of TDs.  Knox played St. Norbert tough, but I would think that Carroll should be able to go into Galesburg and put up some points.  Finally, Lawrence has lost 2 games by a combined 6 points -- I like them to win pretty big against Beloit.  Anyone with a differing opinion? 

[OhIowa]

As I am trying to familiarize myself with the MWC, what can you tell me about Grinnell?  I know they typically are small in terms of roster size, but I believe I counted 45 this year.  How typical is this for Grinnell?  In my days at Cornell, roster size was always an issue.  Grinnell seems to always squeak out a 4-6/5-5 season, with an occassional run at 6-4.  I know they are a top tier academic school with a hefty price tag to go with it, but is that the main reason they strugle with numbers?  They have great facilities, and in my opinion, on of the best natural surfaces around.  Just curious on everyone's thoughts. 

[bluenote]

TitanPride....I'm with you on the Lawrence smack-down!

[TitanPride]

As I am trying to familiarize myself with the MWC, what can you tell me about Grinnell?  I know they typically are small in terms of roster size, but I believe I counted 45 this year.  How typical is this for Grinnell?  In my days at Cornell, roster size was always an issue.  Grinnell seems to always squeak out a 4-6/5-5 season, with an occassional run at 6-4.  I know they are a top tier academic school with a hefty price tag to go with it, but is that the main reason they strugle with numbers?  They have great facilities, and in my opinion, on of the best natural surfaces around.  Just curious on everyone's thoughts.

In my few years watching the MWC, Grinnell has always had around the 45-55 players.  I will disagree a little with you on their record.  Looking back on Grinnell's website, the 2010 season was Grinnell's first winning year since at least 1999 (I could only find records going back to 2000).  During the early 2000's, they had a lot of 1-9's and 2-8's. 

I will agree that they seem to have good facilities and a solid head coach.  I'm not sure how much of an emphasis they place on football (or on athletics in general) as evidence by their small roster.  It's hard to compete with 45 vs. 100+, especially later in the year when injuries take effect.  This year compared to the last two, I think they are lacking the offensive skill players that they've had in the last two years which helped bump them closer to the .500. 

[fulbakdad]

Look for Lake Forest's defense to step up tomorrow against Grinnell.  I think Grinnell will also see a lot of the updated Forester running attack......

[wnc52]

When I played at IC--1998-2001 seasons--Grinnell was actually one of the better teams in the conference.  Going off memory here, but I think they may have even won the league in either 98, 99, or maybe both even.  Outside of those few seasons, though, I think they've been towards the bottom of the MWC.

[Redhawk Sighting]

When I played at IC--1998-2001 seasons--Grinnell was actually one of the better teams in the conference.  Going off memory here, but I think they may have even won the league in either 98, 99, or maybe both even.  Outside of those few seasons, though, I think they've been towards the bottom of the MWC.

So I had to do some fact checking on this and indeed Grinnell did win the conference in 1998 and in 1997 they won the South division.  But since then they haven't won the conference. I played at Ripon 2000-2004 and grinnell was not that great during those time.  I agree that Grinnell runs into the same issue recruiting that Lawrence ran into and that was high academic standards to get in.  I'm not saying the other schools don't hold high standards for entry, but not as high as Grinnell and Lawrence.  It also has to do with the type of degree's that are offered.  Lawrence being a "music" school, you don't see a lot of football players that are going into a BS in Theatre.  In the last couple years Lawrence has lowered their entry requirements to help foster a football program that can compete. 

As for those of you who are going to get on me for Ripon's last 2 games.  I have no excuses for the play that happened against WI Luthern, that was just poor execution.  The Carrol game, it took them a half to get their sh!t together and put some points on the board.  It's tough to win a game when you are down 24-3 at half.  They had a great second half, but just ran out of time.  As for the Norberts game, I can only say that Ripon better be coming out with blood on their minds and play with no regret, because I can't remember the last time Ripon started 0-2 not to mention 0-3.  I won't be able to attend so any updates from me won't happen to later that night, but I will be receiving live updates during the game.  Go RedHawks!!!!!!!!!!!

[Maverick]

If I remember correctly, Grinnell scored a ton of points behind Troy Daugherty (does anyone remember if his nickname was Doc?) when they won the MWC in 1998.  During my time at Monmouth, we played a couple games at Grinnell and I can still recall seeing the 1998 MWC Champions flag flying at one end of the field.  Like the rest of you have said though, they have certainly had a tough time since then.

Week 3

Beloit at Lawrence - BC
Carroll at Knox - CU
Lake Forest at Grinnell - LFC
St. Norbert at Ripon - SNC

Stay healthy this weekend Fighting Scots!

[fulbakdad]

Lake Forest score first against Grinell on a Scaffidi pass.  PAT blocked.  LFC 6-grinell 0

[fulbakdad]

Grinell takes advantage of a LFC roughing the passer penalty that would have forced a fg attemt.  They score on a 5 yard pass.  Grinell 7 lFC 6

[gbpuckfan]

SNC leads Ripon 21-7 in 2nd

[fulbakdad]

Lake Forest d lineman intercepts a screen pass and goes 70 yards for a td.  PAT no good.  Lake Forest 12 Grinell 7