FB: Midwest Conference

[fulbakdad]

Night,

Yes the defender does have to play the ball.  He can't be in contact with the reciever and not be playing the ball.  Not looking at the ball is an indicator that he is not playing the ball.

[OhIowa]

Ash,  I agree.  it was a good game. 

There were two plays that the refs called or didn't call that stick in my mind.  There was one where a player was injured so it went by without much excitement.  But one of your players was in contact with the LFC reciever and the ball hit him in the back of the head, obvious pass interferance not called.  He didn't look back at the ball and the ball even hit him on the back of the helmet.

The second was after the flury of flags had been thrown.  Your team threw a pass to a reciever who caught it around the 4 yard line.  It was a good thow, good catch, and the LFC defender hit him.  It was a hard hit, but I didn't see anything wrong with it.  The ref then throws a flag, they have a conference, than announce "unsportsmanlike conduce, High hit".  I went searching for that one.  Never seen it before, nor could I find it.
Best of luck to you guys for the remainder too.   There's still a lot of football left!

I didn't get a chance to watch the game, and not trying to take a side, just throwing my 2 cents in.  I may be wrong, but wasn't a "high hit" part of the rule changes that took place when they put an emphasis on leading with the helmet, spearing, etc?  It may just be in the NFL, but isn't making contact above the shoulder a penalty now?  Again, I havent' seen the play and don't know if that fits here.  Feel free to correct me.

[fulbakdad]

It's a rugby rule infraction, lol, but couldn't find it when I looked in the football rules.

[wartknight]

Night,

Yes the defender does have to play the ball.  He can't be in contact with the reciever and not be playing the ball.  Not looking at the ball is an indicator that he is not playing the ball.

We may be saying the same thing. As long as the defender is not in contact beyond the line of scrimmage when the ball is in the air, there is no PI (face guarding is ok). However, officials may key on a defensive player who is not playing the ball & that flag may be thrown regardless of contact. Announcers drive me nuts when they get their panties in a bunch when the ref doesn't throw the flag when the defender doesn't look back, even when there clearly was no contact. It is not the NFL.

[TitanPride]

Conference standings, remaining schedule, and remaining opponents' conference win %:

Lake Forest      7-0   vs. Ripon, IDLE, @ St. Norbert   (.667)
Illinois College   5-1   @ Monmouth, vs. Cornell, vs. Carroll   (.611)
St. Norbert      5-1    @ Beloit, @ Grinnell, vs. Lake Forest   (.450)
Carroll             4-2    @ Cornell,  vs. Beloit,  @ Illinois College  (.421)
Monmouth       4-2    vs. Illinois College, @ Ripon, vs. Knox   (.474)
Cornell            3-3    vs. Carroll, @ Illinois College, vs. Grinnell  (.611)
Ripon              3-3    @ Lake Forest, vs. Monmouth, vs. Lawrence  (.632)
Grinnell           2-4    vs. Lawrence, vs. St. Norbert, @ Cornell  (.500)
Lawrence        1-5    @ Grinnell,  @ Knox,  vs. Ripon  (.316)
Knox              1-6     IDLE, vs. Lawrence, @ Monmouth  (.417)
Beloit             0-7     vs. St. Norbert, @ Carroll, IDLE  (.750)

Certainly, Lake Forest is in the driver's seat.  Of the contenders, they have the toughest remaining opponents, albeit only 2 of them.  St. Norbert has the easiest remaining schedule (before hosting LF), but ask Monmouth about that trip to Grinnell. 

For Lake Forest, this week's game really doesn't matter.  They could lose to Ripon and still earn the Pool A playoff berth by beating St. Norbert.  Carroll, Monmouth, and others would appreciate Ripon pulling the upset though and bringing some chaos to the conference race.   

[fulbakdad]

A win for Lake Forest this week would give them at least a tie for the conference.

[scottie]

T'would seem that the two biggest games remaining this season are IC @ Monmouth (can the Scots play spoiler and knock IC out of contention?) and LF @ SNC (for all of the marbles?).  Winner likely gets a trip St. Thomas.

[Pat Coleman]

T'would seem that the two biggest games remaining this season are IC @ Monmouth (can the Scots play spoiler and knock IC out of contention?) and LF @ SNC (for all of the marbles?).  Winner likely gets a trip St. Thomas.

Or Oshkosh. The UMAC winner has to play somewhere, also.

[fulbakdad]

We'll look to this week for now. 

The Triple Option.  Actually my favorite offense.  When my son was looking at schools I remember talking to the Ithica D-Coordinator.  He was telling me how he hated to play Springfield because of it.  You spend all season putting your Defense together, and then have to stop and teach them the Triple O attack, then go back to you're regular D.  If you have a scootin QB that can throw, 2 good Fullbacks (preferably one quick guy and one bruiser), and a quick O-line it creates a lot of problems.  it's difficult to throw any complicated Defense's against it cuz you only have a week to prepare for it.  \

At the time, my son was looking at Springfield too.  I had gotten a little excited for it.

So how does Ripon do with it?

[Redhawk Sighting]

We'll look to this week for now. 

The Triple Option.  Actually my favorite offense.  When my son was looking at schools I remember talking to the Ithica D-Coordinator.  He was telling me how he hated to play Springfield because of it.  You spend all season putting your Defense together, and then have to stop and teach them the Triple O attack, then go back to you're regular D.  If you have a scootin QB that can throw, 2 good Fullbacks (preferably one quick guy and one bruiser), and a quick O-line it creates a lot of problems.  it's difficult to throw any complicated Defense's against it cuz you only have a week to prepare for it.  \

At the time, my son was looking at Springfield too.  I had gotten a little excited for it.

So how does Ripon do with it?

I might be Biased, but I think Ripon does really well with it.  They had a slow start this season, but as a whole, this offense which has been run at Cornell and then was brought to Lawrence, and now is at Ripon has lead the conference in total offense and rushing yards basically every year.  There aren't many men out there like you and me fulbakdad..  This is a dying offense, not to many people like it because it's slow developing.  I love it, grown up head first in this offense.  It's interesting, you never know where the ball is and if it's run correctly, blocked correctly, you can get some major yards out of it.  I totally agree about the D comment, "back in the day" this type of offense was run at a couple schools in the conference, so you actually started coaching it along with your basic.  Now it's just Ripon, so it is something new for that week.  I wish I could make the game this weekend, daughters birthday party.  I think you will be impressed, it's a hard offense to stop and if the D can stop LF offense it will be a great game on Saturday!! 

[fulbakdad]

Hold the Birthday party at LFC!  We give you your own tailgating area!  LOL.

[Redhawk Sighting]

Hold the Birthday party at LFC!  We give you your own tailgating area!  LOL.

I'll pass your info to my wife, we'll see how that goes, lol...

[TitanPride]

T'would seem that the two biggest games remaining this season are IC @ Monmouth (can the Scots play spoiler and knock IC out of contention?) and LF @ SNC (for all of the marbles?).  Winner likely gets a trip St. Thomas.

Definitely could happen.  Monmouth has the running attack that gives IC fits.  Add to that, Michael Bates hasn't played since late in the Lake Forest game, and the IC offense, while still very effective against lesser competition, could struggle against Monmouth's D.  IC will definitely be ready to play though (as you would expect).  In the 3+ years that IC's current group of seniors have played, they have beaten all of the teams on the 10 game schedule at least once, except for Monmouth.  I know they would love to change that, but more importantly, they want to stay in contention for a conference title and Pool A berth.

[TitanPride]

I'm really excited for the Ripon vs. Lake Forest game.  It's strength vs. strength --- Run O vs. Run D.  Lake Forest is a big physical team, and they should have some fun playing against Ripon's offensive attack.  If I was Ripon's QB or one of the RBs, I'd be asking for some extra padding to wear under the uniform this week. 

[fulbakdad]

Give me the Option, bring back the Wishbone!  No more tip toeing in the MWC!!!!