FB: Midwest Conference

[papa90]

As far as predictions go.
Monmouth may have lost Tanny and Zigler and few other great athletes.  Monmouth will bo on top again.  Bell has things running the right way.  Monmouth finally beat Norberts this past year and that is what they needed to gain their confidence.  Now Monmouth knows thay can beat them.  Go Scots.  Looking forward to that first game against Wartburg.

[fightintitan2006]

that is pretty crappy reasoning Papa

just because a coach has things running the right way doesnt mean anything when you lose the best qb and lb in school history.

give us some reasons that Monmouth tops Norbs again...

[papa90]

If you lose your top offensive and defensive player that does not mean that your team slumps.  Monmouth reloads.  Zigler was a hell of a player but it is the other players around you that make you a great player.  The rest of the D i am sure will be in peak form.  As for Tanny he was a great QB, but in Coach Bell's tenure thus far he has had two quarterbacks, Rob Purlee and tanny and both broke school records, I am sure that the quarterbacks he has will step in and produce just fine.  They dont need an all american QB, they have a solid team coming back.

As for your sorry A**.  If the program is good than so are the players.  You must know nothing about athletics in general.  The top team are always at the top, they keep getting better and better.  Norberts was there for a while, but with dumbs**ts like you talking about them, they apparently are on the decline.  Have a great summer, wetting your self over how good Monmouth is going to be.  Rooster
Congrads on the wedding next week.  Sorry I cant be there in FL, but i give you my best.   

[fightintitan2006]

You are correct, I know very little about athletics, but I have learned a great deal from you in the past few days....thank you

But just so I have this straight, by your calculations, USC and Texas will meet again in the DI national championship...correct?...because getting the choo choo train rolling in the right direction overcomes all else, for instance, having a combined 17 players drafted into the NFL..

Oh yes and if your correlation between a dumb**** talking about a team and that team's impending demise holds true, things don't look good for Monmouth....considering a few posts up I said they that the Scots will win two or three titles in a row after next season.

Unlike yourself, I will provide reasoning for my statement, rather than sticking the keyboard in my mouth and going with whatever appears on the screen...Bell has shown he is a superior coach in the league, but has never had superior talent...I still think SNC was the better team talent-wise last year, but were outcoached and outplayed.

I think Bell has had a little bit of luck landing two All-American caliber QBs in a row and I think this might be the honeymoon season...that being said, I think Bell has the ability to turn a less talented QB into a top of the line player, so a honeymoon season will likely mean hanging 40 or 50 on most MWC teams, but falling to SNC in the new QBs debut against top-level talent.   

Purlees and Tanney's first games against SNC
Purlee    11-32   93 yards, 3 int
Tanney 8-17 145 yards  2tds  1int

Those numbers tell me that there is a learning curve involved because the talent level is higher at SNC than other MWC schools. Maybe Wartburg will prepare the new QB for the SNC game, but I don't think we will see a pillar to post qb for MC next year. I do think who ever comes on at the end of the season will lead MC past SNC and to the playoffs for the next several years.

[fightintitan2006]

oh really Papa?   good response

[Emmys First Class]

fightintitan, nicely done!
What's the word Papa? haha

[JUSTINTYEM]

I also heard about Seth Schussler coming back to play football in the Fox Valley area.Not for Norby's.But for LU.Yes Aljay will be the tailback for the vikings this fall,with Ebert moving out to a WR spot.

[papa90]

I am sorry about the response being so late.  I do have other things on my agenda.
Good post fightin titan
Good point on Purlee and Tanney starting off bad against St. Norberts.  They did struggle against better competition.  However, Tanny may have started out as All-American caliber but Purlee was not a highly sout after recruit coming out of Mt. Carroll.  He had to work his way to the player he was, and yes Coach Bell should get all the credit for that.  Hopefully, the next QB will not struggle against better comp. (We will find out against Wartburg) 

I did not see the Norberts game this past season, so I can't comment on how good Norberts was, but Monmouth has a pretty dang good team when I watched them.

As far as the USC-Texas statement, I am not stating that Monmouth will win the national championship, but a team doesn't go from 1st to last in a years time.  USC and Texas will be in the top 10, so yes when you get the train rolling you tend to be on top, especially if you have a handful of the same players and a great coach. 

[fightintitan2006]

Papa...I may have twisted some of your previous comments out of their intended context because I didn't appreciate your tone...I agree with you about USC and Texas reaping the rewards of their recent success and putting together programs that will be near the Top 10, so I understand what you mean by getting things rolling...in MWC terms, we can agree that talent-wise there is MC and SNC and everybody else at this point in time.

[BigShow]

any word on new editions to the Lawrence football program for the upcoming season?

[papa90]

Agree with that statement!!

Congrads again Rooster on the wedding.  Hope it was fun becoming a man.

[coocooforcoekohawk]

Looking at the non-conference games in the MWC this year the Monmouth vs. Wartburg game is the most important game any team in the conference will play this year.  It is even more important than the SNC vs. Monmouth game.  It has the power to enable an at large bid with a win.  A Ripon over Oshkosh win would also bolster the MWC's chances.  However, it would be a lot more interesting to watch Grinnell vs. Kenyon if it was in a swimming pool. 

[bayer/berlex]

Though I agree that an at-large bid would be nice, and that wins against strong non-conference opponents would aid that cause, I take exception to the comment regarding the Grinnell/Kenyon matchup. If it was meant as a compliment to the swimming programs at both institutions, I stand corrected. If it was meant as a "slap in the face" to the athletes that will be "banging heads" on the gridiron on September 2nd in Grinnell, shame on the poster! Kenyon's head coach is a Grinnell grad and he has improved the Kenyon program dramatically in the last couple of years. Kenyon will also be playing Claremount-McKenna in California before beginning their conference schedule. Grinnell had a very tough year in 2005, only four seniors and a slew of injuries may have played a role. However, the previous year the Pioneers posted a respectable 6 and 4 record (which included wins over Ripon & Carroll). I've been a Midwest Conference fan for several years and really admire the play of the hundreds of scholar athletes that the various teams put forth each season. My hope is that all posters do the same.

[coocooforcoekohawk]

Though I agree that an at-large bid would be nice, and that wins against strong non-conference opponents would aid that cause, I take exception to the comment regarding the Grinnell/Kenyon matchup. If it was meant as a compliment to the swimming programs at both institutions, I stand corrected.

I am a former swimmer from Coe college.  We used to get shellacked about four times a year by the pioneers.  I still have my Buddha invitational T-shirts.  If swimming were like football and broken down into regions Grinnell would be the St. John's of the west and Kenyon is the Mount Union of swimming.  Much respect to Coach Obermiller, Luther Davis, Joe Zimsen, David Ressner, and the rest of the early nineties pioneer swim teams. 8)

So you may stand bayer/berlex.

[bayer/berlex]

CooCooforCoe. . .
     My apologies for assuming the worst. You lived the scholar-athlete life at Coe. I'm hoping that all of Grinnell's teams will someday achieve the type of success of that the swim teams have provided. Best of luck to Coe next season!