FB: Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference

[Pat Coleman]

Wow, BIG BROTHER is watching... PC Police meister....  TU2598 is a TU grad, who also happens to be in the Athletics Staff at D1 Tulane.  What he was trying to say (and he yhas alluded to it before) is that D1 scholarships athletes get unbelievable amounts of attention from people in his position to make sure that they attend classes, study, get all the help they need to stay out of trouble, and stay eligible.
No one that I know of from anywhere in DIII, let alone the SCAC can say that their admin offers those kinds of 'services' to student athletes.  He seems to know the area and the school and commented that he hoped at player FROM those environs, to those environs (Millsaps) would do well on his own,,, THAT'S ALL!!!!  Ease off Pat!

Historymajor, how many usernames do you need?

[consultant]

Pardon my soapbox appearance:

I'll accept TU2698's apology regarding Juan Joseph.   On another note, TU2698 raises a fundamental talking point of why D-III athletics is so great!  He states that in scholarship programs student-athletes are told "precisely when and where to be every moment of the week, and are assigned tutors after having been told what classes to take."  I certainly understand that he made this statement as a generality, but D-III student-athletes do carry a lot of the burden of the process of their matriculation, whereas at the D-I level, and I would assume at the D-II level, student-athletes are extended many more opportunities to help them academically.  Having worked in compliance at a West Coast Conference school for the past 6 months, I am aware of what goes on behind the scenes regarding eligibility at a D-I school.  In short, student-athletes have at their disposal an academic support department which is overseen by the compliance department.  There are many levels of oversight to help ensure progress toward degree requirements.  And students get notified if they are in danger of not meeting particular standards.    

But I tell our student-athletes every chance I get to take ownership of their "academics" just like they take ownership of their "athletics."  I try to instill in them to accept responsibility for their actions.  I learned these values as a baseball student-athlete at Millsaps.  Too often on the D-I level I have seen first hand or heard of student-athletes who complain and get mom and dad involved when they fail to succeed in the classroom.  They try to bite the hand that feeds him, when they really need to direct blame at themselves and resolve to get it right.  I'm not in the business of babysitting student-athletes.  But I am in the business of being a resource for them.  To that end, D-III schools do have built in resource systems on the institutional level, but D-III student-athletes know how to UTILIZE them as opposed to USE them.    D-I student-athletes could learn a lot from D-III student-athletes.  

[frank_ezelle]

Maybe I can have the last word on the Juan Joseph story.  I do think TU2698's comment came out different than intended and I've had that happen to me from time to time, so apologies accepted and no hard feelings.

Regarding Juan (who just won his 3rd Offensive POW in the last 4 weeks), I should point out that he was not an instant success at Millsaps.  At the start of last year it was between Juan and Burt Pereira for the #3 QB position.  Raymece Savage was the starter and when he got hurt it was freshman Billy Orsagh who took over.  Juan didn't really get to play until the last 2 games after Orsagh was injured.

I assume that he put in a tremendous amount of work to move from a bench warmer to being a stats leader in the SCAC in one year.  It's not a stretch for me to believe that he is just as dedicated to his school work.  Like all students at Millsaps, if he did need extra help in any particular area then I'm sure he found it thanks to the high professional standards of the Millsaps professors and the low 12 to 1 student to teacher ratio (my shameless plug for Millsaps College).

And now with all that behind us, I agree with exmajor that Millsaps needs to take care of the business at hand and not look forward to the Trinity game.  Sewanee played great on the road in their 24-31 loss to DePauw and then they laid an egg at home last week with a 20-44 loss to Austin.  I don't count on the Sewanee players quitting on the season and I suspect that Millsaps will get the best that Sewanee has to offer this weekend.  Combine that best effort with an unfocused Millsaps team and I certainly see the potential for an upset.

[frank_ezelle]

Before going on to the Sewanee game, some of you may want to see photos from the Millsaps-DePauw game.  As always, they are under the "Football 2006" section at the following link:

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v283/Millsaps_Majors/

I wish I had time to add captions to these photos but there are just too many sports and too little time.  Just as an aside, I'm really trying hard to get photos with recognizable faces this year and I have most of those posted in the football section under "Players and Coaches".  These are some of my favorite photos since they portray real people instead of just anonymous players recognizable only by their jersey number.

[Ron Boerger]

I'm sure Juan Joseph has worked hard to get off the bench.  At the same time, it could also be that his playing style suits what DuBose expects at the QB spot, and complements the talent he has at Millsaps.  Whatever the reasons, it's been an effective move for the Majors.

At this point in the season, it would seem that both DuBose and Joseph are way out front for end of the season SCAC honors.  The offensive PotY competition is Satterfield and Marks; the only other possibility right now for CotY would be Joe White, and that only if Rhodes manages to win out.   DPoY seems like Dustin Hertel but there's still time for others to make an impact. 

[wabashcpa]

Re: Rogers

4thandalong4 and Rogers are friends, so he would have info related to this situation before the rest of us.

That being said, this is between the university and Rogers, and has nothing to do with the football team today.  This is background noise.  It's Walker's team now, and he needs to make sure his players are focused on Centre and future opponents.

I'm not sure how much this even affects the program going forward, so long as the administration gets out of its own way and gets behind the current coaching staff.

[DPU3619]

There was one pretty emphatic tirade by one 4thandalong4 on one fateful day against yours truly, and I haven't seen him around these parts since. 

However, I do agree with wabashcpa's sentiments.  I don't really forsee this being a big problem for the current program or players.  I think many of them are happy to be playing for Coach Walk. 

Beat Centre.

[frank_ezelle]

From what is being reported by WGRE (they do play some of the best music on the internet) apparently Coach Rogers claims that the administration wanted changes made in his staff and he was fired when he questioned it.  I also don't see where this would be a factor in the current season except that they had a change in coaching late in the 2006 school year.

Also heard that the loss by DePauw Saturday was their worst since 2002.  In a way that surprised me but then it made me think about just how good DePauw has been over that stretch of time and it makes sense that they hadn't lost by that much in several years. 

There was one similarity between the DePauw game and the Centre game that concerns me--both teams had 5 turnovers against Millsaps.  Certainly the defense gets some credit for creating turnovers but it's not like you can count on getting that many turnovers game after game.  I can't necessarly say that Sewanee and Rhodes are better than Centre and DePauw, but I could see those games as being much closer scores if Sewanee and Rhodes manage to play error-free ball against the Majors.

[Ron Boerger]

Frank, IMO most of the interceptions came as a result of DPU getting down and having to abandon the best part of their offensive game, which is Jeremiah Marks.   Spud had to go to the air, the Majors knew it and were lying in wait.  Spud's a youngun and isn't experienced enough yet to deal with that kind of a situation. 

In other words, Millsaps put itself in position for those turnovers.  They weren't gifts. 

[wally_wabash]

Also heard that the loss by DePauw Saturday was their worst since 2002.  In a way that surprised me but then it made me think about just how good DePauw has been over that stretch of time and it makes sense that they hadn't lost by that much in several years. 

And what a fun, fun day that was in November '02.   

[Werner99]

Frank, IMO most of the interceptions came as a result of DPU getting down and having to abandon the best part of their offensive game, which is Jeremiah Marks.   Spud had to go to the air, the Majors knew it and were lying in wait.  Spud's a youngun and isn't experienced enough yet to deal with that kind of a situation. 

In other words, Millsaps put itself in position for those turnovers.  They weren't gifts. 

According to the summary of the game on DPU's web site:

PASSING  Cmp-Att-Int  Yds  TD  Long  Sack 
Abe Winkle   12-20-4  68  0  14  1 
Spud Dick   13-20-1  123  1  31  1

Given that this is the only information I have and assuming it is accurate, then I don't know how badly he handled the situation.  Obviously, a loss is still a loss, but Spud threw only one of the five interceptions.

[Werner99]

Also heard that the loss by DePauw Saturday was their worst since 2002.  In a way that surprised me but then it made me think about just how good DePauw has been over that stretch of time and it makes sense that they hadn't lost by that much in several years. 

And what a fun, fun day that was in November '02.  

Though not near as fun as that November day in 1998!   

[wally_wabash]

Also heard that the loss by DePauw Saturday was their worst since 2002.  In a way that surprised me but then it made me think about just how good DePauw has been over that stretch of time and it makes sense that they hadn't lost by that much in several years. 

And what a fun, fun day that was in November '02.  

Though not near as fun as that November day in 1998!   

Perhaps...of course, 2002 wasn't marred by game controversy, riot police, and knucklehead students destroying anything they could get their hands on.   All in all, a better day for everybody involved. 

[Werner99]

Also heard that the loss by DePauw Saturday was their worst since 2002.  In a way that surprised me but then it made me think about just how good DePauw has been over that stretch of time and it makes sense that they hadn't lost by that much in several years. 

And what a fun, fun day that was in November '02.  

Though not near as fun as that November day in 1998!   

Perhaps...of course, 2002 wasn't marred by game controversy, riot police, and knucklehead students destroying anything they could get their hands on.   All in all, a better day for everybody involved. 

There was plenty of blame to go around for both sides regarding the riot police and knucklehead students that day.  All in all, it is good to see the violence settled in the field of play today.

In all seriousness, you don't have a leg to stand on regarding the so-called "game controversy" 

1. The NCAA agreed with DPU that since they were no longer part of a conference, they should not be forced to follow conference rules.
2. Every team with any sense either sends an offensive play into the huddle with a player or uses two people giving hand signals on the sideline so that the other team can not figure out the signals.
3. If the DPU defense is continuously calling out the plays before the snap, then you would think the smart guys at Wabash might figure out a different way to get the plays into the huddle.  Even the Wabash students working the chains realized what was going on yet the play calling method was never adjusted.
4. Finally, I don't think DPU knew any of your defensive plays yet the DPU offense scored 35 points in the first half alone.

I was able to get my tickets yesterday.  Be sure to have our Bell shined up with a fresh coat of polish so she looks good when we bring her home.

[Li'l Giant]

In all seriousness, you don't have a leg to stand on regarding the so-called "game controversy" 

1. The NCAA agreed with DPU that since they were no longer part of a conference, they should not be forced to follow conference rules.
2. Every team with any sense either sends an offensive play into the huddle with a player or uses two people giving hand signals on the sideline so that the other team can not figure out the signals.
3. If the DPU defense is continuously calling out the plays before the snap, then you would think the smart guys at Wabash might figure out a different way to get the plays into the huddle.  Even the Wabash students working the chains realized what was going on yet the play calling method was never adjusted.
4. Finally, I don't think DPU knew any of your defensive plays yet the DPU offense scored 35 points in the first half alone.

I can't believe I'm saying this....but you're right.

I've always blamed that day on ourselves more than Depauw. Even the fighting afterward. It's funny the difference two years can make. In 1996 I was one of the knuckleheads out there being an idiot. In 1998 I tried to help break it up. Go figure. 

I know I'm in a vast minority of Wabash fans that feels that way, and the other Wallies can call me what they want. It doesn't change what happened. And all that ultimately matters is the score.