120th Monon Bell Classic

Started by Wabash Hokie, October 01, 2013, 10:15:38 PM

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DPU3619

#60
November 10, 2013, 05:40:34 PM
Anybody home? My fellow alum with the rainbow avatar and I are pretty goddang excited about this football game. Y'all done with the funeral service for yesterday's game or what?

smedindy

#62
November 10, 2013, 08:40:02 PM
Quote from: Old Pal Wes on November 10, 2013, 05:40:34 PM
Anybody home? My fellow alum with the rainbow avatar and I are pretty goddang excited about this football game. Y'all done with the funeral service for yesterday's game or what?

We're done wasting tears of the Old Tigers. Off to blast the New Tigers.
Wabash Always Fights!

Wabash Hokie

#63
November 10, 2013, 10:00:22 PM
Quote from: Old Pal Wes on November 10, 2013, 05:40:34 PM
Anybody home? My fellow alum with the rainbow avatar and I are pretty goddang excited about this football game. Y'all done with the funeral service for yesterday's game or what?

Wes: The only thing that that loss did for Wabash is to ensure that there will be no "sleeping giant" next weekend.  I too am excited because Wabash will be incented to make the Monon Bell game a statement game.  The question is - how emphatic will that statement be?  Wabash has the capability of hanging another 47-0 on DPU, just like Wittenberg did earlier in the season.  We will see on Saturday.

Now - where is the Bear, his caustic wit, and his keyboard that lacks a "w"?  Can't seem to spell Wabash too well.

DPU3619

#64
November 10, 2013, 10:47:04 PM Last Edit: November 10, 2013, 10:59:09 PM by Old Pal Wes
Quote from: Wabash Hokie on November 10, 2013, 10:00:22 PM
Wes: The only thing that that loss did for Wabash is to ensure that there will be no "sleeping giant" next weekend. 

One Saturday is not connected to the next. Nothing is certain as far as effort or drive goes. It's a must win for Wabash next week. Both DePauw and Wabash have had those games in this rivalry recently and both have lost in some of those situations.

If anything, Wittenberg was kind enough to show the rest of us how to stop Wabash's offense. That's not "golly we just had a bad day" type stuff that happened yesterday. There are serious issues on the offensive line for Wabash right now with their zone blocking scheme and in their 5 man pass protection. That's a problem that needs to be rectified if they're going to beat anybody, be it DePauw or, heaven forbid, a playoff caliber team. Can't win if you can't block 'em.

wally_wabash

#65
November 10, 2013, 10:59:39 PM
Witt did the same thing in 2010.  Seven days later....47-0 and three hours of Robby Long face.  You know the one. 
"Nothing in the world is more expensive than free."- The Deacon of HBO's The Wire

DPU3619

#66
November 10, 2013, 11:24:50 PM
It's possible that happens again. I have not ruled that out. But, I feel a lot better about it after watching a pretty vanilla Wittenberg defense put the spurs to Wabash's offense. There's good players on Witt's D, don't get me wrong. But, it's not like they were re-inventing the wheel schematically.

As much I appreciate the Monon Bell game and everything that comes with it, I cannot, for the life of me, understand when people say "Yeah well now we're mad because we lost last week so you guys are in real trouble!"  You can tell me Wabash just didn't show up yesterday. That's fine. I think it's something different. But if you really think they didn't show up in a game that would guarantee a playoff spot and win the conference outright, what the heck ARE they gonna show up for? If it's a motivation issue, then that's a systemic problem. That's as big as it gets. You're at home facing the team you've fought for titles for a decade in a game to punch your ticket. If you're "not ready" or "didn't show up" or whatever we call it, that's a serious problem that needs to be addressed in that locker room ASAP.

I don't think it had anything to do with not showing up. They played poorly against a good team. If they play poorly again next Saturday, Wabash seriously could get beat. If they play great, they probably don't get beat. But, that same scenario was probably true yesterday. What's the difference other than the team you're playing this week isn't as good? DePauw's defense isn't all that far off from Wittenberg's in most of the major categories. We've had this argument when DePauw was in the SCAC, but now it's validated because it's against the same opponents. I'm not sure you can put Witt's defensive numbers next to DePauw's defensive numbers and truthfully say that Wabash should have a 400 yard, 40 point day. DePauw won't score in the 30s without about a dozen Wabash turnovers. However, Wabash could just as easily struggle on offense as bad as they did yesterday. Then what? It's a Knott-to-Short-tips-to-Casper, a Jordan Havercamp FG, a Frank Knez safety on Spud Dick, or a Robbie Doyle late TD pass to Mark McConnell type play to win the game.

wally_wabash

#67
November 10, 2013, 11:39:40 PM
Quote from: Old Pal Wes on November 10, 2013, 11:24:50 PM
They played poorly against a good team. If they play poorly again next Saturday, Wabash seriously could get beat. If they play great, they probably don't get beat.

I'm sure we'll spend a good deal of board space this week talking about all kinds of other stuff and factors and what not...but seriously, what you said right there is the whole enchilada.  It's hard to win when you play poorly.  Wabash experienced this on Saturday.  So did Franklin.  I'm sure there are scores of other examples from Division III this year. 

I think we can agree that Wabash's good is better than DePauw's good at the moment.  But bad-to-average Wabash up against average-to-good DePauw is anybody's game. 
"Nothing in the world is more expensive than free."- The Deacon of HBO's The Wire

bashbrother

#68
November 11, 2013, 12:39:15 AM Last Edit: November 11, 2013, 01:10:33 AM by bashbrother
Wes,   while I have a ton of respect for your knowledge of Div. III football,  the Monon Bell,  your interest in watching and studying Wabash football from week to week, and your loyalty and excitement for Depauw being able to win 2 more games then they did last season...... But,   Come on Man.....   Your post:

Quote from: Old Pal Wes on November 10, 2013, 10:47:04 PM
Quote from: Wabash Hokie on November 10, 2013, 10:00:22 PM
Wes: The only thing that that loss did for Wabash is to ensure that there will be no "sleeping giant" next weekend. 

There are serious issues on the offensive line for Wabash right now with their zone blocking scheme and in their 5 man pass protection. That's a problem that needs to be rectified if they're going to beat anybody, be it DePauw or, heaven forbid, a playoff caliber team. Can't win if you can't block 'em.

- is a little outside of reality.   First of all,  it is easy to watch a team play another team that is really good and pull out specific problems with being over matched.   But when we look at results against common opponents....  we are quickly brought back to reality:

Opponent

Hiram -  Wabash - W 66-0    Depauw - W 24-13
Wooster -  Wabash - W 48-14  Depauw-  L 24-27
Gheny -   Wabash -  W 65-0    Depauw - W 23-7
OWU -     Wabash -  W 38-13   Depauw -  W 23-21
Oberlin -  Wabash - W 27-10   Depauw -  W 45-11
Denison -  Wabash - W 50-13   Depauw -  L 21-42
Kenyon -  Wabash W 48-7       Depauw -  L 26-28
Witt -   Wabash - L 17-35    Depauw -  L 0-45

Sorry,  but Wabash's not so good....  is still considerably  better than your Tiger's good.   Que the "Throw the records out the window"  or the "Wabash is vulnerable IF"  It just doesn't add.    Depauw is better this year...(which I am glad to see)  but Saturday will show....  they still have a ways to go.   Barring a "Franklin Meltdown" with turnovers.... I believe this one will be a tough one again for Depauw faithful.

It's Monday... officially Monon Bell Week!   http://youtu.be/xW74vxcnskw








Why should you go for it on 4th down?

"To overcome the disappointment of not making it on third down." -- Washington State Coach Mike Leach

DPU3619

#69
November 11, 2013, 01:26:54 AM Last Edit: November 11, 2013, 01:29:13 AM by Old Pal Wes
Wabash being unable to block anybody against a defense that's similar to the defense you'll face this week is hardly grasping at hope. There is some stuff that needs to get fixed up front before Wabash plays again. That offense would have struggled against a lot of teams Saturday because the OL totally let them down. A repeat performance is going to make things a lot closer than they should be.

DePauw's defense really isn't that bad. They don't blitz a lot, which concerns me. DePauw isn't schematically similar to Wittenberg, but they are pretty similar statistically. Witt did it by playing man and blitzing the heck out of Wabash. DePauw probably can't sit in zone and hope to win.

On the other hand, we all know how good Wabash's defense is. Look at the differences in your post about how many points Wabash gives teams compared to DePauw. It's drastic. They're first in the conference in everything. This game won't be won on the battle between the DPU O and the Wabash D, because we all already know how that's going to go. There will be lots of punts. I just hope some of them are by Wabash. It will be won or lost on DePauw's defense. They can give you a Witt-esque effort. Heck, Witt is second in the conference in most categories and DePauw is third. If you get that same level of defense from DePauw, they can win the thing. If Wabash doesn't figure out how to block the zone, they're in for a long day. That doesn't have much to do with DePauw. There are issues there. I watched linemen whiff all afternoon against Witt. The blitzes and line games gave them fits. Now, if Wabash fixes that, gets the run game going, and DePauw can't get to the Q, it could be a 50 burger. No doubt about it. I'm not ignoring that possibility. If Wabash's O gets rolling, DePauw is going to get buried early. 

Go back a couple of pages where I talked at length about it. Go back to the start of that same post you quoted where I said DePauw might get beat 47-0 again. I'm not Mr. Positivity when it comes to DePauw's team. Y'all been around me long enough to know that. I accused them of quitting in 2009. I wasn't very glowing after the 2005 game, either. I don't need to grasp at hope. I'm aware of where we're at here. I'm not saying DePauw is going to win and you're all dumb. I don't think that. I do think this thing can be a heckuva lot more competitive than y'all are giving DePauw credit for.

bashbrother

#70
November 11, 2013, 02:14:50 AM
Fair enough... As always, we shall see...
Why should you go for it on 4th down?

"To overcome the disappointment of not making it on third down." -- Washington State Coach Mike Leach

Breckenridgebear

#72
November 11, 2013, 10:59:02 AM
Look who's beatable.

Losing a game sometimes brings a team that has been on a tear back to earth. That team can either rebound, or feel sorry for themselves, and continue to lose. We can argue records, stats, PPG, special teams, sacks allowed, etc . . . until we are blue in the face, but we all know none of that matters in this game. It is the Monon Bell game.

This is the last chance for many of these players to ever walk onto that field again. Add to that the rivalry, the current losing record in Bell games for Depauw, the new facilities at DePauw, Dabash's most recent failure, Depauw's desire to turn around the program, and any of the other hundreds of story lines, and this game is what it always is, a chance for either team to win. As always, we can just hope Dabash doesn't show up, and Depauw hits on all cylinders.

It is Monon week. Best time of the year.   
DePauw Never Quits

"This happens every year. It's the mere stupidity of supposedly mature college kids acting like a bunch of horse's dicks." - Officer Keller, The Crawfordsville Police Department

wally_wabash

#73
November 11, 2013, 11:04:56 AM
Failure?  Come on.  Y'all lost to freaking Kenyon.  Don't bring that "failure" noise here. 
"Nothing in the world is more expensive than free."- The Deacon of HBO's The Wire

Breckenridgebear

#74
November 11, 2013, 12:23:57 PM
Quote from: wally_wabash on November 11, 2013, 11:04:56 AM
Failure?  Come on.  Y'all lost to freaking Kenyon.  Don't bring that "failure" noise here.

You wouldn't consider a loss in an attempt to go undefeated a failure? I am sure number of Cave Boyzz started the season looking at which games they would lose.

If so, we have a far better chance than I expected. 
DePauw Never Quits

"This happens every year. It's the mere stupidity of supposedly mature college kids acting like a bunch of horse's dicks." - Officer Keller, The Crawfordsville Police Department
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