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Region 4 football (Great Lakes-ish) / Re: FB: Ohio Athletic Conference
« on: Today at 10:53:53 am »CCIW fan here but huge supporter of D3 overall. I have been to Alliance and lost when The Machine was rolling, and admired the consistency of their program for a long time. I have also seen my team be the victim of NCC since 2006. I think the S&C part is the biggest piece missing from this program. If you look at their losses or close games the last couple of years the LOS is where they are lacking. The OL has length and good frames just lack the overall mass. The bigger guys look a little soft in the mid-section. The one loss that it was glaring was 21 semis against NCC. The LOS was dominated in that game specifically on the last drive NCC had. Last year in the Championship it was a war but they just could not finish when it mattered the most."a team like that" had a wonderful trip to Alliance. Thank you for your hospitality.
congrats on the W, literally meant no disrespect. I'll be rooting for Alma to make a Stagg Bowl run. It was a shot at the powers that be at Mount that allowed such a loss to even be a possibility.
Everybody loves a double backhanded compliment.
I'm not sure the powers that be at Mount Union have much control over the great jobs being done at other programs. Mount Union set a goal for literally everyone in the division to chase. Teams are reaching that endpoint. It's less that Mount Union is not as good now and more that other teams are also excellent. I believe Mount Union will continue to contend for national championships, but the playing field is different now. Stagg Bowls are not only Mount Union's to lose as they may have been in the glory days. There are a lot of great teams in the division now- largely thanks to the bar Mount Union set.
It wasn't really a backhanded compliment. This was probably the greatest upset in D3 playoff history, by far the worst loss in recent (30+ years) Mount Union history, it was a 20+ point spread by most metrics. Alma is a fine team and found another gear in that 4th quarter, incredible win for the Scots. The game last Saturday is one thing, but it is only a small part of the issue in Alliance right now.Let me start with a huge, Thank You!!!!! to the Mount Union football program for giving me a fun team to root for every fall. Thank You seniors for putting in the work to represent the university and yourselves in a great way. Many of you faced challenges we don't know about as fans, but continued to wear the purple, white and black proudly. I wish you all the best and hope you can look back at your time as a Purple Raider in a better light as time passes.
State of the program from my point of view (and a nobody at that):
Mount still has good coaches, players, facilities and a great program(look what they did to the OAC this year). They will be back next year, compete for the OAC (JCU and Marietta have big holes to fill as well) and will have a shot at the title.
I like the talent in the position groups still, but have a couple of observations...
Our championship teams always got pressure on the QB and usually without needing to send extra guys. Since they've gone to 3 down lineman, they haven't handled the top tier offenses as well. Alma QB had lots of time in the 4th Q to find open guys.
In order to beat the great teams, there must be a threat of running the football from the QB position (or a near perfect pocket passer) and make the defense think you might do something. Nobody fell for the play action game in this offense. I don't think I ever saw the QB pull an RPO to pass the ball either. There were also many drops that weren't on the QB from TE and WRs.
Our play calling used to put defenses on their heels and play mind games with them. I was hoping there would be more deep ball opportunities with the speed on the outside. Sanders just missed the one deep ball thrown (and a missed PI with the jersey pulled), but that used to be commonplace after a turnover or drawing the defenders into the box.
Creation of mismatches just weren't there.... get your playmaker the ball in space.
I hope Dartt hires a true OC, so he can manage players and the game. It's not easy trying to do all of that and prepare an offense for each series and get a feel from your players on what they're seeing.
I see next year, there's still an opening for week 1. Who are we calling? It needs to be someone decent because the schedule flips again and JCU is week 2.
Just my rambling thoughts. Go Purple Raiders!
there 100% has to be an OC hired, and hopefully it is someone not currently on the staff. The lack of creativity, lack of aggressiveness, etc over the past three years has been maddening. If the drunk idiots in section 13 know which play is coming, I bet the defensive staff does as well. And can we hire a full-time S&C coach??
if I'm the HC of a program on the rise, I'm calling up Mount Union to get that week 1 spot. Mount will have a bunch back, but they will have a new QB and no NFL-bound WR. There is not going to be a much better time to take your shot at a program building type victory.
Coach Dartt has the impossible job of leading this team but has done a good job. It seems that there is an under current with some players on the team and recent alums with him. The biggest concern would be the culture in the locker room. The uproar on social media and finger pointing was the only alarming thing I have seen. Otherwise any program in the country would kill for a resume that Mount has had since Dartt took over. Mount will reload and refocus and the expectations will Champions or nothing. Hope my guys will one day have a chance to compete against Mount in the future.
Very good take. Thanks for the look from the outside. Darrtt is 42-3 so far, and lots of teams would love to have that success. I guess the biggest thing is the lack of creativity on Offense and the instances of giving up the big plays on Defense.
Spoiled fan here (I graduated in 1994) but would obviously like them to get back to dominating nationally.
