FB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[wally_wabash]

- Depauw looks so little.  This stood out to me.  Physically little.

Totally agree.  Good team.  Very small. 

And it's way too early but can the Bash D front make it difficult for Hunt to throw with their hands in the passing lanes?  6'6 Tyler McCullen and 6'3 Evan Rutter...?

I think they'll make it difficult for him by jumping on his back in the offensive backfield.  That's actually an interesting point though- I'm having a tough time remembering many blocked/batted passes at the line from Wabash.  The last guy that Wabash had that was awesome at it was Darryl Kennon.  What a player. 

[1837Tigers]

BB - let the record show that Witt "gave" you guys 6 turnovers.

[Wabash1]

Watching the game I was very surprised how one dimensional Depauw was as most of their runs(almost half) came late in the 4th quarter. I'm sure the Tiger's game plan will be a lot of short get rid of the ball quick passes with a few draws and screen passes mixed in.

[sigma one]

BB16:  My response.  Hunt is listed at 5-11, 183.  His size reminds me of Spud Dick.  Has a nice arm and reasonably quick release.  The running backs are undersized, and I thought it hurt them yesterday  against the Witt D.  KIrchoff is 165 lbs; Galley is 181 lbs.  They both have some acceleration and good feet, but they are not going to play smash mouth with those guys.  The other back--Gruber--is 175 lbs.
     The Oline looked about average in size for the NCAC.  Their receivers are a bit undersized, particularly the younger Hunt (164 lbs.), but he ran unfettered through the secondary, can catch the ball, and obviously has some chemistry with his brother.
     I thought the New Tiger defensive front 7 looked OK against the run, but then again Witt's running game the past two years has not destroyed anyone.  That Witt gained so many yards rushing is somewhat skewed by one long run late in the game, Jenkins 60+ yd TD.  Otherwise, they had modest success but ran the ball well enough to keep the DPU defense honest. 
    DPU wanted to get the ball deep, and they were successful doing it against a weaker than average Witt secondary that was also exploited  vs. Wabash.
     I spent halftime trying to count the house.  I don't drink with the enemy, and I don't drink lattes at all, with anyone.

[ohiofan1954]

Well watched Denison put up another clunker last night. Yes they are still winning but these slow starts against bad teams is telling. I had hoped the game against Wooster was an aberration but I guess that isn't the case. Denison to tell the truth was lucky last night. Hiram came with a good plan and moved the ball well certainly in the first half. Two terrible passes and kicking game mistakes (sound familiar?) did them in. Big Red going to have to play much better next week to have any chance at all.

[wabndy]

Interesting- Wabash drops two spots on the top 25 to 10th while DePauw gets the unofficial 27th spot and should break into the top 25 in the next couple of weeks if they keep winning out.  After yesterday I was wondering if this was really a solid win for DePauw or did it just show that Witt 2015 is nowhere near the level they have been in the last decade. With losses this week by the two premier teams we have on our schedule, I'm really wondering (and the top 25 voters) are wondering if Wabash has really proven itself yet. That proof may very well not come until the playoffs. We really need Witt to win out and be somewhere in the regional rankings. Oh and we have to keep winning.

[wally_wabash]

Interesting- Wabash drops two spots on the top 25 to 10th while DePauw gets the unofficial 27th spot and should break into the top 25 in the next couple of weeks if they keep winning out.  After yesterday I was wondering if this was really a solid win for DePauw or did it just so that Witt 2015 is nowhere near the level they have been in the last decade. With losses this week by the two premier teams we have on our schedule, I'm really wondering (and the top 25 voters) are wondering if Wabash has really proven itself yet. That proof may very well not come until the playoffs. We really need Witt to win out and be somewhere in the regional rankings. Oh and we have to keep winning.

Wabash lost 4 points, St. Thomas gained 6 points.  There really isn't anything seismic happening or enough points being shuffled around to indicate a lack of voter confidence in Wabash.  Pretty much right where they were last week. 

[wabashcpa]

Interesting- Wabash drops two spots on the top 25 to 10th while DePauw gets the unofficial 27th spot and should break into the top 25 in the next couple of weeks if they keep winning out.  After yesterday I was wondering if this was really a solid win for DePauw or did it just so that Witt 2015 is nowhere near the level they have been in the last decade. With losses this week by the two premier teams we have on our schedule, I'm really wondering (and the top 25 voters) are wondering if Wabash has really proven itself yet. That proof may very well not come until the playoffs. We really need Witt to win out and be somewhere in the regional rankings. Oh and we have to keep winning.

Good points with two of our "quality" wins looking maybe less so, although both of those winners yesterday (DePauw and Washington & Lee) are borderline top 25 teams as well, so I am not ready to discount the quality of the wins even if some of the voters are.  Only 3 votes behind St. Thomas, and Oshkosh jumped 10 spots (well done, UWO!), so not like Wabash was severely punished, but barring losses above us, we aren't moving anywhere until after Bell game.

My question - assuming both teams are 9-0 going into Bell game, is loser getting a Pool C bid?  I think...yes.

[bashbrother]

Great post Wabndy...  I was also considering that maybe the impact of losing to Wabash so early in season has changed this Witt team a bit...some may say I am grasping by saying this, but if you think about it... Both teams enter every season with the goal of winning the conference and beating the other in the game that has typically taken place towards the end of each season. This year,  within the first month of the season,  this Witt team failed to accomplish that goal,  there has to be an emotional impact..   Actually for both teams...  I personally believe that both Witt or Wabash haven't played to their full potential in the past two weeks.. (Not discounting Depauw's victory at all)

I know as a fan,  after opening with HSC and then beating Witt in week 4,  it has been a little hard to get up for these past two games.

Just a thought .

[wally_wabash]

I think it can be possible that Witt and DePauw can both be good.  We don't have to pick one or the other.  We've kind of been waiting for somebody else in the league to get good.  Now it's happening and we're being really, really quick to throw out a third team from the upper crust of the league.  We can have three good teams, guys. 

Also, HSC is good.  They lost by a yard to a good team.  I think seven or eight wins is going to happen for them. 

[bashbrother]

Depauw being a strong Football member of the NCAC is a good thing for the conference...  it is really what many of us were hoping would happen.  I believe this year... (If both teams win out) it could be what The Monon Bell Rivalry has needed.

Wabash vs. Depauw for the Monon Bell and the Conference Title.... Bam!

[Li'l Giant]

Yeah, I was wrong about Witt/DPU.  I feel like DPU is a year early to be this good. The Bell Game is going to be LIT

[ExTartanPlayer]

I don't expect it to draw a ton of chatter on these boards because both fanbases are nonexistent here, but I am intrigued by Denison-Witt this week.  Nobody on the Witt roster has played a season where they were effectively eliminated by mid-October and had to play out the string...I wonder if they'll have a bit of hangover.

Denison is an extremely shaky 5-0 and has struggled far too much to put away some bad teams, but hidden within those close wins is the fact that their defense is really, really good.  I did some digging and found that of the 46 points allowed this year, there was a defensive TD, a pair of garbage-time TD's and a FG that came on a 0-yard drive...they have basically allowed two TD's that actually mattered (Hiram last week and OWU's last-minute drive).  Not quite Wabash-level stuff but really not that far off, either.

I don't think they can keep winning if their offense keeps futzing around like this, but their defense might be good enough to make the Witt and DePauw games interesting.

[wally_wabash]

I don't expect it to draw a ton of chatter on these boards because both fanbases are nonexistent here, but I am intrigued by Denison-Witt this week.  Nobody on the Witt roster has played a season where they were effectively eliminated by mid-October and had to play out the string...I wonder if they'll have a bit of hangover.

Denison is an extremely shaky 5-0 and has struggled far too much to put away some bad teams, but hidden within those close wins is the fact that their defense is really, really good.  I did some digging and found that of the 46 points allowed this year, there was a defensive TD, a pair of garbage-time TD's and a FG that came on a 0-yard drive...they have basically allowed two TD's that actually mattered (Hiram last week and OWU's last-minute drive).  Not quite Wabash-level stuff but really not that far off, either.

I don't think they can keep winning if their offense keeps futzing around like this, but their defense might be good enough to make the Witt and DePauw games interesting.

This game is fascinating.  Denison is a win away from putting themselves in a four-week shootout with Wabash and DePauw for the league championship.  Wittenberg, as you've noted, is done.  And they have to know that.  There is no credible scenario remaining where Wittenberg can get back into a conference championship picture with two losses to teams ahead of them in the standings.  They are effectively 3 games behind Wabash AND DePauw with five games to play.  So what's in their headspace?  This a really weird position for this team to be in.  Witt could be in a spot to be forking over another benchmark-for-the-program win in consecutive weeks.  Surely they don't want to be that team? 

The downside to Denison beating Wittenberg is further hand-wringing from folks who just don't want to believe that Wabash is actually really, really good.  HSC lost!  Witt lost!  Is Wabash's strength fool's gold?  Answer: no.  No it isn't.  Wabash is really good.  Like, REALLY good.  I wish more of us would embrace this. 

[HSCTiger74]

I don't expect it to draw a ton of chatter on these boards because both fanbases are nonexistent here, but I am intrigued by Denison-Witt this week.  Nobody on the Witt roster has played a season where they were effectively eliminated by mid-October and had to play out the string...I wonder if they'll have a bit of hangover.

Denison is an extremely shaky 5-0 and has struggled far too much to put away some bad teams, but hidden within those close wins is the fact that their defense is really, really good.  I did some digging and found that of the 46 points allowed this year, there was a defensive TD, a pair of garbage-time TD's and a FG that came on a 0-yard drive...they have basically allowed two TD's that actually mattered (Hiram last week and OWU's last-minute drive).  Not quite Wabash-level stuff but really not that far off, either.

I don't think they can keep winning if their offense keeps futzing around like this, but their defense might be good enough to make the Witt and DePauw games interesting.

+k for this. My late mom used to use it all the time.