They were two deep on the one TD. Footing outside the numbers was brutal and the corner just lost his footing on the break on the skinny post. Reminded me of Rundell's long TD last week. Bad footing is advantage WR who knows where they are going with the route. But agree it was frustrating to watch and just wanted to put it away.

We need to see what the post-blaha era brings. But I said to my brother yesterday, UWRF feels a little like 2003 SJU. A very good team, with a transcendent player, and a feeling of almost inevitability. That Mount team was also regarded like this NCC team. Supposedly the best ever and unbeatable.

D3 was a little tighter at the top then. We almost knocked SJU off for 409, but Kirchoff getting carted off after the go ahead TD left us shorthanded in the final drive. Basically SJU had close calls that year, but Blake Elliot kept doing Blake Elliot things. This UWRF D with a healthy Blaha will be a really tough out. I think Wheaton is their biggest obstacle left before the Stagg.

Bethel with a gritty win today. Down 3 lineman, I was impressed with how we held up up front. Oline especially impressed and imposed their will in the 2nd half.

Couldn't have started out worse with a fumble on the opening play. D with a huge stand, down 7 and UWP with 1st and goal from the 1. Big stops and a sack lead to a FG and momentum shift. Offense got it going and the D settled in.

Didn't notice any injuries today. Hoping we might get a guy or two back next week. We'll need all our bullets against NCC.

Geebli looked great, Drew's with some really gutsy runs on big 3rd downs. Win and advance.

It's a bummer how stacked the NCC and Wart quads were. The 4 quarter finalists in those quads look like they could have been semifinalists if separated. But at least the winners of each won't meet until a potential Stagg. 

2-1 would be a great day, 2 teams in the Quarters would be a statement. I have a hard time seeing UWL over NCC. All other results seem very much in play.

Here's to both MIAC teams advancing and staying healthy!

I'm really intrigued about the SJU D against UWRF. They were the only team to hold Bethel under 41 pts. They have speed and a very good D front. It was early and we hadn't really gotten Rundell going yet, but it's a great matchup.

Quote from: fredfalcon on December 04, 2025, 04:09:12 PMKaleb Blaha is 23, not 25. His first year at UWRF was 2021. A medical red-shirt year after his second hamstring injury gave him an extra year.

His Sr season in HS was 2019. He's been in a college FB program since 2020. So he's got a Covid year in there. He was year older than Micah Niewald at Fridley, Bethel's AA WR who graduated last year. Devin Williams is 2 years younger than Blaha. So. no gray shirt, just covid and a medical hardship.

Quote from: emma17 on December 05, 2025, 12:06:23 PMUWP is always hard for me to get a handle on. Against UWW they struggled to stop the run and they didn't have much success in their own run game. Three picks per team w lots of passing yards. Can they be the more physical team at Bethel?
I hope so.

Healthy BU front 7 would stand up just fine. TBD if we'll get that version coming out of last week. I'm expecting a very competitive game. Who can protect the ball, who comes in and stays healthy (it's gonna be cold), can either D make the other O one dimensional, those are my keys.

Quote from: USee on December 05, 2025, 11:06:32 AM

Quote from: CHUBBS PETERSON on December 04, 2025, 10:16:24 AM

Quote from: hazzben on November 17, 2025, 05:31:52 PMI saw Logan post that Wart got done a diservice, essentially treated like a 2 seed in their own quad. He might be right, but aside from NPI Wartburg just doesn't looke like a very elite 1 seed IMO given the stats above.

That said, the MIAC finds itself in 2 of the 3 toughest quadrants ever according to Logan's numbers. If we get anyone to the quarters or beyond we'll have earned it, great chance to reset the recent national narrative about the conference.

Results so far have done nothing to quiet the discontent with NPI. If anything, this bracket is proving to be even more lopsided than was suspected. NPI loved it some Wartburg, and they didn't survive first contact with a Wheaton team that lost 35-0 to NCC (NPI had Warburg above NCC). Obviously a big obstacle to clear this weekend but if I'm UWRF I can hardly believe my luck with what a mess that quad's turned out to be, and whoever gets out of there gets the winner of the clearly weakest quad in the semifinal.

NPI has its limitations but it also cuts both ways. Under the old system Wheaton is not in this field. Neither is UWlAX and possibly UWW, all 2 loss teams. Wheaton would not have had any regionally ranked wins (the old system) which favored 1 loss teams (win %) over most other criteria. NPI can be tweaked (NCC should NOT be the overall 4 seed) but so far it's an improvement over the subjective rankings of regional committees IMO.

I don't mind NPI setting the field, I don't love how inconsistent they are with it when it comes to seeding and matchups. How they built the NCC and Wartburg quads is a great example. Some minor tweaks would have cost no more money, but better balanced the depth of the quads.

That said, we get 40 teams in, we are light years ahead of where we were in 1999 or even 2019. Wheaton is a great example of why getting more at large teams in matters.

This is going to be a very good and close game with UWP. They run and stop the run better than in the past and have always been able to throw. Biggest question is are we at full strength and can we play a clean game in special teams and turnovers.

There's a reason NCC had a better than 50% chance to win the Stagg against the entire field    A healthy NCC is still the favorite in this tourney.

MIAC Tier 2 looks a bit better IMO coming out of this weekend. Monmouth didn't look any different from a Carleton, GAC, or Concordia. I'd put Tier 2 just behind Coe and honestly probably similar to Central, the Dutch with a better D but better offenses on the MIAC side. GAC played a competitive game with Whitworth and would have been in the thick of things in a down NWC.

Wheaton looked really good. Passing efficiency, a mobile QB, and really solid Oline play are a pretty good recipe for post-season success. I think they'll beat DePauw and if so that'll make for a fascinating offensive matchup with the winner of UWRF and SJU.

SJU v UWRF ... can't wait to dig into this matchup a bit. Early thoughts before I watch the UWRF's game, which D can tip the scales against an elite scoring O?

Quote from: USee on November 30, 2025, 04:49:43 PMInteresting sequence with regards to clearing the snow in Waverly. I should start by saying I was watching 3-4 games and Wartburg was by far the best at clearing snow. They had an army and some big heavy equipment. NCC was at the other end of that spectrum.

Totally agree USee. Watched the Wart v Wheaton game on demand after getting home from Bethel. Wartburg ground crews were incredible. I actually took picks of the TV to send to the Bethel AD on how we could improve in another snow scenario. The lines, hash, sidelines and end zones were almost always clean. And at halftime the entire field was totally cleared. Made for much better second half footing than what I saw in person and in other Midwest games.

DePauw strikes me as very similar to Wartburg. A great rush D, that hasn't faced an offense that is the combo of balanced and as good up front as Wheaton is. Wartburg's offense scored 17 (at "vaunted" Walton-Hoover) against a Coe squad that other Top 10 teams laid 50 on. They just weren't going to keep pace offensively and needed a defensive score and Wheaton with some redzone TO's. Better weather would have only helped Wheaton IMO.

DePauw run D was the perfect poison for UWW, who is totally one dimensional. Good neutralizing good. But Wheaton's best weapon is their passing efficiency and a mobile QB. That's what will open up the run game for them against DePauw. That and the weather can't be anything but better Saturday, which will only make the passing attack that much more potent.

Quote from: Mister36 on November 30, 2025, 04:12:15 PMWho write the Bethel-Coe recap in the 2nd round wrap-up article?

https://d3football.com/playoffs/2025/second-round-recap

They incorrectly state that Bethel is playing Alma next week...I know it wasn't pulled from the Bethel Athletics recap, they correctly stated it.

Also a note from the two matchups between Bethel and Coe from last year and yesterday - Coe QB Brady Kelly was sacked 18 times between the two games, 10 and 8 respectively. Drews only twice, both last year.

I was really unimpressed by Kelly, especially considering he was the ARC OPOTY. Someone forgot to tell him it was a playoff game. Probably a dozen times he just laid down rather than take a hit (think Brett Favre on the Strahan "record setting sack"). Key 3rd and long scramble in the first half, chance to dive for the sticks, instead slides to avoid  contact and is marked 4-5 yds short. Again and again he dove for the ground in the pocket before he was tackled. Never once stepped into a pass in the face of pressure. It was bizarre and the antithesis of toughness.