Quote from: DuffMan on January 05, 2026, 11:19:49 AMThat was a fun game!  I got home early in Q2; going into half, I thought NCC would start pulling away in the the 2nd half.  RF turned it up to 11!  The tip and pick by 96 was fantastic--I'm pretty sure I woke my kids up with my reaction to that play.

You just don't expect defensive linemen--any defensive linemen--to be that agile or coordinated. 

It is crazy too how one thing can totally change a game. Like if NCC doesn't have that awful turnover and goes up 14-0 right away, it kind of feels like the entire game is different and might have even been a rout. But they did cough it up and from there River Falls settled in.

Think several weeks ago one of the Bethel guys compared River Falls to the 03 Johnnies with a dominant player leading a team of destiny type thing and wow was that accurate. Complete with the D shutting out an unstoppable offense from the defending champs in the second half! Fun game and Blaha is incredible. Or maybe he was more like Cam Newton just doing absolutely everything to lead his team to an unexpected title. Congrats to the Falcons.

Since this is more fun than talking about yesterday's game (for us Johnnies anyway), here's the play in question.

https://youtu.be/8tj7WXsU54s?si=5PYmRz6sVumnLJB-&t=6858

Does seem like right call (dual possession so goes to offense) though obviously rose-colored glasses help me make that call! There were still a couple minutes left so game wouldn't have been done done if it went Bethel's way but obviously would have put them in great position, as Johnnies were trailing 26-22 at the time and scored shortly after this to take lead for good (as mentioned Kirchoff injury obviously huge late too).

Possibly a good omen for River Falls.

In 2005, the Johnnies traveled to a powerful but still somewhat of an upstart Wisconsin program: Whitewater. St. John's took a 7-0 lead, capitalizing on an early Whitewater turnover. I remember thinking, ah, here we go, Johnnies have been here so many times before, it's going to be more of the same. Final: Whitewater 34, SJU 7.

In 2025, the Johnnies traveled to a powerful but still somewhat of an upstart Wisconsin program: River Falls. St. John's took a 7-0 lead, capitalizing on an early River Falls turnover. I thought, ah, here we go, Johnnies have been here so many times before, it's going to be more of the same. Final: River Falls 42, SJU 14.

I guess what I'm saying is, River Falls fans: Get ready to win six national titles in the next decade.

Quote from: DuffMan on October 19, 2025, 10:35:17 AM

Quote from: sfury on October 18, 2025, 06:32:31 PMWe can still enjoy good performances without thinking SJU hasn't had a good defense since 2003 just because they give up a third and 15.

100%!

I think if you look back at box scores from "the good old days", you'd be surprised.  SJU barely beat a mediocre U$T team in '03.  Even good defenses give up yards, plays, and even *gasp* touchdowns.

A maybe underrated all-time Johnnie defense I thought of recently was 1998. Novak of course but some just studs. Joe Kaczrowski was an All-American lineman I'd play pickup hoops with few years earlier when I was in school. But here's the point totals they gave up, back when MIAC was much more balanced:

6, 0, 13, 13, 3, 0, 13, 0, 0, 13, 20 (Pacific Lutheran, who were offensive wizards and won title year later), 10 to Eau Claire in playoff loss.

Quote from: faunch on October 13, 2025, 08:24:50 PM

Quote from: sfury on October 13, 2025, 12:23:29 AM

Quote from: DuffMan on October 11, 2025, 11:03:11 PMIt used to be that you had to have your knees covered by pads--I remember a flag or two being thrown.  These days, some guys are practically wearing mid-thigh shorts!

The uncle I took to the Johnnies game few weeks ago is a high school football ref. Does that mean in between him enjoying his first trip to an SJU game I had to listen to him for three hours complain about the knees not being covered and players wearing shorts? Yes, yes it does. In his high school games anyway he doesn't allow it.

I've been working high school chain gang for a couple schools the last two seasons. Last year the officials at least tried to enforce it. They wold tell a kid to pull the pants over the knew. A couple plays later they had them back up. This year I think there's been one time I heard a ref tell player to pull them over the knee.
The other one that gets me is players having their mouth guard out...like frequently.

Glad you mentioned that because that was the other thing he was mad about I couldn't think of! He said a nine-man coach this season asked him before the game to talk to his players as they were gathered in the pregame huddle about the mouth guard. He did. First play of the game one of the kids had to be sent out for violation. He said the coach flipped his lid. I said he must not have communicated it well enough when telling the kids. 

Feel like there's always a lot of angst on this board about SJU's defense not being what it once was. But they've now given up 23 points in six games, six in garbage time, 17 on the road to a team that has scored 50, 41, 62, 56 and 64 in their other games. Obviously the competition is part of that (for both SJU limiting teams and Bethel scoring that many) but jeez...that's still pretty good. We can still enjoy good performances without thinking SJU hasn't had a good defense since 2003 just because they give up a third and 15.

Quote from: DuffMan on October 11, 2025, 11:03:11 PMIt used to be that you had to have your knees covered by pads--I remember a flag or two being thrown.  These days, some guys are practically wearing mid-thigh shorts!

The uncle I took to the Johnnies game few weeks ago is a high school football ref. Does that mean in between him enjoying his first trip to an SJU game I had to listen to him for three hours complain about the knees not being covered and players wearing shorts? Yes, yes it does. In his high school games anyway he doesn't allow it.

Quote from: DuffMan on September 29, 2025, 06:48:29 PM

Quote from: sfury on September 29, 2025, 04:15:52 PMAnd anyone who passed Theory of Football with John, so I'm good.

Did you get an A, too?

John's line to us: "This is pass-fail because they made me stop giving grades when I gave an A to some guy who'd been dead the last eight weeks of the semester."

I told my uncle this story the other day (and by the way, he's a longtime PA guy for Marshall and Southwest State sports and was blown away by the Johnnie gameday experience and the campus). When I got to meet John in 2016 we had an awesome talk (he loved talking to my dad too and dad said, "I just wanted to ask him questions but he was so interested in listening to me. That was amazing.") and at one point after I stood up to my full 6-3 height he goes, "Jesus, we could have used you out on the field at receiver."

I said, "John, if you had guys like me out there you would have won 489 fewer games than you did." He liked that.

Quote from: DuffMan on September 29, 2025, 03:55:46 PM

Quote from: sfury on September 29, 2025, 02:28:23 PMAlso is anyone part of this: https://www.johnniefootballnetwork.org/

I am, but I haven't really explored it.  I thought it was just for football aluns, but that doesn't look to be the case.
 

And anyone who passed Theory of Football with John, so I'm good.

Quote from: DuffMan on September 27, 2025, 06:14:12 PMThe rare Triple Monkey Stompout^TM!

Sfury, how was the visitor's side?

Shaded! At least for first half. Then we went to the track on Johnnies' side and bumped into my old roommates and chatted with them for second half, before leaving bit early so I could show my uncle--attending his first SJU game--the campus. Unfortunately Rat Hall was closed for the ceremony because I wanted to show him where I lit it up in pickup hoops. Also his brother played there for Hamline in early 70s. Augsburg fans were pretty docile. Excited for that first down on the opening drive but that was about it. It was poignant seeing one of the linemen going up and down the sideline right before halftime going "It's zero-zero," to each teammate. Alas.

Just a random note how these first three games have been so odd to watch offensively. Because of the competition each QB is basically doing the same thing--scoring every time. While also looking exactly the same--left-handed with similar throwing motions to my amateur eyes. Obviously seems like at some point one of them will take the mantle but when we beat Mount Union in 2003 the Purple Raiders had a two-QB system that worked remarkably well (until the last game).

This has maybe been discussed here so apologies if so but I haven't been around the neighborhood as much. Is the Johnnie Underground Newsletter no more? No emails and then I checked the site and hasn't been updated since last year. I know Wicker's not a young pup and that was a ton of work.

Also is anyone part of this: https://www.johnniefootballnetwork.org/

I'd be interested in it, especially if there's lots of old game films on there, which it looks like might be the case. And of course to help support the program with $.

Quote from: SagatagSam on January 03, 2025, 01:12:45 PM

Quote from: BDB on January 03, 2025, 08:09:09 AMI feel sorry for that Georgia kid. Here he is all excited to be at the Sugar Bowl, although not suited he's got his jersey on and is right there with the team.

Next thing he gets in the way of a ref on the sideline and a huge play turns into just a nice gain after penalty.

TV did him no favors by zooming in on him a couple times and saying his name and hometown. Wasn't long he was the #1 trend on X.

It was definitely a penalty and needed to be called. But I feel bad for the kid. He's in the Bartman/Cubs zone now.

My football crew was texting during the game and joked that one of our linesman would have likely knocked out the kid with his elbow because he's tall and runs with his elbows up for the express purpose of protecting himself from unauthorized persons in the restricted area.

I ran over a new head coach once. Poor guy (kid?) was about 5'5". He was a wrestler so it was like hitting a pile of bricks. I'm surprised it didn't blow out my knees.

My favorite part of the play from the Sugar Bowl was the slow motion shot where you could lip read Kirby Smart yelling at his sideline to "get the f*** back!"

You didn't have to butter up to Duffman like this. Lot of wrestlers are kind of wimpy.

Quote from: DuffMan on December 23, 2024, 03:14:43 PMWhy not play the semifinals and championship on the same day?  Just start both semis at noon, then the winners play each other at 7:00, after they get some dinner in the teams.
Also, since the officials seem to ask be buffoons, play it sans officiating.

For decades Indiana hoops did this back in the one-class days. The state semis and finals were on the same day. So if you were in that later semifinal game, you only had a couple of hours to recover. Was the same way with the equivalent of their sections: semis and title on same day. It sounds ludicrous and they eventually did away with it but I'm sure it was a lot of fun for fans to see all that action in one day.

My years of advocating for the Johnnies to pay more attention to JUCO players paid off the past two seasons with the performance of Marselio Mendez. Will be interesting to see how the JUCO world transforms if last week's ruling involving Diego Pavia becomes the law of the land. Two years in junior college would not count toward four years of NCAA eligibility. So, for instance, Johnnies would have Mendez for a few more seasons. Like the portal and NIL would add some more chaos to college sports but I'm sure prove useful to top programs.

But teams that look overwhelming on the line of scrimmage in most of their games get upset by teams that don't all the time.

Folks had these same arguments about NCC last year...right up until they got beat in the Stagg. By a high-powered offense. By a team that had lost by 3 to Susquehanna earlier in the season!

The good thing is neither of us can be proven wrong, unless the NCAA does the right thing and schedules a "real" semi between NCC and SJU to be held in this gap before the Stagg.