Good for Novak. A beloved Johnnie who I wish nothing but the best for! Hopefully he will cut his teeth down in Loras and maybe set himself up to be next in line when Gary retires in 2-3 years.

Plenty of qualified coaches still on staff who can fill his shoes on the field, but his personality and energy will be missed.

Well it appears SJU and Bethel are as good as any team in the country...except for North Central and UWRF which appear to be head and shoulders better than everyone else. Some years I feel that we might finally have some parity, but then remember that D3 football just isn't built for that.

Has Cooper Drews completed a throw past the line of scrimmage today? I fear the Bethel offense full of gimmick plays is not built to play from behind.

UWRF was the best D3 team I have seen in a long long time. Don't be surprised if they win the whole thing. This year was always going to be a little bit of a transition year, but tons of guys coming back and next year could be a legitimate run.

Bummer, we get to cheer for a top 8 team every year. Cheers to the seniors, put together quite the record in their 4 years.

Quote from: sjujohnnie on December 05, 2025, 10:15:57 AMd3football.com has their "Quick Hits" predictions posted. ALL are picking River Falls to win - 4 by 3 scores, 3 by 2 scores, & 1 by 1 score.

Yup. I get picking them to win, they are certainly the favorite. The margins were surprising to me. Hopefully players are keeping receipts.

Looking forward to seeing UWRF's new 70 million facilities they built in 2017. Seems like that is a direct correlation towards their rise to power.

https://youtu.be/xhIKkuV5Z_A?si=ZFjR83fe_kyH7Cbr

Some of the "experts" have SJU as a 12.5 point underdog at UWRF. They also have Bethel as 4 point favorite.

I'll take MIAC moneyline parlay to win, and use the money to pick up the tab for the boys at Sal's on Saturday night.

UWRF has forced 33 turnovers this year, good for #1 in the country and 3 turnovers per game. If the Johnnies turn it over 3 times, they certainly won't win.

Coincidentally, the one game they lost the turnover battle this year, they took the L. They have also only trailed in the 2nd half of one game, the L. If the Johnnies can go into halftime with the lead, the Falcons will be in full panic mode.

Baptists and Catholics roll. SJU will have a very tall task with UWRF. Their QB is likely Gagliardi trophy winner, weapons are insane across the field, defense will be best since Bethel.

We will see how good the WIAC actually is next week. That conference gets a lot of cred for not  a ton of deep playoff runs beside UWW dynasty. All of the "experts" have been dogging on talent level of MIAC this year, maybe rightfully so. But maybe Bethel and SJU are just really really good. We shall see

Looking at end of year stats from MIAC this year - MIAC had ZERO 1,000 yard rushers in the conference this year and only one guy with 10+ rushing TDs. Oh how the times have changed...

Tons of passing TD's around the conference. Gustavus freshman QB actually ended with a nice season. Will be a good player for them.

Since the Johnnies and Baptists are both off this week, we can all enjoy UST getting blasted by NDSU. The pioneer league is maybe comparable to the UMAC of FCS football. Hope they get a wake up call as to how far away they actually are.

Props to some of their other sports that have actually been quite competitive. Their men's basketball coach is really really good.

A little bit sloppy today, but I still think some positives. Was good to see them get challenged a little bit once more before the playoffs. Need to learn how to win close games. Also was nice to see them run the ball well and control the clock in the 2nd half.

Thought defense played actually pretty good given the couple short fields. The Gustavus QB who has taken over after they went 0-4 is light years better than what they had been showing. They aren't nearly as bad as their record shows.

Quote from: hazzben on October 16, 2025, 01:47:20 PMThe D1 transfer QB route isn't a bad problem to have, but I know Bethel landed a QB recruit this year that was down to them and SJU. One of the things that helped was simply pointing out it's been over a decade since SJU has had a QB1 for the season that didn't first transfer in from a scholarship program. Hard to argue against Eerdmann and Syverson and those results, it does however make it difficult to land guys right out of HS.

Yeah, because Jaran Roste and Cooper Drews for sure didn't transfer to Bethel from another school...

Figured I would pop on because I figured some SJU fans would be saying ridiculous things...sure enough! BU is a top 10 team in the country. Tough loss for sure but I think we will be fine. How many of you negative nelly's would be willing to take my bet that says SJU wins out every game by double digits and has at least one home playoff game.

Also, the "high school defense" is allowing 4.25 PPG and held BU who was averaged over 50 to 17. I would agree with the sentiment that it is time to roll with a QB, and think Feeney is probably the guy it should be.

Quote from: faunch on January 07, 2025, 08:16:17 PM

Quote from: gobigred425 on January 07, 2025, 01:11:43 PM

Quote from: sjujohnnie on January 06, 2025, 11:09:32 AMLooking ahead to the fall, how does anyone see St John's looking? Looks like we have two open dates yet to be filled with non-conference opponents. Obviously the toughest test of the conference slate will be traveling to Arden Hills to face Bethel in the third conference tilt of the season. How different will our squad (& theirs) look? We have a transfer QB from USD that will competing to fill some big shoes. Can we build on this season or do we take a step back?

I think they will only play one non con due to playing full MIAC again next year? Not sure.

Johnnies should be solid again, probably not quite as good as this year. The more research on the USD QB, he might not even play much. Only started a couple high school games and went to USD as a walk on because his father was an all American there. Probably wouldn't beat out Dittbenner. My sources are telling me that a couple more transfers are yet to be announced, potentially another high profile QB...

Do your "sources" have any info about any pass rushers, linebackers or shut down corners that might be in the portal mix?

I cannot reveal too much and risk burning bridges for future Woj bombs. I do believe there may be a big transfer DB coming soon...

I did read an article where Gary was previewing next year. Sounds like they are making some position changes going into next year. St. Fleur (#33) moving to OLB, Charlie King - the part time TE with big drop in Susquehanna game is moving to DE. Supposedly has tools to be an elite pass rusher. Frank and Gallagher also back. Time will tell. Filling linebackers will be tough.