FB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[Crawford]

. I spent some time at Saint John's University in Collegeville, MN. JCU reminded me of the size and athleticism of the Jonnie's.

The MIAC is always a bit of a mystery to me. The top end of the conference (St. Johns and Bethel currently, and St. Thomas historically) are usually quite competitive on the national scene. But the bottom of the conference is so bad, it's really hard to get a feel for how good they really are. It's not all that different than the NCAC in some ways. I trust your gut on the size and athleticism of the team, but comparing them to Hamline or Augsburg is tough. Either way, if I were a betting man, I'd bet the Johnnies will be in the playoffs this year. They've got a tough matchup of their own this week against Bethel, maybe their only tough game this regular season.

That is definitely true about the disparity of the teams in the MIAC (and the NCAC).  I was in Collegeville, MN when the MIAC forced St Thomas out (that was quite the controversy).  I also was at the St John's - Rose Hulman game in 2019. On paper it looks like Rose played as well as most of the Jonnie's MIAC competition but in person St John's "looked" bigger and more physical. 

[Crawford]

Oh my Depauw was up 14 - 0 before they had an offensive play and up 42 - 0 after about 14 offensive plays!   I fear for the safety of the Oberlin students.