FB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[sjusection105]

Oct. 17 Homecoming Game for SJU vs Cobbers will be interesting. The Johnnies have defeated UW-LAX & Bethel, both nationally ranked, and the Cobbers have put up impressive numbers against lackluster opponents. The Johnnies can not overlook anyone and need to keep the pedal to the metal....

[sjujohnnie]

Feeling a little shocked by the result of the game. I recall being shocked by a loss but b not too often by a win. It's not that I was surprised SJU won but  by how dominant they were.

I got to rewatch the game this morning...video stream was much better however the audio had an echo during the first quarter.

Game reminded me a little bit of the last U$T game in Collegeville. BU was so aggressive on D...the quick hitting underneath routes and play action seemed to take advantage of what BU was doing on defense. SJU seemed really focused aside from the 2 personal fouls that got Obering ejected.
Wondering if the long delay maybe took a bit of steam out of BU by the 2nd half?

Props to Melvin Wallace after Oberding got ejected. Oberding might have been a little too amped up for the game. Not sure the team still practices the "Walk Away Drill" but they might want to bring that back. Gary said in during the postgame interview that on the 2nd penalty his helmet hit the BU player's helmet as the guy was getting up and it was interpreted as a head butt.
Gary also said that he feels this team prepares better than other teams he's had.

Roughing the Passer on BU looked a little weak...defender looked like he slapped the QBs helmet a little...might have got the facemark.

Charlie King was a major problem for BU, Vincent Pyne was amazing filling in for Rogalski and freshman DB Isaiah Kelly was all over the place!

300 lb tight end for BU...he was listed at 280 last season. Seemed to be not as effective for the Royals this time around.

A few big missed tackles by SJU...maybe the wet conditions.

If shovel passes counted as rushing yards Johnnies would have easily been over 100 yards rushing. Bohmert had 57 receiving yards and the team had 75 running yards.
Sophomore RB Sedric Melvin Jr could be a big piece of the offense as the season progresses.

Johnnies finished drives yesterday. 4-4 inside the red zone.

Game reminded me a little bit of the last U$T game in Collegeville. BU was so aggressive on D...the quick hitting underneath routes, play action and shovel passes seemed to take advantage of what BU was doing on defense. SJU seemed really focused aside from the 2 personal fouls that got Obering ejected.

A couple other things:

2 of the 3 incompletions for SJU in the first half were just dropped.
Amazing job throwing the ball by Feeney in not very desirable conditions. The o-line gave him a great pocket...one sack and I believe that was late. 38/43  for 355 and 6 td's....203 QB rating

A really weird stat in my opinion... BU ran 78 plays to our 64 but had time of possession of 24:39 to our 35:31

Biggest issue for the Johnnies was penalties. I think there were 3 personal foul calls.

Johnnies defense shut down the BU offense compared to North Central.
Royals had 263 total yards yesterday versus the 449 they rolled up against North Central.

And the Johnnie punter was huge.

Agree with all of your insights/commentary regarding yesterday's game! Reason for cautious optimism if they can continue to stay focused on continuous improvement week to week & don't look past anyone. Somewhere I read a comment giving credit to the defensive scheme that Herberg has brought & how big that was. Maybe that's a piece that's been missing from previous Johnnie teams that were very talented offensively. As the saying goes, "Defense wins championships". I hope this is the year the drought ends!

[GoldandBlueBU]

Yikes!  Wouldn't have been surprised at all to see BU take the L today, but wouldn't have expected it to be that kind of an L!

It's been quite a few years since we've seen that line play from SJU.

The rest of the MIAC better be on the lookout.  BU will be on the warpath to make the argument for a two-loss playoff slot ahead of a WIAC team.

Oz,
Why is it assumed BU finishes as a two loss team? Not that it's an unreasonable assumption, but if the Cobbers are taken lightly they will put a sting in someone's postseason plans!

I know you didn't ask me, but from my perspective, I really, really hope the cobbers can develop into a competitive team in the conference again.  The MIAC desperately needs another contender. 

I sort of just will need to see them have a competitive game against BU before I believe it.  The scores have been very lopsided for awhile.

[OzJohnnie]

Yikes!  Wouldn't have been surprised at all to see BU take the L today, but wouldn't have expected it to be that kind of an L!

It's been quite a few years since we've seen that line play from SJU.

The rest of the MIAC better be on the lookout.  BU will be on the warpath to make the argument for a two-loss playoff slot ahead of a WIAC team.

Oz,
Why is it assumed BU finishes as a two loss team? Not that it's an unreasonable assumption, but if the Cobbers are taken lightly they will put a sting in someone's postseason plans!

Nah, not assumed. But if they have a shot, BU will be running up scores to get it.   Watch out St Olaf.

I've got my eye on two weeeks from now.  Danger game.  And, yes, the Cobbers are sitting pretty for a spot.

[DuffMan]

There's no selection committee anymore, and NPI doesn't favor lopsided wins, so even if Bethel averages 100-0 wins for the remainder of the season, it won't favor them in their NPI rating.

[OzJohnnie]

There's no selection committee anymore, and NPI doesn't favor lopsided wins, so even if Bethel averages 100-0 wins for the remainder of the season, it won't favor them in their NPI rating.

Ah, I had an AI explain it to me. Essentially the Cobbers can afford only one loss with the quality of their non-conference opponents. BU must beat the Cobbers, hope the Cobbers rank high enough in the ratings, and cross all digits.

BU losing both their games away and against quality opponents is what keeps the door barely cracked open for them.

[corn horn]

Yikes!  Wouldn't have been surprised at all to see BU take the L today, but wouldn't have expected it to be that kind of an L!

It's been quite a few years since we've seen that line play from SJU.

The rest of the MIAC better be on the lookout.  BU will be on the warpath to make the argument for a two-loss playoff slot ahead of a WIAC team.

Oz,
Why is it assumed BU finishes as a two loss team? Not that it's an unreasonable assumption, but if the Cobbers are taken lightly they will put a sting in someone's postseason plans!

I know you didn't ask me, but from my perspective, I really, really hope the cobbers can develop into a competitive team in the conference again.  The MIAC desperately needs another contender. 

I sort of just will need to see them have a competitive game against BU before I believe it.  The scores have been very lopsided for awhile.

I can't argue against the fact that BU has had rhe Cobbers too easily in check recently. I would even have to say they haven't lived up to their own standards in several recent years, much less being able to match SJU and BU, but there is a feel for them this year that is different, and I am pinning that to some hope that they can be a resurgent team.

It is clear the Cobbers won't get a vote for top 25, as illustrated by 2-1 Whitworth getting a vote this week. Stuffing Hamline gets them nowhere, even if they shut them out tostart 5-0 and giving up 12 total points. They need to show up vs SJU the following week to get anyone's attention.

For better or worse, my perspective is skewed from my years at Cobberland when the football team was frequently top of the MIAC, and they were getting NAIA div II national championships. Bethel was new to the MIAC and running on empty.

On a personal note, my daughter will be joining the Bethel faculty next fall, so I can't put the hate on!

[sjujohnnie]

The lone #1 vote that the Johnnies received in this weeks Top 25 poll was from Logan Hansen. Close games make me nervous when I'm watching teams I love, but I do think there'd be a ton of value in Concordia-Moorhead improving to give a test to my Johnnies so that they're battle tested and remain sharp which would better prepare them for an ideally deep playoff run.