FB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Robert Zimmerman]

I have tried to park at 11:30 am behind Physical Plant at the Hamline and Concordia games this season and all the spots were gone (some were making there own spots). I think a lot of folks try to park there now. They have coned off places like down at Brother Mark's garage area, so it is more limited now.

[DuffMan]

Working grounds crew for Br. Mark for a summer, I knew every nook and cranny of campus and had some pretty reliable options. These days, it's generally a better bet to just park in the shuttle lot unless it's a sparsley attended game or you get to campus quite early.

[repete]

I have tried to park at 11:30 am behind Physical Plant at the Hamline and Concordia games this season and all the spots were gone (some were making there own spots). I think a lot of folks try to park there now. They have coned off places like down at Brother Mark's garage area, so it is more limited now.

Ah, so you were the guy poking around in front of me! lol. I got to campus via back way at 11:30 and had the same idea. My Frank House history was no help. I learned a lot of nooks working over summers as well but many are long gone. Big assignment was painting Edelbrock House (former Durenberger home) with JG and family next door.

I've got to try that Duff route from parking. Was going to walk it Saturday but knew I could not keep up with 5-year-old grand along the road.

[hazzben]

I witnessed a true act of Benedictine hospitality today...There was an older Johnnie pulling a cooler and 4-5 Cobber students.

I initially read this as an old Johnnie pulling 4-5 cobbers on his cooler to their vehicle. lol

[hazzben]

Wonder why we don't opt for review-is it home team that decides or both teams have to agree? The refs were horrible, especially that CC first touchdown, but SJU D didn't do themselves any favors in the first half-seems too often that is the case.

The conference had to vote for it and I believe that schools in the league were afraid that it would benefit the schools who put resources into broadcasting (Bethel and St. John's), enough of the others voted against it.

That perfectly sums up the current state of the MIAC. St. Olaf's broadcast Saturday was really good. Lots of replays, great camera angles, solid announcers doing their best with a blowout. The only struggle was not realizing when Bethel went with pace they needed to cut out replays or they'd miss the next play.

Half of this league wants to invest in their programs and put a good product out, on the field and production-wise, the other half is stuck in neutral and content to stay there.

It's such a short sighted decision. How does replay benefit SJU and Bethel any more than other schools? It's goal is to get the play correct. If anything, it would help lower tier schools when they play in environments where there's a large crowd pressuring the refs.

The bigger issue, is that it would ensure MIAC refs are prepared for late round post-season games when replay is available. Bottom line, a lot of D3 crews are out of their element come the quarterfinals and semi-finals when replay is on the table. They aren't familiar working with it, are uncertain on the types of plays that are reviewable, etc. You can't blame them when it's a tool they never use in the regular season.

[DuffMan]

I initially read this as an old Johnnie pulling 4-5 cobbers on his cooler to their vehicle. lol

Lol, fair. Not my best grammatical structure.

[Patrick Coleman]

I witnessed a true act of Benedictine hospitality today...There was an older Johnnie pulling a cooler and 4-5 Cobber students.

I initially read this as an old Johnnie pulling 4-5 cobbers on his cooler to their vehicle. lol

Same! It was an interesting mental image.

[MadRedFan]

I have tried to park at 11:30 am behind Physical Plant at the Hamline and Concordia games this season and all the spots were gone (some were making there own spots). I think a lot of folks try to park there now. They have coned off places like down at Brother Mark's garage area, so it is more limited now.

We have parked one place or the other "back there" - physical plant/liturgical press/Emmaus Hall - for many years, as it was easier to get out and back to our cabin that way.  We have tailgated there too, mostly "solo".  Anyway, I was going to say, we usually plan to arrive by 10am to get a good choice of parking there. By 11 or so, things start to get scarce.

[Redtooth]

Wonder why we don't opt for review-is it home team that decides or both teams have to agree? The refs were horrible, especially that CC first touchdown, but SJU D didn't do themselves any favors in the first half-seems too often that is the case.

The conference had to vote for it and I believe that schools in the league were afraid that it would benefit the schools who put resources into broadcasting (Bethel and St. John's), enough of the others voted against it.

That perfectly sums up the current state of the MIAC. St. Olaf's broadcast Saturday was really good. Lots of replays, great camera angles, solid announcers doing their best with a blowout. The only struggle was not realizing when Bethel went with pace they needed to cut out replays or they'd miss the next play.

Half of this league wants to invest in their programs and put a good product out, on the field and production-wise, the other half is stuck in neutral and content to stay there.

It's such a short sighted decision. How does replay benefit SJU and Bethel any more than other schools? It's goal is to get the play correct. If anything, it would help lower tier schools when they play in environments where there's a large crowd pressuring the refs.

The bigger issue, is that it would ensure MIAC refs are prepared for late round post-season games when replay is available. Bottom line, a lot of D3 crews are out of their element come the quarterfinals and semi-finals when replay is on the table. They aren't familiar working with it, are uncertain on the types of plays that are reviewable, etc. You can't blame them when it's a tool they never use in the regular season.

I would love to see replay in the MIAC to improve the calls made/missed on field, but can assure anyone hoping for replay that the version we would get would not be worth it.  The lack of quality equipment and personnel would make it functionally useless.  When I was a replay official for an FCS team we had 16-24 cameras all staffed by professionals with 4 of us up in the booth working with a TV production truck to get what we needed and sometimes that wasn't enough.  Certainly no one in the MIAC has the production capability to make it worthwhile.

[Patrick Coleman]

Wonder why we don't opt for review-is it home team that decides or both teams have to agree? The refs were horrible, especially that CC first touchdown, but SJU D didn't do themselves any favors in the first half-seems too often that is the case.

The conference had to vote for it and I believe that schools in the league were afraid that it would benefit the schools who put resources into broadcasting (Bethel and St. John's), enough of the others voted against it.

That perfectly sums up the current state of the MIAC. St. Olaf's broadcast Saturday was really good. Lots of replays, great camera angles, solid announcers doing their best with a blowout. The only struggle was not realizing when Bethel went with pace they needed to cut out replays or they'd miss the next play.

Half of this league wants to invest in their programs and put a good product out, on the field and production-wise, the other half is stuck in neutral and content to stay there.

It's such a short sighted decision. How does replay benefit SJU and Bethel any more than other schools? It's goal is to get the play correct. If anything, it would help lower tier schools when they play in environments where there's a large crowd pressuring the refs.

The bigger issue, is that it would ensure MIAC refs are prepared for late round post-season games when replay is available. Bottom line, a lot of D3 crews are out of their element come the quarterfinals and semi-finals when replay is on the table. They aren't familiar working with it, are uncertain on the types of plays that are reviewable, etc. You can't blame them when it's a tool they never use in the regular season.

I would love to see replay in the MIAC to improve the calls made/missed on field, but can assure anyone hoping for replay that the version we would get would not be worth it.  The lack of quality equipment and personnel would make it functionally useless.  When I was a replay official for an FCS team we had 16-24 cameras all staffed by professionals with 4 of us up in the booth working with a TV production truck to get what we needed and sometimes that wasn't enough.  Certainly no one in the MIAC has the production capability to make it worthwhile.

Nonetheless, even a basic system that includes the main camera in the box and the end zone cameras for coach film can correct some errors. Is it only worth having replay if it can make the game perfect?

[OzJohnnie]

I would love to see replay in the MIAC to improve the calls made/missed on field, but can assure anyone hoping for replay that the version we would get would not be worth it.  The lack of quality equipment and personnel would make it functionally useless.  When I was a replay official for an FCS team we had 16-24 cameras all staffed by professionals with 4 of us up in the booth working with a TV production truck to get what we needed and sometimes that wasn't enough.  Certainly no one in the MIAC has the production capability to make it worthwhile.

I suspect this is the real issue that prevents it.  The equipment upgrade at probably half the schools to make it minimally functional is likely an expense that none of them wants to undertake for a negligible impact on the program's quality.  If they had that sort of money lying around then they would probably spend it on new blocking sleds or whatever.

[art76]

Back in town after closing up the cabin this past weekend.

FWIW - the next three weeks in the MIAC will determine the bottom three teams, as they will be playing round robin. This coming weekend The Oles are at the Saints. The week following, the Saints are at the Pipers. Lastly, the Oles are at the Pipers. At this point in the season I would say that any order of the three is possible, but the Pipers looked good this past weekend against the Knights and have two home games, so they probably won't be at the very bottom.

Listened to the Cobber broadcast of the Concordia at St. John's game, while keeping an eye on the Bethel game, while sitting in McDonald's way up North. Wow - the difference in the two games was miles apart - like opposite sides of the Grand Canyon wide. The Cobber/Royal game in two weeks is going to be really intriguing to see - I might have to cash in on my season pass option to see the game in person.

Took a look at the NPI numbers now that we have 7 weeks in the books. Also listened to the podcast over the car stereo as we drove home (which was novel to me) and would tend to agree with the sentiment that it's way too early to use the chart in any meaningful way for the playoff picture. Right now it is a snapshot of where teams are setting, and as the weeks unfold, we'll be able to glean trends as the weeks click off. Any team with two losses really needs for teams with one loss to lose again to garner some traction so their resume looks better. BU is on the bubble and it probably won't be until the last games are played in the season until they know their fate. (That's assuming they can get past the Cobbers, which is DEFINITELY not a given.)

The remaining games in the MIAC this coming weekend I expect to go chalk, with Concordia, Gustavus, St. John's, and Bethel winning.

[hazzben]

Wonder why we don't opt for review-is it home team that decides or both teams have to agree? The refs were horrible, especially that CC first touchdown, but SJU D didn't do themselves any favors in the first half-seems too often that is the case.

The conference had to vote for it and I believe that schools in the league were afraid that it would benefit the schools who put resources into broadcasting (Bethel and St. John's), enough of the others voted against it.

That perfectly sums up the current state of the MIAC. St. Olaf's broadcast Saturday was really good. Lots of replays, great camera angles, solid announcers doing their best with a blowout. The only struggle was not realizing when Bethel went with pace they needed to cut out replays or they'd miss the next play.

Half of this league wants to invest in their programs and put a good product out, on the field and production-wise, the other half is stuck in neutral and content to stay there.

It's such a short sighted decision. How does replay benefit SJU and Bethel any more than other schools? It's goal is to get the play correct. If anything, it would help lower tier schools when they play in environments where there's a large crowd pressuring the refs.

The bigger issue, is that it would ensure MIAC refs are prepared for late round post-season games when replay is available. Bottom line, a lot of D3 crews are out of their element come the quarterfinals and semi-finals when replay is on the table. They aren't familiar working with it, are uncertain on the types of plays that are reviewable, etc. You can't blame them when it's a tool they never use in the regular season.

I would love to see replay in the MIAC to improve the calls made/missed on field, but can assure anyone hoping for replay that the version we would get would not be worth it.  The lack of quality equipment and personnel would make it functionally useless.  When I was a replay official for an FCS team we had 16-24 cameras all staffed by professionals with 4 of us up in the booth working with a TV production truck to get what we needed and sometimes that wasn't enough.  Certainly no one in the MIAC has the production capability to make it worthwhile.

Nonetheless, even a basic system that includes the main camera in the box and the end zone cameras for coach film can correct some errors. Is it only worth having replay if it can make the game perfect?

To me it's a classic case of don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Every school has video, some have 2 or 3 camera angles. Regardless, at any given game both teams have the same camera angle access.

Case in point. Against Olaf they had a catch to their sideline, the receiver on their field level replay was clearly out of bounds when he caught it. Field Judge came running in from 10 yards away and signaled catch. Replay was looked to be out of bounds. Later in the same quarter, Bethel had a beautiful pick. DB got one foot down with clear control, foot was in by a good 2 feet. Same Field Judge ruled it out of bounds. Even the main camera angle showed an obvious catch. Every camera in the conference would have caught it. But the field level replay at Olaf made it unquestionably a pick. Bottom line, the ref blew both calls, and IMO was probably influenced by the fact that both were made directly in front of the Olaf bench.

It was a meaningless call in a blowout. But in a key game for an auto bid or to keep at large hopes alive, that matters. It's also an immediate point of feedback for the Field Judge and officiating crew.

[art76]

Both the Cobbers and the Johnnies got players of the week earlier today.

https://www.d3football.com/awards/tow/2026/week7