No more talk leading up to the game. It’s time to talk (or type) about it.
Ryan Tipps will give you his thoughts on Stagg Bowl 36.
Read, enjoy and participate. 🙂
190 thoughts on “Gameday: Stagg Bowl 36”
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neutralobserver: You don’t sound very neutral to me, more like negative or bitter.
GoScotties……”thought they were slightly better?”
Come ON man……that’s why they play the game. Posts like that are just ridiculous. It was a good game from two great teams. The best team won…..PERIOD.
Little bitter on here..but its not going to get me down.
Greg Micheli played a great game. He can sure scramble.I really wished he had hit Kmic in the back of the end zone on that play at the goal line when the fumble happened ( I think a few city blocks heard me scream at the television when that happened), but he came out ready to play and struck early. Is there a new rule I’m not aware of that says that the first 6 minutes of a game don’t count? Turns out they do, and when you focus everything on Nate Kmic, Mount will, and did, find other ways to score. Cecil Shorts looked great.
The poster who said Anderson was more effective than Kmic today was right. I was very impressed with Anderson out of the backfield. He looked strong and determined. I’m not sure why they didn’t run more, because I’m not completely sure the MUC D could have stopped him forever. But I’m not a coach and the UWW guys are great coaches.
The Warhawks showed the same type of fight that the Raiders did last year. The refused to go quietly, and battled until it was over. That’s how a title should be defended. I was on the edge of my seat, praying the clock would run out so UWW would run out of time. The on side kick had me NERVOUS. That and a prevent like defense Mount was playing late in the game was crazy. To me, the prevent defense “prevents” you from winning games. MUC special teams was also not the greatest.
Roughing the kicker call – I didn’t like it. There were several calls I wasn’t thrilled with. I will give UWW the benefit of the doubt that the game could have been different without that call. But then again, the two missed FG’s loomed large. Not that they were chip shots or anything, but what with the hype on here the last few days about UWW’s kicker, I thought he would have made them.
The MUC firepower on O was enough to get it done, and the great interception return sealed the deal – play of the game in my opinion. The Mount D did come up big in the red zone, forcing UWW to kick FG’s and that is no easy task. Donovan played very well – good arm, good decision making, even took off for a few runs of his own.
A great game by two great teams. If it is as neutralobserver says, and title X is MUC’s last for a while – I’m good with it, because what a run it’s been. UWW didn’t push MUC around all day though…hardly. Not saying they didn’t at times, but all day is just not true. Might wanna change your screen name there.
Finally – while may of you talk about stopping Nate Kmic, he’ll be celebrating walnut and bronze just the same. I’m sure he – and I know the fans – are just fine with it too.
Here’s to a fantastic effort by a talented team!!! Way to get it done….
The best two teams all year were MU and UWW. Ranking UWW 5th in the West was a joke. The rating system is in bad need of fixing. If they cannot rate them correctly, don’t publish the ratings.
MTU should be number 1 in 2009, they are the champs till someone knocks them off and UWW sure did not do that job!
I would say that MU deserves to be number 1, but I don’t think they will be the best team at the start of next season. Not after losing Micheli and Kmic. The defense can be scored upon by good, balanced, offenses.
No doubt the 5th seed for UWW was a slap in the face. Maybe it motivated them though? They wound up hosting the Regional Championship anyway, so what difference does it make. Things like that have a funny way of working themselves out.
I would predict MU to have another succesful season next year, but I don’t think it will end with a National Title. Congratulation on number 10…unbelievable 15 year run!
Congratulations to MUC, they used all their talent to the best of their ability. Regarding the roughing the punter penalty, yes, it was a heartbreaker given the noticeable momentum shift going on. However, it did not decide the game in any way.
Someone earlier said it right, why didn’t UWW run the ball more, and more specifically, why didn’t they run Anderson more? I also agree that UWW coaches are great and no doubt they have their reasons. I would like to hear comment on that. I just didn’t understand why we passed so much (38 times) when it seemed very clear from the stands (and the fans in the stands) that UWW could run all day. That pass interception happened during a series where it seemed so darn obvious that running Anderson was not only the answer, but it was going to be game changing. The next series, UWW came out and ran Anderson and scored- one drive too late.
By the way, I don’t know what it looked like on TV, but from the stands, Shorts is amazing. It’s not just his hands and speed, but he ran great, great routes.
I disagree that MUC HAS to be #1….
Whitewater won the Stagg Bowl last season and they weren’t number 1 to start the season. MUC was…
St John’s won the Stagg Bowl in 2003 and MUC was no 1 to start the season again…
So why does MUC have to be #1 because they won the Stagg Bowl? Other teams don’t get that benefit…
Now, if the voters truly do believe they are the best in the country, that’s ok. But I don’t want to hear the old “They’re No 1 till someone beats them” line, because no-one seems too happy to use that argument when MUC is the losing squad. Can’t have it both ways
Was a pretty amazing game today, and the announcers actually had a clue about these players. Nice job ESPN!
How about that hit Kmic took on the kickoff, and like a champ, he got up and ran for a first down on the next play.
The announcers also said that that both teams were very young and deep. With that said, could there be a possibility of a fifth annual Purple & Black Bowl, aka The Big Bruise?
It’ll be interesting to see if there’s a 5th straight game. Kimic and Micheli graduating will be a big thing to replace…
UWW-MUC will be the teams to beat next year. However, UWW will have the better team. MUC is losing Kimic and Greg Micheli, hard to replace those guys. UWW has all the skill position guys back and lose only 6 SR’s total. UMHB wil have their hands full again.
We need a transfer qb who can throw and run.
UWW played a great game accept for the first 6 min. UWW will be back next year unless the Cru can find some way to beat them. MUC may or may not return to the Stagg.
Yeahbomber: It’s a D3Football.com rule that MUC is ranked No. 1 preseason even if they lose the Stagg Bowl. Just kidding!
Seriously, I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Whitewater is No. 1 preseason in 2009.
Just looking at the final stats. UWW ran 31 more plays, had the ball longer on offense like 8 min, more yards rushing etc. Stats are not everything as proven today.
UWW should be ranked # 1 next year, UMHB #2 MUC # 3.
I believe MTU wil adjust and the REPLACEMENTS will be productive perhaps more so then the starting backfield of UWW. MTU has a traduition now, and football players want to come to MTU and play for a CHAMPION and become a
CHAMPION, MTU will produce those players in 2009. The coaching staff will make adjustments and once again will produce a winner. Again, once you repeatedly win championships the players want to go their- to MTU. Just look at the top D 1 schools that have produced championships, MTU will be WINNERS!
In all honesty folks, pat coleman will rank no 1 who or whom he sees fit to be preseason no. 1, no matter what anyone else thinks, this D3 is his baby.
Pearlaker, we should be grateful for Pool C bids!
UWW did not win the AQ from the WIAC. I am not going to “diss” UWSP who beat UWW on the field where it counted on the day that they played.
I think that the West demonstrated it is the strongest region, again. Imainge, only St Johns and Aurora in the only monkey-stomps in the West Region. The blocked (tying) FG attempt by UWW at Wartburg turned around a tight game. The West was tough this year.
Thanks to undefeated #2 seed Oxy having fly to #1 seed undefeated Willamette for the first round game, UWW go to host a first round game. They played themselves into a second home game against Wartburg.
As for the seeding for the NCAA, the Championship did a good job inside the budgetary constraints that we got. I would rather the committee apply the criteria in the Handbook failry than rely on subjective polls to seed.
Please justify a higher seeding for UWW using the criteria in the Handbook.
I am interested to read your seedings and how you use the data that the selection committee was required to use. 🙂
I think, Ralph, that a lot of the concern is the bugetary constraints overriding the on the field performance. Maybe the NCAA had no choice to rank #5 them given the financial concerns they face, but frankly, I think it’s frustrating to a lot of D-3 fans that their sport has to suffer these issues.
I don’t think you could say that, given the criteria the NCAA is forced to use that UW-W got the short end of a stick, however, that doesn’t preclude people from being upset that the criteria has to be used in the first place.
Cru crushed “UWW should be ranked # 1 next year, UMHB #2 MUC # 3.”
Get real, UMHB will not be #2 in the pre-season poll next year…they will probably not even be their conference favorite!! Top 10 maybe, only because of reputation, but they must prove it on the field against the stronger teams, not fold like a cheap deck of cards.
To all of you blatent “Sour Grapes” and those under the guise of “Mount looked good, but whine whine whine whine” all I’ll say is scoreboard!
And please, ESPN great job? Pam Ward was tolerable but the guy??? Ahhh, that UWW sideline pass that was “definately a catch”? No. Ely interception in the endzone? Missed call.
Try this all you Fargo extras. There is a fancy contraption called a DVR that can pause and slowmo. First questionable UWW sideline pass … good non-call … no posession. Ely interception … missed call. Second UWW questionable sideline pass … good reversal by the booth. Michelli fumble warranted a review … none to be had.
Big mistake? Rotating Anderson out. Bigger mistake? Keeping whomever is in charge of MTU special teams the same for next year.
Oh, and to those that think MTU will be in transition next year? You havn’t been paying attention over the years, have you?
Chill out, CheeseHead….
Skyfighter says: “Whitewater sucks.”
There’s a classy post. Does your mom know you have a D3 screen name?
Warhawkgrad: “I believe….”
No one cares what you believe. You are irrelevant.
R24aider,
It was a fun week bantering with you. Congratulations on your Mount’s Championship. You have a lot to be proud of. Merry Christmas to you and your family!
Cheese,
Every now and then there is a game where the outcome may be impacted by bad calls/missed calls. I don’t think this is one of those games. Since returning from the game I’ve had several people tell me that UWW got hosed on the roughing the kicker penalty and one of the sideline passes. Whether that is true or not, in my opinion the game game down to another point you made- rotating Anderson. He averaged over 6 yards a carry-19 carries. From the second quarter on, I thought the game was in control of UWW, if they would have ran Anderson 25-35 times. Take away most of the 13 carries given in the rotation, and he gets that. Not only does that control the game, but it opens play action. UWW threw 38 times (granted, quite a bit in trying to come back late in the 4th), but that was too much. We got away from our strength.
nathanshin,
“Get real, UMHB will not be #2 in the pre-season poll next year…they will probably not even be their conference favorite!!”
You must be on crack, not even the conference favorite!!
I will say Hardin-Simmons will be tough, MAYBE tougher than MUC.
anyone remember terrence morring, he was hurt all year this year and will be the starting running back next year.he was ahead of kmic way back in the day the only reason kmic got a shot is cause terrence fumbled on a first and goal at the one, the rest is history, but he will replace kmic and we will not loose a beat in the run game. the qb situation tho is up in the air,,shorts petrazillo back to solidify the passing game.basically all the defence is back, i expect the defence to be better next year…go mount take us to salem in 09…………great season..next year is terrences year…get ready to hear the name alot…
I really like all you Cru guys, but I have to be honest. I feel last year’s Cru was a lot better than this year’s Cru. If the Cru had to play MUC this year, I think it would have been a long, long day for you. I don’t mean anything negative because I have massive respect for the Cru, it’s just my opinion on the teams this year.
“thebigmp”
I see you found one of my buttons . I made them a year too early, but I’ll take the win this year. Watching the game up close (great seats)
I was really impressed with the solid play of UWW and their quarterback. Those UWW guys up front were amazing and very physical.
Great job MUC seniors.
GO MOUNT — and see you next year !!!
there was some chatter at the game about shorts moving back to QB next year, morring returning as the RB. so mount and whitewater will again start the season favored to meet for round 5.
I thought that was a great game. MUC was the real deal, and that QB was dead on. He made it look easy. Those guys were covered, maybe not the first TD where the d-back fell, but otherwise the passes were perfect. I thought Kmic finally saw a worthy defense, good back anyways. UWW blew the game with TWO missed FG’s by the All-American kicker, who returns in 09, and that INT for a TD. That was the dagger in the hesrt, as MUC was holding on for dear life the whole 2nd half.
The MUC linemen were not big at all, but they sure hustled and made plays. In the end speed kills. I think UWW should have ran more, and had they not gave out 21 points to start the game, they probably had planned to do just that.
Now they can plan on coming back next year. I personnally hope we put up 60 on UW-SP – our most depsised rivals in the WIAC. Bad blood there every year. At least LaCrosse has class.
Retool, regroup, and see ya next year gentlemen.
that would be nice but cecil is too good of a reciever, although he could really help the run game as well kinda of an option qb.. hes got a good arm. i got a feeling some young guy from the jv team will step up and be the man if not a true freshman.
HOWDY!
Got back from driving to and from Virginia last night around 10:30 P.M. I bet WW wishes it was back in Virginia (-10 degrees without the wind chill right now) a few things I wanted to get out of the way right away about a great weekend (even with the WW loss)…
Mount Union fans – You were all really classy and you support your team well…I know their were quite a few WW fans as well and we came from a longer distance…but quite a few of the fans on our side were neutral observers…your side was packed with nothing but purple cheering for mount…
Next…I know this is going to sound bad to the MU fans but I never really was impressed with Kmic through all of the Stagg Bowl’s…and I KNOW…I KNOW…that just sounds absurd…but I think that is because he was always more of the “second” option on offense compared to the likes of Garcon and Micheli…maybe it just sticks out more to me this year that he was “held” to 88 yards…
Next…Micheli should seriously get a look from the big boys at the NFL combine…I don’t see how he doesn’t deserve a shot to go there…sure other teams have had better statistical seasons…but look at Mounts offense…the guy I just knocked a bit in Kmic is the only reason Micheli’s numbers aren’t in the 50 TD 2 INT range…Micheli really didn’t make one bad decision all game…sure he fumbled twice that I remember and one of the was when he got smoked on the goal line…but he was at least in my opinion 80% of the reason they won the game…great career…seems like a great guy…I wish him the best of luck…
Next…this isn’t me being bitter…and this isn’t me being bias…I just think overall WW was the better team…but being the better team doesn’t always mean you are going to win the game…and it also doesn’t mean other great teams can’t beat you…I just think that WW of this year was MU of last year…MU’s turnovers of last year were WW’s mental mistakes and breakdowns this year…please don’t take that as me being bias at all…I just think that WW truly was outcoached as others have said with the FG attempts when they needed TD’s (and I brought this up to others even before he missed them)…and why is a 75% at best Levell Coppages getting a bunch of carries NEAR THE GOALINE compared to Anderson who was obviously the best back on the field for WW in the game…just a few head scratchers…but I do agree with the missed field goal by Schebler being the coaches fault…they waited and waited for an obvious replay to be called that wasn’t and then Schebler rushed his kicked and yanked it left…which brings me to my next point…
For as many missed calls and bad calls as there were…they sure did affect the game…but not the outcome IMO…to say that the first review was a “good non call” is idiotic…that was a more obvious catch then the second one…however…there were blown calls and bad calls all day…it’s part of football…they are made every week in D3…they just aren’t as magnified as they are in the championship game…
Another thing that upset me is a few of the Mount fan’s who I’m guessing aren’t even in college much less in their first year or two of high school creating names to make it sound like they are from Wisconsin aka Warhawkgrad and Cheesehead when it’s quite obvious you are a mount union fan…hell be proud of it…don’t try to hide who you really cheer for…and don’t try to make wisconsin look any worse by creating a fake name…
Lastly…it has been fun talking and jawing with all of the other mount fans and even the UMHB fans on here through the playoffs…its great to see others get excited with D3 football even when their team isn’t involved…I am confident that next year is going to be very competitive…and one thing is guaranteed…it’s going to be a blast to watch…no matter who’s in the Stagg…
my book is over…sorry it’s so long (if anyone is even reading this anymore) but I didn’t have time to get on here since being back from Salem…and on that note…keep up the good work Salem…just work on being a little less strict with the bike cops telling us to dump out our beers if they are in a can…it’s hard get it into a cup from the can if you keep threatening us jail time for having it in a can…
Hey T Unit, good post. Long is ok when you have something to say.
I agree entirely that the ref calls or non calls did not make the difference in the game.
In my opinion, there were two offensive series by UWW that made the difference.
1st series: 1st and goal from the 4. Anderson is NOT on the field. Run Coppage once, then pass twice. Does anyone, anywhere honestly believe that MUC could have stopped Anderson on four carries from the 4? Really, be honest?
2nd series: The interception series. No need, whatsoever, to be passing in that set. Even coach Kehres referenced UWW was wearing them down. I saw Anderson run play after play after play against St. Johns. Anderson had 35 carries against Willamette. He was the answer.
Antwan Anderson 19-124. Long of 18, average of 6.4 per carry.
Levell Coppage 13-42. Long of 7, average of 3.2 per carry.
There must be a deeper story to all this. It was too obvious to too many people and UWW coaches are smart. There is something more to the story.
Coppage is definitely limited right now and couldn’t make the cutbacks that he did when he was healthy. What Coppage did the past two games is not what I saw him do at Eau Claire, for example.
agreed 100% Pat…and I hope no one thinks I’m down grading Coppage in any way because I’m not the kid is a heckuva back and was playing through injury giving it everything he had…I know he almost bounced one outside and could have gone for 20-30 had he got the corner…but he just wasn’t where he was at at the middle of the season…anderson on the other hand was playing at his peak for the season…plus I would much rather see a back such as anderson (190lbs) then Coppage (160lbs soaking wet) at the goal line…I just never understood it either Mike…we had a huge line and we were pushing them around at the end of the 3rd quarter into the 4th…why didn’t we just keep pounding the rock…I too thought there was more to this with Coppage seeing so much time, but I guess we probably won’t know for sure…if there wasn’t…I’ll be scratching my head over the matter for a few years
T Unit- I appreciate the opportunity to commiserate with you.
Pat, do you have any thoughts as to why 1. Coppage received so many carries? 2. Why UWW didn’t run the ball much more than they did? From your viewpoint, did you find yourself asking “why aren’t they just pounding Anderson”?
Here is a question. What coach actually controls player substitutions? With the coordinator in the booth, I sort of doubt he is doing it. I realize they may have certain “packages”, but I doubt they have one for every play of every series.