It’s nine and a half hours to kickoff as I write this. And as the painful memory of nearly seven hours’ drive time on I-80 alone melts from my eyes, it’s time to throw out my predictions. I have Keith’s predictions in my inbox and have tried not to read them so far.
What will we see tomorrow? I hope we’ll see two good games. I fear we’ll see two blowouts. So maybe we’ll get something in between.
Mount Union 35, St. John Fisher 17
There’s been some question as to which players will be available and play for Mount Union tomorrow. In the end, it’s not going to matter. As long as Nate Kmic can play, this is going to be a quick game and a Purple Raider win.
UW-Whitewater 35, Wesley 17
Is Justin Beaver 100%? Can Mario Harris, et al, shut down Derek Stanley and Neil Mrkvicka? Will receiver Michael Clarke be able to get open and pull away for his yardage after the catch? Can either team stop Ryan Kleppe or Bryan Robinson?
Hmm, that’s a lot of questions.
Here’s Keith’s take.
Mount Union 28, St. John Fisher 14: If the Cardinals score more than 17 against the Purple Raiders, they’d be the first to do so this season.
UW-Whitewater 28, Wesley 21: The Wolverines keep it much closer this year, but the Warhawks find a way to win again, preserving a chance to send coach Bob Berezowitz off into retirement with a championship.
Check for updates on the Scoreboard, not to mention our live broadcasts.
OK, so I only picked one score for both games. So sue me. 🙂
Pat…
Yes the East has played well in the past two games against Mount Union, but look at the depth of the East…SJF blew out Rowan in the regional final the most lopsidded one this year…
Now how about my comment on the South…it does not seem to me(outside of MHB winning in Alliance a few years ago) that they compete well with the West or North…are you ready to say that Wesley was overrated?
from reports I would think that they would be middle of the road in the MIAC
SJF blew out Rowan, but lost to Springfield. Springfield lost to Ithaca who didn’t make the playoffs. Ithaca lost to Alfred who played Springfield tight, as did Union.
Union beat Hobart who lost to RPI and played Rowan tight in the first round. RPI beat Cortland (albeit in ECACs) who beat Ithaca and played Rowan to overtime.
Wilkes played Rowan toe-to-toe in the playoffs but needed overtime to beat Delaware Valley in the regular season and a late comeback to beat Lebanon Valley.
With all those tight games, that sounds like a fairly deep and competitive region to me. The only conferences that don’t tie in here are the NEFC and the NESCAC (because they don’t want to).
And I don’t remember there being questions about the West’s depth last year when Whitewater destroyed St. John’s.
… and Central.
VOJ:
Wesley does not compete well at Whitewater. That’s really all that’s been proven. You can’t just ignore games such as Whitewater barely beating UMHB in the regular season, Linfield losing to Hardin-Simmons.
This would hardly at all be the first year that a handful of teams is significantly better than the rest of the pack. When the season started, we thought that was two teams. At the end perhaps it’s five or six instead.
Everyone here seems to be forgetting that this is wesleys’ second year making it to the final four. I am sure that when all of these other schools who are considered powerhouses made it that far they did not start out just winning national championships. Building a dynasty takes time and it also takes money which is something wesley is going to have to committ to in order to be on a level as uww and muc. Their facilities are ten times better than wesleys and they’ve been there longer so cut them some slack. You can’t build a national championship team over night let alone just in two years when everyone else has been established longer. You can play better which Wesley needed to do but come on, they still have deer in the headlight eyes considering this is only their second go round in the final four!!! You all seem to be forgetting that these are still kids!! Then for someone to comment on Robinson and saying he was trying to be “cool guy” and be friends with the other team. Last time I checked that was called sportsmanship. During those 60 min of the game you all want to kill each other but then when it’s over you shake hands and move on. At least he was man enough to not have harsh feelings and create problems between the two teams. Give him some credit because I’m sure it is frustrating to lose like that and there was nothing he could do. UWW ran away from him all day and had him double teamed. Bottom line is that kid, actually 6’3 287 lb man, will be playing in the NFL someday and will be bigger than this past game and all those who hate on him for being a good sport.
I will agree with the posters that just say Wesley just doesn’t match up well with Whitewater at all….watching that game you could see the wheels fall off and Whitewater knew they have this team’s number.
I respect the South region after seeing two of their more respected members (UMHB and HSU) and know that Wesley’s performance the past two year’s in the Semi’s doesn’t reflect the quality of football in this region.
However, I will say I think the West is the deepest region in the country in terms of quality. If WW can win this Saturday then I feel the West has that claim with 4 different West teams winning the Stagg in the last 8 years.
sjfcftbll,
Very good points that you made. I’m not saying rankings aren’t important. It would be fantastic if the Cardinals were ranked #3 at the end of the season, the kids deserve it, I’m sure it will help with recruiting too, but I don’t think it is worth getting too worked up about. Look, what I was trying to say without going on a tangent was that unless you win it all, everything else comes down to moral victories and valliant efforts. If we want SJFC Football to reach the next level and stay there then the time for moral victories has to be over. Do you think if Mt. Union would have lost to us this weekend they would be on this post campainging to be #3? Absolutely not! Why? Because they’re satisfied with nothing less than being #1, that is how champions react. That has to be our mindset, it has to be the players and coaches mindset, it has to be everyone involved with Fisher Football’s mindset if we ever hope to become what MUC is. That being said I just think we let the chips fall where they may as it relates to the polls and start moving ahead concentrating on the things all of us can do to help the team reach that next level.
I think UWW’s win over SJU and Central might be more about how good MUC ultimately was last year.
And, well yes, Ws and Ls are what count. But most would admit that UWW’s 2005 win over SJU and either of the Wesley games, were very different animals. On Saturday, Wesley didn’t cross midfield until the final minutes of the game, where they could have lost 60 or 70-zip. Wesley would not have matched up with SJU or UWLX this year.
As I sloppily mentioned above, the UMHB game makes this discussion interesting. How much difference Beaver would have made (both on the field and to the chemistry playing their second game without him) is purely speculative. But UMHB would certainly be a contender in any region. The H-S/Linfield is probably less important as a yardstick given that the ‘Cats and the NWC were clearly down this year. I don’t think the West has had the top-to-bottom depth that its had in some seasons, but the top is still pretty darn good.
The point about a handful of 5-6 teams being good is spot on, I would think three of the six might be UWW, SJU and UWLX, which still speaks well for the West’s elite if not its depth.
But once again it comes down to MUC (understatement award). If it pounds UWW . . . the rankings tilt north and east.
WC11,
Yup, I think the stat about the number of different champs from the West is very telling. I expect your boys will be back in the mix next season.
But I’m still waiting for some SJU/Linfield video on your site … 🙂
risebl16:
What was your post really about? Was it about schools being established longer, about Wesley making it to the final four again, or about defending Robinson? Because you didn’t do a very good job at any of them.
And for future reference, Robinson was NOT double teamed all game, Whiteawter DID run the ball at him once in a while and Robinson was doing all that stuff in the THIRD and FOURTH quarters.
He’s good, don’t get me wrong. Any team would love to have him. I don’t think he needs you to defend him.
risebl16,
I think you’re missing the point entirely here. What I am referring to occured during the game, not after. It’s the second time I’ve seen somebody actually “mingle” on the football field DURING the game. The other time was Robinson last year. And that looked like he was petitioning the WW coaching staff for a transfer DURING the game.
I am not hating on him for being a good sport, I am hating on him for being a bad competitor All the God-given ability in the world and no heart.
You have to understand, I like to see D-III guys make it in the league. Everyone keeps talking about how he could be one of the guys to do it. Based on what I’ve seen the last two years, I just don’t see it.
http://www.geocities.com/catdomealumni/embedvids/bighit1.html
repete…you can see some SJU and Linfield clips sprinkled around in the clip above. 🙂
11 . . . Thanks. Some great pops. It looked like the SJU-version of Elliott bounced up quickly and gave the popper a nice little tap. You are the vid master.
repete,
He did pop up quick…I should have done a little edit job and cut that part out! 😉
On a stagg bowl note…I’ll have the video capture equipment ready to post up the highlights of Saturday’s game….it’s not a super quick turn around but I can turn most clips in about 15-20 minutes….should be a fun game to watch.
I know its a highlight tape so every hit is huge, but whoever teaches tackling there needs a raise.
With the exception of a few guys leading with their heads down, the technique was brilliant. Feet moving, Great arm wrap, and a whole lot of explosion.
Well, it looks like one of my comments came to fruition somewhat. It turns out that Prince will be doing the halftime show at a bowl game. However, instead of the Stagg Bowl, Prince will doing his halftime show not in beautiful downtown Salem Va. but at an event called the Super Bowl. Yep, he’s dissing real football fans to grab some corporate swag. What a sellout. (this is said with tongue firmly in cheek) D-III fans, have a great time in Salem; wish I could be there.
DUBB,
Since you seemed to enjoy the clip here is the follow up: Big Hits II
http://www.geocities.com/catdomealumni/embedvids/bighit2.html
I’ve gotta say, that last scene in that clip was amazing. Two huge sticks on the same play. Great clips cat
My point in writing what i said was not to defend Robinson but to make a point that this is not the forum for calling out kids individually in a negative way. From what I understand this is to discuss football and the teams as well as the individuals and their strengths. None of us truly know each of these kids and can say someone does not have heart or is a true competitor. What you see in the stands is a perception and if Robinson was on your team or any other player who people discuss in a negative way was on your team I am sure you would defend them. You are entitled to your opinion. I happen to know Robinson personally and know he truly is a competitor and does have heart. Look for him to bust his tail in the weightroom starting next week and come out even more of a monster next year. Besides the only people he has to convince about playing in the league are the scouts and from what I understand there are a few looking already. But like I said you are truly entitled to your opinion. And as for someone else commenting to say I didnt do a good job making my points, bottom line is Wesley is still new to the Final Four game and getting where they want to be will take time just like it did for anyone else to build their programs. If you cant understand that simple of a statement then I am sorry.
All of the Mount Union fans and players must have been relieved when they didn’t have to play another John Gagliardi/Jerry Haugen coached team again this year!!! No disrespect to Whitewater, they have a great program but they aren’t in the heads of MUC like St. John’s must be.