Stagg Bowl XXXIV Live

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Hello everyone and welcome to Salem Stadium. This is John McGraw for D3football.com and I’ll be blogging throughout today’s game between Mount Union and UW-Whitewater. Pat Coleman and Keith McMillan are broadcasting live on NCAASports.com and Pat Cummings is down on the sidelines. Gordon Mann and I will be handling the half time show and already hosted the opening part of the pre-game show.

Kick-off is officially scheduled for 4:13 PM EST. The stands are just about completely full on the home side of the field, full of purple and black clad Mount Union fans. UW-Whitewater will be the visitor and their fans take up about 2/3 of the bleachers on the other side of the field. Fans are still making their way into the stadium from the tailgate. There was a great turn-out at the Stone Station tailgate and we thank the Bridgewater folks for their great hospitality.

It’s a gorgeous afternoon for football. Temperatures right now are in the 60s and there’s not a cloud in the sky. You couldn’t pick out better weather for a football game in mid-December.

For Mount Union, Pierre Garcon was warming up without any type of protective cast on his hand. He looked good in warm-ups catching passes, so we’ll see how he does once the game begins.

Don’t forget, later on tonight, the D3football.com All-America team will be posted on D3football.com. We made the official announcement during the pre-game show. Congratulations to all of those selected.

More from Salem to come. We’ll have scoreboard updates on the front page of the web site.

194 thoughts on “Stagg Bowl XXXIV Live”

  1. Purple Crush,

    I agree. The Texas Tech game wasn’t even close. Stupid decision by ESPN. Bobby Knight it just close to breaking that record so they had to slobber all over him…

  2. Pat and Keith,

    Is there a website to voice concerns and comments to ESPN about the D3 Championship broadcast? If so I would like to comment and give suggestions. As the saying goes, ‘nothing is fixed unless people know about it’. If enough people complain, maybe they will show D3 respect. I know D3 has came a long way but let’s try to get the respect D3 deserves. Yesterday’s broadcast was a smack in the face to D3.

  4. ESPN will listen and respond to the criticism of its broadcast team if the ratings and the number of complaints justify it. Chances are it’s not gonna happen, but I understand the frustration I’m reading here.

  6. Great game yesterday. Congrats to MUC. They were without a doubt the better team yesterday. As far as the showboating, etc of Garcon, I personally don’t see any problem with a little swagger and headbobbing, and I understand the excitement that he had to be feeling, but I do think he went a bit overboard with all the jumping around once he got off the field. Again, big games bring out big excitement, but as a veteran of the team, he should have shown a little more composure.

    phatjohnnie2, where are you coming from saying that UWW has to get an offense if they want to win a title? Last I checked, they had a great offense. So they had an off day against St. Johns (who has a pretty good defense). Big deal. You have to give credit to the MUC defense. They played very well yesterday, especially in the second half. They’ve made a lot of great offenses look out of form this year (and last).

    Just throwing this out there, who thinks UWW has a legit shot at making another run next year? 4/5 O line coming back in front of Beaver, solid QB, young but talented WR’s (MUC saw a little of what Wells can do). Defense will be led by the LB’s (Raebel and Borzick returning) and the secondary (all returning), but D line loses 3/4, including Kleppe. Just looking for some opinions. 🙂

  7. UWWRunner,
    I think the biggest obstacle WW will have next year is adjusting to a new head coach and new system. Even if it’s someone from within, every new coach makes changes, sometimes good, sometimes not so much. But talent wise they will have the horse to make another run. It will be fun to see how they handle being the team that every one wants to take their best shot at. If they can get through the WIAC unscathed they will be well on their way. It’s a tough road.

  8. RE: Whitewater’s chances next year:
    For the most part I agree with mainjack. There’s no question how good the returning starters will be (if healthy). The big questions are going to be with the coaching staff and the younger guys stepping up into the big shoes they have to fill (particularly on the D-line and at QB).
    The main measuring stick for them will be the WIAC. If they can make it through as champs, and possibly go undefeated, then they could be set for a deep playoff run. I personally can’t wait to see them play LaCrosse next year. It’ll be a good one!

  9. Trombone guy..Yea saw you sitting there on National TV..I think your busted man. (just kidding) Congrats also to UWW, no matter what you still had a great season and a great team! Can someone fill me in on UWW # 40? This guy impressed me the most. I thought he was all over the field, outstanding player. I read earlier that the Mount folks don’t appreciate all the Tiltles. nothing could be further. The City Of Alliance always has the Police and Fire units escort the team on the way out and again when they return. I can assure every one that hearing the sirens and horns at 1 or 2 in the morning or after 5 am like today, always makes you see how special it is. One never kn ows you may not see it again enjoy it as much as you can
    Thanks Raiders for a fantastic season!!

  10. i agree with main jack…its going to be a struggle trying to go back to a national championship under a new system…uwwrunner…i was just saying that the offense played bad against st. johns and mount union and there not gonna win if they put points on the board…defenses can only carry u so far…(exception of the chicago bears..lol) but st. johns all the way next year baby!

  11. So UWWRunner, I guess you only give credit to one defense …
    and when SJU gives UWW trouble it’s an “off day.”

    “Last I checked, they had a great offense. So they had an off day against St. Johns (who has a pretty good defense). Big deal. You have to give credit to the MUC defense.”

    Perhaps UWW’s struggle against SJU was just a sign of things to come. One thing that both SJU and MUC share is great game planning. I think that just might have been a factor. The difference was the SJU offense gave UWW plenty of help in short fields that Mount didn’t.

    The last three Staggs I’ve been to SJU played Mount a heckuva a lot closer than UWW has.

  13. 110% agree with repete…sju no matter who they face its always gonna be tough…st. johns has one of the best coaching staffs in d3…they give great game planning just like mt. union has…i hope st. johns makes it to the stagg bowl just to show how great they are…

  14. repete: “Perhaps UWW’s struggle against SJU was just a sign of things to come.”

    I hate to say it, but I agree. Sorry RUNNER, but UW-W had more than just an “off-day” vs. SJU. The Johnnies found some things to exploit and it almost worked. If Wesley saw the same things, they just didn’t execute as well. MUC definitely found weaknesses and exploited most of them to perfection. The ‘Hawks have/had a good offense, but a great defense can usually shut down an equally great offense.

  15. “but a great defense can usually shut down an equally great offense. ”

    To wit, MUC’s defense (as was UMHB vs a Beaver-less UWW). But, did UWW face a better passing game than MUC’s?

    Micheli/MUC is vastly better than UMHB’s passing game.

  16. Does UWW play UMHB next year? If so when? That will be a good measuring stick to see how good UWW rebounds. I think UWW will be almost as good and will be in the hunt again.

    Oh! if Beaver played against UMHB UWW would have done better. Maybe an offensive td. He impressed me yesterday against MUC.

  18. Ok, I have to admit I greatly downplayed the fact that the St. Johns defense did a great job of disrupting our offense. I also have to agree that the gameplanning likely had a lot to do with it. But I still hold to the fact that our offense is great when they are executing (which is the majority of the time). Just ask Wesley (who had a solid, if not great, defense). We had our chances against MUC, we just didn’t execute. I hate to put it all on Pete (TE) as it wasn’t obviously all his fault (he didn’t give up the other scores) and we had other opportunities, but for the second straight year if he comes up with the catch, this time on third down for either a TD or 1 and goal, it would have been a whole new ballgame. Instead, MUC blocks the punt on the next play and scores again, thwarting the comeback attempt.

    Mountguy
    #40 is LB Tristan Borzick. He was leading the team in tackles coming into Salem (may have finished behind Raebel, not sure on that). He’s a junior this year (along with Raebel). Transferred from some school in IL.

  21. The Canton Repository printed that Mount has 7 returning starters on defense for 2007. How many return on offense??? Seems like a lock for pre-season No. 1.

  23. Ya know, I’m tired of listening to both teams fans whining about this and that. MUC won so UW-W complians that they just didnt have their best game or Garcon is a showboat or whatever…blah, blah, blah…you lost, your the first place loser, get over it….Better next luck next year. Mount fans, Im tired of you complaining about UW-W fans complaining….You won, shut up and enjoy the ride home….You people are never satisfied…..As for Flush, your a moron, and you look like a reall pice of doodee right now dont you??? Way to make all your fans look as ignorant as you…You know what, it doesnt matter anyways, cuz Baldwin-Wallace is gonna roll MUC next year, and UW-W if we get the chance in the Stagg Bowl….Your all losers in my book….Go OAC—- Except Mount!

  25. UWW Runner…were you at the game between WW and SJU? The turnovers gave WW the game…10 of the 17 points they scored came off of St. John’s screw ups…SJU moved the ball against WW and gave Mount Union the defensive game plan they needed to win the game…

  26. MTU Seniors:

    Defense:
    2 DEs: Stickley and Vucelich
    S & CB: Ursetti and Fehl

    Offense:
    QB: Jorric but you got Micheli
    TE: Antonucci
    LT/RT: Creachbaum and Lewis
    OG: Reash

  27. Great to see D3 Football on HD!! Just wanted to add a comment on the ESPN crew… I thought it funny when Pam described Mount Union’s defense as a 5-2-5. No wonder they are that awesome, 12 people on defense. Kehres is a true mastermind!

  28. kirasdad,
    geez, you are bumming me out. I didn’t realize we were losing most of offensive line. Wait, what’s that noise….click-click. Must be LK reloading. Somehow I think we will be ok. :o)

  29. I think I read somewhere this weekend that LK said that they had two Offensive Lineman who went down early in the season who will be back next year.

    Ruturning 7 starters on both sides of the ball should not “Bum” you out. 🙂

    Especially when the 2nd and 3rd teamers at MTU would probably be starting elsewhere. They are just chomping at the bit to take their turn and win their “Own” rings!

  30. VOJ

    UWW still had just short of 300 yards total offense. Yes, SJU did a great job at limiting them, and yes, the turnovers proved to be the key, but the UWW offense was still moving the ball fairly well. People seem to be taking what I said and blowing it up. The only thing I’m saying is that to say that UWW needs to get an offense if they want to win a title is a slap in the face to that offense that was one of the best in the country all season long. The defenses of SJU and MUC played very well and deserve credit for those games, but don’t take away from the UWW offense in doing so.

  31. mainjack – I agree with you that SJF and Capital should both be ranked ahead of UWW, however I think that Fisher should be #2. Capital played MUC twice this year – the first time they got beat up pretty good (according to the score), while the second game was much closer. Fisher played MUC tough in the first meeting against them EVER! If SJF could have played MUC again this year, I think the outcome may have been different.

  32. But, as MUC expert Ric pointed out (perhaps here; I’m not sure), the Raiders actually had to pass to beat UWW. They couldn’t be entirely one-dimensional as they were in their previous two playoff wins.

  33. My Opinion:

    1. MTU
    2. UWW
    3. Capital
    4. SJFU
    5. SJU

    I saw the MTU vs. SJFU game in person (Garcon was hurt with the fracture, and we now find out that Jorris was having nerve damage in his throwing arm). SJFU had no answer for Kmic, even without a passing game.

    I didn’t see the Capital game, but I have seen Cap play MTU in the past.

    I did see the Stagg Bowl on TV. I agree with Ric’s comment that MTU had to pass to beat UWW and UWW did a fairly decent job on Kmic.

  34. It was once again a great weekend except for the outcome of the game which of course was why we were in Salem. Great luncheon and highlight show…..sure would like to get a copy of that. Warhawk party at the Marriott was awesome and tailgate Saturday was even better. People at Stone Station couldn’t have been more hospitable and how about Oline mom she couldn’t have been nicer to us and my son and his oline teammates. Once again we didn’t play very well but Mount Union had a lot to do with that…..they are simply an awesome team headed up by a very classy coach……he individually went up to many of the senior players from Whitewater and shook their hands and had something to say to each of them. Couldn’t be more proud of our team and especially the seniors. POUND THE ROCK!!!!……..

  35. We’re all quaking in our boots about B-dub there, OAC…
    BW making the Stagg is crazy, seeing as they cant beat Mount or Capital..
    and UWW would have rolled over them too…Are you hitting the egg nog a little too much this year?

  36. and you all are right about the espn broadcast…I was tyring to count how many different ways they attempted to pronounce Berezowitz…I really wish they would get some folks in there who had a clue…

  37. I’d like to cogratualte Mount Union on their 9th title. They were every bit deserving of it. As far as the people saying that Capital or SJF being ranked above UWW get real. Mount Union didn’t even need to pass to beat you guys. At least we got them into positions where they would need to throw. We just could not defend the pass very well due to either good protection, good scrambling ability of micheli (I still can’t believe he avoided that sack by jumping over a pile of linemen), break downs in coverage, or great recievers making big plays. The St. Johns “screw ups” were caused by a very good run defense and St. Johns inability to pass the ball effectively due to a poor passing game and a very good pass rush. We even had three times the number of penalties which is a BIG reason why you were able to move the ball on us a bit and we still won. The short fields were CAUSED by our defense and special teams. Will you guys ever give credit where it’s due or are you just content lying to yourself so that you can sleep better at night?

  38. Everyone needs to stop whining and complaining. MUC & UWW are obviously the 2 best teams this year. It doesn’t matter if they won their games by 3 or 300. The fact is they they won all of their games, and were good enough, when it mattered, to make it to the Stagg Bowl. Would you prefer that the Div III champion be determined with a BCS-like system?

  39. Warhawk, I don’t know of many Johnnie fans who think we deserved to beat UWW this year. Yes, we made some mistakes, and UWW took advantage. I think the point made by most of the Johnnie posters is that SJU had a great game plan against the ‘Hawks, and that MUC used some similar scheming (plus superior talent) to beat them. I’m confident that few fellow Johnnies would echo the one poster’s comment that UWW had a poor offense.

  40. dedragon,

    I almost fell out of my chair and spilled my coke when Pam Ward said” Mount Union is in a 5-2-5 defense.” “ Justin Beaver led all runners last year, but has had an off year this year with just 1300 yrds”. Duh, he missed 5 games due to injury, idiot.

    She may be a nice lady, but she has no business broadcasting football on any level for that matter.

    I recorded the game on TiVo and plan on watching it again. I will probably find more stupid comments. By the way TiVo is the way to go, I love it.

  41. sjfc81,
    I think i had too much champaigne in me when I listed Cap and SJF ahead of WW. I’m revamping based on a couple of things. The first is: Most of us didn’t know that LK was setting the trap by not passing at all vs. Cap & SFJ. After watching micheli saturday, it’s obvious he could have moved the ball through the air if he had needed to. Although Cap has a great offense and a darn good defense, combined, they aren’t as strong as WW. But Pentello is the great unknown, because IMHO, he’s the best D-III qb in the country. If he’s on, he has the ability to keep them in the game vs. anyone. Like alot of others who would love to see some teams moved around to some other regions, I think it would have been fun to see this Cap team vs. WW, SJU, Wesley, UMHB, etc. But sadly we will never know. Anyways, new ranking:
    MUC
    WW
    CAP
    SJFU
    SJU

    Hell, if Flush can change his predictions every hour, I should be allowed to change my ranking. :o)

  42. Quote from SJFC81: “….Fisher played MUC tough in the first meeting against them EVER! If SJF could have played MUC again this year, I think the outcome may have been different.”

    You’re right. The outcome would have probably been much worse. The more Kehres sees a team, it usually gets worse. As evidenced by the previous OAC playoff re-matches over the years where MUC wins bigger the 2nd time. In fact, only Capital has played MUC closer in the playoffs then the regular season game. Case in point from 2003, John Carroll lost to MUC 35-16 in Week 6 and then 57-19 in the National Semi-Finals. I can list more examples if you want them.

    If you think SJF is anywhere near Whitewater, then I don’t know what to say. Kmic rushed for 371 yards on SJF when there was no attempt to throw the ball. None. If Mount would have tried that against WWW it wouldn’t have been pretty. SJF is a good team, but they were completely dominated at the line of scrimmage by Mount Union, and would have been dominated up front by WWW too.

  43. HScoach I doubt the outcome would be worse. As a matter of fact I think SJFC really proved they could run with MUC. Yes they got dominated on the line, no question, they did however work around it. Remember they were a play away from taking the lead in the third quarter. I do not think they should be ranked ahead of UWW but there is room for speculation that they are as good as UWW. I have heard UWW fans all week say how good their team is. As a matter of fact most of the UWW fans gave the impression (not all of the fans) that the game with MUC may not even be close. I think UWW is a solid team, probably the 2nd or third best team in the nation, but…UWW lost to MUC, keeping the game close, and so did SJFC. So I don’t want to hear UWW fans sounding up in arms over talk that SJFC and others could challenge them for the second postion. It is a possiblity and that is a fact.

  44. I heard some people talking in the stands after the MUC-SJFU game, that the two schools made a deal to play non-conference games in the next few years. Maybe you’ll get your chance to see how well SJFU stacks up given another chance.

  45. raidergal in no way can you compare the two programs. You can’t compare anyone to MUC as a whole. The point I think that was made previously was that if this years teams played again that SJFC would do better the second time around. I don’t really think they would but I think that was the point. It is just great for an Eastern team to get that type of exposure two years in a row. MUC is a class act all the way around.

  46. It’s fairly clear that LK wasn’t showing all his cards against SJF. They didn’t throw downfield much at all (although I was flipping between both games and might have missed something). The longest of a mere eight completions in 14 attempts was 16 yards.

    It puts this LK quote in new light: “When you consider the circumstances involved, he really came through when we needed it most.”

    How much Garcon was hurting that day is unclear, but what MUC “needed most” was NOT revealing to UWW how well it could throw the ball against a good defense plus giving them something to think about in the form of Kmic.

  47. Again, I don’t think SJFC is as good a team as MUC, but to say or even think that LK and MUC did not do all they could to beat SJFC is a joke. I don’t care if they didn’t throw the ball. They wanted to and needed to win that game. I know that if you asked LK he would tell you he went with what worked. Obviously it was the run. Repete, I think Garcon was really hurting that day, and that definatly helped SJFC, no question. I think MUC couldn’t show all its cards because not all were or could have worked against a decent SJF defense. They did what they had to do to win, and that is why MUC is clearly a better team. I am no SJFC fan but, I get annoyed when people do not give respect where it is do. I guess what I am saying is that in no way did MUC decide to just run the ball becuase they wanted to save cards for UWW.

  48. There’s a story about a young Jim Tressel as an offensive coordinator. At the beginning of the game he called a running play. The play gained 5-6 yards. He called the same play again and it netted a first down. On the next play he called the same play again and again it netted 5-6 yards. At this point the head coach called up to the box and asked Tressel if there were any other plays in the playbook. He replied that there were. The head coach then asked him if he intended to call any of those plays. His response? “I sure do coach, as soon as they stop this one”.

    That’s the way Mount Union played SJF, particularly in the second half. It was apparent that SJF was unable to stop the run, so Mount Union ran.

  49. HScoach – I believe that Capital faired much better the second time around THIS year. They lost 35-16 in the first game (I think) and then they lost by only 3 points in the second meeting between the two teams. Fishers only regular season loss this year was to Springfield. In that game Sharpe (Springfield qb) ran for over 270 yards and 7 touchdowns. However, in the playoffs when the same two teams met, he rushed for less than 100 and SJF won the game. You can only see so much on game tape. What SJF found out was that Kmic is a lot better of a rb in person than on tape. So I promise you that if these same two teams met again, the outcome COULD have been different. I am not saying that SJF definately would have won, but I know that Kmic would not rush for 371 yards again.

    repete – From I have heard LK is a tremendous coach – one of the best ever at any level. So to say that he “did not show all his cards” is ridiculous. SJF had the ball on the MUC 15 with 7 minutes left in the game. If they would have scored, SJF would have taken the lead. However, MUC’s defense came up with 2 big stops and then blocked the field goal. That is a credit to MUCs defense and coaching staff.

  50. anyone who saw the sju ww game knows that sju played the better game…i would like to see ww come to st. johns in a hostile environment and beat them…every year st. johns goes to ww late in the playoffs and the field is so muddy and discusting…st. johns never has that many turnovers in a game and i think if st. johns plays uww at home…sju would win by a touchdown or more

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