Go grab your coffee and sit down with us on a Monday morning for this week’s ATN podcast. Four games last week, two games this week. Plus, hear what Keith thought of the Wesley/Mary Hardin-Baylor game and Pat’s take on the Central/Bethel game. What’s coming up this week? Are we really destined for a threepeat Stagg Bowl?
Listen in.
well spoken, UMHBmom
I believe umhbmom is saying what most of the posters have been. The teams that made it this far are here for a reason and that no team wins simply because they have better stats or are in a tougher conference or play better in poor conditions.
We would (or should) all agree that MUC and UWW are favored to win but it is not guaranteed. Bethel and UMHB supporters have confidence in their team as I’m sure the players and coaches have in themselves. If they didn’t, it would make no sense to even show up and play.
Will either of the underdogs win? We will see Saturday but it won’t be easy for either of them.
I for one and predicting an overtime UMHB upset with a rematch of the 2004 game in Salem with MUC.
Go Raiders!!!!
With all this talk of conference strengths and weaknesses, stats, etc., it would be nice to expand the ability to schedule more non-conference games.
Mount Union for one, due to the conference affiliation, is limited to 1 non-conference game each year. I wonder if conference re alignment would be something to consider. Maybe limiting the number of teams in a conference to 8, giving all teams the ability to schedule 3 non-conference games. I think it would be good for intercollegiate athletics to do so.
I understand that economics play into any decision but, I believe it would help the overall sport and expand the consciousness of the sport.
Does anyone know if this has ever been discussed?
Raiderdude,
I agree….I think….. let the games begin. Four teams remain, they’re still “in it” because they’ve demonstrated on the field that they deserved to be. I would much rather think that “my” team had a worthy adversary that to think they beat someone who didn’t have a chance. I’m confident that the better teams “on Saturday” …will win. Should that be MUC and UWW,….I’ll still enjoy the Stagg Bowl……just not as much!
How can you not enjoy playoff football! Division I should take a lesson from Division III (and II, etc.). There is still a potential of 15 games and I know the number of teams dwindle as the games progress but the drama is well worth it!
I just read the articles about Coach Johnson on the Bethel website. He sounds like a great guy. I am not really surprised though, the men that coach at successful colleges usually are great guys. If you get to know them (or are lucky enough to play for them) you understand that these guys represents what sports are all about. Integrity, hard work, compassion and most importantly PASSION. That’s what the players buy into 100% and that’s why he has a successful program. Win or lose Saturday, I am positive that the players from Mount, Bethel, UMHB, and UWW will leave everything they have to give on the field. Not just to win, but because they’ve been taught by great coaches that it is “Just the right thing to do.”
Good luck to all four teams, their coaches, and supporters.
baylorfan, i think the use of the word choke is a bit over the top. from what i saw last week, welch seems to be in control of what he is supposed to do. he made the plays last week when he needed to, there were several chances to “choke” and he did not. i dont think he will be the problem or the reason umhb loses. they will lose because they will have trouble controlling the game with the run. if uww does not turn the ball over, there will not be a 13 minute time of possesion difference as there was last week against wesley. if the weather is as predicted and the field is a mess as expected, the team that can pass when needed has the advantage and that would seem to be uww. i wish i was getting ready to board a plane for milwaukee to see wesley play in the mess tomorrow, but i only get to watch it on the internet. i wish wesley’s qb had a chance to “choke”. enjoy the game.
Mount has enough trouble filling their 1 non-conference game each year. Trying to fill 3 would be near impossible.
On the WWW vs MHB debate, Whitewater is the better team, plays in a much better and deeper conference, won the head-to-head matchup quite easily, and is clearly the favorite heading into this game. Doesn’t mean they’ll win, but everything points to a MUC/WWW re-re-match in Salem next week.
I’d like to see UWW and Mount meet in a home&home series during the regular season. If you think the Stagg bowl matchups were (and are) exciting, just think how those fun those games would be.
It’s just hard to envision those types of contests because of Mount’s limited ability to schedule non-conference games. Averett’s head coach said it best when responding to critics who thought it foolish to schedule Mount. If you want to be the best, you have to play the best. It’s true that Mount just steamrolled Averett both games but his players saw first hand just how good teams prepare and execute.
I believe Coach Kehres would welcome non-conference games with top flight programs.
Probably never going to happen but I was just curious if those discussions had ever taken place.
Raiderdude:
UWW and MUC did have a home and home agreement a few years ago (02-03, I think?). MUC won both huge, but the ‘Hawks proved they could be competitive. Foreshadowing of this current success, maybe?
Maybe that’s true and I do remember those games. I am merely illustrating that given the most recent success of the UWW program and the great Stagg Bowl matchups with MUC, it would be nice to reprise those games on each other’s home field.
Don’t mean to go on and on about it but it would be nice if MUC could have a more diverse non-conference schedule.
And for those that may respond to this post, I am aware that a great program (SJF) has a home&home with MUC for ’08-’09. I am just saying it would be nice to have the opportunity to have more than one of those non-conference type matchups each year.
Wow! Thanks for the heads up on what it takes to get back here year after year! MU is tough on the field, and her fans are expectant and obviously intense.
But, its time to speak up for Bethel University.
Of course we want to win. And, of course we understand who (or, what) is ahead of us on Saturday. One would be a fool not to give MU all the respect she is due! But, I think our Coach J said it best: “We’re going to play our game. Then we’re going to go home either happy, or ecstatic!”
Coach J is a great window into what Bethel football is all about. But, to understand BU football, you need to understand what Bethel as a whole is all about. Bethel is a school that is : “motivated by the Christian faith….[we try to] live out Biblical Truth, transform culture, and advance the Gospel.” (Took that right off the card the President gave me some time ago….first time I ever whipped it out). Sorry for the plug….but, this is what Bethel football is all about! That’s what Coach J is all about!
Coach J is a scrappy, blue-collar, Pastor’s kid from Chicago. Here is what you can expect him and his Boyz to bring on Saturday. It wont be fancy. It will be plain ol’ “smash mouth” football. As Coach J would say, “We are going to “punch” MU right in the nose.” As he has said in the past, “BU football wants to lay guys out on their Keister…then stick out a hand and help you right back up.” And, when Derek Blanchard lays-out a Royal on his back-side, here’s what you can expect; we’re going to get up, smack Blanchard on his 300lb hind-quarters and tell him “good job”!
In the mean time, BU will play our game….and we are going to try to win! Our “A” game might not be good enough. But, we’re going to go back up north happy, or ecstatic…and we’re going to give God all the glory either way!
Sorry for the same-less plug and the Church blah-blah-blah. But you have to understand BU football. We are going to bring our “A” game because of WHO we are, and What we are! Then we’re gonna to go home.
Hoping for a close game,
GHS
Save the derogatory responses. Dont make the mistake of misinterpreting our character for weakness!
lol
I would never do that nor would any of the other MUC fans. You see, Mount is also a Christian University. We have a diverse religious base but I would have to say that it is majority Methodist.
MUC would expect nothing less that the best Bethel has to offer. As I have said many times, you don’t get this far without talent and a strong belief system. Belief in yourself, your teammates, and you chances of winning.
Don’t mistake some of our more vocal fans as disrespectful. In my experience, the strongest usually let their actions speak for themselves. Those that have to tell others of their accomplishments are usually the ones least confident in who and what they are. I would like to think that MUC fans are never disrespectful of their opponents or their fan base. Our expectations are for a victory but it is NEVER taken for granted. 100% is required on every play of every game.
My best to Bethel and their team! May the best team go to Salem with the loser having no regrets.
As a closing comment, I would never misintepret character for weakness. Just the opposite.
All,
After reading the above comments I am still wondering if a game will be played this weekend. I would venture to say if UMHB plays a game like they played the last time these two teams met, they will lose. I don’think UMHB or WW will come prepared to give the game away or to play badly or lose on purpose. Each team has prepared to their fullest capabiltiy and the team that plays the best will win. Sometimes a team plays badly and sometimes they play great. We can all remember the last time UMHB played a bad game, can anyone honestly, “key word honestly” tell me the last time WW played a bad game and lost. May both teams play well in the bad weather and may both teams be safe.
Wesleydad,
Yes sir, you did miss something in Dover. Indeed Welch did go 5 comp for 10 attempts. His 5 completions included a touchdown and netted 74 yards. I believe that’s a hair under 15 yards per completion and 7.4 yards per attempt. On a rushing team I’m afraid I don’t see the beef about that caliber of passing. It is true Wesley QB Jason Schats had more than three times Welch’s passing yardage with 256, yds but the guy threw the ball 35 times (Largely because the UMHB Purple People Eaters forced Wesley to throw). Schats averaged nearly identical numbers in average per pass attempts and completions as Welch. Neather guy had a red letter day throwing but both were effective.
As for Danny Jones being a better passer than Josh Welch I’m not sure the tale of the tape will back that up. Both are good passing quarterbacks and at a glance Jone’s 2000+ yard season compared to Welch’s roughly 1,300 yards seems to make Jones the better passer. However, Jones threw nearly twice the passes this year that Welch has thrown (306 to 157). Welch has averaged 100 yards a game while only averaging a dozen passes per outing. Jones has averaged 171 yards per game, but has thrown the ball an average of 23.5 passes per game. Welch has a season passing efficientcy rating of 152 compared to Jone’s 133. Rounded to the nearest point Danny does have a 4 point advantage over Josh regarding completion percentage this season with a 56% mark compared to Josh’s 52%. Danny has a very respectable 21 touchdown passes to his credit this year. However, having thrown 149 less passes Welch is only 2 TD strikes behind the Warhawk signal caller with 19 tallies. A figure the NFL seems to find important when they judge quarterback passing is the ratio of interceptions to touchdowns. Both quarterbacks here show acceptable ratios, but Welch clearly leads with a 2.6 touchdowns to 1 interception vs Jones’s 2.1 to 1. Go entirely by the worst passing performance Welch has had since Pop Warner if you want to, but Josh has been a respected passing threat for years. No doubt there are going to be two outstanding young men behind the centers tomorrow. UMHB 28 UWW 7.
A quick note and good night to all. Four years ago I had the pleasure of covering the UMHB vs Mount Union Game. Setting the game asside I should like to publicly thank and commend the fans, players and organization of the Purple Raiders. There is no question that loosing your first home game in five years to a upstart team from Texas and being denied a trip to the Stagg bowl has got to be overwhelming to a great school with the incredible tradition of Mount Union. I was some what staggered myself. Not because the Crusaders had just won the biggest game of the school’s brief history, but by the extraordinary class and hospitality of the people in Alliance. We take a great deal of pride in the Lone Star State on our “Texas Hospitality”. We don’t have a thing on the folks in Mount Union. I have played, coached and reported on the game of football for over half a century. I have never seen the equal to the respect and hospitality shown me and my fellow Texans in Ohio. It was not hard to understand why the Raiders have the caliber of program they have. Its clearly the superior calliber of people that fill the ranks of the Purple Raiders in every area of the program. Thanks so much for making an old Texas country boy feel like an honored guest. Cruguy Out
cruguy, you use a lot of stats to try and prove that welch is as good as jones or schatz for that matter. dont kid yourself, he is not as good as either one passing the ball. he does his job well. hand the ball off, throw a little. if he is so good at throwing why are most of the umhb posters hoping they run the ball? i defended him against the choking comment, he is a good to better qb in an overall sense, but dont use numbers to raise him up against others. stats only tell part of the story.
wesleydad
I respect a lot of things you have said and I agree that stats don’t tell all the story of a game, but they give a fair picture of a guy’s season. I have not checked it but I’d bet the farm that Welch’s win loss record angainst ranked teams in the last four years would be one of the best if not the best in the country. I would give odds that his road record against nationally ranked teams at UMHB is the best in D III football. The part of the job that the stats don’t tell are the areas Welch shines. Wining agaist ranked teams and doing what ever it takes to lead his team successfully. If Josh Welch had played on a lot of teams that throw the ball 30-40 times a game everyone would be bragging on his passing. I am with the Cru fans that hope UMHB runs the ball tomorrow. I believe in what Coach Darrel Royal once said, “When the Longhorns throw the ball three things can happen and two of them are bad.” If you have the line and the backs to run the ball why pass? My only point is I’m tired of hearing that the Cru has to run because they can’t pass. Sorry the record book doesn’t show that to be the case. I love the one post that said if UMHB has to rely on the pass they will lose. I was in Alliance when Welch under more pressure than most college quarterbacks will see in a carreer beat the Purple Raiders in their house. I could be wrong of course, I mean it could have been a 37 yard forward hand off, but I really thought the Cru relied on a pass from Welch to beat the finest team in the nation. If UMHB runs and Welch never throws a pass it will not be because Pete Fredenburg doesn’t believe in his quarterback’s ability to pass. Why is it that when the stats indicate someone’s sports opinnion is incorrect they always say, “Well the stats don’t tell the whole story.” However, they never show anything but unfounded oppinion as to the part of the story not in the record book. How is a guy with a better efficentcy rating and a higher touchdown to interception ratio “obviously” an inferior passer to another guy. Jones may be a better passer. All I’m saying, and frankly I believe I have backed it up, is that the facts the facts don’t prove that he is.