MIAC Football Preview - 2012 Week 11
11/8/2012 - http://miac-online.org/news/2012/11/8/FOOTBALL_1108122649.aspx
ST. PAUL, Minn. --
After a wild week 10, much has been decided in the MIAC with one
week left to play. St. Thomas got a big win and a little help to
lock up its third-straight MIAC championship, and now it sets its
sights on a third-straight 10-0 regular season. Meanwhile, Bethel
and Concordia's postseason hopes both took a hit, and St. Olaf
joined the ranks of seven-win teams to set up an exciting week 11
with a lot still on the line in the standings, and in the
postseason picture.
Third-ranked St. Thomas scored its most dramatic win in conference
play Saturday, beating then-No. 16-ranked Concordia 21-7 in
Moorhead to lock up at least a share of the MIAC title. Then,
thanks to St. Olaf's 24-17 upset of then No. 12-ranked Bethel, the
Tommies could call themselves outright champs and punch their
ticket to the NCAA Division III Playoffs.
Now, last week's upset-minded Oles are what stands between St.
Thomas and another undefeated regular season. Last year, the
Tommies became the first MIAC team in history to go 10-0 in
back-to-back years, so a win Saturday could add another significant
chapter to UST's current legacy. QB Matt
O'Connell led the way in the win with nearly 300
total yards and Brenton
Braddock added 75 yards and a score on the ground,
while Ayo
Idowu led a strong defensive effort that held
Concordia to single digits for the first time all year.
Saturday, the Tommies will face a confident team with an elite
senior signal-caller that is fresh off a big upset win. Dan Dobson
leads the MIAC as the only QB with more than 2,000 passing yards to
this point, and he has an incredible 22 TD passes against just six
interceptions. He'll have to make some big plays in the passing
game and the Ole defense will need a similar effort to last week,
when they limited the Royals to just 157 total yards.
Speaking of Bethel, the No. 22-ranked Royals will try to rebound
Saturday against a Saint John's team that is hitting its stride
late in the season for the second year in a row. A win assures the
Royals a share of second place and a shot at an at-large bid, while
a win for the Johnnies would help them finish on a four-game
winning streak and .500 in conference play. Bethel's Seth
Mathis is coming off his second Defensive
Player-of-the-Week performance of the season, and SJU All-American
defensive back Bobby
Fischer will look to add to his league-leading six
interceptions in his final game.
Concordia will also try to rebound with a road test against
Gustavus, which is coming off a big MIAC win a week ago against
Carleton. Both teams run the ball exceptionally well so the clock
could certainly move in this one, as the Cobbers try to keep their
stake in second place and a shot at the Playoffs alive. Meanwhile,
in St. Peter, the Gusties hope to close with some serious momentum
coming off one of their best performances of the season. Concordia
running back Brett
Baune needs two TDs to equal Cobber Head Coach
Terry
Horan and his school record of 33 career scores.
Gustavus counters with RB Jeff Dubose, who ran for 143 yards and
three scores last week.
Carleton and Augsburg take their season-ending game indoors, as the
two will meet on the turf at the HHH Metrodome and Mall of America
Field. Auggie freshman sensation Ayrton
Scott needs just 28 passing yards to add a
2,000-yard passing season to his 1,000-yard rushing season, while
the Knights will aim to bottle up the dynamic first-year player
with a good defense led by Mike
Elder and his 100 tackles.
The outstanding MIAC season - which began with two perfect (13-0)
weeks against nonconference foes - ends this weekend with six of
the league's nine teams guaranteed to finish .500 or better. If
Augsburg can get a win against Carleton, the league would have more
than half its teams - five - with at least seven wins, and a Saint
John's upset of Bethel would mean six teams with at least six
wins.
The final game on the MIAC Week 11 schedule is a nonconference
rivalry between Hamline and Macalester. The MIAC enters the game
with a near-perfect 16-1 record in out-of-league games this season,
so a Piper win would lock up a 17-1 nonconference record for the
league's nine teams. The Scots have lost to a pair of MIAC schools
this season, Carleton and Augsburg, so Hamline is trying to make it
a clean sweep. Saturday's game in St. Paul will also be the final
coach of the John
Pate era, as the school
announced Thursday its head coach is moving on.
The rest of the MIAC Football Week 11 Preview contains the complete
schedule and links to follow along with this weekend's action, as
well as a look at the MIAC in the various national polls, the
Athlete-of-the-Week award winners, the top performances in the
trenches and some of the top numbers from around the league as the
sun sets on another tremendous season of MIAC football.
MIAC
FOOTBALL WEEK 11 - SCHEDULE AND LINKS
| Scoreboard &
Statistics | Standings
| Composite
Schedule |
ST. OLAF
(7-2, 5-2) AT NO. 3 ST. THOMAS (9-0, 7-0) - St.
Paul, Minn. - 1:10 p.m.
On the
web: UST Radio: WCCO 830 AM (Listen
Live) | Web cast
| Live Stats |
Radio: KDHL 920 AM |
SAINT
JOHN'S (5-4, 3-4) AT NO. 22 BETHEL (7-2, 5-2) -
Arden Hills, Minn. - 1 p.m.
On the
web: BU Live
Stats/Webcast | SJU Radio: WBHR 660 AM (St. Cloud); KOWZ 1170
AM (Owatonna); WLOL 1330 AM (Twin Cities) | Audio Web
cast |
CONCORDIA
(7-2, 5-2) AT GUSTAVUS (2-6, 1-5) - St. Peter,
Minn. - 1 p.m.
On the
web: GAC Radio: KNUJ 860 AM (New Ulm); KRDS 95.5 FM
(New Prague) | Web cast
| Live
stats |
CARLETON
(3-6, 1-6) AT AUGSBURG (6-3, 4-3) - Minneapolis,
Minn. (HHH Metrodome) - 1 p.m.
On the
web: AUG Web
cast | Live
stats | CAR Radio: KQCL 95.9 FM |
MACALESTER
(5-4) AT HAMLINE (1-8, 0-8) - St. Paul, Minn. - 1
p.m.
On the
web: HU Web
cast | Live stats
|
MIAC
IN THE POLLS
St. Thomas' big win helped it stay in the top three in this week's
AFCA Coaches' Poll. The Tommies still sit at No. 3 behind No. 1
Mount Union and No. 2 Mary Hardin-Baylor. After losing to UST,
Concordia dropped seven spots from No. 16 to No. 23, and Bethel
fell from No. 13 to No. 25 after losing to St. Olaf.
St. Thomas held strong to its No. 4 spot this week in the
D3football.com Top 25, while the other two MIAC teams remained in
the top 25 despite slipping several spots. Bethel dropped 10 spots
from No. 12 to No. 22, and Concordia was right behind the Royals,
moving from No. 17 to No. 23.
| AFCA
Division III Coaches' Poll | D3Football.com Top 25 |
ATHLETES-OF-THE-WEEK
St. Thomas quarterback Matt
O'Connell claimed the MIAC Football Offensive
Player-of-the-Week honors, after leading the Tommies to a MIAC
title-clinching win over then-No. 16-ranked Concordia. The
sophomore had nearly 300 total yards and two touchdowns in UST's
21-7 win. Bethel's Seth
Mathis grabbed his second MIAC Defensive
Player-of-the-Week award with 14 tackles, a pass breakup and an
intercpetion he returned 56 yards for a score in the Royals' loss
to St. Olaf Saturday. Saint John's kicker Jimmie
Mattson also won his second MIAC special teams
weekly honor of the season - and fifth of his career - as he nailed
all seven PATs and both field goal attempts to help SJU beat
Hamline Saturday. In addition, St. Thomas' Ayo
Idowu was honored with a spot on the D3football.com
Team-of-the-Week after his 10-tackle, three tackle-for-a-loss
performance in the Tommies' win at Concordia.
| MIAC
Football Athletes-of-the-Week | D3football.com
Team-of-the-Week |
IN
THE TRENCHES
The Gustavus offensive lined helped pave the way for a 41-27 win
over Carleton Saturday and nearly 200 yards on the ground in the
process. The Gusties ran for 196 yards on 39 carries - a 5.0
average - in addition to 297 passing yards in the MIAC win.
Gustavus also ran for four touchdowns, and controlled the clock
with 33:18 time of possession. The Gusties' starters up front were
center David
Gschneidner, guards Marcus
Kelly and Lyle
Opdahl and tackles Brian
Grundmeyer and Wyatt
Adams.
Saturday, St. Olaf stunned then-No. 12-ranked Bethel with a 24-17
upset, with a lot of the credit going to the Oles' defensive effort
against the Royals' running game. St. Olaf limited Bethel to just
38 rushing yards on 21 carries Saturday and just an average gain of
1.8 yards. The Oles managed four tackles-for-a-loss and two fumble
recoveries to slow the ground-oriented Royals enough to pull off
the win. St. Olaf's starters up front were nose tackle
Kyle
Foster, defensive tackles Dustin
Heiser and ends Taylor
Winbush and Lordson
Jonassaint.
BY
THE NUMBERS
5
- The MIAC has a good shot to finish
with five teams winning at least seven games in 2012. St. Thomas,
Concordia, Bethel and St. Olaf are already there, with Augsburg
sitting at six wins heading into Saturday. The MIAC is guaranteed
to have two-thirds of its teams (6-of-9) finish .500 or better.
17-1,
16-2 - The MIAC's tremendous nonconference season
will either finish with a near-perfect 17-1 record against out of
conference opponents, or it will end up 16-2. Hamline hosts
Macalester Saturday in the league's final nonconference game of
2012.
67.6
- Rushing yards per game allowed by St. Thomas - tops in the
league, and the only MIAC team surrendering less than 100 yards per
game on the ground.
2,185
- Passing yards by St. Olaf's Dan
Dobson, who is the only MIAC QB above 2,000 yards
this season after 10 weeks. However, with just 28 more passing
yards, Augsburg QB Ayrton
Scott will join the 2,000 passing yards and 1,000
rushing yards club in 2012.
42-for-42
- Identical perfect PAT numbers for SJU kicker Jimmie
Mattson, and Concordia kicker Benjamin
Wagner.
2
- Players with 100 or more tackles this season. Hamline's
Patrick
Page leads the league with 111 stops, and
Carleton's Mike
Elder is second with an even 100.
