Shepherd in Semi-Finals

[Ram040506]

No IUP should be winning this region most every year. The fact that we do not is unacceptable.

Agree to disagree, we do own 4 of the last 8 though.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

No IUP should be winning this region most every year. The fact that we do not is unacceptable.

We're on a great run in the two revenue sports. Hopefully it keeps going.

[IUPNation]

We're on a great run in the two revenue sports. Hopefully it keeps going.

IUP needs to put a focus on 3 men's and 3 women's sports for domination.

Men is obvious in foosball, basketball and baseball.

Women should be Volleyball, Basketball and Softball.

Men's golf will still dominate.

You then hope something rubs off the other sports do well enough to compete.

Swimming seems to be doing better these days.

Field Hockey started off okay but the eastern Pee Sack schools dominate that sport.

[Ship69]

We haven't played Ferris Bueller State in 22 years.

IUP leads that series 3-1.

:-)

It kinda makes a difference what years you play someone, right? I went to grad school at Northwestern, which hasn't played Oklahoma since 1997. Northwestern leads that series 3-1.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

It kinda makes a difference what years you play someone, right? I went to grad school at Northwestern, which hasn't played Oklahoma since 1997. Northwestern leads that series 3-1.

Cool stadium. Worst GameDay parking in America.

[IUPNation]

It kinda makes a difference what years you play someone, right? I went to grad school at Northwestern, which hasn't played Oklahoma since 1997. Northwestern leads that series 3-1.

See...who said Northwestern is hopeless!

[Ship69]

See...who said Northwestern is hopeless!

They have a shot when they have a defensive coordinator, which they haven't had the past two seasons. Don't know what Fitz was thinking (or not thinking) of when he hired JON, but he sure whiffed with that one. Sad thing was that the guy replaced Mike Hankwitz, probably one of the most talented and underrated coordinators in the country. A couple of the NU wins over Oklahoma were with Ara Parseghian coaching. That guy was pretty good.

[Ship69]

Cool stadium. Worst GameDay parking in America.

That's why you either park in one of the 'burbs and take the el to Central Street or use the free parking garage near Lake Michigan and take the shuttle to the stadium. I can get in and out of a game in Evanston a helluva lot quicker than one in State College, where you pay whatever their current rate is to park in a cow pasture far distant from Beaver Stadium.

Anyway, Northwestern's stadium probably will be coming down in 2024, to be replaced by a smaller and more modern one. Millions of dollars. Fitz better get his act back together.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

That's why you either park in one of the 'burbs and take the el to Central Street or use the free parking garage near Lake Michigan and take the shuttle to the stadium. I can get in and out of a game in Evanston a helluva lot quicker than one in State College, where you pay whatever their current rate is to park in a cow pasture far distant from Beaver Stadium.

Anyway, Northwestern's stadium probably will be coming down in 2024, to be replaced by a smaller and more modern one. Millions of dollars. Fitz better get his act back together.

Northwestern talk takes me back to Colorado Mines. What they are doing with their academic standards is very impressive.

Coach said all his engineering students treat practice and games like playtime ... as a break from school.

[Ship69]

Northwestern talk takes me back to Colorado Mines. What they are doing with their academic standards is very impressive.

Coach said all his engineering students treat practice and games like playtime ... as a break from school.

There is constant chatter on the Northwestern sports boards by some who'd like them to lower their academic standards to become more competitive, Stanford and NU lower their standards for athletes to some extent, but likely not as much as Duke, Vandy, and similar schools, and certainly not a much as the Ohio States and Bamas of the world. NU probably would not admit about 75 percent of the football players who attend Ohio State.

Guess it comes down to whether you want to attend a top 10 football school with an endowment of less than a billion dollars (Alabama) or a top academic school with an endowment of $16 billion (Northwestern). I chose the latter.

[ShepAlum]

NCAA scholarship-level (FBS, FCS, D-II) schools within a 250 nm radius* to compete for top-level talent:

CO School of Mines - 10
Shepherd University - 103


*Used DEN and HGR (airports used by the Rams for the game) as reference points and airports near schools to determine 250 nm (as the crow flies) radius

[ShepAlum]

Going into the game, I knew SR1 had a stigma of being an easy win in the semi-finals--no respect for SR1's chances to win. Looking back at Shepherd's semi-final appearances, the blowout to Ferris State was an outlier. Shepherd was a tough out for Delta State, kept it competitive for 4 quarters against now-FCS North Alabama, and shocked the SR2-4 world by defeating Grand Valley State. Well, I will own that the Delta State, Grand Valley State, and North Alabama games are now long-gone, and the recent trend is indicative of where things stand.

It seemed as though we were in for a very competitive game. Shepherd was doing a great job of keeping Matocha contained, limiting the run plays, and keeping things manageable. The Rams' offense started off slowly, but they often do. It seemed with each possession they were able to drive down the field. It wasn't easy yards, but they were able to drive. Ronnie Brown seemed to slowly pick up more and more rushing yards as the first half, and second half, wore on. And then the wheels came off. Shepherd's secondary has long been it's main vulnerability, and Matocha was fantastic with the deep ball. And then the punishing sack-fumbles, INTs and Shepherd began to feel what IUP felt in the SR1 final--that nothing was going to go right.

-4 in the turnover battle and -8 in sacks is going to equal a losing effort. The number of dropped passes can't happen at this stage if you plan to win.

Matocha 100% deserves the Harlon Hill award and should be on the NFL's radar. I have a feeling CO School of Mines is going to surprise a lot of people next week. I'm calling the upset--CO School of Mines defeats Ferris State for the national championship.

Still a great season for Shepherd. It has the recipe for being a perennial contender in SR1; it's time to crack the code on being a perennial contender on the national stage.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Going into the game, I knew SR1 had a stigma of being an easy win in the semi-finals--no respect for SR1's chances to win. Looking back at Shepherd's semi-final appearances, the blowout to Ferris State was an outlier. Shepherd was a tough out for Delta State, kept it competitive for 4 quarters against now-FCS North Alabama, and shocked the SR2-4 world by defeating Grand Valley State. Well, I will own that the Delta State, Grand Valley State, and North Alabama games are now long-gone, and the recent trend is indicative of where things stand.

It seemed as though we were in for a very competitive game. Shepherd was doing a great job of keeping Matocha contained, limiting the run plays, and keeping things manageable. The Rams' offense started off slowly, but they often do. It seemed with each possession they were able to drive down the field. It wasn't easy yards, but they were able to drive. Ronnie Brown seemed to slowly pick up more and more rushing yards as the first half, and second half, wore on. And then the wheels came off. Shepherd's secondary has long been it's main vulnerability, and Matocha was fantastic with the deep ball. And then the punishing sack-fumbles, INTs and Shepherd began to feel what IUP felt in the SR1 final--that nothing was going to go right.

-4 in the turnover battle and -8 in sacks is going to equal a losing effort. The number of dropped passes can't happen at this stage if you plan to win.

Matocha 100% deserves the Harlon Hill award and should be on the NFL's radar. I have a feeling CO School of Mines is going to surprise a lot of people next week. I'm calling the upset--CO School of Mines defeats Ferris State for the national championship.

Still a great season for Shepherd. It has the recipe for being a perennial contender in SR1; it's time to crack the code on being a perennial contender on the national stage.

Matocha is a great D2 QB but won't even sniff NFL circles.

[TheBigCat2192]

There is constant chatter on the Northwestern sports boards by some who'd like them to lower their academic standards to become more competitive, Stanford and NU lower their standards for athletes to some extent, but likely not as much as Duke, Vandy, and similar schools, and certainly not a much as the Ohio States and Bamas of the world. NU probably would not admit about 75 percent of the football players who attend Ohio State.

Guess it comes down to whether you want to attend a top 10 football school with an endowment of less than a billion dollars (Alabama) or a top academic school with an endowment of $16 billion (Northwestern). I chose the latter.

Duke presumably saves all the special admittances/individual admittances/exceptions/whatever they call them for basketball. It’s actually quite astonishing how many players in the “money sports” wouldn’t make the academic cut if they weren’t prized athletes. It happens at private schools like Duke and premier public schools like Cal and Texas.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Duke presumably saves all the special admittances/individual admittances/exceptions/whatever they call them for basketball. It’s actually quite astonishing how many players in the “money sports” wouldn’t make the academic cut if they weren’t prized athletes. It happens at private schools like Duke and and premiere public schools like Cal and Texas.

As the (late) great Head Coach Sam Winters said in The Program .... when was the last time you saw 85,000 people show to watch a chemistry experiment?



i.e. if Johnny 1.2 gpa cuts down the nets ... so be it.