Division III Indiana-Like Turnaround: River Falls

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Gophergrandpa

Gophergrandpa

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Their up tempo offense was fun to watch. It helps to have the best QB in D3. Blaha had an amazing season.
 

Things have really changed. I went to Augsburg in the early-1970s and River Falls was usually on the schedule and it was usually a good game. I think Augsburg at least split with them when I was there. Changing landscape now.
 

That QB was fun to watch. 100% both HC's attended PJ's seminar on clock management.
 

River Falls really had a nice team this year. Don't exactly see the comparison to Indiana. Indiana has always been bad, new coach, and immediate success. River Falls has an up-and-down background, never the highs they have right now, but has had some success. Their new coach changed the offensive philosophy and has been at the school since 2011 and finally cracked through in the national scene.
 


MNfootballfan said:
River Falls really had a nice team this year. Don't exactly see the comparison to Indiana. Indiana has always been bad, new coach, and immediate success. River Falls has an up-and-down background, never the highs they have right now, but has had some success. Their new coach changed the offensive philosophy and has been at the school since 2011 and finally cracked through in the national scene.
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After their old coach, who ran a unique variation of the wishbone (back in the 1990s) RF has been really quite bad. The past few years they reached middle of the WIAC and at least became a challenge against opponents. This year is a magical season, the type all Gopher fans long for in their lifetime. And, the best part of RF winning is that many on the team are Minnesota kids. I believe Blaha played at Fridley.
What a fantastic season for the Falcons.
 

FinnGopher said:
After their old coach, who ran a unique variation of the wishbone (back in the 1990s) RF has been really quite bad. The past few years they reached middle of the WIAC and at least became a challenge against opponents. This year is a magical season, the type all Gopher fans long for in their lifetime. And, the best part of RF winning is that many on the team are Minnesota kids. I believe Blaha played at Fridley.
What a fantastic season for the Falcons.
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I was 100% agree with all that. I was cheering for RF... I also cheer for NDSU, Mankato, Duluth etc when they are competing in their playoffs. Minnesota kids having success is only a good thing for Minnesota High School Football and way down the road would ultimately benefit the Gophers.

Agree, RF has been down since the O'Grady days and it is 100% comparable to Indiana in the fact that it was a magical season.
 

Gophergrandpa said:
How one coach changed his OC and philisophy … and got results.
apple.news

The D-III underdogs running college football’s fastest offense and trying to topple a dynasty — The Athletic

To most college football fans, the most surprising turnaround story in recent years is Indiana, which routed Alabama 38-3 in the Rose Bowl to reach the College Football Playoff semifinals.
apple.news apple.news
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UWRF's OC, Joe Matheson got his start as a student manager and student assistant coach here with the Gophers!
 




I've always wondered what would happen if a team essentially had two offenses, and they would alternate plays.

So Unit B runs out there with the play already called and snaps as fast as they can once the whistle blows on Unit A. The units could have very different personnel, QB style, etc.

Could they overwhelm the defense with tempo and surprises they are slow to react to? Or just confuse themselves?

This isn't what UW River Falls is doing but it's been in the back of my brain for a decade or two.
 

fmlizard said:
I've always wondered what would happen if a team essentially had two offenses, and they would alternate plays.

So Unit B runs out there with the play already called and snaps as fast as they can once the whistle blows on Unit A. The units could have very different personnel, QB style, etc.

Could they overwhelm the defense with tempo and surprises they are slow to react to? Or just confuse themselves?

This isn't what UW River Falls is doing but it's been in the back of my brain for a decade or two.
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If the offense puts in substitutions, the defense gets time to substitute as well. I'd assume that would mitigate this somewhat. Especially after teams see it on tape. Or no?
 

mggoph said:
If the offense puts in substitutions, the defense gets time to substitute as well. I'd assume that would mitigate this somewhat. Especially after teams see it on tape. Or no?
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The defense does get a chance to match personel, so it would not be as up tempo compared to keeping the same 11 on the field. I would imagine opposing D's would really slow their substitutions to make sure the right 11 were on the field to match which 11 the O had.
It would also put a ton of stress on the O-line as they are typically used to running 5 to 10 yards max per play and running on and off the field every other play would really take it out of them.
 

MNfootballfan said:
River Falls really had a nice team this year. Don't exactly see the comparison to Indiana. Indiana has always been bad, new coach, and immediate success. River Falls has an up-and-down background, never the highs they have right now, but has had some success. Their new coach changed the offensive philosophy and has been at the school since 2011 and finally cracked through in the national scene.
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They've been bad for a long time...don't think they even made the playoffs for like 20 years. Their coach has had seasons there where he has won ZERO, one, and two games. Yet they stuck with him and it paid off.....Great story.
 




MaxyJR1 said:
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It's highly unlikely a non-D1 player gets that award, but it would be really really hard to top how much Blaha contributed to UWRF's success. He ruled. Granted, I only saw Chambliss in that one last game and he was amazing.
 

Matt Walker was on KFAN with Common.

Interesting dude. Really good chat. He coached DePauw University baseball for a decade. Played football and baseball there.

Seems super down to earth. Said during Covid they made some major changes. OC moved to DC, decided to be the fastest offense in the country, etc.

Worked out for him.
 

fmlizard said:
I've always wondered what would happen if a team essentially had two offenses, and they would alternate plays.

So Unit B runs out there with the play already called and snaps as fast as they can once the whistle blows on Unit A. The units could have very different personnel, QB style, etc.

Could they overwhelm the defense with tempo and surprises they are slow to react to? Or just confuse themselves?

This isn't what UW River Falls is doing but it's been in the back of my brain for a decade or two.
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You’ve thought about this for 10-20 years and didn’t realize the defense also gets to sub which will delay everything?
 

UpAndUnder43 said:
You’ve thought about this for 10-20 years and didn’t realize the defense also gets to sub which will delay everything?
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They don't get all the time they want to sub. They have to react to the offense and its tempo and have very little time to do it in.

The offense decides when the next play begins, subject to the refs spotting the ball
 

fmlizard said:
They don't get all the time they want to sub. They have to react to the offense and its tempo and have very little time to do it in.

The offense decides when the next play begins, subject to the refs spotting the ball
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Wrong. If the offense subs the refs stand in front of the ball so it can’t be snapped. Defense gets a usual amount of time to sub.
 

fmlizard said:
They don't get all the time they want to sub. They have to react to the offense and its tempo and have very little time to do it in.

The offense decides when the next play begins, subject to the refs spotting the ball
Click to expand...
They don't get all the time they want, but the defense gets a reasonable amount of time to sub. The offense can't snap until the referee signals that they can snap. I've seen quite a few times this year where the offense had to call a timeout because they wouldn't get it snapped in time. Also seen where they got delay of game called.
 

GFBfan said:
The defense does get a chance to match personel, so it would not be as up tempo compared to keeping the same 11 on the field. I would imagine opposing D's would really slow their substitutions to make sure the right 11 were on the field to match which 11 the O had.
It would also put a ton of stress on the O-line as they are typically used to running 5 to 10 yards max per play and running on and off the field every other play would really take it out of them.
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It would quickly turn into "no-tempo". That's why it isn't done.

fmlizard said:
They don't get all the time they want to sub. They have to react to the offense and its tempo and have very little time to do it in.

The offense decides when the next play begins, subject to the refs spotting the ball
Click to expand...
Sometimes you wonder if there are people on this board that have never watched college football.
 

UpAndUnder43 said:
Wrong. If the offense subs the refs stand in front of the ball so it can’t be snapped. Defense gets a usual amount of time to sub.
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That amount of time is 3 seconds. The defensive subs must enter the field within 3 seconds after the offense subs.

The point is not to prevent all defensive substitutions but to create confusion for the opponent where they are constantly reacting to your lead under a time constraint
 

fmlizard said:
That amount of time is 3 seconds. The defensive subs must enter the field within 3 seconds after the offense subs.

The point is not to prevent all defensive substitutions but to create confusion for the opponent where they are constantly reacting to your lead under a time constraint
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They have to sub within 3 seconds. They also get time to get into position and lined up. The offense can't snap the ball until the referee signals they can.
 

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