Schnauzer
Pretty Sure You are Wrong
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With the Gophers on a bye week, I went down to the Gustavus vs Carleton game this past weekend. As I sat there soaking it in (just a wonderful day and great football, if you were a Gustavus fan), I couldn't help but compare my favorite D1 program to my favorite D3 program.
Like the Gophers, the Gusties have a rich tradition, but recent decades have not been so kind. Although there is the second-most MIAC championships (22), the most recent is 1987 and that one came out of the blue. A new stadium was built and opened in 2007, just as the Gophers' own new stadium started to rise. Unlike TCF, this new stadium is very large compared to its peers among D3 facilities. However, like TCF it is state-of-the-art. Like the Gophers, the Gusties have a back loaded schedule where the toughest opponents will appear in a line during the season's final month.
The GAC head coach (Peter Haugen, now in his 6th year) has turned the program toward the conference's upper half (perhaps beyond?), just like Jerry Kill.
Although both teams are on the rise, the way in which they are doing it is exactly opposite. The Gophers are pounding the ball. The Gusties are airing it out. After looking at early results and seeing them in person, it is hard to imagine many (any?) MIAC passing records lasting past this season. The Gusties have a dynamic QB that is going to re-write a lot of records. He currently leads all of D3 in passing and passing completion percentage, TD passes, etc. etc. Although Carleton is far from a top team, this QB (Mitch Hendricks) completed 24 of 28 on Saturday WITH THREE DROPS, and a lot of those throws were deep down field. It would be difficult to do that in a 7 on 7 shell session. Nearly every throw is right on target, even in traffic. TD to Int so far is 24/1. On the season he is 143 for 179! 300 yard passing days are now the norm and he threw for 7 TD's against Augsburg. The season LOW for points is 42.
http://www.ncaa.com/stats/football/d3/current/individual/453
If GAC can continue to regain its long dusty mojo, along with the new stadium it may become a bucket list type atmosphere in future years as the only facility that could rival St. Johns for small college football crowd sizes and football fun. But, that is obviously getting ahead of myself. First things first... this season has to play out in the same way it has begun. You may not get to read about it in the Strib though, as that paper seems to continue to focus its coverage on St. Johns. And the Evil neighbor has hitched its wagon to St. Thomas.
Like the Gophers, the Gusties have a rich tradition, but recent decades have not been so kind. Although there is the second-most MIAC championships (22), the most recent is 1987 and that one came out of the blue. A new stadium was built and opened in 2007, just as the Gophers' own new stadium started to rise. Unlike TCF, this new stadium is very large compared to its peers among D3 facilities. However, like TCF it is state-of-the-art. Like the Gophers, the Gusties have a back loaded schedule where the toughest opponents will appear in a line during the season's final month.
The GAC head coach (Peter Haugen, now in his 6th year) has turned the program toward the conference's upper half (perhaps beyond?), just like Jerry Kill.
Although both teams are on the rise, the way in which they are doing it is exactly opposite. The Gophers are pounding the ball. The Gusties are airing it out. After looking at early results and seeing them in person, it is hard to imagine many (any?) MIAC passing records lasting past this season. The Gusties have a dynamic QB that is going to re-write a lot of records. He currently leads all of D3 in passing and passing completion percentage, TD passes, etc. etc. Although Carleton is far from a top team, this QB (Mitch Hendricks) completed 24 of 28 on Saturday WITH THREE DROPS, and a lot of those throws were deep down field. It would be difficult to do that in a 7 on 7 shell session. Nearly every throw is right on target, even in traffic. TD to Int so far is 24/1. On the season he is 143 for 179! 300 yard passing days are now the norm and he threw for 7 TD's against Augsburg. The season LOW for points is 42.
http://www.ncaa.com/stats/football/d3/current/individual/453
If GAC can continue to regain its long dusty mojo, along with the new stadium it may become a bucket list type atmosphere in future years as the only facility that could rival St. Johns for small college football crowd sizes and football fun. But, that is obviously getting ahead of myself. First things first... this season has to play out in the same way it has begun. You may not get to read about it in the Strib though, as that paper seems to continue to focus its coverage on St. Johns. And the Evil neighbor has hitched its wagon to St. Thomas.
