{"id":1148,"date":"2011-11-18T11:00:55","date_gmt":"2011-11-18T17:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jonfmorse.com\/tog\/?p=1148"},"modified":"2011-11-18T01:40:16","modified_gmt":"2011-11-18T07:40:16","slug":"d-ii-first-round-precaps-super-region-three","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/jonfmorse.com\/tog\/2011\/11\/18\/d-ii-first-round-precaps-super-region-three\/","title":{"rendered":"D-II: First Round Precaps, Super Region Three."},"content":{"rendered":"

Precaps for the first round games in Super Region Three, and information on the two teams that have byes, just after you click this thingy here:
\n
\n6 Wayne State (MI) (8-3) at 3 Saint Cloud State (9-2)<\/strong><\/span>
\nHusky Stadium, Saint Cloud MN, 1pm ET
\nVideo available via NMTVSports<\/a>. Audio available via KNSI<\/a> and KVSC<\/a>. Live Stats available via Saint Cloud State<\/a>.
\nSeries: first meeting.<\/p>\n

Wayne State Warriors<\/span>
\n\"\"
\nLocation: Detroit MI
\nConference: Great Lakes IAC
\nColors: Green and Gold
\nPlayoff appearances: 1 (2011)
\nCoach: Paul Winters (8th year, 44-42)
\nKey games: 27-10 win over then #22 Michigan Tech on 9\/17; 20-17 loss at Ashland on 10\/15; 27-24 win in OT at Hillsdale on 10\/22, 28-20 loss to Saginaw Valley State on 10\/29, 28-19 win at Indianapolis on 11\/5; 43-42 loss in OT to Findlay on 11\/12
\nOffense: 35.5 ppg, 408.3 ypg
\nDefense: 22.2 ppg, 362.0 ypg
\nPassing offense: 210.9 ypg
\nPassing defense: 245.4 ypg
\nRushing offense: 197.4 ypg
\nRushing defense: 116.6 ypg
\nTurnover margin: +5
\nKey players: QB Mickey Mohner (56.5%, 2245 yds, 21 TD, 6 INT), RB Josh Renel (216-1051, 95.5 ypg, 11 TD), WR Troy Burrell (65-1285, 116.8 ypg, 12 TD), KR James Jackson (11-332, 2 TD), DB Jeremy Jones (6 INT)
\nOther notes: They can run, and they can toss, and they can stop the run… but they’re vulnerable in the air, and they’ve been maddeningly inconsistent in the latter half of the season, as shown by the five consecutive key games above.<\/p>\n

Saint Cloud State Huskies<\/span>
\n\"\"
\nLocation: Saint Cloud MN
\nConference: Northern Sun
\nColors: Cardinal Red and Black
\nPlayoff appearances: 4, 2-3 (1989, 2004, 2010, 2011)
\nCoach: Scott Underwood (4th year, 24-11)
\nKey games: 26-3 win at then #12 California (PA) on 9\/1; 29-16 loss at Winona State on 9\/17; 31-13 win over Minnesota State-Mankato on 10\/8; 35-7 win over then #6 Minnesota-Duluth on 10\/29; 19-14 loss at Bemidji State on 11\/5
\nOffense: 33.8 ppg, 435.3 ypg
\nDefense: 15.1 ppg, 301.3 ypg
\nPassing offense: 199.5 ypg
\nPassing defense: 180.5 ypg
\nRushing offense: 235.8 ypg
\nRushing defense: 120.8 ypg
\nTurnover margin: +7
\nKey players: QB Phillup Klaphake (64.3%, 1751 yds, 8 TD, 7 INT), RB Dante Steward (106-684, 76.0 ypg, 6 TD), RB Michael Walker (126-666, 60.5 ypg, 13 TD)
\nOther notes: More likely to run than pass, and fairly stingy on defense either way. They lost a couple of mild head-scratchers, but won all the big games on the schedule.<\/p>\n

Jon’s Prediction:<\/span>
\nSaint Cloud State 27, Wayne State (MI) 22. If the “good” Wayne shows up, this is closer to a tie. If the “bad” Wayne shows up, it’s not even close. I’m just going to have to assume we’re in the middle, and I think this will be a good one.<\/p>\n

5 Saginaw Valley State (7-3) at 4 Minnesota-Duluth (9-2)<\/strong><\/span>
\nJames S. Malosky Stadium, Duluth MN, 1pm ET
\nVideo available via Penn Atlantic<\/a>. Audio available via KQDS<\/a> and WSGW<\/a>.
\nSeries: first meeting.<\/p>\n

Saginaw Valley State Cardinals<\/span>
\n\"\"
\nLocation: Kochville Township MI
\nConference: Great Lakes IAC
\nColors: Red and Blue
\nPlayoff appearances: 7, 4-6 (2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2009, 2011)
\nCoach: Jim Collins (4th year, 27-16; 93-67 overall including 11 years at Capital)
\nKey games: 38-35 loss to then #24 Hillsdale on 10\/1; 44-41 OT win at Michigan Tech on 10\/8; 29-20 loss at Indianapolis on 10\/15; 27-6 win over then #23 Ashland on 10\/20; 28-20 win at then #15 Wayne State (MI) on 10\/29; 49-24 loss at Grand Valley State on 11\/12
\nOffense: 31.9 ppg, 423.9 ypg
\nDefense: 27.6 ppg, 368.9 ypg
\nPassing offense: 261.9 ypg
\nPassing defense: 208.8 ypg
\nRushing offense: 162.0 ypg
\nRushing defense: 160.1 ypg
\nTurnover margin: -3
\nKey players: QB Jonothan Jennings (68.8%, 2600 yds, 26 TD, 9 INT), RB Tim Hogue (105-664, 66.4 ypg, 2 TD, DE Brandon Williams (14 TFL)
\nOther notes: Saginaw got into the field despite losing their season finale to Grand Valley State, and Grand Valley actually shared the title as a result and finished 8-3, so this selection’s a little baffling. <\/p>\n

Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs<\/span>
\n\"\"
\nLocation: Duluth MN
\nConference: Northern Sun
\nColors: Maroon and Gold
\nPlayoff appearances: 6, 9-3 (2002, 2005, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011)
\nCoach: Bob Nielson (9th year, 88-23, 4th year in current stint, 50-4, 158-56-1 overall including stints at Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Wartburg, and Ripon)
\nKey games: 20-12 win at then #8 Augustana (SD) on 9\/3; 7-0 loss at Wayne State (NE) on 9\/17; 26-23 win at then #24 Bemidji State on 9\/24; 35-7 loss at then #11 Saint Cloud State on 10\/29; 31-19 win over Minnesota State-Mankato on 11\/12
\nOffense: 30.3 ppg, 385.6 ypg
\nDefense: 16.9 ppg, 270.5 ypg
\nPassing offense: 139.8 ypg
\nPassing defense: 162.0 ypg
\nRushing offense: 245.8 ypg
\nRushing defense: 108.5 ypg
\nTurnover margin: 0
\nKey players: QB Chase Vogler (65.3%, 1504 yds, 11 TD, 5 INT, 130-564 rushing, 51.3 ypg, 4 TD), RB Brian Lucas (131-700, 63.6 ypg, 6 TD), RB Zach Hulce (88-650, 65.0 ypg, 9 TD), RB Austin Sikorski (108-583, 72.9 ypg, 7 TD), K David Nadeau (10-13, long 55), LB Rob Huberty (11.5 TFL), LB Derrick Zappa (10.0 TFL)
\nOther notes: The defending champs slipped a little this year, but still did enough to share the division and conference titles. They’re keyed by a running attack in which you don’t know which of four weapons is going to be fired, with just enough passing to keep you honest. Defensively, they’re driven by their linebackers, and UMD has something most D-II teams don’t: an actual FG threat.<\/p>\n

Jon’s Prediction:<\/span>
\nMinnesota-Duluth 31, Saginaw Valley State 24. My gut looks at these two teams as basically even, which means Duluth’s got the edge playing them at home. The numbers pretty much bear me out here, but skew a little more strongly to UMD, thus the touchdown spread.<\/p>\n

The byes:<\/strong><\/p>\n

2 Nebraska-Kearney (10-1)<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Nebraska-Kearney Lopers<\/span>
\n\"\"
\nLocation: Kearney NE
\nConference: Rocky Mountain
\nColors: Blue and Gold
\nPlayoff appearances: 4, 1-3 (2002, 2005, 2009, 2011, plus 4 NAIA playoff appearances prior to joining NCAA)
\nCoach: Darrell Morris (12th year, 92-38)
\nKey games:
\nOffense: 40.3 ppg, 530.0 ypg
\nDefense: 14.3 ppg, 304.1 ypg
\nPassing offense: 245.2 ypg
\nPassing defense: 217.8 ypg
\nRushing offense: 284.8 ypg
\nRushing defense: 86.3 ypg
\nTurnover margin: +5
\nKey players: QB Jake Spitzlberger (59.8%, 2252 yds, 18 TD, 13 INT, 135-864 rushing, 86.4 ypg, 12 TD), RB Ricky Trinidad (97-616, 88.0 ypg, 5 TD), DB Arthur Hobbs (6 INT)
\nOther notes: Spitzlberger is the key, as the team’s leading rusher as well as the passing threat. Kearney wins games by piling up yards on you, then preventing you from running the ball. They’ll give up passing yardage, but not much underneath; opponents have actually made 30 trips into the red zone, and only get into the end zone 1\/3 of the time.<\/p>\n

1 Colorado State-Pueblo (11-0)<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Colorado State-Pueblo Thunderwolves<\/span>
\n\"\"
\nLocation: Pueblo CO
\nConference: Rocky Mountain
\nColors: Red and Blue
\nPlayoff appearances: 1 (2011, plus one NAIA playoff appearance back in the 80s)
\nCoach: John Wristen (4th year, 31-12)
\nKey games:
\nOffense: 34.1 ppg, 381.8 ypg
\nDefense: 9.1 ppg, 286.5 ypg
\nPassing offense: 186.1 ypg
\nPassing defense: 207.3 ypg
\nRushing offense: 195.7 ypg
\nRushing defense: 79.3 ypg
\nTurnover margin: +15
\nKey players: QB Ross Dausin (60.6%, 1868 yds, 16 TD, 4 INT), RB Jesse Lewis (167-849, 77.2 ypg, 8 TD), RB J.B. Mathews (112-657, 73.0 ypg, 9 TD), PR Josh Sandoval (35-608, 2 TD), DB Mark Sterling (5 INT), K Kyle Major (22-29, 19-22 inside 50, 11-12 inside 40)
\nOther notes: A very balanced offense, not prone to turnovers, combined with a turnover-happy defense which also crushes the run game as well as great special teams. They got to #1 for a reason.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Precaps for the first round games in Super Region Three, and information on the two teams that have byes, just after you click this thingy here:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8,7],"tags":[9],"class_list":["post-1148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-division-ii","category-division-news-and-notes","tag-d2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p185sV-iw","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/jonfmorse.com\/tog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/jonfmorse.com\/tog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/jonfmorse.com\/tog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jonfmorse.com\/tog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jonfmorse.com\/tog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1148"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/jonfmorse.com\/tog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1148\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1150,"href":"http:\/\/jonfmorse.com\/tog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1148\/revisions\/1150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/jonfmorse.com\/tog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jonfmorse.com\/tog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jonfmorse.com\/tog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}