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Marist's new coach just hired a pretty high powered staff by plucking from a number of IVY programs. Lots of deep experience - I'm seeing 10-15 years + experience, not all guys in their twenties. That suggests Marist is pumping $$$ into the program and changing philosophy.

In addition, Patriot League execs were in attendance at the Bucknell/Marist football game. Rumors are flying there  that Marist may switch, but it's not clear if it is all sports or just FB.

Worth watching.

The kid averaged 50.8 yards per punt on 4 punts, one of which went 69 yards. 

http://www.valpoathletics.com/football/news/2023-24/22509/matthes-competes-in-fcs-bowl/

He probably was the most positively consistent player on the squad all season long. Very dependable. Wish him well. Perhaps he gets a pro FA  invite after the draft. At 6-3, 215, he has the size and obviously the leg strength and swing speed to compete.

I finally got to listen pretty intently to the end-of-season All Access interview with Coach Fox after the St. Thomas game.  Two things, generally, kinda stuck with me.

1) What he said.  Fox acknowledged that Valpo lost some games they could have won if  they had been able to put more points on the board. He said we have to get better at that.  How? Different system? Shift in coaching responsibilities? Reprioritizing recruiting?  He gave no real specifics, so, therefore, the title of this post. But at the same time it pointed to things we've discussed on this board throughout the past season and that is a good thing.

2). What he didn't say.  Brandon asked what was on the schedule for him and his staff now that the season was complete, and Coach said pretty much that they gotta focus on recruiting. Missing from that response (understandably) was any mention of or illusion to his personal plans regarding the future of the VU FB program. Yet, isn't that the elephant in the room?  We'll see I guess.

The Tommies are good, but not as good as last year. There are chinks in their armor, part of which, IMO, is that the rest of the league has gotten to know them better and can game plan better.

Valpo, if they can find a way, can end the season with a three game win streak.

[Wudda, Cudda, Shudda Department]

  We were a "close but no cigar" 2pt. conversion from OT v. IWU who are now 9-1 and ranked #6 in the country and have a first round bye in the NAIA national championship tournament.

  We lose in OT to Marist in OT with a sputtering O all day - even though the box score says we scored 30 points 

  We lose a one score game to Drake, in Des Moines, who is now in a position to win an automatic bid to the FCS Championship.

Dang, we CAN upset UST.  We just have to play inspired football.

I saw this CNN link on the PFL site and thought it was worth a discussion here. The lead story is about Butler and also mentions that Loyola Chicago and the University of St. Thomas have started similar efforts.

Is this something Valpo should consider?

https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/03/us/butler-university-debt-free-college-reaj/index.html

Stetson lost by 20 to league leader Davidson, but they managed to score 41 points in that loss. Davidson's MO is just outscoring everyone they play. But that score indicates our D better come to play, cuz our O ain't gonna put up 61 points.

There is a 3-way tie, at 1-5, for 8th place in the PFL between  Valpo, Stetson and Presbyterian. Stetson barely beat PC 28-24 earlier this season.

But on a positive note, the players are showing real grit at this point in the season despite only two wins.  Yesterday,  that did not look like a one win team out there. They played with confidence and intensity all four quarters. Speaks well for Fox and the leadership in the locker room.

GCU hit with a humungous fine for deceptive pricing.  But isn't that what you do if you are a for-profit business entity? 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2023/10/31/grand-canyon-university-education-department-fine/

Who the hell knows?  It was the ring of fire eclipse. St. Thomas gets killed. Wildfires in Greece? Davidson beat Butler by only 2. We still don't have a Speaker of the House. Presbyterian actually wins a game. Pete Davidson hosts SNL?  Colorado blows a 29 point lead and loses; Coach Prime is speechless. Nah, just kidding.  Pete Davidson? C'mon man!

Game notes and two-deep are out for the Morehead game. No Mikey. QBs are Jackson and R-F Rowan Keefe.  Butler listed as #2 RB. I'm interested to see if he gets enough snaps so that we will be able to see how well he runs from the LOS. Teams are now  kicking away from him on KOs.

Morehead has a decent offense running up 31 points last week against Dayton. In three PFL games they have allowed 58 points to our 56 in two.

The latest Athletics site headline was about WG shattering the 54 hole team record (by....... 3 strokes).  But they were still deep in the standings.   It got me thinking about how some of our team sports are organized.

Men's and women's CC and T& F, while competing separately, are now organized under a single director as I understand it. Swimming & Diving as well. Why not Golf?  MG is kicking butt; WG not so much. Why?  Well, is it purely coach-dependent?  Some coaches are great at technique and skill development, but they suck at the skills necessary to find and recruit great athletes, and visa/versa. Then there is Dave Gring.

MG has recruited and developed some great players. What if MG HC Dave Gring were to be promoted to Director of Collegiate Golf and charged with expanding his successful strategic approach across both MG and WG?  The overall staff numbers would remain about the same (but maybe another support staffer would be necessary).   The two teams would be united under one flag. The recruiting ramifications are really attractive.

Just my 

Can we make it 2 in a row?  The D will be there, but only the Offense knows fer sure.

Drake beat Morehead State who took the Tommies to the edge. 

First of all, I totally get the budgetary constraints facing Valpo. I also understand and support the athletic priorities (MBB). So this is purely aspirational and certainly not critical of our university.  But, here goes some football-specific dreams.

Brown Field has a stated capacity of 5,000 on bleachers with a basic, practical press box - pretty much the same as when I played in the 1960s (but upgraded to aluminum seating).  It has up-to-date artificial turf and semi-decent lights for night games. It is surrounded by a very good state-of- the-art track. As far as all that goes, it has a quaint attractiveness. But.....

IMO, the following PFL stadia reflect a real FCS playing environment:  USD, Dayton, Butler, MSU, Drake and PC.

College level stadia include: Marist, Stetson, UST, and Davidson (which will open a $54 million dollar football complex next season that is a larger version of the beautiful IWU complex that we just played in and that will kick it up to FCS level).

And then there is Brown Field.

Can you imagine at Valpo the combination of FCS D-I playing attractiveness with a complex like Indiana Wesleyan's?  Imagine the talent a legit FCS college stadium might attract. Imagine the crowds who'd find that game environment so much more appealing.

All that said, I know the university does not have the capital sitting around to invest in a full complex, but maybe, just maybe, it could find or raise enough to at least do three improvements to assist the football program:

>> Replace the current home side stands with expanded seating including a premium chairback section.

>> Replace the current press box with a larger capacity two level state-of-the-art press box that on the first level has some sort of "luxury" component (e.g., a large president's box or a few suites).

>> Surround the field with a modest berm (4'-6' high) topped by a steel picket fence (not 4' of chain link) or a brick wall to project the sense of an enclosed stadium.

The first two ideas are kind of a package thing. The third is more cosmetic, but would change the environment considerably.

Powerball is up to $700 million. If I win it, I'd underwrite at least these three things.

Like I said, just dreaming.

VU WSO rebounded from a 1-4 loss at Purdue with a 1-1 draw against Kentucky in Lexington.  Nice recovery ladies.

The Beacons are picked #2 in the MVC and are currently 2-1-1 with the last two games being played against FBS/P5 programs. John is not just fattening up his W-L record with cream puffs.  This is a challenging OOC schedule with only 3 home games and five on the road.

Those of you who subscribe to The Victory Bell should take the time to listen to Paul's podcast wrap-up. He and Todd Ickow go over the entire athletic year and dive into MBB more deeply. It's an hour, but well worth it — especially the assessment of the Lottich era - brought back some memories.

As an aside, I really respect Paul's ability to stay as neutral/objective as he does. He really strives to show all sides. I'd take one of his courses if I was a student.

Something is changing with track & field. The team is out of the MVC basement and producing PRs and placing better than they ever have in the past in either the HL or the MVC. This is good.

Murray State to the Memphis Griz. Big time NBA player now. Suspended. Again. Guns on videos. Anger. Alcohol? Wow!

Amazing college player. Apparently morphed into a gangsta who can dribble and shoot. Interesting what a couple of million can do to a person.

I know this has come up before, but maybe it's time to rejuvenate the concept. Looking at the Enrollment thread and wondering about how to generate increased enrollment, perhaps the athletic department can help by adding mens and womens lacrosse.  Lacrosse is the fastest growing HS sport in the country. My grandkids in Montana and Boston play the sport. When my kids were kids lacrosse didn't really exist except for some prep schools.

By adding these two teams, we are talking between 44 to 80 new students.  Title IX balance is not an issue.  Startup costs would probably involve 2 coaches for each team. Mens equipment would be a bit more expensive than womens because of the added contact. Facilities already exist, Brown Field lines just need to be painted.  I'm thinking it could initially exist like football as a D-I non-scholarship endeavor.

[NCAA seeks to short-circuit what it says is $1.4 billion damages claim in athlete lawsuit]

First off, the whole world of NIL is a mystery to me. That said, here is a link to a USA Today article on the $1.4 billion in suits the NCAA is facing regarding athlete earnings and NIL. This monster eventually will, IMO, kill college athletics.

_____________________________

     NCAA seeks to short-circuit what it says is $1.4 billion damages claim in athlete lawsuit

     New disclosure from association and major conferences means more than $4.2 billion could be at stake in cases connected to name, image, likeness

     https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/2023/04/28/ncaa-says-faces-1-4-billion-damages-antitrust-claim-disputes/11765690002/

_____________________________

This is a problem threatening college athletic programs as we know them. Might one [partial?] approach be something like this?

My Premise:  NIL is the derivative benefit to a scholarship player that results from receiving that scholarship from their college of choice.  Without that scholarship in the first place, there would be no NIL earnings. In addition to being a fully underwritten education, the scholarship is in effect, an earnings subsidy.

The colleges, especially for sports like football and MBB, spend millions on those scholarships. 

My Question:  In order to have some structure and preserve the 'notion' of college athletics, perhaps, after a certain point in NIL earnings, should NIL fees repay the college for that subsidy?

Anyone else have thoughts about this?

Yay!  Valpo04 did it. He's created a separate string for FB. Glad he could get it done. With annual player rosters of 100+, FB has the largest alum group among all Valpo sports. It has always been number 2 in attendance per game (actually, last year #1) and consistently since Cecchini (and especially now with Fox) gaining increased relevance.  This was well deserved. Thanks 04 

[And the countdown begins]

And the countdown begins.

My bet on the announcement timing: Wednesday.

My bet on the guy: I have no freakin idea. 

My bet that I will be surprised:  2 to 1 yes.

My bet that the surprise will be a disappointment:  My avatar dictates that it has to be a No.

Looking.

Wrong first name initially [my bad]

[sticking around]

Ya know........

VU has had a lot of talented players go through the revolving door of the MBB program. I could name many as can most of us. Some took their talents elsewhere to either success or oblivion or somewhere in between.  We've been fortunate recently to have held onto a few (remember a mate named Rowdy or a guy people call AP?).

Flying under the radar IMO for the past four years is Ben Krikke.  In the chaos that has evolved over that time period, he has been a rock - sticking around, even keeled, consistently performing, never bitching, always giving his best, playing incredible minutes, leading by example, grabbing the role of team spokesman and handling it with integrity and polish, and scoring despite most teams trying to take him out of the game equation.

Well, Ben was voted MVC player of the week despite our team losing both games.

http://www.valpoathletics.com/mbasketball/news/2022-23/21880/krikke-earns-mvc-player-of-the-week-nod/

Yeah sure, we on this board just assume Ben will be the key to anything Valpo accomplishes. Of course, he gets occasional props - almost like it was just expected. But lost in all the consternation of winning (not so much)  and losing (too much) and coaching is the fact this kid is holding what there is of this  program together. When Rowdy and Alec were our bell cows, the praise and recognition was clearly effusive and rightly so. But to me (at least) right now, it almost seems like Ben, despite all the challenges and pressure he is under, has been taken a bit for granted. He deserves better.

He's gonna probably pass Rowdy in scoring. His folks finally saw him play live and he treated them to a career show. Whether he returns for a 5th year or not, in my heart, this kid will wind up in the Valpo athletics HoF. Write it down.

In the remaining days of this season with all the constant tension over where Valpo is heading as a DI basketball program, let's be thankful that we have a kid like Ben representing our university at such a high level and celebrate his every dribble, shot, rebound and assist. He is more than deserving of that.  Love the kid.

Don't look now but WT is 6-1!  Just beat Northern Illinois.

Still beats me why Valpo dropped MT. They were so good at the time 😵‍💫

But when a program only brings in 8-10 bodies a year to the enrollment, I guess that's the aanswer.

Until I looked at the Athletic Dept website closely this morning, I didn't realize that the VU Swiming & Diving team uses the Valparaiso Aquatics Center for meets. It was built for $45 million and is 50m x 25m. Great facility. I assume the swim program still uses the 60 year-old ARC pool for daily practices though. But this arrangement, coupled with competition in the MAC, certainly could help in the recruiting of better swimmers to the program.

Things in this country and things at Valpo have gotta get better in 2021. To my fellow alums, fan boarders  and friends, HAPPY FREAKIN' NEW YEAR.

I will now go back underground to my occasional lurk mode. Although the blood still runs brown and gold, administrative decisions regarding athletics still work at my gut, and that is all I'm gonna say about that.

Be safe.  Be well. Peace.

[this is The Shot 2.0.]

1998. The Shot. Little Valpo leaped upon the National scene, not only athletically but into the fiber of American sports culture. That appearance also put the university on the radar screens of millions of Americans in a way that it had never experienced. The future of Valpo basketball and, more importantly, the university itself seemed brighter than ever before. But that brightness dimmed over the years.  The excitement and potential of The Shot were totally squandered by a myopic administration at the time. It had no idea of how that exposure could translate to increased applications and national interest. So the clueless university just puttered along its unimaginative path toward a continuing status quo. And despite moving to two new conferences in the interim, it has played the "do it at a minimum commitment and hope it works out" card continually.

Fast forward 21 years. After 37 seasons, and especially the last 10 or so seasons under Mike Avery, where our teams beat some top 25 teams on a pretty regular basis despite little  support, the VU administration hypocritically dropped men's soccer, an MVC sponsored sport, on November 19, 2019. Despite representing the university's ideals probably better than any other Valpo organization (i.e., OneValpo, St. Baldricks, TOCO, numerous academic achievements), it was the victim of "a business decision."  At the same time they also axed men's tennis which has been a stellar representative of both athletic and academic excellence over the last 10 years as well. It was also just business in a context where Valpo professed to strive for champions in the classroom, community and competition. Neither soccer nor tennis achieved the same notoriety of The Shot, but they cemented the values of what I thought "could" be a great university.

In my eyes, both in 1998 and 2019, the university failed in each of these opportunities and the culmination of this was the final straw for me. I bailed on the institution in complete frustration.  I also withdrew from the Valpo Fan Board — my enthusiasm totally depleted.

But my love for the kids who place their hearts on the line every game never changed nor did my respect for the coaches who led them. So I have lurked on the VU athletic site and the Valpo Fan Board since November. I've followed every shot of Arch Madness and am thrilled for Matt and those unbelievably gutty kids. We made the final and, in the process, have destroyed MVC tradition. Win or lose against Bradley, we have achieved something millions will see on national TV on CBS on Sunday.  Valpo's exposure is going to be off the charts.

THE PURPOSE OF THIS SINGULAR POST:
This is not meant to pour cold water on the excitement this has generated.  However, regardless of the outcome tomorrow, the university has got to realize this is The Shot 2.0.   Will Valparaiso University seize this new opportunity to build on the incredible national exposure?  Will those in power ....

(1) commit to further enhancement of the program and facilities and commit resources to fully leverage this incredible exposure.

OR ..........

(2) think, "Hey, we did all this on a shoestring again, so our gamble is validated" and we can keep doing what we have been doing for the last 20+ years, hope for the best, and repeat 1998.

But whatever course the university chooses after Sunday, it will never compromise my faith in the coaches and kids who represent Valpo.

GO VALPO.
BEAT BRADLEY.
LET'S GO TO THE DANCE.

Marist (3-7, 3-4 PFL). Last chance for another win. We have to be much more disciplined for 60 minutes. We killed ourselves with penalties and breakdowns on both sides of the ball. If we implode like we did Saturday, we are toast.

Marist supporters are lobbying for the firing of the current coach. The program is in a bit of turmoil, yet they remain a threat to beat you with a tough, yet predicable defense and an offense that has shown sporadic ability to score.

Two more to go. This one has gotta be a win. Good D,  no long gainers. Some forced TOs. Good O. Ball control. No turnovers.

Copied this off the PFL forum site. Interesting. Wonder how that got out there.

http://pflfan.proboards.com/thread/3666/recruiting-soon-resume

At least now I know what an official offer from Valpo looks like.

They are very young (lost 10 major contributors from last season, I believe) and their record to date reflects that, but yesterday they led #9 Missouri State 2-0 at the 71:59 mark at Brown Field. Unfortunately, MSU scored twice in the last 20 minutes to tie it up. Overall, MSU outshot Valpo 22-9. The Crusaders finally gave up a golden goal in the first OT. Tough to lose like that, but it speaks well for the young team.

With win number one under our belt we head to North Carolina. Marist took down the Wildcats yesterday and held the Davidson attack in check. Coach Fox helped engineer a Dayton win last season by holding the Davidson attack in check. He talked after our game about how our players were finally executing on the D side of the ball the way he wants them to. Could be a good matchup.

I am leaving on Monday for two weeks of vacation, so I thought I'd start the next game thread today.  I'm gonna miss following the Crusaders against USD and Stetson.   

GO VALPO!

It doesn't get any easier. Dayton put 56 up on Jacksonville. One positive thought is that Fox knows Dayton inside out and should be able to game plan against their O. Despite JU scoring 28, I have no similar thoughts on an offensive game plan.

Well, yesterday was certainly disappointing. And it doesn't get much better on Saturday. Drake has finally broken out of the winless column by crushing Marist 41-17. In previous matchups the Bulldogs were overwhelmed by FCS North Dakota and SDSU and in between they were embarrassed by D-II Truman State (who, BTW, are currently 4-0). Against Marist they were ahead 41-10 (I believe) with 7 minutes remaining, then gave up a cheapy. Their QB threw for 4 TDs. 

Having completed our OOC portion of the schedule and going into the Drake game, I thought it might be good to recap the context of our record to date against 4 scholarship programs.

OPPONENT
EKU 3-2 with loses @ FBS Louisville and @ MVFC Indiana State
CCSU 3-1 with only a 5 point loss @ Eastern Michigan (who had beaten Illinois the week before)
TSU 4-0 
UofC 3-1       
____________
TOTAL - 13-4 with two of those losses coming against FBS teams. 

We certainly did not schedule any "ham and eggers" this time around. Our in-transition team (in more ways than one) has faced 4 very respectable opponents who have not let us execute comfortably even once. I respect Fox for not throwing at least one Little Sisters of the Poor into the schedule in his first year, but it has come at a bit of a cost. I hope he and his staff can keep the program going forward without the kids losing any enthusiasm. 

Here's our first realistic opportunity for a win. U of C won Saturday over winless West Virginia Wesleyan.

NCAA DII - Mountain East Conference
RECORD - 2-1
Valpo is their only OOC game
Only loss so far is to Urbana University (OH) 20-28. Out-gained by UU 247-396

Last Game:  beat West Virginia Wesleyan

            WVWC   UofC
SCORE - 29     34
YARDS - 283   487
PASS - 251   448
RUSH - 32    45
1st DNs - 17   19

Truman is 2-0 after defeating Wayne State (MI) 35-12. WSU (0-2) is D-II, like Truman. They lost their opener to Slippery Rock (D-II) giving up 62 points. We know Truman opened by beating Drake.

If the past is any indication of what might transpire:  in Cecchini's first year,  the turn around game of that first season was an away win against a D-II team (William Jewel) that had beaten his predecessor the year before. Could history repeat?

Okay, we survived EKU with no significant injuries that we know of.

Areas of improvement to concentrate on:

ST:  LS, FGs, and Punting (basically everything).
Offense:  Consistent QB play, OL drive off the ball and pass protection, receiver separation
Defense:  stopping the long gains

I hope Brandon and Coach Fox do a post-EKU video during the bye week and then a regular pre-game video the week before the CCSU game. I would like to hear a deeper than usual analysis of the loss.

Someone's gotta get a game thread started. Might as well be me. Hope there is a game preview video and official depth chart coming out tomorrow. The game is only a few days away — Thursday evening.

Just to get things started here. VUWSO has started the season off with back-to-back 0-1 losses to old  HL nemeses UWGB and Oakland this weekend. In the Oakland match they could only manage one (1) shot on goal.

Time to switch over to the new season.

Here is the VU Athletics release on the opening of camp:

http://www.valpoathletics.com/football/news/2019-20/19183/first-fall-under-fox-set-to-begin-for-valpo-football/

Reading the article, I'm hearing things from interviewed players that I haven't heard in the past. Good things. Based on attitude alone, I don't think this is a 9th place PFL squad.

[2016]

Like last year, this is a bucket for miscellaneous football postings that don't necessarily have a traditional home (like spring ball, game threads, recruiting etc.)

I lurk around the PFL board infrequently and this thread, "Guess Who Spends The Most On Football?" caught my eye. I copied some posts for us to check out. Interesting that Valpo added over $210K to the budget in one year an went from #9 in 2016 to #6.  BUDawg's comment about Davidson and Stetson in 2016 says something as does daytonstrong's assesment of Dayton spending.  That is significant for us as Coach Fox came over to Valpo from Dayton. His comments put any complaints we have about our program into a perspective, no?

(2016) expenses-men's teams/football
Davidson $1,868,902
Stetson 1,838,277
San Diego 1,328,169
Jacksonville 1,303,640
Dayton 1,292,135
Marist 1,281,009
Morehead St. 1,031,156
Drake 1,028,182
Valparaiso 1,108,158
Butler 847,654
      source: ope.ed.gov/athletics/#/

BUDawg:
WOW! Imagine if Butler spent like another quarter of a million...We could buy some more PFL co-titles instead of runner-up/middle of the pack finishes, LOL. But to have your two worst teams spend the most...OUCH!

(2017) Expenses/football
Stetson  $1,742,010
San Diego $1,654,049
Davidson  $1,636,720
Marist    $1,381,490
Jacksonville  $1,360,507
Valparaiso  $1,320,503
Dayton $1,196,630
Morehead State  $1,176,172
Drake  $1,054,139
Butler  $912,878

daytonstrong:
Thought for sure Dayton would be at the bottom - Catholic institution, run down Welcome Stadium facilities, recycled uniforms, recycled equipment and zero promotion from University administration. To top it off, the boys don't get any of the cool branded swag the other teams in the conference get (Riddell helmet wraps, Flyer branded backpacks, Nike gloves, etc.). It's clear Dayton is a "basketball" school and that's where the investment goes.

[possible]

I just read Os"s interview on Twitter with ML. I can't paste all of the responses to Os's questions, but what jumps out at me is how ML's ambivalent, neutral and "possible" his responses were.

ML: Do we think we will be better next year?  It's possible.

ML:  We want to get rid of the me attitude and get to us as a team.

WHAT?  WAIT!   This next season is the one everyone has pointed toward and...... it's possible that we will be better?  And looking back over the last several seasons, the unique characteristic of Valpo teams, IMO, is how bonded and unselfish our teams were. Suddenly we have to become a team that is fighting to become a team? Most of these guys have been together for 2-3 years.

What the heck is going on?

Anybody have any info on how Griffin and Alex did a the FCS bowl in Florida?

[Pay Back Time.]

December 20, 2017.  UCR 73 Valpo 60.

Pay Back Time.

Highlanders current record:  2-5

Oregon State  LOSS 72-59
Portland State LOSS 71-64
UNLV LOSS 72-51
UC Merced WIN 63-53
Pacific LOSS 74-54
Elon WIN.77-64
Abilene Christian LOSS 60-48
California Baptist  (Play tonight 7pm PST - Big West TV  - https://gohighlanders.com/schedule.aspx?path=mbball)
Valpo 12/2/2018

ROSTER
Seniors - 2
Juniors - 2
Sophs - 5
Frosh - 5

HEIGHT
Two 7 footers (one a senior from Holland and the other a freshman from New Zealand)
One 6-8
One 6-7
Five 6-5
Two 6-3
One 6-2
One 6-1
One 5-11

Loyola loses to Nevada 79-65. That's quite a spread.

Yes, it's very early,  but "mid major" Gonzaga edged Kansas for the #1 spot in this week's USAToday Coaches College BB poll (by just 2 points).

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaab/2018/11/26/gonzaga-edges-kansas-no-1-usa-today-mens-basketball-poll/2113572002/

Let's start in our own back yard.  Joshua 'Bubba' Johnson of Gary, Indiana, Valpo needs you. Here is the Bleacher Report story.

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2806782-a-350-pound-quarterback-joshua-bubba-johnson-is-that-and-much-more?utm_source=cnn.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=editorial

Here is the YouTube link.  He is 350# and runs a 5.2 40.  He also plays TB and QB, runs out of the shotgun, and has thrown for some TDs.  He crushes people as a DL.  Has a 3.5 GPA. And also plays BB.  He'd make a tremendous addition to the DL at Valpo. Youngest of 11 kids.  Would bring in Gary family and  friends that would fill half of the stands at Brown Field.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahfA0-GHneA

[Butler]

Butler brought Stetson down to earth 28-23 yesterday.  So we close out our season in Deland, FL hoping for a win against another Florida team.  A win means we go .500 over the last six games of the season.  A win might also break up the four team log jam for 6th place in the PFL standings.  All four are in actioon:

Butler @ Davidson - Can Butler stop an offense that ran up almost 800 rushing yards against USD?  I'm thinking Davidson
Drake @ Morehead - Drake D v. Morehead O.  Drake D too strong.
Valpo @ Stetson - Can we duplicate the win we got last season?  Well, thatr's the reason for this string.  If Butler can do it in tropical Indianapolis, why not!

So if we win, there will be a two-way tie for 6th between Valpo and either Butler of Davidson.

BTW, got to hand it to Davidson (at least on O). 789 rushing yds against USD is absolutely  incredible. Too bad they can't stop anyone in the PFL. 

Ed Thiel (VU FB alum and teammate from the ICC days) sent me this link.  Check out the October 23rd score.

https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/schools/notre-dame/1920-schedule.html

[Calvin Turner Jr., Jacksonville]

Valpo is tied for last in the PFL with a 1-5 record.  Butler and Jacksonville share that same honor.  We beat Butler.  Now we have to do the same vs. Jacksonville on Saturday.

This past Saturday JU beat the Butler Bulldogs 48-44, scoring in the last 5 seconds.  Judging by the scoring summary, the only reason JU won was because they were the last ones to have the ball as time ran out.

Jacksonville threw for an incredible 57 yards  while running for a mere 448 "pedestrian" yards  on the ground.  JU's secondary played rock solid coverage too, only giving up 425 passing yards to Butler and their front seven locked down the LOS  by holding the Butler rushing game to a piddling 131 yards.  A real defensive nail-biter. 

PFL OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Calvin Turner Jr., Jacksonville
Sophomore | Quarterback
Savannah, Georgia

Turner Jr. was responsible for three touchdowns, including the game-winner with five seconds left as Jacksonville downed Butler, 48-44, in Saturday PFL action. The league's top runner, he had 25 carries for 194 yards on the day. In the second quarter, Turner Jr. ran for a 58-yard touchdown and passed for a 57-yard touchdown, the throw his only completion on the day (two attempts). After Butler took a 44-41 lead with 3:22 left, he spearheaded an 11-play, 73-yard drive that saw him post seven carries for 37 yards, including a three-yard touchdown run with five seconds left.

Where Valpo and JU stand in the PFL Stats through 11/4:
Scoring Offense - Valpo 9th (27.2 pts/g); JU 6th (30.2 pts/g)
Scoring Defense - Valpo 6th (36.3 pts/g); JU 9th (41.0 pts/g)
Total Offense - Valpo 10th (324 yds/g); JU 6th (391 yds/g)
Total Defense - Valpo 6th (434 yds/g); JU 7th (434.7 yds/g)
Rushing Offense - Valpo 10th (109 yds/g); JU 1st (351.7 yds/g)
Rushing Defense - Valpo 6th (190 yds/g); JU 2nd (163.8 yds/g)
Passing Offense - Valpo 8th (215 yds/g); JU 10th (39.7 yds/g)
Passing Defense - Valpo 8th (243.7 yds/g); JU 10th (270.8 yds/g)
Red Zone Offense - Valpo 10th (70.8%); JU 1st (93.8%)
Red Zone Defense - Valpo 2nd (75%); JU 10th (100%)

Individual Stat Top 10 Leaders
Rushing: Valpo - No One; JU - Turner Jr. #1 (183 yds/game)
Passing: Valpo - Duncan #7 (151.5 yds/g); JU - Turner Jr. #9 (37 yds/game)
Reception: Valpo - Norberg #7 (4.7 rec/g); JU - No One
Receiving Tds: Valpo - Norberg #8th (77.2 yds/g); JU No One
Scoring: Valpo - No One; JU - TurnerJr. #1 (14.3 pts/g)