Our own bit of misery as Johnnie Football fans is minimal when compared to the multitude of troubles plaguing major college athletics.  When St. John’s deviates from its traditional place as MIAC football champions our fall world appears rightfully out of place. Despite our anguish we can all be thankful our complaints can be limited to a soon to be 6 – 4 football season.
 
To send this year’s season off and to begin the hot-stove conversation for a revived 2012 Johnnie Football team, we invite all of you to Gabe’s By the Park this Saturday for a Johnnie vs Hamline Piper pregame primer.  Located at 991 North Lexington Parkway in St. Paul, Gabe’s www.gabesmn.com is as Bob Wicker indicates, “… a long chip shot from the Hamline football field”.
 
Doors open at 9am however be prepared to load up on beer nuts as the grill won’t be ready until 11am.  Bob expects most guests to show up about then.  And until then…
 
 
 
JohnnieUp Everybody!

The 2011 Johnnie Football season has been surprisingly highlighted by lopsided losses, inconsistent offensive and defensive play as well as constant media references to the unhappy Johnnie fan base. 

The uncharacteristic nature of the 2011 season has even caught the attention of The Minneapolis StarTribune.  Wednesday’s above the fold story in the sports section was entitled ”Johnnies On The Spot” and chronicled not only the tradition Coach John Gagliardi has established on campus but also potential cures for a team desparately seeking to avoid it’s first losing season since the mid-60’s.

Saturday’s game against St. Olaf is a critical match for both teams as SJU attempts to continue it’s rise from embarassing losses to UST and Bethel while St. Olaf’s post season hopes hinge on it’s two remaining games.  The Ole game on Saturday presents a critical opportunity for the Johnnies to regain their birthright as the rightful owners of MIAC football. 

In their game against Carleton last weekend the Johnnie offense returned to a big play passing attack with QB Conner Bruns powering the football through the air with acrobatic catches from his receiver corps.  The aggressive and well executed passing attack harkened back to a more glorious time in Johnnie Football and could well be the formula for a victory this weekend. 

A return to small college prominence and post season play are the pursuits for every Johnnie Football team and the expectations for every serious Johnnie Football fan.  The alure of small college football in the cool fall air of Collegeville is the fuel by which hard core Johnnie fans feed their addiction.  Combined with the familiar translucent sky witnessed only during the Minnesota autumn,  Johnnie playoff dramas are the essence and spirit by which Johnnie fans live and so desparately seek.

Despite the early season spankings and depressing results, Saturday’s game is a golden opportunity for the Johnnie football season to continue it’s two game winning streak and beat a team in search of only it’s second post season appearance – ever!

Believe it, Saturday counts.

With an opportunity to put a bit of a winning streak together beginning Saturday The Johnnie Football team should be “all-in” for an “all-out” effort versus The Carls.

With former Johnnie strong man Kurt Ramler at the helm for Carleton could tomorrow’s tilt be a glimpse into the Collegeville crystal ball of what might become?

Greek tragedy or not , the Johnnie Football team has plenty of reason to come out fired up and show the home town fans their first winning effort since the season’s opening game vs Northwestern.

Speaking of our UMAC friends from Roseville, what would a Johnnie versus Scholastica match look like?  If you haven’t been paying attention UMAC member St. Scholastica will be making the DIII playoffs this fall in only their 4th season of play.  Time to drop the Evangelicals and add the Catholics. Nice job Saints!

And if you’re planning on pregaming tomorrow you’re invited to commune on the tarmac above the south endzone however JohnnieRed & Veek won’t be grilling up any tasty treats.  Bring a box of donuts to share or if you’re really in the giving mood haul up your grill and feed the masses. 

It’s the Benedictine way.

JohnnieUp Everybody!

It’s been nearly two weeks since the last Johnnie Football setback against Bethel however there are slivers of hope.  Back to back games against MIAC powerhouse schools UST and BU certainly could have left our footballers maimed and mumbling but for more than 3 quarters SJU showed BU a decent fight.  A few plays here and there and our team might be looking at just a disappointing year and not the near disaster we’re witnessing right now. 

The trip to St. Peter on Saturday morning offers the J’s the opportunity to demonstrate improvements they’ve made the past two weeks and their desire to get back to winning MIAC football games.

For those of you looking for some pre-game beef and banter consider joining SJU fans at Patrick’s on 3rd in St. Peter beginning at 10:00am.  The underground Johnnie network seems to have worked another deal with Patrick’s and have encouraged them to open at this earlier A.M. hour.

Keep the Johnnie vibe high, wash the slate clean and anticipate a new Johnnie Football team beginning tomorrow!

JohnnieUp Everybody!

The folks at JohnnieFootball.com have been meeting nightly pouring over vital statistics in an effort to diagnose what’s ailing our football team.  The early results of our meta-analysis point not so much to the players but a drama playing out somewhere behind The Pine Curtain.   A greek tragedy of sorts with the football gods themselves entangled in a 4th quarter battle to control the line of scrimmage and the future of the Johnnie Football dynasty.

I invite all of you to take a peek into a private message board where the Johnnie Football discussion is raging and the reasons for the SJU Football demise is in post season drive.  Look for my ”DustySJU” post here on the D3Football.com message board under MIAC and begin reading for all the behind the scenes analysis and finger pointing.

After you’ve had a chance to scan the message board I’d like your opinion and explanation for the sudden SJU dive and Saturday ass-kicking by the Tommies.  Email me at DustySJU@JohnnieFootball.com, your privacy is always secure.

Until Saturday,

JohnnieUp Everybody!

 Dsju

Raising ticket prices to gouge traveling Johnnie fans and doing what’s ever possible to make tailgating as foriegn as Glen Caruso’s sincerity, UST has gone to extremes in creating a hostile environment.  If I hear Coach Caruso use the word “stalwart” one more time I’ll march over to Summit myself and hand him my own personal Thesaurus.  Lots of coach speak from the little man on Summit.  Could you ever imagine Gagliardi speaking in that manner?  We are blessed.

Join us in Lot M beginning at 10:00am on the UST south campus for Johnnie pregaming and strategizing.  Bring a culinary delight to share, something red to wear and a Johnnie vibration to “raise the roof” and crush the Tommie facade.  Take a minute to read the UST campus rules here regarding having fun before football games.

“Johnnie Tattoo” will arrive at the tailgate site at approximatley 9:00am to plant his flag and reserve a spot for later arriving Johnnie fans.  “Johnnie Tats” will also be grilling “The Judge” about any rules violations… always prevelant in college football.

And for a moment, contemplate the power, the power of the red. The body and the mind of the Johnnie Nation connected, connected in a singular collective objective to defeat the immitators from Summit Avenue.

Bring your salted peanuts, softdrinks and megahorn and join us for another improbable outcome in St. Paul.

JohnnieUp Everybody!

It’s been an ugh start to the Johnnie Football season but no one, and I mean no one loves a party more than the tailgaters from Collegeville.  The Tommies are up to their usual tricks and have secured surface lot M just south of campus and are implementing rediculous rules ruining any attempt at fun.  You can check more here for all the boring details. 

The gang at JohnnieFootball.com however have their own plan for pregame fun with “Johnnie Tattoo” arriving at the tailgate site at approximatley 9:00am to plant his flag and grill “The Judge” about any rules violations… always prevelant in college football.

One thing for sure though is the post game party will be hosted by Johnnie supporters Tom and Carol Arth.  In true Benedictine hospitality fashion our loyal friends have invited all of us to join them at their home following the game.  Here’s the skinny -

 
Take Cretin north to I94 and exit right (east) onto to I94. Take I94 just thru St. Paul to Hwy 52 South (exit 242D). Go south on Hwy 52 for approx. 6 miles to the first exit past I494 which is Upper 55th St. E. Exit there to the top of the exit and go right two blocks to the 2nd stop light which is Blaine (Gerten’s Greenhouse on left). . Go left on Blaine into Layfayette Park approx 1.5 miles to Blaylock Way. Go right on Blaylock Way to the 6th townhouse on the right (4654 Blaylock Way).

Look forward to seeing everyone and feel free to bring any other Johnnies you meet at the tailgating or game. We will have plenty of food and drink. You can call either of us if you need more directions.

Tom:  612-743-5422

Carol:  612-730-6967

Yeah, it’s prolly gonna be one of those days Saturday but folks said the same thing in ‘00 and ‘03 versus some other team in purple in a place called Salem.  Hmmmmm….

As always,

JohnnieUp Everybody!

A great season for graduating senior Kellen Blaser ends in disapointment. Photo courtesy of GoJohnnies.com

It took nearly 36 hours and lots of guts, perhaps the same guts Joe B. Quarterback lost early in the afternoon Saturday to even have the nerve to glance at the St. Cloud Times website and review of the Johnnies first round playoff game.  As I gradually moved closer to my desk, instinctively my computer mouse finally found it’s way back home, home being the D3Football.com website and Post Patterns message board. 

The process is always the same anytime the Johnnie Football team suffers an excruciatingly painful loss or equally maddening early exit from the Division III playoffs.  If the agony from the Johnnie playoff loss to the Coe College Cohawks was devastating for committed fans of St. John’s University you can only imagine what it felt like for returning starter Joe B. Quarterback. 

After sitting out nearly a full month with his right thumb in a cast, Joe Boyle was almost immediately greeted with a helmet to the gut and Johnnie fans wondering why he was sitting on the bench with his head between his legs and Johnnie staffers washing down the tartan track directly beneath the bench.  With an icepack stacked high on the back of his neck it looked as though Johnnie playoff prospects would be left to a handful of backup quarterbacks  hurriedly tossing passes back and fourth along the sideline.

Managing to return to the field shortly after, Joe lasted well into the final quarter before dropping back to pass on third down and seeing no one open took off running with his exceptionally quick feet only to be violently speared in the back by the knee of one of the Coe defenders. Sliding within inches of the first down, Boyle was now on his side with legs squirming and pain piercing his lower back and hip.

Staggering off with the help of SJU medical staff and a right leg stiffened and locked in place to guard from any additional agony, Joe B’s 2009 season was about to end.  Not from the numerous injuries wracking his body or the confusion his brain must have been in from the multiple neurons each sending their own message of anguish, but from the fumble committed on the very next play by his freshman understudy. 

Could fate be so crule?

Just as the Johnnies were driving deep into Coehawk territory late in the fourth quarter and trailing by one touchdown,  linebacker Calvin Thomas picked up the fumbled 4th down snap from the substitute Johnnie QB and bolted 70 yards for another defensive touchdown.  On this day it would take two crazy defensive touchdowns by the same player for nearly 170 yards and an underwhelming Johnnie performance to help register the Coe College win.

How do we fill the void and emptiness of an unfulfilled playoff season?  Let’s begin by giving praise and thanks for Collegeville football Saturdays and the astounding performance throughout the 2009 season.  Let’s give thanks too for The MIAC rule change allowing transfer students to gain an extra year of eligibilty that up until this point would have been forfeited.  The change in policy will dramatically enhance the Johnnie football roster in 2010.

Change we can believe in will also be achieved by inserting freshman running back Harry Awe as the full-time slot receiver and kick returner.  This year the Johnnies ran the ball in aggressive fashion and are plenty stacked with returning ball-carriers including “break-out” frosh Stephen Johnson.  What the offense lacks is the game-breaking downfield passes that excited fans and devastated opponents thrown from the wings of this decade’s past quarterbacks Linnemann, Denne, Keating and Kofoed.

Running the ball on the end around with Harry Awe should be at the top of offensive play chart along with reincarnating the smallish style and explosiveness of late 90’s Johnnies superstar wide receiver Adam Herbst.

With one year left in his quarterback career Joe Boyle can guarantee the Johnnies another MIAC championship and pull them from their recent first round playoff dull-drums.  He’ll need to retire his scrambling style and rely on an experienced offensive line and pocket passing to minimize the injuries he suffered during the 2009 season.

In the end we’ll all give thanks to Boyle, Awe and Johnson for leading us past the first round of the playoffs and onwards toward another Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl.

Thanks indeed.

*  Stay tuned to JohnnieFootball.com throughout the off-season for postings from TC, TDT, JohnnieTats and our newest contributor, Pure Bred Johnnie – Matt Melsen.  Happy Thanksgiving!

The Johnnies also retained their number four ranking in the AFCA and D3Football.com polls.  Poll positions first ascended to with their win over St. Olaf during week eight of the regular season.

Representing the west region, St. John’s carries the tradition of it’s legendary coach John Gagliardi and decades of success and championship seasons as one of the unofficial criteria elevating it’s self ahead of other equally potent football programs also in the west region.

With a slightly better Strength of Schedule than other west region teams Central College and Linfield, St. John’s was designated as the number one seeded team and third ranked team overall of the four top teams selected. 

As in years past Mount Union College finished #1 in the small college polls and received the overall #1 seed.  The University of Wisconsin Whitewater followed close by all season and received the #2 seed, ranked fourth nationally in the polls St. John’s received the #3 seed sliding past #4 seed Wesley College of Dover, Delaware which was third ranked throughout the regular season polls.

Unbelievably,  of the eight teams selected for the west region bracket six are top ten ranked teams.  The University of Mary Hardin Baylor was shifted from the south region, was ranked #7 nationally and seeded # 7 in the west.

Also unbelievable was former Johnnie quarterback Tom Linnemann who had no idea who the Johnnies’ first round opponent was when asked by Star Tribune columnist and KSTP radio host Patrick Reusse during Linnemann’s regular Monday morning appearance.  As in an originally printed Reusse column, Linnemann was still hoping for a first round match-up with The Tommies.  Unlike Linnemann, Reusse at least knew now it wouldn’t be St. Thomas. 

St. John’s begins tournament play this coming Saturday at noon in Collegeville hosting The Coe College Kohawks of Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

The complete Division III football playoff bracket can be viewed here.

Photo by Sowden

This past weekend was perhaps some of the most spectacular weather in all of 2009 here locally in the state of Minnesota.  For those of you who lamented a summer in which temperatures were unpredictable, your reward was 3 consecutive days of autumn bliss and excess.

Minnesotans this weekend selected from traditional and timely activities such as bagging fallen leaves beaten down earlier in the month by wind and rain, northerly treks to family hunting shacks for the stalking of white tail deer and of course high school and college football.

On Friday evening here in the western suburbs the best high school football team in the state, The Eden Prairie HS Eagles, manhandled and dominated their way thumping Minnetonka 38 – 7 in weather conditions that normally only appear on fall Saturdays in Collegeville.  A packed crowd with more rug rats milling about than what you’d find in a certain west suburban household added to the bountiful harvest that was in full gear on the green synthetic field.

With rumors of EP head coach Mike Grant heading to Collegeville next fall here’s one Johnnie fan who hopes he packs his trailer and saves room to bring along a few of his football playing graduates.

There are Eagle players so dominating from Friday’s game that with the arrival of the Grant household in Collegeville next fall including ’83 CSB grad Colleen Remitz – Grant, the cross-town and suddenly resurgent UST Tommies would sniff no better than second place the next 4 years.  Perhaps coach Gagliardi could also make room for Colleen’s son and seldom used Gopher backup linebacker Ryan Grant.

And with Saturday morning temperatures perhaps too warm for a thoroughly enjoyable deer hunt, the other half of Minnesota moved over to TCF Bank Stadium in Minneapolis to continue bathing and lavishing themselves in stunning southern California like weather. 

Stunning too was the Division I University of Minnesota Golden Gopher performance who were equally amazed with the glorious morning as they stood by amidst spectacular surroundings watching The Big Ten’s Fighting Illini rake them for a 28 – 7 halftime lead and early afternoon victory.

Traveling west from the U of M on Washington Avenue on this splendid day the elite of Minnesota’s small college football fraternity found themselves in the most undesirable environment of any indigenous football fan – indoors.

Johnnie fans accustomed to the spiritual surroundings and mystical Collegeville grounds were instead covered in Teflon and seated among blue plastic seats in distances so far from Coach John Gagliardi it was difficult to tell how steamed he was at freshman quarterback John Ries for giving up 7 points on a 93 yard pass interception.

Fortunately for SJU, defense will advance them in the upcoming DIII playoffs and on Saturday linebackers, tackles and corners limited the top rated MIAC passing attack to a mere 100 yards.  No yards rushing and no fun for anyone as both the Auggie and Johnnie fans were wishing they were somewhere else on Saturday.

Adding at least some entertainment to Saturday’s victory was Star Tribune columnist Patrick Reusse leaping to the Tommie bandwagon and inaccurately announcing in his Sunday morning column the possibility of a first round match up with the third ranked(regionally) Johnnies. 

The Johnnies, actually ranked #1 regionally, will enter the final game of the season this coming Saturday with a perfect record, their 31st conference championship secured and a likely shot at a number one seed in the DIII playoffs. 

We’ll see if the UST Tommies can hang on long enough to make their way back to St. John’s for a more likely third round rematch and playing conditions much different than the sun bath most college football fans enjoyed on Saturday.

In predictalbe fashion..... Johnnie Defense