As small-college football fans go, we Johnnie backers are a pretty fortunate group. We have the 4 national championships, John Gagliardi’s career coaching victory record, Clemens Stadium and the nation’s best D-3 attendance on a near-annual basis, consistent (and overwhelmingly positive) media coverage—life is pretty good.
For most of our foes, their lone shot at the limelight comes each year when they match up with St. John’s. A win against the Johnnies is almost always a season-defining occurrence. For the lower tier of the MIAC, the successes have been rare. Augsburg’s 20-10 home win against the Johnnies in 1997 broke what would have been a string of 26 (and counting) wins by St. John’s in the series. Macalester has gone nearly 4 decades and 33 tries since they last beat the Johnnies. But no foe can match the struggles of Carleton: 24 times they’ve taken the field against the Johnnies and 24 times they’ve come up short.
Our special guest this week, Erik Fisher, was around for 5 of those matchups. The former star running back played for the Knights from 1999 to 2003 (he missed 2001 with a torn ACL and was granted a red-shirt season). During the years that Erik was at Carleton, the Johnnies outscored the Knights 223-14. While he never beat St. John’s, Fisher’s career wasn’t without its highlights. As a senior in 2003, he was selected 1st-Team All-MIAC and an honorable mention All-American while leading the MIAC in rushing yards (1,423, a Carleton school record) and finishing 2nd in the conference in total yards (to Johnnie legend and Gagliardi Award-winner Blake Elliott).
Erik shares his thoughts on the strides the Carleton program has made since he graduated and how the Knights can build on last season’s 29-19 loss to the Johnnies, the closest game in the series since 1990:
Erik Fisher: For a the last decade or so Carleton has been one of the basement dwellers of the MIAC, a team the better teams in the conference such as St. John’s usually beat handily. This is not the case anymore…these are not the Knights you might remember. The Carleton College football program has been trying to dig its way out of the basement over the last few years gaining valuable experience and moxie along the way. With a marquee win against the eventual co-conference champion Bethel last season and another 4-6 year that could have easily been the other way around, the Knights look to improve again this year and take the next step towards becoming a contender in the conference. And what bigger step can a program make than beating the Johnnies?
Johnnie Week is an exciting week for most squads in the MIAC as it is usually a chance to compete against one of the better teams in the nation (according to the polls). A good measuring stick as to how good your team really is, plus if you beat them—especially if you are Carleton—it will be big news around the DIII nation. Personally, I always liked playing against St. John’s as it was a chance to play against top-notch competition and prove to myself that I was as good or better than anyone else, and the crowds were usually nicely sized as well.
The team that the Johnnies will square off against in Northfield this Saturday is nothing like the teams I played on a few years back. With second year coach and Johnnie Alum Kurt Ramler at the helm of the Knights, the team is all about having fun and playing football because it is what they love to do. As with pretty much anything, it is always more fun if you win, something the Knights have done with greater frequency as of late and something the coaches and players never stop striving for. The Knights offense is primarily a shotgun spread offense featuring a lot of passing to all eligible positions, an option / sweep look off the edge, with some delay type runs in between the tackles. One should never be surprised to see some type of “creative play calling / gadget play” with the Knights offense, as they will be playing to win the game as opposed to just trying to keep it close. As far as the defense, the Knights returned a lot of experience this year and are solid up the middle against the run and always looking to create a turnover. The question will be how they will do against the passing attack of St. John’s, as Bethel was able to find some success with the intermediate routes last week. The special teams for the Knights are pretty solid as well with a pair of dangerous returners and the ability to block punts and kicks as shown last weekend.
For the Knights to have a chance at a monumental upset this weekend (remember that St. John’s only won by 10 last year) they need to weather the storms and play mistake free football. If they can avoid getting behind early and playing catch up as well as get through St. John’s typical third quarter barrage, they definitely have the potential to make a big play to win the game, as they’ve done it before. That is how a program improves, it takes some big wins against good teams to really get the mindset that they can go out there and win against anybody. Will the Knights take the next step on Saturday and upset the Johnnies? Show up to beautiful Laird Stadium in Northfield on Saturday to find out. My prediction: On paper, the Johnnies should probably win, but there is a reason they play the games… Carleton 24, St. John’s 21, the upset of the year.
