For the second straight year, it has all come down to this: Undefeated St. John’s taking on one-loss Bethel in the season’s final regular season game. To the victors go the MIAC title and an automatic berth into the NCAA playoffs, to the defeated, an uncertain fate at the hands of the NCAA selection committee and a sour note to the end of the regular season. Will the Johnnies fall to the Royals on Arden Hills soil for the third time in four meetings or will memories of last year’s shocking home loss spur St. John’s to another flawless regular season? Here are the thoughts of the JohnnieFootball.com crew:
Duffman: Again it comes down to Bethel and Saint John’s playing for the MIAC title in the last game of the season. How could this game get more exciting? Bethel’s early loss to a mediocre Buena Vista boggles my mind, but they’ve been perfect since then.
Revoke my Johnnie card if you want, but I have a gut feeling that the Johnnies are going to lose to Bethel. The Royals have a solid ground game with an excellent running back and a quarterback that is a ground threat, and I think we might struggle to contain them. St. Thomas gave fits with their running attack, and Bethel’s is better. Ryan Wimmer’s injury is a tough break because his athleticism at linebacker will be sorely missed this game.
I think that the Johnnie passing attack will be able to move the ball well, but I’m not sure if it will be enough. The Johnnies have struggled with consistency this year, and I think their luck might run out. I really hope I’m wrong, but I’m seeing a shoot-out in the making. Bethel 44, St. John’s 42.
DustySJU: In 2003, D3football.com’s West Region writer Adam “OneArmedScott” Johnson created a collage of Johnnie/Bethel imagery and billed the record breaking game and conference finale “For All the Marbles”. As it was in 2003, it was also in 2006 and will be again this afternoon. From a player perspective AK-11 will be making his final MIAC start and will have the opportunity to exorcise any road demons still lingering from the Carleton College game.
Bethel University will take advantage of St John’s two week lay-off and scheme for their hardest hitting game of their season thus seizing upon a slow-starting Johnnie squad. Johnnie D will be focused on stopping the big Ben Bethel quarterback from breaking long runs and controlling time of possession. A fired up Johnnie offensive backfield is the difference in this game. St. John’s 42, Bethel 17.
Finsleft: The Bethel game should be a hard-fought battle and a game that many had circled on the calendar before we even played Marietta. This is what it’s all about, folks, and a reason DIII football is the best sports entertainment for your hard-earned simoleans. It will be won in the trenches. Special teams play and lack of turnovers should allow SJU to come away undefeated and enjoy at least a couple of home playoff games. But Gags and crew will have his boys focused on the task at hand, and the bottom-of-the-pile-punching Baptists will be looking at a long Pool C bus ride next week. SJU 28, BU 13
Mr.Shoes: I don’t know how or why I missed the game last year, but I did—thankfully. I don’t know how or why I haven’t been to Arden Hills since 2000, but I bet it has something to do with the bad memories of my first two visits. Ugh. This time, however, my visit to BU will be much happier. It’s going to be cold and a bit damp, but this is a Johnnie team that’s ready to go into the playoffs HOT. After a rough showing (is 51-34 rough?) against St. Thomas and two weeks for John to break down film, I am confident that the team that steps on the field today wearing white and red will be rested and ready to go. It’ll be a close one, but the crew from Collegeville will go home undefeated. St. John’s 34, Bethel 27
SjuSection105: I would say that a fair statement about these two teams is that they are consistently inconsistent. They are consistent in the fact that they are both undefeated in MIAC action. They are inconsistent in the way the have emerged victorious in some of those games. SJU squeaked by Carleton and St. Olaf, who Bethel defeated handily. Bethel struggled with St. Thomas and Concordia–two games in which St. John’s had comfortable margins of victory. I should also add that Bethel lost the season opener to Buena Vista University, a lower-tier IIAC team.
Both teams can put points on the board and shut down the opposition. The question is, which team will put it all together for the MIAC title? This will be a tough game and a big play could be the determining factor in the margin of victory. My money is on John Gagliardi’s ability to prepare the Johnnies by being a team of ordinary men doing ordinary things extraordinarily well. St. John’s 24, Bethel 17.
TC: After starting the year with a pair of lackluster road performances—come-from-behind wins of 21-10 against UW-River Falls and 10-7 against Carleton—the Johnnies have clicked in their last two games away from Clemens Stadium, rolling over Hamline and Gustavus by a combined score of 86-7. The early road struggles and underwhelming performance against St. Thomas have raised doubts about whether the Johnnies are as good as their lofty national ranking suggests.
I have a feeling that this is the week that Nick Gunderson, Alex Kofoed, Brian Weber, and Mike Patnode put those doubts to rest with a convincing win over the Royals. With two full weeks to focus on Bethel and the memory of last year’s loss to the Royals in the front of their minds, I’d expect the Johnnies to come out focused on execution and ready to enter the playoffs on a high note. St. John’s 34, Bethel 14.
Touchdown Tommy: This week’s game is the hardest one of the season to gauge for me. Bethel has shown flashes of great play, while at the same time been equally awful against mediocre opponents (perennial IIAC bottom feeder Buena Vista and a late 1 point comeback against St. Thomas). The home field advantage helps the Royals tremendously as the Johnnies have not played well at Royals Stadium in the past decade. As you would expect, both teams are banged up injury-wise and that could play a part in the final score. My gut instinct is that this will not be nearly as close as some might guess. St. John’s 41, Bethel 12.
