Just like clockwork, the calendar change from August to September brought about some climate changes in mid-Minnesota. The hot and steamy Labor Day weekend enjoyed around Johnnie Nation have been replaced by cooler days and brisk nights—football weather, if you will.
As the football calendar changes from 2007 to 2008, there are dramatic changes on the Johnnie roster, as well. For the first time in 46 games (39 of them wins), save one game missed to injury in 2006, Alex Kofoed will not be under center for the Johnnies. Gone, too, are familiar names on offense—Salvato, Blackmore, Patnode, Weber—and defense—Cloeter, Boegel, Shockman.
Still, some things never change. All of our contributors expect the defensive line, anchored by All-American Nick Gunderson, to lead the Johnnies to victory this weekend against the East Texas Baptist Tigers. Read on for our individual predictions.
Duffman: Opening games for the Johnnies are always interesting, especially when the QB position is up for grabs. We’ve grown used to seeing Alex Kofoed calling the signals for the past few years, and while the loss of an experienced QB leaves a big question mark for the Johnnies, I look forward to a refreshing change. I think the coaches will give Hansel, Boyle, and Crees significant playing time to see who faces game-pressure best. There will be several other newcomers on both sides of the ball, as well. I expect a somewhat rocky start; it will take some time to get everyone situated and used to game-speed again. One big plus is the experience the Johnnies carry over on the offensive and defensive lines. Success starts in the trenches, and the Johnnies should have tremendous lines on both sides of the ball.
ETBU is an unknown. They’ve been a middle-of-the-pack team for several years, and their lineups look fairly young. I’m sure their spirits will be soaring as they step out onto the turf at Clemens Stadium, though. I believe this is going to be a competitive game. I think the Johnnies will struggle for a bit as the many new starters find their strides. If the offensive line controls the line of scrimmage and the defensive line can keep the ETBU QB from exploiting our newcomers in the defensive backfield, I see the Johnnies prevailing. St. John’s 35, ETBU 24.
DustySJU: Was it a mean joke by the East Texas Baptist sports information director or just a simple mistake listing the JohnnieFootball.com website as the official site for St. John’s University Football? Whether a cruel nod toward the long established St. John’s tradition or just an internet flaw, last year’s team repeatedly fooled us week in and week out. With a beefed up line on both sides of the ball and new faces at the quarterback position, expect a renewed enthusiasm from the entire team. After all it is Johnnie Football…. so get jacked up guys! It’s a theme I’ll be following throughout the season. St. John’s 27, ETBU 17.
Finsleft: Of course, I’m picking the Johnnies to win, but predicting the score will really be a stab in the dark. I think our defensive line and linebackers are so tough that da Baptists will have a tough time with the ball, even though our secondary is relatively new this year. So ETBU scores no more than 10 points. Our offense? Who the heck knows? Again the line is quite impressive, but with questions at QB, running back and receiver positions, it’s hard to know what kind of scoring threat we’ll have. That leads me to think fewer points for SJU, OK no more than 35. Yeah, that’s it: St. John’s 35, ETBU 10.
Johnnie Tats: Three keys to success, as I see them: First, the Johnnies will need to lean heavily on their deep and star studded defensive line in the early part of the game, containing the Tiger quarterbacks and insuring there is no time for them to launch passes against our young secondary. Second, to offset this gap created by an open audition at the quarterback position, the running game and short/intermediate passing game needs to be leveraged and executed to keep the ball moving while giving the defense a breather. Finally, the play calling must be smart and fit into the ability of whichever of the three QB candidates are on the field at the time. I see a victory, plain and simple, St. John’s 38, ETBU 6.
Mr.Shoes: Well, this is embarrassing. As little as I know about East Texas Baptist, I know almost as little about this year’s St. John’s team. Fortunately, I had TC’s three-part primer to get me up to speed and Ritz’s game preview to prep me for this week. I’m going to go out on a limb (ha!) and say that the Johnnies win, and they win pretty easily. The score will be tempered by quarterback inexperience, but shouldn’t give the game away to the visitors from the south. St. John’s 43, ETBU 20.
Ritz: Even with all the question marks heading into the season on offense and the annual double-reverse halfback pass to start the season, I see the Johnnies scoring early and often with our team speed on defense, especially up front, shutting down our Baptist friends from Texas. That coupled with the fact that ETBU was outscored 159-64 in the 2nd half last year and SJU owning the 3rd quarter solidifies my call that the Johnnies will go above and beyond the Monkey Stomp. Final from Collegeville, St. John’s 48, ETBU 17.
Sjusection105: East Texas Baptist University, on paper, appears to be a worthy opponent for the Johnnies on opening day. Every year we hear the same things at the start of the season, but I’m not as concerned about no contact in practice as I am with some of the players lost to graduation. ETBU will come out and will hit like a ton of bricks trying to make a statement. I would take that same approach, especially if this was my first visit to the Division III shrine known as Clemens Stadium. Another thing I would do is throw until the secondary shows they are ready to “Johnnie up”. This may only take one series or it may that the entire game for the new starters on the Johnnie D to come together as a cohesive unit in what should be open audition for both the Johnnie offense and defense. As the scoreboard clock reads 0:00, I feel confident that the Johnnies will be victorious, but this will be far from a cakewalk. St. John’s 38, ETBU 28.
Touchdown Tommy: I am looking forward to the Johnnies game this week more than any since the 2003 Stagg Bowl. It really is the big unknown which is exciting to me. A fast, athletic albeit inexperienced East Texas Baptist comes into Collegeville to face the Johnnies who have to play “Trial by Error” to make a decision at the ever important quarterback position. It is well known that the Johnnies annually start the season slow and when they have critical holes to fill due to graduation the margin for error is greatly diminished. This game has all the factors to be close the whole way. We’ll hopefully have a much better idea of what to expect after Saturday’s game. While I wouldn’t be surprised if the score were reversed, I am going to say St. John’s 24, ETBU 20.
TC: As has been alluded to already, there are two key questions I am going to be keeping an eye on this Saturday: What will the Johnnies do at the quarterback position and how is the inexperienced secondary step up? I think St. John’s fans will be pleasantly surprised with the answer to the first question—don’t be surprised if one or more of the QB candidates steps forward as a more-than-worthy successor to Alex Kofoed. I’m also not sure we’re going to get an answer to the second question as the Johnnies’ defensive beasts up front won’t let the Tigers passing attack test the corners and safeties. I think this is an issue that will haunt the Johnnies at some point in 2008, it just won’t be in Week 1. I see St. John’s prevailing with surprising ease, St. John’s 42, ETBU 14.
