Off The Air
Lynn Meredith
Teamkong

Pitt State’s 59-6 victory over the Rolla Miners was never in doubt from sometime in early August. PSU played well, took control from the first snap and was very kind to the Miners by playing the subs the entire 2^nd half.

Rolla is not a talented football team. They have deteriorated to a level of college football not equaled by many other teams. Say what you want about Langston or Bacone, but both would defeat Rolla. How can the new Division II “strength of schedule” equation downgrade a team for playing an NAIA team and then not penalize you equally because you play a Division II Rolla? Gimme a break!!

Rolla would have a difficult team even staying with a Top 20 NAIA team! This new “NCAA factor” is pretty arrogant towards “non-NCAA” teams and we’ll discuss its shortcomings at another time. But in the meantime, just discuss its merits with Central Missouri fans!!

It’s hard to evaluate your team against Rolla, because the Miners do not play well enough to challenge on either side of the ball.  PSU starters won the first half 56-0….and were kind not to make it considerably more. The Miners first teamers defeated our junior varsity 6-3 in the second half. When you boil the game down, you really see how badly Rolla was outmatched. But the Rolla game is behind us….a game where your only worry as a coach is hoping you won’t have any injuries.

Let’s party!

Okay Boys and Girls….NOW we’re going to have some fun with the rest of our season’s schedule!!  Many of you are thinking “no more bad teams to contend with”…only teams that have better talent and think they will be the ones to upset the Gorillas perfect season. Now we get more competition with Washburn and Emporia this month.

I don’t think so….I agree that most of our opponents will want to beat us and some may actually think they can, but the games in October will be fairly lopsided victories for the Gorillas. I contend the season will still be toughest in November and not October. When you look at the rest of this month…Washburn, Emporia and Southern…. the Gorillas will win each of these handily!

The immediate “thing” is Washburn.

I have been entertained reading and hearing all the comments about how good the Icabods will be this season….and how PSU better watch out for a team that could beat them. I really, really disagree! Washburn is a rebuilding team, in their second year of a new regime and will not have a chance to win on Saturday. The ‘Bods are not quite as good as last season and have dropped to the middle of the second tier of the MIAA. The only teams they have a definite chance of defeating are Rolla and Southern. On the other hand, Pitt State is dramatically better this season… and last years team defeated Washburn 47-14.

The biggest problem for the Icabods will be the same problem that every MIAA team will have this season…. that is adjusting to the Gorillas significant improvement in team speed. Until you play us, you really won’t know we have improved so dramatically. Players can’t really tell how fast a team is on video….plus, the last few years, PSU has been pretty average in team speed…so current opposing players have not had to deal with our speed and it will be well into the first half before most realize it. Even though their coaches may warn them, it will be an adjustment the opposing players will have to make during the game. And none will….

Within our “Pitt State Community” some opinions of this years Washburn team are quite high…but they are not realistic in my mind. Yes, they have a good ex-PSU coach….but that doesn’t automatically make them good right now. New coaches have to recruit their types of players… make mental, philosophical and physical changes to their programs, etc, etc….. and Craig Schurig will not have completed that so early in his second season.

In fact, Coach Schurig has a huge task in front of him. I have lived and coached in Topeka, and it is a TOUGH place to build a football program. It is a high school basketball town…with a media too absorbed with K-State Football, KU Basketball and Kansas City Pro Teams. Washburn is second fiddle and gets little to no meaningful attention. It’s hard to raise awareness and money when it seems every Topeka sports fan and media person would rather be in Manhattan, Lawrence or Kansas City! This is why Pitt State is so fortunate to have such a large fan base that is genuinely interested in their success.

I also believe that as a new coach, it is much harder to win in your second year than it is your first. You can sneak up on some people in year one…and maybe get some players to play over their heads…but year two is different. No more surprises to your opponents… they know what to expect. Plus, your players settle in to more of a long term building process. Things seem less immediate to players when coaches constantly preach that they are “rebuilding” the program. Coach Schurig’s biggest problem this season will be how to handle a 5 game losing streak after they lose to PSU and SBU and a total of 7 losses in the MIAA. His biggest job will be keeping his players from “checking out” for the rest of their season and placing their attention on next year..

The Icabods 4^th loss in a row will be evident about 2:00 pm this Saturday. Pitt 55-14.

Lynn Meredith begins his 14^th year as Color Analyst for KKOW radio and Gorilla football. A former college and high school football coach, Lynn coached defense at Kansas State, Panhandle State and Pittsburg State Universities. He was also a Head Coach at Washington and Topeka Highland Park high schools.  As a radio broadcaster, Lynn has worked with play-by-play announcer Tom Van Hoy since 1990.  Over the last 14 years they have broadcasted over 350 football games on KKOW radio.

Lynn lives in Pittsburg with his wife Jan, and children Kelly 19, Eric 16, and Rachel 14.