Game 6 Preview: Carleton at #25/23 Concordia

GAME 6: Carleton (1-4/0-3 MIAC) at  #25/23 Concordia (4-1/2-1 MIAC)

DATE: October 11, 2014
LOCATION: Moorhead, Minn. (Jake Christiansen Stadium)
AME TIME: 1 p.m.
RADIO: 1660-AM in the F-M area

Live Video: Cobber Primetime GameDay

Live Stats: Cobber Primetime GameDay

Live Audio: MN Sports Network

Cobbers vs. Carleton Series History:
Series started: 1921

Cobbers lead overall series: 26-6-0
Series Synopsis: Concordia has won 20 of the last 21 meetings between the two teams. The Knights snapped a 15-game losing streak in the series in 2008 when they won 41-28 in Moorhead. That win was also the third for Carleton at Jake Christiansen Stadium in the series...The Cobbers are 11-3 at home vs. the Knights...Cobber head coach Terry Horan is 12-1 vs. Carleton. 
          

Cobber vs. Knight Complete Series History (pdf)

Cobber Football in the Fargo-Moorhead Media:

Fargo Forum
- 50 years ago, Cobbers bucked odds for national title

Cobber SID
- Inside the Cobber pre-game talk, walk and player introductions

50th Anniversary NAIA Championship Look Back: 1964 - Homecoming
This year will be a season-long celebration of the 50th anniversary of the 1964 NAIA National Championship Team. That team was honored with the Murray Warmath Legendary Team Award given out by the Minnesota Chapter of the National Football Foundation earlier this spring and we will be remembering the games and players from the '64 season all during 2014.  
 
This week we highlight the Homecoming contest against Hamline on . One of the best lines of the whole year was written in the Concordian in the preview of the game. It read, "There was a time when the invasion of the Hamline Pipers into the cozy confines of Cobberville for homecoming struck joy in the hearts of nearly every Concordia supporter and alumni. It was a time when coach "Jake" Christiansen could use his numerous reserves while resting his big-guns and still chalk up a very lopsided score."

The game in 1964 would have a different feel to it since Hamline had upset defending national champion St. John's 8-6 a week prior to the game. Fortunately for the Cobbers the Pipers wouldn't pull off a second straigh upset and CC would go on to post a 30-0 victory.     

Here is the game report by Paul Sandager that appeared in the Concordian the next week:

"The Concordia Cobbers broke loose with a savage four touchdown spurt in the first half to bury the upset-minded Hamline Pipers 30-0 in the annual Homecoming tilt last Saturday. The Cobs, riding the crest of a four game winning streak, recovered from a shaky opening quarter
to turn the gridiron clash into a rout.

Hard-hitting Dave Heide opened the scoring for the afternoon with a brilliant 30-yard run from the fullback position. Quarterback Bob Nick continued his prolific scoring by adding the second touchdown. On his return to the playing ranks, John Nellermoe added another score to put the game out of reach for Dick Mulkern's Pipers.

Jake Christiansen wisely inserted his reserves late in the first half and the move paid off as Ron Hausauer scored his second touchdown of the season on a short ramble. The final points were added by Paul Brynteson, who split the upright with four conversions attempts and by tackle Paul Donley, who smothered Hamline's Dick Klohn in the end-zone for a safety. 

Heide once again was the leading rusher of the day as he amassed 111 yards, excluding a 75-yard run which was nullified by a penalty. The Concordia secondary led by Doug Eckheart, John Nellermoe and Bob Braun came through with a splendid effort by limiting the Pipers' passing attack to only two completions while picking off four aerial attempts. The loss marked the fourth straight season that the Pipers have failed to hit the scoreboard. The Pipers entered the game as potential threats to overhaul the Cobbers but seemed to lack the drive and enthusiasm which was a feature of their big win last week."       
      

Last Year: Concordia 35 at Carleton 27
Last  year Concordia needed to use a late fourth-quarter defensive stand to hold on to a 35-27 victory in Northfield. The Cobbers cruised to a 35-14 lead after three quarters of play but then watched the Knights rattle off a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns to cut the lead to eight points. Concordia finally finished off the game with a defensive stand at its own 16-yard line after Carleton got the ball back with 2:47 to play.

Concordia was able to cruise to a 14-7 lead after one quarter and then a 28-7 halftime lead thanks to a devastating ground game and an economical air attack. All four of the Cobbers' scores in the first two quarters came on the ground. CC had 304 of their 435 total offensive yards in the first half of play. Concordia had 142 rushing yards on 28 carries in the first and second quarters and quarterback Griffin Neal was 11-for-16 for 162 passing yards. The Cobbers scored on four of their first five drives of the game. Concordia came away with 228 passing yards and 207 rushing yards. Carleton finished the game with 362 total offensive yards. The CC defense held the Knights to just 43 rushing yards but gave up a season-high 319 passing yards.

Concordia used their ground game to carve out a decisive 37:56-22:04 edge in time of possession. Alex McLean was the workhorse on the ground. He rushed the ball 10 times for a game-high 66 yards. He also scored one of the four rushing TD's for Concordia. Matt Peterson scored the team's first touchdown on a 16-yard run and had 39 total rushing yards. Domenic Fraboni had the other rushing score for CC while Jon Baune caught the lone TD reception which turned out to be the game-winning score on the day.  

MIAC Play of the Week:
Jon Baune, Griffin Neal and the Cobber offensive line have now made it four straight for MIAC Play of the Week honors. The trio hooked up for an 8-yard TD pass in the second quarter against St. John's to give CC a 7-6 lead.

It marks the fourth time in five weeks this season that Concordia has won the fans voting award. The Cobbers didn't have a chance to win it the week before as they didn't have a play nominated by the league office.

Concordia has owned the MIAC Play of the Week honors in the past two years. The Cobbers have claimed the MIAC POW award in nine of the 13 weeks the feature has been awarded.

MIAC Play of the Week - Week 5

Stat Central:

- 2014 Concordia Statistics

- 2014 Carleton Statistics

- 2014 MIAC Statistics

- 2014 Concordia NCAA Team/Individual Rankings

- 2014 Carleton NCAA Team/Individual Rankings

Pick 6 - 6 Items To Help You Take It To The House:
1. The game on Saturday will be Concordia's annual Homecoming contest. How have the Cobbers done in Homecoming games you ask? Well, the GameDay staff is here to help you answer that question.

Concordia hasn't enjoyed a high level of success in Homecoming games lately. The Cobbers are only 2-2 in Homecoming games since 2010. CC went 6-4 in the 2000's at Homecoming. The 1990's and 1980's were the most dominant decades for Homecoming games. The Cobbers went 8-2 in the 90's and 9-1 during the 80's. Since 1970, Concordia has recorded a record of 31-13 in Homecoming games.     

2. Fans of offensive football are in for a treat on Saturday. That is if this year's game holds true to the recent trend in the series. The recent series has been dominated by the offense as the last 11 games have averaged 62.1 points per game by the two teams. During that steak the teams have not combined to score less than 40 points in a single game      

3. Don't expect to see a lot of laundry on the field on Saturday. Even though the yellow hankies would fit in with the gold trimmings of Homecoming, both teams are ranked in the top 20 in the nation in fewest penalties categories. The Cobbers are ranked fifth in all of Division III for fewest penalties per game as they have only been flagged for 3.40 penalties per game. The Knights are 14th in fewest penalty yards per game. Carleton is averaging 35.80 penalty yards per game. 

4. Saturday's game will feature two of the top kickers in the league. Cobber fans already know about the prowess of super senior Ben Wagner. He leads the MIAC in field goals (5) made and is second in field goal percentage (83.3%). Wagner also shows up in the national rankings. He is 15th in field goal percentage and 31st in field goals per game (1.00).

Wagner is also tied for the longest field goal in the MIAC this season at 42 yards. Who is he tied with? That would be Carleton's Brandt Davis who also hit a 42-yarder this year. Davis earned MIAC Player of the Week honors earlier in the season and has not missed an extra point attempt this year (8-for-8).      

5. Cobber quarterback Griffin Neal continues his trek up the Concordia record charts. Neal has played in 25 consecutive games for Concordia and is closing in on several school records. He is currently ranked 27th in the nation in rushing touchdowns for the year. Neal has 4,679 career passing yards and is third on the school's all-time passing list. He needs 557 more passing yards to break the school record of 5,235 set by Michael Dunham from 2009-11. Neal is also third in career passing completions, third in career passing attempts and fourth in career passing TD's. He has 38 touchdown strikes and needs seven more to surpass Ryan Hebrink who threw for 44 from 2000-03. The biggest testament to Neal's success is that he is already the school's all-time career completion percentage leader. In his two-plus seasons as the team's starting signal caller he has completed 63.9% of his pass attempts.

6. While there might not be a lot of laundry on the turf on Saturday, there might be a lot of leather tumbling around. Concordia has had 13 fumbles in its first five games of the season. That's the bad news. The good news is that CC has only lost six of those 13 fumbles. Unfortunately for Carleton they are in the same fumble boat. The Knights have lost at least one fumble in every game in 2014. Carleton has fumbled nine times this year and lost six of those miscues. 

Scouting the Knights:
Carleton enters today's game having lost three straight – all of which were conference games. The Knights claimed their only win of the season in the second week of the year when they beat Knox 40-14.

Carleton has excelled on special teams this season. They are currently ranked first in the MIAC in punt return average (19.2 yds/return) and are fourth in kick return average (21.2). Knight kicker Brandt Davis was named the MIAC Special Teams Player of the Week on Sept. 15 after he went 3-for-3 on PAT's & 3-for-3 in field goals in their win over Knox

Linebacker Daniel Cook leads the MIAC in assisted tackles (21) and is tied for second in the league in total tackles (38).      

Cobber SID Picks To Click:
This year we are adding a new feature to the GameDay preview. We will choose one offensive player and one defensive player who we think will have a chance to have a big game on Saturday. It will give the fans a chance to watch the "key" players on either side of the ball. It will hopefully give an insight into what the keys to success might be.

So far this season we haven't been "clicking" on all cylinders and it has been more of a "Pick to Click" jinx. Despite of our past track record, we will continue to give the fans an insight on who we think will have a big game.

Offense - #89 Jon Baune, Jr., WR
Why not stay with the hot hand. To use the same description the media had for former Vikings wide receiver Cris Carter, "all he does is catch touchdowns." Baune has caught at least one TD pass in all five games this year and has not had less than five catches in any of the CC contests. Baune is second in the MIAC in receiving touchdowns and third in total receiving yards. He is also 31st in Division III in receiving touchdowns and 40th in total receiving yards (428)  

Defense - #49 Levi Hintermeister, Jr., LB
If we are going with the trend of "hot hands" for our Picks to Click we might as well go with junior linebacker Levi Hintermeister. He is coming off one of his best games of his career and is starting to show his All-Conference form from 2013. Hintermeister had a career-high 16 tackles against Bethel last week. He also had an impressive 3.5 tackles for a loss. Hintermeister now leads the Cobbers in total tackles with 28 and tackles for a loss with 4.0.

Coach Horan Preview Interview: