Reporting the facts...well, my facts...

Tommie Update:
UST is 1-0 as we opened our season with a 54-14 win over Macalester. Now, this is not a gauge of much as Macalester is not looking to have a strong season. But, man was it nice to get out there and beat up on someone other than ourselves. We had great special teams, including 2 punt returns for TD's in the first quarter. We put some drives together on offense, but all in all it was a bit sloppy. Nice to get that game out of our system, and of course, get a win. We had a bye last weekend, but this weekend we crank it up again with our home opener against St. Olaf. Olaf look pretty tough, and return some good players. They did have to travel out west to Washington for a game last week, so that may be an advantage for us. We had the week off, which was an advantage from a preparation standpoint, but it's also nice to get game action under your belt. We will see how we handle it all come Saturday. We did lose one of our starting inside LB's with a broken leg, so that will hurt, but we have depth and some studs to jump in there and take care of business. Other than that, we are pretty darn healthy and looking forward to Saturday. As of today we are nationally ranked #18 in Division 3. It's not something we really look at, since we haven't really done much yet, but we could be in the midst of a special season, so if you're in the Twin Cities metro area, come swing by for a game. Should be a great atmosphere out there Saturday, treat yourself to some college football and Go Toms!!

Florida State:
Well, I don't have much to say about this. If you wanted to compare my current relationship with FSU, this similie would suffice:

My relationship with FSU is like when you're fighting with a sibling. You feel like you really hate them and you want to sabotage anything cool they have around the house, or anything with any of his/her friends. You kind of feel like you want to put Vaseline around the toilet seat right before they sit down, or perhaps the rubber band around the kitchen sink hose, trick. You could end up making mom a bit mad with either of these, but but you know what I'm saying. BUT, in the end, you know you love them, and that you would defend them no matter what. Like, you can say stuff about your sister, but don't let you catch someone else saying some mess about her.....

I hope that made sense, because I'm frustrated with my Seminoles. They had offense for the first time in 5 years, and all of a sudden, no defense. What?? A Florida State team with no pass rush or a complete inability to cover anyone running down the field? I think one point illustrates the problems FSU may have on D this year: At one point, I looked on the field and there is a white dude starting at Defensive End, for Florida State, D-End U. I'm not racist against white people, after all...I am one. I just understand that if you're playing D-End at FSU, you are not usually white, and it has a bit to do with freakish athletic skills. We don't have those that much. And if we did, there would have been more than 1 white D-End at FSU in the last 20 years.....
Along with the normal choke against Miami, in another awfully exciting debacle, I just decided that I'm fighting with them. And I haven't even gotten to the AWFUL display they put on against D-1AA Jacksonville State last weekend. Good gracious, I'm done talking about this. FSU and I are fighting, that's all you have to know. We'll get over it together, i'm sure, like right after they pound on the Mormons out at BYU this weekend..................

NFL
So, as a football coach, my Sunday's are kind of full. No more NFL for the most part for me. That's kind of a bummer, but after watching my Fantasy team score 29 points for me, while 4 starters on my bench combined for 66....I think I'm pretty much over it. Or, I'm fighting with the NFL too, while I'm in that mood, haha.

One thing that is awesome about yesterday was that run that Adrian Peterson had against the Browns. I don't have much to say, except watch this freak-a-zoid manhandle people while he's running a 4.3 down the sideline.




...Oh yeah, he's not white either, FYI. I mean seriously, he stiff armed or threw 3 different dudes off of him while running a 70 yard TD. All the dudes on the field are PROS!!!! I mean this dude is a superfreak...superfreak! On that note....



Haha, love it!

Can you believe it?? I talked about the Vikings and not about Brett Favre yet?? Yeah, and before I do, I'm going to talk about my main man Darius Reynaud. I love this football player. I loved him at West Virginia, I loved it when we signed him, and I loved it when we didn't cut him. I think he is a GREAT extra WR to have. He is a super athlete even though short in stature at about 5'9. He was a great special teamer and he's doing that now for us too. I mean this is a guy who is great for about every team, and I'm stoked we have him and that he's finally our Starting pun returner. I hope we can get him on the field elsewhere too. Love him.

Sincerely,
Darius Reynaud's #1 fan

Okay, it was nice to see Favre get a bit of rhythm as well, and Percy Harvin is a stud. I think it could be a good season for the Vikes, I will look forward to seeing highlights....until after the Tommies win a National Title in approx. mid December, ah thank you.

Other tidbits:
-Brian Urlacher out for the season...I hate to see a guy go down, no matter what team he plays for. But I sure do dislike the Chicago Bears. I'm not unhappy that their season has taken a turn for poo, but I wish Urlacher a speedy and full recovery. Like how I walked the line there???

-Gophers opened up their new, very awesome, stadium....with TERRIBLE uniforms, and an ugly display of football. Granted Air Force will do that to you, but they were not very good and I have a feeling that squeaking by Syracuse and Air Force is a sign of rough times to come. Starting this weekend when Cal comes to town...yikes. I hope for great things from them, but I'm skeptical at best, currently.

-I'm watching the Bills/Patriots game right now and I LOVE the throwbacks, now that's how you wear a uniform!!

-Had a good time wishing Erik Ferden, aka "Big Perm" a happy birthday this weekend. Erik, I hope your year of 32 is totally groovy...

-I recently found out my sister was spending time at the US Open Tennis Tournament, then went right to the Hamptons, and then took a trip out to Vegas 3 days later....I didn't do any of that.

-As of today I am again a college student. As of my first financial aid refund, I will again have a meal plan at the caf...bet that up.

-I met a girl recently, she is awesome, and that is awesome, will update at a later date.

-How in the world did my blog jump up like 8,000+ hits since my last entry??? Way to crank it Valley!!! I still thinking something fishy is going on, but keep pumping up the volume Valley, I love it!

-I know the posts are getting a little less often, but I'm literally at work 13-15 hours a day so I apologize guys, If you guys have any ideas, or thoughts, feel free to let me know, like always.

Talk to you fools later, and remember: The KValley Report, where trouble melts like lemon drops.

"Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high, there's a Valley that I've heard of, once in a lullaby. Somewhere over the rainbow, sky's are blue, and the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true. Someday I'll wish upon a star, and wake up where the clouds are for behind me...."

Out like Da Bears...
McQuillan

What time is is? GAME TIME!!!

Valley, I know it has been way too long AGAIN since we've crossed paths, but for the last two weeks I've been putting in 15 hour days and some sleep overs in the dorms getting our boys ready to whip some butt. Tomorrow is our Macalester walk through and on Saturday we head up the street to Mac for our first game. This post will be dedicated to The UST football team and the upcoming college football season in general. Thank the Heavens that football is back!!!

We've received some preseason love in a few of the D3 polls, and now it's time we prove that we are worthy. I'm very excited to be back to work on college football Saturdays. Granted I do still wish I could play, this is a close second. Feel free to keep up with us at: http://www.tommiesports.com/ftbl/

You can find our schedule and updates on how the season is going and you will in turn see what I'm doing with my time. Come by for a game, i promise you won't be upset. It's a great college environment and a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon. And an additional note, right behind the field is the construction of a brand new $56 million dollar athletic building. Yep, $56 million. It will be the premier Division 3 complex ever built. The specs of this thing are outrageous. Our new football locker room will be approx 5,000 sq. ft., the weight room is approx 10,000 sq. ft., new pool, track, basketball arena, coaches offices...etc. I mean this thing is "baller" status, for real. I look forward to seeing everyone on campus at some games!!

WINONA STATE:
A big shot out to WSU football!! They had a huge win last Thursday at home against #10 Carson Newman out of TN. We were in camp so I couldn't make the game, but we watched the play by play online.

Why didn't we watch the streaming video, you ask? Well let me make this a formal declaration of HATE for Penn Atlantic's streaming video operation. The NSIC conference is probably to blame for this, but give me a break. The Website is so bad, that we could never get into the game to watch it. You can't tell me that so many people were trying to watch a WSU football game that they used up all the bandwidth they had. What a pathetic product. I'm upset as a fan and an alumni. It should be very important to WSU for people to be able to watch this. This game and the atmosphere there would have attracted people's attention all year. It was a great win for them and a great scene. But instead lots of people didn't get to watch and now will have plenty of games to choose from during their Saturdays this fall, and may not have done a good enough job of attracting the people who don't live near Winona to tune in. Bad bad stuff. Most colleges have their own streaming video software to stream all their sports, and make it effective. This was pathetic.

But, Awesome win for those guys. Big shot out to the guys who I kicked it with down at the camp last month, and big Shot to my boys Bruce Carpenter, Carson Walch, and the staff down there for coaching them boys up. Awesome stuff.

FLORIDA STATE
Many of you know my affiliation with FSU, I love them, always have...well, since 1985. The girls at the top of the page, certainly bring a smile to most normal dude's faces. I transferred there to play football, however, the cuties were just a perk (Big shot out to Sister and Delta Delta Delta!!!). I made the team, practiced and played in a couple spring games, I never played when it counted. There were a few things that got in my way, but I certainly did work when the opportunity arose...here's proof. Anyone recognize any of those names in that article? or perhaps the chubby kicker in the photo? Haha, Nostalgia and I are going to have a moment..........ok, thanks.............So, there is my affiliation with FSU and an explanation of why I have so much love for them. In years recent, things have trended stinky for FSU football, at least according to our standards. I'm not sure they can rebound to the glory years of late 80's and 90's, but they need to improve. I think this year will be a step in the right direction.

FSU opens up Monday night, Labor day at home against hated rival Miami. I think FSU will give them the business actually, but that's not saying much, i think Miami will struggle again. FSU will run the ball a lot and well all year. I really don't know what the season has in store, but I know they have a murderous schedule. That's what I love about FSU, they never shy away from anyone. Always playing both Miami and Florida and Always throwing in tough other non-conference games. This year they scheduled games at home against South Florida and at #20 BYU. If I had to guess I would guess 8-4, but I'm hoping for 10-2 If they can get to 10-2 with that schedule they will be looking at a BCS bowl. We shall see. They return a great O-line, their QB is back with a young stud behind him. I'm interested to see how my Seminoles will do this year. For a little history of the Seminole name at FSU, read below

...

Osceola and Renegade

In 1978, FSU embarked upon a new tradition — one that had the full endorsement of the Seminole Tribe of Florida. A Seminole warrior riding a horse, to become known as Osceola and Renegade, was introduced at FSU home football games, and soon became one of the most enduring and beloved symbols of the university.

In the early 1990s, activists began to show up at FSU football games to protest the use of the Seminole name. Blistering speeches were given. Several times, the debate became heated. An Oklahoma Seminole Indian, Mike Haney, began to make frequent statements threatening to file human-rights complaints against FSU if it did not discontinue the use of the Seminole name and imagery. Throughout these attacks, the Seminole Tribe of Florida remained supportive of FSU and its use of the Seminole name and images. Later, Chief Jerry Haney of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma added his support to FSU as well.

...

Go scratch Oklahoma Seminole, Tallahassee is Seminole Country!!!! Oh yeah, and NCAA, you can go up the creek too. Come try to take the name away again...chumps. "F-L-O-R-I-D-A S-T-A-T-E...Florida State, Florida State, Florida State...Woooooooo!

IN CLOSING:
Obviously, I'm pumped that football season has started. I moved here to get back into the game I loved so much. Saturday afternoon, all the time I spent trying to get to this point will just evaporate within the smell of concession stands, sweat, field turf and that sweet new football smell!! I can't wait. Enjoy the best time of the year Valley, and I'll be talking to you soon with updates and more!!

Out like Preseason Camp...bring on the games!
Coach McQuillan