Football Preview vs. St. John's

Here is your one-stop shopping destination for preview coverage of the Cobbers’ first conference game of the season at home against St. John’s.

Fans can follow the action on the web by going to the live broadcasts link at the bottom of the athletic website: Concordia vs St. John’s Live Audio/Stats

Cobber Football Gameday Links
- Complete Cobber Gameday Preview (pdf)
- St. John’s Game Notes (pdf)
- St. John’s Football Page
- Cobber Game Recap vs. Buena Vista
- St. John’s Game Recap vs. UW-Eau Claire
- Cobber 2011 Season Stats
- St. John’s 2011 Season Stats
- MIAC Standings and Stats
- MIAC Week 3 Preview

Cobber Head Coach Terry Horan Video Preview

Cobber Football Gameday Preview
St. John’s University (1-1/0-0 MIAC)
at
Concordia College (2-0/0-0 MIAC)
September 17, 2011

Jake Christiansen Stadium
Moorhead, Minn.

GAME TIME: 1 p.m.
RADIO: Live on 1660 AM in the F-M area with Larry Knutson doing the play-by-play. Also live on the internet via the Concordia website at http://www.gocobbers.com.

SERIES: St. John’s leads 41-30-6
SERIES STARTED: 1923
SERIES SYNOPSIS: The Johnnies have won the last two games in the series and five of the last six. St. John’s has also claimed 15 of the last 18 contests. Concordia’s lone wins during that stretch (the other was a tie) came in 2008 and 2004 in Collegeville…the last time the Cobbers beat the Johnnies at Jake Christiansen Stadium was in 1986 when a skinny little receiver named Terry Horan caught a TD pass and had six receptions on the day. Since then CC has gone 0-7-1 at The Jake. Not included in that stretch are two games played in the FargoDome in 1993 and 2001 which were both won by the Johnnies…CC head coach Terry Horan is 2-8 against the Johnnies.

LAST YEAR: In 2010, Concordia outscored St. John’s 28-26 in the final three quarters. Unfortunately for the Cobbers there was a first quarter, and after allowing 14 points in the first seven minutes of the game, Concordia ended up losing 40-28 in Collegeville. The game turned into a track meet from the very first set of downs and both offenses racked up huge yardage in a game that featured over 950 yards of total offense and almost 70 points. The Cobbers amassed 417 total offensive yards and held a 31:21-28:39 edge in time of possession and had only one turnover. The Johnnies passed for 367 yards and tacked on another 169 on the ground. They also had one turnover and were 6-for-10 on third down conversions. was picked off three times.

Gameday Kickoff  
(What you need to know about Saturday’s Concordia/St. John’s match-up)
- Today’s game is the 78th meeting between the two storied MIAC football programs.
- The Johnnies hold a 41-30-6 lead in the series and have won five of the last six meetings and 15 of the last 18 games in the series.
- The last time the Cobbers beat SJU at “The Jake” was in 1986.
- The Cobbers are second in the MIAC in rushing as they are averaging 266.5 yards per game on the ground. Last year CC averaged 144.8 yards on the ground. The last time CC averaged more than 250 yards on the ground was back in 2007 (285.6 rpg).
- Concordia is also second in the MIAC in total offense, averaging 416.0 ypg. That is up from last year’s average of 367.7 ypg. The last time CC averaged over 400 offensive yards per game was back in 2007 when they amassed 460.0 ypg.
- Cobber junior fullback Brett Baune leads the MIAC in scoring. He scored three TD’s last week against Buena Vista and now has five on the year. He is currently 13th in Division III in scoring.
- Concordia sophomore slot back Trent Johnson recorded the first 100-yard rushing game of his career last week. He had 151 yards against BVU. Johnson has also posted a scoring run of over 50 yards in each of the first two games in 2011.
- CC quarterback Michael Dunham now needs 1,355 yards to break the school record for career passing yards set by Ethan Pole from 1995-98. His 498 career completions are 169 shy of Pole’s record of 667.
- The Cobber defense is second in the MIAC in scoring defense. CC has allowed an average of 13.5 ppg in their first two games. Concordia has also not given up more than seven points combined in any quarter this year.
- The newly tagged “Black Shirt” defense is second in the MIAC in rushing defense, allowing just 57.0 rpg. Last week they gave up only 14 rushing yards on 19 carries.
- Last week the St. John’s lost 47-19 at home against UW-Eau Claire. The 47 points are the third-most allowed at home in SJU history and the most since Sept. 20, 1986 (56-21 loss to St. Thomas).
- SJU gave up 31 points in the first half against Eau Claire and trailed 31-0. The 31 points allowed in the first half are the most since Dec. 14, 2002 (Trinity of Texas led 34-13). The 31-point losing differential at the half was the largest since Dec. 4, 1993 (Mount Union of Ohio led 43-0).
- The Johnnies have only scored seven in the first quarter of their first two games this year. SJU has scored the most points in the second quarter (20).
- St. John’s is eighth in the MIAC in total defense. SJU has given up an average of 342.0 yards per game. Last year they allowed 297.3 ypg and were third in the MIAC.
- The Johnnies are fourth in the MIAC in total offense this season. They are averaging 353.0 ypg. The offense features a balanced 194.0 passing ypg and 159.0 rushing ypg.
- Of the eight touchdowns scored by SJU this season, five have come via the pass. Senior wide out Sam Pederson has caught three of the five TD strikes.

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