Slippery Rock Weekly Update

Submitted by nmumike on

After losing this weekend in the conference championship game 42-38, it was unclear whether or not they would be headed to the playoffs. During the announcement on Sunday, they made it as the 5 seed, and will be playing WInston Salem next week.

From the article "The Rock were the No. 5 seed in the six-team NCAA Division II Super Region 1 field announced Sunday afternoon by the NCAA office via a videoconference on www.ncaa.com.

As a result, the Green and White, who earned their first NCAA tournament berth since 1999, travel to fourth-seeded Winston-Salem State University for a first-round game Saturday."

Winston Salem was the runner up last year and has a 9-1 record this season.

For the season, Slippery Rock scored 500 points, and averaged 45.5/game. Senior QB Nigel Barksdale threw for over 4000 yards and had 36 TD's on the season.

An impressive season, and hopefully they can get the win on Saturday to advance.

Link: http://www.rockathletics.com/news/2013/11/17/FB_1117132514.aspx?path=football

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stephenrjking

November 18th, 2013 at 8:45 AM ^

Winston-Salem was involved in the most controversial D-2 event of the year, the cancelled conference championship game last week which resulted from (I believe I remember this right) their QB being violently assaulted by players from the other team at a pre-game meal. Good to see Slippery Rock in the playoffs. My local team, UMD, has made the playoffs yet again and get a home game, which I will probably brave the 20 degree high temp to attend. They are in the "region of death."

Joined: 03/15/2012

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Section 1

November 18th, 2013 at 9:19 AM ^

Can anyone clearly articulate the essence of the long-running "Slippery Rock" joke? Does it boil down to something like, "Michigan is a name steeped in college football royalty, while 'Slippery Rock' is a name seemingly out of a Marx Brothers movie script?" Does the announcer at Mihalik-Thompson Stadium in Slippery Rock provide scoring updates for Michigan games? I wonder how, "At the end of regulation, Michigan 9, Northwestern 9 ..." might have gone over.

Joined: 06/29/2009

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Section 1

November 18th, 2013 at 10:51 AM ^

It wasn't the history of this one- note joke that interested me. Rather, it was the weird staying power of the joke. I asked about the "essence" of the joke; not the origin. Almost nobody in Michigan would have any rational interest in the fortunes of a Division II college outside of Pittsburgh. I don't have any particular interest in Pittsburgh, Shippensburg, Gettysburg or Wittenberg. It is just a joke about a funny name. Like "Podunk."

Joined: 06/29/2009

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Forgive me.

November 18th, 2013 at 3:22 PM ^

While I can't argue with Brandstatter, I heard the story another way:

During score announcements in a late season game in 1945, the PA announced a score of Slippery Rock 14, Inidana 0, which, of course, delighted the fans at Michigan Stadium. That year, Michigan and Indiana were tied at the top of the Big 10 standings.  On this day however, the announcement was simply a misreading of the ticker. The school the Rock was shutting out was actually Indiana University of Pennsylvania (a regular Slippery Rock opponent). As a result of the temporary euphoria the announcement had caused, Slippery Rock became a regular on the in-game the score report.  

Though this is likely NOT the way it went down, I like this version better. It makes more sense anyway. 

Joined: 11/05/2013

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DLup06

November 18th, 2013 at 9:30 AM ^

"The announcement of Slippery Rock's football scores is a tradition at University of Michigan Football games, begun in 1959 by Michigan Stadium's public address announcer Steve Filipiak.[7] Slippery Rock was so popular with U of M fans that on Sept. 29, 1979, they played in-state rival Shippensburg at Michigan Stadium, in front of 61,143 fans, a record for a Division II football game (Shippensburg won, 45-14). Slippery Rock played a second game at "The Big House" in 1981, attracting 36,719 fans in a 14-13 loss to Wayne State University. Slippery Rock will make a third trip to the "Big House" on October, 14, 2014, when they will take on Mercyhurst University in a PSAC game."

Joined: 01/05/2009

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LSAClassOf2000

November 18th, 2013 at 9:48 AM ^

Some of the things in which Slippery Rock is #1 in their conference:

 - 3rd down conversions (defense), 22.8%

 - Passing offense, 375.5 yards / game

 - Passing efficiency (defense), 93.54

 - Total offense, 573.4 yards / game

Joined: 01/07/2011

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a2bluefan

November 18th, 2013 at 2:42 PM ^

I am truly looking forward to attending the Slippery Rock/Mercyhurst game next year in the Big House. I hope the AD has the good sense to make it a freebie for students and season ticket holders, and cheap as dirt for everyone else. We need to give Slippery Rock one hell of a welcome by packing the place.

Joined: 12/29/2008

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