A motivational safety
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With 8:43 to go in the third quarter of its game against UMHB, Hardin-Simmons and kicker Scott Bryant lined up to attempt a 22-yard field goal that would have put the Cowboys up 13-7.
About 14 seconds later, Kubiak raced in from the right side and blocked the kick.
After the Crusaders had recovered and momentum had safely swung to the purple shirts, Kubiak forced his way into the offensive huddle and unleashed a brief but fiery speech to the offense in an effort to fire them up. Job well done. About five minutes and 15 plays later Freddie Rollins barreled into the end zone to give UMHB a 14-10 lead that it would never relinquish.
 Mychal Carrillo sits on the sidelines following Hardin-Simmons' loss at Mary Hardin-Baylor. Photo by Josh Bowerman, D3football.com |
No matter what he said, it sparked an offense that had only gained 55 yards up to that point. UMHB gained just 38 yards of offense in the first half and were out gained by Kubiak himself after he returned a partially blocked punt 50 yards to set up Rollins' first touchdown. But after Kubiak's blocked kick/offensive skull session, the offense scored 21 unanswered points.
Before I go praising the UMHB offense (and I will) let me offer a couple of kudos to some other folks that deserve it: the UMHB defense. They came into the game allowing minus-3.75 yards per game. That means that opposing teams were losing .14 yards every time they ran the ball. The Purple Rush Crush also hadn't allowed a running touchdown all season. The touchdown streak is still intact but the average is now .49 yards per rush after Hardin-Simmons ran for 84 yards. That total was helped by a 42-yard dash by Justin Greene and a 20-yard run by Jordan Neal. Other than that the Cowboys ran for 22 yards on their other 18 carries.
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Don't forget Kubiak, though. He had eight tackles and the blocked field goal. This in addition to blocking a kick in which he almost got to the ball before the holder did.
As I was typing that last paragraph I received an email that Freeman had been named American Southwest Conference Defensive Player of the Week. And why not? The guy had 11 tackles, a sack, 1½ tackles for a loss, two pass breakups and an interception of a screen pass. Some folks on Post Patterns are debating whether or not it hit the ground and it's possible it did. But you still need to give credit where credit is due. Neal threw a picture-perfect screen and Freeman laid out and snagged it. He also helped UMHB snag a win and even the all-time series between the schools at 5-5. Freeman also made the Crusaders 15-10 loss to Christopher Newport a distant memory.
"This proves a lot," Freeman told the Temple Daily Telegram. "We had to get some respect back and let everybody know that we're the real deal."
The real deal indeed. This championship-level defense. It might be the best one that UMHB has ever had. I mean that with no disrespect to Preston Meyer, Jack Johnson, Andrew Hufford and others from the older days. But these numbers speak for themselves. .14 yards per rush?!
Back to the UMHB second-half offensive surge. The Cru has now outscored its five opponents 90-20 in the second half. The drive that pushed UMHB out front was classic UMHB football - straight and to the point (or points). As Rollins told the Abilene Reporter-News: "Our offensive line dominated. On that drive, we just put it all together and just played Crusader football."
Of the 15 plays UMHB ran, 12 were running plays, netting an average of 6 yards per carry. Last week I made a joke about UMHB not being an explosive team and I stick by that. But ball control is something the Crusaders were perfect at in the second half on Saturday.
One possession after having the field goal blocked, Freeman picked off Neal's pass. Two plays later, Welch pitched to Chris Owen, who lofted a 13-yard touchdown pass to Cole Smith. For those of us who have watched UMHB football for eight years, that was the most bizarre thing I've seen. A halfback pass from 13 yards out? From UMHB? What, was the fumblerooski not ready for prime-time yet? I loved it. I actually said, "Oh my gosh" out loud when it happened. I don't know if coach Pete Fredenburg called it or if offensive coordinator Matt Robinson did but it took what little wind HSU had and sucked it right out of them.
I was actually standing on the HSU sideline during UMHB's game-changing drive and I was watching Jordan Neal. Not in a voyeuristic way but in an analyzing kind of way. I determined two things about him.
1. He is very focused, very intense, and very very good.
2. He's not as tall as I thought.
Obviously No. 1 matters more so I'll elaborate on that. Throughout that drive he stood by himself and watched everything happen. It was like he was determining what he had to do once UMHB scored, what he had to do to get the large contingent of HSU fans back on their feet. And to his credit, he tried. After getting picked off by Freeman, Neal went right back to work on the next possession.
He scrambled for 20 yards on their first play and then 14 more on the next before the drive stalled. Even though the UMHB defense was swarming you could see the competitor in Neal in everything he did, from the way he audibles to the way he looks for contact on running plays. When UMHB took its 28-10 lead, Neal came right back firing. He hit Mychal Carillo for 42 yards then connected with Galusha for 37 yards. On the next play he hit Galusha for a touchdown and closed it to 28-16.
Despite one of his rougher games I still think Neal is the best quarterback in the ASC. He might be the best offensive player in the league but I don't think any of us realize how good of a player Louisiana College has in Justin Johnson.
The bottom line of the day is that UMHB won a game that they had to win. If it would have lost to Hardin-Simmons then it definitely doesn't get an at-large playoff bid and the Oct. 28 game against UW-Whitewater becomes a whole lot less intriguing. But they did win and now they're in the driver's seat for yet another playoff bid and when UWW comes to town in two weeks the D-III football community will be buzzing.
Juan heck of a player
Someone else who is generating some buzz around Division III football is Millsaps quarterback Juan Joseph. I wrote about Joseph last week when I talked about the offensive prowess of the South Region and he made me look good this week.
Joseph added to his SCAC-leading numbers by completing 24 of 39 passes for 314 yards and three touchdowns as he led the Majors to their second straight win, a 38-12 decision against Centre.
Millsaps is obviously a better football team than it was three weeks ago and a lot of that has to do with an improved defense as much as it does Joseph. But Joseph is the fuel to their offensive fire right now. He has surpassed the 1,000-yard mark in four games and hit nine receivers in the win over Centre. He leads the SCAC in total offense with 276 yards per game and is second in passing efficiency with a rating of 144.2.
The kid has got some talent but he also has good coaching. Offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson is one of the dynamic young coaches in the South and quarterbacks coach Fred McNair made a name for himself under center at Alcorn State. You might know his brother Steve, now quarterbacking the 4-1 Baltimore Ravens.
Thanks to their help, Joseph won his second straight SCAC offensive POTW award and the Majors are making big-time strides in the SCAC.
Stand in the middle of the Rhodes and you're gonna get run over
After all that worship of the UMHB defense earlier in this column, guess who's got the No. 3 ranked defense in all of Division III? Not UMHB, not Trinity but the 4-1 Rhodes Lynx.
For starters Rhodes leads the SCAC in rushing (66.8 yards per game) and passing defense (84 yards). If they can keep that up they'll be the first team since Trinity in 1999 to lead the league in both of those categories. Oh by the way, they only allow 8.2 points per game, also the best in the conference.
Rhodes' defense is also near the top nationally in most categories. As I mentioned, they're third nationally in total defense but also ranked No. 11 in scoring defense, No. 24 in passing efficiency defense and No. 25 in rushing defense.
This weeks SCAC Defensive Player of the Week is linebacker Donny Dillard, who helped spearhead Rhodes' 21-7 win against Austin College. The junior from Austin, Texas, had nine tackles (six solo), one tackle for a loss, one sack and a forced fumble in the win.
A 4-1 record has got to feel good for Joe White and his crew after six losses of four points or fewer in 2005. They've already avenged losses to Washington U. and Centre and this weekend they host DePauw in Memphis. DePauw has already bowed to Trinity in the first big SCAC game of the year so if Rhodes wins it keeps them undefeated in the SCAC and primes them for a conference title showdown with Trinity in two weeks in San Antonio.
It wasn't just the defense that stepped up against Austin. Quarterback Mark Oliver threw for 221 yards and touchdown passes of 58 and 22 yards in the win.
With a 4-1 mark and defensive numbers like they have, why are they not getting ANY type of national notice. In the latest D3football.com Top 25 they received zero votes. They also didn't receive any votes in the AFCA poll.
In some e-mails in this week's Daily Dose one reader makes a reference that some conferences are ignored. Maybe he's a Rhodes alum. I'm relatively new to the intricacies of SCAC football but it seems like they are the forgotten man in Division III football. If anyone has any thoughts on this I would love to hear them. E-mail me at chris.allman@d3football.com.
The truth … the poll truth … and nothing but the truth
Speaking of polls, UMHB has moved up to the No. 7 slot in this week's D3football.com rankings while HSU dropped to No. 10. I don't know exactly who does the voting but I think they did a great job on that one. In some polls you see a team lose and drop 15 spots. The voters obviously knew the history between UMHB and HSU and also realized just how good HSU is.
UMHB is No. 13 in the AFCA poll. Hardin-Simmons fell all the way to No. 17 in the AFCA rankings.
In the SCAC, Trinity received votes in the D3football poll and is No. 23 in the AFCA.
If Rhodes wins against DePauw and doesn't get some sort of votes then I'm starting my own poll.
In fact, I will right now. In my opinion, these are the Top 5 teams in the South Region.
5. DePauw Tigers 4-1
4. Rhodes Lynx 4-1
3. Trinity Tigers 5-1
2. Hardin-Simmons Cowboys 3-1
1. Mary Hardin-Baylor Crusaders 4-1
Probably some debate from a lot of ASC folks about Rhodes and DePauw and I think that's fair. I think Mississippi College is pretty salty and Louisiana College is also worthy of a mention. Texas Lutheran has also won back to back ASC games so don't forget them. What about Sul Ross? They're 2-1 and tied for second in the ASC. Got any ideas or disagreements? E-mail me at chris.allman@d3football.com.
Before I go
I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the performance from Sewanee quarterback Wes Satterfield in Saturday's 31-24 loss to DePauw. The reigning SCAC Offensive Co-Player of the Year ran for 247 yards, a single-game record for any quarterback in conference history.
Sewanee rolled up 407 yards of total offense with 356 of it coming on the ground. Satterfield had 298 yards of offense by himself. That's not one-dimensional. That's dominant.
Also need to mention East Texas Baptist running back Brandon Sampson who helped the Tigers break a five-game losing streak with a 41-24 win against McMurry. Sampson ran for 112 yards and three touchdowns and was named ASC Offensive Player of the Week for his efforts. His three touchdowns tied a school record for rushing scores in a game.
That's all for this week. See you in seven days.