DePauw and Millsaps bandwagon
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And since I am an unabashed fair-weather fan I started rooting for (and writing) about the Millsaps Majors and the Rhodes Lynx.
My support for DePauw got them a 0-1 record early in conference and now my feelings for Rhodes cost them their game against DePauw last Saturday.
Running back Jeremiah Marks went for 114 yards and three touchdowns to help the Tigers drop the Lynx 27-6. This was as much of a surprise as any I’ve had this year, particularly after I had heaped so much praise on the Rhodes defense. Even with the loss I’m not going to withdraw anything I said about Rhodes. They are still a phenomenal defense that just simply had a rough game against a team that is hitting its stride.
More importantly the DePauw win sets up its matchup with Millsaps this Saturday. These are two teams that are white-hot and really starting to hit their respective strides. I also think that when this game is over we will know exactly how the SCAC final standings are going to play out.
Since losing to Trinity, the Tigers have reeled off three consecutive wins and done it with 29.6 yards per game. Millsaps is rolling under new coach Mike DuBose, averaging 38.7 points per game in their last three contests, all of which were wins.
Here is where the game gets really interesting. Everyone imagines a shootout but I don’t think it will be. I think it’s about two things: DePauw’s big-game experience and Millsaps defense.
By my counts DePauw has had two big games so far this season, against Trinity and against Rhodes. They won one and they lost one. Millsaps hasn’t had a winning season since 2001 and, honestly, there aren’t a lot of meaningful games when you’re 2-7 (as they were in 2005).
But, Millsaps has gone from a defense that let everyone in the end zone to one of the stingiest scoring defenses in Division III in the last three weeks. The Majors gave up 42.7 points per game in their first three games and have allowed 33 points total in their last three.
I got an e-mail from a Millsaps player this week and he talked about how important the defense has been:
Our defense, which was suspect in those first three games, has shown up in the last 3 games only allowing an avg. of 11 points. Our offense, thanks to our new coordinator Shannon Dawson and Juan Joseph whom you spoke of in one of your previous articles, have been steady catalysts for an offense who averages 427.8 YPG not including another 500+ yard game this past week. We have a swagger amongst the team whereas we are feeling great rhythm on both sides of the ball and have really come together.
I couldn’t agree more. It will definitely be about DePauw’s Jeremiah Marks and Millsaps’ Juan Joseph but the Millsaps defense will determine the outcome. If they struggle, they will lose. But if they are as stout as they have been, then they can definitely score enough points.
As far as standings go, here is what we have right now atop the SCAC:
Trinity 2-0
Millsaps 2-0
DePauw 2-1
Rhodes 2-1
If Millsaps wins then they go to 3-0, as Trinity likely will. If both teams stay hot that sets up a showdown of 6-0 teams in the season's final week for the SCAC crown.
If DePauw wins then they will need a pair of Trinity losses to claim the SCAC crown.
Basically, if DePauw wins then you can go ahead and crown Trinity as the conference champs. Again.
Party like it's 1996
This Saturday is homecoming at Sul Ross State and if the Class of ’96 is there then they’ll see something no one has seen since they left.
A Lobos team that has won three consecutive games.
I don’t know if there is anything in sports that I like more than seeing a team that struggles each and every year break out and have a good season. I feel the same way about the Lobos.
Sul Ross started its three-game winning streak with a 17-16 win over East Texas Baptist that, at the time, seemed like an upset. Now it looks like a change in the balance of power in the ASC.
They followed that with an absolutely wild 60-56 win over Howard Payne that featured offense, scoring, and offense.
But their third and most recent win, a 31-10 pasting of Texas Lutheran, featured perhaps their best defensive performance of the season.
Sul Ross allowed just 217 yards of offense to a team that came in to the game averaging more than 300 per game. They held TLU’s quarterback duo of Matt Schumacher and Joel Waldon to only nine completions in 27 attempts and picked up four sacks.
Sophomore Zach Gideon tied a team high with six tackles -- five solo, three for a loss of 20 yards -- and recorded two sacks for a loss of 16 yards. For that he was named ASC Defensive Player of the Week.
Oh but they were there usual offensive self. Sully (as they are affectionately known out in West Texas) put up 431 yards of offense and did not commit a single turnover. T. J. Barber continued a terrific season with 172 yards on 19 carries. Barber’s backfield partner Ashton Smith even had seven carries for 84 yards. Quarterback Austin Davidson hit on half of his passes and threw a pair of touchdowns with three of those completions going to Leon Mosby.
Sul Ross still has a four tough games left, including a trip to Abilene to take on Hardin-Simmons, but an 8-2 season is not out of the question for these guys. I’ve said it before that Jordan Neal is the best offensive player in the conference but if Sul Ross finishes in the top three in the ASC you have to consider Barber when you are choosing your player of the year.
In the Hunt-ingdon
When I posted my regional standings a couple of weeks ago I got some emails from people who wanted to see Huntingdon, an independent, in the Top 5.
First of all, thanks for the e-mails. Secondly, it’s hard to rank a team with three losses in the top five, despite who they lost to (Ithaca, Wesley, Trinity). But head coach Mike Turk and his crew are doing a fantastic job building a program and I have tremendous respect for the way they schedule.
In just their fourth season of football, Turk put two Top 25 teams on the schedule and their losses are against three teams whose combined record of 16-2. For a team that basically needs to go undefeated to get an at-large playoff bid, I respect any coach that will put that kind of talent on his schedule. And keep an eye on quarterback Zach Golson, a junior who threw for 438 yards against Wesley.
Individual honors
Congrats to DePauw’s Dustin Hertel, who joined teammate Jeremiah Marks as the SCAC’s players of the week. Hertel had seven solo tackles, two tackles for a loss, two sacks and a forced fumble. Hertel keyed a defense that allowed just 40 rushing yards on the day.
In the ASC, Jordan Neal was back to his usual self, going a near-perfect 17-for-18 and rolling up 292 yards in the air in a 56-17 throttling of East Texas Baptist. Neal threw five touchdown passes on the day; three to Mychal Carillo and two to Matt Fields.
Kudos are also in order for UMHB’s Jarvis Thrasher for being named the ASC Special Teams Player of the Week. Thrasher returned a Louisiana College kickoff 98 yards for a score, tying an ASC record set by UMHB’s Shaun Rochon and tied by LC’s Justin Charles that same season.
Poll position
Once again, the SCAC is getting the shaft from Division III voters as Trinity was the only conference team to show up in the national rankings this week.
The Tigers (who deserve to be higher in both polls) received votes in the D3football.com poll and are sitting at No. 23 in the AFCA poll.
UMHB moved up to No. 6 in the D3football.com poll after trouncing Louisiana College. The Crusaders are No. 10 in the AFCA. Hardin-Simmons is back in the top ten, coming it at No. 8 in the D3football.com poll . The Cowboys are No. 14 in the AFCA poll.
Maybe I don’t understand the ranking system but why is 3-2 Linfield (3-1 against Division III schools) ranked at all? Gimme DePauw or even Sul Ross for that matter. Actually, I’m just an apologist for the South so just ignore me.
Here’s my South Region Top 5:
5. Sul Ross State 4-1, 3-1
4. DePauw 5-1, 2-1
3. Trinity 5-1, 2-0
2. Hardin-Simmons 4-1, 2-1
1. Mary Hardin-Baylor 5-1, 5-0
Two weeks until Top 5 showdown
For the second time in a month, the best Division III game in the nation will take place at Tiger Field in Belton. A week from Saturday, the second-ranked UW-Whitewater Warhawks travel to Central Texas to take on the No. 6 ranked UMHB Crusaders.
This one took an interesting twist when UW-W lost its outstanding running back Justin Beavers to a broken collarbone last week. Beavers had run for 286 yards before the injury but will not be available for the UMHB game.
My guess is that Beavers’ backup is pretty salty as well and we will see who emerges from the depth chart this weekend. Then he has a chance to make a name for himself in two weeks in Belton.
NCAA blows another one
Here's a disclaimer before I get started on this part of the column: I'm a middle-class, born-again Christian white kid from the South who actually favors stricter gun control laws but opposes most anything the ACLU says. I voted for President Bush but I loved most of the politics of The West Wing. I believe the PGA Tour should be for men or really, really talented women.
There. I just wanted to get some of my other views out of the way so that there would be no questions about my political stance when I call the NCAA a bunch of cowardly appeasers who are forcing the opinions and feelings of a minority onto a vast majority.
For the last three days I've tried to form a clear opinion on this situation between the NCAA and McMurry University.
First I was a little frustrated in the NCAA's initial mandate that sanctioned schools from using Native American names for athletic teams.
Secondly, I was a little frustrated that the NCAA kept rejecting McMurry University's appeals.
Then I got a lot frustrated by how the NCAA would enforce the mandate. Basically strong-arming other NCAA schools into blackballing McMurry.
You know what my final decision is? That the NCAA is borderline corrupt. This is big government at its worst. It is a group of educated yet fallible and opinionated men getting together and making ill-informed, biased, and subjective decisions.
Florida State gets to keep Seminoles but McMurry has to drop Indians. University of Illinois mascot Chief Illiniwek was described as "hostile and abusive." When I went to school at UMHB we sat in the front row of Mabee Gymnasium and absolutely blistered Daniel Martinez and the rest of the McMurry Indians with hostile and abusive comments. None of them had anything to do with Native American sentiment or Hispanic sentiment. It was because Daniel Martinez kept stealing the basketball from our point guards.
You know what that is? That's a corporate CEO getting a presidential pardon while the kid who stole the Starburst sits in juvenile detention.
God bless the University of North Dakota, though. The Fighting Sioux have threatened a lawsuit against the NCAA if they are pressured to drop their nickname. The Sioux threatening to sue? That's how I like my irony.
Since I've been old enough to really understand the NCAA they have made one good decision and that was the recent decision to grant Clemson freshman football player Ray Ray McElrathbey a waiver to accept some financial assistance in caring for his 11-year old brother Fahmarr.
One decision among a sea of terrible ones. And I'm not even talking about stupidity of the BCS or the fact that UMHB and Trinity keep having to play each other every freakin' time they make the playoffs. I'm talking about the limiting of job opportunities for scholarship athletes. I'm talking about the fact that someone is making $49.99 by selling a Texas Longhorns No. 10 jersey and it wasn't Vince Young. The NCAA is probably going to punish the Oklahoma basketball program for things Kelvin Sampson did
While this entire idea of an NCAA mandate is sheer lunacy, I at least commend them by looking at it case-by-case. They put 19 schools on their initial list and five have decided to make the change, with McMurry being the most recent.
But, before we get even more berserk about the decision, let's examine a few things.
First of all, it was McMurry's decision. The NCAA did not mandate that they choose a new nickname. University president John Russell had options like ignoring the mandate and facing the consequences or leaving the NCAA all together.
McMurry had done nothing wrong by choosing the nickname Indians. In fact, they chose the nickname in honor of the university's founder, who grew up on an Indian reservation. They have not, at any time, committed any infractions meaning that they are in "good" standing with the NCAA.
But they could have moved out of good standing if they had chosen to retain the nickname. That means that they could have been barred from hosting postseason tournaments or the NCAA would have discouraged member schools from scheduling the Indians. Should McMurry have stuck with the nickname, then the NCAA would have put a horse head in its bed just to remind them whose boss.
That’s all this is anyway -- bullying. There are 90 billion average Americans who can see what needs to be changed in college sports but can’t change it. There are about 90 people who need to make change but can’t see it. It makes me sad for college sports and it make sad for McMurry’s administration, alumni, and most of all their players.