Tag Archives: Alfred

Triple Take: Yet to see the field

Posted on by
Defense
Mary Hardin-Baylor gets started this week.

Many got to take a deep breath after Week 1, knowing the opening day jitters for their teams are past.

Yet many people don’t have that luxury. Lots of teams across the country have yet to take a regular-season snap. It could be even more worrisome if one’s opponent already has a game under its belt. How much does one team improve between games one and two? We’re sure to find out on Saturday.

Pat Coleman, Keith McMillan and Ryan Tipps bring you a breakdown of many of the matchups set to take place.

Game of the Week.
Ryan’s take: UW-La Crosse at No. 5 Mary Hardin-Baylor. It’s a good sign for UW-L that in its opener against Whitewater, it held the defending national champs to just a field goal on four drives. (It could have been worse.) But on the other side of the ball the Eagles failed to rev up their own offense. That pattern won’t fly against UMHB. The Crusaders are making their season debut, but, especially playing at home, it would be silly to suggest anything short of the team being fully prepared to win.
Keith’s take: No. 16 Cal Lutheran at No. 7 Linfield. The West Coast powers clash for the third time in 12 games, after the Kingsmen opened last season in California with a 47-42 upset and the Wildcats returned the favor in Oregon, 42-26, in the first round of the playoffs. CLU rushed for 252 yards in its win and Linfield 197, so I’d point at supplementing the passing game by establishing the run again as a factor. Then again, offense wasn’t the problem in either game, and though there are 19 and 16 starters back, it’s a new season. I wonder if the Wildcats can generate a pass rush with Eric Hedin graduated, and if they can cover WR Eric Rogers.
Pat’s take: No. 1 UW-Whitewater at No. 21 Franklin. Despite protestations to the contrary in Kickoff about how difficult it is to swap in a new quarterback to replace the franchise name, Franklin did start strong last week. What a game with Valparaiso, which is D-I in name only, means, not sure. Jonny West did go 32-for-51 passing and threw for five TDs and Ethan Cook had a good day running the ball in a 49-35 win, but UW-Whitewater, not-yet-jelled offensive line and all, will be a much stiffer test.

Surprisingly close game.
Ryan’s take: Hanover at No. 10 Thomas More. Last year, this was a 56-12 shellacking during which everything went right for the Saints. So my baseline is that anything under a 44-point margin is surprisingly close, right? This year’s final will be well below that. Hanover’s defensive core is at the line of scrimmage, and the Panthers will make sure to disrupt some of Thomas More’s fluid run game.
Keith’s take: Delaware Valley at Washington & Jefferson. The Aggies won, 27-0, in the marquee game of the MAC-PAC challenge last season, but needed late heroics to beat Muhlenberg, 10-9, in Week 1. Meanwhile, W&J smashed Juniata, 40-0. The Aggies’ win over the Presidents last year wasn’t even as close as it looked, as W&J couldn’t muster a first down for three quarters. While most of the Aggies’ defense is back, and looked in form last week, they have almost an entirely new offense. Plus, thunderstorms are in the Pittsburgh-area forecast for Saturday, which means this one could be an ugly, points-are-hard-to-come-by affair.
Pat’s take: No. 4 St. Thomas at UW-River Falls. Expect Matt Walker’s Falcons to be more prepared than you might expect for a team playing its first game. Without a wealth of tape to go on against a program under a new head coach, St. Thomas will have to be ready to adjust on the fly.

Most likely Top 25 team to get upset.
Ryan’s take: No. 17 Alfred. This may not be because I’m high on RPI but instead because there are too many question marks surrounding Alfred. A returning starting quarterback Tom Secky is great to have, but does he have the supporting cast to put points on the board? RPI and the Liberty League should also be looking to redeem itself after a dismal 2010 season.
Keith’s take: No. 25 St. John’s. It wouldn’t be a major shock to have UW-Eau Claire and the Johnnies go to the wire, after an overtime game last season and three lead switches in the final 3:50 the year before. The Johnnies are coming off a 34-0 win in their opener, and the Blugolds a game where they gave up two TDs in the final six minutes to lose.
Pat’s take: No. 9 Hardin-Simmons. After a Week 1 in which each team had mildly surprising results, I just wonder if Hardin-Simmons has its way as easily with an opponent that didn’t bus 17 hours to go there. Instead, it’s the Cowboys with the long trip, to Willamette. Not that they’re busing to Oregon, mind you.

They’ll be on your radar.
Ryan’s take: Birmingham-Southern. Five picks. Five sacks. A rusher who went for 193 yards. If stats tell stories, then the Panthers are on their way to writing a novel for 2011. This Saturday, Birmingham hosts in-state rival Huntington, which is also coming off a lopsided win. With the SCAC logging Week 1 wins from Centre, Trinity and B-S, it’ll be interesting to see which of these conference-title contenders separates itself over the next few weeks.
Keith’s take: Pacific. The second-year Boxers led 21-10 in the third quarter before causing a lot of their own problems in a 36-28 loss to Simon Fraser. Turnovers, penalties and poor special teams caused Pacific to unravel. The 11th game since the program’s revival could be its first win, if it cleans up the mistakes. The talent at former D-III member Menlo tends to vary wildly, suggesting it’s not out of the question for the Boxers to match up with the Oaks.
Pat’s take: Greenville. Likening this franchise to a little engine that could, as one of the favorites in the chase for the first UMAC crown. Last year this game took place later in the month and Millikin won by 10, but this year it’s Greenville’s sole non-conference game — the only chance for the team to impress outside of the league schedule.

Team playing its opener that you’re most curious about.
Ryan’s take: Wabash. Opponent Wooster isn’t as frail as it seemed in a shutout loss to open the season. And Wabash is set to prove that with several stars back this fall, the Little Giants deserve to be in the Top 15 or 20 nationally. The Scots can make this interesting if they can do some things they weren’t able to do a week ago, namely, hang onto the ball and protect the backfield. It doesn’t sound easy, and it’s even harder to put that into practice. Wabash will bring pressure for 60 minutes and rattle Woo’s cage the whole way through.
Keith’s take: Montclair State. I think the Red Hawks have a good chance at being the first East Region in four seasons to earn a No. 1 seed and relegate Mount Union to its own bracket in the North. But, one step at a time, and Salve Regina is no pushover. Montclair State’s excursion into the NEFC couldn’t have gone any better last season, in a 34-0 win against Westfield State. This time around, points could be at a premium. I’ll be watching closely to see if the Red Hawks can take the first step toward being that banner-carrier for the East.
Pat’s take: Mount Union. Who isn’t? Especially after UW-Oshkosh held on to beat Central last week. The Titans also have a week of practice up on the Purple Raiders, but note that I didn’t put this game as surprisingly close.

Which team will bounce back from a Week 1 loss?
Ryan’s take: Ursinus. The Bears surely learned after last week that what began in one half may not necessarily carry over to the next. There are things for Ursinus to build off of: posting almost 200 yards passing, picking off opponent Albright twice and having two players reach double digits in tackles. This week’s competition, Gettysburg, pushed an exciting game against Ursinus last season. No reason not to expect the same again — with Ursinus again coming out on top.
Keith’s take: No. 15 North Central. The Cardinals seem an obvious choice, as they were expected to be one of the nation’s elite teams before a loss at Redlands last week. They play another night game, but this one in front of the home crowd in Naperville. Bethel (Tenn.) pulled out a victory against UW-Eau Claire last week, but it will find a talented and eager-to-avoid-starting-0-2 team tougher to defeat.
Pat’s take: McDaniel. There have been some questions going around this week as to which team last week’s Widener-Moravian game more accurately reflects. (Widener won 44-6.) McDaniel took a tough loss in its opener against Catholic and both McDaniel and Moravian have show the propensity to give up points. But only McDaniel showed it can put them on the board as well.

Whose long road trip will turn out the best?
Ryan’s take: Ithaca’s. The Bombers are traveling down to Maryland — a 6.5-hour trip — to play Salisbury in the Gulls’ first conference game as a member of the Empire 8. While Ithaca struggled last week against a lower tier NJAC team, Salisbury hardly earned the automatic upper hand this week after blowing out non-D-III opponent Newport News. Why Ithaca may do well on the road is because the Bombers bottled up Brockport State’s run game something fierce last week. Including QB sneaks and sacks, Brockport gained a mere 40 yards on 27 attempts. Ithaca will need to bring this mentality to do well on Saturday.
Keith’s take: Hamline’s. The Pipers have been looking for a breakthrough win for a while now, and a weakened Pacific Lutheran (10 starters back) is ripe for the picking. New coach John Pate debuts an option-based offense, and as it’s more rare these days, players have even less experience to draw on when trying to stop it.
Pat’s take: Illinois Wesleyan’s. The Titans got a great performance last week from someone who wasn’t supposed to be in a position to contribute this year, and wasn’t even in the school last year. But Tate Musselman, a transfer from North Central, found himself high on the depth chart after injuries at wide receiver and responded with 34- and 82-yard touchdown catches. The IWU defense will face a bigger test at Alma than it did at home against Hope, but should come out well.

ATN podcast: Four games, plus awards

Posted on by
Wesley's Chris Mayes
Wesley defensive end Chris Mayes had Mary Hardin-Baylor quarterback LiDarral Bailey in his sights all day on Saturday.
Photo by Peggy Erwin, D3sports.com

Four teams survived and advanced on Saturday … perhaps Mount Union didn’t really have to do the “survive” part … and we have two semifinals upcoming with familiar opponents.

But before we even get there, it’s also awards season, and Keith and Pat give their take on the four Gagliardi Trophy finalists and the apparent direction of the award itself in recent years. We’ve taken to referencing it as the top overall student-athlete in Division III football. Also, the D3 Senior Classic was played on Saturday, taking some important steps forward toward being an all-star game

And then there were the games, including UW-Whitewater’s rally, the impressive showings by the Wesley and Bethel defenses and Mount Union’s methodical dismantling of another opponent. That and we look forward to next week’s two semifinals. All that’s covered too, and it’s even under an hour long this time.

Click the play button below to listen.

[display_podcast]

You can also get this and any of our future Around the Nation podcasts automatically by subscribing to this RSS feed: http://www.d3blogs.com/d3football/?feed=podcast

Triple Take, Scores and more

Posted on by
North Central
North Central will need to generate some offense in order to beat UW-Whitewater, we think

In the regional finals, the field has been whittled down to just eight. As in years past, Pat, Keith and Ryan now take you a little deeper into their rationale for the winners and scores that are picked.

Aside from Mount Union and Alfred, the others are not unfamiliar foes: there are the MIAC conference-mates, the regular South Region powers and Midwest teams again battling it out in the postseason. We’ve seen a version of each of these three games at least once since 2007.

Does that make the comparisons any easier? Perhaps. Compiled without consulting with each other, we give you our thoughts. Don’t hesitate to give us yours in the comments section.

Ryan: Wesley 31, Mary Hardin-Baylor 24
This might be my favorite rivalry-that-isn’t-officially-a-rivalry game in the country. Over the past five seasons, these two teams have met four times — with Wesley winning the first two meetings and UMHB the next two — and the outcome is usually an exciting one. This year, it’s not the things that will happen that are significant, it’s be the ones that won’t happen: UMHB won’t be anywhere close to its average of nearly 500 yards of offense a game; Wesley’s two-headed rushing attack won’t be called upon much; and there won’t be a shortage of turnovers. The team with the better defense will be the factor on Saturday. In that case, the nod goes to the corps led by Chris Mayes, Mike Asiedu and Aaron Benson.
Pat: Wesley 35, Mary Hardin-Baylor 30
The game may well be a welcome relief for the Wesley players after the events of the week, in which four of their teammates, all from the playoff roster, were arrested and charged in connection with burglaries of dorm rooms over Thanksgiving break. Wesley is facing a souped-up version of Salisbury, with the ability to pass the ball. But I’m still concerned about the Mary Hardin-Baylor defense. I do recognize that they performed better down the stretch and have so far in the postseason, but Howard Payne, Sul Ross State and Texas Lutheran were the bottom three teams in total offense in the ASC. Wesley will be a different type of team.
Keith: Wesley 20, Mary Hardin-Baylor 15
I think all four games Saturday turn on defense. No surprises between the Wolverines and Cru, who won’t have any of the jitters a team making its first trip to Dover might. Wesley is talented enough in the secondary to make UMHB one-dimensional, and fast enough to play its assignments when the Cru runs option. The Wolverines will miss the four players kicked off the team after their arrests for burglary (hat tip to WDEL’s Sean Greene) — but they were mostly offensive contributors, including WR DeAndre Fowlkes. Deep enough to persevere through 11 injuries already, what’s four more players to replace? UMHB is well-tested from the ASC schedule and seems to have hit another gear late in the season (378-32 the past five games). The line will open up some holes against the Wolverines’ oft-talked-about defensive line, but they’ll close up quickly because Wesley can match UMHB’s team speed. The Cru is penalized and turns it over more than is good for an elite team, and that could be their undoing. This will be the first real close game in the five-game series.

Ryan: Mount Union 45, Alfred 7
There’s no doubt that Alfred has impressed me this postseason, becoming that sleeper team for which the dream could end at any moment. The Saxons have offensive balance and have proven that they can win the big game if needed (Fisher and Cortland). But will they again? Yes … in 2011.
Pat: Mount Union 52, Alfred 9
I don’t foresee this game being much different than the rest of the bracket so far against Mount Union. In score, perhaps, but not in the final outcome.
Keith: Mount Union 31, Alfred 10
Before dismissing Alfred offhand, I considered this: The Saxons put up 34 on a defense last week that let one regular-season opponent hit 20; Seven Cortland State opponents were kept in single digits. So why can’t Alfred surprise again? For starters, Mount Union gave up 28 in its opener and has allowed 54 since. Two playoff opponents together have mustered one field goal. The Purple Raiders might be sophomore-laden, but reports of the Machine’s vulnerability are premature. I watched a Mount Union game on DVR and realized I might have been looking at the Purple Raiders backwards. Aside from Cecil Shorts III and Lambert Budzinski, Mount Union lacks star power of previous iterations. But are there any weaknesses? I didn’t see any, and neither will Alfred. QB Tom Secky will have to make quick reads against UMU’s unfamiliar 4-2-5, while his counterpart, Neal Seaman, will have plenty of time in the pocket to come through for key conversions. I don’t see an outlandish final, but I think Mount Union can do roughly what it did to Delaware Valley.

Ryan: St. Thomas 21, Bethel 17
These two teams were evenly matched six weeks ago when they first met, and they’re evenly matched still today. And they both have overcome some big hurdles in competition to get to the regional final. The only difference this time may be that there will be a few more points on the board by close of day Saturday.
Pat: St. Thomas 17, Bethel 15
Teams that love playing each other — at least, St. Thomas loves playing Bethel, preparing for Bethel, etc. Smashmouth football all the way. Big days, potentially, for Logan Flannery and Colin Tobin/Ben Wartman. And with the game on the biggest radio station in the state, there could be more listeners than fans making the short trip. Did Bethel catch lightning in a bottle last week with its surprising field goal or have the Royals found a little confidence for their struggling kicker? Filling the stadium is always harder when the weather gets cold and the students have to pay to get in, but this should get close.
Keith: St. Thomas 14, Bethel 7
Since Minnesota is Pat’s home turf, I’ve seen MIAC teams very little the past few years. I have the least to go on here, but what I do know led me to this: Most rematches bear little resemblance to a first meeting. But all Bethel and St. Thomas want to do is run it down the other’s throat (each averages at least 217 rushing yards per game) and play great defense (St. Thomas has given up 137 points in 12 games, Bethel 139). Good formula for winning in St. Paul in December. So I think this one looks just like the first, low-scoring and rugged. Bethel could crash the party and leave us with the same semifinal matchups as 2007 (Royals at Mount Union, while UW-W and UMHB meet again on the opposite side), but I put this one on St. Thomas’s defense playing just a hair better than Bethel’s.

Ryan: UW-Whitewater 38, North Central 17
The leadership and performance of backup Warhawks quarterback Lee Brekke has served the team well the first two weeks of the playoffs (seven passing touchdowns and nearly 100 points in all), helping to kick around the defenses of teams from my native Indiana. But Brekke isn’t quite Matt Blanchard, and if the latter is to be a factor heading toward the Stagg Bowl, he needs to get his feet wet again before Salem. The UWW offense will score — on the ground and through the air. I suspect North Central’s will as well, but the one-dimensional attack of last weekend won’t get the Cardinals far against the defending national champions. Spencer Stanek will need to throw, a lot.
Pat: UW-Whitewater 24, North Central 13
I don’t know if the weather keeps the score down or the defenses, but I expect this to be a lower scoring game. For North Central to have a shot, they’ll need to have a big day through the air, I think, which is the opposite of the direction they’ve taken the past few weeks. They still have receiving talent on the roster, Steve Hlavac for example, but need to get the ball in the air. UW-Whitewater could win regardless of Matt Blanchard’s status because it should be able to run the ball, even if nobody has against North Central all season.
Keith: UW-Whitewater 16, North Central 13
I gave some serious thought to picking the Cardinals, even though I’m on record saying the Warhawks are the team I think is going to win the tournament. It has nothing to do with home field either — as a player, I always felt there was just as much to like about being on the road as there was to dislike. I think it’ll be a 60-40 or 70-30 split crowd anyway. Points are going to be hard to come by Saturday; North Central is the nation’s No. 2 scoring defense (8.3/game) and has given up double digits twice — 13 and 14. Whitewater is tied with Bethel for sixth in scoring D (11.6/game), but gave up 31 to Trine last week. It might not have been so much weakness exposed as the Thunder being that good. North Central and UW-Whitewater match up physically, and I leaned Warhawks here because in a low-scoring tie game in the fourth, UW-W has the championship grit and the muscle along the line to grind out a game-winning drive. I’ll call an Eric Kindler field goal — he’s 9 of 10 since missing six straight in September — to decide an epic clash.