Week 4 Predictions- Jay and Tommy

Jay’s Picks (4 of 5 Week 3, 12 of 14 on the Season)

Thankfully, all of the UMAC referees that were in the NFL will be coming back for Week 4 of UMAC football. How did we ever get along without them? It was probably the reason that I picked a game wrong last week. Oh well, everything is back to normal and I plan on getting all the picks right the rest of the season.

Martin Luther @ Presentation- Last year Presentation held Martin Luther to 6 points and that is when Martin Luther had a good offense. Forget about how many, or should I say few, yards the Knights accumulated last week. Let’s talk about how they have scored only 14 points in conference play. TOTAL. And 7 points came off a kick return for a touchdown. They have more total turnovers (17 if you were curious) than they do points in conference. On the flipside, the Knights defense has been excellent so far and I think that this game is a favorable matchup for Martin Luther. I’ll take the Knights on the road in a close one. Martin Luther 20 Presentation 17

Crown @ Greenville- Greenville made a statement last week. QB Brendan Chambers is the real deal running that option attack. If Greenville can avoid turnovers, they should win this game big. You have to give it to those kids from Crown, they’ll find a way to make it competitive for a while, but they won’t be able to keep up with Greenville’s offense. It’s ok; they’re still a couple years away. Greenville 45 Crown 20

Minnesota Morris @ Northwestern – Northwestern averages 184.0 rushing yards a game. Minnesota Morris defense allows 239.2 rushing yards a game. It’s not quite like Greenville rushing attack, but Northwestern’s RB Chris-Simon Wallace is averaging 8.3 yards a carry. I’m not a psychic, although you could argue from my picks record that I’m pretty darn close, but I think I know what Northwestern might try to do. Northwestern 49 Morris 14

St. Scholastica @ MacMurray- This just does not bode well for the Highlanders. St. Scholastica has got to be a little motivated after last week’s close call and MacMurray just got trounced on by Northwestern. At least now that the NFL referee lockout is over, the Highlanders will get their refs back. St. Scholastica 62 MacMurray 13

GAME OF THE WEEK

Eureka @ Westminster- Talk about a big time game for both teams. Eureka has struggled immensely since QB Sam Durley made national headlines, and their season is at the tipping point. Westminster has done a tremendous job of making a comeback after that loss to Northwestern, and if they keep winning could make things interesting at the end of the year. QB Joe Plassmeyer is quietly having a really good year, and it should be a great duel of two of the top quarterbacks in the conference. I think it will come down to which defense can make one or two stops because I see this being a high scoring shootout. Watch out for Westminster the rest of the way. Westminster 42 Eureka 38

Tommy’s Picks (5 of 5 Week 3, 10 of 14 on the Season)

Now that the season is in full swing I have really hit my stride with a perfect - that's right, perfect - 5-5 week last week. I look to continue that trend going with a week that I am actually really excited for with some good pick-em type match-ups.

Martin Luther @ Presentation- I am actually very intrigued by this match-up. This sets up to be a low scoring affair. Martin Luther's defense is stifling but their offense is putrid. Presentation is not a bad team. Not a good team, mind you, but not bad at all for this only being their second year of existence. I like Presentation at home in this one. If the Knights find a way to hold on to the ball they might pick up their first win of the year. But, I'm not holding my breath waiting for that one. Martin Luther continues to lay the ball on the ground and Presentation capitalizes. Presentation 17 Martin Luther 14

Crown @ Greenville- Crown showed that they are not ready to make the leap to the middle of the conference yet when they lost to Westminster last week. As a young team they will continue to improve throughout the year, but they are not ready to beat a team like Greenville on the road yet. Greenville will run the ball all over the Storm this Saturday. If you can shut down the option against Greenville and force them to throw you have a good shot at beating them. Crown is not the team to do that, however. Greenville 42 Crown 20

 

 Minnesota Morris @ Northwestern - Northwestern beat MacMurray by 40. Morris beat MacMurray by 3. That does not bode well for the Cougars. Of course, this would be a good chance for a let down for the Eagles with a big showdown with Scholastica coming up next week. Still, I have been less than impressed by Morris so far this season and I think Northwestern will be too much for them to handle on Saturday. Good luck to Morris trying to stop the Eagles' ground attack and pass rush. Northwestern 35 Morris 14

St. Scholastica @ MacMurray- Yikes. No matter what way you look at this game there is not a lot of hope for the Highlanders. MacMurray is flat out bad. Northwestern embarrassed them last week and by all accounts Scholastica is at least as good as Northwestern, probably better. The only hope for the Highlanders is that the Saints do have to take a long bus ride down south so maybe their bus will have a flat tire and they will miss the game. Outside of that, I don't give MacMurray much of a chance. Scholastica 55 MacMurray 0

GAME OF THE WEEK

Eureka @ Westminster- This game is a real toss-up. I don't even know who would be considered the favorite in this one. I do know that Eureka has burned me too many times already this year. I expected some good things from Eureka and as best as I can tell, they are extremely lacking on the offensive line and below average on defense. Westminster has also disappointed early on but they have strung together a couple victories of late and I think they will continue to improve as the year goes on. I like Westminster to pull this one out at home by having a more balanced attack offensively. Eureka is just too one-dimensional for my liking. Westminster 31 Eureka 24