I have officially switched the name of my mid-week soap box to The Week that Was. I feel like it went over well last week and now I can really open up my horizons. Before, I was limited to factual statements about what we learned. Now I can simply rant about whatever strikes my fancy - which was really the goal of this article to begin with. Week 7 lacked some of the big-time matchups we had seen in prior weeks, but it still provided me with plenty of material for my weekly post.
1. MacMurray won a game! It has been a long time coming for the boys in blue but a well-deserved congratulations to the Highlanders on their first victory of the season. It has been said that when you have to wait for something for a long time you appreciate it that much more when you finally do get it. I can guarantee you that MacMurray enjoyed their win on Saturday more than any other team in the conference has enjoyed any win this year. Maybe a victory on homecoming is exactly what this program needed to get back on track. Sometimes all it takes is one victory and the confidence to know that you, in fact, can win a game to get the ball rolling and start building some momentum. In fact, if you look at the class of the conference, Northwestern won only 1 game in 2010 and St. Scholastica only won 1 game in 2008. Turning a program around is certainly possible. Now let's not get carried away. Momentum can only carry you so far, and I do not expect MacMurray to be competing for a conference title anytime soon. But I am happy to see them win a game and hope they can continue to improve.
2. Greenville's offense is as explosive as ever - 35 points in the first half made it appear as though the Panthers would roll to an easy victory at home. However, they slowed considerably in the second half only putting up 10 points and sneaking out with a 7 point victory in a game that should not have even been close. A 45 point performance is always impressive though, even if all 45 came in one half. Greenville has what I would consider to be the most dynamic offense in the conference. While they may not be as balanced as Northwestern, I still love what the Panthers do. Their triple option threat is about as crisp and quick-hitting as any DIII team in the country. In a sense, what they do is so very simple. And yet that is what makes it so beautiful. Greenville is going to run the ball 80% of the game and they are going to do it out of maybe three different formations. But Chambers can read the defense and knows when to keep it and when to pitch it and good luck stopping them. Fortunately for opponents, with that defense, you may only need to stop the Panthers three times a game to win.
3. Morris has solidified itself as the 4th best team in the conference - If you would have told me at the beginning of the year that the Cougars would finish the season with a 6-4 record and in 4th place I would have said that would be a successful season for them. I would expect that their coaches would have said the same thing. The truth is that they are not ready to beat any of the top three programs. They aren't even in the same universe as Northwestern. But, they have pulled off some big wins so far. Match-ups with Martin Luther, Westminster, and Eureka were all games that could have gone either way and the Cougars found a way to win all three - proving that two quarterbacks really are better than one. That's a saying, right?
4. Can someone explain to me why Scott Rodgers is not Westminster's quaterback? Who am I to question the coaching staff? But really, what is going on down there? I know I do not watch these players in practice everyday but I do know that last year with Rodgers at the helm the Blue Jays went 8-2 and this year with Joe Plassmeyer they can barely walk and chew gum at the same time. It seemed odd to me that Plassmeyer walked in the door and instantly took over the starting spot. Now Rodgers is not even a quarterback? Did the coaches instantly move him so as to avoid any sort of controversy when this big new star came in? Yes, I understand that Rodgers had Carl Givens to throw to last season and Westminster is weaker at other spots as well. Certainly all of the blame for their poor performance does not fall on the QB, but I can tell you something that Rodgers did not do last year. He did not turn the ball over. Plassmeyer had 4 interceptions and 2 fumbles last week - against MacMurray, not Scholastica or Northwestern. That is not attributed to his lack of weapons. That much falls on him. My issue is more with the coaching staff than Plassmeyer or Rodgers or any of the players. I simply do not understand how with a lot of the same players this team has fallen so monumentally short of expectations. My guess is that the switch at quarterback is just the beginning of a long list of poor decisions made by this staff.
5. I am awesome at picking games - Not to toot my own horn here or anything but let's just rewind to last Friday and see what my predictions were and compare them to the actual results.
My pick: Scholastica over Crown by 31 Reality: Scholastica over Crown by 32
My pick: Northwestern over MLC by 21 Reality: Northwestern over MLC by 21
My pick: Morris over Presentation by 10 Reality: Morris over Presentation by 7*
*Even though our intern incorrectly posted that Presentation won 35-28 - He's currently running laps to make up for his blunder. Jay's and my apologies go out to Cougar Nation.
My pick: MacMurray over Westminster by 1 Reality: MacMurray over Westminster by 2
My pick: Greenville over Eureka by 10 Reality: Greenville over Eureka by 7
And if you look at the scores, I was even very close on those as well with the exception of the NWC-MLC game. I guess what I am trying to say is, "You are welcome fans of UMAC Central for telling you what is going to happen a day early."
No comments:
Post a Comment