1. Northwestern’s offensive formula is pretty simple. Run the football and then use play action to get big plays from the passing game. RB’s Josh Sinnen and Chris Simon-Wallace are both averaging over 6 yards a carry. The only team capable of stopping Northwestern’s run game on the schedule was St. John’s who made it tough on the Eagles’ run game and forced QB Josh Balzer into mistakes. Greenville and Eureka both allow over 175 yards a game on the ground so it doesn’t look like there are any teams that can stop Northwestern. The only hope teams like Greenville and St. Scholastica have to win the conference is if Greenville or Eureka can outscore Northwestern. Good luck.
2. St. Scholastica. Those are the Saints that we all know and love. After a sloppy win last week against a bad Westminster team, the Saints never let Crown have any breathing room. QB Tyler Harper played well, granted against an average Crown secondary, and shows promise for next year. There isn’t much else to say about this team. They are hands down the second best team in the conference and if they played Northwestern again 9 other times they’d probably win 4 to 5 times. Unfortunately, that won’t cut it this year. The Saints are living on a prayer.
3. Greenville was up 35 to 7 at halftime. All of the perennial Panther benchwarmers started doing some high knees/ butt kicks during the half to get warmed up. And then they allowed 35 points in the second half. I’m convinced that if Eureka would have had one more legitimate possession, they would have tied it up. At this point of the season there are no secrets; they Panthers defense couldn’t stop a powderpuff team, but it won’t matter until they play Northwestern. They had better figure out how to play defense in that game because if they haven’t noticed, Northwestern’s offense is not too shabby. Greenville has figured out how to win these types of games, but I’m not sure winning shootouts week in and week out is a recipe for long term success.
4. Minnesota Morris is better than any of the teams below them in the power rankings, but they can’t beat anyone ahead of them in the rankings. That is to say there is not much of a middle class in the UMAC this year. As predicted, WR Brandon Foss had a big impact on the game on Saturday. (Hint: if Morris wants to beat St. Scholastica, I would figure out a way to get Foss the ball). Both QB’s are playing well lately so no controversy there. After much deliberation, the only reason that I see that Morris plays two QB’s is that both are seniors and neither QB separates himself from the other so the coaches decided to play them almost equal amounts. Morris should finish the season 6-4 after a win at Crown and a loss to St. Scholastica. Not a bad season for the Cougars.
5. Eureka almost pulled off the upset against Greenville, but they were not able to overcome their mistakes made in the first half. That could be the story of the season for Eureka. So close…but not close enough. The Red Devils welcome Northwestern to town this week.
6. Martin Luther. Oh boy, I’ve done it now. Martin Luther doesn’t even have a conference win and I have them at 6? Here’s the deal, my power rankings aren’t based on conference standings. Instead, it’s based on the fact that I think that if Martin Luther played any of the teams below them at a neutral site they would win the game. They put up 26 points against Northwestern. That’s more than anyone else in the conference, and I’d venture to bet that defense is still pretty solid even though they have been giving up a lot of points lately.
7. Crown. You haven’t done anything to deserve this spot or done anything to lose it. You are beating the teams that I expected you to beat and losing to teams I knew you would lose to. I believe that could be a definition of mediocrity.
8. MacMurray. I didn’t go back to check, but I do believe this is your first week out of the cellar. Congratulations! Tommy was just plain giddy about your victory. It’s like he actually played the game with you or something. Unfortunately for the staff at UMAC Central, your victory has created something of a monster. We’ll never hear the end of it. No matter, hopefully this can give MacMurray something to build on in the future.
9. Westminster. The bad news: There is no such thing as a UMAC draft where the worse you play the better draft pick you get. The good news: it’s been reported that none of your players fell out of the endzone (although that probably would have been a good thing because that might have meant that you scored a little more often) and your fans are safe even though one leg of the visitor’s bleachers hangs off of the hill. There’s always a silver lining.
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