Have you ever had deja, deja, deja, deja vu? As the dust settled from week 8 of UMAC action I was left with one clear, overriding thought - At this point in the season, the teams of the UMAC are what they are. And in case you were wondering what exactly they are, I detailed that for you below. It may look a lot like Power Rankings, but give me a break. I can't keep coming up with fresh ideas for articles indefinitely.
Northwestern - Best team in the conference. They have proven it week in and week out. They certainly still have a big hurdle to overcome in Greenville, but at this point they have absolutely earned the right to be called the best team in the UMAC by destroying the teams they should destroy and coming out with a couple close victories on the road over St. Scholastica and Eureka. The Eagles definitely have weaknesses and are by no means unbeatable, but they just keep winning.
St. Scholastica - Good but losing air fast. For the past year and a half, the St. Scholastica Saints had this swagger about them and they thought that they were unbeatable. Everyone from their players to their coaches to their fans felt vastly superior to every other team in the conference. Then little old Northwestern went up to Duluth and stole their aura of invincibility. Ever since then, teams think they can beat the Saints and their own players feel the same way. Suddenly they are going in to overtime with Presentation. Yikes. Still a good team, but something has changed.
Greenville - Quietly good. After taking a 45-3 shellacking from Scholastica, the Panthers have taken a back seat to NWC and CSS in the conference race. But they have quietly gone about their business and beaten everyone they have played since that time. It has not always been pretty, but for the second year in a row Greenville has an opportunity to string together 7 straight wins to end the season. That is, if their defense can get out of its own way. We will find out soon enough.
UM-Morris - Just keeps winning... sort of. Not only has it not always been pretty, it has been downright ugly at times. But the Cougars do keep winning. And while it took a furious comeback and a missed extra point for them to beat Crown, they did win and their are no asterisks next to their record.* Senior leadership at key positions (including double the senior leadership at quarterback)gives them the edge in close games against evenly matched opponents. They seem to believe in themselves and maybe that gives them a shot this week against a St. Scholastica team who seems to have lost some confidence.
Eureka - The all-hype team. Losses to Scholastica, Greenville, Morris, and Northwestern prove that Eureka lacks the substance to compete at any sort of significant level. The last drive of the game against Northwestern was a perfect microcosm of their entire season. With an opportunity for a game-winning drive, the ball was in the hands of their senior, record-setting, star quarterback getting scouted by NFL teams. Everything was set up for a magical moment. And what happens? Interception. Third of the game by the way. Close, but no cigar. Just like their entire season.
Martin Luther - The scrappy battlers. They are completely outmatched across the board by nearly all of their opponents. But ask any of the top teams in the UMAC and they will tell you that they do not enjoy playing Martin Luther. I admire the attitude this team plays with. It's hard to root against the Knights this year.
Crown - So close, but yet so far. Another loss by a missed kick - second of the year. Talk about deja vu. They just can't quite get it done. At some point a loss is a loss and those losses are starting to stack up for Crown regardless of whether they are by 1 or 34.
MacMurray - Getting better, but not quite there (And by 'there' I mean the 7th best team in the conference) They battled Martin Luther but ended up on the wrong end of the scoreboard. The Highlanders have demonstrated some gumption, but the program is coming up short even more than Crown and Martin Luther.
Westminster - Inept. Passing 77 times wasn't the answer against MacMurray. So their coaches figured passing 79 times against Greenville was the solution. I am hoping for 90 passes this week. Westminster is really just ahead of its time. It's just a matter of time before the rest of the country realizes that you must pass over 80 times to win a game.
*Although they did lose to Hamline.
No comments:
Post a Comment