Jay’s Picks-
(6 of 10 Week 1, 6 of 10 on the
Season)
The non-conference
weekend is always challenging to predict, but I managed to squeak out six correct
predictions. To be fair, who in their right mind would have picked Maranatha
Baptist to beat Martin Luther? In truth, the non-conference weekend is more
like a tune-up game for teams in the UMAC. Usually, if a UMAC team gets a win
it’s because they scheduled a cupcake, and if they lose it’s because they got
paid money to get smoked by a much better football team. Not Greenville though,
who gained a very impressive victory over a solid non-conference opponent. That wasn't the only impressive performance. Northwestern played a MIAC team tough for 3 ½ quarters. I don’t know if
St. Olaf will be good this year or not, but that’s not the point. The point is
that a UMAC team took it to a MIAC team, something we haven’t seen in a long
time. Let’s not get too carried away though… the UMAC was 2-8 in non-conference
games—not exactly going to move up the conference rankings with that kind of performance.
Here are some other fun facts about week 1:
- Eureka was the only team to allow less than 30 points with 17. Six teams allowed over 40 points, and 3 teams allowed over 55 points. How bout that defense? Just wait it gets better. 5 teams allowed over 500 yards of offense. Iowa Wesleyan allowed a whopping 609 yards to the Simpson offense. See what I mean?
- 7 teams had less than 100 yards rushing. Surprisingly, Westminster was not one of them.
- The UMAC as a whole went 1 for 5 on field goal attempts. Northwester went 0 for 3 on PATs. Ever heard of a 2 pt. conversion?
- Both Martin Luther and Greenville topped 600 yards on offense. If only Martin Luther had gotten 700, they might have won.
This week is where
the rubber hits the road as they say. Week 2 brings the beginning of UMAC play,
and where we really start seeing what teams are made of.
MacMurray @ Martin Luther- This week is full of tough games to predict,
and I think I am going dub this game "The Race to 50." Whoever gets
to 50 points first, wins. Martin Luther has zero defense, and I mean ZERO
defense. Sure you could say that Maranatha’s offense looked a lot better, but
I’m willing to bet the Knights defense had a lot to do with that. MacMurray
will have every opportunity in the world to score points. On the other side of
the ball, the Knights have some serious firepower led by QB Luke Rothe. The
question I am facing is whether or not MacMurray can score enough points to
beat Martin Luther. I have to pick the home team in this one, but the Knights
will have to score over 50 points to win. Martin
Luther 52 MacMurray 48
Crown @ Westminster- Another game that could go either way in my opinion. The tough thing
is that I have no idea how good the Blue Jays are after losing to Hendrix. I
have some idea about Crown because they played a fairly familiar team in
Macalester. Both passers played well last week, so this game might come down to
the running game. Wesminster had a 100 yard rusher in RB Ronnie Seals Jr. while
Crown’s Amos Schmidt had 17 yards on the ground. Crown, fresh off the
excitement of a new stadium, might be due a setback. Westminster 27 Crown 23
Eureka @ Northwestern-
After winning a close game against a bad
Knox team, Eureka faces a true test in a road trip to Northwestern. The Eagles
appear to have weathered the storm of losing star QB Josh Balzer. However, while QB Jacob Fletcher performed
well against St. Olaf only turning the ball over once, he only averaged 4.8 yards
per attempt. Mysteriously, the Eagles uncharacteristically threw the ball 44
times last week, but I expect to see a heavy dose of RB Josh Sinnen this week.
Eureka, on the other hand, still reveling in winning the Abraham Lincoln Bowl
will face a dose of reality. I think the Red Devils will have success in the
air especially against a secondary that got torched against St. Olaf, but in
the past, the Eagles pass rush has completely owned Eureka's offensive line. I like Northwestern to win big in their home
opener (which means Eureka will remain at 0% of UMAC Central's prediction for
those keeping track at home). Northwestern 38 Eureka 20
Minnesota Morris @ Greenville- If you would have asked me last week, I
would have said that this would have been the game of the week. Instead, while
Greenville was ensuring a chance to go 10-0 on the season, Morris laid a
massive egg on opening week. The Cougars can only hope that Hamline wins
another game or two. How embarrassing would it be to be the only win for a team
two years in a row? I'm sure QB Brendan Chambers was grinning from ear to ear
as he watched film of the Morris defense giving up 520 yards to an
unspectacular Hamline team. That being said, Morris did only play one QB for
the majority of the game so there's your silver lining. I don’t think the question
is who will win; rather how much will Greenville win by? Greenville 52 Morris 21
Game of the Week
Iowa
Wesleyan @ St. Scholastica- The big story is IWC HC Tom Parkevich returning to Duluth to lead the
Tigers against the Saints. This game will serve as a litmus test for the
Tigers, and give us an idea of where they stand in the UMAC. QB Zandro Diaz and
WR Ridge Hobbs should pose a challenge to the Saints, but the Saints have the
best secondary in the UMAC. The Saints offense, and quite frankly the success
of the season, will be riding on the shoulders of QB Tyler Harper. After a
three interception performance, he may even be fighting to keep the starting QB
job. Some of his throws remind me of Mark Sanchez throws. If he did lose the
job, I think Harper could plug in at WR and make a big impact. However, I don't see that happening anytime soon. It's
one thing to play Whitworth and another thing completely to play UMAC teams.
The Saints will be able to beat most teams with a tough defense and a good
ground game, but against the better teams in the UMAC, Harper will have to
throw the football efficiently. Against the Tigers, I think the defense and the
ground game will be enough. Saint Scholastica 27 Iowa Wesleyan 14
No comments:
Post a Comment