The Week that Was: Week 7

Can you believe there are only three games left until nine teams pack it up for the year and four games left for the lucky team who earns the UMAC AQ to the NCAA Playoffs? We are still pulling for that three-way tie and we are hoping maybe we can turn the random draw into a big, more interesting event like the NBA draft lottery. Better go buy some ping-pong balls, Mr. Borchardt. Until then though, we still have a lot of interesting things going on in the UMAC, so I will highlight some of those recent UMAC happenings as we look back on the week that was.

Crown Wins Again in an Overtime Game

The last two games for Crown College have been tied up as regulation ended, needing an extra period to be decided. Fortunately for the Storm, they came out victorious in both games, with kicker Kurt Fickle knocking in a field goal to win each game. They were also an extra point away from a potential overtime the week before against Greenville, but Fickle was unable to put that through the uprights. The average margin of victory/defeat for the Storm in their conference games this season is 8.5 points, meaning that on average their games all end with just over a one possession margin, showing the games could pretty easily go either way. With a young team and an offense that has been developing as the seasons goes on, this team should only get better next year. UMAC coaches should have this team on their radar if they don't already.

Northwestern Loses Again in an Undertime Game

If you don't remember last week, I coined the term "undertime" for games that are "decidedly over before the fourth quarter starts". Well I've decided to add a second definition to the word - "The period of a game which a team deems as not necessary to perform in." Northwestern opened up their game with a 20-0 lead over the conference-leading Greenville Panthers and nearly made it to halftime with a 20-7 lead. But poor clock management led them to letting the Panthers score just before the halftime buzzer sounded, leaving the Eagles with only a 6 point advantage at the half. Long story short, the Eagles treated the fourth quarter as "undertime" and Greenville ends up taking the lead just as the fourth quarter started and never gave it up, winning 37-24. As Jay reported in the Week 7 Power Rankings, the Eagles have led halftime in 5 of 6 conference games, but hold just a 3-3 UMAC record, that could have easily been 2-4 if Minnesota-Morris had completed their comeback. It makes you wonder if the Eagles forget to eat their Wheaties on game day.

un·der·time

/n., adj.

noun
1. a sporting event or game that is decidedly over before the final period. 

2. a period of a sporting event or game which a team deems as not necessary to perform in.

adjective

3. of or for undertime; undertime game

Usage:

ex: Did you see the Northwestern game? They thought it was an undertime game and didn't play the fourth quarter!

Fun with Numbers

-Crown rushed for 313 yards this week, the second week in a row they have surpassed 300 yards on the ground after going for 364 yards last week. That two-game combined total of 677 yards is 63% more than they had in the first 5 games of the season combined.

-Greenville was a perfect 5/5 (100%) on 4th down this week in their victory.

-Iowa Wesleyan went 2 for 13 (15%) on third down, and won.

-in 40 offensive plays, St. Scholastica only had three third downs, of which they converted only one, and still won by 34.

-St. Scholastica's time of possession this week was 18 minutes, and they won by 34.

-St. Scholastica won by 34.

-Greenville is on a 15 game win streak, going back to September 22, 2012. During that streak, Brendan Chambers has rushed for 26 touchdowns while losing only 2 fumbles.

-Facing Northwestern, Greenville's QB Brendan Chambers was prevented from scoring a rushing touchdown for the first game since the two teams faced each other last year in the regular season.

-This season, there have been four total safeties in the UMAC, all four have occurred for or against Northwestern.

Poll Position
In our poll last week, we asked our readers who would be our UMAC champions this season, or if there would be a 2 or 3 way tie. Here are the results:

(Photo credit to me and my computer for the fantastic screenshot)

48% of our readers pick Greenville to win and another 13% voted for a 3-way tie, which unless Brendan Chambers has been texting all of his friends to go vote thus skewing our statistics, tells us that the Panthers are the heavy favorites throughout the conference to win or co-win the championship.

(Not-so) Silly Social Media

Between our Facebook, Twitter, and Blog, we had a lot of genuine posts by our readers this week and we are not sure what to think about it:

First off, there is this comment on our blog from Anonymous who said that we "make [their] week every week."

I don't know what kind of sad life they live if we make their week EVERY week, but I guess when you go to school in middle-of-nowhere St. Bonifacious it probably doesn't take much. But you're welcome, hope this makes your week again!

Then my favorite player, Jamarco "Tommy's Boy" Clark, gets all sentimental about the UMAC.

If you guys want to have even better sporstsmanship, you could start hugging each other and writing thank you cards to each other after games. Maybe then the UMAC can win the NCAA Sportsmanship Award!

Finally, former MacMurray QB Cody Hussey, who left the Highlanders to go who knows where (maybe he fell off their game field into a ditch?), said it was an honor to play for us.

I was not aware you guys all played for us, but then again I guess Iowa Wesleyan did just win a game for me last week, according to my man, Jamarco.

So after all that touchy-feely emotional stuff, I need to recoup and get myself together. Please feel free to comment and tweet at us this week without so much thoughtfulness because I need some material for next week...