Week 7 Power Rankings

There are always injuries in football, but UMAC Central would like to keep the injured players that forced an early ending to the Northwestern/Crown football game in our thoughts and wish them a speedy recovery. That being said, injuries are a part of the game and we wouldn’t want to dilute our Power Rankings too much.

1.  Northwestern just keeps on rolling along. All year we have talked about the offense and how explosive it is, but the defense has been equally as impressive. We knew that DE Josh Swore was in line to have good year, but DE Nathan Van Zee is a pleasant surprise. Top to bottom, this defense is very solid and took advantage of a young Crown football team. Three games remain on the schedule: Martin Luther, Eureka, and Greenville. The Eagles will be favored in every game, but Martin Luther’s offense is coming around and we know that defense is excellent. It’s not a cakewalk, but Northwestern has plenty of talent to make it happen.

2.  St. Scholastica. If you were trying to pinpoint one thing different and explain the difference from last year’s team to this years team, look no further than the QB position. Obviously, its tough to replace a host of all-conference players, but it doesn’t get any more difficult than the QB position. The Saints got spoiled by Alex Thiry’s ability to make big plays, be extremely efficient, and take care of the football. Its not that QB Tyler Harper isn’t good, but he’s inconsistent, turns the ball over too much, and hasn’t shown the ability to make plays when it matters (3^rd down, last drive against Northwestern, etc.)  Harper is a young QB so look for a big time improvement next year, but if you wanted to try and explain this year…look no further than the guy taking the snaps.

3.  Greenville is like West Virginia. They have no defense, but can outscore anyone on any given day. When the offense has an off day you get a game like they did against St. Scholastica. It’s all in the hands of QB Brendan Chambers and RB Manny Gamble, but if they have any hopes of beating Northwestern, they better start working of the defensive side of the ball. Martin Luther had been averaging less than a touchdown a game for a total of 43 points in conference play. Yep, folks that’s the entire conference year. From September 8^th to October 12^th the Martin Luther Knights had score a total of 43 points. The Panthers defense let them score 39.

4.  Minnesota Morris is probably clamoring about how we have done them injustice all season long. So here is my confession for the year. Against all odds, mainly the fact that the coaching staff is indecisive enough to play 2 QB’s coupled with the existence of  two starting offensive linemen so large they can’t get into a legitimate stance, and barring a setback against Crown; Minnesota Morris has solidified itself as the fourth best team in the conference. This does not mean in any way, shape, or form that I give them any chance of beating St. Scholastica.

5.  Eureka has to be very dissapointed. The thought process was that they wouldn’t be able to run the table because of Northwestern or Greenville, not Morris. The Red Devils don’t have a good enough running game, and QB Sam Durley just can’t pull out video game numbers on a weekly basis. Unfortunately, the team puts too much pressure on Durley to put up points and it hurts them big time.

6.  Westminster played surprisingly well against St. Scholastica. Or should I say, they somehow managed to keep it close while only having the ball 18 minutes. The weather was their friend on Saturday. This team gets to close the season out with two games against MacMurray. Can anyone tell me how they get to play the Highlanders twice? It’s almost a travesty to play them once much less twice. For all MacMurray fans screaming bloody murder, I’ll get to you later.

7.  Martin Luther earns this spot by almost doubling their offensive output. If they can put points up on the board, I’m telling you that defense is tough.

8.  Crown. I’m usually not into saying I told you so. So how about nice try.

9.  MacMurray. So far this season, not much has been posted down here in the nine spot except cruel jokes that randomly pop into my head (as in the one I snuck in with the Westminster ranking…sneaky huh?). I know, I know, there are definitely wittier minds than mine. Here is my unbiased assesment of your football team. It’s not that you don’t have any players that aren’t good, it’s the fact that your entire program is in shambles. Let’s start with the field and facilities. I have no idea what the name is, but I have a suggestion: “The Dump.” More importantly other kids are stronger, faster, and are being taught better schemes and techniques. It all comes down to the program investing in weight training, conditioning, film study, and to coaches that understand how to implement a new mindset to your program. Until then, your record for the season will continue to reflect the state of your football program. 

Week 6 Game Recaps

Greenville College Panthers at Martin Luther College Knights
We predicted a close game with Greenville taking home the win, and we were spot on as the score was 46-39 in favor of the Panthers. However, it did not happen in the way we expected. Prior to this week, Martin Luther's stout defense had not given up many yards (276) or points (16) per game, and their offense was underperforming while struggling to find an identity. That all changed this week as the Knights allowed Greenville to gain 553 total yards and score 49 points. But the MLC offense was also able to find a rhythm, perhaps for the first time this year, and almost put together a comeback behind dynamic QB Luke Rothe, who threw for 223 yards and 4 TDs while also rushing for 78 yards and a score. The Knights equaled their previous season total for points in this game, but they still haven't kicked their turnover habit and had 2 lost fumbles which may have been the difference in the game. Greenville QB Brendan Chambers had a great game himself with a season high 230 passing yards while also scoring 4 times with his feet. Defensively, the Knights DB Benjamin Olson had 25 total tackles and was one of 5 MLC players with 15 or more tackles. Greenville moves to 4-1 in conference play and still remains in the hunt for the conference championship. Martin Luther still has yet to win a UMAC game and this will not get any easier as they face the dominant Northwestern Eagles next week in Saint Paul, MN.

College of St. Scholastica Saints at Westminster College Blue Jays
If you can control the clock, you can usually control the game, and the Saints dominated the time of possession in this game, their 38.5 minutes more than doubled the Blue Jays 18 minutes of possession (yes, good math Einstein, that is only 56.5 minutes). Needless to say, Westminster's offense struggled against the Saints defense and only produced only 183 yards of total offense. QB Joe Plassmeyer was inefficient, only averaging 5.1 yards per throw and their running game would have been just as effective taking a knee rather than handing the ball off. St. Scholastica's defense was tough as always and have clearly been the ones carrying their team this season as their offense still has weaknesses to clean up. QB Tyler Harper's completion percentage on the year is just above 50% and is lower than any other starting UMAC quarterback and their 36% 3rd down conversion rate is 2nd worst in the conference. On a good note for the offense, their running backs seem to be fairly effective no matter who it is in the backfield, as both Thomas Fragle and Chris Gassert gained 85+ yards and helped lead the Saints to a 20-6 victory in a game that was cut 3 1/2 minutes short due to inclement weather. The Saints can work on their offense next week as the young Crown College team makes a visit, while Westminster heads to MacMurray for their first of two meetings with the Highlanders in the final three weeks.

Northwestern College Eagles at Crown College Storm
--Before we start, we would like to give our best wishes to the players who were seriously injured in this game and hope for a full and speedy recovery to them all.--
I appreciate the positive and hopeful attitude I saw on Twitter from Crown in the week heading up to the game as there were multiple #BeatNorthwestern hashtags from their players. And they were correct in that Northwestern would "not know what hit them" - in the same sense that I do not know what I hit when a bug splatters on my car's windshield. Northwestern put the pedal to the metal to race to a final score of 34-0, which seems acceptable for Crown until you realize the game was ended four minutes after halftime due to the previously mentioned injuries. The Eagles had 291 yards at the end of the first half while the Storm had barely gained 100 yards by the time the game was called. The Eagles scored early and often starting with RB Josh Sinnen's 15 yard sprint into the end zone less than three minutes into the game. 3 Crown turnovers later, QB Josh Balzer scored with a 2 yard run of his own to make the score 27-0 at the beginning of the 2nd quarter. Five minutes later, a 3-yard pass to TE Matt Damman for his second touchdown catch on the day ended the scoring for the game. The Eagles had few errors if in this game and continue to be undefeated in the UMAC. The one positive take away from this game for the Storm is that they do have some loud fans, as anyone who watched the game online can attest to.

University of Minnesota - Morris Cougars at Eureka College Red Devils
You don't normally hear about two quarterbacks winning in the same football game, but then again, how normal is a 2-Quarterback led offense? Cougar QBs Daniel Gerrigan (QB1) and Derrick Foss (QB2) came away with the victory but they should give most of the credit to their defense who stopped the Red Devils offense. Eureka has been mostly ineffective this year when their running game does not produce and that  trend continued this week as they only netted 37 yards on the ground on 27 attempts. UM-Morris LB Cody Hickman led the Cougars in stopping the run with 5 tackles in the backfield for a loss of 15 yards and DB Trevor Checkal had 3 pass breakups as well as a key interception late to end a promising drive by Eureka. Cougars receiver Danny Kernan caught 5 catches for 125 yards and 2 TDs from QB1 to lead the statline for UM-Morris. Eureka QB Sam Durley had a decent day, going 22/44 for 271 yards and led a 4th quarter comeback attempt, hooking up with WR Cody Followell for 2 TDs, but that was not enough as the Cougars held on to win 27-23. UM-Morris moves to 4-2 in UMAC play and takes a break from conference play next week to welcome the Presentation Saints into town. The next 2 weeks will be tough for Eureka as they face the Panthers in Greenville next week and then get a visit from the Northwestern Eagles at the end of October.

Week 6 Predictions - Tommy

Tommy’s Picks (4 of 5 Week 5, 17 of 24 on the Season)

I had a pretty good showing in my predictions last week even picking up a game on Jay. And the one game that I missed on was the Northwestern-Scholastica game and I did say that it would be close and low-scoring so I almost want to give myself a half point on that one. Oh well, I guess if Martin Luther doesn't get moral victories neither do I. On a side not, I thoroughly enjoyed Jay's article this week. His journalism skills just keep getting better. He is truly like a fine wine - gets better with time.

Northwestern @ Crown- For a half a second I thought to myself, "This could potentially be a trip-up game for Northwestern. They are feeling invincible coming off a huge win and Crown always gets amped to play the Eagles. Then I saw this:

(The Crown player's identity has been hidden for the sake of retaining his dignity). I actually started laughing when I came across this brazen tweet. May I remind all Crown faithful followers that you did lose to Westminster by 3 scores - a team that Northwestern beat 49-7. Crown reminds me of a fifteen year-old boy that has just started to hit puberty. Now, all of a sudden he thinks he can take on his Dad. Quickly, Dad throws him in a headlock and puts him back in his place. Metaphorically speaking, Northwestern will put Crown in a headlock this Saturday and show them who their daddy is. Northwestern 38 Crown 13

St. Scholastica @ Westminster-  I do not envy the Blue Jays this week. Their best chance of beating the Saints was if Scholastica annihilated Northwestern and went down to Missouri half asleep. Unfortunately, I do not see that happening after last week. Since all intrigue is now gone, I will spend the rest of this paragraph expressing my disappointment with these teams. First, Westminster's overall effort this year. I expected much more from this team and either their talent has dropped off by 80% or they have completely mailed it in. Please Blue Jays, play with some pride this weekend and make this game close at least. My disappointment also extends to the Saints offense last week. I thought you were the real deal. Apparently, losing Alex Thiry and Keegan O'Neill was a death blow to your aerial attack because your passing game was putrid last week. Please get things together and steamroll the rest of your opponents this year in case Northwestern does drop a game. Scholastica 38 Westminster 7

Greenville @ Martin Luther - I really, really think that Martin Luther might win this weekend. The question is, can I bring myself to actually pick them? I think Greenville 's offense might be stifled if Martin Luther can shut down their running game. Actually, scratch that - Greenville's offense will be stifled if Martin Luther can shut down their running game because they cannot pass. Will that happen though? I say yes. Sort of. Greenville will not be able to have their way on the ground as they have become accustomed. But, they will be able to get in the end zone a few times and that will be enough to win. Martin Luther will put some drives together and will control the clock. But, they are who they are and that is a turnover machine. The Knights make a few big mistakes and the Panthers sneak out with a hard-fought win. Greenville 20 Martin Luther 14

GAME OF THE WEEK

Minnesota Morris @ Eureka – I was already baffled about the aforementioned tweet from a Crown player... then I saw this:
 

 

 

My confusion lies on 2 primary levels: 1) I picked Morris to win last week so I'm not sure why I have to suck it. 2) Do you really want to claim a victory over lowly Westminster as your statement win? Need I remind you that Northwestern made you look like a junior high team and you didn't fare much better against Greenville? And you lost to Hamline! Beating the 7th best team in the UMAC does not entitle you to any bragging rights. Because of my disdain for the delusion of the Cougars I am picking the Red Devils this week. And even if the Cougars do win that will still not impress me. I will allow you to say whatever you want once you finish higher than fourth in the UMAC. Until then, keep your nose to the grindstone and focus on your play. Eureka 35 Morris 24

Week 6 Predictions-Jay

Jay’s Picks (3 of 5 Week 5, 19 of 24 on the Season)

This last week was the most exciting week of games to date in the UMAC. Northwestern is the new top dog in the conference…for now. I did not pick games according to my standards but on the bright side I guess this means I can empathize with Tommy a little bit more. This is the week of lists. I don’t know why. I just started making picks and noticed a nice little “list trend.” I hope it gets me back to picking games a little bit better. MacMurray is on a bye, so no freebies this week.

Northwestern @ Crown- This is an interesting matchup for two reasons: 1) Northwestern is coming off of a very emotional win against St. Scholastica and 2) Crown plays its best football of the year against Northwestern. I expect Northwestern to come out a little sluggish and let Crown hang around for a while, but ultimately the Eagles have too much talent to lose this game. Crown, remember, Baby Steps.  Northwestern 41 Crown 20

St. Scholastica @ Westminster- I fully expect St. Scholastica to be absolutely ticked this week. It doesn’t matter who they play or where. Get ready for 60 minutes of some pissed off Saints. On the other hand, Westminster is a team that has been subpar all season long with no signs of showing up after a particularly lame effort last week against Minnesota Morris. The only way that Westminster wins this game is if all of the following happens: 1) QB Tyler Harper throws 5 interceptions this week 2) All of the rest of the Saints skill players get hurt and DL Chas Lemon has to play RB 3) Carl Givens discovers that he has more eligibility and starts at WR for Westminster 4) Ray Lewis and Herm Edwards tag team the pregame pep talk to Westminster and finally 5) Westminster allows Tommy to suit up and play nose tackle (Needless to say, it wouldn’t be pretty). St. Scholastica 56 Westminster 14

Greenville @ Martin Luther- Greenville was less than impressive against MacMurray last week and faces a team that has a much better defense, and an improving offense. Greenville’s backfield punch of QB Brendan Chambers and RB Manny Gamble has been outstanding this year both averaging over 6 yards a carry but Greenville hasn’t seen a run defense like Martin Luther’s since they played St. Scholastica. The Knights problem is that they just can’t score. They are averaging only 6.5 points a game in conference play (I refuse to count the 30 points they scored on Maranatha Baptist). I expect a close game, even though the score might not be close, for three reasons: 1) It’s in New Ulm and I’m pretty sure the refs are actually Martin Luther professors 2) The Knights defense is outstanding 3) Greenville’s defense is not which means that if the Knights are going to have a good game on offense (and by good game I mean more than 14 points) this might be the game for it to happen. Greenville will still win by double digits. Greenville 34 Martin Luther 21

GAME OF THE WEEK

Minnesota Morris @ Eureka – You can call this the battle of the three QB’s. Eureka’s Sam Durley will be battling against Minnesota Morris’s QB’s Dan Gerrigan and Derick Foss. In Minnesota Morris’s case, two QB’s actually means that you have zero QB’s. On a positive note, both QB’s will benefit from WR Brandon Foss becoming more and more a part of the offense. Morris has been feeling underappreciated as of late probably because 1) we didn’t make WR Brandon Foss our outstanding player of the week for his good game against Westminster (sorry Brandon). Or maybe 2) it’s because we have ragged on the 2-QB system all year. Finally, it could be 3) I picked a subpar Westminster team to beat them last week. Anyway you slice it; the Cougars are looking to prove themselves in a big game. Here’s the way I’ll put it, if WR Brandon Foss goes off again…this is actually a big time game and would warrant an outstanding player of the week award.  Eureka has played well in back to back weeks and will enjoy another home game. The defense has been playing better, but they still haven’t faced an offense like, wow was I about to say Morris? Ok, Morris won’t scare anyone but the offenses that Eureka has been facing make Morris look respectable. I expect this game to be a fairly high scoring affair with Eureka QB Sam Durley leading a 4^th quarter touchdown drive to win the game. Eureka 35 Morris 31

Bye MacMurray

What we Learned in Week 5

Coming off the most exciting week thus far in the UMAC we are starting to get a clear picture of how the conference will line up at the end of the year... or do we? Northwestern appears ready to claim their first conference title in four years and first ever playoff birth. However, if there is one thing that I have learned this year, it is to expect the unexpected. Northwestern still has to play Eureka and Greenville to assure themselves of a conference title and if either of those teams can pull off the upset we might just have some BCS chaos - or at least the UMAC version of that. I will limit my observations to 3 this week. Now that the season is nearing its conclusion I no longer care to elaborate on the mediocrity of the bottom half of the conference. Sorry guys.

1. Northwestern is back on top - Enjoy your big win Northwestern. You deserve it. You shocked just about everyone except yourselves by going up to Duluth and handing the Saints their first conference loss in two years. While I still see some big holes in the Eagles passing game, they can run the ball as well as anyone and their defense is stifling. The Eagles gameplan was simple - Scholastica knew what they were going to do and yet they continued to stick it to them play after play. Northwestern definitely appears to be the best team in the conference right now. But they shouldn't get too cozy on top of the mountain. They have a huge target on their back now and everyone will be gunning for them knowing that a win over the Eagles gives them a shot at the conference title. I expect some good battles with Eureka and Greenville to come in the upcoming weeks.

2. Stop with the excuses St. Scholastica - I have been as big of a supporter of St. Scholastica as anyone this season. I wrote on here a few weeks ago that they were head and shoulders above the rest of the conference and would easily win the UMAC again. But not only did they lose a tough one this weekend, but they followed it up with an embarrassing display of excuses. I am sure that this does not represent all Saints players or fans, but there have been more than enough cry babies to leave a bad taste in the mouth of everyone. From the announcers blaming everything from the fact that the field wasn't technically their home field to the refs being unfair to a lucky play I have heard just about every imaginable excuse.

First off, if anything it was a neutral field - it certainly wasn't Northwestern's home field. Second, this is the UMAC. All refs are terrible. These aren't NFL refs - well actually I can't say that this year... Regardless, the officiating did not determine that game. And finally, the play where Josh Balzer somehow completed a prayer to Josh Sinnen was about as lucky as David Tyree catching that pass in the Super Bowl off Rodney Harrison's helmet. Lucky or amazing depending on your perspective. Now I see comments from Scholastica players talking about how Northwestern isn't even good. Unbelievable. You lost. It was a close game between two good teams and someone had to lose. Unfortunately for Saints players it was you this time. But, please, show some class in losing and get back to work. Take you anger out on the rest of the conference this year instead of crying about lucky plays.

3. There will be some excitement the rest of the season - Had Scholastica beaten Northwestern the conference would have been all but locked up. Now, it is wide open. I am sure that Northwestern feels that they can beat anyone now that they have beaten the Saints - and rightly so. But in my mind, the toughest games are yet to come. Yes, Scholastica smoked Eureka and Greenville but I am not a big believer in the transitive property when it comes to football. Each week is a new week and a team that knows they can claim a share of the conference title with a win is a dangerous team. I expect some close games and some chaos coming down the stretch. Northwestern's fate will be in their own hands but it could come down to their final game at home against a Greenville team that rallied from 23 points down scoring 27 points in the fourth quarter to end Northwestern's season last year. From a fan's perspective, it doesn't get any better than that.