FB: USA South Athletic Conference

[Wild Horse Rider]

If Methodist can win in Rocky Mount this Saturday it would essentially lock up the East division championship.  I have had scheduling conflicts for the first two games so I am hoping to see some of this weekends contest online.  It seems like they answered one of my questions heading into this year and there are two capable running backs on the team based on the stat lines.  The QB Bullins looks like he could be the best in the conference for the next few years.  I am assuming that Brevard now owns the tie breaker with Huntingdon based on margin of victory.  Assuming both beat Maryville (I'm certainly not saying that this is a given) in the next two weeks Brevard would win the West.

[Hawks88]

How about some college football today in Montgomery, AL? All three schools with football have home games.
Huntingdon-Maryville @1
Faulkner-Reinhardt @2
Alabama St- Jackson St @3

Go Hawks!

[Hawks88]

So...anybody know yet who plays who next week?

[Hawks88]

So...anybody know yet who plays who next week?

Not sure how the tie was broken but just saw this on facebook -
Hawks Football will travel to Methodist for the Spring 2021 USA South Conference Championship on Saturday, April 3rd. Kickoff is set for 1pm eastern. As a reminder, visiting fans will not be allowed.

[Hawks88]

I'm hearing they went with the coin-toss.

[BSCpanthers]

Good luck Hawks, go get that jewelry, just makes it sweeter when we beat you next season. 

[Wild Horse Rider]

On paper this matchup favors the Monarchs for the conference title.  There were two crossover games between the east and west divisions with the west winning both.  Methodist has had decent offensive outputs and the defense has held their own.  I worry about the Hawks RPO game and allowing a short pass turn into 6 points.  The legs of the Hawks QB will likely be a concern.  Methodist has somehow done ok against Huntingdon since they have been in the league going 3-4 against them.  But if you look at the individual games the losses have not been close and the wins have been shootouts.  I'm not sure if the Hawks have the same firepower this season and I also think Methodist's defense is playing better.  I think if Methodist can score 28 they should come away with a win.

Regardless of the outcome of this weekends game I am very optimistic about Methodist's outlook for the 2021 Fall season.  Last week was the senior game and only one starter/contributor was honored.  If everyone returns which I know is not realistic here is what they have:

QB- All-Conference/POTY potential.  He is a SO
RB- 2 headed monster.  All Conference Potential.  One is a SO and one is a JR
WR- Started 2 SOs, a JR, and a SR (who I believe will be coming back).  I would not be surprised if Moore and McNeil are All Conference contenders and Pralyow is a threat as a runner, receiver, and returner
OL- 4 JR starters (2 have been starting since FR year) and a FR return. 
DL- FR Nose Guard could be a handful for the next few years.  SR and SO DE aren't too bad at rushing the passer.  The SR has 7 sacks in 4 games.  There was a decent looking FR that got plenty of playing time at DE.  They could stand some depth behind the nose guard.
LB- Started a FR and a JR.  Both play the run very well
S- This is the strength of the defense.  SOs Grady and Hill are very talented and the SR Jones is a 2 time all-conference player.  2 FR got some good experience this spring as well.
CB- This is where they look thin.  A FR started all 4 games though and he looks pretty good for a FR.  They lose a starter here
P- SR returning all conference
K- SO started every game as a FR and is fairly accurate

[Subway Alum]

It almost had to be a coin toss that put Huntingdon in the 2021 spring title game over Brevard.  Because Brevard played Averett outside the division (and won), they ended up with a divisional 2-1 record, tied with Huntingdon. But head-to-head Brevard was clearly better than Huntingdon despite each team's winning at home. Brevard also beat Maryville more convincingly than Huntingdon did. Instead of the title game Brevard gets N.C. Wesleyan, but at least it will be a home game on Brevard's new field. Brevard should win that one handily, then beat non-conference Sewanee the following week for a solid 5-1 season that will give them momentum going into the fall.

I'm not saying that Huntingdon getting the title game is necessarily unfair. This has been a weird part-season, and the chance of a divisional tie was pretty high. Best of luck to Huntingdon--they built a decent lead in the opener against Brevard and hung on. But the result two weeks later in Brevard was probably more indicative of the relative strength of the teams.

[Pat Coleman]

Certainly seemed better but the record between the two teams in head-to-head competition was 1-1 and that's what is in the tiebreaker. The tiebreakers weren't designed for divisional play and weren't designed for football teams playing each other twice, otherwise they might well have considered a total points/margin of victory tiebreaker. But those don't necessarily work well in three-way ties because it encourages running up the score.

In a year where there is divisional play instead of conference play, it makes sense that the tiebreakers are based on divisional play. That's logical, but not spelled out to everyone's satisfaction, leaving that hole for all the posts on social media to be put out there.

[Hawks88]

Certainly seemed better but the record between the two teams in head-to-head competition was 1-1 and that's what is in the tiebreaker. The tiebreakers weren't designed for divisional play and weren't designed for football teams playing each other twice, otherwise they might well have considered a total points/margin of victory tiebreaker. But those don't necessarily work well in three-way ties because it encourages running up the score.

In a year where there is divisional play instead of conference play, it makes sense that the tiebreakers are based on divisional play. That's logical, but not spelled out to everyone's satisfaction, leaving that hole for all the posts on social media to be put out there.

The divisional play only was spelled out in the 2/10 pre-season poll announcement.

"Due to complications stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 football season was postponed until the spring semester. Despite the delay to the start of the season, the USA South is prepared to offer regular season and championship experiences for its student-athletes despite the NCAA's cancelation of the national Division III tournament. An adjustment to this season's competition is that USA South football teams will be competing in Conference-sponsored regular season games within their division only. "

https://www.usasouth.net/sports/fball/2020-21/releases/20210209odl6lc

[Pat Coleman]

I agree, but apparently the conference referred people to tiebreakers that didn't specify division play only and some are reading that and determining that Brevard got screwed. (We are not among those people.)

[DGPugh]

This will be over soon. Brevard has a good team, I wish them well. Huntingdon and them split, they both beat Murr-vul, and Huntingdon won the coin toss.
There it is
Yall stay safe and keep the faith
Go Hawks

[BSCpanthers]

Congrats Hawks, but what the heck happened in the last 3 minutes???  I walked out at 24-14, final was 31-20(21), what the heck happened in this 3 minutes.?

I'm ready for a normal season in the fall, time for some OOC games!!!!

[Hawks88]

Cotney had a nice 26 yd run for a TD with a little over two minutes left and we went into prevent mode for their last drive. Their announcers questioned several times during that last drive why Cotney didn't just take a knee. Kinda hard to knee out 2-plus minutes when the other team still has two timeouts, right? Of course they didn't question Methodist going for two and trying an onside kick with 6 seconds left.

We're ready for a full fall season and OOC play too. Looks like we open up hosting UW-Oshkosh week one and @BSC week two. That's the plan any way.

Go Hawks!

[DGPugh]

 
Go Hawks
Stay safe
Keep the faith