FB: USA South Athletic Conference

[Hawks88]

Looks to be a wet Saturday for all four conference games this week. Hope everyone has safe travels and the games are able to be completed.

So three of the games have been moved to Friday to try to avoid Ian; LaGrange@N.C. Wesleyan, Belhaven@Methodist and Greensboro@Brevard.

https://twitter.com/d3football/status/1575185159300825099?s=20&t=PJ8A5n-XRKkx0AtBpmmvFA

[DGPugh]

Go Hawks

[Hawks88]

Hawks with the road win at Maryville. After a hot mess of a first half on both sides of the ball I wouldn't want to have been in that locker room. That was just a bad half of football but the defense came out and shut Maryville down and the offense executed better to take care of business in the 2nd.
Not looking forward to facing that QB for the next 3 years. As he matures into that offense he could be something special.
Still waiting on a box score to be posted. Not sure what the issue would be.

Open date coming up then a home game with Brevard.

Go Hawks!

[Wild Horse Rider]

It didn't work out for the Monarchs on Saturday.  The box score shows that it was a pretty evenly matched game.  I believe the 2 things that stood out were Methodist going 0 for 2 on 4th down conversions and Belhaven going 2 for 3 to go along with 3 sacks for Belhaven's defense and 0 for Methodist.  This will likely be a woulda coulda shoulda game at the end of the season.  On to Brevard who picked up their first win of the season against Greensboro.  Good teams like Huntingdon find a way to win tough games on the road and they did that in TN.

[Ralph Turner]

Hawks with the road win at Maryville. After a hot mess of a first half on both sides of the ball I wouldn't want to have been in that locker room. That was just a bad half of football but the defense came out and shut Maryville down and the offense executed better to take care of business in the 2nd.
Not looking forward to facing that QB for the next 3 years. As he matures into that offense he could be something special.
Still waiting on a box score to be posted. Not sure what the issue would be.

Open date coming up then a home game with Brevard.

Go Hawks!

With family in Alabama and with connections to Auburn (Ouch, a team that can break your heart as easily as any other), that win for Huntingdon seemed to be the kind of win that a maturing/mature program wins (dare I say it, the Tuscaloosa Institute of Delinquent Education) by the sheer force of its being.

I am happy for Coach Turk in finally seeing this develop in his players and in his program.

[Blazers1]

I think it'll take playoff wins, for sure.

CNU that year also defeated Bridgewater and that was a big deal. Only loss at that point was Rowan.

Pat, if both Huntingdon and Belhaven win out, do you think Belhaven could get in the playoffs with their 1 loss being to (likely) top 20 ranked and conference champ Huntingdon?

[jknezek]

I think it'll take playoff wins, for sure.

CNU that year also defeated Bridgewater and that was a big deal. Only loss at that point was Rowan.

Pat, if both Huntingdon and Belhaven win out, do you think Belhaven could get in the playoffs with their 1 loss being to (likely) top 20 ranked and conference champ Huntingdon?

I'm not Pat but I'll say that anything is possible. However, Belhaven's SoS will most likely not be strong enough to match up with other Pool C candidates and they will likely be a common 0-1 against Regionally Ranked opponents as it is unlikely any other USASAC opponents will earn a Regional Ranking. Millsaps and Southwestern are likely to finish .500 or worse, hurting Belhaven's SoS and not giving them any more Regionally Ranked results.

Keep an eye on the Regional Rankings when they come out in a few weeks and see if Belhaven is ranked and, if so, if they are above or below the runner-up for the ASC, ODAC and SAA. If they can stay above those candidates, getting to the table to be discussed will be the first hurdle to cross. Then it becomes a question of if their resume looks better than other regional candidates on the table.

At this point in the season, I would say it's unlikely. But 9-1 is 9-1 and you never know. Provided they can win out of course.

[MRMIKESMITH]

I think it'll take playoff wins, for sure.

CNU that year also defeated Bridgewater and that was a big deal. Only loss at that point was Rowan.

Pat, if both Huntingdon and Belhaven win out, do you think Belhaven could get in the playoffs with their 1 loss being to (likely) top 20 ranked and conference champ Huntingdon?

I'm not Pat but I'll say that anything is possible. However, Belhaven's SoS will most likely not be strong enough to match up with other Pool C candidates and they will likely be a common 0-1 against Regionally Ranked opponents as it is unlikely any other USASAC opponents will earn a Regional Ranking. Millsaps and Southwestern are likely to finish .500 or worse, hurting Belhaven's SoS and not giving them any more Regionally Ranked results.

Keep an eye on the Regional Rankings when they come out in a few weeks and see if Belhaven is ranked and, if so, if they are above or below the runner-up for the ASC, ODAC and SAA. If they can stay above those candidates, getting to the table to be discussed will be the first hurdle to cross. Then it becomes a question of if their resume looks better than other regional candidates on the table.

At this point in the season, I would say it's unlikely. But 9-1 is 9-1 and you never know. Provided they can win out of course.

I agree that it is going to be very difficult for the USAC team to get that at-large. I projected that Belhaven will be 9-1. However, will probably be on table within R 3 with a 9-1 Hardin-Simmons, possibly 9-1 ODAC runner-up, and 9-1/8-2 SAA runner-up. I think the USAC have to perform better against other R 3 schools in OOC or schedule like Huntingdon against other conferences that can help boost SOS. Had Huntingdon beaten Linfield and Belhaven won and continued to win out, Huntingdon would have been a very strong candidate. That's the type of scheduling you have to have or have your conference to well in OOC and that 3rd place team finish 8-2 and get that runner-up a regional ranked win.

[BSCpanthers]

This is why D3 needs another post season option, so many 9-1, 8-2 teams sitting at home come playoff season.  Not sure how you make it financially viable, but man do we need it. 

[jknezek]

This is why D3 needs another post season option, so many 9-1, 8-2 teams sitting at home come playoff season.  Not sure how you make it financially viable, but man do we need it.

A few conferences have added post season bowl games. I don't know how popular they have been but I'm thankful the ODAC switched from playing Apprentice to playing two games against Landmark teams starting next year.

[Pat Coleman]

I think it'll take playoff wins, for sure.

CNU that year also defeated Bridgewater and that was a big deal. Only loss at that point was Rowan.

Pat, if both Huntingdon and Belhaven win out, do you think Belhaven could get in the playoffs with their 1 loss being to (likely) top 20 ranked and conference champ Huntingdon?

I'm not Pat but I'll say that anything is possible. However, Belhaven's SoS will most likely not be strong enough to match up with other Pool C candidates and they will likely be a common 0-1 against Regionally Ranked opponents as it is unlikely any other USASAC opponents will earn a Regional Ranking. Millsaps and Southwestern are likely to finish .500 or worse, hurting Belhaven's SoS and not giving them any more Regionally Ranked results.

Keep an eye on the Regional Rankings when they come out in a few weeks and see if Belhaven is ranked and, if so, if they are above or below the runner-up for the ASC, ODAC and SAA. If they can stay above those candidates, getting to the table to be discussed will be the first hurdle to cross. Then it becomes a question of if their resume looks better than other regional candidates on the table.

At this point in the season, I would say it's unlikely. But 9-1 is 9-1 and you never know. Provided they can win out of course.

Appreciate the question. I think that jknezek is right on here -- there will probably be other 9-1 teams on the table who are all 0-1 against teams in the regional rankings. I don't think too many of those will get in, unless their loss is to someone at the top of a region.

[D O.C.]

Who do you fans pick as the best QB in the USAC

[Wild Horse Rider]

Cotney from Huntingdon and it's not really close with any other QB.  He is the reigning OPOTY and likely repeat winner at this point in the season.  He is a true dual threat and it looks like this season he is trying to rely less on his legs.  I know the stats are still not up from this past weekends game but I made some educated guesses from the game notes. 

Cotney 2021 Total plays Rush/Pass per game 34.5 and 261 (176 air/85 ground) Total yards 2.9 TD per game
Cotney 2022 Total plays Rush/Pass per game 37 and 289 (263 air/26 ground) Total yards 2.8 TD per game

Bullins from Methodist will likely take the second place All-Conference spot.  He is not much of a runner but has a very good arm.  The one that I am excited to see grow as he gets older is the FR from Maryville Rollins.  Johnson from Belhaven looks to be solid but I believe that is a run first team and will not need to rely on the QB as much as other teams.

[D O.C.]

Thanks

[Hawks88]

Very strong effort by the Hawks in a 38-14 win over Brevard today.  One of the better games we've played except for a stretch of the 2nd half that got a little sloppy after going up 31-0 and beginning to substitute but overall a great effort.
After our last couple of road games hopefully we can make the trip to Methodist next week and continue playing well and take care of business.

Go Hawks!