FB: Old Dominion Athletic Conference

[jknezek]

Generals show some signs of life in the 3rd quarter. H-SC takes the opening drive for a TD to go up 28-0 before W&L gets a long drive td, a defense stop, and another long drive td. 28-14 end of 3rd but H-SC has driven deep in Generals territory. I think spotting the Tigers 28 points to start the game makes all this a dead issue.

Still, nice to see the Generals put some yards and points on the board. Two Generals turnovers and still none for H-SC. A few turnovers are about the only thing that will change the outcome since W&L can only sporadically stop the Tigers O.

[jknezek]

9 minutes to go in the 4th the Generals have found offense but no defense. 42-28 Tigers on top. Yards are piling up, but the Generals just waited too long to get going and they have no answer for the Tigers offense. Since I'm a Generals fan, I'm praying for some turnovers as that is the only solution to the hole they dug.

H-SC's offense just looks dominating. They are answering every General's drive. That being said, if the Generals had played offense like this from the start we would have had an outstanding game. H-SC's defense is looking like the rest of the ODAC in this second half, completely flummoxed by the General's O.

[jknezek]

H-SC plays beautiful, smart, game-killing football. They suck up almost 6 minutes of clock time on a long drive deep into General's territory before having a field goal attempt blocked. Generals take over deep in their own territory, down by 14, with about 3 minutes to go.

[jknezek]

Generals score on a great desperation drive (convert a 4th and goal from the 4) to make the game 42-35 Tigers leading with 1:18 to go. Give the Generals credit for pushing on to the end, but it will take an onsides kick and a miracle drive to tie the game. Neither team has a time out remaining.

Generals over 500 yards, 29 first downs, amazing second half.

[jknezek]

That desperation drive went  17 plays, 86 yards in just 1:57. Unbelievable.

[jknezek]

H-SC recovers the onside kick. They should send out the victory formation and seal this game. Good onside kick but the bounce goes directly to H-SC. An amazing second half for the Generals.

Couple thoughts on this game. H-SC played an amazing game. They were dominant in the first half and very good in the second half. The Generals were UNBELIEVABLE in the second half, but were facing too much of a hole.

Congratulations to H-SC on at least a share of the ODAC and the AQ. With that solid play on both sides of the ball, H-SC could definitely threaten the right opponent in the playoffs and I hope they get a kind match up.

For the Generals, 2 losses by a total of 14 points all season. A great season for a great Generals team that looked lame but showed heart in the second half. It's a shame they had their two toughest opponents on the road and it showed as they put up ferocious numbers in one half of each of those games, but weren't able to put together a whole game.

I'll probably have a few more thoughts, but both these teams would have been worthy ODAC champs and you really have to hand it to H-SC who came out firing and never let up in the second half, even as the Generals put together an offense demonstration you will rarely see in a game pitting two good teams.

[jknezek]

We'll know a lot more after this week, but with 4 undefeated teams in the south (UMHB, JHU, Centre/Trinity winner, and TMC) the odds of the ODAC champion hosting are very low. The only way I see that happening is if TMC loses one of its remaining games. Their SOS is weak enough to move them down, and even then I'd consider it a long shot because you still have Wesley to account for.

I think the best chance the ODAC champion will have to advance is either HSC getting Centre (W&L would most likely not be matched that way do to the committee's desire to avoid regular season rematches in round 1) or HSC/W&L playing at TMC. While this worked out badly for W&L last year, I think they are a better team this year and TMC seems slightly weaker.

Little weird to quote my own post but much of this actually happened today. TMC lost and has an abysmal SOS. H-SC won and Centre lost, so I can now see the possibility of H-SC hosting Centre if the committee decides to move Wesley to the East. I just can't see TMC hosting now that they have lost a game with their SOS. The South Region should have 2 brackets, a north and south bracket. The South bracket should consist of UMHB hosting Centre or TMC (wiping out one island team) and Trinity hosting McM provided all win out.

The northern side of the bracket will include either JHU and Wesley hosting some combination of H-SC, TMC/Centre, and CNU. Provided Centre can get a Pool C. W&L losing will  probably drop W&L from the regional rankings, leaving Centre with a win over a once ROR as opposed to twice. That could matter in the overall Pool C if they are nominated. Again, provided everyone wins out. A loss by any of these teams in their last game probably gets them shipped to UMHB, except for Centre who would be done.

Otherwise, if you see Wesley or JHU shipped to the East I could see HSC getting a home game, especially since they should have one of the highest SOS in the South.

The wildcard is if they decide to ship TMC and Centre to the bottom of the North and bring in teams from the West to fill a South bracket, possibly cutting out some flights later in the tournament. Then you could move some traditional North teams to the West and East making some room.

Lots of possibilities, but I think the following is the most likely:

TMC at UMHB
McM at Trinity

CNU at Wesley
H-SC at JHU

Centre and TMC cannot go to JHU (588 miles) or Wesley (600+ miles). So they make sense to fly to UMHB even though they will have a higher SOS than CNU. My bracket assumes that Centre gets shafted on the Pool C, which I see as possible. The above configuration sets up a flight in round 1 and 3, but avoids flights in round 2. Otherwise you really need to send Wesley or JHU to the East, making the bracket look like this:

CNU at UMHB
McM at Trinity

H-SC at Wesley/JHU
TMC at Centre (or vice versa. reward the AQ or the SOS, committee's pick)

The problem with this is it probably sets up a first, second and third round flight (TMC/Centre to Wesley/JHU in Round 2, round 3 flight is inevitable)

[abnrgr]

HASNOVA- Told you somebody forgot to say their Rosaries this week

Good for the QUAKES. Ate some bird today

[hasanova]

HASNOVA- Told you somebody forgot to say their Rosaries this week

Good for the QUAKES. Ate some bird today

Yeah, this is the result I was hoping for after last week's good performance against HSC.  I was busy today and just checked the score a few minutes ago.  Guilford was close to beating CUA last season and let it get away on a kickoff return after the Quakers took the lead with a minute or so to go - final last season was 23-22.   Guilford scored the winner today wth 32 seconds to go.  Once QB Zac Halbert got back from his injury, the offense has started to click and the defense got a pick six today also.  It would do this program a world of good if they finish with a good showing versus the Wasps next Saturday!

Way to go, Quakes!  Proud of you, boys!

[Ralph Turner]

We'll know a lot more after this week, but with 4 undefeated teams in the south (UMHB, JHU, Centre/Trinity winner, and TMC) the odds of the ODAC champion hosting are very low. The only way I see that happening is if TMC loses one of its remaining games. Their SOS is weak enough to move them down, and even then I'd consider it a long shot because you still have Wesley to account for.

I think the best chance the ODAC champion will have to advance is either HSC getting Centre (W&L would most likely not be matched that way do to the committee's desire to avoid regular season rematches in round 1) or HSC/W&L playing at TMC. While this worked out badly for W&L last year, I think they are a better team this year and TMC seems slightly weaker.

Little weird to quote my own post but much of this actually happened today. TMC lost and has an abysmal SOS. H-SC won and Centre lost, so I can now see the possibility of H-SC hosting Centre if the committee decides to move Wesley to the East. I just can't see TMC hosting now that they have lost a game with their SOS. The South Region should have 2 brackets, a north and south bracket. The South bracket should consist of UMHB hosting Centre or TMC (wiping out one island team) and Trinity hosting McM provided all win out.

The northern side of the bracket will include either JHU and Wesley hosting some combination of H-SC, TMC/Centre, and CNU. Provided Centre can get a Pool C. W&L losing will  probably drop W&L from the regional rankings, leaving Centre with a win over a once ROR as opposed to twice. That could matter in the overall Pool C if they are nominated. Again, provided everyone wins out. A loss by any of these teams in their last game probably gets them shipped to UMHB, except for Centre who would be done.

Otherwise, if you see Wesley or JHU shipped to the East I could see HSC getting a home game, especially since they should have one of the highest SOS in the South.

The wildcard is if they decide to ship TMC and Centre to the bottom of the North and bring in teams from the West to fill a South bracket, possibly cutting out some flights later in the tournament. Then you could move some traditional North teams to the West and East making some room.

Lots of possibilities, but I think the following is the most likely:

TMC at UMHB
McM at Trinity

CNU at Wesley
H-SC at JHU

Centre and TMC cannot go to JHU (588 miles) or Wesley (600+ miles). So they make sense to fly to UMHB even though they will have a higher SOS than CNU. My bracket assumes that Centre gets shafted on the Pool C, which I see as possible. The above configuration sets up a flight in round 1 and 3, but avoids flights in round 2. Otherwise you really need to send Wesley or JHU to the East, making the bracket look like this:

CNU at UMHB
McM at Trinity

H-SC at Wesley/JHU
TMC at Centre (or vice versa. reward the AQ or the SOS, committee's pick)

The problem with this is it probably sets up a first, second and third round flight (TMC/Centre to Wesley/JHU in Round 2, round 3 flight is inevitable)

TMC is not necessarily an island team for Franklin or other North Region teams.

[HSC85]

Great game played by two fine teams at HSC today.  Huge credit must be given to W&L for continuing to fight in the second half after they were down 28-0.  Congratulations to the HSC Tigers, ODAC Champions for the third time in 5 years. 

[bowtie11]

I was going to post earlier, but I got distracted by the game of the century or whatever.

Congrats to H-S, heckuva game. First time I had been over there, it definitely didn't disappoint (although the result could have been better). We just couldn't find an answer on defense, and H-S pretty much played a perfect game on offense. It's hard to win when you lose the turnover battle, all credit to the Tigers.

[Matt Barnhart (kid)]

Very much off topic (with the Eagles 5-4, don't be surprised )...

I was in Indianapolis this past week, and I stopped by the NCAA Hall of Champions. For those of you who have never been, it's attached the NCAA Headquarters - and has displays for each of the 23 NCAA sports. What was cool was, the NCAA football display (for all Divisions) featured Mount Union:

[hasanova]

Very much off topic (with the Eagles 5-4, don't be surprised )...

I was in Indianapolis this past week, and I stopped by the NCAA Hall of Champions. For those of you who have never been, it's attached the NCAA Headquarters - and has displays for each of the 23 NCAA sports. What was cool was, the NCAA football display (for all Divisions) featured Mount Union:

Thanks for sharing this, kid.  +1

[HSC85]

Hasa

Congrats to Guilford on the conference win.  The conference is stronger when every team is competitive.