FB: Old Dominion Athletic Conference

[Michael Herbert]

You don't have to tell me that. I keep telling the guys to play the game this weekend and not the one after it. Doesn't seem to sink in.

[Michael Herbert]

Maybe the futbol Tigers can take care of their business tonight against the Minks. Going to be a bit nippy.

[CMR]

Who would have bet that RMC would score the most points today and HSC the least?

[odacsuperfan]

GC should play exact same Defense next week as BW did today. Tigers were shut down today !

[algernon]

Hampden-Sydney and Guilford control their own destiny, but one of the two will lose next week when Guilford comes to Hampden-Sydney, leaving only one of the two in control of their own destiny in the last game of the season on the 15th.

Emory and Henry, with wins in the next two weeks over Shenandoah and Guilford, would finish 6-1, but they'd need for HSC to lose to either Guilford or Randolph-Macon to gain the championship.

Bridgewater has no route to the championship, even if they finish in some kind of tie at 5-2.  All of the possible tie-breakers work against them.

[hasanova]

BC is a good team ... I could see that when they played GC, but I did not see the Eagles beating HSC by 25.  I'm not at all sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing for the Quakers heading into next week's GC at HSC game.  Guilford had to win out anyway after their earlier loss to SU.  Either way, GC has a tough row to hoe with both the Tigers and the Wasps on the road to close the season.  Guilford has never been to the NCAA playoffs ... here's their chance!  All you have to do is win two.  lol

[odacsuperfan]

Ok Quakers here's the scouting report from very knowledgeable BW connections and a BW parent . BW coaches watched a lot of Wabash vs HSC game film to come up with a perfect gameplan. HSC has a below average OL for a good team ( HSC has given up the most sacks in the ODAC with a very athletic QB ) Keep Constant blitz pressure on QB Nance. HSC coach is very impatient. He doesn't run the football. You have to  Double team WR Walker. Zone other WR's. Keep HSC WR's in front of you. Control clock by keeping ball with scores (if possible). HSC defense plays bend but don't break but seldom pressures the opposing QB.( least amount of sacks in ODAC ) A good QB (Pawlowski ) will have ample time to throw to open WR's. Control clock by keeping ball with scores (if possible) .You can power run and complete short passes. HSC corners are aggressive but do not have shut down abilities. Perimeters and Middle of field is open on quick pass plays. HSC slow and small defensive lineman can be exploited.  HSC Favret is impatient and will call long pass play calls every series . Wabash and BW both had same gameplan and beat HSC easily. Do not get in shoot out with them ! Your chances of winning will go down considerably . HSC mentality is long throw after long throw. The key is to exploit the weak OL and lack of running game and control clock. Easier said than done but 2 Teams have done this and beat HSC. There's no question that they have great offensive skill players but the key is to take their strengths away. Good luck Quakers ! (FYI it was also reported that Nance & Walker were injured in last game but not sure the extent of injuries.)

[wesleydad]

super, i love the info your put out there, which is all true.  I will add that i saw Bridgewater and was not impressed by anything they did against W&L.  The defense is ok and the offense is about as vanilla as you can get.  With that all being said, the crushed HSU yesterday.  I watched the entire game and was stunned by how much pressure they got on Nash.  The BW running game was much better than against W&L.  I agree that if Guilford can control the ball they can win, but I watched the SVU game and Guilford was lucky to win, so Saturday should be a fun game.

[GC2005]

Good scouting report odacsuperfan, sounds like good info.  This week will be tough for GC, no doubt.  Granted, every week of ODAC play makes me very nervous, however, the next two weeks will be the stiffest tests to date.  BC certainly had a great game plan and must have gotten after Nance with heavy pressure.  I just remember last year's GC/HSC fiasco in Greensboro.  I felt like HSC dominated every facet of the game...obviously, taking the game by a 52-0 count.  Odacsuperfan said that HSC has a small and slow defensive line, last year they did appear to be smaller than the norm, however, they more than made up for it by ringing Pawlowski's bell for the duration of the game. 

Not to take anything away from HSC because they are a good football team with a lot of tools, but sometimes I wonder if GC has a bit of a mental block when they play HSC.  I'm not saying GC should go out and be able to romp HSC, I'm merely under the impression that the games between these two schools could be a little more competitive. 

Well, I'm just hoping to see a good game by GC this weekend.  I probably won't be in attendance, but I will be able to stream it over the laptop and use the airplay feature on Apple TV to watch the game on the big screen.  Also, I'm hoping I will still be watching it in the second half. 

[hscathletics]

super, i love the info your put out there, which is all true.  I will add that i saw Bridgewater and was not impressed by anything they did against W&L.  The defense is ok and the offense is about as vanilla as you can get.  With that all being said, the crushed HSU yesterday.  I watched the entire game and was stunned by how much pressure they got on Nash.  The BW running game was much better than against W&L.  I agree that if Guilford can control the ball they can win, but I watched the SVU game and Guilford was lucky to win, so Saturday should be a fun game.

It's HSC, not HSU

[wesleydad]

my bad.  +1 to you.

[CUACARD59]

It's HSC, not HSU

Haha this is great for those who saw the CUA/ CAU controversy.

Anyway, I do agree the proven path to success against HSC is thru pressuring Nance. Easier said than done but I think if you're not at least giving that a shot your not giving yourself much of a chance because the alternative has proven to be unsuccessful.

Now is Sydney's DLine really small and slow this year? They've never had huge bruisers inside and true speed rushers off the edge but small and slow is a bad combo that seems like a stretch to me

[sigma one]

I don't know about the speed/slow part, but v. Wabash Hampden-Sydney started Bazemore (6-3, 205), Markland (NG, 6-4, 265), and Potter (6-0, 280).  In all the games since then, Bazemore has been replaced by Palmer (5-11, 205).  So, Bazemore and Palmer are undersized.  Markland and Potter have plenty of size at 265 and 280.  I'm guessing that these two are as big as or bigger than most D-linemen in the ODAC.  Again, speed; don't know.  I saw the H-SC defensive front v. Wabash, and they held up reasonably well against a very powerful running game.  Not great, but not terrible either.
     Wabash gained 187 yds rushing against H-SC and averaged 3.4 per carry.  For the whole year the Little Giants are averaging about 270 yds per game, and about 5.6 yds per carry, while having their starting RBs (two good ones alternate by series) out most games by the middle of or certainly late in the 3rd qtr.  That rushing total is the 2nd lowest for Wabash this year.  Only against Kenyon, when the starters were out for almost all of the 2nd half, did Wabash rush for fewer yds.  I know that there are many factors involved in rushing yards, but Wabash did not overwhelm H-SC. 
     I do recall thinking at the time that the H-SC linebackers did a terrific job v. Wabash. 

[tigerfanalso]

Congrats to BC Eagles. I don't think I've seen any team beat up HSC the way BC did this past Saturday. BC had their way on offense, defense and specialty teams. Had fire in their belly, a good game plan and good execution. HSC had no answers and was not able to stop the butt kicking that was taking place. Nash Nance had less than 2 seconds to throw before the heat got to him, on the other hand, the BC QB had 10 seconds to throw. I guess that is what happens when 6 guys are blocking three.
No way DB's/LB's can cover that long. At some point you've got to put pressure on the offense, that never happened.

If HSC continues to play at this level they will finish 6-4, if they regroup, put some fire in the belly and stop being so passive, 8-2 is a real possibility. 

No one should ever think BC's win Saturday was a fluke, BC pushed the Tigers around and made them look like a very bad football team. We'll see what the Tigers are made of this coming Saturday. My bet is they are going to come out pissed off and ready to prove they are still a pretty good football team.

[jknezek]

That was an interesting weekend in the ODAC. Only Guilford versus Catholic went as I suspected. Nice job Quakers taking care of business.

Didn't think W&L would get blown out as bad as they did, but it is looking like the Generals the last two weeks have started to mail it in a bit. Not a good sign. E&H continues to look good. They jumped on W&L early, as many teams have this season, and kept their foot down.

Bridgewater... where has this been all season? They just weren't that good until this game. Bridgewater has always been a tough place to play, and HSC fell apart under the conditions. Not something I expected from a veteran HSC team. Nance and Walker were made to look very pedestrian and when the original game plan wasn't working, it didn't look like Coach Favret had a back up idea. An interesting case study going forward.

RMC went up to Shenandoah and smacked down the upstarts. I'm not very high on RMC this year, but this was a good effort for them. I figured Shenandoah would rebound from last week, especially at home. But if you don't show up, you can't win in the ODAC.

So what to make of it all? I don't know. HSC looked awful. They didn't just lose, they looked hopelessly outclassed. I think they will bounce back, but if that is all they can do against a physical defensive line they aren't going to match last year's playoff win. Either they will lose the ODAC crown, or they won't survive the first round. Crunch time for the Quakers and the Tigers. Who wants it more? Also on tap is the battle for the bottom, as the Generals travel to the Cardinals.