FB: Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference

[frank_ezelle]

Interesting stat:  Rhodes oppenents have rushed 66 times for a total of 42 yards this season.

How will that translate against a Millsaps team happy to substitute short passes for the running offense?  Can the Millsaps line hold out Rhodes long enough for any of the longer pass routes to develop?  Will Rhodes make any major changes to account for the Major passing attack?

Another big question:  Many will think of this game as the Rhodes defensive strength vs. the Millsaps offense.  What about the flip side of the Rhodes offense against the Millsaps defense?  And speaking of the Millsaps defense, are they still getting overlooked because of those 142 points in 3 games to start the 2006 season?  Is it possible that the strongest defense on the field Saturday will be from the home side and not the visitors?

One more big question:  What difference will the playing surface make.  While Millsaps has won by 34 and 33 points on the road the last 2 weeks, will the offense be better on the artificial turf of Harper Davis field?  And in a related quesiton, will Millsaps be a more fired up team as they take the home field for the first time this season?

This game should tell a lot to the rest of the SCAC about both Rhodes and Millsaps.  It should be a great football game and I hope those within driving distance of Jackson will make the trip over for the excitement.

[Just_that_kid]

Millsaps' JV will play Mississippi College's JV this coming Monday @ 4 at Harper Davis Field (Millsaps Campus).

[Ron Boerger]

Let's take a quick look at this week's SCAC games ... comments are always welcome

Rhodes (2-0) @Millsaps (2-1, 1-0)     

Millsaps faces the best defense it has seen this year but Rhodes has been error-prone and was fortunate to defeat a B-SC team playing its first game in 50+ years last week.   Millsaps finally plays its first home game after impressive road performances the last two weeks.   Expect Juan Joseph to have another big game.

Millsaps 35 Rhodes 17       

Austin (1-2, 0-1) @Centre (1-2,0-1)   

Centre has been weaker than expected so far this year, even if AFCA voters gave them 21 points.  Still, an Austin team reeling from two consecutive defeats will have a tough go of it in Danville. 

Centre 22 Austin 20

DePauw (2-0,1-0) @Sewanee (0-2, 0-1)

DePauw, the early surprise in the SCAC, has outscored opponents 85-14.  Spud Dick and Jeremiah Marks account for close to 400 yards total offense per game while the defense has been dominating.

DePauw 38 Sewanee 14
Colorado Col. (2-0, 1-0) @Trinity (Tex.) (2-0)

The other surprise team in the SCAC comes to San Antonio for what could be the most entertaining battle of the day.   The CC Tigers, like DePauw, feature a strong 1-2 punch in QB Jon McDonald (228 yards passing per game with a QBR of 147.5) and RB Justin Alexander (121 yds rushing per game).  They are also one of the few D3 teams to feature a tight end (Nolan Swett, 91 yds/game).  Trinity will counter with its Black Flag defense which has allowed only 5.0 ppg and the passing of QB Blake Barmore (275 yds/game, QBR 150.2). 

Trinity 30 Colorado College 20

[HunterT]

DPU3619 - They got me once when I was down there, and it was my fault. But I will say this, the pregame warm ups were the most fun. I'd aim for their barbeque pits. 

frank_ezelle - I like the point about the short passes vs. the running game strategy. It will be interesting to see if that does play a part. As far as the stronger defense being on the home side, i'm not so sure. They might look stronger because of the lack of offense that Rhodes has put up, but it is the battle of a great defense in Rhodes vs a great offense in Millsaps, and a good defense in Millsaps vs a struggling offense in Rhodes.

Now I will say this, I know the Rhodes coaching staff will be pissed at last weeks performance, and they will have worked those boys hard this week in preparing for this game and making sure things get on track. Don't be surprised if they come out firing on all cylinders. But also don't be surprised if they drop 3 or 4 TOs in the game too.

Intangibles: Millsaps first home game, after winning the SCAC. The last time they played there was against Trinity, and I know the fans are foaming at the mouth to see some more football down there. I bet the Majors come out swinging and try to kill the game from the start. If the Rhodes defense holds early, it could take all the wind out of the Majors sails.

I agree with you frank, this game will tell a lot to the rest of the SCAC about these two teams.

and finally Ron, I hate to say it, but I think you're giving too much credit to a few teams in your predictions. For Example,
1) I don't think Millsaps will hang 35 on the Lynx, sorry. Won't happen. (And I am fully prepared to make a public apology if I'm wrong, I want everybody to know that).
2)Sewanee will not score 14 on Depauw, even if they are on a mountain in TN with nothing else to do.
3)Colorado will not go down to the heat of Texas and score 20 on the black flag. As much as it boils my blood to support Trinity, the defense won't let that stand at home. Especially not against a new SCAC team. They'll be out to set the tone for years to come.

In parting, It will be a great weekend for football, and I'm excited. Frank, or any majors fans, do you know if they game will have live stats or internet broadcast?

[DePauwDad]

New to the board and excited about DePauw this year. I think this team is certainly better than last year on offense, and has the chance to be better on defense.

[DPU3619]

New to the board and excited about DePauw this year. I think this team is certainly better than last year on offense, and has the chance to be better on defense.

Holy cow.  They're comin' out of the woodwork.

Welcome aboard, sir!

[Matt Gaunt]

Yes, some more black and old gold on the board!

[oldmoose]

New to the board and excited about DePauw this year. I think this team is certainly better than last year on offense, and has the chance to be better on defense.

Holy cow.  They're comin' out of the woodwork.

Welcome aboard, sir!

I would like to see more new posters for Birmingham-Southern.  There is a lot of excitement about the renewed program, but it hasn't permeated cyberspace very well.

[frank_ezelle]

I have a question for oldmoose:

I know BSC has over 100 kids out for football.  It wasn't surprising to see that 70+ played against the MC JV since that was a blowout by the end of the first half.  I was surprised to see that BSU played over 70 players in the game against Rhodes.  BSC took a 7-0 lead in the 2nd quarter of that game and were close to winning their open game in the SCAC--the Rhodes touchdown came with 5:26 left in the game and the winning field goal came with 0:22 left.

Why was BSC playing so many players in the game?  Is the team that deep that they can play more than 70 without a drop off, or did the coach just want to play as many kids as possible.  As you probably know, this same type of scenario was a big topic here 3 weeks ago after Millsaps lost to MC (which is the reason I now notice the players participating list), but that was a pre-conference game and I was just curious about the reason behind BSC playing so many when they had a chance to win this conference opener.

[oldmoose]

I have a question for oldmoose:

I know BSC has over 100 kids out for football.  It wasn't surprising to see that 70+ played against the MC JV since that was a blowout by the end of the first half.  I was surprised to see that BSU played over 70 players in the game against Rhodes.  BSC took a 7-0 lead in the 2nd quarter of that game and were close to winning their open game in the SCAC--the Rhodes touchdown came with 5:26 left in the game and the winning field goal came with 0:22 left.

Why was BSC playing so many players in the game?  Is the team that deep that they can play more than 70 without a drop off, or did the coach just want to play as many kids as possible.  As you probably know, this same type of scenario was a big topic here 3 weeks ago after Millsaps lost to MC (which is the reason I now notice the players participating list), but that was a pre-conference game and I was just curious about the reason behind BSC playing so many when they had a chance to win this conference opener.

I don't know where you got that number.  The stats - http://www.bscsports.net/Sports/football/2007/fb02.htm - show 22 starters and 30 other participants.  Given that Rhodes held a significant advantage in no. of plays and time of poss., BSC played a lot of defensive guys.

BSC does have depth at most positions, but, with approx. 95 of 110 players being freshmen, there is little drop off in experience down the depth chart.

[Pat Coleman]

I think most people understand BSC as a first-year program is in a different situation than a team coming off a playoff season.

[frank_ezelle]

I got the number from the stats listed on the SCAC website--that shows the 22 starters and the 50+ others. 

And yes Pat, there is a difference between BSC and Millsaps.  I was afraid that someone would read my post and assume that it was tied to the discussion about Millsaps and MC.  The only tie is that now I do look at the participation numbers and these numbers struck me as odd since BSC had a very good chance to win their first ever SCAC game.  It is a different situation obviously, but wouldn't you have found the numbers strange even if Millsaps and MC had never played?

It appears that the answer is that the stats on the SCAC website are wrong and BSC didn't play 70+ people.  Thanks oldmoose for helping to clear that up. 

[Pat Coleman]

No, I wouldn't have found that strange for a team of 100-plus playing its first varsity game. It's not like BSC had a chance to look at any of these kids in a game situation in 2006, 2005 or any year before that.

[oldmoose]

The stats on the SCAC site include the starters in the participation report; the stats on BSC's site do not.  They both add up to 52 participants.  It will be interesting to see if Joey Jones digs a little deeper down his depth chart this week vs. LaGrange JV.  It would be a good chance to get the 2's and 3's some snaps and rest the 1's for the trip to Trinity next week.  Yikes!!!

[Ron Boerger]

Welcome oldmoose -- tell your friends, have them tell more friends, students, you name it.  The SCAC doesn't tend to see a lot of chat so the more the merrier.

We're still waiting from anyone from Colorado College to show up, too.  I'm getting a little tired of being the "CC by proxy" rep.