FB: Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference

[Ron Boerger]

Live webcast (with video) of the Monon Bell game:

http://65.167.13.73:8080/ramgen/encoder/wht2.rm

Live stats courtesy DPU Sports Information:

http://www.depauw.edu/ath/live/football/xlive.htm

Two three and outs so far.  Keith McM is blogging the game in Daily Dose.

[Ron Boerger]

Wabash wins the field position battle thanks to a stiff wind and scores first on a short FG.  Wabash 3, DePauw 0. 

DPU gets a BIG break when a short punt into the wind takes a funny bounce and hits a Wabash player.  DPU ball in Wabash territory.

Wabash defense stiffens and DPU misses a 36-yard FG.  After one, still 3-0.  Jeremiah Marks has eight yards on six carries so far.  Harbaugh (2-6) is not hitting his receivers, certainly not what you would xpect of a 71% passer. 

DPU 0-5 on third downs, 1-1 on fourth. 

Wabash can't move, lousy punt (one yard net!), but a DPU LB tries to pick up the ball after it has been rolling around and Wabash recovers at their own 27. 

Wabash takes its last timeout of the half with 11:53 remaining.

DPU gets the ball at the 35 after another crummy punt into the wind.  Great scramble by Weithoff on third and four gets it close, Murphy converts on fourth-and-one to the five.  No gain on first, Wiethoff pitches badly but Murphy recovers on the bounce and gains one, sets up third and goal from the 3.  2:23 left.  Handoff to Marks gets DPU half a yard from the goal line.  DPU goes for it ... touchdown Marks.   First second quarter TD allowed by Wabash all year.  7-3 with 1:38 left in the first half. 

Hard to believe that DPU is now 0/8 on third down but 3/3 on fourth.   

Wabash runs the clock so that's how they go to the half.

Underacheiving:  Marks (12 carries, 17 yards), Harbaugh (5-10 for 24 yards). 

Impressive:  both defenses, Ross Wiethoff (4-7 79 yards, 7 rushes for 27 yards).

[Ron Boerger]

Meanwhile, in San Antonio - Millsaps and Trinity have exchanged punts.  The Majors are driving from their one - three straight third down conversions on passes from Juan Joseph to Raymece Savage followed by a 31-yard gain by Tyson Roy have the Majors at the Trinity 32.    Majors have a second-and-one at the 23 but Dustin Allen tackles Tyson Roy for a loss on third; Joseph's pass to McCarty on fourth is incomplete and TU takes over at their 24.

DPU holds Wabash on their first series and takes over at their 32.  Wabash holds DPU on their first series and has the ball at their 29. 

Harbaugh escapes a huge rush on fourth and nine and Ray Green makes a nice leaping grab inside the red zone to prolong the Wabash drive. 

Wabash goes for it on fourth and goal from the five ... option play, Chris Ogden easily scores on the pitch.  Wabash got a HUGE break when Harbaugh fumbled the snap on third down but was ruled down - DPU would have otherwise had a 95-yard fumble return for TD.  10-7 Wabash with 3:11 left in the third. 

Trinity takes a 7-0 lead on a 51-yard pass from Jacob Cannon to Matthew Weldon.  Millsaps already back in Tiger territory after a 38-yard pass from Juan Joseph to Rashad Brown.   The Majors get to the five but penalties (personal foul and intentional grounding) push them back.  Majors go for it on fourth and 29 but Joseph's pass falls incomplete. 

Wabash holds DePauw on the first drive of the fourth quarter, Harbaugh's deep throw is intercepted by Brendan Berigan.  DPU in business at the Wabash 34. 

Trinity now up 14-0 as Jerrold Jones starts to get his rushing on (4 carries, 37 yards in a 71-yard drive). 

[Ron Boerger]

DePauw can't take advantage of the turnover, now 0-12 on third downs.  Punt is fumbled, then blocked.  Wabash takes over at their 38.  10:21 left in regulation. 

Kyle Piazza takes a pass out of the backfield, escapes wide of a would-be tackler and tiptoes 37 yards for a Wabash touchdown.  The Little Giants, the first team to score into the wind all day, now lead 17-7 with 7:10 remaining. 

Trinity leads 21-0 with 1:29 left in the first half.  A 61-yard completion from Cannon to Zach Byars led to a short TD pass from Cannon to Ray Valencia. 

DePauw rapidly into Wabash territory, fail to convert yet another third down but convert yet another fourth down.  Two plays later Wiethoff finds Chase Jonason for 21 yards and a touchdown.  With the extra point it's 17-14 with 5:14 remaining. 

[Ron Boerger]

Wabash starts near midfield after an excellent return by Brendan Berigan.   Harbaugh escapes some pressure and completes a huge pass on third-and-long to keep the clock running.  Wabash now third-and-nine at the DPU 25, Tigers take their first timeout with 2:15 remaining.   Not FG territory, too much wind. 

Wabash pooch punt to the DPU 9.  Wiethoff has 1:55 and one timeout to work with. 

DPU gets to midfield but again can't convert on third down, Wiethoff's pass to Jonason on fourth down falls incomplete.  Wabash gets the Bell back!

[Ron Boerger]

Final Stats in the Monon Bowl:


                   WC        DPU
1st Down           14         12
Rushes-Yds        41-79     36-77
Pass Yds           178       174
Passing         15-27-1   11-24-0
Plays-Yds        68-257    60-251
Avg/Play          3.8        4.2
Kick Ret          2-64      2-39
Punt Ret          2-1        0-0
Fumb-Lost         1-1        2-1
Penalties         5-34      3-20
Punts            7-27.6    8-29.8
Possess          34:20     25:40
3rd-Dn Eff        5/15      0/14
4th-Dn Eff        2/2        4/5


Passing:
Harbaugh 15-27-1 178 yards and 1 TD
Wiethoff 11-24-0 174 yards and 1 TD

Rushing:
WC:  Roop 14-52,  Ogden 12-45, 1 TD
DPU: Wiethoff 11-38, Marks 19-31, 1 TD

Receiving:
WC:  Green 4-33, Summers 4-29, Walker 3-59 Piazza 1-37, 1TD
DPU:  Culp 5-100, Jonason 3-51, 1TD

Defense:
WC:  Pynenberg 11 tackle (2 solo), 2.5 for loss; Parker 6 (3 solo), 1 for loss
DPU:  Sylvester 9 tackles (5 solo), Brandenstatter 9 (1 solo); Lewis 8 (4 solo), 1 for loss, Hertel 8 (2 solo), 3 for loss, 2 sacks, 2 QBH; Lasley 8 (1 solo), 0.5 sack, 1 QBH

[Ron Boerger]

Trinity now leads 27-0 on the strength of two Kelly Altman field goals.  One funny thing that came up in the game ... an unsportsmanlike conduct call aainst Millsaps somehow did NOT result in an automatic first down?  I thot all personal fouls were automatic first downs ...

[Ron Boerger]

Centre jumped on Rose-Hulman early, hung on for a 21-16 victory.  Good luck to the Engineers next season in the HCAC.

Trinity now up 34-0 and there are subs in all over the place on both sides.    Make that 41-0 as Chris Baer scores his first collegiate touchdown from 22 yards out.   6:39 left. 

[tTU719803]

Regarding TU-Millsaps:  I think Millsaps needs to file charges against Saunders and his staff - they are stealing whatever they get in salary, because they sure don't work for it.  That is the worst display of coaching I have ever seen.  They have one of the best offensive lines I have seen this year, and Tyson Roy was running great, and all of a sudden they decide to stop giving him the football.  They were averaging over 4 yards a carry, and they threw the ball 27 times (completing only 9)?  I was shocked that they stopped pounding the ball at the Tigers.   If I have that O-Line and running back, I run the ball 40+ times a game and control the clock.  Millsaps needs to ask for its money back.  I guess there's a reason all those guys are in division 3 rather than the SEC...

[Ron Boerger]

While we are waiting for the final projections from PC & Co ... a look at the comparative SCAC seasons of Trinity and DePauw.

Trinity outscored the other five SCAC contenders 161-22.
DePauw outscored the other five SCAC contenders 166-45.

The only SCAC team to score a TD on Trinity was Centre.  That touchdown was the only second half score yielded by Trinity in the five games. 

What a shame DePauw couldn't have pulled out either today's game or the season opener.  The SCAC deserved two playoff teams this year.  I guess they do have a chance as it's likely two two-loss teams will go, and the two losses were close losses against ranked competition ... but it's still a stretch. 

[historymajor]

Bonzo, what do you think about the south seedings?  Although after playing TLU early this season, I predicted they might beat HSU or UMHB,,, I really didn't think they could... but they beat HSU last night throwing HSU into the same (2 loss) position as DPU... I'd actually have to give the spot to DPU and would love a chance to play them in SAT.

[Ron Boerger]

With neither DPU or HSU having a quality win (against a regionally ranked opponent), it seems pretty unlikely either can make it in.    Also, HSU's QoWI is 43rd, DPU's 44th.    8-1 Cal Lutheran has a higher QoWI and is on the bubble for the last spot. 

Hey, Trinity needs to thank TLU for that upset last night.  That win was worth 2/9ths of a point to TU's QoWI.  As a result, they are close enough to Thiel (11.00 to 11.1) that the committee should keep TU at #1.  Now all Coach Mohr and company have to do is come up with a game plan to stop that UMHB running attack (unless the AA does something totally unexpected like actually send the #8 seed to TU instead of UMHB). 

[tTU719803]

It would be nice if HSU got in, because then UMHB and Trinity wouldn't have to play in the first round.  UMHB really deserves to host a playoff game after their success in the past couple years.  I doubt it will happen, though.  I predict that the NCAA will once again screw the Texas teams.

[Bill McCabe]

The best payback for the Texas teams would be to win the Stagg Bowl!

[tTU719803]

right on.  enough of this 2nd place B.S.