FB: Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference

[Ron Boerger]

Turnovers the story today as Trinity goes very conservative extensively offensively with the lead in 2nd half.  Trinity wins, 24-7.

[Ron Boerger]

Sewanee makes DePauw 0-for-3 against former SCAC opponents in 2011 with a 30-7 whitewashing. 
Millsaps holds off Rhodes to keep their flickering championship hopes alive, 44-36.

[Ralph Turner]

Congratulations, TUTigers

[frank_ezelle]

Sewanee makes DePauw 0-for-3 against former SCAC opponents in 2011 with a 30-7 whitewashing. 
Millsaps holds off Rhodes to keep their flickering championship hopes alive, 44-36.

Ron, I absolutely haven't been keeping up with any SCAC sports this year including Millsaps.  Isn't the Millsaps situation a case of needing to run the table and then hope that BSC or Centre get a win over Trinity?  That seems like championship hopes that are better than flickering, unless it is the play of the Majors that makes such an occurance unlikely.  Like I said, I really haven't kept up with anything well enough to know the likelihood of Millsaps winning out the rest of the way.

BTW, I've been doing music videos in place of sports photos.  Covered 3 bands last night, getting ready to go film 2 tonight, and there will be a whole slew of bands to recorded tomorrow at a benefit show here in town that features a huge lineup of acts.

[Ron Boerger]

You're right, Frank, if Millsaps can defeat both Centre and BSC, and one of them defeats Trinity, the Majors will tie for the championship.  It just seems unlikely with the way Millsaps has escaped from lesser competition, but stranger things have happened.   Centre seems pretty tough, Trinity's no slouch either, and if both are still undefeated in three weeks there should be one heck of a game in San Antonio.

Interesting aside:  one of the HC players tweeted something to the effect of "nine times out of ten we beat Trinity."  Really?  Win one game at home against the first sub-.500 Trinity team since 1992 and you can make that kind of statement?

[Pat Coleman]

Yeah that was pretty out of left field to me. If you win nine out of 10, then the one you lose shouldn't be a three-score game. That's just math talking.

[D3Navy]

I've been impressed this season by the steady play.  Just solid in all facets.  Really nice to see how the D steps up as opponents approach the goal line.  I almost anticipate a forced turnover.  Well done.

[awadelewis]

I wouldn't factor B-SC out of the mix in spite of them getting thumped by Centre.   They get a week off before they have to go to San Antonio to take on TU and then finish out at home against Rhodes and Millsaps.   OTOH, TU has to go up to LaGrange before facing both B-SC and Centre at home while Centre has a potential trap game vs. Sewanee before having to travel to B-SC and TU.

There's an interesting month of football coming up in the SCAC...

[evacuee]

Y'all read the twitter accounts of Huntingdon College football players?  I guess anyone can be a rock star in this day and age.

[jknezek]

I wouldn't factor B-SC out of the mix in spite of them getting thumped by Centre.   They get a week off before they have to go to San Antonio to take on TU and then finish out at home against Rhodes and Millsaps.   OTOH, TU has to go up to LaGrange before facing both B-SC and Centre at home while Centre has a potential trap game vs. Sewanee before having to travel to B-SC and TU.

There's an interesting month of football coming up in the SCAC...

I don't think Centre will struggle too much with Sewanee. I think a lot of the reason Sewanee is much improved this year is they are running a triple option like W&L runs. This offense is very hard to mimic with a scout team, so often teams struggle to defend it, especially in the first half. Centre already saw a, quite frankly, better version of the offense when they beat W&L, and while they struggled in the first half, and only did marginally better in the second, they did enough to win. I don't think Sewanee's defense will fare better against them than W&L's did. There is also a lot more game tape available on Sewanee now than earlier in the year. That will help as well. Now if they just completely underestimate Sewanee... well, not much can be done about it.

[awadelewis]

I don't think Centre will struggle too much with Sewanee. I think a lot of the reason Sewanee is much improved this year is they are running a triple option like W&L runs.

I figure the spread between Centre and Sewanee should run around 10 points.  I think we've improved enough on the defensive side of things that we can keep in the game through the first half but Centre will pull away in the middle to late third quarter.   I don't envy the Centre coaches... big games coming up means it'll be hard to keep the kids focused on this week, esp. given how Centre/Sewanee series has gone the past few years.

I'd agree with you about the triple option; it's an offense that I'm surprised isn't used more often as I think defenses have gotten so focused on spread offenses that it's hard for them to adjust to type of assignment defense required to play an option team like us or W&L.

[cush]

These W&L references make me wonder if they would ever consider joining the SAA? I would guess they would need a travel partner, so the SAA would need to bring in two VA school's to get to 10.

[Ron Boerger]

This week's ATN Podcast leads off with Centre-BSC and Huntingdon-Trinity.  Thanks, guys!

[jknezek]

These W&L references make me wonder if they would ever consider joining the SAA? I would guess they would need a travel partner, so the SAA would need to bring in two VA school's to get to 10.

I highly doubt W&L will leave the ODAC. The ODAC is a very good fit for the Generals, although they do stick out academically. That being said, geographically the conference is a dream. No mandatory overnights (although you do get some decent bus trips), no flights, and if you look at the Commissioner's Cup results W&L has nothing to complain about. We've won the overall combined more years than not and we often have at least the men's or women's cup every year. As the ODAC has added sports that W&L competes in (women's swimming), and W&L has added sports the ODAC has a competition for (field hockey), I believe the only sport W&L doesn't compete in is softball. I also think men's swimming, wrestling, and maybe equestrian (not sure how that is organized) are the only varsity level sports W&L has to go outside the ODAC to find a home. I might be slightly off on the sports, but not much.

While I have no contacts at W&L to ask about this, and no knowledge of it, my personal opinion is there is almost no justification for W&L leaving the ODAC.

[Ralph Turner]

Logical discussion of W&L, jknezel.

How much of an "mission and vision" drop-off is there in the ODAC, top to bottom?

Probably no different than that of the SAA.  The SAA rejected some very presitgeous schools when they went out on their own.