FB: Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference

[Ron Boerger]

MC fumbles a punt with < 10 seconds left - Millsaps recovers and Taylor Russolino hits a career 47-yd FG as time expires to send it into OT.

[Ron Boerger]

Millsaps wins toss - MC gets ball, scores on its possession, XP is good.  41-34 pending Millsaps' turn.

Takes Millsaps all of two plays to return the favor (the MC pass defense has basically sucked the second half).  XP is good, on to OT2.

[Ron Boerger]

Millsaps had a third and eight, converted but were called for offensive holding, now have to convert a third and 24 (wtf??) ... pass for 20, Millsaps 26 yd FG is good, Majors lead 44-41 with MC still to play.

MC gains 9.5 yds, has a third and short ... gained three.  Now at the 12.
Pass for six.
Quick out to Ellis with blocking in front, MC wins 47-44 in 2OT. 

[Tex]

I'm sitting in a hotel in Abilene, very glad TU won tonight.  Momentum seemed to swing wildly back and forth and quickly as well. 

As an o-linemen parent, naturally I spent a lot of time watching them.  We had some guys out, two soph's and a freshman got their first college start.  The freshman, Hong, seems like a great pick up for the Oline this year.  6'3 or so, 300+ and he can move. 

Lots of first game jitters it seemed with both teams.  Both teams dropped some passes that might have turned out to be key plays. 

I don't know the names of the TU QB's yet.  The young man in the 2nd half seemed to be having a pretty good game.  He might have been the same guy from 1st half, but I honestly spend most of my time watching the line until one of those talented backs burst up through the middle!

Baer and Furrow both had some nice runs to start the season. 

It's quite obvious the new coach Mummy has the McManiacs pumped up.  This was my first time here.  Very nice field.  Stands were nicely done up.  Ralph said a lot of it was new this year.  They even had concessions on our side of the field.  I loved the giant McM banner that covered the entire wall of the field house.  It was huge and quite classy looking.  Scoreboard has video, all the toys here it seems. 

It was fun to watch the new offense McM fielded.  They are going to win some games this year.  TU started out only rushing three and the QB had too much time.  We started firing LB's and even going at times with a 4 man front.  Putting pressure on the McM offense is the way TU came up with some answers.  But, the QB had a good game and dumped it off when needed.  Good timing for the most part.  The TU rush paid off with some big INT's.  TU D-line and LB's look solid. 

One game doesn't tell a season, but I do think the TU secondary is better so far than last season. 

That last double fumble thing was a crazy way to end a crazy game. 

Officiating tonight got a C-/D+.  D-3 officiating for the 12 or 13 games I've seen so far leave a lot to be desired. 

[Tex]

Millsaps had a third and eight, converted but were called for offensive holding, now have to convert a third and 24 (wtf??) ... pass for 20, Millsaps 26 yd FG is good, Majors lead 44-41 with MC still to play.

MC gains 9.5 yds, has a third and short ... gained three.  Now at the 12.
Pass for six.
Quick out to Ellis with blocking in front, MC wins 47-44 in 2OT. 

That's a tough match up for both teams to start the year.  Both talented teams and only one can win.  I think I'd rather see that game played later in the year. 

[TigerDad]

I'm sitting in a hotel in Abilene, very glad TU won tonight. 

I am also sitting in a hotel in Abilene and have this to say ... AMEN BROTHER!

The TU Tigers escaped with a very narrow victory tonight over McMurry ... 31-26.  Coach Mumme made a few gutsy calls, some that didn't work out for his young team.  They went for it a couple times when they should have punted, but those guys showed guts and heart ... gave all they had tonight and were 180 degrees different from the team that visited SA last fall.  My hat's off to the McMurry football coaches and players ... they will win some ballgames this year and have alot more fun than last year's 0-10.  They will surprise some middle-record teams in the ASC this year.  AC better watch their step and bring their A-game next week!

Trinity, on the other hand, had a very slow start and did not look sharp.  Their offensive plan did not pan out early and McMurry really put their hats on the ball in the first half.  The Black Flag really struggled to contain the new Air Raid attack ... couldn't get enough pressure on QB Jake Mullin and he had WAY too much time to pick his receivers.  New TU QB Jeremy Staska looked tentative and did not trust his receivers or backs early.  As a result, most Tiger drives stalled quickly and they scored only one FG and one TD before the half.

In the second half, Trinity looked better ... 2nd QB Robert Davidson looked a bit more confident and the Tigers managed a few more sustained drives.  The big difference in the second half was the adjustments made by the Tiger D and coaches.  They put more pressure on Mullin and he made some rookie mistakes ... threw up some balls he should not have and Trinity intercepted twice in the fourth.

Big play of the game was the double-fumble.  On third down with about a minute left, Davidson was tackled and stripped of the football by McMurry defender Andrew Wallace near mid-field.  As he broke toward Trinity's goal-line, TU RB Al Furlow tackled him and wrestled the ball away.  The result of the double change in possession (in about 2 seconds) was first down for TU with less than a minute remaining.  Davidson took two snaps and a knee and the Tigers escaped with a victory.

As they say, "A win is a win."  That especially applies tonight.  It was an exhausting, frustrating game to watch from the visitor's side, but I must say the McMurry fans got everything they could want from their newly reborn team except for the win.  A win for them would have been huge for their program and hugely BAD for the Tigers ... perhaps it would have ended their playoff hopes before they began.  As it is, if they lick their wounds and bring more and better each week, I think they have a chance at the SCAC title.  A young offensive line did well for starters, the veterans stepped up when it counted.  And, brand-spanking-new (to Trinity) first-year kicker Garrett Biel did a fine job.  As did new punter Kyle Trella.

Had a nice visit with Ralph at halftime and, again, congrats to McMurry for a fine effort and good luck in the rest of their season.

Tigers ... enjoy your brief Labor Day weekend and practice hard ... bring it all to Seguin next week!

[Ralph Turner]

Thanks TU fans.

It was good to see TigerDad and HistoryMajor again, and the TU broadcast crew.

Nice to See/meet Tex, too.

Great game.  We are left with a team that can do it.  They can commit to winning and getting better.  It should be fun.  I think that TU wins the SCAC.

I will elaborate on the changes that I say in the facilities this year on the ASC board.

[pbrooks3]

Austin all over SAGU, 34-7 late in the 4th. 
Rhodes defeats Westminster (Mo), 26-7.
Centre-Hanover is over, score not posted anywhere yet, ditto BSC-LaGrange.

Actually, Ron, Rhodes won 26-14 over Westminster. It was a tight game for the 1st half according to the newspaper recap; Rhodes controlled the 2nd half.  Glad see the Colonels triumphed over Hanover.

[rooski]

Sounds like Coach Mumme may have brought some Millsaps-like magic to McM. Not sure thats what AC was hoping for - essentially a double dose of the Majors in week 2 and 3.

Compared to '08 the Roos initially look to have improved in the red-zone {4-6} and special teams {clearly won the field position battle}, and lost no turnovers! But we took a nasty step backward regarding penalties {13-136yds}. Yes we will still run it at ya, but the 59yd down-the-field TD pass was no fluke. So I guess the jury is still out on the "O" and we will find out a lot about them the next two weeks.

Our DB play encouraged me. It seems like our experience will pay off and the added speed can only help. Our D-line also encouraged me. But based on the reports from last night the "D" will be seriously tested against McM and MC - and Centre too for that matter. And two of those three games are on the road. However the week 1 win makes it 5 wins in the last 7 games for AC so it's not all smoke and mirrors... I know one thing. Coach Gage and the Roos intend to win them.

From a satatistical standpoint, while it looks like Chris Graves had a pretty eventful night and claimed ownership of the Millsaps offense, Centre's Osterman may be "the man" initially as far as SCAC offenses are concerned. The stat sheet for Centre's game shows Tyler with 29 of 43 for 324 yds, 4 TDs, no INT's and 104 net yds rushing. Pretty good start to '09 for the Colonel Soph. - Nice goin' Tyler!

[rooski]

From a statistical standpoint, while it looks like Chris Graves had a pretty eventful night and claimed ownership of the Millsaps offense, Centre's Osterman may be "the man" initially as far as SCAC offenses are concerned.

...Of course, DPU's stud Spud will have something to say about that as well. And who knows what surprises may await...

[rooski]

No permission needed to share a link, that's why they put the story on the web in the first place.   

Thanks coach!

[roocru]

How about those Roos!!  The new D3Football.com Top 25 has Austin College receiving 1 vote!!

A win over McMurry might propel us on to new and greater heights!! 

Seriously, this is a nice tribute for AC and I hope it is appreciated by all close to the program!

[Ralph Turner]

How about those Roos!!  The new D3Football.com Top 25 has Austin College receiving 1 vote!!

A win over McMurry might propel us on to new and greater heights!! 

Seriously, this is a nice tribute for AC and I hope it is appreciated by all close to the program!

Well you can be certain that McMurry would love to upset #50 Austin College!      

[Tex]

How about those Roos!!  The new D3Football.com Top 25 has Austin College receiving 1 vote!!

A win over McMurry might propel us on to new and greater heights!! 

Seriously, this is a nice tribute for AC and I hope it is appreciated by all close to the program!

Well you can be certain that McMurry would love to upset #50 Austin College!      

From what I saw last night, AC better bring it's "A" game or Ralph's wish will come true. 

[roocru]

How about those Roos!!  The new D3Football.com Top 25 has Austin College receiving 1 vote!!

A win over McMurry might propel us on to new and greater heights!! 

Seriously, this is a nice tribute for AC and I hope it is appreciated by all close to the program!

Well you can be certain that McMurry would love to upset #50 Austin College!      

From what I saw last night, AC better bring it's "A" game or Ralph's wish will come true. 

Tex,
I fully agree.  Both McMurry and AC appear to be much improved this year.  This game might tell us a lot about both teams' real ability.  When you have been down as long as Ralph and I have, anything said that is nice about your program is a big boost!!  I am considering making the trek to Abilene to see.  A real clash of the titans.

PS:  I made an offer last year for us to maybe have lunch.  Are you still in College Station? PM me if this is something you would like to do!