FB: Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference

[HSUCowboy2015]

Big game in Abilene this weekend.

McMurry is going for a Co-Championship and a 7-3 record, the best since 2011.
Centenary is going a 5-5 record in year #1.

MCM is going to win in their new conference. Jordan has done a great job getting them up from where they were, but I just don't know how you respect it

[tigerguy]

I was not even remotely expecting this.

[tigerguy]

Gritty comeback. Congrats TLU!

[Ralph Turner]

Congrats TLU. You may have earned  Pool C bid today.

[tigerguy]

Assuming the current projections hold and UMHB squeezes in behind Trinity, us there is a chance TLU plays UMHB and Trinity has a flight elsewhere?

Would have thought the TLU/Trinity rematch was a lock but with NPI dictating seeding maybe that won't be the case?

[Ron Boerger]

Is there a chance?  Sure, you never know what the NCAA is going to do.  We'll find out tomorrow (and it would suck, but given that we didn't think there was any kind of chance Trinity would get in a few weeks ago you take the good with the bad).

Edit:  Here is the D3football.com projected bracket.   They have UMHB and Trinity matching up (and theoretically Trinity would host) and TLU facing off against Centre.

[Ralph Turner]

...and TLU did not submit a bid to host?

Oops!

[Etchglow]

...and TLU did not submit a bid to host?

Oops!

I could see why... Neat field and all but it is a loooong way to the locker rooms. Every time I've been to a game there UMHB brings pop up tents to do their halftime thing in...  On the other hand, love taking pictures there because you can get right to field level lol.

[TLU05SA]

Certainly glad to see TLU make the playoffs. Saturday's game was nerve wracking to say the least. TLU's defense was fantastic on Saturday. The offense.... Well, by far their worst performance of the season on that side of the ball but they did just enough to come away with a win. This was not how I saw the game playing out. Even while watching the first half, I thought TLU's offense would find their rhythm and put the game away.

TLU's special teams have been fantastic all season. Their punter and kicker are very good. The kicker made a crucial 37-yard field goal with just over 5 minutes remaining to put TLU on the board. Their punter did a great job making sure SW needed to score on long drives.

I was surprised that TLU will not be playing next weekend, getting a week off before facing Linfield. I know that Linfield is a regular in the playoffs but, beyond that, I don't know much more about them. No overlap between their schedule and TLU's. Linfield did lose to Wisconsin-Oshkosh early in the season and TLU played Oshkosh last year. However, that was a very different TLU team. Curious what people's thoughts are about Linfield.

[Ron Boerger]

Linfield is a quality playoff-calibre team year in and year out - you can see their playoff history here.  A good number of their recent playoff runs in the last decade came to an end against UMHB.

This year's Linfield team does a run-by-committee approach to average 163 yards/game, but like most D3 teams get the bulk of their yardage through the air.  Blake Eaton (who isn't much of a rushing threat) completes 2/3rds of his passes for about 220 yards/game.  Another QB has gotten into all ten games, from the numbers it would appear that he's mopping up in relief but he's added nearly another 60 yards/game.  They're effective in the red zone, scoring 49 of 51 times (one of the misses was in the loss to Oshkosh).  Opponents have only scored in 8 of 15 red zone appearances.  Defensively, the Wildcats have only allowed a team to rush for over 100 yards once (again, Oshkosh) so Bosanko may have to throw the ball more than he has recently.  Linfield's last five opponents have *totaled* 139 yards in 123 attempts (13 sacks in that time subtracted 116 yards from the total). 

There's an interview with Linfield's coach in this week's podcast and they talk a little bit about the team. 

[Ron Boerger]

Also, later this week there will capsule reviews of the playoff teams on D3football.com that will provide a little more insight about Linfield (and everyone else).

[wildcat11]

Ron,

Linfield's 2nd QB, McNabb, actually is playing throughout the whole game.  Eaton gets the majority of the snaps (and can run it just enough: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kH5U8SAvOKQ) but McNabb subs in at some point of every series and is a physical running threat. This year, the 'Cats don't have one guy on offense they hang their hat on but spread it around to a number of capable guys.

The 'Cats defensive line and LB's are good.....strong point of the team, IMO.

[Ron Boerger]

Ron,

Linfield's 2nd QB, McNabb, actually is playing throughout the whole game.  Eaton gets the majority of the snaps (and can run it just enough: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kH5U8SAvOKQ) but McNabb subs in at some point of every series and is a physical running threat. This year, the 'Cats don't have one guy on offense they hang their hat on but spread it around to a number of capable guys.

The 'Cats defensive line and LB's are good.....strong point of the team, IMO.

Thanks for bringing the facts, wildcat11.  Do feel free to offer any other thoughts on the 'Cats and the matchup!

[wildcat11]

Ron,

Linfield's 2nd QB, McNabb, actually is playing throughout the whole game.  Eaton gets the majority of the snaps (and can run it just enough: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kH5U8SAvOKQ) but McNabb subs in at some point of every series and is a physical running threat. This year, the 'Cats don't have one guy on offense they hang their hat on but spread it around to a number of capable guys.

The 'Cats defensive line and LB's are good.....strong point of the team, IMO.

Thanks for bringing the facts, wildcat11.  Do feel free to offer any other thoughts on the 'Cats and the matchup!

I haven't seen TLU play so not much I can say in terms of match up.  What I'll say about this Linfield team is that I wouldn't want to see them in the playoffs.  Earlier in the season, the 'Cats were still trying to figure out the QB rotation and were not healthy at DT (missing Alex Frazier hurt Linfield mightily vs Oshkosh). 

Since then, the 'Cats offense settled into a rhythm with Eaton/McNabb and have all of their key members on the field.  Linfield is really good in all 3 phases.

[TLU05SA]

I haven't seen TLU play so not much I can say in terms of match up.  What I'll say about this Linfield team is that I wouldn't want to see them in the playoffs.  Earlier in the season, the 'Cats were still trying to figure out the QB rotation and were not healthy at DT (missing Alex Frazier hurt Linfield mightily vs Oshkosh). 

Since then, the 'Cats offense settled into a rhythm with Eaton/McNabb and have all of their key members on the field.  Linfield is really good in all 3 phases.

I can give a little insight into TLU. The most obvious fact is that this is only the second time TLU has made the D3 playoffs. I can think of another year or two where they were worthy of consideration but, for the most part, TLU has been a program that has spent its time in the middle of the pecking order in the ASC. The playoffs will be something entirely new for this program and we will see how the team handles the pressure of a road game against a program that regularly finds itself in the playoffs. Linfield has an advantage with its experience in the playoffs.

This year's team is significantly better than any team TLU has had since, at least, 2014. TLU's defense is good. TLU plays well up front against the run (122 rushing yard per game) but the secondary occasionally gets burned by big plays (214 passing yards). Overall, they manage to keep the other team's offense under control.  The most points scored against them this season is 34 by Austin College, 20 of which was scored in the 4th quarter when the game was decided. The defense held their opponents to an average 17 points a game.

TLU's offense runs hot and cold. They averaged over 400 yards per game for the season (209 rushing; 195 passing). Their running game has been very good, lead by multiple running backs and quarterback who is a good runner on planed QB runs and scrambling when the pocket breaks down and when rolling out of the pocket. Their passing game is inconsistent. Most passing plays are short and/or quick passes. Long passing plays often are produced by the quarterback moving out of the pocket with the option to pass or run.  On average, 34 points per game.

TLU's special teams are very good. Their punter is excellent. He averages 44 yards per punt. So is their kicker.  The kicker does not have a big leg for kickoffs but is an accurate on field goals.  For PATs, he is 38 for 38 and 10 of 13 on field goals.  Last week, the kicker made a 37-yard field goal with ease with a little over 5 minutes in the game to keep TLU in the game. They had a 100-yard kick return for a touchdown early in the season but, otherwise, their kick and punt returners have been conservative. They had one turnover on a kick-off in their lone loss to McMurry. That, as far as I can recall, was the only turnover their special teams had.

How TLU will match up against Linfield? I have no idea. Really, I do not have any expectations about how this game will play out but I am hopeful that TLU will play well and make it a tough game.