FB: Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference

[Just_that_kid]

Teams are actually trying to be fairly balanced against Millsaps, and actually favoring the run.
Though the Millsaps offense does jump on people quickly most times, teams usually stick to their game plan atleast through the first half. The few times the Millsaps offense has struggled, the defense held tight and gave the offense some good looks via turnovers.

With further research, I find that Millsaps has seen their opponents attempt more passes than any other defense in the conference by anywhere between 10-50 attempts depending on the team.

Furthermore, more of those passes are resulting in incompletions due to Millsaps being the 6th best team nationally in pass efficiency defense (78.0, no other SCAC team in the Top 50).  One has to think if they see more passes than anybody else, and a higher percentage of them are incomplete than anybody else, it must provide fewer opportunities for tackles to some degree. 

I'm no math major, but I think that sounds about right, doesn't it?

Although I don't disagree with your point, I'm not sure where you got you numbers. Per the SCAC website, the team leading the conference in pass plays defended is Austin College with 218. Millsaps is only one behind at 217. Further, the team that has faced the least amount of passes is BSC, though they've had 150 fewer defensive snaps than Millsaps.
I'm not a math major either, but if we break down the total number of defensive plays, and determine how many of them were against the run, the percentages further prove my point of balance against the Millsaps defense.

(Run play calls/total offensive plays faced)
Depauw- 215/424 = 50.71%
Trinity- 191/372 = 51.34%
Millsaps- 232/449 = 51.67
Rhodes- 209/397 = 52.65%
Austin- 244/462 = 52.81%
Sewanee- 244/427 = 57.14%
Centre- 243/418 = 58.13%
BSC- 189/301 = 62.79%
Colorado- 287/435 =65.98%

That said, I don't disagree with any of your points, but I still hold my point--teams are trying to remain balanced against the Millsaps defense.

[Pat Coleman]

The original question was number of tackles, yes? With Millsaps' opponents low completion percentage, it's going to limit the number of plays which involve tackles.

[DPU3619]

That said, I don't disagree with any of your points, but I still hold my point--teams are trying to remain balanced against the Millsaps defense.

Yes.  You're correct.  But, unless you're trying to change the subject, I don't see what it has to do with what we're talking about.

[Just_that_kid]

I was just shooting at the point that Millsaps hasn't seen (percentage) many more passes than most other SCAC teams. There were several games in which the game didn't get out of hand until the second half. If there's a surplus number of passes faced, I think it has more to do with how the Millsaps defense plays on 1st and 2nd down than it does the score of the game. Sewanee was still trying to establsh the run last week, despite being down 20+ points.

[KentATM]

to make this a bit easier to look at, each team is seeing on average X passes per game.

DePauw - 34.8
Rhodes - 31.3
Austin College - 31.1
Millsaps - 31
Sewanee - 30.5
Trinity - 30.2
Centre - 29.2
BSC - 28
Colorado College - 26.6

It must be noted that the teams with the worst rush defenses are also the ones that are the least passed on (for obvious reasons).  The anomaly is AC having the #7 rush D in the SCAC and still getting thrown on the 3rd most.

It really does not seem as if teams are throwing any more on Millsaps than the others looking at this.  Also, JKid is right in that most of Millsaps game seem to be broken open in the 4th quarter and that could lead to them being passed on a bit less than the scores would indicate or in others they get so far ahead early that they are just running clock all game.

As for the bit about the tackles, obviously since they only let 43% of passes be completed, there are less chances for tackles.  However as their rush D is also the best in the SCAC, I think the tackles being spread out is more just that they are running their schemes very well and the players are in the correct positions to make plays. 

Often when a team has one guy making the majority of the tackles its an indication that they are not very good (on defense at least).  Its almost always a LB or a safety leading in tackles and thats b/c the RBs and WRs are breaking through to the second and third defensive levels far too often.  When you are able to stop that, the tackles are more dispersed as they are no longer having to clean up other defensive players mistakes.

That said, IMO its the Millsaps defensive line that is the catalyst for the tackles being spread out.  Not only are they getting pressure on QBs disrupting routes and throws, they are not letting opposing RBs make too many big gains past the line and are playing proper contain.

[frank_ezelle]

I really didn't mean to start a debate on this and I wasn't really asking for specific answers, I just found it interesting that the individual numbers had dropped so low for Millsaps players while the defense has obviously improved since last year.

While everyone has made valid points on why the numbers have dropped, it seems to me that the most dynamic reason for the drop is the increase in depth at Millsaps.  Last year the starters usually played the entire game with little rest.  This year they are getting breaks throughout the game and are often on the sideline for much of the 4th quarter.  It seems to be an awfully good sign that Millsaps can spread the work load over a wide range of players and still have such good results.

[Ron Boerger]

The SCAC continues to get love in the Week 7 D3football.com Team of the Week:

QB Blake Barmore, Sr., Trinity (Texas)
Barmore finished with a school and SCAC record 518 yards of total offense in the game, including 476 yards passing. He completed 22 of 32 passes and threw two touchdowns, and also rushed for 42 yards and two scores in the Tigers' 43-28 win over DePauw.

DB Shaun Irchirl, Sr., Trinity (Texas)
Irchirl helped lead Trinity to a 43-28 win over DePauw, accounting for five solo tackles and three turnovers. He forced a fumble and picked off two passes in the red zone to end a pair of DePauw drives.

DB Jonathan Brooks, Jr., Millsaps
Brooks picked off two passes and scooped up a fumble and returned it 14 yards for a score in the Majors' 45-7 road win at Sewanee.

Congrats to all!

[HunterT]

This has been a quiet day after all that talk about numbers the past couple days.

I hope that doesn't mean that this week is the week where there is no controversy over who wins. Minus KentATM and jekelish picking Austin on the pick-em board, and Wes, Josh, and exmajor picking BSC, everybody seems to agree.

So let's ask the question to those guys,
*Why do you think Austin stands a chance (sorry, have to be a little bias this week)?
*and is this the week for BSC to finally win one against Centre? They are playing at home which seems to be a difference maker for them.

[exmajor]

I can't give a well thought out reason as to why I chose BSC besides what you already said about them being at home and a fairly long trip for Centre. 

I need to catch some guys ahead of me in the standings and I'll have to get creative in order to do that.  The only other way I could have gone was to go with Austin over Rhodes in Memphis and I don't see that happening this year.

[KentATM]

I feel that the Roos will take it as long as they avoid turnovers.  They seem to have gotten over the fumble bug the last few games and its not like they throw enough to worry about INTs.

Its mainly the way they are carrying themselves this year.  I have never seen them actually exude confidence.  However, they are also very mindful of the fact that they still cannot commit too many mistakes to win.  The simple fact that they believe they can win now is HUGE.  It used to be they would get down by a couple scores and the floodgates would open.  They have actually been able to come back in games this year.  They have been able to hold leads.  They have been able to make big plays.  They are no longer quitting when they get down.  It just seems that all of that is starting to take hold.

I think they can handle what should be a close, hard fought, low scoring game. 

Besides, I never pick against my team.

[Ron Boerger]

So let's ask the question to those guys,
*Why do you think Austin stands a chance (sorry, have to be a little bias this week)?

(1) Rhodes beat BSC by 3, AC beat them by 25.
(2) Rhodes beat CC by 1 (and CC had a WR playing QB for a half), AC beat them by 5 (with CC's #1 QB playing the entire game).
(3) We don't know who's playing QB for Rhodes this week.

Yes, Rhodes was on the road for both games while AC was at home for both, but if you're an AC supporter, those results still still give hope.

And the fact still remains that Rhodes has played exactly one impressive game on both sides of the ball all season - too bad it had to be against my guys!    Combined margin of victory in the four wins:   +25; combined margin of defeat in two losses, -63.

[KentATM]

2:00 CT: Austin College vs. Rhodes. The Lynx are not out of this thing yet. If they can win out and get a Trinity win at Millsaps, we'll have a three-way tie on our hands. Before they start thinking about winning out, they better think about how they're going to get by the much improved Kangaroos.

by the way, it made me extremely happy to actually see our full name written out for once.  Thanks much Wes!

[HunterT]

2:00 CT: Austin College vs. Rhodes. The Lynx are not out of this thing yet. If they can win out and get a Trinity win at Millsaps, we’ll have a three-way tie on our hands. Before they start thinking about winning out, they better think about how they’re going to get by the much improved Kangaroos.

by the way, it made me extremely happy to actually see our full name written out for once.  Thanks much Wes!

I agree Kent, I sent Wes an email thanking him for putting that game in the ATR.

I agree that Austin College is having a better year this year than in past, they are fighting and not laying over and taking the loss, they are making people work for it. I applaud that effort and think that is what the SCAC needs. I also agree with Ron about comparing the similar opponents, Rhodes did not do so great against them, while Austin College did well.

And I agree that Rhodes has a QB question because of injury or whatever other reasons. This could be big, but it could also mean that Rhodes will run the ball with their 2 or 3 good backs. I think even with the QB in question, Rhodes can control the ball and the clock and take control of the game.

And like Kent said, I can't pick against my own team. I see Rhodes winning this one at home. Hopefully by a decent amount, but i wouldn't count out a nail-biter.

[frank_ezelle]

2:00 CT: Austin College vs. Rhodes. The Lynx are not out of this thing yet. If they can win out and get a Trinity win at Millsaps, we'll have a three-way tie on our hands. Before they start thinking about winning out, they better think about how they're going to get by the much improved Kangaroos.

by the way, it made me extremely happy to actually see our full name written out for once.  Thanks much Wes!

Hey!  I used the full Austin College name in several posts and never got a word of thanks.  Are you just sucking up to Wes now that he is a big time columnist with the power to make or break a team???

[DPU3619]

Boy is somebody gonna be mad when they find out I stuck that in there as a joke after our conversation a couple weeks ago.