FB: Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference

[Ron Boerger]

DePauw at Rhodes:  Two teams that I have had a very hard time figuring out.  Wes did a better job that I can on this one and I have no idea.  I think every time I have picked a Rhodes game I got it wrong, so let's say DPU. 

ouch. that hurts.

I will say though that almost every time i've picked against Rhodes in the past, they pull something out. I'm calling a 16 lateral play with only 1 second remaining from the 38 yard line for the Lynx victory.

How you like dem apples TU?

Actually you should be happy, since every pick I've made in a Rhodes game has been incorrect.

And if the Lynx win in this fashion, more power to 'em.   

[HunterT]

DePauw at Rhodes:  Two teams that I have had a very hard time figuring out.  Wes did a better job that I can on this one and I have no idea.  I think every time I have picked a Rhodes game I got it wrong, so let's say DPU. 

ouch. that hurts.

I will say though that almost every time i've picked against Rhodes in the past, they pull something out. I'm calling a 16 lateral play with only 1 second remaining from the 38 yard line for the Lynx victory.

How you like dem apples TU?

Actually you should be happy, since every pick I've made in a Rhodes game has been incorrect.

And if the Lynx win in this fashion, more power to 'em.  

hard to argue with that. Hope your pick for Depauw is wrong again this week. At least that way you can claim to be consistant.

[TigerDad]

HunterT ... the patented "Bonzo Inside Reverse Double Whammy" worked for Trinity last weekend ... maybe it will work for y'all too.  By the way, Ron, I never thanked you for your help on that one ... does this keep your streak alive?

[Ralph Turner]

HunterT ... the patented "Bonzo Inside Reverse Double Whammy" worked for Trinity last weekend ... maybe it will work for y'all too.  By the way, Ron, I never thanked you for your help on that one ... does this keep your streak alive?

The "Bonzo Inside Reverse Double Whammy" is a neat play, but Miracle in Mississippi is more alliterative. 

[HunterT]

well this weekend you're going to see the "Lynx cat laterals"

how about that? I just trade-marked it, so I'll be expecting a nickel from everybody that ever says it. 

[Ron Boerger]

HunterT ... the patented "Bonzo Inside Reverse Double Whammy" worked for Trinity last weekend ... maybe it will work for y'all too.  By the way, Ron, I never thanked you for your help on that one ... does this keep your streak alive?

Heavens, no, I get more wrong than I get right.  Glad to be wrong again, as I always am whenever I feel the need to pick against my alma mater. 

Focusing on this week's game:  worth noting that the last Division III team to defeat Trinity in San Antonio during the regular season was Centre - 21 October 1995. 

[DPU3619]

I got tired of searching when I got to 1998.  Although, I was just looking for the last time a SCAC school won in San Antonio, let alone a D3 team. 

Good golly, that's impressive.

[HunterT]

As much as I hate to admit it, that is pretty impressive. that says a lot about their program and how it's been able to maintain itself over the years.

[TigerDad]

For all you Trinity "Miracle in Mississippi" aficionados, here's a new website:

http://www.trinitymiracle.com

Last updated just a moment ago ... page counter at 721 right now.

Check it out.

[frank_ezelle]

Over the last week I've gone out of my way a lot to provide photos to various people, including the Trinity athletic department, because I think the Trinity team and fans deserved their 15 minutes of national fame, something that is hard to come by in D3 athletics.  It is my belief that the players from Trinity are an overall great group of guys and why shouldn't I help them in this special moment.

It is because of this extra mile that I've gone for Trinity, that I feel like maybe I can speak for the Millsaps team without it coming off like sour grapes:

In all the hoopla over the last play, has it dawned on anyone that it took a "Miracle" for Trinity to beat Millsaps and avoid losing the SCAC crown for a second straight year?  I know that if all goes as it is favored to go, Trinity will finish the year ranked ahead of Millsaps and with the AQ from the SCAC, and ultimately it will be because of a "Miracle" that only came about because Millsaps didn't just tell their QB to run like hell backwards on 4th and 4 to run out the clock.  Also in all the hoopla, let's not forget that Millsaps will win at least a share of the SCAC crown if they win tomorrow to back up their outright SCAC crown from 2006.

Think for a second before you just dismiss the above as words of a sore loser or sour grapes--I hope that my actions on behalf of the Trinity program recently will buy me a little more credibility than that.  While Trinity has admittedly had the disadvantage of playing in Jackson the last two years, and that does make a difference, this year's game in Jackson proves that the rise in the Millsaps program is not a fluke.  The only fluke regarding Trinity and Millsaps over the last two years has been that last play, which everyone has readily admitted was a fluke, and without that bit of insanity Millsaps would be a 2-time outright SCAC champ during the first 2 years under Coach DuBose and his coaching staff.  It seems like that part of the story shouldn't be forgotten.

The remarkable thing is that all of this has been done when it truly should have been a rebuilding period at Millsaps.  For those who have forgotten, let me remind you that Coach DuBose didn't get the head coaching job until February 3, 2006 so by the time he put together a staff they were way behind on recruiting.  In addition, they were inheriting a 2-7 team that had produced these stirring headlines in the 2005 season:

"Majors win on blocked extra point in final minutes 24-23" (this was against NAIA Concordia)
"Blazers air it out to take Riverside Rumble 30-13" (vs. Belhaven College)
"Majors lose turnover battle game to Hawks, 49-27" (vs. Huntingdon College)
"Colonels jump on top early, top Majors 38-10"
"Tale of two halves doom Majors 35-21 against Rose-Hulman"
"DePauw too strong for Millsaps, cruise 51-14"
"Majors can't hang on, fall to Sewanee 19-16"
"Homecoming win boost Majors season" (a 30-29 victory over Rhodes which dropped Rhodes to 2-7 and 0-5 in the SCAC)
"Millsaps loses to Trinity" (the writer didn't have the heart to include the 41-0 score in the headline)

So, you have a Millsaps team in 2005 that avoided the cellar thanks to a 30-29 Homecoming victory over the team that did finish winless in the SCAC, and it was a team that wasn't even close to being competitive.  While my intent is not to take away from the Trinity moment and their 62-second "Miracle in Mississippi", I think it is important to point out that there is a second "Miracle in Mississippi" going on and it has stretched out over 2 years with the promise of better things to come in the future.

I'm sorry to everyone for such a long post, but I needed to write it and I think the members of the Saphead Nation needed to have someone say it.  Big C, this one's for you.

[HunterT]

Frank, if I could give you Kudos, i would. Very well said, not taken as sour grapes at all. i i'm just hurt that you had to bring up my senior season as the only reason Millsaps didn't finish last in the SCAC. Thanks. 

[frank_ezelle]

Maybe the "Miracle in Mississippi" really was a miracle.  Talk about one more thing that had to go right, take a look at the game time in these two photos I took before and after the Millsaps field goal that stretched the lead from 5 to 8 points late in the 4th quarter:

Prior to field goal--4:18 on the clock:


After kicking the field goal and moving to an 8 point lead--4:20 on the clock:


Did the official stop the action to add time to the game clock prior to the field goal attempt?  I don't remember anything like a big discussion and time being added to the clock but maybe it did happen--who would have thought that a few seconds difference at this point in the game would thrust this game on to the national stage? 

[frank_ezelle]

I'm glad Hunter was awake to break up my string of posts--and Hunter, I'm sorry I pulled up memories of an unsuccessful season.  Until I went back and looked at the 2005 season, I didn't realize that Millsaps was just two 1-point victories away from being winless in 2005.  It really highlights just how fast this program has come so far, and while I talk about the coaches often, it is obvious that the players deserve a tremendous amount of credit for this reversal.

BUT, the reason I'm posting this morning is because the photos from last Saturday's game have finally been posted.  Keep in mind that I shoot from a Millsaps point of view so I don't even have photos of Trinity players celebrating TDs, and if I did, I wouldn't post them on the Millsaps site.  Here's the link and may I suggest that a person use the "View as slideshow" option which displays larger images--if you go through the photos one by one, the image tends to look digitized.

Link:  http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v283/Millsaps_Majors/Football_2007/Trinity_10-27-07/

(And while I'm at it:  Go Majors today--get a win and clinch your 2nd straight SCAC crown.)

[Ron Boerger]

No surprise that early on it's a defensive struggle between Rhodes and DePauw.   DPU leads 7-0 thanks primarily to a 40-yard Jevon Pruitt punt return that set the Tigers up at the Rhodes 5.  The Lynx just missed a 40-yard field goal after their best drive of the day.   4:15 to play in the first quarter.

Millsaps is up 14-0 at CC with 5 minutes left in the first quarter.

[Tex]

3 points after reading several of the above posts.  

1.  Coach Mohr told me a while back that during his tenure, the only school that has beat TU at home was a scholarship (D-2?) school.  

2.  For Millsaps, great way to turn around a program.  Obviously it's linked to a very good Coach Dubose and staff.  I think the one thing to be extremely worried about if you're a Millsaps fan is how long will Dubose be there.  His name has been mentioned in regards to the SMU opening.  I seem to remember an article from some fishwrap early in the season where Dubose states he wants to get back into big time D-1 ball.  SMU isn't quite "big time" (my words, paraphrasing from old-age memory.  

So, is it a matter of when not if that Millsaps loses Dubose?  Can an assistant keep it going?  

3.  Frank, no sour grapes detected from my standpoint.  You are pointing out something that is obvious and cannot escape anyone with an open mind.  I guess there's something carthetic about posting it though.  I'm not sure there's enough bandwidth to handle all the posts it will take to get over Millsaps missing out on a playoff spot because y'all lost the Mississippi College game the way y'all did.