FB: Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference

[Tex]

It's games like yesterday where you just tip your hat to the other guys and learn from it.  If we do make it into the playoffs, yesterdays game can be the test we needed to expose a few chinks in the armor.  Fix those and we can be very dangerous to whomever we meet up with. 

Hopefully, my Tigers can take care of business these next two weeks and be in a position to compete for that bid. 

[Josh Moczygemba]

A few shots for those that weren't able to see the game on Saturday.

[LA Major]

Thanks Josh

[Tex]

As soon as my camera and I get back together later this week, I should have about 1000 photos or so to upload.  www.tigerpics.net

[LA Major]

Congrats to Milsaps.  Better team yesterday in the 2nd half, and that's when it counted.  TU had a comeback chance down two scores, but threw an INT in the endzone that ended their hopes.  That was the game changing moment. 

TU defense had little solution for Juan Joseph in the 2nd half..  He will be graduating, right?    As good as he was, his receivers helped him a lot by catching most of his tosses.  It was his runs up the middle that were the most effective.  He doesn't take too many direct hits.    Hats off to the Milsaps coaches for their 2nd half adjustments. 

The Milsaps  running back was pretty darn effective as well.  Arm tackles do not bring him down.  

I've seen a lot of D-3 games this year and Joseph is the best I've seen so far. 

I guess the next poll should be did the point differential knock TU out of a Pool C bid?  I sure hope not.  But, I have no idea of what exactly determines Pool C bids. 

Tex I agree with your statement regarding the coaching decisions at half time. I also think it could have been very different if not for the Hanberry interception in the end zone.
I also would offer for consideration the heart and no quit attitude by the Majors in the outcome. One stat that stands out to me in the fact from the point that TU was up 17-14 Millsaps outscored the Tigers 42-10. That is really amazing. This is a mature team that is prepared to win each week.

[MajorDad]

Millsaps moves to # 4 on DIII.com, AFCA not out yet. Trinity only drops two spots to #16 hopefully that keeps them strong for an at-large bid. Here's hoping De Pauw can pull an upset on Wabash in week 11 and possibly Otterbein knocking off Mount Union next week. Probably a lot of wishful thinking on that last match-up. Plenty of football left, hope no one is looking forward......

[Ralph Turner]

Millsaps moves to # 4 on DIII.com, AFCA not out yet. Trinity only drops two spots to #16 hopefully that keeps them strong for an at-large bid. Here's hoping De Pauw can pull an upset on Wabash in week 11 and possibly Otterbein knocking off Mount Union next week. Probably a lot of wishful thinking on that last match-up. Plenty of football left, hope no one is looking forward......

Just a reminder to the new readers...

The rankings in the d3football.com Top 25 have absolutely no bearing on the Regional Rankings that are used by the Selection Committee.  The Selection criteria are listed in the FAQ.

FAQ -- Playoffs

The Pool C message board has good reveiws and posts on the at-large bids.

[MajorDad]

Millsaps moves to # 4 on DIII.com, AFCA not out yet. Trinity only drops two spots to #16 hopefully that keeps them strong for an at-large bid. Here's hoping De Pauw can pull an upset on Wabash in week 11 and possibly Otterbein knocking off Mount Union next week. Probably a lot of wishful thinking on that last match-up. Plenty of football left, hope no one is looking forward......

Just a reminder to the new readers...

The rankings in the d3football.com Top 25 have absolutely no bearing on the Regional Rankings that are used by the Selection Committee.  The Selection criteria are listed in the FAQ.

FAQ -- Playoffs

The Pool C message board has good reveiws and posts on the at-large bids.

Ralph,
I knew that before posting and have read the pool C board as well, just trying to be positive in some aspect. Speaking of pictures, here's one I've grown kinda fond of:

[MajorDad]

Man This is from the Millsaps SID. Sounds like they definetly had revenge on thier minds. Notice key phrase "San Antonio Slaughter"

SAN ANTONIO, Texas - Oliver Galicki, Andres Wallace, Jordan Granville, John
Shivers and Adam Williams paved the way for a season-high 576 yards of total
offense and 5th-ranked Millsaps dropped the most points on host Trinity (Texas)
in the SCAC era in a 56-27 rout of the Tigers Saturday afternoon at E.M. Stevens
Stadium.

Senior All-American hopeful Juan Joseph completed 30-of-43 passes for 370 yards
and three TDs and also rushed for 91 yards and two more scores as Millsaps not
only clinched an automatic playoff berth but snapped a 13-year home conference
winning-streak (36 games) for the Tigers dating back to 1995.

Millsaps (8-0, 5-0 SCAC) won its 10th straight game dating back to last year's
"Mississippi Miracle" loss and earned the right to term the game this season the
"San Antonio Slaughter" while sending 14th-ranked TU to its first loss of the
2008 season after opening the year at 7-0.

"We hit on all cylinders today," offensive coordinator John David Caffey said.
"It's probably our best performance of the season but we can still perform
better.  We followed our game plan that we practiced all week and definitely
showed up  for the showdown."

Millsaps set the tempo on the opening play from scrimmage, using Jonathan
Brooks' 26-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown.  However, Trinity's Riley Curry
was deemed down by contact and the touchdown was wiped off the board - one of
two on the afternoon (Michel Galatas 85-yd kick return).

Trinity (7-1, 4-1 SCAC) would score first two series later, taking advantage of
a Joseph fumble on a called option play that set the Tigers up on the Majors'
24-yard line.  After the turnover, Bryant Wilson marched TU 24 yards on seven
plays, connecting with Al Furlow from 12-yards out for the 7-0 lead.

Millsaps responded right back 1:08 later, using a career-long 55-yard kick
return from sophomore Michael Galatas to set the Majors up at TU's 32-yard line. 
After a 10-yard rush from Joseph, the senior found fellow senior Eric McCarty
from 20-yards out over the middle to knot it at 7-7.

After forcing TU into a three-and-out on its next possession, Millsaps took its
first lead of the contest on its best drive of the day, a 9-play, 80-yard drive
over 3:15 that ended in a 14-yard run from Joseph and a 14-7 lead.

Ten unanswered from the Tigers off Peter Licalzi's 25-yard field goal and
Wilson's 26-yard TD pass regave them the lead at 17-14 and energized the crowd
of 3,213 before 10 unanswered from the Majors gave the visitors a 28-17 lead at
intermission.

Millsaps would take total control of the game in the second half, scoring TDs on
four of its five possessions while limiting the Tigers to just 10 points to come
away with the convincing, 29-point win.

Behind Joseph's stellar afternoon that will likely garner him D3football.com and
SCAC Player of the Week honors, McCarty caught nine balls for 115 yards and a
score, Galatas caught four for 82 yards and a score, Raymece Savage grabbed six
for 49 yards and Shane Bowser grabbed four for 56 yards and a score.  Wilson
completed 18-of-31 passes for 275 yards, three TDs and two INTs for TU,
connecting with Chris Coleman a team high five times for 67 yards.

Defensively for Millsaps, Lee Klein had a team high eight tackles, Denarold
Anderson had seven tackles (2.0 TFL) and a sack and Jacob Hanberry had seven
tackles, two breakups and a key interception in the third quarter.  For the
Tigers, Dennis Grebe had a game high 10 tackles.

The Majors will return home next weekend for a Homecoming showdown with Colorado
College, with kickoff set for 1 p.m.  Before kickoff, 20 Millsaps seniors will
be recognized in addition to halftime festivities.

While I love poking fun as evidenced by the pic above, the term San Anotnio Slaughter is a bit over the top and pretty much uncalled for. Obviously the originator didn't see the same game I did. The score is not indictive of actually how close this game was. As Trinity was driving early in the 4th, looking to get the score within 8 points, I was thinking this was gonna be a long 15 mintues with visions of last years loss fresh in my mind. The interception in the end zone was the KEY play of the game.

[Bill McCabe]

MajorDad,  the INT was a big play, but Trinity's defense could do nothing.  There was no pressure on Joseph all day and he made some big runs, also. 

[exmajor]

While I love poking fun as evidenced by the pic above, the term San Anotnio Slaughter is a bit over the top and pretty much uncalled for. Obviously the originator didn't see the same game I did. The score is not indictive of actually how close this game was. As Trinity was driving early in the 4th, looking to get the score within 8 points, I was thinking this was gonna be a long 15 mintues with visions of last years loss fresh in my mind. The interception in the end zone was the KEY play of the game.

Keep in mind this was written by a guy that is paid to hype up the Majors, not an un-biased sportswriter.  It is a little mis-leading though as I agree with your comments about Trinity fighting back in the game.

[Bill McCabe]

Ron, what was your impression of the Trinity defense?

[Ralph Turner]

Millsaps moves to # 4 on DIII.com, AFCA not out yet. Trinity only drops two spots to #16 hopefully that keeps them strong for an at-large bid. Here's hoping De Pauw can pull an upset on Wabash in week 11 and possibly Otterbein knocking off Mount Union next week. Probably a lot of wishful thinking on that last match-up. Plenty of football left, hope no one is looking forward......

Just a reminder to the new readers...

The rankings in the d3football.com Top 25 have absolutely no bearing on the Regional Rankings that are used by the Selection Committee.  The Selection criteria are listed in the FAQ.

FAQ -- Playoffs

The Pool C message board has good reveiws and posts on the at-large bids.

Ralph,
I knew that before posting and have read the pool C board as well, just trying to be positive in some aspect. Speaking of pictures, here's one I've grown kinda fond of:

When I wrote that, I was thinking of other posters who had been thru the excruciating agony of "Pool C-dom" as Millsaps experienced last year.

That photo is historical significance.  Those Trinity players were playing Junior High ball the last time that scoreboard looked like that in a SCAC game.

[Bill McCabe]

Ralph,  what do you think of Trinity's chances for a Pool C?

[Ralph Turner]

Ralph,  what do you think of Trinity's chances for a Pool C?

Good morning, Bill.

Unfortunately, I think that TU is about #7 or #8 in line for Pool C, and there is nothing we can do to avoid that.

Hendrix Warriors (and probably Concordia-TX) are coming on-line for football in the next 2-3 years.  That leaves only one non-conference game for SCAC and ASC teams.  Why should Trinity leave the state for a non-conference game?

On the other hand, our OWP/OOWP will always be around .500.  We are stuck with that when that criterion is considered.