FB: Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference

[GRIZ_BACKER]

What's up everyone. Hope things are well with all of you. Best of luck to everyone these first couple weeks representing the conference. MSJ seems to have things under control at this point.

Good to see MSJ on the rise. The GRIZ need a couple conference teams that can compete to make things interesting.  On paper and according to D3 Football kick-off, Franklin is the second best team in the HCAC this year.  Coach Leonard thanks Pat Coleman and company for that.  As a side note, Benedictine scored 21 of their 28 points on a kick-off return and two 4th efforts against the third string.  The GRIZ rang up 55 in the first 3 quarters.  Not bad.

Several games to play before thinking about MSJ.  Albion blasted Defiance yesterday and FC heads north to their place next saturday eve.  No overlooking them for sure.

[Pat Coleman]

What's up everyone. Hope things are well with all of you. Best of luck to everyone these first couple weeks representing the conference. MSJ seems to have things under control at this point.

Good to see MSJ on the rise. The GRIZ need a couple conference teams that can compete to make things interesting.  On paper and according to D3 Football kick-off, Franklin is the second best team in the HCAC this year.  Coach Leonard thanks Pat Coleman and company for that.  As a side note, Benedictine scored 21 of their 28 points on a kick-off return and two 4th efforts against the third string.  The GRIZ rang up 55 in the first 3 quarters.  Not bad.

Several games to play before thinking about MSJ.  Albion blasted Defiance yesterday and FC heads north to their place next saturday eve.  No overlooking them for sure.

The Franklin-Benedictine game looks just about like what we'd expect No. 68 to do to No. 137. And yeah, we have MSJ at 66 and Franklin at 68. If that's the motivation Franklin needs -- well, that's kinda sad.

[MSJguy]

The MSJ offense will be able to play with anyone this season, matchup nightmares all over the field, not to mention the best QB in D3 that no one knows about! Chaiten Tomlin is the real deal! The question for the Lions all season will be on the other side of the ball, Capital was able to move it relatively well, especially in the first quarter. The Lions face a real test in Morehead St. this weekend, hopefully they can come out healthy and make the game competitive heading into Rose-Hulman week

[Pat Coleman]

The MSJ offense will be able to play with anyone this season, matchup nightmares all over the field, not to mention the best QB in D3 that no one knows about!

That just means that they need to do a better job with promotions. 

[FCGrizzliesGrad]

It's never a great year for the OOC record. Haven't won more than 1/3 in a decade... been 12 years since the HCAC had a winning record.

Regular season non-conference record
2017: 3-15 (Manchester, MSJ, Rose 1-1)
2016: 5-13 (Bluffton 2-0; Defiance, Franklin, Rose 1-1)
2015: 4-14 (Rose 2-0; Bluffton, MSJ 1-1)
2014: 4-14 (Rose 2-0; Manchester, MSJ 1-1)
2013: 1-17 (Earlham 1-1) Franklin 2nd round
2012: 2-16 (Bluffton, MSJ 1-1) Franklin 2nd round
2011: 3-15 (Franklin, Manchester, MSJ 1-1) Franklin 2nd round
2010: 6-12 (Bluffton, Franklin, Hanover, Manchester, MSJ, Rose 1-1)
Earlham joins HCAC
2009: 7-17 (Franklin, MSJ, Rose 2-1; Defiance 1-2)
2008: 10-14 (Franklin, Manchester, MSJ, Rose 2-1; Anderson, Bluffton 1-2) Franklin quarterfinals
2007: 12-12 (MSJ, Rose 3-0; Franklin, Manchester 2-1; Anderson, Defiance 1-2)
2006: 13-11 (Franklin, Rose 3-0; Defiance, MSJ 2-1; Anderson, Bluffton, Manchester 1-2)

Franklin has an opportunity to go 2-0 (obviously have to see how the offense looks after the talent that graduated)
Rose could beat Rhodes, MSJ should beat Capital, Manchester could get Alma, Anderson might beat Indiana Wesleyan since it will only be their 2nd ever game.

2-7 in week 1 and probably not much better week 2. But still won't be as bad as 2013 and Franklin could be the 4th team in a decade to run their non-conference slate.
Can we get a UMAC-HCAC challenge going? Someone would have to win games then.

[DBQ1965]

Keith McMillan deserves plenty of "plus karma" for his description "dictionary words matchup" of the Hope - Defiance game.

[FCGrizzliesGrad]

End of the 1st quarter and can finally take a breather. Albion leads Franklin 21-14 with 444 yards combined. Franklin with a failed 4th down is the only stop of the quarter.

Bluffton with a respectable showing against #19 Trine losing 34-13. Keep an eye on them to fight for a top 3 finish in conference.

Hanover same as Bluffton, losing 27-18 to Thomas More.

Defiance blanked by Hope 41-0. Going to be a long year for the Jackets

Earlham's streak extends to 45 losses with a 47-13 loss to Hiram.

[FCGrizzliesGrad]

Track meet still going, but Franklin has dropped the ball, literally. Two fumbles have cost the Grizzlies as Albion is playing almost perfect and lead 42-21. Still a few minutes in the 2nd quarter so plenty of time for 2 or 3 more scores

Looks like MSJ is down 28-0 to Morehead St in the 2nd quarter. Rough first half for the two winners last week.

[FCGrizzliesGrad]

Finally halftime. Franklin down 28-42.
Teams have combined for 830 yards, 530 yards on 40 of 50 passing, 300 yards rushing on 39 attempts, 43 first downs, just 4 penalties, and 0 punts.
This feels like a football version of a Grinnell-Greenville basketball game.

[FCGrizzliesGrad]

Apparently non-offensive players arrived at halftime. Albion goes 3 and out and punts. First time a punter has been spotted in the game and the first time the Grizzlies get a stop.

MSJ is down 42-6 at halftime. It's looking pretty much like you'd expect a FCS vs D3 matchup to look.

Manchester is still in it down 14-24 to Alma at halftime.

Anderson getting crushed 41-0 at halftime.

Rose is the lone team leading, up 7-2 in the 2nd quarter.

[FCGrizzliesGrad]

Slowed down in the 3rd quarter... only 21 points scored and it's Albion 56-35. Up to 1131 yards combined. Anyone know what the record for combined yardage in a game is?

Manchester is within 3 points late 3rd, Rose down 9-7 in the 2nd.
MSJ and Anderson still losing big.

[FCGrizzliesGrad]

Grizzlies have thrown in the towel. Still a few minutes left but Albion still leads 56-35. Albion played amazing today.

Manchester back and forth with Alma. Should be a good finish there

[FCGrizzliesGrad]

Alma with a TD with 23 seconds left to take the lead against Manchester. Unless the Spartans can go the length of the field in a hurry it's looking like the HCAC will go 0fer today and 2-16 overall non-conference.

MSJ made a bit of a comeback in the 3rd but have given up a score and are down 19-48 now

Anderson loses 61-6.

Rose starting to fall off, down 30-7 to Rhodes early 3rd.

[FCGrizzliesGrad]

Back and forth game on homecoming for the Grizzlies. Franklin and Rose for the 4th year in a row end up in a one score game. RHIT scores with under 2 minutes left to take the lead, Franklin drives the other way completing two 4th downs including the winning TD on 4th and 10 from the Engineer 31 with 21 seconds left. Rose had two extra points blocked and failed a 2pt conversion while Franklin missed an extra point but converted a 2pt conversion.

MSJ beats Bluffton 21-7. Turnovers killed the Beavers as the Lions forced 3 fumbles and 2 interceptions. Mount did have 14 penalties for 134 yards though.

Hanover routs Anderson 55-8. All one sided for the Panthers today. Keep an eye on them, they could knock off MSJ and/or Franklin. Likely will be 5-2 (5-0) heading into their final three games: home vs Lions, home vs RHIT, and at Franklin for the Victory Bell.

Manchester hands Earlham loss #48 in a 69-0 blowout. Manchester attempted just 5 passes and had the ball less than 20 minutes.

[SaintsFAN]

From Adam Turer (Can't say I disagree):

24. Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference

            Kickoff ranking: 24
            Non-conference record: 2-16
            Signature win: Franklin 55, Benedictine 38

The bottom of this conference is deeeeeep. Three of the lowest ranked teams in Kickoff play in the HCAC. No matter how good Franklin or Mount St. Joe are, or how many yards and points their quarterbacks produce, the national perspective of the conference is skewed due to the lack of competition within the league. Franklin's win over Benedictine was better than MSJ's win over Capital. Those were the HCAC's only two non-conference wins to choose from.