FB: Southern Athletic Association

[Ron Boerger]

Frank Rossi interviewed Coach Urban who said Harmel was cleared early in the week and will start tomorrow.

[Ralph Turner]

Frank Rossi interviewed Coach Urban who said Harmel was cleared early in the week and will start tomorrow.

When TUTx plays at SJU in the semifinals, then instant replay will clear Harmel the next time he gives a SJU player such a hit.

[awadelewis]

Final from Fulton, MO:  Sewanee 32, Westminister 14.

[awadelewis]

While Berry didn't put hammer down as hard on LaGrange as what the Coast Guard Academy did to Anna Maria,  a score of 70-3 is a most definite beatdown.

Beyond Trinity beating UMHB,   Maryville is 2-0 against the SAA this year with a 34-23 win over Centre,   Rhodes beat Austin 19-17,  and Huntingdon wins the rivalry game with B-SC with a score of 16-0.

Hendrix is up on ETBU 31-28 at the 13:15 mark in the 4Q as I write this post.

[Ron Boerger]

Congrats to Sewanee and I hope this carries over into SAA play.

The Trinity-UMHB was as tale of two halves.  First half was all offense (once UMHB's QB got comfortable).  Key play was the bang-bang punt block that set up UMHB at the 15 followed immediately by Harmel's first interception over the middle.  If not for some Trinity defenders trying to strip the ball instead of tackling on the Cru's last drive it would have been a 21-10 halftime, but credit to the Cru for taking advantage of what should have been a 15-yard completion that turned into about 40.

Second half defensive adjustments were obviously made on both sides and the going was much harder.  Trinity had a golden opportunity to put things in overdrive after their punt block but the Cru defense stiffened and then they missed a chip shot field goal (perhaps answering the WHY DIDN'T THEY GO FOR THE FIELD GOAL QUESTION we all asked (or maybe not)).  But then Harmel made a fairly spectacular second INT and this time Trinity took advantage.  UMHB could get to midfield but not much further the rest of the night, and then the Tigers expunged two decades of frustration with their insane drive in the fourth quarter, 13 plays, 85 yards, almost seven full minutes (forcing the Cru to use all their timeouts) with all but one play on the ground.  Trinity.  On the ground 12 of 13 plays.  It's a world gone mad!

The Cru's QB is much better than a "third-string" option and when he had time made plenty of good throws.  A player less explosive than Harmel might not make both the interceptions he suffered (especially the second, leaping grab).

[awadelewis]

Hendrix-ETBU turned into a nail biter with ETBU holding off Hendrix after a late Hendrix TD, successful on-side kick, and missed field goal by Hendrix.

[awadelewis]

Congrats to Sewanee and I hope this carries over into SAA play.

Thanks.   Coach Mac and company have some work to do as that score would have much wider except for a couple of penalties and a bit of poor execution on our part.  If we beat Millsaps next week, then we may be able to sneak in one or two more wins later in the season.

Trinity's win today helps the post-season aspirations.   An 0-2 start would have meant running the table in conference and that's looks like it would be really difficult to do in this league this year.

The head scratcher for me for B-SC's performance at Huntingdon.   Looking at the box score, it appears B-SC couldn't get anything out of their offense today.

[tigerguy]

Complete offensive flip for Trinity yesterday - 234 yards on the ground, only 182 in the air. Think all the great D3 teams have to be able to pound the rock when necessary, so I was thrilled to see they could get that done against a big defensive front. Glad to be through that two-game gauntlet.

[Cowboy2]

Complete offensive flip for Trinity yesterday - 234 yards on the ground, only 182 in the air. Think all the great D3 teams have to be able to pound the rock when necessary, so I was thrilled to see they could get that done against a big defensive front. Glad to be through that two-game gauntlet.

I'm so pumped they got this one, but the Gauntlet is just starting. @ BSC, then undefeated Rhodes, then @ Berry (looking gooooood), then of course TUs biggest rival in Centre. 

[BSCpanthers]

I'm not sure which was worse, the box score of the BSC-Huntingdon game, or actually watching it???  BSC defense injuries are piling up, but played well enough to win the game.  The offense of the other hand, wow, just terrible.  The highlight was a missed 34 yard FG attempt early in the first half, would have put us up 3-0.  If we don't have something hidden offensively to take into conference play, it's going to be a long season, unfortunately.

[D3Navy]

Complete offensive flip for Trinity yesterday - 234 yards on the ground, only 182 in the air. Think all the great D3 teams have to be able to pound the rock when necessary, so I was thrilled to see they could get that done against a big defensive front. Glad to be through that two-game gauntlet.

The stats are a bit misleading.  On nearly every 1st down in the 2nd half, TU ran a dive into the line with very little success.  A few breakaway runs padded the average, but I wouldn't consider yesterday to be a strong running outing.  I understand wanting to run out the clock, but more diversity in the running game playbook would be useful.

After watching closely for the last three years, TU needs to shake off the caution after establishing a lead.  They often stall and give late opportunities to opponents.

A bright season ahead, but I hope the coaches unleash the full potential of an amazing cast of offensive characters.

[albatross]

Hendrix-ETBU turned into a nail biter with ETBU holding off Hendrix after a late Hendrix TD, successful on-side kick, and missed field goal by Hendrix.

Brutal way for the Warriors to go down after dominating the first half. Gutsy calls by Coach Buchanan to try to give them the win (2 pt conversion was wide open but came up short), just couldn't be executed. Solid signs of life from this very young team -- just need to put a complete game together.

[Ron Boerger]

The Week 2 D3football.com Top 25 is out and Trinity slips to #6 thanks to St. John's getting blown out by UW-W, reducing the perceived value of the week 1 result.  Hardin-Simmons jumps to #5 based on their impressive result at UW-LC and you can't fault anyone for voting a 2-0 team with two big wins over one that's 1-1.

Trinity fans now are in the unenviable position of hoping UMHB (or someone) can defeat HSU just to set up a home playoff game, assuming we get past BSC, a massively improved Berry team that's just outside the Top 25, and the rest of the SAA. 

[awadelewis]

Trinity fans now are in the unenviable position of hoping UMHB (or someone) can defeat HSU just to set up a home playoff game, assuming we get past BSC, a massively improved Berry team that's just outside the Top 25, and the rest of the SAA. 

It will be interesting to see what happens in Danville this weekend when Berry visits Centre.   If they can do to Centre  what they've done to Huntingdon and LaGrange , then Trinity's trip to Georgia the following weekend won't be very pleasant.   

[Ron Boerger]

Trinity fans now are in the unenviable position of hoping UMHB (or someone) can defeat HSU just to set up a home playoff game, assuming we get past BSC, a massively improved Berry team that's just outside the Top 25, and the rest of the SAA. 

It will be interesting to see what happens in Danville this weekend when Berry visits Centre.   If they can do to Centre  what they've done to Huntingdon and LaGrange , then Trinity's trip to Georgia the following weekend won't be very pleasant.   

Berry plays the Colonels on the 23rd as this is their bye week.  While it will tend to confirm what we already know (that the Vikings are really good) IMO 0-2 Centre and 1-1 Trinity are not in the same zip code on the field this season. 

So far, Berry is doing most of their damage on the ground (over 360 yards/game, total offense over 500) while their defense is holding opponents under 200 ypg.  As Trinity takes pride in their rushing defense (under 75 ypg), if things proceed as expected the next two weeks it could be a case of the irresistible force facing the immovable object.  Trinity's offense has not been as explosive (just under 420 ypg) but they have faced two top-ten opponents.