Offense and hoop-la
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Honestly, that sounds like the score of a women's basketball game. In fact, the 60 points the Lobos scored is one point shy of what the Sul Ross women scored in two games against HPU last year. But that's beside the point.
It was a big scoring weekend in the South Region last week as four teams (Sul Ross, Howard Payne, Louisiana College and Millsaps) all scored at least 50 points.
The ASC was particularly offensive on Saturday as every team that won did it by putting up more than 30 points. Of the nine teams in the conference, seven have already topped the 100-point mark and McMurry (87 points) will probably do it next week.
You're talking about four teams (UMHB, HSU, Louisiana College, Mississippi College) that are averaging at least 30 points per game and three others (Sul Ross, TLU, Howard Payne) that are putting up at least 20 per game.
Four ASC teams (HSU, Miss. College, Louisiana College, UMHB) are in the Top 35 in scoring offense nationally. (By the way, Mount Union is averaging a ridiculous 63.8 points per game.) HSU, Miss. College, Louisiana College and Howard Payne are all in the Top 30 nationally in passing offense.
Want individual numbers? Jordan Neal is third nationally with an efficiency rating of 187.3 and Louisiana College's Ben McLaughlin rounds out the top 30 with a rating of 148. Neal is also 20th in total offense (262.3 yards per game) and Howard Payne's Adam Johnson (259.3) is 22nd.
Here are a few notable performances from ASC last Saturday:
-> Neal set a Cowboys record for total offense and will probably break the record for passing yards as long as he throws for 67 yards this Saturday against UMHB.
-> Johnson threw for a career high 447 yards in HPU's unreal loss to Sul Ross.
-> The Lobos' Austin Davidson completed 14 passes for 329 yards and four scores -- including a 94-yarder -- in the win.
-> ETBU's Phil Van Cleave, who has been a forgotten man thanks to the Tigers struggles, set a team single-game record with four touchdown passes in their loss to TLU.
-> McLaughlin was 15-for-20 for 261 yards and a score in LC's win. Ten different Wildcat receivers caught passes.
-> TLU's Matt Schumacher, filling in for the injured Adam Vyvial, threw for 300 yards and three scores
The SCAC has got its share of studs to but I just don't believe that they are as explosive as the ASC. Trinity's Blake Barmore has an efficiency rating of 149.4 and is one spot ahead of McLaughlin nationally. Plus, he doesn't lose a lot of games so that has to count for something.
Millsaps is averaging 38 points per game and their signal-caller Juan Joseph is averaging 256 yards of total offense per game. That's good enough for 23rd nationally. Joseph had a big day in a 52-10 thumping of Division II Lincoln (Mo.) on "Purple Pride Day." Joseph had five touchdowns and 275 passing yards as the Majors got their first win of the year.
Also, don't think that my ASC love has anything to do with any UMHB alumni bias because, the Lord knows, we run approximately 105-110 times per game. We may turn out a lot of great nurses and Southern Baptist pastors and I really like the particular shade of purple in our jerseys but passers, we are not.
(They do defend though. The Cru has given up minus-15 yards rushing this season.)
Now that you know some basic numbers, I have to ask two questions:
1. Top to bottom is the American Southwest Conference the best offensive conference in Division III football?
2. Top to bottom is the American Southwest Conference the most quarterback-rich conference in Division III football?
Keep in mind, I said “top to bottom.” I really don't know that answer to that question. There are probably better offensive teams around the nation (Example: Mount Union and the 63.8 points per game) but I don't know if there is a conference with nine good and seven very good offensive teams.
So you tell me. Email me your thoughts and I'll base my decision on that. Send it to chris.allman@d3football.com and we'll discuss.
This one's for Tarleton!
116 points. 1,115 yards of offense. 776 passing yards. That's a lot of offense. That's Houston Cougar circa 1990 offense. That's Madden '07 offense.
Three HPU receivers had at least 120 yards receiving and Sul Ross State's Jacob Warden had 177 yards on just three catches. The Lobos' T. J. Barber had 164 yards rushing.
I think Sul Ross was playing for all the Tarleton State Texans who lost 112-0 to Howard Payne in 1912.
Just an amazing game. I wish I could have seen it. So do you. So do most people.
We love offense. Defense wins championships but offense sells tickets. It puts a rear-end every 18 inches. It's why USC vs. Texas draws better than LSU vs. Oklahoma. It's why MTV's Two-A-Days features Hoover High and not Belton High. It's why Peyton Manning wins MVP's and Ray Lewis doesn't. It's why the Texans took Reggie Bush and not Mario Williams. What?! They did what?!!
The only people that will tell you that they would rather watch a good old-fashioned defensive slugfest are football snobs and Auburn fans, which is pretty much the same thing.
Somewhere someone is pointing out that neither HPU nor Sul Ross can play a lick of defense and that when they play a team like Trinity or UMHB they will get theirs.
They are most likely right (UMHB beat Sul Ross 45-2 on Sept. 16) but I like to think that we saw the emergence of the Sul Ross Lobos and I give a lot of credit to Steve Wright and his staff. The Lobos are 3-1 and 2-1 in the ASC and it makes me feel good for the players, a lot of whom battled injuries and bad luck during a 3-7 season last year. Offense or defense, it's a great story.
Objection from the defense
I've been raving about the ASC's offensive prowess for about three pages now but the SCAC had some big time defensive performances last weekend.
Trinity's Dustin Allen had 12 tackles and a fumble recovery in a 34-7 win over Austin College and Jake McCart of Rhodes had 14 tackles in a 6-3 overtime win over Washington U. Sewanee's Hunter Hobson slowed the Centre offense thanks to eight tackles, a pick and a fumble recovery but the University of the South still fell 14-0.
Speaking of Centre, Matt Johnson, their junior linebacker had 15 tackles, a sack, 1.5 tackles for a loss, broke up a pass and had an interception in the win. After the game he helped an old lady cross the street, researched a cure for cancer and brokered peace between Israel and Palestine. Not a bad day.
Millsaps' Shawn Gillenwater led a defense that held Lincoln University to 204 total yards and only 22 net rushing yards. He had eight tackles (six solo), four tackles for a loss (minus-42 yards), two sacks, a forced fumble and fumble recovery. He also assisted in the peace accord between Israel and Palestine.
On the ASC side Louisiana College's Jonathan Zeno returned an interception 51 yards for a score, had five tackles and recorded half a sack in their win. TLU's Allen Sims recovered a fumble against ETBU and set up the Bulldogs winning touchdown.
Poll position
This week the ASC has two teams in the D3football.com Top 25 and two others that received votes. Hardin Simmons is at No. 5 while UMHB moved up one spot to No. 16. Mississippi College and Howard Payne each received votes.
HSU and UMHB are ranked No. 6 and No. 16 as well, respectively, in the AFCA poll.
Trinity was the only SCAC team to appear in the poll, receiving 28 votes. The Tigers are ranked 23rd in the AFCA poll.
The Big 'Un
Do I really need to preview the HSU/UMHB tilt that's approaching us this Saturday. Anyone in Abilene or Belton not realize it's coming up?
It's the conference's top scoring offense against the top-scoring defense. It's a battle of teams that have combined for 10 conference titles (HSU 7, UMHB 3). UMHB has won to straight but HSU still leads the series 5-4.
This from Greg Weghorst and the ASC Media Relations Department:
-> FACT: The winner of all eight regular season meetings has won at least a share of the ASC title.
-> FACT: The road team has won the last four meetings and six of the nine meetings all-time.
-> FACT: The team with the halftime lead has gone on to win every time.
-> FACT: The team that has won the turnover battle has won every game.
Here's the thing. I could give you a position-by-position breakdown but it wouldn't matter. Predictions don't matter. These games never make sense.
Judging by those facts from Greg here would be my keys to the game.
HSU -- Throw it then throw it some more. Just don't throw it to the other team.
UMHB -- Run it. Don't ever throw it. And when you run it don't drop it.
I will absolutely be in attendance on Saturday roaming the sidelines like I did in college. Only this time I will actually be credentialed and won't hop the fence. This will give any HSU or UMHB fans the chance to share their thoughts or their hatred of me in person.
Especially all those people who were offended by my Couch Cru jokes. Fire away.
See ya in Belton.