Texas twosome meets again
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Mary Hardin-Baylor coach Pete Fredenburg said he was a little unhappy to see his squad’s regional ranking.
“I was a little bit disappointed with falling to 4th in the region,” he admitted. “You can’t spend much time on lamenting those things. You take the hand that’s dealt you. We certainly don’t want our kids to think they were treated unfairly. We want them focused on the task at hand.”
Before we start talking about road trips, UMHB sees Trinity in Belton this Saturday. UMHB has rallied nicely from the Whitewater loss, beating ETBU and HPU by a combined 142-27 score. They ran the ball extremely well both weeks. Trinity coach Steve Mohr says he isn’t sure his group can stop them, but he hopes to at least slow them down.
“We’re not going to do anything different. We have to go with what got us here. We’re good against the run, but we do have to play better than we did at Austin,” he said. Trinity allowed 156 rushing yards on 57 carries against the Kangaroos.
Some of the Crusader faithful are concerned about how well their team defends the pass. I asked Mohr about that very thing.
“I just don’t see that. I think their front four is as good as they have ever been. Every time I turn on the film, there’s a quarterback on there and he’s running for his life. That’s never good. They have such big, huge, strong linemen. I told our kids that they have to eat their mashed potatoes,” he joked. “They need to put on some weight.”
The last time we spoke with Mohr, he was a little concerned with how well his Trinity squad would rebound from the “Miracle in Mississippi.” He said it didn’t go quite as well as he had hoped.
“Defensively we have played outstanding. We had 10 three-and-outs against Centre,” he said. “On offense, we played lethargic. I just didn’t think we were focused. We fumbled the ball. We threw two or three interceptions. Look at the stats, and the numbers were nice. We had 470 yards against Centre. But they just didn’t bounce back. It was tougher than we thought it was going to be. A lot of our kids on offense were getting media requests last week. But, they focused well against Austin. We’re a lot better.”
This will be the second-best team UMHB has seen all season. Do keep in mind how things went when the Crusaders played the best team they’ve played all season. I have said in the space before that the UWW game plays out differently if UMHB plays their best football. They just didn’t do that in that football game. They went away from the run. They turned it over. UWW put it out of reach early.
They cannot do that this week. This is another case where they have to play their best football. They are playing a high-powered offense. Trinity scores more than Whitewater and is in the Top 10 in passing in Division III. If UMHB gives Blake Barmore a short field, he will make them pay. Fredenburg says his team is playing better since the UWW loss.
“I am extremely proud of the way they have played. I felt like they would bounce back. They have. I think they learned a little bit about themselves in the Whitewater game,” he said. “It’s like everything else in life. You respond positively or negative. We responded positively.”
Ironically, the 2005 matchup between these two teams played out like the UMHB/UWW game this season. Trinity gave up the first three scores on offense.
“We did not run it well in 2005 and they did. They scored the first 21 points on turnovers. We fumbled inside our 10 and we had two interceptions returned for touchdowns,” said Mohr.
He says that won’t work this Saturday.
“There are two keys for us: we have to contain them on the ground and not turn the ball over. That’s huge for us. If we do turn it over, we’re going to be in trouble,” he admitted. “They are tremendous on sudden change. If you turn it over, they will score.”
For Fredenburg, he says his group must contain Barmore: “I don’t know that you can stop Barmore. Any time you play an outstanding quarterback like him, you have to make him make decisions after the snap and you have to put pressure on him.”
My thoughts on this are game are as follows: I think if UMHB gets to 30, this game is probably over. For them to score five times, they’re going to be controlling the clock in a major way. If Barmore isn’t on the field, Trinity isn’t scoring.
Trinity must keep Barmore upright, and they must keep him comfortable. He needs time to throw. Trinity is in the Top 25 nationally against the run. Please keep in mind I’ve used a similar number UMHB opponents before. That didn’t mean much in the past and it may not mean much this time, either. Trinity must tackle, they must force turnovers, and they must score on every trip to win. No turnovers, no mistakes on special teams, and a high third down conversion rate are all necessary for the Tigers to win.
We’ll see what happens on Saturday. Trinity had success against UMHB earlier in this decade, but they’ve now lost two straight matchups. Unfortunately for Trinity, this will be the best UMHB team they have seen yet.
Greatest. Kick. Ever.
DePauw’s sophomore kicker Jordan Havercamp (who transferred in from Denison) had never attempted a field goal at DePauw. He had never attempted one from longer than 40 yards in his career. Yet, after junior Brendan Smith missed a chip shot in the first quarter (his ninth miss in 14 tries), DePauw coach Matt Walker made a change. He sat Smith and gave the keys to Havercamp. There were a few dissatisfied grumbles from the crowd when his first kick, an extra point in the second quarter, sailed wide. DePauw ended up needing to convert a two point conversion late in the fourth to make up for that. There were certainly a few puzzled faces in the crowd when Havercamp, who didn’t even have a matching jersey because he wore a duplicate number, trotted out with 2 seconds left to try a 47 yard kick for the win.
I’ve gone on record as saying that I might take this game a little too seriously. I’m willing to admit that. But if I do, so do 10,000 others who flock to this game every year. I am being truthful when I say that I have never wanted anything more in my entire life than for that kick to be true. I remember when the referee blew the ball ready for play. And I remember the offensive line coming set. That’s just about where it stops. I don’t remember the snap. I don’t remember the kick. I don’t remember watching it go through. I don’t remember screaming in my highest falsetto over the top of the HDNet broadcasters, who were still trying to have some semblance of a broadcast next door to me. I don’t remember bolting from the Blackstock Stadium press box and running to midfield. I lost it. I was crying like a blubbering fool. That is what this game does to you. That is what makes me love it so much.
As far as the game itself goes, I said in this space last week that three things had to happen for DePauw to win. The Tigers had to run the football, they had to get some pressure on Wabash quarterback Matt Hudson (who I mistakenly referred to as Kyle in last week’s column. My apologies.), and they had to get the key play to go their way. The running thing went fairly well. Running back Jeremiah Marks carried the ball a school record 45 times on Saturday for 181 yards. Wabash had trouble containing him for a good portion of the afternoon, particularly in the second half. In fact, DePauw tallied a surprising 485 yards of total offense. Spud Dick threw for 300 and three scores, which was unexpected.
The DePauw defense sacked Hudson only once. They did put some pressure on him, however. The DePauw front four did rush some throws, including an interception near the goal line that set up the final drive. Hudson was efficient, throwing for 322 on 21-for-33 passing. But DePauw allowed only one big play, a 65-yarder to Bart Banach. Compare that with the Trinity and Millsaps losses, when Blake Barmore and Juan Joseph threw the ball all over the lot, the improvement was dramatic.
And they key play, you ask? How about having the guts to send your second-string Division III kicker out there to try the longest kick of his career for the win in the most important game of the season when your team hasn’t even hit one from 10 yards closer all year? There’s a key play for you.
DePauw played better that I thought it could. It was far and away the most complete effort they have had this season. Yes, they had injury problems all year. But, I found it hard to believe that they could beat the No. 9 Little Giants when Birmingham-Southern played them to four and Colorado played them to double overtime. They finally got healthy towards the end of the year, and it showed how good a football team they really were.
For Wabash, they head to the playoffs as the NCAC Champion. They host the HCAC’s Pool C entry Mount St. Joseph. They will likely have only one home game. If they beat MSJ, they’ll likely travel to Case Western Reserve and then to Whitewater if they hope to advance out of their bracket.
Games Worthy of the Extra Live Stat/Video/Audio Feed
12:00 CT: No. 11 Trinity at No. 4 Mary Hardin-Baylor. It should not be my job to nudge you in the proper direction at this juncture in the season.
11:00 CT: North Carolina Wesleyan at No. 7 Washington and Jefferson. The winner of the game above plays this game’s winner next week. Note the early start time. Make to sure to have those pancakes off of the griddle in time for kickoff.
Best of the Week
Tack on another big day for the UMHB running backs. Quincy Daniels and Jarvis Thrasher combined for 267 yards on 31 carries (8.6 yards per carry) with four scores in the 70-20 win over Howard Payne. Hardin-Simmons’ Quinton Jones ran for 190 yards on 22 carries (also 8.6 yards per carry) and 3 scores in the 71-56 win over McMurry. Other noteworthy accomplishments from that game include HSU receiver Mychel Carillo with 14 catches for 201 yards and two scores and McMurry wideout Dusty Thornhill with nine catches for 162 yards and two TDs.
Mississippi College quarterback Adam Shaffer has frequented this space throughout the season. He threw six TDs on 24-for-38 passing for 482 yards. WR Marcus Terry caught seven of those passes for 196 and three scores. One note from the Bell game, DePauw receiver Bryan Mulligan caught 15 of Dick’s 28 pass completions for 145 yards and a score.
Defensively, Millsaps’ Ray Kline returned an interception for a touchdown for the second straight week. Saturday’s 48-yarder goes nicely on the mantle next to last week’s 56-yarder. Centre linebacker Zach Sloan earned 13 tackles, tree passes defended, and two interceptions in the 41-35 win over Colorado College.
My ATR Top 5
1. No. 4 Mary Hardin-Baylor (9-1, 8-0) at No. 11 Trinity
2. No. 11 Trinity (9-1, 7-1) at No. 4 Mary Hardin-Baylor
3. Millsaps (8-2, 7-1)
4. Mississippi College (8-2, 7-1)
5. DePauw (8-2, 6-2)
No changes. I didn’t think it would do any good to do such a thing. I could have put DePauw at No. 4. Mississippi didn’t beat a ranked team this season, but I’m not much for ruffling feathers. MC did beat the only common opponent (Millsaps), while DePauw did not.
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Contact me at wes.anderson@d3football.com with feedback of any nature including, but not limited to: queries, suggestions, recommendations, compliments, criticisms, disagreements, conflicts, quarrels, sticking points, differences of opinion, incongruities, or factual inaccuracies.