Trinity not ready for changing of the guard
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It may have started in 2006. That's when Millsaps knocked Trinity out of the playoffs for the first time since 1996 with a shocking 34-12 victory on the season's final weekend.
And then last season, the Majors had a second consecutive victory over Trinity within their grasp with a couple of seconds left. You know what happened next -- the Mississippi Miracle -- a play that will be remembered as one of the greatest in college football history sent the Tigers back to the playoffs.
But surely that was just a fluke, right? Millsaps was the better team. Trinity just got lucky.
And look at what the Majors have done since “the Miracle.” Eight straight wins. All by wide margins, including a 55-13 blowout of DePauw a couple of weeks ago. In fact, only two teams have come within 20 points of Millsaps in that time. Centre falling 46-26 this past weekend to the Majors was the closest any one has gotten since NAIA Belhaven fell 34-14 in Week 2.
Besides, the Tiger program just isn't even one of the top two teams in Texas, right? They've lost four straight playoff games since defeating St. John's in the 2002 semifinals to advance to the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl.
Mary Hardin-Baylor has supplanted them as the top Division III program in Texas by crushing them by a combined score of 129-42 in three straight playoff meetings, including a 52-23 victory last year. Heck, Hardin-Simmons may even be better than the Tigers now.
But a funny thing has happened on the way to a changing of the guard in the SCAC, somebody forgot to tell Trinity.
The Tigers have started the season 5-0. Winning convincingly by an average margin of 25 points and posting two shutouts, it appears the high expectations inside the Trinity program have remained the same. Granted, only one opponent, Texas Lutheran (3-3), has at least a .500 record. But there's something to be said for a team that takes care of business and the Tigers have done that.
Winning has been a way of life for Coach Steve Mohr's program since his arrival by in 1990. They've posted the third-best winning percentage .849 in Division III over the past 14 years entering this season.
This weekend, Trinity will face its toughest test to date in a 4-1 DePauw team trying to keep its own SCAC title hopes alive after an the embarrassing loss to Millsaps and last week's too-close-for-comfort 31-21 comeback win against second-year program Birmingham Southern.
After beating Rhodes 17-0 last week, Trinity is riding a 64-game home winning streak against D-III opponents, including 32 straight against SCAC opponents at E.M. Stevens Stadium dating back to 1995.
And there is probably no team that would love to break that streak more than DePauw. They probably had their best chance to break that streak back in 2005 behind senior quarterback Ross Wiethoff, but a hurricane canceled that game and with it their playoff hopes and trip to San Antonio. Both teams finished 5-0 in conference but it was Trinity that advanced to the playoffs.
This season, DePauw is led by the passing combination of quarterback Spud Dick and receiver Alex Koors. Koors has caught six of Dick's 12 touchdown passes and 22 balls overall, while averaging over 22 yards per catch. Dick, a junior, has completed nearly 65 percent of his passes for over 1300 yards. He named the SCAC player of the week after completing 37 of 45 passes (82.2%) for 395 yards (all career highs.)
DePauw has been explosive on offense averaging 30 points and nearly 400 yards, but to stay with Trinity appear to need to improve on defense. The D-Tigers have allowed more than 25 points a game and over 340 yards game, though playing Millsaps could have skewed those numbers a bit.
Trinity has shown nice balance offense behind the running of Chris Baer and passing of Bryant Wilson. Baer is averaging 112 yards per contest with five touchdowns, while Wilson has connected on an impressive 66 percent of his passes with 13 touchdown passes and just three interceptions.
The Tiger defense has been staunch, allowing just under 10 points and less than 250 yards per game while forcing 14 takeaways. No player stands out statistically for the “Black Flag” unit, but Jeff Jones leads the team in tackles (41) and Baron Rabe has picked off three passes.
For Trinity, a victory over DePauw would keep them right on track for a Nov. 1 matchup with those Millsap Majors. In that game they can prove that the era of the Tiger domination has not ended in the SCAC.
Meanwhile, if you looked at the scores, Millsaps played its tightest game of the season to date beating Centre 46-26. The Colonels out gained Millsaps 398 to 368 and equaled their number of first downs (22). Statistics can be deceiving as it appears the Majors were in control building a 33-7 lead entering the fourth quarter.
The teams scored five touchdowns and 32 points in a wild final quarter. Granted, most of Centre scoring probably came against the Majors subs, but it's the closest thing that they've shown to a chink in their armor thus far.
Quarterback Tyler Osterman continues to be a duel threat for the Colonels, rushing for 47 yards despite being sacked three times and throwing for 263 and a pair of scores.
Eric McCarty caught ten passes for 101 yards an a touchdown to move into second place on the Majors all-time receiving list while defensive back Marcus Harris picked off his 14th career pass.
Same ole, same ole?
The American Southwest Conference looks much the same as it has over the past few years. Mary Hardin-Baylor leads the pack, while Hardin-Simmons nips at their heels. Most of the rest of the teams have are battling for position in the middle of the back, except for McMurry.
East Texas Baptist had hopes of returning to the top of the pack after a 3-1 start but stumbled badly against Hardin-Simmons falling 40-12. The Tigers stayed within 20-10 at the half but three straight second half touchdowns salted the game away for the Cowboys.
One team that still has a shot at the ASC title however is Mississippi College. Though the Choctaws are only 2-3 overall, they are one of three teams with just one ASC loss. Mississippi College is coming off of a bye week after beating Louisiana College 21-19 a couple of weeks ago.
Left for dead after losing three of their first four games to start the season and the ASC preseason player of the year in quarterback Adam Shaffer to a knee injury, the Choctaws fortunes may have finally changed. Running back Desmond Hayes has emerged as one of the top players in the conference with 541 rushing yards and seven touchdowns.
The other pleasant surprise for Mississippi College is quarterback Tommy Reyer, who has stepped in for Schaffer to provide both a running and passing threat. The freshman has completed nearly 60 percent of his passes for more than 500 yards and two touchdowns, while rushing for 182 yards and two scores.
And going into this weekend's game with Mary Hardin-Baylor, the Choctaws will meet up with a Crusader backfield that has been beset with an unusual rash of injuries. The Cru is down to two tailbacks, one who was a linebacker a few weeks ago.
The chance for the Choctaws, who have also had two weeks to prepare, to grab a share of the ASC title may never have been greater. With the backfield injuries, especially to Quincy Daniels, the Crusader offense has been less explosive. They had to grind it out in their 20-18 victory against HSU two weeks ago, and had just five plays of greater than 20 yards in their 35-10 win over Louisiana College on Saturday.
Grinding it out on the ground has been what the Choctaws have been all about since the loss of Shaffer. If they can hold on to the football for large chunks of time while limiting Crusader big plays, this game could look a lot different than last season's high-scoring 69-30 win by the Crusaders.
Around the SLIAC
Three teams remain unbeaten in St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play: Huntingdon, LaGrange and Westminster are all 3-0. After this weekend, only two will remain.
Westminster (3-2 overall) will travel to LaGrange (5-1) for a game that has major implications in the conference race. If Westminster wins it sets up a de facto conference championship game next week when they host Huntingdon. If LaGrange wins, the title will likely be decided on the season's final weekend in Georgia.
The Blue Jays have put together a three-game win streak after dropping its opening two games to Sewanee and Washington. During that streak, Westminster has averaged 45 points a game. Junior quarterback Daniel Eidson is a duel threat at quarterback rushing for 221 yards and three scores, while completing just over 63 percent of his passes for nearly 900 yards with 10 touchdowns and five interceptions.
Blue Jay running back Chris Baker has run for 342 yards and five scores for an offense that has averaged exactly 400 yards a game. He posted his best game last week with 128 yards and four touchdowns in a 45-24 victory against MacMurray.
Westminster will need to play better defense if they hope to defeat the Panthers. They are allowing nearly 400 yards a game this season.
LaGrange picked up a conference 20-6 win over Greenville last week, despite being out gained 299-268. The Panthers, who were able to rush for just 26 yards, got most of their yards through the air and quarterback Drew Carter. Carter passed for 242 yards and threw a couple touchdowns to receiver Nick Langley.
Around the South Top Five
1. Millsaps (6-0, 4-0 SCAC) Beat Centre 46-26
2. Mary Hardin-Baylor (5-0, 4-0 ASC) Beat La. College 35-10
3. Hardin-Simmons (5-1, 3-1 ASC) Beat ETB 40-12
4. Trinity (5-0, 2-0 SCAC) Beat Rhodes 17-0
5. Huntingdon (5-0, 3-0 SLIAC) Beat Eureka 62-0
On the radar: DePauw (4-1, 3-1 SCAC), LaGrange (5-1, 3-0 SLIAC), East Texas Baptist (3-2, 3-1 ASC), Mississippi College (2-3, 2-1 ASC)
Millsaps stays No. 1 and the UMHB Crusaders are 1A. Hardin-Simmons' drubbing of East Texas Baptist knocks out the Tigers. That moves Huntingdon into the top five for the first time over DePauw, who struggled to beat second year Birmingham-Southern.
I am at home this weekend, with Wesley hosting The Newport News Apprentice School for homecoming. I am looking forward to seeing a lot of the guys I coached at Wesley and some post game tailgating too. Oh, the leaves are just starting to fall in Dover so I'll probably have to do some yard work too. Send your comments to jcbowen@lf.k12.de.us, or to Conrad on the Post Patterns message boards. I also saw that D3football.com is on Facebook, so I got an account and you can reach me there too. Have a great weekend!