Two playoff games; two different stories
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Four teams from the Around the South coverage area advanced. Millsaps, the region’s only undefeated team at 10-0, earned the No. 1 seed in the “South” Region. The LaGrange Panthers, a third-year program just a year removed from losing its first 20 games, grabbed the eighth seed in the region by defeating Huntingdon 27-17 on Saturday.
On the other side of the South Region bracket, also known as the “Texas Sub Bracket,” features second-seeded Mary Hardin-Baylor against third-seeded Hardin-Simmons in a rematch of America Southwest Conference powers. The teams played a classic back in early October as the Crusaders held off a late HSU rally to win 20-18.
Why may you ask is the second seed playing the third seed? It basically comes down to the economics of how the tournament is run. Plane flights cost more than bus trips, so the selection committee pairs teams that are within driving distance. Sometimes (usually when it comes to two teams from Texas), unfortunately, this leads to higher seeds facing off in the first round. (The one and two seeds in the West region also meet in the first round this weekend.)
But according to Crusader coach Pete Fredenburg, the bracket setup could have been worse.
“I knew we would get matched up against Hardin-Simmons again but I thought we were going to be right next to Millsaps in the bracket,” Fredenburg told the Temple Daily Telegraph. “This is a better deal for us because we know if we continue to win that we’ll have at least two home games.”
Hardin-Simmons coach Jimmie Keeling, whose team bounced back from a 6-4 season last year, also didn’t seem too upset with bracket pairing either.
"We're just glad to be in (the playoffs) and if they're who we got, great," he said to the Abilene Reporter News. "If you're going to go through this thing, you'd have to play them some time, so why not right off the bat?"
Of course, both coaches are experienced in getting a team ready play an opponent for the second time in a season. The teams have met in the first round of the playoffs in both 2004 and 2006.
“It’s always a challenge when you have to play a team twice in the same year,” said Fredenburg to the Temple paper. “But I think the way the first game was, our guys really felt that they didn’t play very well.
“I’m excited that we’re going to get another chance to play Hardin-Simmons, and I know they’re excited to come play Mary Hardin-Baylor again. I think it’s going to be just one whale of a football game, and I’m excited about the opportunity to play it in front of our home fans.”
This contest is already a heated rivalry in the regular season and the fact that it’s a playoff game should raise the intensity.
"There’s nothing like playing a rival,” UMHB senior free safety Derrick Williams said in the newspaper. “I don’t think the UMHB and Hardin-Simmons game will ever get old, so we’re excited.”
Though the Crusaders feel they didn’t play their best in the first game, probably due to a mid season rash of injuries, the Cowboys probably look at the mid season loss as a missed opportunity. A pair of missed extra points forced HSU to go for two at the end of the contest. The Cowboys didn’t convert and UMHB was able to run out the clock.
Since then the Cowboys have been playing their best football. They reeled off five straight blowout victories to finish the season. Had they been able to slip past the Crusaders the first time maybe they’d have garnered the No. 1 seed in the region. (Would that have changed the bracket pairings? Probably not, but every loves a home playoff game.)
Mary Hardin-Baylor has righted its ship and gotten healthy after a disappointing loss 40-28 to Southern Oregon on the last Saturday of October. Top receiver Pi’Dadro Davis is healthy again and making big plays in the passing game.
Despite a midseason running corps that looked like a M*A*S*H unit, the powerful Crusader running game has adjusted despite losing tailback Quincy Daniels for the season. Baylor transfer Matt Hurst has gotten healthy and Roger Sanchez and Bryson Tucker have also been productive.
“We feel like we’ve been playing a lot better the last few weeks,” Crusader linebacker Eric Henri said to the Killeen Daily Herald. “This is the right time of year to be playing your best, and we feel like we’re playing better now than we have all season.”
A wild card in this game could be the quarterback play for the Crusaders. Kyle Noack, at least statistically, appears to be the most efficient passer the UMHB has had in recent years.
Though senior Josh Saenz leads the team in rushing, the sophomore as started the last three games for the Cru under center. Despite being held out most of the final three quarters with a minor injury in Saturday’s 42-20 victory over Sul Ross State, Noack has completed over 65 percent of his passes this season. He is likely to start on against the Cowboys on Saturday. With their defense traditionally among the fastest in D-III, UMHB is hard to beat when they make some big plays in the passing game.
For the Cowboys the opposite may be true. We are all aware of quarterback Justin Feaster’s ability to get the ball to a stellar group of receivers led by Mychal Carillo. But Hardin-Simmons rushed for just 66 yards in their October loss to the Cru.
The Cowboys best drive in that game was an 11-play, 92-yard in fourth quarter that pulled them to with 20-18 following the missed two-pointer. During that drive, HSU kept UMHB honest by rushing for 25 yards on seven of those plays. That was nearly half their day's total. If the Cowboys can break the 100-yard mark for the game on the ground, they may have a good chance of winning the ball game.
Does LaGrange have any surprises left?
The other game in South features two teams that came into the season with a chip on their shoulders and something to prove. And their stories are probably two of the best in all of college football this season.
For Millsaps, the bad taste left by “Mississippi Miracle” has driven the Majors to an undefeated season for the first time since 1980. Throw in the great story of a former big-time Division I coach with a past coming to the small school with a losing record and turning it into one of the top teams in the nation in just three seasons and the story gets even more intriguing. It has all the highs and lows perfect for a Hollywood script. The only thing it needs is an ending. Will the Majors and coach Mike Dubose find redemption or have they found it already?
The LaGrange story may be even more heartwarming. Two seasons. Twenty straight losses. A young coach in Todd Mooney, who had a plan, stuck with it and convinced his program that better days were just around the corner.
After capturing the program’s first win in their opener against Birmingham-Southern, the Panthers lost to NAIA Shorter and then reeled off eight straight wins to capture the Saint Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championship. The final victory on Saturday over archrival Huntingdon also earned them a trip to the playoffs.
“It’s unbelievable,” said wide receiver Nick Langley in the LaGrange Daily News. “Nobody, except our team in the locker room, thought this was possible. Just to pull it off after everything this team has been through in the first two years, it’s just unbelievable. Words just can’t describe how I feel right now.”
This week the Panthers face a familiar role, underdog. And Mooney knows the Panthers don’t have time rest on their laurels.
“Everybody was really excited,” Mooney told the paper. “But it is really short-lived. You’re excited, but it’s time to go to work."
Millsaps and LaGrange share only one common opponent in Birmingham-Southern. The Panthers a 34-31 winner in the season’s opening week, while the Majors beat BSC 31-14 this past Saturday despite turning the ball over seven times.
Millsaps will be by far the toughest team that Lagrange has faced to date, but in a season in which the Panthers have turned the corner anything is possible right?
Around the South Top Ten
1. Millsaps (10-0, 7-0 SCAC)
2. Mary Hardin-Baylor (9-1, 8-0 ASC)
3. Hardin-Simmons (9-1, 7-1 ASC)
4. LaGrange (9-1, 7-0 SLIAC)
5. Trinity (8-2, 6-2 SCAC)
6. DePauw (8-2, 5-2 SCAC)
7. Huntingdon (8-2, 6-1 SLIAC)
8. Louisiana College (7-3, 5-3 ASC)
9. Centre (7-3, 5-2 SCAC)
10. East Texas Baptist (5-5, 5-3 ASC)
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