Shout out Berry getting the win against Trinity. Wasn't able to watch the game but looking at the box score/drive chart, it seems like their defense just had their way with our offense. Field position was horrible for Trinity as well which is not going to lead to good things.

It's pretty disheartening for Trinity to lose in this fashion but I can only imagine the fire Berry was playing with after being on the losing side of this matchup for a few years.

Still a lot of season left and I would imagine Trinity is still in control of their destiny for a playoff berth (someone feel free to fact check me; I'm not too privy with NPI but D3 Datacast has them at 20 currently). Going to need some help for the conference title though.

Go Tigers!

Have I mentioned that my favorite cereal is Berry Crunch? 

Super excited for another week of SAA football! A heavyweight matchup in Georgia that weekend along with (what might be) a good game between Maryville and Centre. I think Maryville will handle that game with relative ease, but Centre has always been a formidable opponent in the SAA.

Interested to see how the Sewanee and Southwestern game finishes. If Sewanee can pull off the W then that should give them a lot more confidence heading into the rest of their schedule.

Wasn't able to watch the Trinity game very closely today. Anybody care to share their analysis? Along with any of the other SAA games today?

Quote from: Ron Boerger on September 28, 2025, 09:34:12 AMLogan Hansen's (of HansenRatings fame) predictions with SAA conference play starting this week (scores rounded to nearest point):

Rhodes 10 @Berry 49 - Berry 99% chance of win
Millsaps 23 @Centre 29 - Centre 66% chance of win
Maryville 33 @Sewanee 15 - M'ville 88% chance of win
Southwestern 13 @Trinity 41 - Trinity 96% chance of win

I don't know if SW@TU is a trap game, but the two schools are natural rivals given proximity and history, and the Pirates will want to atone for the last two years where they lost by a combined score of 97-7. 

I think these predictions look fair. My hot take though: Millsaps upsets Centre. (I have no backup for this take besides me wanting to see some shakeup to start the year that doesn't affect Trinity. Ha).

I can also see the Southwestern-Trinity game being closer than what Hansen's algorithm is saying.

Looking forward to another week!

Trinity finishes non-con with a 3-0 record and having outscored their opponents 120-22.

Go Tigers!

Should be a fun week for the SAA. Berry at Carnegie Mellon, Trinity travels up to the pacific northwest to play PLU, Southwestern vs TLU, Centre at LaGrange and Sewanee at NC Wesleyan. Some teams will have common opponents after this week too. I know that doesn't always mean anything, but it could help shape idea of how the conference games might shake out. Excited for another week!

Quote from: Ralph Turner on September 15, 2025, 02:01:30 PMTUTX by 2 TD's...

Based on last week's performance, I think I'll take the over on that.. But I guess we'll see how the boys adjust to the time difference.

Oh and last thing, Trinity's play-by-play announcer is industry standard. Very top notch work from the production crew as a whole.

My initial thoughts after Trinity's 49-0 win over Belhaven:

The Trinity team that played tonight is a team that will go as far as they allow themselves to. This was a team that looked explosive and balanced through the air and on the ground on offense while the trenches looked very physical on both sides of the ball.

Hondo looked fantastic again this game and the receiving core made some spectacular catches. The ball placement from Franklin along with the playmaking ability was really fun to see. The run game looked really good once again. Dare I say this might be the most balanced Trinity offense as of recent years? I won't get too ahead of myself.

There really isn't much to say about the defense. I mean.. they were shutting down Belhaven's offense all night. I loved the way the secondary played this week. #34 Brown is a star in the making. What a game from him. I didn't notice any missed assignments/miscommunication from the secondary which is obviously always a good sign, especially this early in the season.

Horn (no not Tucker, Welker) could also be a star. He looks to have a very very strong arm. I am very intrigued to see how he develops over his career at Trinity and obviously he comes from good lineage. Ha.

The penalties need to get cleaned up but I'm not super worried since a good amount of them came in during the 2/3/4 team reps. Regardless, you would like to see the team continue to be disciplined throughout the course of the game no matter who is in.

I'm not sure how good Belhaven is supposed to be this year but again, the team I saw tonight was a team that was playing with a lot of confidence, swagger, and physicality that can allow them to achieve whatever goals they set for themselves this season.

Go Tigers!

Quote from: Bmo on September 10, 2025, 09:41:20 PM ?

School	Location	Nearest Zoo	Approximate Distance (miles)
Berry College	Rome, GA	North Georgia Wildlife & Safari Park (Cleveland, GA)	60
Centre College	Danville, KY	Salato Wildlife Center (Frankfort, KY)	38
Maryville College	Maryville, TN	Zoo Knoxville (Knoxville, TN)	18
Millsaps College	Jackson, MS	Jackson Zoo (Jackson, MS)	2.6
Rhodes College	Memphis, TN	Memphis Zoo (Memphis, TN)	1.5
Sewanee: The University of the South	Sewanee, TN	Chattanooga Zoo (Chattanooga, TN)	45
Southwestern University	Georgetown, TX	Austin Zoo (Austin, TX)	35
Trinity University	San Antonio, TX	San Antonio Zoo (San Antonio, TX)	3.2

This is the hard-hitting analytics we need more of in this forum. Perhaps we should figure out the closest McDonald's next?

Seems like a pretty normal week 2 for the SAA. The games I am interested in the most this week are Centre vs DePauw and Trinity vs Belhaven (of course). It will be interesting to see how Milsaps and Rhodes bounce back after their losses as well.

My initial thoughts after Trinity's 26-14 win over TLU:

First off, good job Trinity on getting your payback. A nice gritty win to start off the new campaign.

Outside of the INT (which I didn't actually get to see because of the poor streaming quality), I was very impressed with Franklin at QB. Early on I thought he was very decisive and looked very good navigating the pocket. He seemed to cool off in the second half but he looks like a gamer who can elevate Trinity's offense with his legs and being able to extend plays.

Huerta is legit. Enough said.

The pass protection looked suspect at times. To be more specific, it felt the edge protection was very weak. I think this was a big contribution as to why the offense cooled off in the second half. It seemed Franklin had to run it every time he dropped back.

Defensively, the run game was good. I would like to see more physicality and better tackling but overall the front 7 looked good.

The secondary left a lot to be desired. It just seemed like they lacked situational awareness at times and playmaking ability. Give credit to TLU though, that QB is good at throwing on the run and their receiving core was able to make some plays. Fortunately, majority of what I saw in the secondary is fixable. I'm interested to see how this unit performs throughout the season.

Shoutout special teams, I think this was the difference tonight. That snapping error by TLU that led to a safety was essentially a 9 point swing. Also the blocked field goal by Trinity was huge in keeping the momentum on their side late in the game. Shoutout Rhodes on that 47-yd field goal as well.

Go Tigers!