FB: Southern Athletic Association

[awadelewis]

Series is now tied at 17 all. Maryville beats Sewanee 40-7.

Sewanee definitely showed some fight. They don't roll over, that's sure.

I was only able to catch portions of the game but it went like I figured it would go.  We need to do some work on the defense side of the game.

[awadelewis]

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?

Things went pretty much as expected with Trinity, Berry, and Maryville dominating their games.  Millsaps/Centre was a bit of a barn-burner.

[D3Navy]

Franklin holding onto the ball for too long in the pocket, Defense playing sloppy, and special teams showing the cracks it apparently was in the preseason game. Hopefully the Tigers make some adjustments at half.

They did.  Indeed, they did!

[Ron Boerger]

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?

First half Trinity played sloppy, kept trying to tackle SW runners high, dropped a couple of passes that would have been big gainers (at least one TD) and totally lost the SW receiver that made it a two-point game at the half. Franklin's game awareness wasn't the best and he ended up taking a couple of big sacks on third down which made the resulting FGAs much more difficult. Receivers were not on the same page a few times.

Second half started with a brilliant KR TD (incredible block by Nickelberry to spring the runner free), defense learned to tackle low and pursued better, and basically everyone just showed more poise and focus on the basics. OL started getting off the ball better, runners showed much more determination to keep making progress and breaking tackles and the SW defense just plain tired out and didn't show the drive they did earlier.  Hondo and the WRs were much more in sync.

[D3Navy]

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?

Rough first half for Trinity after a bye week and excellent play-calling and execution by Southwestern led to a very competitive game going in to halftime.

Completely different story after the half as Trinity dominated in every aspect.  A 100 yard kickoff return and two fumble recoveries with lengthy returns for TDs (by the same player (#4 Crockett)) made it a runaway.

On to Berry next week.

[Ron Boerger]

HansenRatings predictions for this week's games rounded to nearest point:

Trinity 30 @Berry 27 (TU 59% win chance)
Centre 17 @Maryville 34 (MC 85% to win)
Sewanee 25 @Southwestern 31 (SW 66% to win)
Millsaps 42 @Rhodes 29 (MC 80% to win)

Maryville seems conservative, I would expect at least another TD against Centre at home.

Trinity and Berry have both won by ~40 PPG against lesser opponents; yes, Berry lost to a quality Carnegie-Mellon squad but other than that the resume' is quite similar to Trinity.  Berry has had their share of bad luck to lose to Trinity recently, is this the year the tables turn?  (I hope they don't.)

Southwestern - which team shows up?  They played Trinity to standstill for a half and then took Lunesta in the locker room. 

Millsaps should handle hapless Rhodes easily. 

[MCScots2013]

Perfect game times this week for the two biggest games (at least for me.)

Afternoon kickoff for Homecoming against Centre then an evening game for Berry/Trinity. Can't wait.

Maryville over Centre. Would be nice if we doubled them up but Centre always plays MC tough.
Another OT game this year for Berry and Trinity? I have Trinity by less than a touchdown.
Millsaps over Rhodes easily
Sewanee over Southwestern in a tight one.

[nineohnine]

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.

[awadelewis]

A win in Georgetown would be a very good thing.    I'm with Ron: all depends who comes out hot early in the  game.  It will be interesting to watch Maryville over the next two games as both Centre and Millsaps are looking for some respect.

I'm not sure I would agree with Hansen about Trinity at Berry.  The Vikings need that win to overcome the CMU loss and being home team may just give enough a boost for them to push Trinity.

[MCScots2013]

Maryville is 25-5 in the last 30 games (10/8/22...3 years ago this weekend). 4 of those loses were a combined 15 points, no one loss more than 7 points. The 5th loss was second round against DePauw last year. Not terribly close.

Getting excited for a packed house for homecoming this Saturday!

Coach Fox recorded a podcast with Dingo Talk this preseason and it was released today. Go check it out.

[Ron Boerger]

Four of the six D3football.com Quick Hitspanelists, asked to choose which top 25 team will be upset this week, chose Trinity.

[awadelewis]

Early games moving towards halftime:

Sewanee scores late in the second to make the score 21-19 in favor of Southwestern in Georgetown with a few seconds left in the 1H.  Given the lack of updates on the stats page, I'm assuming that game has gone to the half.

Centre and Maryville are tied at 13 each at the half in Maryville.

Millsaps leads Rhodes 14-0 middle of the 1Q per Rhodes stat page but that page tends to be very laggy behind the game.

[awadelewis]

Results from day games so far:

Maryville wakes up in the second half for a 33-13 win over Centre

Southwestern holds off Sewanee for 39-31 victory. Hurts a bit to see our kids put the effort out and not be able to get the win.

As of the last update of the stats page, Milsaps was up 31-19 on Rhodes in the 3Q.   Rhodes stat tracker really doesn't do well in keeping up with game.

[MCScots2013]

Largest crowd I've ever seen at an MC game. Homecoming is generally packed but good Lord this was on a different level. 50 recruits at the game. Has to leave an impression.

Tale of 2 halves. First half was how I expected; second was how I wished. A win is a win, and it feels good to beat Centre (I believe second longest series in MC history with roughly 70 meetings) and pick up our first home SAA win. Now we've won 326 at home and 26 of the last 31 overall. Has to be the best streak in program history.

[tigerguy]

I think Berry's camera crew has missed just about every big play! Watching the game above the camera rather than through the camera lens.