FB: Southern Athletic Association

[tigerguy]

Props to Berry's o-line - they are absolutely working us.

I can't tell if Trinity's receivers just aren't getting open or if Hondo is just being too conservative. Disappointing game overall.

[awadelewis]

Final from Valhalla: Berry 29, Trinity 6.

[Ron Boerger]

Hats off to Berry.  They figured out something about our return game and we had crap field position all day.  When you constantly start inside your own 15 the options are limited.  And  their OL just owned the field.  We never figured out how to handle their defensive pressure and Hondo rarely had time to go through his progressions.

Back to the drawing board because the only way to make the playoffs now is to win out.

[D3Navy]

I can't figure out what Trinity was doing in this game.  Play calling seemed random as did the players.  Huerta has proven to be a strong back but rarely touched the ball.  When it became clear that Berry was dominating at the line Trinity never decided to take some risks on trick plays or even try to mix things up.  Maybe a screen pass or two?

Shocking performance.

All credit to Berry though.  The played a tough early season game against Carnegie Mellon (who should have beaten Johns Hopkins today!) and got an early gut check.  Trinity has been steamrolling much weaker opponents.  It's also clear that Berry has a great offensive line. Their decision to blitz the run throughout never left Trinity with time to let plays develop.  The QB being Trinity's leading rusher proves that strategy worked like a charm.

Time for the strategy of hope.  Hope that Trinity wins out and Berry loses.  Shades of last season, although Maryville will have something to say about all of this.

[MCScots2013]

Tough game. Not what I was expecting. Hoping Trinity travels like that to East Tennessee for Week 11...

[nineohnine]

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!

[Ron Boerger]

SAA title would require a three way tie and the Pool A winner would be determined by head-to-head point differential.  With Trinity -23 and Berry +23 pending the results of both against Maryville that ship has probably sailed.  They'll get a Pool C if they win out and almost certainly only if they win out. 

Pat Coleman had Berry HC Tony Kunczewski on their "Fast Five" podcast segment and it's worth a listen.  They have their largest senior roster (31) since the very early days of the program, and besides providing that valuable leadership and on-field ability these are guys that had seen Berry lose to Trinity three years running in painstaking fashion:

• 2024, missed their last three PAT tries (one missed, a 2pt attempt failed, the third blocked), game goes into OT, Berry possession ends in an INT and  (after just missing a 57-yard attempt at the end of regulation) Huettel does the honors in a 38-35 win
• 2023, jump out to a 29-13 lead at home only to allow Trinity to score the next 21 points, then after the Vikings regain the lead and Huettel hits a 52-yarder to tie it, Berry gets stuffed for their only 3-and-out of the day. Trinity scores on the next possession and then Berry gets called for a hold in the end zone on their next possession, resulting in a safety making the margin nine points and putting the game out of reach, 46-37.  The only loss of the 2023 season (pre-NPI) keeps Berry out of the playoffs.
• 2022, Berry is held to 190 yards total offense but trail by only a TD when they decide to punt from their 48 rather than go for it with 6:28 to go.  Trinity consumes the remaining time on a 12-play drive to win 21-14, thanks in part to a Berry player jumping offsides on a fourth-and-three with a couple of minutes left.

So yeah, they were kind of motivated. 

[MCScots2013]

Congrats to Bryson Rollins for passing the 10,000 yard mark for his career. He's nearly doubled up the next closest.

Midway through his senior season and so far he's eclipsed 1800 yards and 18 TD's. Career TD's thrown are 85. Joe Costner ('70-'72) is next closest with 42.

[Ralph Turner]

I respect the data generated by NPI showing Maryville at #10 and highest in the SAA. Respectfully, I am waiting for the Scots to play a "big game", such as versus Trinity and Berry.

[Ron Boerger]

Speaking of NPI, Logan Hansen stated today on Xitter that the SAA champion is only the 10th most likely to receive a top 8 seed and the protections that provides.  I pinged him about the chances if Maryville goes undefeated and in that case it would be 99%; winning the championship with one loss, 14%.  For one-loss non-SAA champions, he assigns both Maryville and Trinity a 100% chance of a Pool C bid - with a two-loss Berry team having a 98% chance.  He assigns a two-loss Trinity a 62% Pool C chance; a two-loss Maryville, 13%.

Logan said his models are "still hesitant to give them [the Scots] very good odds of getting to 10-0".  That probably won't change much until they play Berry the second weekend of November.

[MCScots2013]

I respect the data generated by NPI showing Maryville at #10 and highest in the SAA. Respectfully, I am waiting for the Scots to play a "big game", such as versus Trinity and Berry.

Me, too.