FB: Southern Athletic Association

[tigerguy]

Hondo has found confidence as a dual threat quarterback and he is a capable in both respects. I would like to see Urban give him more opportunities on the ground because I think it will ultimately help with Hondo's internal clock in the pocket. He has historically had an issue holding onto the ball too long, so trusting his legs will continue to add a needed element of unpredictability to this offense. A very nice rebound this week, although against poor Rhodes.

Edit: 734 yards of offense! WOW. Will need to check where that output ranks for them all time in a single game.

[awadelewis]

 

Edit: 734 yards of offense! WOW. Will need to check where that output ranks for them all time in a single game.

That went about like I expected.

Maryville has cut the score down to a two-score deficit against Millsaps with a score at the 8:30 mark in the 4Q for 31-21 score. The Majors are trying to run clock trying to get a drive going and then turn the ball over with 6:46 remaining.  This will be interesting.

Berry opened it up on my Tigers in the 2nd half, 44-71 at the 2:00 minute warning

[MCScots2013]

Sick to my damn stomach.

[awadelewis]

Sick to my damn stomach.

Bunch of self inflicted wounds on that last drive with those holding penalties, and then miss the field goal.  Let's see if the Majors can run out the clock.

[awadelewis]

Final in Jackson with Millsaps getting the upset of MC, 31-21.

Still one game on the schedule tonight with Southwestern at Centre.

[Ron Boerger]

Unexpected loss by Maryville, but the goal is still the same:  win out and you're the SAA champion.

Trinity was not in sync early, leading only 9-0 late in the first half and allowing Rhodes to convert two straight fourth downs on their one good drive of the day before a fourth third attempt from the TU 10 went awry, then someone turned on the switch and after scoring twice in the last two minutes they ended up with a total of six straight TD drives.  I think the Rhodes D just plain wore down in the 93-degree heat (and they had no tents on their side to shield them from the sun). That drive with the fourth downs was the only time the Lynx crossed midfield.

Berry did what Berry does, though Sewanee played 'em tough for the better part of two and a half quarters.  It will be interesting to see what Millsaps does against them next week, though the schedule makers were very kind to the Vikings who get all their tough opponents at home this year (except CMU which was their sole loss of the season so far).

[Ron Boerger]

Edit: 734 yards of offense! WOW. Will need to check where that output ranks for them all time in a single game.

According to the TU game writeup, today's output set the record and marked only the third time in team history to reach 700+ yards of total offense.  The 421 yards on the ground was third all-time. 

[tigerguy]

NCAA stats website only goes back to 2012, but it appears one of those games was 2023 against Southwestern when they put up 710 yards.

I would have expected that some of the prolific Tiger passing offenses of the late 90s/early 2000s would be up there statistically with these recent Urban-led teams, but it's probably an unfair comparison since games were played differently back then.

[Ron Boerger]

HansenRatings predictions for this week's games:

@Berry 41 Millsaps 18 - Vikings 93% to win
@Trinity 34 Centre 8 - Trinity 95% to win
@Southwestern 21 Maryville 35 - Scots 82% to win
@Rhodes 24 Sewanee 31 - Tigers 68% to win

[Cowboy2]

NCAA stats website only goes back to 2012, but it appears one of those games was 2023 against Southwestern when they put up 710 yards.

I would have expected that some of the prolific Tiger passing offenses of the late 90s/early 2000s would be up there statistically with these recent Urban-led teams, but it's probably an unfair comparison since games were played differently back then.

As great as Burton and Hampton were back then, with Trinity having close to a decade of All American Caliber QBs at the helm, don't forget they also had Damond Garza and Jeremy Boyce toting the rock out of the backfield. I believe Boyce still has the single game record for 300+ yards on the ground up on the Mountain. He was an AA RB as well.

What blows my mind about this young Trinity team is that the next man up never skips a beat, whether it be a QB, RB, WR, the OL gets the job done... Would have liked to have seen a better showing vs Berry, but Berry is very seasoned this year. The future is promising with this level of output. Crazier thing is the starters are being shuffled out after halftime and the younger guys are pouring on the yardage. Their two highest output games this season they didn't start early and still put 60 points on the board thanks to all three phases exploding in the second half. 

Go Tigers!

[Ron Boerger]

A very frustrating game in San Antonio where Trinity piled up the yards on Centre but made too many mistakes for the score to reflect that dominance.  They only led Centre 10-7 at the half despite owning total yardage 256-45 as Centre's only score was a 93-yard kick return immediately after Trinity scored its only TD in the half.  In the second half Centre figured out how to move the ball downfield through the air but the defense stiffened before the Colonels could take a lead.  Trailing 17-14, Centre had the ball three times in the fourth quarter but were stuck deep in their own territory each time and could not come up with a single first down.  On the third attempt the defense converged on the Colonel QB in the end zone to score the final points of the day with under two minutes to play.  Centre tried an onside free kick which failed and the Tigers ran out the clock as Centre had used all its timeouts on Trinity's previous possession. 

While Trinity's pass defense did give up some big plays, yielding 183 yards, they did hold Centre to 27 yards on 25 rushing attempts.

Hondo Franklin took a hard blind-side sack and had to come out of the game for a couple of plays with a limp.  He did return but the limp was still in evidence.  With next week's game at Sewanee, and depending on the injury, Urban might decide to let him recover and start Welker Horn. 

[MCScots2013]

Maryville got back to their winning ways after playing like they never saw a football before last week, beating Southwestern 44-13 in TX. Glad the team got to experience a flight trip and get that out of the way. Now, time to get back home next week against Rhodes before the Berry-Trinity buzz saw to end it.

MC needs better play from the offensive line. They haven't played well in a few weeks. Give Rollins to time and it's hard for many times to keep pace with our offense.

Side note: Lombe Honaker, longtime coach and administrator at Maryville and namesake of our field (Honaker Field), also coached in the 1919 and 1920 at Southwestern before coming to Tennessee from '21-'58.

[D3Navy]

Concur with Ron - very frustrating.

The TU offensive line is talented by not as big as the strong teams they face.  Given that, using the larger RBs more often would make sense.  No excuse for failing to make 1 yard on 4th down within the Centre 5-yard line given the RB power that was available but watching from the sideline.

TU needs to get up to the line quickly and snap the ball.  The slow prep before each snap enabled Centre to freely substitute and prepare for each play.

Wrap up tackles, please.

Some sparks of greatness:

Hondo escaping what seemed like a certain sack and turning it into a 20-yard TD run.  His legs and field sense carried TU to the win. 

A ballet-like reception in the corner of the end zone by Tavares.  A thing of beauty.

The interception by Kody Brown was outstanding - spinning but staying focused and getting both hands on the ball.  Superb performance from the freshman (and actually the entire secondary other than a couple of failures to wrap up tackles).

Time for the team to gel!

[awadelewis]

Wishes for quick healing for Franklin but must admit I'm interested in seeing Horn on the field given everything I've heard about him.

For some reason we keep scheduling either TU or Berry for our Homecoming game. Given the way the season has gone for us and how TU has played the last few games,  I expect we'll play even with y'all for part of the first half and then you'll open it up.

Then Millsaps followed by @Maryville for y'all. That's a tough out. 

Berry gets @Centre, Maryville, and @ Southwestern.   Maryville gets Rhodes, @Berry, and TU.   

Interesting close of the season coming up.

[MCScots2013]

Thinking of making the drive to Rome from Virginia for the Berry game.  Depends if the wife and the 2 year old wants to have an extra-long weekend on the road.
Everyone has that one team that plays their best against them.  Maryville had Brevard be that pain in the neck (and Huntingdon, too...) in the USAC; hopefully Millsaps doesn't take their place.  I am hoping however we can be that team for Berry.  I was at the playoff game last year when I'm sure folks thought the same of the match up this year and we played 4 quarters football and pulled it out.

Rome to Maryville is less than 3 hours.  I guarantee a large crowd on our side given the stakes and the distance.  There is a local bus company that is a sponsor this year, so maybe a couple buses of students can make the trip down and give our boys a boost (wink wink if the AD or coaches patrol this board...)