By Pat Cummings
D3sports.com
The bottom line is this: I am soliciting your feedback. Tell me what you would do as Marty Favret given the situations outlined below. I'll share the responses in next week's column.
The game of the year in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference has been the same for the past four seasons: Bridgewater v. Hampden-Sydney. In each of the last three seasons, the well-respected H-SC quarterback J.D. Ricca has failed to see his Tigers on the heavy side of the scoreboard.
Ricca's desire for a win against Bridgewater must have been intense, but perhaps no more intense than his head coach. Marty Favret, in his sixth season, found himself 0-5 in his first half-decade of shots at the Eagles. The last three years, H-SC's lone ODAC loss came at the hands of BC, single-handedly keeping the Tigers from the postseason.
So the question is as follows:
Would your lack of ability to beat your main conference foe cause a temporary lapse of sane coaching judgment?
Adrian Herndon (37) and Josh Knight (36) keep the ball out of the hands of Tiger receiver Brian Rolander late in the fourth quarter. Photo by Gary Brittain |
A head coach I am not, but I have difficulty conceiving of the decisions Favret made in the Tigers' 31-24 loss. Here are several of the reasonable, and more of the unreasonable calls made below.
Reasonable decision 1: With the game scoreless in the first quarter, faced with a fourth-and-5 from the BC 15 yard-line, Favret decides to go for it and run off with the early momentum. Ricca completes a 7-yard pass to Drew Smith. The Tigers score on the next play and take a 7-0 lead.
Questionable decision 1: Still leading 7-0 with less than a minute remaining in the first quarter, H-SC has a fourth-and-2 from its own 30. Ricca's attempted sneak is squashed and the Eagles take over with an uber-short field. David Blackwell subsequently punches a 25-yard three-pointer to cut the Tigers lead to 7-3.
Reasonable decision 2: On the next drive, the Tigers go three-and-out and are faced with a fourth-and-12 from their own 30. T.C. Stevens comes on to boom a 51-yard punt, giving Bridgewater the ball at their own 19. Imagine if that happened on the last drive.
Questionable decision 2: Just past the midway point of the second quarter, H-SC begins a drive at their own 31, leading 7-6. The Tigers get 9 yards and Favret calls for a Johnny Junes rush on fourth-and-1 from HSC's own 40. Junes is stuffed and Bridgewater takes over. The Eagles gain 12 yards and David Blackwell pops his third field goal of the half for a 9-7 lead.
Reasonable decision 3: H-SC takes over on the next drive from its own 31 and march down to the BC 21-yard line where the offense stalls. Time is running down in the half and with fourth-and-10 from the BC 21, Favret sends kicker Reed Westra out for a 38-yard field goal attempt. The try is blocked, but it was the right call.
HALFTIME: Bridgewater 9, Hampden-Sydney 7
Questionable decision 3: The first drive of the second half has H-SC facing a fourth-and-9 from the BC 45. Instead of sending your punter, who has already booted a 51-yard kick, Favret sends an injury-prone Ricca back to take a snap and drop a quick kick 43 yards down to the BC 2. The decision looks great considering the result. But if all you were going to do was punt to begin with, why not send Stevens in to kick and hope you bury the Eagles deep without a return? The trick factor you think? C'mon.
Questionable decision 4: BC punts after three plays and H-SC takes the ball at the BC 44 and gains only 4 yards. On fourth-and-8 from the BC 40 midway through the third quarter, Ricca completes a pass to Drew Smith for 29 yards, eventually leading to an H-SC touchdown. The points, and the lead, are good, but I again question the pure desperate play-calling at this stage of the football game. H-SC leads 14-9.
BC rolls down the field on eight plays, covering 80 yards in 2:49 of third quarter time, topped by a 36-yard pass to Brandon Copeland. The two-point conversion is good and BC goes up by three, 17-14.
Questionable decision 5: Hampden-Sydney starts the fourth quarter from the BC 48 and drives down to the Eagles 10 yard-line. Earlier in the drive, on fourth-and-6 from the BC 44, and having used a timeout to think it over, Charlie Omick scampers 10 yards for a first down. Down in the red zone, facing a fourth-and-7 from the BC 10, Favret sends Westra out for a game-tying 27-yard field goal and connects. 17-all.
Bridgewater would score again to lead 24-17 while the Tigers would tie the game on their next attempt. Jacob Lewis' 39-yard pass to Brian Awkard with 1:07 remaining was the gamewinner as Ricca couldn't move the Tigers on their final drive.
My belief is that the early playcalling from Favret doomed the Tigers late in the game. The six points BC scored early on the heels of the nonsensical fourth-down calls propelled the game back to the hands of the Eagles. They allowed BC to catchup with a touchdown and two-point conversion, from which the Eagles simply played better.
Dips get head start, insight revealed
Speaking of feedback ... while online perusing the Lancaster Sunday News following Franklin and Marshall's 15-9 victory over Muhlenberg (1-3, 0-1), one would believe the Dips were back on point following a disastrous 1-2 non-conference start. Then I read the comments posted at the end of the column by a long-time Diplomat follower and maybe I've finally understood what has kept the Diplomats from (2-2, 1-0) getting the leg up many thought they would this year.
I attended this game on Saturday afternoon and while I admit that the reporter presented the facts of the game in time-honored AP or UPI format and style, he missed the point entirely.
The lead of this story should have read: an F&M team which has no speed, no power, no finess (sic), no kicker, can't run the football, pass it or catch it, can't block, can barely tackle, played a Muhlenberg team with even less skill in each of those departments and consequently eeked out a narrow win. Nevertheless, an epic battle ensued. F&M eventually won this game by hanging together, ignoring their shortcomings, and continuing to try to figure out what football is. That they did so is a credit to the players and coaching staff.
Interesting take. More interesting that someone posted a response to an article on the Lancaster Sunday News's Web site. Dips coach Shawn Halloran summed up the take on this and every game in the rest of F&M's season.
"Each week is championship week for us from here on out. It is do or die. We have a test each week on the field."
Souper renewal indeed
Greensboro and Guilford competed in the ninth Gate City Souper Bowl to see which school will generate more canned goods for charity ... and win a football game against a cross-city rival. The end of one quarter seemed like the end of four. Greensboro was leading Guilford by a 25-21 score after fifteen minutes of play.
It's been a rough year for Greensboro, having suffered losses to Division I-AA non-scholarship Davidson, Maryville and the NAIA's Southern Virginia. But the rivalry renews hopes of a win and that was no different on Saturday. The Pride led 36-24 through three quarters, searching for their first win only to have the Quakers find their stride in the late stages.
Josh Vogelbach completed two touchdown passes on consecutive drives to give Guilford the lead for good. "The upperclassmen told me all week how big this game was," Vogelbach told the Greenboro News & Record, "I'm looking forward to playing in this game for the next three years." And rightly so.
Interestingly enough, Guilford beats lowly Greensboro by one and loses to Hampden-Sydney by two. Rough year for the ODAC.
Random questions from a crazy rivalry game: How often do you see ten touchdowns scored in a game, nine of which came by way of the pass?
How do officials toss 22 penalty flags while the offenses manage over 1,000 yards combined and game lasted only three hours and two minutes?
Mid-Atlantic Region quick hits
->Behind 217 rushing yards from Terrell Mulford, Ferrum improved to 5-0 with a 55-40 win over Averett, avenging last year's triple overtime heartbreaking loss.
->FDU-Florham managed 49 points in their homecoming win against Lycoming, the second-highest point total in school history. The win was the Devils' first of the season, while the loss was Lycoming's third conference defeat. Lycoming's program seems to be in a state of disrepair.
->Washington and Lee stands the best chance to knock off Bridgewater and Hampden-Sydney, upsetting the ODAC apple cart. The Generals have played well, rolling to a 3-1 mark with wins over Alfred, Sewanee, and Randolph-Macon. Only a nine-point loss at home to Centre (4-1) blemishes the record. W&L's defense has allowed 17 points per game, eight points per game fewer than any other opponent on Bridgewater or Hampden-Sydney's schedule so far this year.
->King's running back John Ortiz only carried the ball 20 times this week, in stark contrast to his D-III record 59 carries from a week ago. But that doesn't mean he wasn't as productive. Ortiz punched into paydirt four times in the Monarchs' 56-0 win over Susquehanna.
->Emory & Henry continues to look listless, dropping to 0-4 with a 55-21 loss at Methodist. Don't fret, Wasps fans. Changes take a while to implement. The greatest example of this: G.A. Mangus's first year at Delaware Valley saw the Aggies plod to a 2-8 record, only to rebound to 9-2 this year. Many of us who cover D-III rushed onto E&H's bandwagon this year, myself included. Coach Don Montgomery is solid -- but it is clear he will need some time to implement the changes needed.
Mid-Atlantic Region Top 5
1. Delaware Valley
2. Bridgewater
3. Ferrum
4. Christopher Newport
5. McDaniel
The Aggies role over Leb Val and BC's win over H-SC puts the Eagles in the ODAC driver's seat. Ferrum hasn't done anything wrong and will eventually face tougher opponents Methodist and CNU, who got over the Shenandoah hurdle. McDaniel falls after its tough game vs. Ursinus.
What to watch in Week 6
No. 19 McDaniel at Gettysburg, Musselman Stadium, Gettysburg, Pa., 1 p.m.: Ursinus gave McDaniel everything it could handle and lost only by eight. Gettysburg's new spread offense interspersed with their traditional running game could spring a major upset if the Green Terror slip.
Franklin and Marshall at Johns Hopkins, Homewood Field, Baltimore, 1 p.m.: Do I have to say it again? Another crucial matchup in the Centennial. Should F&M win, they'll be 2-0 in the conference against two of their toughest opponents. I wouldn't count on it.
Widener at Albright, Shirk Field, Reading, Pa., 1 p.m.: Albright joins Del Val as the only undefeated teams in the MAC. Three consecutive weeks of nailbiting, come-from-behind victories could take its toll on the Lions. After this one, they get the pleasure of traveling to Doylestown with the MAC title, it would seem, on the line.
