By Clyde Hughes
D3sports.com
It's the proverbial unstoppable force meeting the immovable object Saturday in Indiana as two-time defending Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference champion Mount St. Joseph travels just past south of Indianapolis to take on Franklin.
Both teams are undefeated at 5-0 while the MSJ Lions hold a 3-0 conference record while the Franklin Grizzlies stand at 2-0. Mount St. Joseph defense has been nothing short of impressive this year; giving up a measly six points a game this season (and coach Rod Huber is probably not happy with those points).
Franklin comes into the game scoring 36.6 points a game while chalking up 414.2 yards in total offense per contest. Mount St. Joseph's defense only gives up 158 yards per contest. It took Hanover the final minutes of its 24-0 loss to the Lions on Saturday to squeeze out 107 yards of total offense.
OK. I think you get the point.
"This is huge," said Mount St. Joseph coach Rod Huber, who has molded the Lions into a championship outfit over the past seven years. "We are so focused on this game. I've got guys coming in early to watch video and staying after practice to watch video. They know exactly what's at stake. I've got a little more of a veteran club than what I've had in recent years. The nucleus of our club is a good senior class backed up by a good junior class."
Franklin coach Mike Leonard makes no bones about the fact that this is probably the biggest game he's coached with the Grizzlies. Mind you, that Franklin already has an overtime win this season over Wabash, a team that was nationally ranked earlier this year and went to the Division III playoffs a year ago.
"It's our homecoming and actually I think it's a big advantage," Leonard said. "You have a great atmosphere here."
The showcase matchup in this game will be Franklin's offense against Mount St. Joseph's defense. The Grizzlies have been riding the arm of a hot sophomore quarterback, Chad Rupp. Last week against Anderson, when Franklin snapped a six-game losing streak to the Ravens, Rupp completed 26 of 39 passes for 314 yards and three touchdowns.
His wide receivers Danny Sears and Tony Gregory are ranked 1-2 in the HCAC in receiving yards per game at 79.6 yards and 69.6 yards, respectively. Even though Rupp did not start in the first two games, Leonard said he's not surprise by his quarterback's success.
"I had an (idea) that he would be good," Leonard said. "He was pretty good as a freshman but we had two quarterbacks with some game experience. In our last game a year ago, he split time at quarterback and played really well. The thing about Chad is that he's a very accurate passer. In fact, it kind of surprises you when he is a little bit off the mark."
Leonard said Franklin will also try to get the ball into the hands of Sears as much as possible. Sears is averaging 167 all-purpose yards a game and has 365 yards in kickoff returns this season.
"He has hurt people in a lot of different ways this season," Leonard said. "We will put him in different positions so teams don't really know how we're going to use him, but we're going to try to get him the ball as much as we can."
Mount St. Joseph wants to do the same thing with tailback Mike Lovell, the conference leading rusher. Lovell is averaging 124.4 yards a contest, including 102 yards against Hanover.
"We've been fortunate to take him out in the third quarter in a couple of games this year so we're fortunate that he's not beaten up," Huber said. "When we did, Kevin Cocanougher has played really well, so we're healthy in the tailback spot. (Lovell) is going to carry to the ball 25 to 30 times this game. That's how we're able to manage the game."
Defensively, Mount St. Joseph defenders Phil Poetter and Nick Yahl have seven interceptions between them and linebacker Matt Lawless continued to anchor the Lions up front.
Because so much attention is being given to Franklin's offense and Mount St. Joseph's defense, could an unsung hero play a vital role? Huber said the Grizzlies point production makes him uneasy.
"The point think scares me," Huber said. "We're not built to get into a shootout. If we get into a shootout, we won't win. We want to slow it down and keep control of the clock and the ball and not turn it over. I'm worried about them putting 30 or 40 points on us. If they do that, it's going to be a long game for Mount St. Joe."
Sears returning punts and kickoffs also concerns Huber and he said Mount St. Joseph's special teams will have to come up with one of its best games of the season.
For Franklin, with its concentration on Lovell, the Grizzlies will continue to keep a watch on Mount St. Joseph's quarterback Rashon Lewis, one of the fastest players in the conference.
"Rashon is a little more consistent than a year ago," Huber said. "He's doing a better job at taking care of the ball and he's getting a few carries on the option each game. We're trying to stretch the field a little more so he's hit a few passes down the middle of the field this year. He's matured well, but he's still got some growing to do. He's making process a little at a time and that's all we want."
Of course, this is just the first of several big games in the conference as Defiance (4-1, 2-0) is still lurking after reeling off four straight wins after a season-opening loss. The Yellow Jackets also get Mount St. Joseph (Oct. 28) and Franklin (Nov. 4) in back-to-back home games.
But for the Lions and the Grizzlies, Saturday's game is big enough. They will worry about Defiance another time.
So, what happened to last week's big game?
St. Norbert's 48-0 manhandling of Monmouth must have risen more than a few eyebrows around the country. Sure the Knights were probably looking forward to getting back at the Fighting Scots who beat them at home last year and went on win the Midwest Conference title that St. Norbert was so use to keeping for itself.
"Absolutely, it surprised me that the score ended up the way it did," said longtime St. Norbert coach Jim Purtill. " I don't think in a million years I would have predicted that, but it was very satisfying because we played very well. Monmouth is a very good football."
Cody Craig's continued strong performance at quarterback, passing for 229 yards and two touchdowns, along with an uncharacteristic eight turnovers (four interceptions and four fumbles) for Monmouth sealed the Scots' fate.
"(Craig) has been a very steady player for us," Purtill said. "We have nine new guys on offense. Cody and Josh O'Connell have been playing at an extremely high level and he's been real steady at the leadership part of it. He's done a really nice job playing the game. That's been since day one."
St. Norbert, which is now 64-3 in MWC games under Purtill, will take on Carroll this week while Monmouth will play the only other undefeated conference team left in Ripon.
Another big challenge for no. 19 Wheaton
No. 19Wheaton is not getting a chance to catch its breath after a come-from behind win over North Central. The Thunder Saturday takes on Augustana, the only other undefeated team in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin. The Vikings (2-0, 3-2) were selected as one of the conference favorites ahead of Wheaton this year but two non-conference losses knocked Augustana out of the pre-season Top 25 poll.
It will be interesting to see how Augustana handles to emergence of Wheaton running back Chaz Black, who earned Team of the Week honors last week with his 174-yard performance against North Central. Wheaton linebacker Andy Studebaker added three more sacks to his nation-leading 11 sacks this season.
Almost big-game time in IBFC
Concordia (Wis.) and Lakeland have one more week before they lock horns for the possible Illini-Badger Football Conference title. Concordia (6-0, 3-0), which is gaining points in the Top 25 poll, takes on Concordia (Ill.) this Saturday while defending IBFC champions Lakeland (3-3, 3-0) will battle MacMurray.
If those games go as expected, it will set up an showdown an Oct. 21 shootout between the two at Lakeland. The Muskies beat Concordia last year 17-14 on its way to winning the IBFC title. It was the first time Lakeland beat Concordia since 1999.
