Week three has come and gone, and another exciting week of UMAC football is in the books! There were some invigorating games this week, and a few upset alerts (in my humble opinion, anyways)! Lets jump right into it and my picks that I actually picked before the games this time!
Iowa Wesleyan 20, Martin Luther 42 - This game was an upset (to me) in two ways: Martin Luther taking home the W, and how they took home that W. MLC was up 28-0 in the first quarter, and 35-7 at halftime. That's like...more points than they had all last season. Nah, I looked it up; they scored 97 points last year. Well, they almost got half of that in one game. Through three games this year, MLC has scored 84 points and has a 2-1 record under their belt. Now, I'm not quite ready to crown them UMAC champs this year; they still have a lot to prove. But what they have already proved this year is that they are much better. QB Zachary Bloomquist threw for 2 TDs and also added 2 on the ground, while RB Josh Wong racked up 120 yards and a TD as well. On the other side, WR Joshua Broadway caught 2 TD passes and and Joseph Mosely added an 80-yard kick return TD in the 4th quarter to pad the score a bit for Iowa Wesleyan. IW wasn't able to get much offense going, but WR Rodolfo Amezcua was able to catch 7 balls for 87 yards. I picked Iowa Wesleyan to win this game 35-28, I was counting on the decent offense that IW showed against Crown in week two. Congrats to MLC on playing spoiler! They are definitely better, should be interesting to see how the year goes for them.
MacMurray 48, Crown 34 - Okay, so I definitely underestimated Crown's offense in this one. I picked MacMurray to win, 42-14. While Crown put more points on the board, I was right in guessing that Mac's high powered offense would overwhelm the Crown D. This was a legit game until the fourth quarter though; while MacMurray held the lead from the end of the first quarter until the end of the game, Crown pulled within a touchdown with 11:58 remaining in the game, but MacMurray's star RB Chazz Middlebrook scored 2 of his 4 rushing TDs in the fourth, the latter being a 66-yard run that is up for UMAC play of the week. Middlebrook ended the game with 275 yards on 34 attempts en route to UMAC Offensive Player of the Week and the top rusher in DIII football, with 734 yards through 3 games. MacMurry is now #1 in the conference with an undefeated record (3-0) and a #5 nationally ranked offense. Crown still put up a fight, with QB Taylor Watkins tossing 4 TD passes, 3 of them to WR David McIntosh. MacMurry figures to be a top team in the conference this year; while they still have nearly the entire season, it seems that the season finale against St. Scholastica could be a huge matchup.
Eureka 48, Minnesota Morris 20 - The This game didn't really tell us anything new; we knew Eureka is pretty good, and we knew Morris isn't. I picked Eureka to win, 28-7. LeAnthony Reasnover paved the way for Eureka, with 203 yards on 21 carries and 3 TDs. Honestly, he was really the only offensive standout in this game; the next offensive "leader" was Eureka's QB Nick Holman with 79 yards passing. Nonetheless, Eureka combined for 479 yards and 7 touchdowns. Eureka's defense held Morris to 176 yards, which isn't surprising as Morris' offense is now last in the conference in both scoring offense and total offense. Eureka has MacMurray and St. Scholastica in back-to-back weeks in week eight and week nine, and they will hope to remain in the mix for conference title at that time.
Westminster 18, St. Scholastica 48 - This was yet another statement game for St. Scholastica. They were showing the UMAC that the St. John's game was not showing St. Scholastica's weakness, but the strength of St. John's. I still picked CSS to win over Westminster, 42-28, but I had a hunch that Westminster might make it a close game. I was wrong, obviously, even though my predicted score wasn't too far off. St. Scholastica never looked back, and had several big plays on the way to the blowout. CSS QB Zach Edwards threw for 325 yards and 3 TDs, including an 81-yarder to Hunter Thompson (5-156-2) and a 90-yarder to Aaron Olson (2-105-1). K/P Donovan Blatz took home the UMAC Special Teams Player of the Week, as he was 6 for 7 in extra points and booted 4 punts (1 inside the 20) for an average of 36.5 yards. For Westminster, QB Trent White had 168 passing yards and 2 TDs, one to WR Chase Abbington, who ended with 5 catches for 93 yards and the score. St. Scholastica looks like they're still the team to beat, but it'll be interesting to see if MacMurray gives them a run for their money and makes the last game of the season an important one.
Northwestern 15, Greenville 21 - I guess I saved the best for last! This was the true game of the week, and really throws a monkey wrench into the standings. Now, I had assumed that Greenville was slightly weaker this year and Northwestern would be able to handle them, as I picked Northwestern to win, 35-14. Alas, it was not to be, as Greenville was able to overcome the visiting Eagles and smother a final drive to claim the victory. Greenville struck first with an 83-yard strike from QB George Harris to WR Sean Brooks. The game proved to be a defensive battle, as that first 85-yard scoring drive was the longest of the game. It was a tight battle throughout, and Northwestern ended with a chance to tie the game as they were granted the ball at their own 12 yard line with 2:01 to play. Greenville's defense held strong and held on for the victory, which really boosted their standing in my eyes. Before this, I saw Northwestern as the clear #2 at this point in the season, but now the standings are a little foggy. We might need to wait a few weeks for the fog to clear, and Greenville may be a bit higher than we thought they would be.
So in true picks, I was 3-2 this week. Still a winning record, and honestly I don't mind getting my picks wrong, because that means we have upsets! Upsets are always fun. They make for and interesting landscape in UMAC football. Now, all I'm hoping for is someone to upset St. Scholastica to make it super interesting like last year! If we count week two picks (even though I didn't pick them before the game), I would be 7-3 right now. I'll take that. Week four picks will be coming later this week!
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