Week Five Review

I'm a little late on last week's review, but hey, late is better than never. It was a high-scoring week for a few teams, and low-scoring for a few others. Last week's UMAC Game of the Week didn't disappoint, and I botched a few more of my picks. Lets take a look at the week five happenings.

Martin Luther 6, Westminster 54 - Come on now, Knights. I finally put my trust in you, and this is what you repay me with? The Blue Jays were pumped up for homecoming, as they put 41 points on the board in the first half and ran away with this one. Martin Luther just couldn't get anything going, and ended the game with only 183 total yards. Westminster QB Trent White put on a show, passing for 176 yards and 4 TDs and rushing for 131 yards and 2 TDs. See what I mean about Westminster being unpredictable? In week four, they played Northwestern close but could only put 7 points up on the board. Now they explode for 54 points and decimate what looked to be an up-and-coming team. I don't know what to make of these guys, but to their credit, their only UMAC losses have been to Northwestern and St. Scholastica in back-to-back away games. The Blue Jays are trying to make a splash, but they'll have to take on another UMAC power in Eureka next week.

St. Scholastica 14, Northwestern 7 - As I mentioned before, the UMAC Game of the Week didn't disappoint. Scholastica was able to punch one in late in the fourth quarter against a stellar Northwestern defense, and Northwestern's offense was not able to answer. That was really the story of the whole game, as Northwestern was only able to pile up 172 yards of offense, and they were able to bend but not break on defense, as Scholastica finished with 381 yards but were held to 14 points. Well, I guess you could consider allowing a score with 2:41 to go in the game breaking, but they did perform very well against one of the best offenses in the UMAC. CSS QB Zach Edwards passed for 304 yards and 2 TDs, but also was picked off twice by the Northwestern defense, which bumped him out of the top five in DIII football for passing efficiency. St. Scholastica remains on top of the food chain in the UMAC, but they have a few challenges ahead in worthy opponents - Eureka in week nine, and MacMurray in week ten. While Northwestern still boasts one of the best defenses in the UMAC, they find themselves holding on to a very thin thread of hope for a UMAC championship. At this point, their hopes are resting on other teams future performances (See: MacMurray, St. Scholastica, Eureka), which never bodes well for teams.

Crown 7, Minnesota Morris 17 - In the clash of the two winless UMAC teams, Morris took home the W. They started the game off with a bang when Morris QB Justin Masloski took the ball 70 yards to the house just 17 seconds into the game. Crown answered at the end of the first quarter with a TD run from QB Taylor Watkins. In the second quarter, Morris struck again with a ground score from WR Cameron Geyer. It was a back and forth battle for much of the game, but Crown was again unable to finish their offensive drives, and their defense was only so-so against one of the worst offensive teams in the UMAC. Morris ended the game with 339 yards to Crown's 292, with Masloski driving the team with 145 yards passing and 144 yards rushing and a TD. Both of these teams will continue to attempt to fight their way out of the UMAC cellar, and Crown will continue to try to pry the monkey off their back and get a win next week against Greenville.

MacMurray 19, Greenville 6 - MacMurray managed to scrape together a win to stay at the top of the UMAC, but it certainly wasn't pretty. MacMurray RB Chazz Middlebrook was held under 100 yards for the first time this year and for the first time dating all the way back to October 1st, 2016 against Minnesota Morris. He still maintains a slim lead for the DIII rushing title with 982 yards on the year, but he needs to be careful; Eureka RB LeAnthony Reasnover's big game this week brought him within striking distance. "Striking distance" is still 230 yards and a touchdown, but MacMurray needs to keep up their offensive production if Chazz hopes to remain the nation's and the conference's leading rusher. Greenville plays tough at home, as evidenced by this game and by beating Northwestern in week three. MacMurray needs to collect their thoughts and get their heads in the game this week as they prepare for a tough Northwestern defense.

Eureka 49, Iowa Wesleyan 18 - Iowa Wesleyan just couldn't keep up with the torrent pace of Eureka RB LeAnthony Reasnover, who had a career day with 179 rushing yards and 6 TDs, which pushed him to 36 career rushing TDs, breaking the school record of 34. The 6 TDs on the day also tied the school record. Iowa Wesleyan's Joseph Mosely returned his second kickoff for a touchdown this year, but the offense was not able to rise up to the challenge. Eureka defenders Trever Ziebert and Ray Vogel combined for 4.5 sacks and 7 tackles for loss, leading the defense to slow the Iowa Wesleyan offense to 170 yards in the game. Iowa Wesleyan is right along with Crown and Morris at the bottom of the conference, and will need to work hard to prove that they don't belong there. Eureka takes on Westminster in what will prove to be an interesting game this week.

Here's a couple things we learned this week:

1. St. Scholastica is still the team to beat. I know that's a boring one because I had it last week, but it's still true! That end of the year matchup with MacMurray is looking more and more tasty as the weeks fly by.

2. Westminster is unpredictable. I think I've said that enough. Maybe it's not something that we learned, but it's something that slapped me across the face last week.

3. There are legitimately 2 tiers in the UMAC. The upper tier consists of St. Scholastica, Northwestern, and Eureka, and the lower tier includes Crown, Morris, and Iowa Wesleyan. I'm almost tempted to add a third tier of the middle teams of Martin Luther, Westminster, and Greenville, but I'll wait a few weeks; they may prove to sort themselves out.

I was only 3-2 in my picks last week, with Westminster proving me wrong and Morris turning the tide. I definitely didn't see Westminster blowing out Martin Luther like that, so props to them; lets see if they can keep up that hype against a tougher team this week. That makes me 14-6 on the year; I'll take that. The more upsets, the more interesting the season proves to be!