The Way-Too-Early 2018 Preview

Due to Eureka moving on to the NACC, the UMAC will be a nine-team conference until further notice. UMAC teams will probably end up finding two non-conference games, which really isn't a bad thing. Unless those teams are MIAC teams; then we're in trouble. I'm assuming a few of the Illinois teams will keep Eureka on the schedule as one of those non-conference games, but I doubt Eureka would accept contracts to play Minnesota/Iowa teams if they can help it, as the reason they cited leaving the UMAC was due to travel costs. It is obviously wayyyyy too early to tell anything about the 2018 season, but here's how I could see 2018 panning out:

1. St. Scholastica
2. MacMurray
3. Northwestern
4. Martin Luther
5. Greenville
6. Westminster
7. Minnesota-Morris
8. Crown
9. Iowa Wesleyan

I think St. Scholastica will take back the reigns on the UMAC, until MacMurray or another team can prove that they are a perennial contender. Here's my reasons why each team is ranked the way they are:

St. Scholastica may have lost a few important pieces, but they return sophomore QB Zach Edwards, who led the UMAC in all passing categories and even was ranked in the top 20 in the nation in passing efficiency for part of the year. While senior WR Hunter Thompson will not return, junior WR Aaron Olson will, who led the UMAC with 22.6 yards per catch and was second in the UMAC in receiving yards with 770 and in TD receptions with 10. I think St. Scholastica will have a good enough returning core to pick up the slack from this year. 

MacMurray showed that they are the real deal this year, even though they were bounced out of the title race by Eureka. The real hit they will take next year is the loss of senior RB Chazz Middlebrook, who up until injury struck was the #1 RB in the UMAC and top 3 in the nation. Here's why I put St. Scholastica just slightly above MacMurray: when Chazz was involved in the gameplan, the Highlanders averaged 247.6 rushing yards per game, and without him, they averaged 85.3. Junior RB Marquez Ellison will have to pick up the slack next year, but they do return junior QB Nathan Randall and sophomore WR Demetrius Curry, who will still be effective offensively. Honestly I think MacMurray is right there and I would not be surprised if they duked it out with St. Scholastica for the title next year.

Northwestern graduates a huge class of very experienced seniors. Honestly, the only reason I have them placed so high is I have a hard time seeing any other team supplanting them. If their offense does not improve, they could certainly end up further down the list, especially as they will lose several defensive starters. Their defense may not be as dominant as it was this year due to the level of experience they will lose to graduation.

Martin Luther showed some spunk this year, and it will be interesting to see if they can break into the upper tier in the UMAC. This year was their first non-losing season since 2010, and they haven't been contenders for the UMAC title since 2009. They didn't lose many seniors, and the important ones they did lose were defensive backs. This means that their offense will only be better; their defense needs improvement anyways. I guess we'll find out if the Knights are the real deal in 2018, or if 2017 was just a fluke.

Greenville was a top offensive team in the UMAC this year, but their record wasn't really reflective of that fact. They lose senior RB Johnny Pruiett, who was the #3 RB in the UMAC this year, but will return QB George Harris, who threw for 1700 yards and 17 TDs. I think they will remain a top offensive team, the question will be if they can improve on defense and get those Ws. I see Martin Luther and Greenville as almost interchangeable in these standings.

Westminster will lose a tough trio in seniors Trent White (QB), Latif Adams (RB), and Chase Abbington (WR). Their defense was respectable as well this year, but because of the loss of these three who accounted for 90% of the Blue Jay offense (literally, I did the math), they will have to rebrand for 2018. That is the reason I have them a bit lower on the list; some new faces will have to step up for Westminster to take them places.

Now, these next three I pretty much just randomly chose. They were all pretty bad and had close games with each other this year, and I think it could be pretty similar in 2018. All of these teams are looking to bounce back like Martin Luther did from 2016, but they've got a ways to go.

Minnesota-Morris was pretty icky this year. They had some decent defense at times, but the offense was horrid. Luckily they lose only 4 seniors, so they have the offseason to build the numbers. If sophomore QB Justin Masloski can help improve the offense and sophomore LB Drew Shipley can commandeer the defense, perhaps they can bust out of the funk that was 2017.

Crown had a few promising offensive moments, but their defense wasn't able to keep them in many games. They need to improve that defense, because their offense was right on the cusp of average. They only graduate 6 seniors, but two of them are starting offensive lineman, which may set back the offensive growth. It will probably help to have a dependable QB, which they will hope freshman Luke Lithander will grow into.

Iowa Wesleyan had another "Iowa Wesleyan-ish" year; the offense was okay, and the defense was bad. The offense takes a hit by losing senior WRs Rodolfo Amezcua and Joshua Broadway, but the Tigers also don't graduate many seniors, so hopefully they will be able to bolster their numbers in the offseason. They will look to freshman QB Demarco Collins to take the reins next year, as he showed some flash in his first season.

Congratulations to all seniors and other players who finished up their eligibility on your final season, I hope it was enjoyable and you were able to make the most of it! I write this mostly for the players, because I remember being one and enjoying reading about my own team. I hope everyone has enjoyed my posts this year, I look forward to returning in 2018 to follow the UMAC once again! Keep following on Twitter and Facebook for updates regarding 2018 schedule and anything UMAC football related. Happy Thanksgiving!

2017 Season Review

The 2017 season has come and gone. We had a new UMAC champion who will never be one again, and a few teams and individuals who ended the season in the top 20 in the nation in certain areas. 2017 was one for the books, and 2018 is now up for grabs. Because Eureka will be leaving the conference, there will not be a repeat UMAC champ in 2018. Will St. Scholastica regain their iron grasp on the UMAC, or will some other team (ahem, MacMurray) battle them for the crown? Let's look back at each teams 2017 season, and see what they have to look forward to in 2018. Just for fun, lets start with the last place team and work our way up.


Crown - Poor, poor Crown. Crown's terrible defense this year (last in UMAC in scoring defense with 43.3 ppg and yardage with 455.6 ypg) led to their second 0-10 season in the UMAC era. While they showed some offensive flash at some points of the season, inconsistency led to the 8th ranked UMAC offense with only 17.2 ppg and 277.5 ypg, only slightly better than Northwestern and Minnesota-Morris. There have been years in the recent past where Crown's record has not shown how competitive that they can be, but this was not one of those years; only three of their games were lost by 14 points or less. Crown had only six seniors this year and they have a lot of young guns and a smaller roster, so if they can keep the guys they have while bringing in a decent recruiting class, they may be able to compete next year. Notable losses include starting OL Cody Bedlion (All-UMAC second team), Chris Larson, and DL Brian Howard. Rotating senior QB Ryan Synoground and junior Taylor Watkins will turn the reins over to freshman Luke Lithander, who started a few games at the back end of the 2017 season.


Minnesota Morris - Morris had a rough offensive year. If not for sophomore QB Justin Masloski ripping off a long TD run once in a while, they barely showed any life at all. Luckily for them, their defense wasn't completely awful, ranking 5th in the UMAC in scoring defense (28.6 ppg) and 7th in total yardage allowed (381.3 ypg). That defense was led by sophomore LB Drew Shipley, who led the UMAC in total tackles with 114, which was also good enough to tie for #12 in the nation. If they were able to show a little bit of offensive spark, they may have been able to turn the corner on a few close games this year to Martin Luther (twice), Northwestern, and Iowa Wesleyan, and their record could have been very different. Morris also presents a young and small roster, with only four seniors listed, which bodes well for co-head coaches Marty Hoffmann and Matthew Johnson if they are able to bring in a sizeable amount of recruits. Senior WR Taylor Holleman will be missed, along with senior DB Mitch Fischer, as they were solid contributors to their respective units.


Iowa Wesleyan - The Tigers haven't had a great run since going to NCAA DIII and the UMAC, with only one winning season (6-4 in 2013) in their time in the conference. They didn't fare much better this year, but I guess they aren't the first team I reviewed, so that's...something. Iowa Wesleyan has been known to be fairly efficient offensively, but lacking on the defensive side of things, and it was the same story this year; they ranked 6th in the UMAC in offense (23.9 ppg, 321.6 ypg) and 9th in defense (allowed 37.8 ppg, 449.6 ypg). The Tigers did pull it together and had a couple close games with Greenville and Westminster at the end of the year, but came up short and only were able to boast victories over Crown and Minnesota Morris. Iowa Wesleyan has only five seniors listed on their roster, but two of them are WRs Rodolfo Amezcua and Joshua Broadway, who played a huge part of the offense this year, with 73 receptions, 951 receiving yards, and 9 TDs between the two. Senior QB Alex Payne conceded the starting role to freshman DeMarco Collins during the season, who didn't put up huge numbers but showed some talent. Again I will say that if the Iowa Wesleyan coaching staff is able to gain a nice amount of recruits in the offseason, they should be able to be competitive in the future.


Greenville - The Panthers had a pretty stellar offensive season, ranking 4th in the UMAC in scoring offense (26.6 ppg) and 3rd in total offense (417.6 ypg). That last statistic was no doubt bolstered by the tremendous 811 yard effort against Iowa Wesleyan, but they were definitely proficient in most of their games, they just weren't able to come away with as many victories as they probably would have liked. While Greenville has perennially been one of the better teams in the UMAC since the establishment of the conference, in the past 3 years they have gone a combined 9-21. This year was an improvement from last year, however, so they have that to talk about. With an upset of Northwestern in week three that you could argue derailed the Eagles season and playing pretty tough against MacMurray, Eureka, and Westminster, you can hardly call this season a failure though. Greenville has 8 seniors; 3 of them starting offensive linemen, one of which was Steven Davis who was named to the 2017 All-UMAC first team. They will also lose senior RB Johnny Pruiett, who was the #3 RB in the UMAC with 948 rushing yards and 6 TDs and named to the 2017 All-UMAC second team. These losses may put a dent in their overall offensive experience level, but they are still left with some decent weapons for 2018.


Martin Luther - After an 0-10 season in 2016, the Knights came back to pull off a surprise 5-5 season this year, which earned head coach Mark Stein UMAC coach of the year honors. Martin Luther boasted a potent rushing offense this year (218.4 ypg), which kept them competitive in most of their games this year, and was good for #3 in the UMAC behind only Eureka and Greenville and also #38 in the nation. Their defense, however, wasn't up to the challenge and slunk to eighth in the UMAC, allowing 33.9 ppg and 391.4 ypg. The Knights were a true middle team this year, beating the bad teams but just not good enough to take out the good ones. They will hope to change that next year, as they only lose five seniors from this years squad. Three of those seniors roamed the defensive backfield with two of them (Josh VanDeylen and Nate Wong) combining for 94 tackles, and one anchored the defensive line (Jacob Schlomer) with 29 tackles and 3 TFL, so they will need to find replacements defensively but should be solid again offensively.


Westminster - This was a tough team to get a read on pretty much the whole year. Is it just me, or is that Westminster every year? They always seem to have the talent to be a good team, but lack consistency to take it to the next level. But I digress. Westminster finished off the year with an upset of MacMurray and an exciting overtime win over Iowa Wesleyan, remaining undefeated at home. Their only close loss was a tight one to Northwestern, and if they would have been able to pull that one out they could have ended with a respectable 7-3 record which would have put them at #4 in the UMAC. 6-4 still isn't terrible, but middle of the pack of a bad conference certainly doesn't earn you bragging rights. You could also argue that this could have been their year, as they had a great trio of seniors offensively in QB Trent White, RB Latif Adams and WR Chase Abbington who all earned All-UMAC honors with White placed on the first team and Adams and Abbington on the second team. Westminster graduates 9 seniors, 3 aforementioned, 2 OL and another WR, and 2 LBs and a DB who combined for 97 tackles, 8.5 TFL, and 4 interceptions. Westminster has the most experienced senior class, which may show a bit next year as some of the most important cogs will be missing.


Northwestern - The Eagles took a slight step back after earning the conference title in 2016, and finished with a 6-4 record and their 7th consecutive winning season. Fourth in the conference isn't too shabby, but for a team that has finished in the top three the past three seasons, it was a bit of a disappointment. They started off the year pretty strong by defeating Eureka, but followed that up with a loss at Greenville that shook up the conference standings early. The Eagles dropped to 2-4 after losses to St. Scholastica and MacMurray, but rattled off 4 straight wins to end the year on a high note. If it weren't for their stellar defense leading the UMAC in points allowed (16.1 per game) and being #3 in yards allowed (318.3 per game), they would have been much worse off, as the offense put up a paltry 17.1 ppg and 238 ypg, nearly last in the UMAC (ahem, Morris). Northwestern will part with a large class of seniors - 14 to be exact, which may put a damper on the overall experience level of the team. Six of those seniors were in the top 11 tacklers on the team and four of them received All-UMAC honors (Beau Walter, Gideon Burnham, Daniel Stratton with first-team, Ben Johnson with second-team), which may speak to the loss they will feel on the defensive side of the ball next year. That group also includes kicker Ben Lyons, who nailed a school record 54-yard FG, and OL Brian Doering, who both received All-UMAC second team honors. First-year head coach Matt Moore will have the task of replacing this talented group, which sounds like may include a bit of work.


St. Scholastica - The Saints go 7-3 again and miss out on the UMAC title for back-to-back seasons for the first time since the beginning of the automatic qualifying bid in 2011. St. Scholastica took a 98-0 drubbing from St. John's in week one, but came back and dominated up until the last few games of the year, where they took close losses to both Eureka and MacMurray. While they are probably disappointed that they couldn't close out the year with the championship, they will come back hungry for a title next year when Eureka is out of the picture. Turns out a dominant offense and an average defense will get you places; St. Scholastica used sophomore QB Zach Edwards to his full potential, as he led the Saints to the #2 scoring offense (34.9 ppg) and #1 passing offense (266.3 ypg) in a run-oriented conference. St. Scholastica has 9 seniors listed on their roster, and many of them were consistent contributors. Senior RB Jack Peru accounted for 413 rushing yards, 200 receiving yards, 3 TDs, and a kick return TD, and WR Hunter Thompson caught 30 passes for 684 yards and a UMAC leading 12 TD catches, which earned him All-UMAC first team honors. Three offensive linemen will depart an experienced group, including Elliot Simon who earned All-UMAC first team honors and Andy Lawrence who earned second team honors. They also will have to do without quite a defensive crew in 2018, including DL Jake Zoellick and DB Kenneth Jinkins, who both also earned All-UMAC first team honors.

MacMurray - The Highlanders looked to be the favorite early on, as they won seven in a row to start the year off with a bang. When the nation's leading rusher, senior RB Chazz Middlebrook exited the seventh game due to injury, it changed a few things, and not for the better. Even though junior RB Marquez Ellison was able to fill in adequately in the first game, the MacMurray running game took a huge hit and they were only able to scrape together 102 rushing yards over their next two games, their only losses on the year. Chazz was able to come back and put together a nice 111-yard effort in their final game, a win over St. Scholastica to keep them from sharing the conference crown, but the damage was done and MacMurray's hopes of taking the conference title were dashed. With the downtick in the offense over the last few games of the year, the MacMurray offense dropped to #2 in the UMAC in total offense behind Eureka (430.5 ypg) and #3 in scoring (31.3 ppg). Their defense remained solid, allowing only 20.2 ppg (#2 in UMAC) and 327.5 ypg (#4 in UMAC). MacMurray only lists 6 seniors on the roster, but 4 of them earned first-team All-UMAC honors, including Middlebrook, OL Jon Pollock, LB London Gulley, and DB Cory Farneti. MacMurray will hope to remain dominant and take advantage of Eureka's absence to capture their first conference crown in 2018.

Eureka - What can we say about the Red Devils that hasn't already been said? Junior RB LeAnthony Reasnover ran Eureka to a conference title on his way to UMAC Offensive Player of the Year, paving the way with 1,834 rushing yards (1st in UMAC, 2nd in nation) and 32 total TDs (1st in UMAC and nation). An outstanding offensive line led by Ryan Barth, the UMAC Most Valuable Lineman, made it all possible, along with only allowing three sacks all year. The Red Devils rolled to the top of the conference in scoring offense (39.3 ppg), total offense (432.2 ypg), and total defense (allowing 257.1 ypg) by being stellar on both sides of the ball. Eureka graduates the largest amount of seniors in the UMAC with 19, with notable losses including LB Chris Friend (All-UMAC first team), OL Mike Slingsby (All-UMAC first team), DL Trever Ziebert (All-UMAC first team), and DL Ray Vogel (All-UMAC second team). While they lose a large number of seniors, head coach Kurt Barth seems to have this program headed in the right direction, and they should remain competitive in their new conference, the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference.

Even though Eureka lost to #4 ranked St. Thomas 47-8 in the first round of the DIII playoffs, they represented the UMAC about as well as they possibly could have. They held the #10 offense in the nation to 397 yards, nearly 100 below their per game average (493.2). St. Thomas' nation-leading defense held Eureka to 155 total yards and stopped LeAnthony Reasnover in his tracks, holding him to 41 yards rushing and 76 total yards. Due to the ineffectiveness of the run game, Eureka was forced to pass, which is a little out of their comfort zone, as QBs Drew Barth and Nick Holman combined to go 14 for 28, 109 passing yards, a passing TD, and 2 interceptions. The 28 attempts were the second most Eureka had thrown in a game this year, as Reasnover gobbled up 44% of Eureka's total offensive touches and accounted for 46% of their total yardage over the course of the season. The 8 points scored by Eureka was the most points scored by a UMAC member in the DIII playoffs since St. Scholastica in a 70-13 loss to Bethel in 2013. It wasn't pretty, but it definitely wasn't as bad as it could have been. Hey, they didn't get held to a single yard of offense or give up 97 points, so...yeah.

With Eureka's departure, questions loom including a possible replacement team and who would fit in the conference, along with what the UMAC will do in the meantime. There have been colleges that have been thrown out there, including Carleton, who just finished an 0-10 season competing in the burly MIAC; Hamline, who was also in the MIAC and finished 2-8; and St. Olaf, who just got spanked 97-0 by St. Thomas in the last week of the season. The question remains if these teams would have any interest in joining the UMAC, but it may be logical for them to leave the perenially powerful MIAC to be a bit more competitive in the UMAC. I don't see that happening for a few years at least. The UMAC has been pretty fortunate to have 10 teams, as 18 of the 28 legit DIII conferences have less than 10 teams and only 2 conferences have more than 10 teams. The UMAC will retain their automatic qualifier with over six teams, so that's the important part, and it's why they will probably not seek out a replacement too hastily.

Another UMAC season is done, and there probably won't be a ton to write about in the offseason. I'll write up a little blurb on way-too-early predictions for next year, but probably won't be doing much after that. Check back with me next summer when the 2018 UMAC coaches poll comes out, and I will have some 2018 season previews ready to go for you! Thanks for reading throughout the year!

Eureka-St. Thomas Preview

Congratulations to Eureka on a successful season in their last year in the UMAC! As UMAC champions, your reward is...you get to play one of the top teams in the nation: St. Thomas!

I'm going to be brutally honest in this preview, so be prepared. First of all, I will say this: the Eureka Red Devils season ends on Saturday. You guys did great, awesome job, go get your rings sized, yada yada yada. Let's be real and tell it how it is though; Eureka doesn't stand a chance against the MIAC powerhouse. Yes, you had a great season; in the UMAC, perennially ranked one of the worst divisions in NCAA DIII football. This is not a David versus Goliath situation; this is a David's smallest, dinkiest sheep versus Goliath situation. Let's break it down a little bit.

First of all, here's a history lesson for you: the UMAC conference champion, since gaining an automatic bid to the NCAA DIII playoffs in 2011, is 0-6. Four of these losses have been to MIAC (Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference) opponents, while the other two were WIAC (Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference) opponents. These two conferences are basically the closest in mileage to most UMAC members (save for those lucky Illinois folks), which really does not bode well for the UMAC. The MIAC and WIAC are well known in DIII football for boasting many ranked teams year after year, and often have representatives playing into the semifinals and finals. Because the UMAC is such a weak conference (statistically - this is a UMAC blog, after all), they are often "seeded" in the bottom 2-3 spots in the DIII playoffs. I write seeded in quotations, because according to D3football.com, the NCAA DIII playoff selection committee does not openly admit to actually seeding teams; but they do. So anyways, because the MIAC and WIAC teams are often "seeded" pretty high in the playoffs and the UMAC teams are "seeded" pretty low, it seems reasonable that they meet up. Plus, the NCAA has a rule that if teams need to travel further than 500 miles that the NCAA will pay for travel, so you can bet your heiney that the NCAA will avoid long-distance matchups as much as possible. This makes it a roughly 75-90% chance that the UMAC champ will end up facing a MIAC or WIAC foe just about every year. As much as I would love to see any UMAC team do well in the playoffs, I'm afraid it's just not in the cards.

The next thing we look at are common opponents. St. Thomas didn't play anybody in the UMAC this year (thank goodness), but they did face a few MIAC foes who did. Everybody remembers the dreaded 98-0 drubbing that St. Scholastica took from St. John's, who is also in the DIII playoffs; St. Thomas beat St. John's 20-17. Remember Augsburg, who beat Northwestern 42-7 in week one? St. Thomas kicked their butts, 57-25. Northwestern beat Eureka, and St. Scholastica gave them a run for their money. Hamline beat Crown 51-0 in week one, and Gustavus Adolphus beat Westminster 38-0 in week one; St. Thomas beat Hamline 84-0 and beat Gustavus 58-7 (while only allowing 1 yard of total offense). While Eureka handled Crown and Westminster with ease, the St. Thomas scores are still alarming. All right, all right, the common opponent thing is depressing, we get it; let's move on.

Now, onto the actual matchup. You could make the case that Eureka had the 14th ranked defense in the nation, which I will agree, is impressive and they should be commended for it. Only giving up 257.1 yards per game is a feat that not many can boast of. Now let's take a look at the St. Thomas defense: oh my. They only allow 147.1 yards per game, good for #1 in the nation. For those of you that struggle with math, that's 110 yards per game less than Eureka's defense. St. Thomas is literally destroying offenses, as shown by the 4 shutouts they've pitched this year. But, we have LeAnthony Reasnover. He's gotta count for something, right? The MIAC's equivalent to Reasnover is Concordia-Moorhead's Chad Johnson, who ran for 1,262 yards and 17 TDs this year. Not an exact match, I grant you, but Johnson was held to only 55 yards against St. Thomas' defense. In fact, the most yards St. Thomas' defense has allowed to a single rusher was only 68 yards, by JT DenHartog of UW-Eau Claire in the first game of the season. Hmmm...doesn't look like a great matchup on paper, when you consider that Reasnover consisted of 46% of Eureka's total offense this year. Well...maybe Eureka's defense can keep up with St. Thomas' offense, you say? Let's take a look here...oh nope, that's not gonna work either, the Tommies have the #10 ranked overall offense in the nation as well, gaining 493.2 yards per game. They've topped 600 yards three times this year, and have topped 500 in their last four. Well, I'd say Eureka will have their hands full on both sides of the ball. That's the understatement of the year right there.

All of this isn't even considering the disparities between Eureka's opponents and St. Thomas' opponents. St. Thomas faced 2 top-25 ranked opponents (who are actually in their conference) and defeated them both, and the team that they lost to (UW-Stout) was ranked in the top-25 for 4 weeks after they defeated St. Thomas. UMAC opponents outside of the UMAC: historically laughable. Since the inception of the UMAC, the members have been 133-229 against non-conference opponents, which is only a 0.367 winning percentage. This just goes to show that at the least, the area opponents (including the MIAC members) have been tougher than UMAC teams, and at the most, that the UMAC is just an overall weak DIII conference. I'm not a UMAC hater; I spend way too much time researching this junk for that. I'm just a guy who looks at the facts and accepts them.

To add to all this negativity, I will just give you a little taste of who St. Thomas is. They are the mean older brother of the MIAC, who constantly rags on everyone and nobody likes (except for St. Thomas fans). I mean, if there are no other MIAC teams to root for, I will begrudgingly root for St. Thomas, but get this: St. Thomas just got off a 97-0 win against a conference opponent in the St. Olaf Oles. They had clinched a share of the MIAC title and the MIAC automatic bid the week before, so they weren't playing for a playoff spot. They knew they were going to destroy the Oles, and didn't need to lay it on thick to earn the victory. Despite these facts, St. Thomas was relentless, converting on 5 4th downs and attempting 3 2-point conversions. They got the ball on St. Olaf's 18-yard line with 3 minutes to play, and instead of kneeling it to run out the clock, they tried 5 rushing attempts and scored on the last one with 7 seconds to play to make it 97-0. Now, I don't know what St. Olaf did to make St. Thomas so ticked, but I don't think there is any excuse for that display of poor sportsmanship. The only reasons I could think of were they might have wanted to get seniors more playing time, they might have wanted to match St. John's blowout, or maybe they wanted to show the MIAC that they were in charge; I don't know, and I don't think any of them are good excuses to do that kind of thing. The point is, St. Thomas will show no mercy to Eureka, especially since this is the playoffs. I'm expecting a blowout, it will not be a dignified end to Eureka's season. St. Thomas wins it, 70-0.

Yikes. I don't envy the bus ride home for the Red Devils. But hey, they can still hang their hats on a conference championship and their first ever trip to the DIII playoffs. Next year they will be competing in a slightly more competitive conference, but their program looks like it's on the up-and-up and if they keep doing things the way they have in recent years, they should do fine. Congrats to the 2017 UMAC champs the Eureka Red Devils, we will miss your competitiveness! Stay tuned for a season review of all the UMAC teams and a way-too-early preview of the 2018 season!

Week Ten Review

Ladies and gentlemen...your 2017 UMAC champions: the Eureka College Red Devils! They locked up the title with a commanding win over Martin Luther, while St. Scholastica saw the title slip through their fingers by losing to MacMurray in Duluth. The 2017 UMAC regular season is wrapped up, and Eureka will have to wait until November 12th to find out who they will play in the first round of the NCAA DIII playoffs. Let's take a look at what happened in the last week of the year.

Minnesota Morris 21, Greenville 49 - No real surprises here. Greenville's potent offense was able to work over Minnesota Morris' defense, and Morris' offense was once again ineffective in a rout for the home team. Morris QB Justin Masloski started the game off with a bang on a 55-yard TD run, and LB Drew Shipley added a 29-yard pick-six to pad UMM's lead, but it all went downhill from there. Greenville Sr. RB Johnny Pruiett had a career day rushing, racking up 217 yards on 38 carries and 2 TDs, and QB George Harris threw for 256 yards and 5 TDs, 4 of them to WR Gregoire Franchomme who also piled up 144 yards receiving with only 4 receptions. Greenville ends the year by improving to 4-6, while Minnesota Morris dropped to 1-9 to finish their season.

MacMurray 34, St. Scholastica 26 - MacMurray got back on the horse after two straight losses to foil St. Scholastica's hopes of taking back the conference title. This looked like an exciting one to be at, with six lead changes/ties and plenty of heart-stopping action. MacMurray's defense was able to hold Scholastica's offense at bay, and special teams ran rampant for both teams, as the game included a safety on a punt attempt, 2 blocked PATs, a blocked punt returned for a TD, a kick return for a TD, and 2 straight-up missed PATs. It was a back-and-forth contest until MacMurray DB Laquarius Davis returned a Jeff Lemay fumble 71 yards for a TD with 4:34 to play. On the ensuing kickoff, MacMurray recovered a fumble by kick returner Will Halloran and on the next two CSS drives, QB Zach Edwards threw interceptions, the last one to Davis to seal the victory for MacMurray. Sr. RB Chazz Middlebrook was able to end his career on a high note, rushing for 111 yards and a TD, and ending his time at MacMurray with 3,536 yards and 38 TDs. MacMurray ended their season by beating St. Scholastica for the first time in program history and improves to 8-2, while St. Scholastica misses the NCAA DIII playoffs for the second year in a row and ends their season at 7-3.

Crown 7, Northwestern 24 - Crown struck first in the second quarter on a 1-yard run by Chris Simpson, and held the lead until the third quarter, when Northwestern scored on their first drive of the second half. Crown then took the ball and drove to the Northwestern 2-yard line, when Northwestern LB Noah MacDonald picked off Crown QB Luke Lithander in the end zone and killed Crown's momentum for basically the rest of the game. It was all Northwestern from that point on, with RB Payton Bowdry rushing for 118 yards and RB Nate VanBeusekom rushing for 2 TDs. Northwestern kicker Ben Lyons nailed a school record 54-yard field goal, and Northwestern capped off the year by pushing their record to 6-4, their 7th straight winning season, all in the NCAA DIII playoff UMAC era. Crown remains winless for their second time in as many years and remains without a winning record in that same timeframe.

Eureka 63, Martin Luther 26 - Martin Luther made it interesting for the first half of the game, trading jabs with the eventual conference champ as reported by D3football.com, who had a rep in attendance to capture the atmosphere. Martin Luther was pesky and kept answering Eureka's drives, and fast too - the score at the end of 1 was 22-12 Eureka, and with 3:15 left in the second quarter was only 29-26 Eureka. Coach Kurt Barth must have had a heckuva rousing halftime speech, as Eureka shut down Martin Luther the rest of the way en route to the rout and their first (and last) UMAC conference title and first NCAA DIII playoff berth. LeAnthony Reasnover was pulled from the game after his seventh TD with 4:10 left in the 3rd quarter. The NCAA DIII record for rushing TDs in a game is 8; he was one away. Ya know what though? Classy move by Eureka. Reasnover is a junior, he'll have plenty of chances to get that eight next year. It might be against some stiffer competition though, as Eureka will be moving to the NACC. Eureka finishes as UMAC champs with a 8-2 record, while Martin Luther drops to 5-5 to finish the season.

Iowa Wesleyan 21, Westminster 27 - Westminster ground out another win to remain undefeated at home, and seniors Trent White, Latif Adams, and Chase Abbington all had solid days to take down Iowa Wesleyan and end their season and their careers on a positive note. White threw for 216 yards and 2 TDs, Adams ran for 2 TDs, and Abbington racked up 196 total yards and caught 2 TDs. DE Ben Holt had a monster game for Westminster on defense, tallying 3 sacks and 5 tackles. For Iowa Wesleyan, senior WR Rodolfo Amezcua also went out with a bang, catching 7 passes for 101 yards and a TD. Westminster bolsters their record and finishes at 6-4, while Iowa Wesleyan falls to 2-8 to finish out the 2017 campaign.

A pretty exciting few weeks in the UMAC ends in a poetic finish for Eureka, who will ride off into the sunset as UMAC champions in their last year in the conference. St. Scholastica will miss the DIII playoffs for the second year in a row for the first time since the UMAC received an automatic bid in 2011. While it's fun to see the change happening, it will be interesting to see how the UMAC changes with the absence of an up-and-coming program in Eureka. The rumor is that the UMAC will continue as a 9-team conference and will fill their remaining game slot with another non-conference game, which will come to a relief to some programs; long bus rides are never ideal.

I finished my season at 35-10, just as I predicted. Congrats to MacMurray on getting back on track and spoiling my pick and St. Scholastica's chance at part of a UMAC championship, and congrats to Eureka, the 2017 UMAC champs! Good luck in your game probably against a ranked opponent! Let's all remember how that turned out for St. Scholastica in week one. I mean - positive thoughts. The seniors get another game, you get to be champs and tell everyone on Twitter you're going to go get your rings sized, and your program is now proven to be successful! Keep checking for updates, the official "Selection Sunday" for the DIII playoffs is November 12th and I will also be writing a 2017 season recap. Thanks for reading to my droning blog posts and rambling stats on Twitter, I'm planning on being back for 2018.

Week Ten Picks

My, my, my. Here we are in the last week of the season, and it comes down to two teams battling for the title. In a shocking turn of events, Westminster took down MacMurray last week and knocked them from UMAC title contention. However, they still have a part to play, as they take on St. Scholastica this week, who is in the thick of the battle. Eureka just need to close out the year with a win to clinch the championship and a bid to the NCAA DIII playoffs. Let's take a look at what will happen in the last week of the 2017 season.

Minnesota Morris at Greenville - Minnesota Morris has had a rough year, and I don't think it'll get much better this week. While Morris' defense hasn't been completely awful, the Greenville offense has been on a tear the past few weeks, and I think they'll keep it going in the last game of the year at home. Greenville ends the year with a win and on a positive note, but a losing record at 4-6, and Minnesota Morris turns in their equipment after falling to 1-9 on the year. Greenville wins, 28-6.

MacMurray at St. Scholastica - St. Scholastica was usurped by Eureka last week, and need to win this week in order to even have a chance at the UMAC title. MacMurray had a great stretch for their first 7 games, but have hit a rough patch. They've only run for 102 yards in the past two losses, and they're gonna need to buck that number up a ton in order to win this one. Hopefully they can have Chazz at full strength to end the year, but I'm going with Scholastica at home in this one. St. Scholastica wins, 28-14.

Crown at Northwestern - This could be a good, close game. Northwestern's defense has been solid all year, but their offense has been the worst (not literally - Morris' was/is the worst). Most of Northwestern's games have been close, and Crown's offense has been moving lately. Northwestern will have enough left in the tank to end the year with a winning record at 6-4, and will keep Crown winless at 0-10. Northwestern wins, 17-7.

Eureka at Martin Luther - While Martin Luther certainly doesn't seem like much of a match for Eureka, they need to be careful in this one. Crazy things happen in "the pit" in New Ulm. Martin Luther has a formidable rushing attack, which in theory should be shut down by Eureka's UMAC-leading and 16th nationally ranked defense, but the Knights aren't a bad sleeper pick. I won't be picking them, but I warned you - it's conceivable there could be an upset here. Eureka needs to stay on their toes and not underestimate the mediocre Martin Luther team. Stranger things have happened in New Ulm. But, if Reasnover and the Eureka offensive line comes to play like they have lately, they should win this one. I think Eureka comes prepared and closes out the year with a UMAC title at 8-2, while Martin Luther drops to 5-5 in a still-successful season considering the 2016 campaign. Eureka wins this one, 35-14.

Iowa Wesleyan at Westminster - With last weeks win, Westminster put themselves in a position to potentially sneak ahead of MacMurray in the UMAC standings with a win over Iowa Wesleyan and a MacMurray loss. The Blue Jays have been outstanding at home, and I think they keep that up in a matchup with a sub-par Tigers team. Westminster improves to 6-4 overall, 6-3 in the conference and takes third to MacMurray's fourth, while Iowa Wesleyan drops to 2-8 to end the season. Westminster wins, 42-21.

I'm 31-9 on my picks this year, and if I sweep the final week of the season I'll stay out of double-digit losses. I'd say that's a successful year picking UMAC football. While we still have a week of football to play, it's certainly interesting to speculate about next year, with all the changes going on and Eureka possibly riding off into the sunset with a UMAC championship belt around their waist. Next week I'll still review the games, and probably come up with some kind of season recap to boot, so stay tuned. I'll be at the Crown/Northwestern game tweeting updates, along with retweeting results of other UMAC contests. It's been a fun year, but it's time for it to come to a close so we can focus on more important college football and the NFL, and I can sit on my couch and watch instead of trying so hard to write these dang things. Mark my words though; I'll be back.

Week Nine Review

Well now, this UMAC is an interesting conference. That won't make a difference when the champ gets beat up in the first round of the NCAA DIII playoffs, but hey; better this than a boring end of the year, I guess. Three UMAC teams rack up over 400 yards rushing, Eureka bests St. Scholastica to hand them their first conference loss of the year, and Westminster pulls off the upset at home against MacMurray. This certainly bodes well for Eureka, but their job isn't done yet. Let's take a look at the chaos that was week nine.

St. Scholastica 34, Eureka 40 - Well hello, LeAnthony Reasnover. The Eureka Jr. RB carried the rock 53 times - yes, you read correctly, 53 times - for 355 yards and 5 TDs. He broke basically all the Eureka school records on his way, including rushing yards in a game (355), rushing yards in a season (1,582), and rushing yards in a career (3,556). He was basically the entire Eureka attack, carrying the ball on 70% of Eureka's offensive plays. I guess if it ain't broke, don't fix it, as he was able to dominate the St. Scholastica defense for the biggest UMAC individual rushing performance of the season; it was also good for the 2nd best rushing performance in the nation this year. Eureka only had 45 yards passing in the game, but they obviously were busy handing the ball to Reasnover, which still earned them the victory. St. Scholastica wasn't able to get anything going on the ground and took to the air, with QB Zach Edwards throwing for 267 yards and 4 TDs, and WR Hunter Thompson catching 3 of those TDs to add to his UMAC leading 9 receiving TDs on the year for a total of 12. It was a tightly contested game throughout, with CSS actually leading 21-20 with 4:52 remaining in the 3rd quarter until back-to-back scores by Reasnover gave Eureka an edge, and they were able to ride out the remaining minutes to eke out St. Scholastica. Keep reading for an update on the UMAC standings below. Eureka will travel north to take on Martin Luther, while St. Scholastica will host MacMurray in a still-important-but-not-as-important-as-we-thought-it-would-be matchup.

Greenville 48, Iowa Wesleyan 41 - The more I look at the stats for this game, the more I'm convinced that they didn't actually play it, and they just made it all up. Greenville doubled Iowa Wesleyan's total offensive yardage; and Iowa Wesleyan had 395 yards (Greenville had 811). There were 11 turnovers in the game, 8 of them by Greenville. Greenville fumbled the ball eight times, and lost seven of them; and yet, they still managed to win the game. Greenville QB George Harris tossed a TD pass to WR Derek Greifzu with twenty seconds left to break a 41-41 tie and bring home the W. Harris finished the game with 360 passing yards and 3 TDs and also rushed for 71 yards, the Panthers had 2 rushers break 100 yards (RBs Johnny Pruiett with 158 and 3 TDs and Damario Vanover with 140), and WR Gregoire Franchomme caught 11 passes for 232 yards and 2 TDs. Quite an impressive game for the Greenville offense. On the other side, Iowa Wesleyan QB DeMarcus Collins threw for 189 yards and 2 TDs while also tossing 3 picks and rushing for 90 yards, and WR Rodolfo Amezcua caught 4 passes for 106 yards and 2 TDs. This game must have been a wild one to be in attendance for. Greenville hosts Minnesota Morris in the last game of the year next week, while Iowa Wesleyan will trek to Missouri to take on Westminster.

Northwestern 21, Minnesota Morris 14 - Another close one. This one is understandable, as the two worst offenses in the UMAC matched up against one another, and it showed. The two teams combined for 412 offensive yards, good for the second lowest total in the conference on the year (First was Westminster/Minnesota-Morris with 406). Morris did show some spunk against a good defense though, as they were leading 6-0 heading into the fourth quarter. Northwestern was finally able to drum up some offense in the last quarter, as RB Payton Bowdry scored twice and RB Dom McDew recovered his own fumble in the end zone to boost Northwestern to victory. Nobody else on either team really had a day worth mentioning; the "leading" stat lines were less than impressive, as one could imagine. Northwestern will host Crown in their final contest, and Minnesota Morris will head to Greenville for theirs.

MacMurray 13, Westminster 21 - Westminster stayed undefeated at home in a great win over MacMurray, which bumped MacMurray from UMAC championship contention. Westminster stayed in control throughout the game by shutting down the MacMurray rushing attack, and held the Highlanders to their lowest offensive output of the year (227 total yards). RB Chazz Middlebrook was still limited, as he carried the ball 6 times for -11 yards, so MacMurray relied on QB Nathan Randall for production in the form of 190 passing yards and a TD. WR Devonta Preston caught 6 passes for 93 of those yards, but it wasn't enough to overcome a stout Westminster defense. For the Blue Jays, QB Trent White threw for 177 yards and a TD, RB Latif Adams rushed for 108 yards and 2 TDs, and WR Matt Quarles caught 4 balls for 93 yards in the UMAC-altering upset. With the win, I almost have to place Westminster in the top half of the UMAC, as they actually are in the standings. If they end up beating Iowa Wesleyan next week, they will have a 6-3 conference record, and they may even be able to sneak past MacMurray in the standings if Mac is unable to defeat St. Scholastica next week. I think we can call that a successful season for the Blue Jays.

Martin Luther 44, Crown 28 - I'll admit, I may have been slightly biased the past few weeks in picking Crown to win, but I really don't wan't them to go 0-10. I don't want anyone to go 0-10, but the fact is, their defense is terrible and can't stop anybody from scoring, so it may happen. Martin Luther got their running game going and racked up 509 yards with 414 coming on the ground. MLC had 4 runners score rushing TDs, including QB Ian Paulsen who rushed for 132 yards and a score, RB Nate Stein ran who for 110 yards and a score, RB Elliot Butler who went for 87 yards and 2 TDs, and Josh Wong who ran for 70 yards and a TD. Crown mounted a comeback in the 4th quarter with MLC leading 34-0, jumpstarted by a 59-yard rushing TD by Crown RB Chris Simpson. The Crown QB combo of Luke Lithander and Taylor Watkins led scoring drives to bring crown within 15 with 3:50 left to play, but another score by MLC put the game out of reach. Lithander finished with 188 passing yards and 2 TDs, with WR David MacIntosh catching 6 passes for 103 yards and Anthony Laureno catching 2 TD passes, but the comeback fell short as Crown suffered yet another defeat to remain winless in the 2017 campaign. Martin Luther will host powerhouse Eureka next week and Crown will head to Northwestern to finish off the 2017 season.

My picks fell by the wayside this week, with the upset of MacMurray and Crown being unable to get the job done, but it was fun to hear about the close games this week. Kudos to Westminster on taking down who we thought were the potential UMAC champions just a few short weeks ago. MacMurray is out, and Eureka just has one more hurdle to jump to become UMAC champions. Here are the possible scenarios for next week:

 - With a win, Eureka will lock down the championship regardless of the result of the St. Scholastica/MacMurray game.
 - With a Eureka loss, St. Scholastica will have a chance to take the championship by beating MacMurray.
 - If both Eureka and St. Scholastica lose next week, Eureka will win the UMAC title by having the head-to-head win.

It's always fun when it comes down to the last week of the year to decide who will represent one of the weakest conferences in DIII football in the NCAA playoffs. After this week, I'm 31-9 in my picks, and I'm on track to meet my goal of 35-10. Let's see if I can surpass it; stay tuned for my week ten picks later this week.

Week Nine Picks

Dang. It's week nine already. Two more weeks of football for most teams, and two more weeks to play football for the last time for a bunch of college seniors. Who will get the chance to play one more game, and get blown out by a robust MIAC team that may make it to the NCAA DIII football championship? Only time will tell. I was so excited about the prospects of the final two weeks of the year that I forgot to gloat about being 5-0 in my picks last week! Who called Eureka beating out MacMurray? That would be muah, thank you very much. Overall, that makes me
28-7 before this weeks picks. Can I go 5-0 for the third week in a row? We will see...


St. Scholastica at Eureka - Is there any doubt that this is the game of the week? In fact, I think this is the actual UMAC game of the week. This is going to be a great matchup, pitting one of the better offenses in the UMAC against the best defense in the UMAC. Eureka made short work against what was possibly the best offense in the UMAC last week, and I think being at home without a long road trip will bode well for them. Their offense will keep rolling with LeAnthony Reasnover leading the charge. I'm rolling with Eureka as long as they're rolling. I say they win in a close one, 28-24.


Greenville at Iowa Wesleyan - This game should be an interesting one, although meaningless save for some pride. Greenville has been mediocre at best, even though they were able to pull off an upset against a decent Northwestern defense. Iowa Wesleyan has been straight up bad, only defeating the last two teams in the UMAC, Crown and Minnesota Morris. They did beat Morris just last week, and they are at home, but I'm still going with the better team on paper. Greenville wins, 35-28.


Northwestern at Minnesota Morris - Northwestern has had a solid defense all year, but has not been able to take advantage as their offense has literally been the worst in the UMAC. Oops, I forgot about Minnesota Morris, who has the actual worst; but Northwestern isn't far behind. If the paper matchup says anything, it would be that Morris won't be able to get anything going in this one. Northwestern will have to hope that they can ride last weeks wave of 270 rushing yards to a score or two this weekend. Northwestern wins this one, 17-6.


MacMurray at Westminster - This one should be a little scary for MacMurray. If they lose this one, it effectively eliminates them from UMAC championship contention. Westminster has been good at home, and like I said over and over again at the beginning of the year, they hold that wild card presence. If I were MacMurray, I would not be taking this one lightly, especially in wake of last week's loss. I think MacMurray will get back on track though and win this one, 28-21.


Martin Luther at Crown - Crown's defense has been horrendous this year, both in terms of scoring and yardage. While Martin Luther's defense hasn't been anything really special, their offense has been effective when they are able to run the ball. If Crown's offense is able to keep up in this one, I'd say were going to be up for a shootout. I think Crown takes this one at home, 35-28.


Man, it's been a fun few weeks. Eureka beats MacMurray, and now we have these huge matchups this week and next that will determine the UMAC champion. It'll be fun to see who gets the honor of UMAC champ and the honor to get stomped in the first round of the NCAA DIII playoffs. But hey, if you make it there, you have that to hang your hat on at least. Let's just enjoy these last few weeks of college football, and have some fun!  I'll try to update everyone on the results of games on Saturday through Twitter and Facebook, stay tuned in anticipation of the unfolding of the UMAC.

Week Eight Review

A huge game and win for Eureka this week, as they continue to take control of their own destiny. They will still most likely need to win out to capture the UMAC championship, but they took a huge step in the right direction. We'll go over all the remaining scenarios that have yet to play out, but first let's take a look at last weekend's games.

Eureka 37, MacMurray 20 - A convincing road win for the hottest team in the UMAC. Eureka's LeAnthony Reasnover led the steamrolling Eureka rushing attack with a career-high 274 yards and 3 TDs en route to a UMAC Player of the Week award. With the incredible performance, Reasnover passed UMAC rival Chazz Middlebrook and is now the conference rushing leader with 1,227 yards. MacMurray seemed to play it safe again with Middlebrook, who only had 18 yards on 5 attempts. Without Chazz, MacMurray turned to the air with QB Nathan Randall, who passed for 252 yards and a TD, but also tossed 3 interceptions. MacMurray WR Demetrius Curry had a day with 3 receptions for 145 yards and a TD, but it wasn't enough, as Eureka's defense was able to hold the previously 11th ranked offense to 317 yards and forced them to abandon their normally solid running game. RB Marquez Ellison did score 2 rushing TDs, but was unable to get much else going and finished with only 52 yards on 22 attempts. This was a statement by the red-hot Eureka defense, and they hope to back up that statement when they take on current UMAC leader St. Scholastica in Illinois this weekend. MacMurray will hope to pick their heads up at Westminster this week.

Northwestern 30, Martin Luther 14 - Northwestern cruised past Martin Luther with possibly their most productive offensive performance to date this season. While it didn't bump them out of the UMAC offensive cellar, they were able to put up 390 total yards (150 more than their per game average) and put away the Knights in New Ulm. Eight different Northwestern players had rush attempts on their way to 270 rushing yards, and three of those rushers had rushing touchdowns. While this game didn't prove anything that we didn't already know, it probably felt good for the Eagles to pull themselves up to an even record. Martin Luther still has a shot at an even or winning record this year, a pretty impressive feat the year after an 0-10 season. They will hope to spoil Crown's homecoming next week, while Northwestern will make the trip to Morris to take on the Cougars.

Minnesota Morris 17, Iowa Wesleyan 24 - Iowa Wesleyan scored 18 unanswered points in the 3rd and 4th quarter to come back and win the battle that everyone forgot was happening. While it ended up being an exciting finish, this game was lost in the rest of the UMAC shuffle, as both of these teams will finish with forgettable losing records. Iowa Wesleyan QB DeMarcus Collins was able to spark the Tigers offense by passing for 119 yards and a TD and rushing for 65 yards and 2 TDs. RB Akenyon Bagley added 86 yards and a TD on the ground, and DB Joseph Mosley earned defensive UMAC player of the week with a solid effort including 13 tackles, 2 TFL, a forced fumble, an interception, 2 pass breakups and a punt block. Other than that; there wasn't much to see here. The two teams combined for 445 total yards, which the 3rd lowest total in the conference for the year (1st - Westminster/Minnesota-Morris with 406, 2nd - Northwestern/Iowa Wesleyan with 425). Minnesota Morris will host Northwestern this weekend, while Iowa Wesleyan will host Greenville.

Westminster 24, Greenville 14 - Westminster's QB Trent White had another solid game, throwing for 190 yards and 2 TDs, while 2015 UMAC offensive player of the year Latif Adams ran for 140 yards and a score, which was a season-high for him. Greenville was able to move the ball, but wasn't able to capitalize on the offensive production. Greenville RB Johnny Pruitt rushed for 111 yards and QB George Harris passed for 137, but it wasn't enough as the Panthers fell to the Blue Jays. Defensively for Westminster, DL Clayton Bristol racked up 9 tackles including 2 sacks and 2.5 tackles for loss as Westminster improved to a 4-3 UMAC record. They will host MacMurray next week and hope to play spoiler again to the shocked Highlanders, while Greenville will travel to Iowa Wesleyan hoping to improve on their conference record.

St. Scholastica 49, Crown 21 - This game was just a wee bit closer than the score suggests. While St. Scholastica racked up 465 total yards on just 50 offensive plays, Crown was down by two scores late in the third quarter before St. Scholastica was able to put them away for good. CSS QB Zach Edwards passed for 235 yards and 4 TDs, and two rushers - Jeff Lemay and Jack Peru - went for over 100 yards on the ground, with 122 and 112 respectively. The CSS WR duo of Hunter Thompson and Aaron Olson combined for 217 yards and all 4 TD catches, and Scholastica rolled over Crown. For Crown, RB Derek Chilcoate was able to grind out 121 yards and a score on the ground. Crown's offense was able to keep them competitive, but their defense gave up a ton of big plays; Scholastica only possessed the ball for 21:36 of the game but were still able to out-gain and out-score Crown. Side-note to this game though; I was there, and with the score 42-21 and only 3:22 left in the game, St. Scholastica was still passing, and not just to keep the clock running. A hook-and-ladder pass to a lineman was completed for a TD out of a swinging gate formation on the drive, but was called back for holding, and a backwards pass to a different lineman was also attempted. I'm not gonna name-call or anything, but if I were a coach, I'd probably just run the ball in that kind of situation. I just don't think trick plays when you're up by 21 are really necessary. In any case, the game was out of reach and it didn't really matter. St. Scholastica will travel to Eureka next week in a huge UMAC matchup, and Crown will host Martin Luther for homecoming.

There are only two weeks of regular season football left in the year, and only one team will get the chance to play another game, and probably get obliterated by the MIAC champion. There are still three teams in the running: Eureka, St. Scholastica, and MacMurray, that are all vying for the UMAC crown. There are still some pretty interesting possibilities in these last two weeks, as Eureka plays St. Scholastica next week and MacMurray takes Scholastica on in the last week of the regular season. Let's go through all the possibilities for the UMAC championship, shall we?

Eureka - With their win over MacMurray last week, they're on the right track, but it's not all sunshine and butterflies. Due to their early season loss to Northwestern way back in week two, their best chance at being the owner of a UMAC championship is to beat St. Scholastica this week, and finish off the year with a victory over Martin Luther. Winning out would guarantee them the championship, as they would hold the head-to-head win if either MacMurray or St. Scholastica were to finish with the same conference record. If they were to lose either of their remaining games, they would be out of the running, as either MacMurray or St. Scholastica will finish with only one conference loss. The only scenario where Eureka can pull off a championship with two conference losses is if they defeat St. Scholastica and somehow lose to Martin Luther, and MacMurray also defeats St. Scholastica but loses to Westminster next week. In that case, all three teams would end up with a 7-2 conference record, but Eureka will have defeated both of them.

St. Scholastica - It's kind of weird, but none of these teams really has an "easy" path to the UMAC championship. While St. Scholastica is the UMAC leader at this point, they play two huge UMAC showdowns, and if they lose even one, it is very possible that they will miss out on the championship. If they beat Eureka, the only way they clinch the championship is with a win over MacMurray in week 10 or if MacMurray loses to Westminster next week. In this scenario, they would actually be able to clinch the conference this weekend. If they are unable to defeat Eureka, they need to beat MacMurray and pray that Eureka falls to Martin Luther in week 10. If they win both of their remaining games, they would finish with an undefeated conference record and would be the undisputed champs of the UMAC.

MacMurray - The Mac fam still has a potentially unnerving matchup against Westminster this week. If they were to get back on track and defeat them, the last game of the year against St. Scholastica is almost certain to decide the UMAC champion. If MacMurray were to defeat both Westminster and St. Scholastica, Eureka's final two games would determine who the champion would be. If Eureka defeats St. Scholastica and Martin Luther, they would own identical conference records with Eureka holding the head-to-head win. If Eureka were to lose to either St. Scholastica or Martin Luther, they would be out of the running with at least two conference losses, and MacMurray would own the head-to-head win over St. Scholastica, which would make them the new UMAC champs. See above for scenario including losing to Westminster but defeating St. Scholastica.

So, to summarize:
If Eureka wins their final two games, they will be conference champs.
If St. Scholastica wins their final two games, they will be conference champs.
If MacMurray wins their final two games, it depends on the results of Eureka's final two games.
The St. Scholastica - MacMurray game will likely decide the conference champion.

Buckle up, folks. It's gonna be a fun ride.

Week Eight Picks

We have our first big end-of-the-year matchup this week that will have a major impact on the conference standings. It might be difficult to be undefeated in picks again this week, but here goes:

Eureka at MacMurray - Game of the week right here. In fact, it might be the game of the season up until this point. Eureka has been on a crazy hot streak, winning their last 5 games with an average of 43.8 points per game and 257.8 rushing yards per game. MacMurray's defense is no pushover though, only allowing 16.9 points per game and 303.6 yards per game. RB Chazz Middlebrook apparently has been nursing an injury and was held out of last weeks game, but will be back this week and will face his toughest test of the year; a Eureka defense that has only allowed 84.6 yards rushing per game. This is gonna be a good one. I think Eureka's defense gets the best of Middlebrook and the MacMurray offense and wins, 17-14.

Northwestern at Martin Luther - Martin Luther is better, but they still aren't good yet. Northwestern just barely falls into that category this year, but their solid defense will be able to handle the Martin Luther offensive attack. Low scoring has been the name of the game for Northwestern, and I'm guessing this one won't be much different. Northwestern wins, 21-14.

Minnesota Morris at Iowa Wesleyan - If these two teams weren't 1-5 and the result of this game wasn't utterly meaningless, I might think about throwing the game of the week title on this one. Two just about equally bad teams going at it means we may actually get a good game of football. I'll take the home team in this one, 42-35.

Westminster at Greenville - Here's another one that could be a great matchup. It all depends on which Westminster team shows up; the one that got destroyed by Eureka 48-6 in week six, or the one that showed up on the road and beat the snot out of Crown last week. I think the latter occurs and Westminster takes it, 35-21.

St. Scholastica at Crown - Scholastica showed up last week in a rout of Martin Luther, and even though they are on the road, I think they will continue their winning ways against the last-place and only winless team in the UMAC. Crown has a lot of growing to do before they can be competitive in games like these. CSS pounds Crown, 42-14.

The fate of the UMAC rests on the Eureka-MacMurray game this weekend. Will MacMurray continue their undefeated dominance and stroll into the last game of the year with the UMAC championship on the line, or will Eureka stage the upset and argue their case for the UMAC crown? St. Scholastica has big games against these teams in the last two weeks, and a loss for Eureka effectively eliminates them from championship contention. It's getting down to the nitty-gritty here in the UMAC! Hold onto your butts for some great late season competition!

Week Seven Review

Heyyyy, I went 5-0 in my picks this week. Not really much of an accomplishment, as it was possibly the most predictable week of UMAC football, but that also meant no upsets. Upsets are always fun. There are only three weeks of UMAC football left, and we've got some big and important matchups coming up, starting with next week. But first, lets take a look at last weekend, shall we?

Crown 15, Westminster 56 - I picked Westminster to take this one in a close game. I was definitely wrong about the close game part. It seemed like I was heading in the right direction, as Crown was actually up 9-7 with 7:22 remaining in the second quarter, but Westminster reeled off 36 straight points including 3 TD runs from QB Trent White, who ended the game with 137 rushing yards. Westminster RB Chase Abbington also added an 85-yard kickoff return for a TD at the beginning of the second half, along with 77 rushing yards and a score. Crown's only score after the start of Westminster's run was a 48-yard fumble return for a score by DB Sebastian Alvarado who pitched it to LB Jeremiah Jones. While Crown's offense isn't the worst in the UMAC, they haven't been reliable enough to win any games. That isn't likely to change next week, as they host St. Scholastica in a late season matchup. Westminster will travel to Greenville to take on the Panthers next week.

Greenville 19, Eureka 30 - Eureka continued their hot streak with a solid victory over Greenville. This was a fairly well contested bout, as Greenville was able to move the ball while the defense bent but did not break. Eureka's defense shined yet again, and LB Chris Friend was all over the field with 21 tackles. LeAnthony Reasnover paved the way for Eureka's offense, with 93 rushing yards going for 3 TDs and a reception that went for 46 yards and a score as well. Reasnover now has a school record 16 rushing TDs on the year, which also overtook MacMurray RB Chazz Middlebrook for the conference lead. For Greenville, QB George Harris threw for 147 yards and 3 TDs, 2 of them to WR Derek Griefzu. Eureka cruised to their 5th consecutive win, but face perhaps their toughest challenge yet next week in MacMurray. Greenville will host Westminster in an interesting middle-of-the-UMAC matchup.

Martin Luther 21, St. Scholastica 56 - Aha, there's the St. Scholastica we all know and love, or at least love to hate. CSS built up a 42-0 lead by halftime, utterly destroying Martin Luther's optimistic outlook on the season. They do have something to hang their hat on though, as they still have a chance at a winning season just a year post-0-10 season. Scholastica QB Zach Edwards threw for 242 yards and 3 TDs, 2 of them to WR Hunter Thompson, who ended the game with 107 receiving yards. Thompson now is tied for the conference lead in receiving TDs on the year with 7, and Edwards leads the conference in TD tosses with 17. CSS RB Ben Bethue scored 2 TDs on the ground and RB Jack Peru returned a kick 77 yards for a score and the Saints rolled over the poor Knights. Martin Luther QB Ian Paulsen managed 146 yards and 2 TDs passing, and RB Elliot Butler gained 87 yards and a TD on the ground, but to no avail. St. Scholastica heads to Crown next week to take on the Storm, while Martin Luther hosts Northwestern.

Iowa Wesleyan 7, Northwestern 29 - While Northwestern posted their highest point total of the year, they were still only able to muster 259 yards of offense. But that is apparently enough when your stifling defense holds your normally offensively competent opponent to 166 total yards and 9 yards passing. Iowa Wesleyan had to turn to freshman QB DeMarcus Collins, who wasn't able to get the passing game going but was able to scrounge up 112 rushing yards and a TD. On Northwestern's side, RB Payton Bowdry rushed for 92 yards and RB Dom McDew rushed for 2 TDs. More importantly on the defensive side, Northwestern's LB Gideon Burnham recorded 3 sacks, and three different players picked off three different Iowa Wesleyan passers. One of those defenders was DB Nick Swore, who leads the UMAC with 5 interceptions this year. Iowa Wesleyan looks to get back on track next week in a winnable matchup vs. Minnesota Morris at home, and Northwestern heads to New Ulm to take on the battered Martin Luther Knights.

MacMurray 49, Minnesota Morris 13 - MacMurray flexed their muscles against Minnesota Morris, racking up 522 yards of total offense on the way to their seventh consecutive victory this season. They start a tough stretch the next few games, with Eureka next week and St. Scholastica the last week of the year, so they will really find out what they are made of down the home stretch. Because I'm not a real sports reporter, I don't know for sure what happened to MacMurray RB Chazz Middlebrook, who only had 1 carry for 1 yard; I'm assuming he was lost to injury, and if that was the case, hopefully he will be back next week, as they will need him badly to take on the best defense in the UMAC. In his absence, MacMurray's offense kept rolling though, as QB Nathan Randall fed on the Morris defense with 364 passing yards and 2 TDs. MacMurray RB Marquez Ellison stepped up and ran for 116 yards and 4 TDs in Middlebrook's place, proving that this offensive line is a force to be reckoned with. MacMurray defensive star Javon Muhammad was held without a sack or TFL, but the defense held strong, picking off Morris QB Justin Masloski 4 times; 2 of them by DB Chris Blanchard, one of which went 84 yards for a TD. MacMurray host Eureka in a huge UMAC showdown next week, while Minnesota Morris treks to Iowa Wesleyan in a battle of 1-6 teams.

Here's what we learned this week:

Pretty much nothing. None of these games really showed us anything that we didn't already know, maybe save the absence of MacMurray superstar Chazz Middlebrook. The Mac fam better hope he is able to play next week, or hope that RB Marquez Ellison can be a formidable fill-in, as they face the #7 nationally ranked defense in DIII football. It's gonna be a fun ride, as the unstoppable force of the UMAC (MacMurray's offense) meets the immovable object of the UMAC (Eureka's defense).

I am now 23-7 in my picks for those of you who care (probably none of you), and I'm pretty darn proud of that. If it weren't for those meddling Knights of Martin Luther, I might be even better off. I've got a tough task ahead of me though, with these big-time late season matchups. I'll say that I will be 35-10 at the end of the year; I'll give myself one loss each week. #goals

Also, to vote for the UMAC Play of the Week which includes Crown's fumble recovery and Blanchard's interception return, check out this link.

Week Seven Picks

Well, well, well. Here we are, at the beginning of another riveting weekend of UMAC football. While this week's games really don't seem like important matchups, don't be fooled; every matchup is an important one at this point in the year, as St. Scholastica found out last year when they were upset by Minnesota Morris in week eight and ended up conceding the UMAC crown for the first time (fully) since 2010. Let's take a look at the matchups, shall we?

Crown at Westminster - As I've said several times before this year, Westminster is a hard team to judge. They ball out one week, then get destroyed the next. I think they are overall a better team than Crown, and with them being at home, I'm going to go with them this week. I say Crown plays 'em tough, but the Blue Jays come out on top, 35-28.

Greenville at Eureka - Eureka has been on a crazy hot streak the past 4 weeks. They have been averaging over 40 points a game and have been holding their UMAC opponents to about 200 a game. Greenville's coming off a big win in Minnesota, but I don't think that will be enough to ride through the Red Devils. Eureka wins big in this one, 42-14.

Martin Luther at St. Scholastica - There is no doubt that Martin Luther is a much improved team, but to date the best team they have beat is Greenville, who is okay at best. They face much tougher challenges the last half of the season, starting with St. Scholastica at home this week. I predicted a blowout last week though, and St. Scholastica escaped with a closer win than expected. I'll still take Scholastica, but I'll say the score will be 38-28. I promise I'm not stealing that score from last week.

Iowa Wesleyan at Northwestern - Iowa Wesleyan stepped up and played well last week against St. Scholastica, but this week they face a tougher defense. While Northwestern's offense is straight up pathetic, I think they'll be able to lean on the D for another win this week, 14-7.

MacMurray at Minnesota Morris - MacMurray makes the long trip to Minnesota again this weekend, and I think the trip will be worth it for them. While Morris' defense hasn't been completely irrelevant, they won't be able to stop the train that is Chazz Middlebrook and the MacMurray offense. I think Chazz gets back on track with over 200 yards and the Highlanders win convincingly, 35-10.

I was 4-1 last week, with only Greenville surprising me with a clobbering of Crown in front of their home crowd. That makes me 18-7 overall, and I think I've got a pretty good chance to go 5-0 this week. I'll try to keep up with the games and keep everyone updated on twitter. To all players and coaches: good luck, and prove me wrong!

Week Six Review

The 2017 season is now on the downside. It's hard to believe over half the season is over, but here we are. We had a few surprising games this week, maybe not so much in the winners - but in the scores. A few blowouts and a few close ones this week, which made for an amusing week of football.

Greenville 59, Crown 6 - Oofda. This was a rough one. I admit I may have been biased in picking Crown to win, but I thought my reasoning was pretty solid. The Panthers must have been inspired by their road trip tour of Minnesota Viking's home in US Bank Stadium, because they kicked the snot out of the Storm. It was an offensive fireworks display put on by Greenville, as they lit it up with 558 yards of total offense. Greenville RB Isaih Ibarra led the way with 114 yards rushing, and QB George Harris threw for 220 yards and 3 TDs with WR Gregoire Franchomme catching all three and tacking on 123 receiving yards en route to the rout. There weren't many bright spots for Crown in this one; WR David McIntosh caught a TD pass to add to his UMAC-leading collection and now has 7, and LB Luke Edlund racked up 17 tackles which was only one short of the Crown school record. Other than that, it was pretty grim: Crown collaborated for only 238 yards of total offense including only 42 yards rushing and had five giveaways including 3 fumbles and 2 picks. Combine that with the 558 yards given up by the defense, and it's no wonder you don't win the game, let alone get throttled. Greenville and Crown both have tough matchups next week, with Crown voyaging to Westminster and Greenville doing battle with Eureka.

Westminster 6, Eureka 48 - Oofda #2. I definitely thought this one was going to be closer. Westminster could have saved themselves the 4 hour trip by calling Eureka up and forfeiting, and it may have been less embarrassing. Westminster had 79 total yards, and 45 of them came on their only scoring drive. Yikes. Westminster had only one player that had positive rushing yardage: RB Kalyn Davis, who finished with 45 yards. Eureka's defense was on point, recovering 4 fumbles and scoring on two of them, by LB Chris Friend and DL Ray Vogel. Eureka RB LeAnthony Reasnover had another good day, rushing for 108 yards and a TD. Eureka has looked really good over the past few weeks, which probably really makes them want that Northwestern game back. They have some big games on the schedule, with MacMurray in week eight and St. Scholastica in week nine. If they can defeat one or both of these teams, they could really throw a wrench into the UMAC standings. Eureka gets Greenville at home next week, while Westminster takes on Crown in Missouri.

Iowa Wesleyan 28, St. Scholastica 38 - I'm giving props to Iowa Wesleyan on this one. I didn't give them a chance at all, but they pulled within a field goal with 11 minutes left in the game on an 84-yard interception return by DB Craig Wrenn. Scholastica was able to put the game out of reach when RB Jeff Lemay scored his third TD of the day with 5:05 remaining in the contest. Lemay ended with 202 yards rushing, and QB Zach Edwards threw for 295 yards and 2 TDs. Nothing really stuck out on Iowa Wesleyan's side of things, as RB Jacquez Hall lead the team with 93 yards rushing, but they managed to stay close by playing opportunistic football. While Scholastica racked up 489 yards of total offense, Iowa Wesleyan's defense didn't break and was able to give them a chance at the end of the day. St. Scholastica takes on Martin Luther next week in Duluth, and Iowa Wesleyan travels to St. Paul to battle with Northwestern.

Northwestern 9, MacMurray 22 - With this loss, Northwestern was effectively eliminated from DIII playoff contention, as MacMurray and St. Scholastica would hold tie-breakers over Northwestern, and they have yet to play each other. Northwestern was yet again ineffective offensively, gaining only 157 total yards and throwing 3 interceptions. This was in part due to another monster day from MacMurray DL Javon Muhammad, who kept his torrent nation-leading pace by adding 4.5 TFL, 2 sacks, forcing a fumble, and intercepting a pass to boot. MacMurray RB Chazz Middlebrook had another modest outing with 150 rushing yards and 2 TDs, and QB Nathan Randall threw for 191 yards and a TD on their way to a convincing UMAC victory. After this one, MacMurray is 6-0 and is setting their gaze on perennial UMAC power, St. Scholastica, who they will face in the season finale. Northwestern is now 2-4 on the year, but will try to scrounge together a winning season in the final four games of the campaign. They start their quest by taking on Iowa Wesleyan at home next week, and MacMurray treks to Morris to take on the Cougars.

Minnesota Morris 7, Martin Luther 14 - Weirdly, this is the exact same result as the week one contest between these two teams. Morris only was able to put together another sub-par offensive effort, ending the game with only 181 total yards, and Martin Luther was able to overcome three first half fumbles to improve to 4-2 on the year. Martin Luther QB Ian Paulsen threw for 195 yards and a score and ran for 95 yards, and WR Josh Arndt caught 6 passes for 102 yards. Morris wasn't able to get much going offensively, but LB Drew Shipley led the defensive charge with 15 tackles, 1 TFL, a pass breakup, and a fumble recovery. I don't really know if the result of this game tells us much, especially as the results are the exact same as week one. What it does tell us is that Morris and Martin Luther need to look outside of the UMAC for a week one matchup. Morris will host MacMurray next week, while Martin Luther battles St. Scholastica.

Here are a few things we learned this week:

1. MacMurray @ St. Scholastica will be the game of the year. I've mentioned it a few times throughout the year, but now that Northwestern is officially out, the race is getting tighter. Eureka still technically has a chance, but will probably have to beat both of them to make it happen. I'm 95% sure that this game will determine the UMAC champion.

2. Eureka is on a serious hot streak. They have scored 44 points or more in each of their last 4 games. Granted this stretch has not been against the upper tier UMAC teams, but this last win against Westminster was certainly impressive. The most yards Eureka's defense has allowed to a UMAC opponent has been 271 vs. Crown, and with their dominating performance against Westminster they took over the title as the best defense in the UMAC, allowing only 16.3 points and 210.7 yards per game. It will be very interesting to see if they can keep up the stellar defense and productive offense against St. Scholastica and MacMurray. Don't count Eureka out of it yet.

3. Crown is on a serious cold streak. The last remaining winless team in the UMAC has some catching up to do. The good news is that they have played some of the better teams thus far; but the bad news is they have also played (and lost to) some of the worst teams in the UMAC as well. Crown had a winless season in 2011, and they will hope to snatch a win or two on their way out to avoid the same fate. Crown is the third-to-last offense in the UMAC and is arguably the worst defense in the UMAC. They have been competitive in at least half of their games, however, so let's all hope for their sake and the UMAC's sake that they can pull off a win this year. The positive thing is, that they have been in this position before, and were able to be at least mediocre in the years following the dreaded 0-10 season. And take a look at the most recent resurrection in Martin Luther, who went 0-10 last year, but are currently 4-2. All hope is not lost. But, a lot of it is.

It's getting real here in the upper Midwest. Northwestern has been eliminated, and can't play spoiler as they have played all the contenders already. It comes down to St. Scholastica, MacMurray, and Eureka. We don't have any particularly huge matchups next week, but as we all know, any team can play spoilers at any time, so...lets see those upsets! Looking forward to the happenings in the UMAC down the stretch.

Week Six Picks

Half the season is over already! Thank goodness NFL football goes until January, we can't be almost done with football season so soon! When the season completes and the UMAC champion inevitably gets beat down in the first round of DIII football playoffs, we need something to remind us of UMAC football; that something can be sitting on our couches watching Greenville alum Nicholas Morrow make tackles for the Oakland Raiders.  But, until then, we've got some football to play.

Greenville at Crown - Whoo boy, this could be a good one. Greenville has been up and down this year, and not surprisingly, it has been correlated with where they are playing. They played Northwestern and Macmurray tough at home, but lost to Martin Luther after making the trip to Minnesota in week four. If that narrative holds true, I'm gonna go out on a limb and pick Crown. It's going to be a tight game either way, unless Greenville shows up and plays to their full potential. I think Crown is due. If we're being honest, I'd say Greenville has the better team, but I'm just feeling an upset. Crown wins 28-24.

Westminster at Eureka - If not for the obvious matchup, I'd say this game's got game of the week potential here. Westminster has shown that they have the talent to play with the upper tier teams in the UMAC, but the question will be, who shows up? Barely-beat-Minnesota-Morris Westminster, or blow-out-Martin-Luther Westminster? I think Eureka takes this one; being home is advantageous here, even though Westminster doesn't have a cross-country road trip. Eureka wins, 35-21.

Iowa Wesleyan at St. Scholastica - Do I have to give in depth analysis here? One of the best teams in the UMAC vs. one of the worst. This is also Scholastica's homecoming, so there will be no taking it easy. CSS spanks Iowa Wesleyan, 49-6.

Northwestern at MacMurray - Here is my actual game of the week pick. MacMurray is undefeated, but has not been playing very well lately, and Northwestern lost to Greenville last time they took a road trip. Northwestern needs to focus up and win out if they want a chance at the title, and MacMurray needs to shape up that #11 DIII ranked offense and get moving. MacMurray's offense is averaging 35 points a game and Northwestern's defense has only allowed more than 14 points to one UMAC opponent, so this should be a great matchup. I'm taking MacMurray in a close one, 14-10.

Minnesota Morris at Martin Luther - Now here's an interesting matchup: a team coming down from a hot streak and a team that just picked up its first win face off to see who will stay in the bottom tier of the UMAC. Martin Luther has proven that they have some talent, but is it enough to beat the bad teams and compete with the good ones? They will have to get over the shellacking they took at Westminster and get back on the horse. I think they do, and they beat Morris handily, 35-14.

I'm 14-6 overall in my picks right now...meh, not too shabby. Well, I'm still currently at work right now so it looks like I may not make it to a game this weekend. That also means I may not be tweeting/retweeting updates from around the UMAC until later today, but stay tuned in, as I may just stay up forever to be the best informant ever for the worst conference in DIII football...but probably not.

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!

Week Five Picks

We've got some good matchups this week. Just looking at the surface level, I see only one game that I'm fairly confident of the outcome. There are two games that could influence the conference standings in terms of championship running and another two that will most likely be hard-fought games to earn their team some respect.

Martin Luther at Westminster - This is going to be a good one. Martin Luther has a pretty potent offense, and from what I've read so far Westminster seems to play to their opponents level. If that's the case, we could have a barn-burner on our hands. I've bet against Martin Luther the last few weeks, and they gave me the bird each time, so I'm rolling with the Knights. I'm guessing it will be a high scoring affair, with Martin Luther coming out on top, 42-35.

MacMurray at Greenville - What seems to be a no-brainer could be more of a legitimate game than MacMurray is hoping for. The last time Greenville was at home, they pulled off an upset against what is possibly the best defense in the UMAC, and MacMurray didn't handle Iowa Wesleyan with ease last week. MacMurray needs to keep their head on a swivel so they aren't blindsided this week. With that said, I'm still going with the UMAC-leading and top 5 DIII nationwide offense in MacMurray, but it could be closer that we think. MacMurray wins 28-17.

St. Scholastica at Northwestern - Here's my game of the week. St. Scholastica is (as I've said repeatedly over the first half of the season) still the team to beat until someone proves otherwise, and Northwestern needs to win this if they hope to salvage the season with dreams of a UMAC championship. This is a pretty even matchup on paper; St. Scholastica has a decent offense and a mediocre defense, and Northwestern has a great defense and a terrible offense. We could be in for an exciting game. I'm guessing there won't be much scoring though; I'm picking St. Scholastica in another Northwestern-themed defensive battle, 21-17.

Eureka at Iowa Wesleyan - Now here's a game that I'm decently certain that I can predict the outcome of. Eureka has proven to be a tough opponent, with their only conference hiccup coming week two against Northwestern. They can still remain in the running for conference champs, but they need to hope for an upset or two or secure one for themselves. I'd say they're pretty safe in this one though; while Iowa Wesleyan has been able to put points on the board, they're still a middle-of-the-road team that needs to prove themselves with a few statement wins. Eureka will knock off Iowa Wesleyan easily, 38-14.

Crown at Minnesota Morris - Both of these teams are desperate for a win, which will really make this an interesting game. Minnesota Morris has been terrible on the offensive side of the ball, and only mediocre on the defensive side. Crown has been able to drive the ball, but the question remains; are they able to finish and put points on the board? Their defense has been straight-up bad, last in the conference in scoring defense and second-to-last in yardage. Both of these teams haven't been able to show much yet this year, so this is an important game for both of them. I think Crown will start to get back on track with a win this week, 34-17.

Now that the UMAC standings are beginning to be shaped and molded, it is really interesting to watch the happenings in the conference. There are still several very important games that have yet to be played, which bodes well for us fascinated DIII football fans. I will be at the Crown-Morris game and tweeting updates, along with retweeting updates from other games around the conference on Saturday. Hold onto your butts, UMAC fans; half the season is nearly over.