September 4th, 2007 12:00am
693 yards of offense… and a loss. That's exactly what South Dakota was left with after visiting West Texas A&M last Thursday night. The Buffaloes took advantage of a couple of critical early mistakes by the Coyotes to jump out to a big lead, and then moved the ball at will against a suspect USD defense to maintain the advantage in a 55-45 win.
With this loss, the Coyotes have officially become the top Jekyl and Hyde act in Division II. USD is unbeatable at home, winning 19 consecutive games in the DakotaDome. In fact, the Coyotes have been so dominant at home that I don't think there is another team in D-II (including Grand Valley State) that can beat them on their home field.
But on the road it's a completely different story. An offense that, at home, is among the most potent in D-II suddenly fails to finish drives or commits critical turnovers. A defense that plays with passion and aggressiveness in the DakotaDome suddenly becomes a sieve when defending on someone else's field.
The whole situation truly is baffling and I don't know if I've ever seen a college football team have such a home/road disparity like this. I'm sure if USD Coach Ed Meierkort could snap his fingers and fix the problem, he would. The problem for South Dakota is that in addition to playing at FCS McNeese State a week from Saturday, the Coyotes must also make visits later on this fall to a pair of strong conference foes-- Central Washington and Nebraska-Omaha.
There is no doubt in my mind that this South Dakota team is one of the most talented teams in D-II. But if the Coyotes do not get their road woes straightened out, they could easily be watching from home when the playoffs start in November.
A Ruling on the Northwest Missouri/ Arkansas Tech Game
The NCAA announced on Tuesday that it had made a decision, and as expected, ruled that the NWMSU/ ATU game that was suspended by lightning in the first quarter will not count as an official contest.
As I mentioned last week, this is was the right decision to make. Despite the fact that NWMSU was up 21-0 and appeared well on its way to a win, you cannot under any circumstances officially count a game that hadn't even completed one quarter of play.
Game of the Week
Northwest Missouri State @ Nebraska-Omaha (1-0)
Nebraska-Omaha plays extremely well on its home turf at Caniglia Field. The Bearcats can certainly attest to that. They have lost three straight games to the Mavericks in Omaha (1999, 2001, and 2005). Two of those three years, Northwest has gone on to play for the national championship. Like I said, UNO is tough at home.
So, now that we've established that UNO has the definite home field advantage, we need to dig a little deeper into the match ups in this game and see if the Bearcats have enough of an advantage in other areas to overcome the Mavericks on their home turf.
UNO is a team that loves to run the football and they do it extremely well. The key to the Mav offense is junior quarterback Zach Miller, who rushed for over 1,000 yards last year. Miller is big, strong, and fast and he has one of the top offensive lines in the country leading the way for him. Word has it (and the results of UNO's first game would seem to verify) that Miller is much better throwing the football this year, also.
As I've mentioned before, offense will also be the strength of the Bearcats' team with players like running back Xavier Omon and tight end Mike Peterson being among the best at their positions in all of D-II.
So, whichever team can do the best job of limiting the opposition's offense and maybe cause a turnover or two stands the best chance of winning this game. This is where I think Northwest has an ever so slight advantage. I think the Bearcats have a bit more overall defensive talent, and probably more importantly in a game like this, a bit more experience. It will be a close game, but Northwest will find a way to prevail. Northwest Missouri 27 Nebraska-Omaha 24.
Other Games of Note
Tarleton State (2-0) @ Southeast Oklahoma (1-0)
SOSU did knock off TSU 37-30 on a late score last season. But TSU is riding high coming off an overtime upset win over FCS opponent Stephen F. Austin while the Savage Storm has yet to play a D-II opponent this fall.
I like TSU in this game for this reason: SOSU gave up nearly 400 yards of offense last week to an NAIA team that fellow LSC team Southwest Oklahoma State completely shut down in week one. That will be problematic against a talented TSU offense. Tarleton State 30 Southeast Oklahoma State 21
Bentley @ Southern Connecticut (1-0)
I mentioned in my pre-season column that I felt Bentley was a possible dark horse team in the Northeast-10 this season and that this game with conference favorite SCSU was one to watch for a possible upset.
Well, despite the fact that SCSU rolled over Kutztown last week 52-30 and Brandon Toles looked unstoppable with 250 rushing yards and five touchdowns, I still think Bentley has at least a shot of winning this game. The Falcons bring back quite a bit of experience on offense and if they can overcome the usual first game mistakes and jitters, Bentley should be able to score some points against an Owl defense that allowed 568 yards last week. In the end, though, Toles is too much to over come. Southern Connecticut 31 Bentley 24.
Winona State (1-0) @ South Dakota (0-1)
Like USD, Winona State also had defensive problems in its opener. But the obvious difference is that the Warriors found a way to prevail by outscoring Michigan Tech, 47-44 in overtime.
There is only one scenario in which I see Winona State having a chance in this game: The Warriors will have to force at least three USD turnovers and quarterback Drew Aber will have to have a flawless day throwing the football. Anything short of that, and WSU will probably get run off the field. With their upcoming schedule, the Coyotes need to win this game, and should win it handily. South Dakota 45 Winona State 21.
Missouri Western (1-0) @ Minnesota-Duluth (1-0)
These teams have both made playoff appearances in the past couple of years (UMD in '05 and MWSU in '06). But since both of these teams play brutal conference schedules in their respective leagues, picking up wins in games like this one is critical when it comes to playoff chances.
I like the Bulldogs in this game for a few different reasons. Number one, they are playing at home against a fairly young MWSU team that will be making its first long road trip of the year. Number two, UMD is more tested, with a 31-14 win over defending NSIC champ Bemidji State under its belt. And number three, UMD has a trio of true freshmen receivers that are drawing rave reviews from anyone that saw the Bulldogs in their season opener. Minnesota-Duluth 28 Missouri Western 20.
Southwest Oklahoma (2-0) @ Midwestern State (1-0)
This game is a match up of great offense versus great defense. MSU is led by multi-dimensional quarterback Daniel Polk. All he did is help his team put up 678 yards of offense last week in last week's 41-15 whipping of Adams State. The Bulldogs have relied on defense thus far, allowing a total of just 10 points through their first two games.
So, this game will likely come down to the other facets of the game. The fact that SWOSU had five turnovers last week and a pair of punts blocked doesn't exactly give me warm fuzzies about their chances against a very solid all-around Mustang team. Midwestern State 28 Southwest Oklahoma State 14.
California (2-0) @ Bloomsburg (1-0)
California has been awesome on defense so far this season. The Vulcans scored two defensive touchdowns last week against Glenville State and have already amassed 27 tackles for loss as a team this season. But the problem is that Cal offense has been underwhelming. Despite have a very talented back in Brandon Lombardy, CU is averaging just 121 yards per game on the ground this year.
Bloomsburg won last week in its typical solid but unspectacular fashion. A good example of that: running back Jamar Brittingham scored five touchdowns and totaled 34 points on the day, but rushed for just 81 yards.
I have been touting Cal as the team to beat in the conference and region, and I still feel that way. But this game will be one heck of a battle against a talented Bloomsburg team that just plain knows how to win. I think the Cal offense emerges just enough this week to get the job done. California 23 Bloomsburg 20.
Grand Valley (1-0) @ Ashland (1-0)
From a national standpoint, Ashland (5-6 last season) is barely a blip on the radar. But I guarantee you that the Eagles have the full attention of everyone in Laker land this week. The reason? Ashland has been the only team that has given GVSU much of a game in the regular season over the past couple of years. GV has won the last two meetings by a combined 10 points.
There are a few other reasons that GVSU faithful should be a bit concerned about this game. Number one, AU has some real talent on its roster, especially on the offensive side of the football. Number two, the Eagles will be a confident bunch based on the fact that they beat a pretty good team in their season opener (a 32-27 win over Saginaw Valley) and the fact that they know they can hang with GVSU. And number three, this is Grand Valley's first significant road game in almost two seasons.
So, there are a lot of reasons why this game has the potential to be a major upset. In fact, if I had to pick one regular season game that I thought GVSU had the best chance of losing, this would be it. That said, I'm still going with the Lakers in this game. They were fairly impressive in their own right in their season opener and despite being a bit inexperienced at some key positions; they always find ways to win games such as this. It will be close again, though. Grand Valley 27 Ashland 21.
Mailbag
[Q] What is your take on what happened with Minnesota State- Moorhead coach Damon Tomeo after the game last Saturday? Do you think the school should have taken some disciplinary action against him? Mark in Moorhead
[A] Just to explain the situation for those that have not heard about this: MSUM was playing cross town Division III rival Concordia last Saturday. The Dragons led 32-27 and had the ball at about the Concordia 35-yard line with less than two minutes left in the game. Concordia was out of timeouts.
But instead of running the clock and putting the game away, MSUM inexplicably decided to throw the football on second, third, and fourth downs, which stopped the clock. Concordia ended up getting the ball back with plenty of time left and took advantage, driving down the field and scoring on an 11-yard touchdown pass with three seconds left to win the game, 34-32.
After the game, Tomeo refused to speak with reporters from the local newspaper (The Fargo Forum) and also refused to allow his players to speak to them, reportedly screaming at his players to stay away from the reporters. On Monday, MSUM released a statement saying that Tomeo apologized for his actions.
My take on all of this: The head coach at any college is the face of the program. In this day and age of athletics being so important to the overall image of a university, no one can afford to have prominent coaches embarrassing their schools with their actions.
So obviously, I find Tomeo's actions completely unacceptable. Being the guy in charge, it is his duty to address the media after the game, and to do so with class. I have seen plenty of coaches suffer gut wrenching defeats and still be able to deal with the media like gentlemen. Obviously, Tomeo made some stupid decisions in managing the clock, but he needs to take responsibility for those decisions instead of running and hiding when people start asking the hard questions. If Tomeo can't handle all of that, then he should probably consider another line of work.
As far as any disciplinary action, I don't think it's necessary in this case. An apology has been issued and it's time to move on. But MSUM needs to make it very clear to Coach Tomeo that another instance of immature behavior like this means termination of employment.
Contact Me
Have a question, comment, or criticism? Want to have your question answered in the weekly Mailbag? Email Bob.