🚨 BIG G-MAC BATTLE: Ashland vs Tiffin Preview 🚨

[GreaterGW]

It’s shaping up to be one of the biggest games of the season in the G-MAC! The No. 20-ranked Ashland Eagles (6-1, 5-0) head to Tiffin to take on theDragons (5-2, 4-1) in a huge G-MAC battle.

We’ve put together a full video preview breaking down everything you need to know — watch it below!

Pregame coverage begins at 12:30 PM with kickoff set for 1:00 PM, all FREE on Fox Sports 1340 and the iHeartRadio app:

https://wncoam.iheart.com/

Be sure to text the broadcast booth during the game at 440-600-1340 and let us know where you’re listening from!

Don’t forget to subscribe to the Ashland University Football Highlights YouTube channel for game recaps, interviews, and more exclusive content.

GO EAGLES! 🦅

[eagler927]

Proud of the Eagles. It’s not easy to win at Tiffin. Great to see the D make a play to seal the game.Wantsnabe looks like a D1 kicker!

One gripe… Doug Geiser has to have better clock management. Sacking Tiffin at the 10 yard line and not using a single timeout to get the ball back at the end of the first half was criminal

[Bballfan]

Wantsnabe looks like a D1 kicker!

Careful now. If you look like a D1 kicker, he could end up a D1 kicker. Remember Findlay lost their kicker to Ohio State. Certainly don't want that to happen with this kicker!

I listed to the end of the game. Both teams executed poorly in overtime on offense. But as bad as Ashland was, Tiffin was even worse.

Now Ashland has the Walsh revenge game, then the battle for the GMAC championship. Obviously Northwood will want Findlay to win. It is down to a 3 team race now. Who will prevail?

[OilerNTN07]

Helps for those young guys that former coach Key is OSU’s special teams coordinator

[WildJack]

Ashland came out strong, looking sharp during the first two series, but the offense fizzled as the game went on. Fortunately, the defense stepped up and made big plays when it mattered most.

One area of concern was late-game management — I wasn’t a big fan of not using timeouts in the 4th quarter when Tiffin was backed up. Situational awareness could’ve helped flip field position and given the offense another shot.

Defensively, Ashland looked solid overall. However, there were stretches where the team relied too heavily on zone coverage, allowing Tiffin’s quarterback to pick them apart underneath. Still, when the pressure was on, the defense rose to the occasion and got the stops they needed.

Offensively, Ashland remains a bit of a wild card. There’s real talent at receiver, but inconsistent quarterback play and a conservative offensive approach have held the unit back from reaching its full potential.

Looking ahead, Ashland still has the pieces to make a strong push for the GMAC title. If the offense can find some rhythm and the coaching staff opens up the playbook a bit, this team absolutely has what it takes to prevail and bring home the championship.

[Bballfan]

Looking ahead, Ashland still has the pieces to make a strong push for the GMAC title. If the offense can find some rhythm and the coaching staff opens up the playbook a bit, this team absolutely has what it takes to prevail and bring home the championship.

I mean realistically, two of their three hardest league games are behind them now. Granted, the hardest one of the season is still ahead of them, but Findlay and Northwood both have tougher paths.

For Tiffin, a season that started out promising crashed and burned with the loss to ODU. Just too much to overcome. Even if they would have beat Ashland, they still had to deal with Findlay and Northwood. You just can't lose to a lower team in the GMAC. Now they have to play spoiler. But two of the last three games are in tough road environments and a 6 - 5 finish is quite possible for Tiffin. Definitely a disappointing season in their book!

[BlazedTheDragon]

That was a great game; a lot of things did not go Tiffin's way, especially the officiating down the stretch and to start the game. Ashland jumped up 14-0 quickly but then Tiffin battled back and put some huge drives together. Johnson was picking apart the Ashland secondary all day; quite frankly, they did not have an answer for him. He went for 414 yards passing on them. Ashland has not seen their defense picked apart like that in awhile. However, Tiffin could not run the ball. Blackman did not do much on the ground, part of the reason was he only got 8 carries. He should have gotten more of the bulk in this kind of game, not the time to mix in other backs and share carries. Give the ball to your All-American running back the vast majority of the time. He did have a big impact as a reciever though, catching a long touchdown. Credit Ashland's run defense though, they were absolutely stingy. It was clear these 2 teams were evenly matched, and it was a battle of heavyweights. I will say the officiating was questionable at best. The Ref's practically walked the ball down the field for Ashland to attempt the game-tying field goal. A horrible roughing the passer and pass interference call on that last drive. Looking at the stats, Ashland had 4 1st downs due to penalty, and 2 of them came on 3rd and long on that last drive to force OT, talk about getting bailed out. Then in OT, Tiffin blocked a FG, and there was a very questionable offsides call. It was absolutely clear that the officials were affecting the game in crunch time. It was unfortunate to see the officials have such an effect on the game, let the kids play. This is not the reason Tiffin lost, they had opportunities to put the game away earlier and couldn't do it. Congrats to Ashland; it is looking like they will win back-to-back GMAC titles and cruise into the playoffs. That was a hard fought emotional game, and you could tell Ashland knew that this game was for the conference title as they stormed the field all the way to the Tiffin sideline after they won the game, talking trash to the Tiffin players. That's not a reaction from a team that expected to win the game, and was classless, quite frankly.

With all this being said I highly doubt that Tiffin will finish 6-5. I think Ashland's hardest test was this Tiffin game, and Ashland knew that since they essentially acted like they won the conference after this win, which in all fairness I think they did. I think Ashland will beat Findlay by 2 or more scores, and Tiffin will beat Northwood and Findlay to close out the year. Ashland's run defense will absolutely stuff Findlay and the oilers do not have the QB play to make up for it. Ashland has a good offense to and will have success on Findlay. Findlay has squeaked by all year, I think their run is going to come to a grinding halt in the last 2 weeks of the year, maybe the L's will even start this week vs. Northwood. Unfortunately no 3 loss GMAC will make the playoffs, and the game that Tiffin will regret is that ODU game week 3. If Tiffin was a 2 loss team with a 7 pt loss to Ferris and an OT loss to Ashland they could have gotten in, but with that 3rd loss it won't happen. Tough ending to a promising year. I think TIffin will play great football these last 3 weeks, we saw this last year in the Findlay game last year when Tiffin blew them out and knocked Findlay right out of the playoffs when Tiffin had nothing to play for anymore. I think the same thing might happen this year.

[Bballfan]

I was only listening to the game when you say a horrible roughing call.....how was it a bad call if they knocked the Ashland quarterback out for the rest of the series? Like I said I didn't see it but curious why you think it shouldn't have been called?

Tiffin letting Ashland get into field goal range with a backup quarterback is what really hurt.

[BlazedTheDragon]

I was only listening to the game when you say a horrible roughing call.....how was it a bad call if they knocked the Ashland quarterback out for the rest of the series? Like I said I didn't see it but curious why you think it shouldn't have been called?

Tiffin letting Ashland get into field goal range with a backup quarterback is what really hurt.

I think it was bad because the QB was a runner, he declared himself as a runner then he threw it at the last second, it was a bang bang play at the line of scrimmage and he hit him with his shoulder into his chest. Not sure what the defender is supposed to do in that situation, especially with the QB tucking the ball as a runner and attacking the line of scrimmage before he threw it, he might have been close to being over the line of scrimmage when he threw it.

[Bballfan]

All body parts have to be over the line of scrimmage. I think it should be the other way around myself but it is one of those strange rules in football.

I get what you mean now. See that a LOT in the pros, which I quit watching years ago. There is nothing a defender can do. But the benefit of the doubt goes to the quarterback because they are protected. Then if they act like they are running but suddenly pull up, basically baiting a defender to hit them. Not a roughing call a few years ago I am sure.