Monday Morning Quarterback

This weekend Hat Trick had the opportunity to travel up to Alfred, N.Y. for a little getaway. One thing that become immediately clear to me Saturday afternoon - the Saxons are good this year. Really, really good.

Alfred destroyed St. Lawrence 49-19, one week after blowing past Thiel 34-7. For you math lovers, Alfred has outscored their opponents 83-26. That’s a pretty ridiculous point differential. Skeptics will be quick to point out that the Saxons’ next game comes against reigning co-Empire 8 champion Springfield College.

However, the Pride are coming off a bad 33-30 loss to Montclair State, and don’t appear to have the same magic as last year’s squad. Chris Sharpe is still a beast, but Springfield simply lost too many starters on defense for Sharpe to compensate for. If Alfred does get past Springfield, as I expect them to, they won’t face another tough challenge until their final game of the season at St. John Fisher. At this point in the season, the Empire 8 looks to be a two-team race between Fisher and Alfred, which pretty much no one would have expected three weeks ago.

Some other things I learned this weekend:- Even though I didn’t see the game, Ithaca definitely underestimated Hartwick. There is no way the Bombers should have lost to the Hawks. No way. Yes, Hartwick’s offense is solid, if not spectacular. But their defense is JV. Jason Boltus and Lindy Crea torched Ithaca on the offensive side of the ball. The Bombers, on the other hand, could only muster 30 points. At this point, it’s hard not to see Ithaca losing by at least 20 points to Fisher next week.

- Overtime games are just awesome, especially college overtime games. Unlike the NFL, where the first team to score wins the game, both teams get possessions in college games. Bethel and Concordia-Moorhead played into triple overtime on Saturday, with Bethel earning the 48-45 victory. Five other games went into OT this weekend, providing a lot of excitement and close contests.

- Students in Alfred actually play beer pong with beer bottle caps. What is that all about?

- All quiet on the upset front: Other than 24th-ranked Ithaca’s loss to Hartwick, 22nd-ranked Carnegie Mellon was upset by Hobart, 27-26.

-Almost had it: Azusa Pacific almost pulled off a huge upset over Wisconsin La-Crosse, falling 27-20 in overtime. Luther also hung tight with eighth-ranked Central, losing 44-36.

Posted September 17, 2007 at 6:36 pm by Andrew | Share on Facebook
Categories: alfred, chris sharpe, empire 8, football, ithaca, springfield, st john fisher

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