Catching up on a few weeks of football

Ah yes, Hat Trick returns after a two-week hiatus (I’ve probably been having too many of these in the past few months). But, in my defense, it was mid term week, followed by fall break, so please excuse my recent absence. And though Hat Trick wasn’t blogging much, that doesn’t mean the D-III football slowed down one bit. Let’s take a look at how the season is shaking out, and what lies ahead for the playoffs.

- Mount Union is rolling. Nay, they are ROLLING. At 7-0, the Purple Raiders look completely unstoppable heading into this weekend’s showdown at 13th-ranked Capital. With three more regular season contests remaining, Mount Union should have no problem going undefeated in the regular season. After all, this team has only lost four games in the past nine years. Pure absurdity.

- My darkhorse title contender - Alfred University - is still undefeated and inching closer to the Empire 8 title. The Saxons (7-0, 4-0 E8) lead St. John Fisher (7-1, 3-1 E8), Hartwick (5-2, 2-1 E8) and Ithaca (5-2, 2-2 E8) for the Empire 8 lead. Alfred’s final three games are all road games, against Hobart, Ithaca and St. John Fisher. The Nov. 10 match up against the Fisher Cardinals will likely determine the conference champion, making it a must-see game. My prediction right now: Alfred over St. John Fisher 38-35.

- There hasn’t been a ton of movement in the top 25 over the past two weeks, but that’s to be expected this late in the season. Twelve of the top 25 ranked teams remain undefeated, a relatively large number for this deep into the year. That sets up the possibiliy for quite an interesting playoff tree.

- This season’s biggest disappointment? It’s hard not to tab Springfield as the winner of that dubious honor. After sharing the Empire 8 title with St. John Fisher last season, the Pride have gone from a one-loss playoff team in 2006 to a 3-4 squad in 2007. The defending D-III Player of the Year, senior quarterback Chris Sharpe, has not resembled the one-man wrecking crew he was last season. It also hasn’t helped anything that the Pride lost seven to eight starting members from their 2006 defense. All of that has combined for a very disappointing season. Springfield hosts Ithaca this weekend, looking to climb back to .500 with a win.

- There’s a lot more to discuss, in football and other sports, but I’ll save that for later this week (seriously).

Posted October 23, 2007 at 1:50 am by Andrew | Share on Facebook
Categories: alfred, chris sharpe, football, ithaca, mount union, springfield, st john fisher

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