Friday, September 23, 2005

Friday Tailgate

It's the last weekend before Conference play begins. Three teams are in action - Franklin & Marshall, Gettysburg and Muhlenberg - while the others have a bye week. For more information on this week's games ... check out the Gameday section of our website.

Franklin & Marshall has been the biggest surprise this season ... the Diplomats, picked to go undefeated and win the Conference by our friends at D3football.com, are 0-2 and look to rebound from the 34-0 loss at Hobart ... this is the 29th meeting between F&M and Carnegie Mellon in a series that dates to 1909 ... the Tartans hold a 20-7-1 advantage with wins in the last four meetings ... the Diplomats' last victory was a 28-7 triumph in the 1996 season opener ... the most telling statistic in Franklin & Marshall's slow start - minus-5 in turnover margin ... no other team in the CC is below zero.

Gettysburg follows the lead of Horace Greeley and heads west to Granville, Ohio, to take on Denison of the North Coast Athletic Conference ... the Bullets have not been to the Buckeye State since a 1963 trip to Springfield against Wittenberg ... Gettysburg leads the CC in total offense (373.7 ypg) which is not a surprise ... the shocker is that the Orange and Blue are second in passing offense (231.0) ... the problem is that Gettysburg is last in scoring (41.3) and total (510.0) defense ... if I'm coaching the Big Red, I'm kicking away from Nathan Smith ... Smith returned a kickoff for a touchdown vs. Rochester last week - the fourth time in his career he has gone the distance ... the Bullets have lost seven straight road games.

Muhlenberg also heads west to Grove City ... the Wolverines are 0-3 with losses to Manchester, Carnegie Mellon and Thomas More ... the Mules are the top passing team in the CC at 243.5 ypg, but are last on the ground (86.0) ... the Muhlenberg defense was unable to suppress the powerful Union offense last week, but still stands second in the CC in total defense (263.0) ... the Mules are 5-for-5 in the red zone in two games with three TDs and two FGs.

No comments: