S136 Second Round
The first round has ended and for those teams that fell in battle, congrats on a great year and we will see you on the recruiting trail!
RECAP
We started with 32 and now we are down to 16. Most of the favorites seemed to pull through but I did get Virginia State, Long Island and Saginaw Valley wrong in my predictions.
The game of the night was Hillsdale vs Bloomsburg which kept us on our toes until the very end!
Hillsdale led 10-6 at the half and looked to be in control of their own destiny when you compared stats with the other team. However, Bloomsburg would get the last say with a 8 play, 43 yard drive to kick the game winning FG with only :04 seconds in the game. Jms245 moves on in a 16-13 defensive battle.
I thought North Dakota St. would produce more points in this one, especially with the youth on VSU's defense. That wasn't the case though as Catfish_Jack got his Virginia St. team out to a 30-6 lead at the half and it was over from there. VSU wins big 33-13.
Long Island was leading 9-6 at the half versus a very good W. New Mexico team, but it was bigpoppa85 that hit overdrive in the 4th quarter putting up 20 points and winning 29-16.
Ojpick does it again... after going 12-2 in the season and you are thinking SVSU is on the outside possibly ending in a 1st round loss. He puts together one heck of a game plan to shut down a tough Tusculum squad in a huge 23-7 show of GLIAC power. RB Joel Brown had 41 attempts for 243 yards and a TD to control the game. Saginaw Valley St is for real.
SECOND ROUND
Tonight we have some really good matches tonight, but there are a couple that I'm keeping my eye on.
Humboldt St (Jaylien1) vs (Champ83) Valdosta St
I think Champ83 is back, he took down a nice N. Alabama team and had a convincing 49-20 win over Shepherd. Jaylien1 has his team performing well and could be viewed as a better opponent than VSU has faced all season.
I think both teams have great coaches who can game plan, so the difference maker is going to be Humboldt St.'s QB plays versus VSU's LB and DB's. I'm not sure if Jaylien1 can keep JR QB McFarland (62 FIQ) mistake free enough to not give Champ83 the edge. They will have to get a good ground game effort going to keep them honest.
VSU is more balanced and more even across the board, I see Champ83 moving on in this one.
Prediciton: Valdosta St. 44-38
Pace (Jpnroos) vs (Azcowboy1) Winona St
Tough game to predict here, Pace is playing REALLY good right now and probably above their talent level. Azcowboy1 has consistent output but when comparing common opponent Angelo St, Pace won with a larger point spread. If you were to ask me who would win between #8 (Guess) Winona vs #33 Pace then the answer would be easy... Winona.
However, we need to look under the hood in this one to get more of an idea on what is going on. Pace is very bleh on offense right now because they suffer from not enough upperclassmen. Winona is completely opposite, they are bleh on the defensive side because of the same reason. Azcowboy1 has a the #2 QB and a pair of top 20 WR's to throw too but they will face Jpnroos' pair of senior DB's who are ranked in the top 40.
It odd match-ups like this, I usually favor big explosive plays and Winona should be able to deliver here. Jaylien1 pulls this one out tonight but not by much.
Prediction: Winona St 51-48
Virginia State (Catfish_Jack) vs (Ojpick) Saginaw Valley St.
Saginaw Valley St is coming alive at the right time and they are playing hot after their win last week. Both teams played Northern Michigan this season and VSU lost 55-17 while SVSU lost 72-17. Both teams are also very close in total talent and Virginia St is coming off a big win over a ND State team 33-13 who nearly beat Humboldt St.
The match-up is probably going to come down to the effectiveness of SVSU's ground game. Looking at the success they had last week, it would make a big difference if they can duplicate the success. VSU has a stout secondary so Ojpick is less likely to find success if their run is shut down.
Catfish_Jack has a great WR and one of the OL's to give Jr* QB Dalton time to find him. SVSU has 2 top 25 defensive backs but once you go past them, you are looking near the rankings of 100+. The fact that VSU likes to pass all the time, I can see them wearing through Ojpick's depth in the secondary and making some big plays.
So the question is, can SVSU control the game to not let that happen?
I think the game is tilted more toward pass but VSU has a lot of youth on their defensive line and I think Ojpick finds success.
Prediction: Saginaw Valley St. 37-34
The rest of the predictions can be found on our
Good luck to those playing tonight!