Game 6 of the Night
Previous GotN Recap:
Prediction: Virginia St - 34, Mesa St - 30
Result: Virginia St - 47, Mesa St - 13
Intro/comments/match-up: Virginia State sure shown they are not to be forgotten in the title chase. The dominating victory showed an excellent running game and a stout defense. My only concern is the less than 50% passing attack, but that can be at least partially explained by their preference to throw to the tight end with 15 throws.
The "smart dog" breaks the season into five parts. The first part is the five non-conference games. I always want my teams to win at least four of them. Part two is the three non-division conference games. I pay attention to who I will be playing next season when scheduling my non-conference games. Then there is part three with the five division games which for some divisions can be absolutely brutal. The conference championship game is part four. And lastly, the playoffs, or the drive for five wins, is part five.
Tonight's game comes from my favorite conference (yes I'm extremely bias) the GLIAC with a top 5 match-up between #1 Ferris State at #4 Saginaw Valley State.
Team: Ferris State
Coach: Coachoatie # of Seasons: 7
Roster Breakdown:
Seniors: 13
Juniors: 14
Sophomores: 6
Freshmen: 17
Offensive Formations: I
Defensive Formations: 4-3
Key Wins: Cheyney 47-27
Losses: N/A
Comments: Coachoatie has Ferris State looking like a team to beat again this season. Their passing attack is approximately 70% of their offense with a lot of those passes going to the wide receivers. Amazingly, and scary too, their leading receiver has 51 receptions for 818 yards. Now those stats for a senior receiver isn't that far fetched. This receiver has started zero games and has averaged 24% playing time.
Team: Saginaw Valley State
Coach: Ojpick # of Seasons: 38
Roster Breakdown:
Seniors: 12
Juniors: 13
Sophomores: 9
Freshmen: 16
Offensive Formations: I
Defensive Formations: 4-3
Key Wins: Nebraska-Omaha 28-3, Tarleton St 20-14
Losses: N/A
Comments: Coach Ojpick and Saginaw Valley St has been fairly balance this season running and throwing the ball. The big concern when playing SVSU is you never know what coach Ojpick will do. He has thrown out all running game plans and all passing game plans during his 38 seasons. He has produced his share of upsets over his many seasons and has given many coaches headaches trying to prepare for him.
Tonight's Prediction: Being that the "smart dog" has had a front row seats on watching both of these teams. I have my personal preference (sorry coachoatie), but the pick here is Ferris State winning a wild 38-35 OT affair.