Game 1 of the Night
Previous GotN Prediction/Result: Hillsdale 32 - Tusculum 21 / Hillsdale 55 - Tusculum 26
Intro/comments/match-up: Season 139 is here and the start to find who will be the surprise team that no one expected. Will an unexpected team win the national championship or will one of the traditional threats win another title. There are some teams who coaches have now been with them 4-6 seasons and have their team set up the way they want them, except for possibly better players.
We start this season with a prime match-up between two top 12 teams who coaches have not faced off against each other in Rockne world. Tonight's Game of the Night showcase has Ferris State traveling to take on West Chester.
Team: Ferris State
Coach: Coachoatie # of Seasons: 9
Roster Breakdown:
Seniors: 14
Juniors: 6
Sophomores: 14
Freshmen: 16
Offensive Formations: I
Defensive Formations: 4-3
Key Wins: N/A
Losses: N/A
Comments: Coachoatie starts off the season with games against West Chester and Cheyney. After that, Ferris State should have an easy slate of games until they face Findlay and Hillsdale towards the end of the season. Coachoatie has seniors possibly starting at 9 of the 11 positions on offense. That's the good news. The bad news is the backups at QB and RB will be either freshmen or red-shirt freshmen. Defense is a mixed bag with two seniors on the defensive line along with two sophomores, linebackers has three sophomores, and defensive backs has three seniors. The backups on the front seven consist of seven freshmen and one sophomore.
Team: West Chester
Coach: 2000champou # of Seasons: 10
Roster Breakdown:
Seniors: 12
Juniors: 14
Sophomores: 8
Freshmen: 16
Offensive Formations: Pro-set
Defensive Formations: 3-4
Key Wins: N/A
Losses: N/A
Comments: Coach 2000champou will be looking to turn around their shrinking playoff advancement that saw West Chester going from the 4th round to the 3rd round and then to the 2nd round last season. Offense looks to be solid with a red-shirt junior QB, a senior and a red-shirt senior RBs, and two senior WRs. Defense will be an issue with just a senior and junior on the defensive line with five freshmen joining them. While the defensive line is a concern, the linebackers are going to be a big strength. There team has a red-shirt senior and three seniors with a red-shirt junior to back them up. Lastly the defensive backfield will be patrolled by four juniors with two sophomores backing them up.
Tonight's Prediction: Both teams should be solid teams and are probably residing outside of the current elite teams. Tonight's game will give us some insight on where these two teams will be this season. A solid convincing victory will give the winner a big boost for consideration for the initial Rockne Top Ten (shameless plug) in a few day. I see Ferris State striking early in the first and third quarters, but West Chester wins the second and fourth quarters and pull out a narrow 28-27 victory.