Game 10 of the Night - Season 140
Previous GotN Prediction: Tusculum 27 - Presbyterian 24
Result: Presbyterian 27 - Tusculum 17
Intro/comments/match-up: The "Tusculum Jinx" is still alive and driving coach Clememp crazy. For those that aren't up to the tale, every time the "smart dog" picks Tusculum to win, they find a way to end up losing the game. The tale then goes that coach Clememp reached out to the "smart dog" and paid the dog off to not profile Tusculum anymore. Coach tried to tell the dog the check was in the mail but the mailbox was empty.
The stats for the game were pretty close with Presbyterian have a small 15 yards edge. Beyond that it was the Presbyterian's running attack taking on Tusculum's passing attack. Presbyterian ran the ball 59 times for 247 yards. Tusculum passed the ball 63 times, completing 32 of them for 401 yards. Tusculum started the game off marvelously by going 75 yards on four pass plays for the early touchdown. After an exchanged of punts, Presbyterian used 12 plays to march 80 yards for a game-tying touchdown. On Presbyterian's next possession it was another long drive resulting in a go-ahead touchdown. After that, the rest of the half consisted of short drives and a total of seven punts. The second half started with a 47-yard rush by Presbyterian to set up a field goal and a 17-7 lead. After an exchange of punts, Tusculum went on a 10-play 73-yard drive to keep the game within reach at 17-10. On their next possession, Tusculum used a big 42-yard pass to kick a 45-yard field goal...but it wasn't good. Early in the fourth quarters, both teams were able to convert long field goal attempts to keep the game within three points. Then Presbyterian went on a game deciding 71-yard drive for a touchdown and the final 27-17 score.
Tonight, the "smart dog" is taking a journey to the rocky mountain state where New Mexico Highlands will put its undefeated record on the line against the home Fort Lewis team.
Team: New Mexico Highlands
Coach: Tbook # of Seasons: 3
Roster Breakdown:
Seniors: 10
Juniors: 12
Sophomores: 14
Freshmen: 14
Offensive Formations: Pro-set
Defensive Formations: 4-4, Nickel
Losses: N/A
Comments: Coach Tbook is in his third season of rebuilding NM Highlands after being ran by Sims for 23 seasons. Being just his third seasons, he is still dealing with a senior class filled with SIMs recruits. So far the coach is making all the right calls to what will be the team's first playoff experience in 27 seasons.
Team: Fort Lewis
Coach: Laworog # of Seasons: 4
Roster Breakdown:
Seniors: 13
Juniors: 10
Sophomores: 10
Freshmen: 17
Offensive Formations: Pro-set, Trips
Defensive Formations: 4-3, Nickel
Key Wins: N/A
Losses: 13-23 to #18 Western New Mexico
Comments: With an unimpressive out-0f-conference schedule, Fort Lewis is currently ranked 25th, but their first playoff berth under coach Laworog may be at risk with a second loss. Coach Laworog has a big advantage over their opponent in that Fort Lewis was managed by human coaches for the eight seasons before he took over.
Tonight's Prediction: An interesting game that could go either way but the "smart dog" is going with the human-selected recruits over the SIMs and the benefits of better vision in recruiting players. Fort Lewis uses this advantage and secures their playoff spot and hands New Mexico Highlands their first loss of the season 27-20.