Tommies Blog: No. 6-Ranked St. Thomas Heads To No. 14 Concordia
Glenn Caruso and the St. Thomas football program will never admit it publicly, but the Tommies can start to sense that something special is happening this season.
With three regular season games left, the No. 6-ranked Tommies have put themselves in the driver's seat in the race for the MIAC championship. They're the only unbeaten team left with three teams sitting just a game back in the league standings. It's a group that includes Concordia, Gustavus and St. John's.
St. Thomas has to be feeling as confident as ever after Saturday's 45-14 win over Bethel. The win was as dominating on the field as the statistics would show. The Royals scored on their opening possession of the game, but St. Thomas outscored Bethel 45-7 the rest of the way. The Tommies led 21-14 at the half and outscored the Royals 24-0 in the second half.
Bethel managed just 152 yards of total offense on the day and nine first downs. Freshman quarterback Trey Anderson finished the day 1-for-5 passing for 1 yard. One. He was sacked four times but did have both of Bethel's scores on the day with two rushing touchdowns.
The Royals got a majority of their offense from running back Bridgeport Tusler. He rushed for 126 yards on the day.
Meanwhile for the Tommies, it seemed like business as usual. St. Thomas collected 446 yards of total offense, including 248 on the ground. Jordan Roberts was again the horse with 39 carries for 195 yards and two touchdowns. Jack Kaiser added 43 yards rushing and two scores.
John Gould played one of his best games of the season. The quarterback was 18-of-21 passing for 186 yards and two touchdowns. They went to Charlie Dowdle and Ryan Bradley.
On defense, Steve Harrell led a dominant attack for the Tommies with 10 tackles. Tim McClanahan added eight tackles, one for a loss, and a fumble recovery. The Tommies had seven tackles for a loss on the day.
This week, St. Thomas faces one of its most challenging games of the season. The Tommies travel to Moorhead to take on No. 14-ranked Concordia. It's the highest the Cobbers have ever been nationally ranked. Concordia is 7-1 on the season, with its only loss coming in its MIAC opener to St. John's, 24-16. The Cobbers beat Bethel 23-21 in Week 5.
A win over Concordia puts St. Thomas in great shape to win a MIAC title and earn the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Playoffs. After Saturday, St. Thomas hosts Carleton and heads to Gustavus to end the regular season. If the Tommies are undefeated when they head to St. Peter, there is a chance that they'll have already clinched the MIAC title or at least a share of it.
But enough about that. The primary focus this week is about finding a way to stop Concordia. The Cobbers are third in the league in rushing with about 238 yards per game. It's a balanced attack with four players averaging at least 30 yards per game. Chad Johnson leads the attack with about 60 yards per game and nine touchdowns on the year. The Cobbers don't pass much, but they're successful when they do. Michael Herzog and Alex Grove have combined for 12 touchdowns on the year. Herzog has played every game and is passing for about 114 yards per game. Brandon Zylstra is the top passing target with about 67 yards receiving per game and four touchdowns.
That offensive attack is averaging nearly 34 points per game. The Cobbers also have the third-best defense in the MIAC, allowing on average 18 points per game and 355 total yards. Concordia is led defensively by Erik Bye, who has 62 tackles on the season.
Concordia allows about 140 rushing yards per game, so St. Thomas will be looking to win the battle at the line of scrimmage and establish its run game. The Tommies' 238 rushing yards per game is second in the MIAC. Concordia is allowing 215 passing yards per game, and the Tommies are second in the MIAC in passing at about 298 yards per contest.
The opportunity is there for Caruso's offense to have another big day, but it will be up to the St. Thomas defense to win the game. The Tommies have answered every challenge so far this season as they're allowing less than a touchdown per game and lead the MIAC in rushing defense at 75 yards per game. But Concordia is always a tough place to play with a long road trip, and nothing will come easy.
Tune into Newsradio 830 WCCO AM at about 1 p.m. Saturday as Dave Lee will have the play-by-play and Eric Nelson will provide color commentary.