Tommies Blog: No. 9 St. Thomas Hosts Hamline For Homecoming
It's Homecoming week at the University of St. Thomas, and the football program is doing its part to get people on campus.
The Tommies, ranked No. 9 in the latest D3football.com poll, are 5-0 after dismantling Augsburg College 55-6 on Saturday in Minneapolis. The Auggies had been averaging 35 points per and more than 420 yards in total offense on the season. Augsburg collected 336 total yards, but were kept out of the end zone until the fourth quarter when they were already down 41-0.
St. Thomas led 34-0 at the half and was never threatened on the way to improving to 5-0. The Tommies were clicking on all cylinders with 523 yards of total offense. Jordan Roberts has been the horse running the football, and he finished the day with 14 carries for 111 yards and a touchdown. Jack Kaiser had 95 yards rushing and two scores.
John Gould was 13-of-20 passing for 201 yards and two touchdowns, but did have two interceptions.
The St. Thomas defense held Auggies' quarterback Ayrton Scott largely in check. They intercepted him three times, including one that Ryan Winter took for a touchdown to give the Tommies a 14-0 lead in the first quarter. St. Thomas also sacked Scott twice.
It was exactly the type of performance the Tommies were looking for against a team with a potent offense. Through five games, St. Thomas is one of only three undefeated teams in the country that is scoring at least 50 points per game and allowing less than 10.
St. Thomas is back home this week, hosting a Hamline squad that is winless in MIAC play. The Pipers beat Um-Morris and Macalester to get off to a 2-0 start. Since, they've lost to Gustavus (42-35), St. John's (41-21) and last week at Bethel (41-7).
With a match-up against Bethel looming in two weeks, the Tommies can't look ahead. That shouldn't be an issue with Homecoming week. It always means a little more if you win your football game. St. Thomas will play its 50th home game under coach Glenn Caruso this week. The Tommies are 45-4, including a 7-0 mark on Homecoming.
When the two teams met last year at Hamline, St. Thomas had a 21-14 lead after a first quarter that felt more like a track meet. The Tommies scored on four possessions in the second quarter to lead 48-14 at the half and went on to a 62-24 victory.
In its three league losses this year, the Pipers' defense has allowed at least 41 points.
St. Thomas will get another test defensively this week, facing a featured running back in Austin Duncan and a Hamline offense that throws for about 242 yards per game. Duncan is rushing for about 72 yards per game and has four touchdowns on the season. Quarterback Kyle Johnson is throwing for 200 yards per game and has seven touchdown passes.
It's an offense that scores about 26 points per game.
The Tommies are the top defense in the MIAC, allowing just 60 yards rushing per game and 200 total yards. Perhaps more impressive is that they're the top scoring defense in the league, allowing just 6.8 points per game. It starts up front, and Anthony King-Forman and Jesse Addo are tied for the MIAC lead with five sacks each. They'll need to be aggressive this week to make Johnson and the Pipers uncomfortable in the passing game.
It also doesn't hurt when you have one of the top offenses in the league. St. Thomas is second behind Gustavus in scoring at 51.4 points per game. The Tommies are also third in rushing at 231 yards per game and second in passing with 311 yards per game. St. Thomas has 33 offensive touchdowns on the season.
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 have color commentary along with Fritz Waldvogel from the sidelines.
