d2football.com: Tony Nicolette GLIAC preview

Tony breaks down Chargers and Panthers as well as the rest of the league.

Ohio Dominican (1-0) at #17 Hillsdale (0-1)

It almost seems silly to think that the second game of the year is a "big" one, but that may well be the case for Hillsdale. Of course, the home-opener is always important, and this one will be special for the fans and alums as the defense of their 2011 GLIAC Title commences. Additionally, there is a revenge factor here as Hillsdale blew a 12-point edge over the last five minutes of last year's tilt and helped derail their playoff plans in the process. Perhaps most importantly, the Chargers are staring an 0-2 hole in the face and don't want to see their hopes for the year all but dashed when the campaign is all of ten days old. Yep...it may be early, but this is a BIG one.

The Charger offense moved the ball in typical fashion a week ago, but seemed to have trouble closing the deal as they missed a couple of FG's and also had another drive stall on Cal's side of the field. Finishing drives is a key, and I like Hillsdale to do a better job this week against an ODU defense that was decent last year, but hasn't been tested thus far. Another important factor in this game is how new Panther QB Mark Miller deals with a legit D2 defense. His first start a week ago against Virginia-Lynchburg was hardly a test, and while there's little question that he and Ronnel Spates will have some effectiveness via the ground I'm interested to see if Miller can move the ball via the air if the run isn't working. The perceived weakness thus far of the Charger defense is the secondary, and Miller will likely be required to throw at least some in order for ODU to win.

I really believe that ODU is an up-and-comer in this league, and that the Panther program will be one that people dread dealing with very soon. As for 2012, I'm going to wait just a bit and see. I spoke last week about how the two best offensive players of a year ago need to be replaced, and while Miller, Spates and Company won easily last week they essentially beat up a club team...pretty hard for me to put much stock in that. The Chargers are a far more polished team at this point, and they lost a close one to a quality D2 opponent. Add in Coach Otterbein's understanding of what it takes to win important games and I like Hillsdale to come out swinging in this one. Hillsdale 35, ODU 21.

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