37-0: The Shootout that Never Was

The Hillsdale College football program posted its first shutout in 11 years against, of all teams, Michigan Tech. If the wheels haven't officially fallen off of the Tech wagon, they are wobbling mightily. A point scoring machine that had reeled off 9 straight GLIAC wins going back to last year's Hillsdale game turned heads with a big win over Northwood. But ever since the upset of Northwood, Tech has scored just 6 points in its last two games.

Wow! Many thought this was going to be a high scoring affair, myself included. You know, a real shoot-out, one of those games that makes people across the country think nobody plays defense in the GLIAC. The Hillsdale Chargers played some serious defense today.

The Charger defense looked even more impressive than it did against Ashland. They helped their turnover ratio numbers immensely with 4 interceptions to be +3 on the day. That puts them at +10 on the year. Hillsdale was ranked #11 in the nation in turnover ratio entering the game. Palmer Schoening and Josh Hutchinson both ended big Tech drives with picks inside the 10 and at the goal line respectively. Tom Korte picked off a pass for the second week in a row. High school teammate Alex Mileskiewicz gave the Chargers a short field that led to the game's final points.

Korte getting 13 stops is par for every Saturday, but look at the yardage breakdown on those 13. 4 were for no gain. 3 were for gains of 1 yard. 5 were on 2 yard gains. 1 was for a 3 yard gain. Talk about stepping up and plugging the middle.

Early this season, Michigan Tech quarterback Steve Short was making a reputation for himself as one of the elite gunslingers in the GLIAC. Hillsdale held the sophomore to just 9 or 21 passing for 110 yards and the afore mentioned interceptions. The 110 yards is 134 less than the 244 the Huskies had averaged in passing offense so far this season. Usually a rushing threat, Short gained just 19 yards on 9 carries. Eric Weber took away 8 of Short's yards on the Charger's only sack of the day. Marvin Atkins was held to 79 yards rushing, 92 less than he gained against Grand Valley last week. The 219 yards of total offense surrendered by the Chargers is 189 less than what Tech had achieved per game so far this season. Most importantly, it is a huge improvement from last week's showing at Ferris State.

Marcellus Wade added 8 stops and Weber had 6 in a great effort from the Hillsdale defense.

On offense Mark Nicolet was again spectacular completing 34 of 47 passes for 376 and 4 touchdowns and 1 interception (just his 2nd of the season). The 34 completions are a Hillsdale record. This was Nicolet's 4th straight 300 yard-plus passing game. No Hillsdale quarterback had ever gone over 300 more than 2 games in a row until Nicolet had his 3rd in a row last week. So far this year he has recorded games of 227 (played just over 2 quarters in blow-out of Gannon), 376, 426, 335, and today's 376. Entering today's game Nicolet was 2nd in the country with an average of 341 yards per game. He was also 2nd in total passing yards with 1364 behind West Texas A&M's Keith Null. Null had another freakish day, completing 36 of 52 passes for 390 yards and 5 scores.

When a guy like Nicolet puts up big passing numbers, receivers are going to have big days. Head Coach Keith Otterbein told the local Hillsdale paper today, "In our Tiger personnel set, with three receivers and a tight end, are you going to stop (Matt) Patillo who’s catching the ball very well, are you going to stop (Nick) Gurica, are you going to stop (A.J.) Kegg, are you going to stop (Aaron) Waldie?" Tech seemed to prefer clamping down on Waldie as the D2 leader in receiving yards picked up 90 yards (nearly 50 off his per game average) on 9 catches but was kept out of the endzone for the first time this season. Gurica picked up the slack with a single-game Hillsdale record 13 grabs for 197 yards and 2 touchdowns. When both were covered, Nicolet found Patillo 6 times for 45 yards and 2 scores. 10 different Chargers caught passes Saturday.

The Charger offensive line had another dominant showing, giving Nicolet all kinds of time to work and plowing the way for Vinnie Panizzi's 82 yards on 17 carries and Billy Kanitz' 2 yard touchdown plunge in the 3rd quarter.

All-in-all it was another great day to wear the Charger Blue!

Webcast is ON!

Hillsdale College and B2 Networks will once again webcast the action from Muddy Waters Stadium this Saturday. Several members of the usual TV crew have a previously scheduled engagement, but a single camera feed and commentary from WCSR will take its place.

Click here to watch Hillsdale and MTU live.

D2football.com: Tony Nicolette's Gliac Column

Tony Nicolette
D2football.com
September 25, 2007

Michigan Tech (3-1, 3-2) at Hillsdale (3-1, 3-1)

While the fact that Tech lost to Grand Valley was not so much of a shock, Hillsdale not getting it done against Ferris was (in my mind) rather surprising. Both teams look to get things back on track this week and keep their GLIAC title and playoff hopes alive. Tech's defense has been shown to be weaker than they'd like, and Steve Short looked human last week for the first time in nearly a full season. Meanwhile, Hillsdale proved that even a red-hot offense is not a foolproof cure-all for overcoming mental errors, turnovers, and special teams breakdowns.

Tech Keys:
- Obviously, Steve Short needs to forget last week and do his thing. When he has his game together, he's darn near impossible to contain.
- Keep the running game going with Marvin Atkins. I think he's struggled with his health this year, but he looked impressive at times against GV. If he keeps getting healthier, his numbers should continue to get better.
- Play some "D". The Huskies have now given up more than 40 points three times this year. I know I harp on this, but you just can't expect to win every week (let alone more games than you lose) when you give up 30, 35, 40 or more points. One mistake by your offense and you're out the door with a loss. It's just a risky way to go.

Hillsdale Keys:
- Clean it up. Hillsdale really was the better team last week, but they had too many mistakes to overcome. If they can minimize the mental breakdowns and not give Tech any advantages (short fields, cheap scores, etc.), this is a very winnable contest for them.
- Watch the GV tape. While Hillsdale's defense is not as athletic as GV's defense from top to bottom, I'm sure they can learn what the Lakers were doing scheme wise to give Short trouble. GV did not put an overwhelming amount of pressure on Short, but they did confuse him and force him into bad decisions. This is the sort of thing Hillsdale should be able to replicate, at least to a certain degree.
- I say it every week, but it bears repeating: Mark Nicolet is playing great, as is the rest of the offense for that matter, so don't change a thing. Yards and points can be had against Tech's defense and I don't see anything that they are doing that is glaringly different/better than the other defenses that the Chargers have lit up this year.

Prediction: While I predicted Tech to be near the top of the league this year, I think their defense has really been "found out" the last couple of weeks, and I may have been a bit too high on them. Obviously, Hillsdale's offense is at or near the top of the GLIAC in just about every category. That combination does not bode well for the Huskies. While I believe that Tech can make a game of it, I think Hillsdale will just be too much at home - not to mention they're looking to make someone pay for a loss they feel like they shouldn't have suffered last week. Hillsdale 52, Tech 34.

Full Column

Tale of the Tape: Hillsdale vs. Michigan Tech

Here is how Michigan Tech and Hillsdale matchup. Featured are the national rankings in comparison to each other. Time and web space prohibit me from comparing all stats. View them all at the NCAA national stats page.

Click images for full-size.

Leading the GLIAC

After 4 games, The Chargers lead the GLIAC football statistics in several categories.

Team
1. Scoring Offense 47.8 points per game
1. Passing Offense 353.8 yards per game
1. Total Passing Yards 1415 yards
1. Passing Yards per Attempt 9.9 yards per attempt
1. Pass Efficiency 179.8
1. Third Down Conversions 31/59
1. Fewest Sacks 3
1. PAT Kicking 26/26
1. Touchdowns Scored 26
1. Rushing TDs 12
1. Passing TDs 14
1. Passing First Downs 61
1. Points Scored Kicking 35
1. Turnover Margin +7
1. Total Offense 502.8 yards per game
2. Yards per Play 6.6 yards
2. Fewest Interceptions Thrown 1
2. Passing Completion Percentage 65.7
2. Punt Returns 9.9 yards per return
2. Total Fumbles Recovered 6
3. Interception Return Yards 11.3 yards per pick
3. Total Offensive Plays 305
3. Total Offensive Yards 20011 (30 behind #1 MTU)

Individual
Mark Nicolet:
1. Passing yards per game 341 yards per game
1. Total Offense 358.5 yards per game
1. Passing Efficiency 185.9
1. Total Offense Yards 1434 yards
1. Total Passing Yards 1364
1. Passing TDs 13

Aaron Waldie
1. Receptions per Game 6.75 catches per game
1. Total Recetions 27
1. Receiving yards 144.2 yards per game
1. Total Receiving Yards 577
1. All Purpose yards 197.2 yards per game
1. Receiving TDs 9
2. Scoring 13.5 points per game
2. Scoring (TD) 13.5 points per game
2. Total TDs 9

Matt VanOver
1. Punting 46.8 yards per kick

Mark Petro
1. Scoring (kicking) 8.8 points per game
1. PAT kicking 100% 26/26

Alex Wojcik
1. Fumbles Recovered 2

Vinnie Panizzi
1. Rushing TDs 8
3. Scoring 12 points per game
3. Scoring 12 points per game

Tom Korte
2. Total Tackles 42

Nick Gurica
2. Punt Returns 9.9 per return

3 Day Sale: $10 off any T-shirt Order of $50 or More.

Shop The Chargerblue.com Team Shop at Cafe Press the next 3 days and receive $10 off any order of apparel totaling over $50. Several designs are now available on high quality products. This includes ALL t-shirts, just not "vintage" as the ad may lead you to believe.

Click here to shop.

Use the promo offer code: VINTAGE10 at checkout.

*Excludes button, magnet or mini-button orders (singles or multi-packs), bulk orders, taxes and shipping fees. Cannot be combined with any other offers, discounts or coupons. Valid through September 28, 2007 at 11:59 p.m. (PST).

So This Earth?

Wow! We Charger fans have been away for 3 whole weeks. The crash was awfully jarring. Oh well, we have 7 more chances to enjoy watching these guys get after it. Ugly game tonight. Of all the things we had done so right, we sure didn't tonight. All credit goes to Ferris. They took advantage and coulda packed up shop after the rough start to their season. It's only 1. We had better learn a lot from it.