[revrew]

Our success has been largely due to great starting talent. But we don't have the depth (or the cohesion ratings) to sustain injury. With half of our star players--QB Lincoln Ingram, S Roosevelt Clements, DE Kennedy Eisenbraun, and MLB Bubba Porter—sitting on the bench, it's understandable we would be beaten. We don't have a healthy DE on the roster, meaning we have to play people out of position, and we're down to a freshman being our best CB option. But as a coach, I knew we could play Lansing close, even without our stars, and we came within a TD of beating them. We simply didn't get good play out of anyone.

There's no excuse for our pathetic running attack, however. Maybe it was simply our inability to throw that limited our run. Our O-line is a group of pass-protectors, so our talented backs are kind of on their own. If our opponents don't have to protect against the pass, our boys will get bottled up.

Around the UMVC: Garnavillo squeaked one out against Cresco-ND, Valley of Elgin won out-of-conference, and North Winn enjoyed a bye. Next week against Valley of Elgin pits us against an opponent we've beaten before, but one that put up huge numbers against us. We won on big-plays by the D.

The question for next week is the one that always plagues me as a GM: My key to the D, DE Kennedy Eisenbraun is listed as Probable with 0-2 on a knee sprain. He's already rested 1 on that 0-2. If we lose him long-term, season's over. But we will put ourselves in a position to lose if we don't play him. Do I put him in? Do I risk it?

The UMVC standings:
Mar-Mac: 5-1
North Winn: 4-2
Lansing: 4-2
Valley of Elgin: 4-3
Cresco-ND: 4-3
Garnavillo: 1-5

Bad news: 5 of the top 7 teams in the overall power ratings are in the UMVC. Ouch.