UNA Lions #3

[dolfan]

My UNA Lions are #3 in D2, 3-0, and are mowing over everyone they play so far. They will travel to Arkansas this week to play Harding, the second of four trips to the state they will make this season. They have at least 2 games on TV on the GSC Thursday night games, two of them coming in a 3-game home stand starting next week.

Roar Lions!!

[dolfan]

Again, not an SEC post:

UNA plays 3-1 Arkansas Tech for homecoming this week. The Wonderboys have one of the highest-powered offenses in D2 ball. UNA has one of the best defenses and a very good offense. This senior class at UNA has never lost a home game. That's big. Here's to the Lions keeping that streak alive against a very, very good team. Go Lions!!

[curiouspk]

From a UNA student perspective, all I have to say is:

ROAR LIONS!!!!

[dolfan]

Alright!!!!

UNA beat Ark. Tech 42-17, stopping one of the highest scoring offenses in Div. 2. Couldn't be prouder. In doing it, QB Harrison Beck set a school record of 431 yards and 5 TD passes in a single game. Fantastic, and this is a kid who follows in the footsteps of last year's Harlon Hill runner-up, A.J. Millwee. (Those of you who don't follow D-2 ball, the Harlon Hill trophy is D-2's equivalent of the Heisman, and the award itself is named after a UNA alum and player, ummmm, Harlon Hill. ) I watched Millwee play, and he could flat hum that ball. I haven't seen Beck yet, but ....

UNA plays on TV on October 15 against Delta State in a real rivalry game. Delta State, along with Valdosta State, are UNA's biggest, toughest opponents year in and year out. They are always very, very good. When UNA loses, you can almost always bet it is to one of these two teams. WE get DSU at home on a Thursday night that will appear on CSS Sports' Gulf South Conference game of the week. After that, we go way down to Valdosta State for another Thursday night game that will also be on TV (CBS College Sports, which locally Fox Sports South carries on Thurs. nights). So, our two biggest games of the season will be on TV. Whoopee!!!!!

The Thursday night games begin this week, though, when North Greenville comes to town. I don't think anyone is airing it, or if they are, the UNA website doesn't say so. Maybe that'll change. (Fingers crossed.)

[dolfan]

UNA is now #2 in D-2 ball. Last night, they played their arch-rivals, Delta State University, on TV at home in Braly Stadium in Florence, AL, which has hosted the D-2 Championship Game for like 16 years in a row now.

UNA won in a squeaker after having dominated almost all prior opponents. DSU was 3-3 coming into this game, but I watched the first half and it was not pretty. UNA's defense couldn't stop anything after playing 7 games of shut-out kind of ball against teams with better records. DSU was just ready and UNA wasn't, but UNA won anyway. They made adjustments at halftime on defense and came out in the second half and stopped the bleeding.

DSU was not exactly playing good D, either. One touchdown they "allowed", though, was not one at all. A UNA receiver, Nico McSwain, caught a 30 yard pass from QB Harrison Beck (who has a cannon arm for a D-2 guy; NFL scouts were at the game looking at a UNA linebacker), got to the 3 and stepped out by a good foot, kept running, got hit short of the end zone, stretched the ball out and went out of bounds at about the half-yard line, the ball never crossing the plane or even really getting that close. Ref signalled touchdown, and it went down as six points. The PAT was good, and it kept UNA from being seriously behind in the first half.

Some things I didn't like about UNA's performance: When Terry Bowden came to coach UNA, he quickly assembled 25 transfers from D-1 programs around the country. Navy, NC, NC State, Florida State, Alabama. Some were starters at their D-1 schools who'd gotten suspended for disciplinary reasons (i.e. Brandon Fanney, LB, Alabama) and who transferred so they wouldn't have to sit out. UNA was an easy choice because of its history of winning, its recent successes, the brand-name new coach, and not having to sit out a year. Otherwise, UNA is not competing like this this season because they lost a ton of starters to graduation last year. But, I liked that Bowden had given these guys a place to be. Until I saw some of them play last night. Some of them are outright thugs. One of them even did the throat-slashing gesture after a tackle. That'll get you a flag nowadays, but they didn't throw one on him. It was a series of little in-your-face displays by a handful of UNA players that I just found distasteful.

Other times, though, to be fair to all, I saw lots of 'attaboy' helmet pats and obviously good-natured, respectful chatter between the teams after good plays were made on either side of the ball. That stood out, too, and it was coming from both teams. I don't normally look for that, but it was just so frequent. And, then, the handful of guys on UNA who were not showing that kind of attitude were even more noticeable for it.

Referees: F minus. The bad TD call. Pass interferences that went without flags (both ways, didn't favor either team), some calls that should have been flagged but weren't.

But, the Lions are 8-0 now. #2, and seem to have crossed their biggest hurdle yet on a path to a Gulf South Conference Championship and the D-2 playoffs. So, congrats to the UNA Lions! (Shape up the 'tude.)