ATHENS —
The junior college football world’s eyes will be focused squarely on Brenham, Texas, Saturday.
At Cub Stadium, the country’s only matchup between top 10 football teams will take place when the No. 1 Blinn Buccaneers (6-0, 3-0 in SWJCFC) host the No. 8 Trinity Valley Community College Cardinals (6-0, 3-0) in a 3 p.m. kickoff.
What’s at stake?
A loss could very well knock Blinn from title contention, while keeping TVCC very much in the picture. The Cardinals would surely move into the top 5 in the national poll.
But TVCC head coach Brad Smiley continues to insist his team stay focused on the smaller picture — namely, he wants his team to keep winning conference games to set up home conference playoff games. At this point, he says, that’s all his team can control.
“It’s the next ball game,” Smiley said. “But our guys are going to be very confident going into this ball game. Again, our No. 1 goal is home playoff games and a conference championship, and you’ve got to win conference games to do that.”
TVCC has proven it can win big games at Cub Stadium, with the latest example coming during last year’s upset of Blinn in the first round of the Southwest Junior College Football Conference playoffs. TVCC went in as a heavy underdog and walked away with a 59-38 blowout win at Cub Stadium.
This year’s matchup will put one of the conference’s top offensive players on a collision course with the conference’s top defense.
Blinn running back Marion Grice will enter the game as the leading rusher in the conference with 650 yards on 92 carries and 10 touchdowns. He’s also caught eight passes for 135 yards and two scores — including a long touchdown on a screen pass during the Bucs’ win over then-No. 1 Navarro two weeks ago.
Blinn took Navarro’s top spot in the poll the next week, and earlier this week, Grice committed to play at Texas A&M.
On the other side of the ball, TVCC’s defense has allowed a conference-low 532 rushing yards. All told, the defense is giving up just 211.2 yards per game. Last week, the defense sacked NEO quarterback Clayton Mitchem seven times.
TVCC linebacker Jermaine Longino, the conference’s Defensive Player of the Week, said the 55-21 win over NEO was borne out of hard work at practice. He said the Cardinals planned to take the same approach at practice this week.
“We’re just going to go out and play our game again,” said Longino, a sophomore from Hightower High School in Houston. “Blinn’s a great team, but we’re just going to go out and play our game.”
Said sophomore wide receiver Derel Walker: “We beat them there last year and we feel like we can do it again.”
That TVCC win last year is surely something the Buccaneers haven’t forgotten, either.
Said Smiley: “This is one of those games that makes our jobs as coaches a little easier. It won’t be hard to get the guys ready for this one.”
Sports
Related Photos
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TVCC head coach Brad Smiley (above) is having his most successful season as head coach, and he’ll have a chance to send a major jolt to the junior college landscape if his Cardinals can upset the country’s No. 1 team, Blinn, on Saturday. Mickey Garcia/scoreboardphotos.com
Discussion
NO. 8 TVCC (6-0, 3-0) at NO. 1 BLINN (6-0, 3-0): The Battle at Brenham (w/conference standings)
Two of nation’s top teams collide with plenty at stake
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