Paul Tortorella likens a football season to a marathon. He believes you have to establish a steady pace and maintain it, leaving enough in the tank to kick it into high gear when you need it at the end.
Using that analogy, Tortorella’s IUP Crimson Hawks have put in the miles and are now staring down the finish line, with nothing but a clear road ahead of them as they chase the PSAC West championship.
With two games left on the divisional schedule, Tortorella’s Crimson Hawks need only to keep winning to clinch their second PSAC West title in the past four years and earn a spot in the conference championship game on November 15, against the East Division champion.
IUP (5-2 overall, 3-1 division) welcomes Gannon (1-7, 1-3) on Saturday in the final home game of the regular season. Kickoff is at 2:00 p.m.
Because they are tied atop the division standings with Edinboro, a team they beat on October 4, the Crimson Hawks can clinch the West simply by winning their final two Western Division games, against Gannon and next week at Clarion (6-2). No other team in the division has the luxury of knowing that simply by winning out, it will have the championship in hand. All the others need some kind of help to win, even if they come out ahead in both of their remaining games.
“Our main thing right now is just to win the West,” said Tortorella.
Gannon comes to town with an unimpressive record (1-7), but with an impressive win. The Golden Knights’ lone victory came against Slippery Rock, which handed IUP its lone divisional loss two weeks ago.
For that very reason, Tortorella said his team cannot take the Golden Knights lightly.
“They’re a dangerous team if you let them get that way,” he said. “Slippery Rock gave them way too many possessions—an onside kick, turnovers, and a kick return for a touchdown. They’re good enough to beat you in those circumstances because they can score points.”
On offense, the Golden Knights are scoring 23.4 points per game and averaging 350.6 yards per game. Neither are spectacular figures, but they don’t point to a team that’s 1-7.
Gannon has had a tough schedule, so its record might be deceiving. The Golden Knights’ eight games have come against seven teams that currently have a .500 or better record: Davenport (4-3), Saginaw Valley Statre (5-3), East Stroudsburg (6-2), Kutztown (8-0), Slippery Rock (5-2), Clarion (6-2), and Edinboro (4-4). They lost to Davenport by nine and Clarion by two, but the rest were not particularly close games, although they held leads against Seton Hill and Edinboro that they were unable to hold onto.
“They’re a different team,” Tortorella said. “But like I tell our guys, watch all the film you want—the team you see on film isn’t going to be the one that comes here to play us. This is their Super Bowl.”
The Golden Knights’ most significant issue has been their defense. Gannon has allowed a PSAC-worst 246.5 rushing yards per game, and its per-game averages of 42.1 points allowed and 419.4 yards allowed are second-to-last in the PSAC.
“They’re just having trouble stopping anything,” Tortorella said. “Their time of possession is really high—32 minutes a game. That usually correlates with good teams. But in their case, it’s two things: they’re trying to protect their defense by going slow on offense, and they’re giving up points fast—big plays on defense, special teams, blocked punts.”
But as usual, the Crimson Hawks are focusing on themselves. They’re coming off a 38-30 win over California in the annual Coal Bowl, which snapped a two-game losing streak to the Vulcans.
Despite losing to Slippery Rock, all of IUP’s goals are still attainable. And the first one on the Crimson Hawks’ list is to win the West.
“That’s all we’re talking about,” Tortorella said. “So, we gotta win this week.”
