On Saturday October 12 the Saint Xavier football team will be taking on conference rivals Robert Morris. The Eagles are coming into the game with a 2-3 overall record but are 1-0 in conference play.
On paper this game seems like an easy win for Saint Xavier however the eagles’ record is deceiving, they have had one of the toughest schedules in all of NAIA.
So Far this year Robert Morris have lost to both 3rd ranked St.Francis (IN) and 6th ranked Marian University. Their only other loss is to Siena Heights who are only have one loss on the season.
For the Eagles running the ball will be key and they have a pair of very good complementary running backs that have a set of skills that will be really hard for Saint Xavier to stop. Sophomore Ke’von Johnson is the first running back on the depth chart. He is very elusive back with breakaway speed, which can cause a problem if he gets through the initial line of scrimmage. Johnson has 459 yards on the season but only two touchdowns, this is because of their power running back Edward Clark.
Edward Clark is the thunder to Ke’von Johnson’s lightning, and is given the ball in short yardage situations, namely on the goal line. He has four touchdowns on the year because of this and looks to get a couple more against SXU
Quarterback play has been a major issue for the Eagles this year. The Eagles starter for most of the year has been Quinn Kelly who has had an abysmal start to his season. Kelly has a completion percentage below fifty, only one touchdown and is only averaging 137 yards per game. This poor play coupled with the performance of backup quarterback, Jack Sheehan, has led to Kelly getting benched in favor of Sheehan.
In two games this year Jack Sheehan has clearly been the better quarterback, completing over 70 percent of his passes and averaging around 157 yards per game. While not great it is clear that Sheehan is the game manager that the eagle have needed so far this year and if he struggles the eagle know they have an experienced backup that they can plug in.
Defensively Robert Morris has struggled for most of the year allowing 25 points per game. While good against the pass what makes the RObert Morris defense especially bad is their ability to stop the run. They have allowed nearly 1,000 rushing yards on the season Saint Xavier should be able to gash the Robert Morris defense with long run plays.
My prediction for this game Saint Xavier 42 Robert Morris 17. SXU already have two losses this season and a third loss would be a serious blow to their playoff chances. This desperation coupled with the fact that Saint Xavier matches up really well with Robert Morris, especially their defense is going to be too much for the Eagles to overcome. This will lead to a comfortable win for the Cougars.