Smash mouth football may not be the most exciting style of play, but right now it's the most effective one for the Jumbos. Tufts rushed for 340 yards - 25 more than last week - in Saturday's 41-12 victory over the Bates, en route to its 16th consecutive victory against the Bobcats.
Chicago's late mayor Daley would have been impressed, as the Jumbos scored early and often on Saturday. Junior quarterback Scott Treacy threw a 70-yard touchdown pass to sophomore receiver Matt Cerne on the first play of the team's second possession of the game to start the rout.
"Bates was assuming we would run the ball a lot," Cerne said. "That opened up the pass. The corner gave me a nice cushion, and Treacy threw a nice ball."
The bomb was followed up by a one-yard touchdown scamper from Treacy, as Tufts headed into the second quarter up 13-0.
And the second quarter was no kinder to the Bobcats than the first, as junior cornerback Evan Zupancic ran back a punt 60 yards for a score six minutes into the period. That was followed up by Treacy's second rushing touchdown of the game, this one from seven yards out, and Tufts held a 27-0 lead. It wasn't until 3:27 before halftime that Bates scored its first offensive touchdown of the season, a 33-yard pass from Kane Jankoski to running back Sean Atkins.
The second half was more of the same, as Tufts scored twice more, both on the ground. Bates capped the scoring with nine minutes left in the game as Mike Agosto had a three yard touchdown run.
The defense had its second straight steady performance, holding the Bobcats to 12 points and 256 total yards. Tufts had two sacks on two interceptions on the day, as Zupancic picked off his second of the season. However, according to the players, there is still room for improvement.
"We are satisfied when the offense put up lots of points early," graduate student and defensive lineman Everrett Dickerson said. "It made it easy for the defense to over relax. If we were playing a better caliber team, we would have been disappointed at the end of the game."
While the team held Bates to 12 first downs, Dickerson feels that there work to do to get ready for more difficult games in the future.
"We're good, really good," he said. "But we're not playing as well as we could be. We need to work on the basic techniques, the fundamentals. I just hope the young guys don't think we're better than we are."
The story of the day, though, was the running game. Not only did the team run wild in the ground attack, but junior running back Keven Kelley padded his total, as he eclipsed the 150-yard mark for the second straight week, this time going for 156 and the team's fifth touchdown.
"I heard Kelley was good," Cerne said. "But he's unbelievable. He's like a lineman with speed."
In addition to Kelley, the three-headed rushing monster coach Bill Samko promised was in effect Saturday. Junior Chuck McGraw ran for 62 yards and senior Renato DePaolis had 52 yards and the Jumbos' sixth and final touchdown.
When you talk about punishing teams with the run, you have to mention the offensive line. This veteran unit is composed of senior co-captain Mike Willey, senior Jim Higgins, juniors Andy Dickerson and Adam Collette and sophomore Justin Kelley. All five played substantial minutes last year, and that experience is showing off early this season.
"You can't say enough about the offensive line," Cerne said. "They're just opening up everything for the running backs."
Tufts' 655 rushing yards in the first two games leads the NESCAC, as does Kelley's 324. While the running game has been piling up the yards, Treacy has been the most productive player on the field. Treacy was 3-13 for 85 yards and two interceptions, but those stats are inconsequential because the junior accounted for three touchdowns, which brings his total to six on the year.
What could be worrisome in the future is that teams will start stacking eight or nine players against the run, daring Tufts to pass. Treacy has not yet proven that the passing game can get the job done.
"We have to keep working at the pass game," Cerne said, "Even if we don't use it that much. All we can do is have more reps, more work at it. That's all you can do."
In two games, the offense has seen eight different players cross the goal line, including both starting receivers in Cerne and junior Bryan Pitko, all three running backs, Ryan Pappi, the tight end, Treacy, and Zupancic. What has been most impressive about the Tufts offense, though, is that senior kicker Howie Rock hasn't had to kick anything except extra points.
Last season Rock attempted eight field goals and ten extra points. The multi-talented senior also punted 65 times, or just over eight times per game. Though it is still early, this season all the team's points have come on touchdowns, 11 in two games, and Rock hasn't been called on for a field goal. And after two games, the Jumbos have 14 fewer points than all of last season.
It's important to preach that it's still early in the season, but the Jumbos have accomplished enough in the first two games to make their home opener, this coming Saturday at 1 p.m. against Bowdoin, worth attending. And for the second straight week, Tufts will be taking on an opponent coming off the wrong end of a blowout, as Bowdoin fell to Amherst last Saturday 35-0.
Just don't go to the game expecting Tufts to pass frequently.
