Offense fizzles in cold

The football team (3-4) watched the hopes of a winning 2002 campaign vanish into the wind and cold, as the visiting Colby Mules defeated the Jumbos 9-0 on Saturday. The offense effort was the worst in recent memory and marked the first time Tufts had been shutout since the final game of the 2000 season. While the previous three weeks witnessed the Jumbos' losing in excruciatingly dramatic fashion, Saturday's loss was a sluggish event, one in which Tufts' offense managed 76 yards of total offense for the entire game.

"Things didn't go our way today," senior running back Chuck McGraw said. "Their defense was strong and we didn't make any plays."

Tufts' success the past two seasons has depended on a stingy defense that forces turnovers, and a clock-controlling offense, utilizing an aggressive running attack to set up senior slinger Scott Treacy's passing. In explaining the Jumbos' loss to Colby, one need not look further than the running game. Tufts managed 24 yards rushing on 24 carries and held the ball for just over 21 minutes of a possible 60.

"They had nine guys in the box for the entire game," sophomore running back Steve Cincotta said. "We really couldn't establish anything on the ground all afternoon."

The Jumbos were unable to exploit the Mules' tendency to play the run. Top wide receiver Matt Cerne was a late scratch, and Treacy suffered through his worst game of the season, completing six of his 29 passes for a meager 52 yards. He was intercepted three times, sacked twice, was victimized by countless dropped passes, and rarely seemed to have sufficient time in the pocket to find his receivers.

"Give a lot of credit to them, I felt like everyone was covered every time," Treacy said. "I was just scrambling. I was leaving the pocket. I feel like I just didn't make plays today."

Tufts entered the halftime down 9-0, after a blocked punt led to the game's only touchdown in the first quarter. The second half, however, brought out the worst in the Jumbo offense, as it managed one first down and 29 total yards in the game's final two quarters.

Perhaps it should not be shocking that after watching their hopes of a title-winning season erased in consecutive and heartbreaking losses to the league's top three teams, the Jumbos experienced general malaise. What was surprising was the offense's utter impotence against a mediocre defense and a team that entered the contest 2-4. As it became apparent Tufts would not score, a genuine lethargy seemed to spread over the offensive unit, even though it was the defense that was forced to spend a majority of time on the field.

"There was absolutely no rhythm today," McGraw said. "We can't play like this and expect to win football games."

"Every time we got a little something going, something stopped us," Treacy said.

Members of the offense did note that effort might be a problem.

"We did not have a great week of practice," Cincotta said. "I don't know if everyone's mind was right for this game. This is what can happen when you don't prepare hard enough."

"We should have been more fired up for this game coming off three losses in a row," Treacy said.

With one game remaining, the best that Tufts can hope for is to finish the year with a 4-4 mark. While from a talent standpoint the Jumbos are much better than their 3-4 record, the offense has played fundamentally inconsistent football all season.

Against both Williams and Amherst, the Jumbos had the ball with time dwindling in the fourth quarter, and were at most two first downs away from victory. As it has for the entire season, the defense carried the load on Saturday, holding Colby to only one sustained scoring drive and playing well enough to win. Tufts travels to Middlebury next week to finish the season against the Panthers. The Jumbos hope to even out their record, but to do so, they cannot score zero points.

"Basically, we have one week left of playing football," Cincotta said. "We aren't playing for anything but pride. We have to go out and set some tempo and develop some sort of rhythm."