With half of the season already gone, the fate of the football team's 2005 campaign is hardly certain, as the Jumbos' statistically promising, but turnover-prone, play in the first four games has evened their record at 2-2.
The Jumbo defense has anchored the team thus far, boasting the NESCAC's second-rated pass and rush defenses based on total yards allowed. The defense has given up a total of just 30 points in the first half of the season, and its 7.5 average points allowed is good for third in the NESCAC, just behind second place Amherst's 7.0 points.
The offense, inconsistent at times, has also shown signs of brilliance. In week two, Jumbo senior quarterback Casey D'Annolfo and receiver Brian VonAncken teamed up to dismantle Bates 34-7 nearly three weeks ago. VonAncken had five receptions for 100 yards and three touchdowns, while D'Annolfo's 255 yards on 16 of 24 passes for four touchdowns and no interceptions earned him NESCAC Offensive Player of the Week honors. Running back Scott Lombardi and receiver Steve Menty have also impressed this season, with Lombardi rushing for 177 yards against Bowdoin and Menty with 18 receptions for 230 yards and a touchdown on the year.
Still, the Jumbos have been unable to translate these numbers into wins the past two weeks, as interceptions and fumbles have mired Tufts' play. In close losses to Bowdoin and Trinity, the Jumbos committed nine turnovers - six interceptions and three lost fumbles.
"Of course turnovers make a difference," coach Bill Samko said. "We have to work on protecting the football better. If we turn the ball over a lot like we did, we're just not going to win."
Turnovers weren't a problem in the first two games. D'Annolfo threw two interceptions against Wesleyan to start the season, but those picks were the only two turnovers for the Jumbos in its first two weeks of play. Not surprisingly, the Jumbos won both of those games by a combined margin of 60-13.
Since then, Tufts has dropped 10-8 and 7-0 games against Bowdoin and Trinity, the league's two remaining undefeated teams, giving up nine turnovers in the two losses. Despite Bowdoin's 4-0 record, Tufts appeared to have a chance to win, as the Jumbos compiled over 350 offensive yards to more than double the Polar Bears' own offensive effort. But Tufts also committed four turnovers to Bowdoin's zero, which played out on the scoreboard in the shutout loss.
"Statistics are statistics - we dominated that game," Samko said. "But we made four or five mistakes. The turnovers were there, and we also had a couple of illegal procedure penalties that killed us."
Last Saturday's contest against Trinity was a similar story, but under starkly different circumstances. Unlike Bowdoin, whose four wins in 2005 are more than its win total for the last five seasons combined (the Polar Bears had a 4-36 record between 2000 and 2004), Trinity came into the game without a loss since the 2002 season and a streak of 25 straight victories. During the game - which went the entire 60 minutes before the outcome was a sure thing - the Tufts defense kept the NESCAC's first-rated offense at bay, holding the Trinity offense to it's lowest point total since the 2001 season.
"Look at Tufts' defensive statistics before entering the game against us," Trinity coach Charles Priore said. "They shut teams down. They shut the rushing game down. People try to say the weather is an equalizer, but that's not really the case. They're just a good defensive team."
Up next for the Jumbos will be Williams. The team is looking to turn around a slow start, and doing a good job of it. After starting the season 0-2, the Ephs have won their last two games and sophomore quarterback Pat Lucey was named last week's NESCAC's Offensive Player of the Week for his play in Williams' 39-18 romp over Middlebury. Lucey threw for 186 yards and two touchdowns on 14 for 17 passing as the Ephs trounced the winless Panthers.
Trinity's coach had some words of advice for the Jumbos.
"Tufts will have to stop Williams' passing game," Priore said, whose Bantams beat the Ephs 34-6 in week two. "Offensively, passing is [Williams'] strength and Williams can be effective with it. I think [Tufts vs. Williams] is probably an evenly-matched game, and it's going to come down to who makes the least mistakes."
After Williams, the Jumbos will face Amherst and Colby, and then wrap up the season at home against Middlebury on Nov. 12. While Middlebury is still winless at 0-4, the Jumbos' first three second-half opponents all boast even or winning records, combining for an 8-4 mark.
