Nobody would have guessed that a missed two-point conversion would spell the beginning of a season-ending six game losing streak and a 2-6 final record for the Tufts football team.
Sporting a 2-0 record, playing at home for the first time in 2005 and down 10-8 to Bowdoin with 3:22 left in the third quarter on Oct. 8, senior quarterback Casey D'Annolfo's two-point conversion attempt sailed over the head of a leaping Steve Menty. Shut out for the rest of that game, as well as in the following week's 7-0 loss to Trinity, the next time the Jumbos would score, their season would already be quickly transitioning from contending to rebuilding.
Tufts' early victories may have extended a false sense of optimism. The team started off the year with two wins against Wesleyan and Bates, which would combine for a 2-14 record by the end of the season.
"Certainly we knew the season would get harder," said junior defensive end Chris Decembrele, who led the Jumbos in tackles (74) and was fifth in the NESCAC in solo tackles (44). "It's one of those things, going into the season playing those two teams. But then look at Bates, they had a few good games to end the year. And Wesleyan didn't have a great year at all, but they played us hard in the first game of the season."
After the losses to Bowdoin and Trinity, which completed the season a perfect 8-0 and has not lost a game since 2002, the Jumbos' season began to unravel visibly at Williams in week five. At that time, the Ephs were even with the Jumbos at 2-2, but were on a starkly different path, bowling over the Jumbos 37-13 in the midst of a five-game winning streak to end the season. More troubling than the Williams score, however, was the season-ending ankle injury suffered by sophomore linebacker Adam Arsenault, who at the time led the Jumbos in tackles and had been named the 2004 NESCAC Defensive Rookie of the Year. The Tufts defense, which until the Williams game had allowed an average of only 7.25 points per game, gave up 28.7 per game in the final three games without Arsenault.
"We definitely had our fair share of injuries," senior free-safety and team captain Patrick Magoon said. "But I can't blame any loss on injuries; they're a part of football. I don't think any team's going to go through the season without any injuries. Great teams can pull out wins with [injuries]."
The Tufts offense also sputtered for most of the season, ranking eighth out of ten NESCAC teams in scoring with 13.6 points per game and turning the ball over a combined 21 times, behind only 1-7 Hamilton (24) and 0-8 Wesleyan (32). The Jumbos fared little better in the rushing and passing games, ranking sixth and seventh in the league, respectively.
The Jumbos' disappointing play in the 2005 season may have broader implications about the parity of NESCAC football. Coaches and players pride themselves in the competitiveness of league play, pointing to teams like Tufts and Middlebury, which finished with a combined 5-11 though both nearly upset the Trinity juggernaut. However, a few trends are inescapable and may override individual games.
Trinity has not lost a football game since 2002. The Bantams have won four straight NESCAC titles and their 30-game winning streak is second in the nation only to that of Division I USC. And yet, each year one team is fortunate enough not to have to play the Bantams. For the past two seasons it has been Colby, which finished this year at 6-2 but had the league's easiest schedule, and it was Bates in 2003 and 2002. The only NESCAC team missing from Tufts' schedule this year was Hamilton, which finished the season 1-7 with a lone 24-19 victory against winless Wesleyan.
"It's not an excuse at all, all the teams only play eight games." Decembrele said. "But our schedule is nothing to make a big deal about."
Last Saturday's game, a 21-16 loss to Middlebury at home, marked the final time the 2005 football team would be together on the field. The Jumbos' graduating class includes 11 seniors, including quarterback Casey DvAnnolfo, wide receiver Robert Burns, defensive backs Steve Briganti and Tunjie Williams, running back Scott Lombardi, free-safety Patrick Magoon, linebacker Mike McCann, defensive linemen Sean Mullin and Marc Macdonald, and offensive linemen Rich Aronson and Brandon Udelhofen.
