The Jumbos will be facing a top−four NESCAC team for the third−straight weekend when they face off against Amherst on Saturday at Zimman Field.
The Lord Jeffs come to the Hill boasting a 5−0 record and sitting atop the NESCAC standings alongside Trinity. Amherst's high−powered offense and strong defensive front have fueled its success so far this season, and the Jumbos will need to find a way to overcome both if they hope to pick up their first win of the season.
"They're a good, well−coached, hard, physical team," interim head coach Jay Civetti said of Amherst. "They play good, sound football. They bring a lot of energy. Obviously their record is representative of their ability; they're a strong football team."
Offensively, Tufts can expect a similar style to what they saw from Trinity on Oct. 15. Like the Bantams, the Lord Jeffs are a strictly run−first team but with a slightly different twist. The Lord Jeffs often operate without huddling, using the hurry−up offense that is commonplace in Div. I college football. Spearheading Amherst's offense is senior running back Eric Bunker, older brother of Trinity's Evan Bunker, who kept the Jumbos defense's hands full in the 9−0 Homecoming loss.
"Amherst runs a hurry−up offense so we just have to stay focused," junior defensive back Sam Diss said. "[We need to] get the calls in quick, get lined up quick, stay calm and collected and do our job on every play."
Bunker, second in the NESCAC in rushing yards, has led the Lord Jeffs to an impressive 29 points per game. That means the Jumbos defense — anchored by the conference's leading tackler, senior linebacker Zack Skarzynski — will have to continue playing up to the level it has shown in recent games.
Two weeks ago against Trinity, the defense put on a very strong performance in which it allowed only nine points to an offense that had averaged 28 in its prior three contests. Last week, the squad allowed 38 points to another top−tier offense, the Williams Ephs, and though the point total was high, a closer look at the statistics shows that Tufts did a better job than the final score suggests. The Jumbos held the Ephs to just 325 yards, well below their season average of 378, and out of the six Ephs scoring drives, only two were longer than 33 yards.
Turnovers and miscues on special teams led to good field position for the Ephs and cost the Jumbos greatly. Those two areas have been a problem for the team all season, and the squad will certainly have to execute more consistently this week if they want to have a chance against Amherst.
"We get off schedule and we have a couple of penalties here and there, drop a few balls, we're not a good enough team to overcome those kinds of things, I don't know that any team is," Civetti said. "We've learned lessons about protecting the football, and that's certainly been better for us. But now we have to make sure we stay on schedule and continue to execute."
Points have been hard to come by this year for the Jumbos, but against Williams last week, Tufts scored 17, showing signs of life on offense. It was their highest−scoring performance of the year, and it included two impressive drives of over 70 yards, giving the team something to build off of heading into tomorrow's game.
"There was a little bit of confidence there for a while," Civetti said. "When you stick to your assignments and you do your job and you have 11 guys on the field that do their job collectively, then you're going to have some amount of success."
The Jumbos could be poised for another big offensive day. Amherst has been particularly good against the run this season, but aerial attacks have had considerable success against the Lord Jeffs. This bodes well for the passing−oriented Jumbos and senior quarterback Johnny Lindquist, who is expected to start despite a minor shoulder injury.
One key to focus on for this week's game that may have a large impact on the outcome is the performance of Tufts' offensive line. Sacks have been a glaring problem for the Jumbos and have halted many successful drives. The Jumbos are last in the NESCAC in protecting their quarterback, having allowed 20 sacks through five games.
Unfortunately, the Lord Jeffs excel at rushing the passer, led by the dominant duo of defensive linemen Mike Aldo and Kevin Ferber, who have five sacks apiece. The Jumbos have the potential to move the ball through the air against a weak Amherst secondary, but they must give Lindquist time in the pocket to see the field and make plays.
"We have to make sure we protect, and that we're good on our protections, making the right reads and we're communicating," Civetti said. "When you go to play Amherst defense you know they're bringing it, they crank it up pretty good, they play big time defense and that's to be expected."
