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PITTSBURGH, Pa. -- Fueled by the nation's third-ranked rushing offense and the dynamic duo of running backs Travis Sivek and Robert Gimson, No. 24 Carnegie Mellon grinded out 21 second half points to win its first playoff game since 1978 and send Millsaps home in the opening-round of the Division III Playoffs.
Millsaps (7-4, 6-0 SCAC) who came into the weekend with the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference's top scoring offense (33.0 ppg), was shut out for the first time since 2005, turning the ball over a total of five times, four inside the 35 yard line of Carnegie Mellon.
Carnegie Mellon (11-0, 3-0 UAA) controlled the time of possession from the opening kickoff. The Tartans ate up 9:40 in the first quarter alone en route to a commanding 40:15-19:45 time of possession difference.
Millsaps forced five Tartan three-and-outs to open the game and had its share of big play opportunities and scoring threats, but just couldn't find its rhythm on offense.
On the Majors first play from scrimmage, Juan Joseph fought through pressure from the Tartan defense and rolled to his right where a streaking Chris Jackson had a couple of steps on his defender.
Joseph however threw it just out of the reach of Jackson – one of several overthrows on the day that could have gone for big yardage – who had a good 75 yards of green to work with and only a safety to beat.
After the Majors defense forced their third-straight three-and-out to open the game, Millsaps let another big play slip away.
From his own 25 yard line, Joseph connected with Burt Pereira down the middle of the field for a 48 yard gain, but Pereira was stripped from behind by Trent Sisson when he tried to make a move back towards the inside of the field and the Majors turned the ball over.
The only other real scoring threat of the first half came from Carnegie Mellon with its second to last drive.
After a James Rogers interception set up CMU at its own 45 yard line, the Tartans pushed it down to the Majors 9-yard line where they were faced with a third-and-three.
From there the Majors defense held strong and one of the SCAC’s hottest linebackers, Ronnie Wheat, picked up a huge sack on Tartans quarterback Doug Facemyer to force a Carnegie Mellon field goal attempt.
The 35 yard field goal try from Nat Greenstein sailed well short and to the left and the Majors held their ground to keep the game scoreless.
Both defenses played extremely tough in the first half. Carnegie Mellon forced two turnovers, four William Lawrimore punts and held the Majors to minus three rushing yards in the first half, while Millsaps forced the Tartans into five punting situations, held them to 0-7 on third down conversions and surrendered only five first downs.
After a quick three-and-out from Millsaps to open the second half, Lawrimore was forced to punt for the fifth time of the game from his own 21 yard line.
Carnegie Mellon took over from its own 39 yard line and put together by far its best drive of the game.
Gimson picked up 51 yards on the ground, including a crucial fourth-and-one on the Millsaps 25, while Sivek picked up 10 and the 3-yard touchdown run that put the Tartans on top 7-0 just 1:38 into the third quarter. The drive spanned 13 plays, 61 yards in 5:28.
The Majors tried to respond quickly, using a 35 yard kick return from Jackson to begin the drive at their own 37 yard line.
Joseph completed three-straight passes to open the drive, connecting with Jackson for three yards, Tyson Roy for 19 yards and Kennedy Griffin for 12 yards down to the CMU 29 yard line.
But the drive stalled out from there, as Joseph threw three incomplete passes including a fourth-and-three to Jackson that was ruled incomplete. Jackson appeared to haul in the Joseph delivery and take it down to the 16 yard line, but the side judge ruled that Jackson was bobbling the pass before he stepped out-of-bounds.
Yet another missed opportunity for the Majors.
From there the Tartans drove 78 yards in 4:55 on eight plays to take a commanding 14-0 lead midway through the third quarter. Sivek picked up 30 yards on the drive, including his second rushing touchdown of the afternoon.
Millsaps once again tried to fight back.
From his own 20 yard line, Joseph drove the Majors down to CMU’s 17 yard line, completing 7-of-8 passes to four different receivers.
But just as the previous three penetrating drives for Millsaps turned out with zero points and a turnover, this one ended the same way when Joseph was intercepted by Steve Curran on a screen play.
CMU capitalized, tacking on another touchdown midway through the fourth quarter that put the game well out of reach and shot the Majors’ hopes of a second round playoff berth.
Joseph completed 24-of-37 passes for 230 yards, but his three interceptions proved costly in the 21-0 shutout loss. He ends the 2006 season as Millsaps’ single-season record holder in yards (2,495), completions (224), attempts (374) and TDs (21).
On defense, Marcus Harris picked up a career-high 15 tackles and two pass breakups, while David Dale picked up 11 tackles and a half a tackle-for-loss. Ray Kline (9), Denarold Anderson (9), Canaan Farris (8), Michael Sims (7) and Marcus Stokes (7) rounded out the list of top performances, while Wheat recorded the Majors’ lone sack of the game.
For the Tartans, the rushing tandem of Gimson (23 carries, 142 yards) and Sivek (25 carries, 108 yards) combined for 257 of CMU’s 318 total yards. For the season, both running backs have now eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark.
Three CMU defenders recorded double-digit tackles in Jonathan Scholl, Aaron Lewis and Sisson who each totaled 10 tackles. Sisson had a stellar all-around game for the Tartans, recording 2.5 tackles-for-loss, two forced fumbles, a fumble recovery and 1.5 sacks.
The win for CMU is its 11th-straight as they will now travel to Dover, Del., to face off with No. 3 Wesley College next weekend.
The loss for Millsaps snaps a 7-game winning streak dating back to Sept. 30 and ends its magical run to the Division III Playoffs.
The Majors say goodbye to graduating seniors Chuck Stall (student coach), Chris Jackson, Michael Gleason, Josh Hanna, Ben Robichaux, Kirk Jackson, Joey Doxey, Jeep Darnell and Conell Phillips, Jr. We wish them nothing but the best of luck in their future endeavors.
The crowd support has been tremendous all season and the coverage from ESPN Radio 1240AM has been greatly appreciated.
The Majors hope to return a handful of players for the 2007 season and look to defend their SCAC title.
Game Notes:
Carnegie Mellon didn’t cross the 50 yard line until 8:54 left in the second quarter.
Carnegie Mellon didn’t pick up a first down until 8:54 remaining in the second quarter.
The Carnegie Mellon duo of Travis Sivek and Robert Gimson accounted for 102 of 110 first half yardage.
Defensive Back Marcus Harris had a career-high 15 tackles, 11 tackles in the first half
This is Carnegie Mellon’s first playoff win since 1978.
First time the Majors have been shut out since a 41-0 loss at Trinity last season.
Third time this season the Tartans have held a team scoreless.
About 125 Millsaps fans in attendance.
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