Slippery Rock football ‘doesn’t deserve to go to’ NCAA DII tournament after rout by Edinboro
EDINBORO — Edinboro may have run Slippery Rock right out of the NCAA Division II football playoff picture.
Quite literally.
The Fighting Scots rushed for 355 yards and five touchdowns Saturday in a stunning 38-8 PSAC West victory at Sox Harrison Stadium.
The Rock had not lost a game by as many as 30 points since its 58-15 national semifinal playoff defeat to Minnesota State in 2019.
While the win gives Edinboro (6-4, 5-1) a share of the PSAC West title for the first time since 2005 and clinches the Scots’ first winning season since 2017, it will not advance to the PSAC title game. Indiana (Pa.) University won the West in a tiebreaker after edging Clarion 45-42 Saturday.
SRU (6-3, 3-3) had its three-game winning streak snapped and must win at Bloomsburg next weekend, then get plenty of help, to extend its playoff-qualifying streak to seven years.
“We just have to go beat Bloomsburg and see what happens after that,” Rock coach Shawn Lutz said. “Based on this performance today, we don’t deserve to go to the playoffs. We were horrible.
“This all starts with me. I didn’t have us ready to play today.”
SRU’s Kevin Roberts missed a 33-yard field goal attempt late in the first quarter. Edinboro snapped the scoreless tie with a 26-yard Tanner Bruzda field goal with 8:34 left in the half. The drive consisted of 14 plays and 71 yards, eating more than eight minutes off the clock.
It was the theme of the day for the Scots’ offense.
Edinboro drove 80 yards on six running plays late in the half, Bo Swartz scoring on a 1-yard run. A 61-yard jaunt by Caron Robinson highlighted the drive.
Robinson carried 31 times for 273 yards and two touchdowns on the day.
“Our running game’s been coming on the past three weeks,” Edinboro coach Matt Scott said. “Things couldn’t have come together for us any better than it did today. Caron Robinson is running like a man possessed right now.”
SRU surrendered a pair of 70-yard scoring drives to Edinboro on the latter’s first two possessions of the second half. Robinson culminated both drives with scoring runs of 8 and 54 yards.
A 24-yard run by Robinson highlighted a 60-yard scoring drive that gave the Scots a 31-0 lead with 12:44 left in the game.
“They (Slippery Rock) were in single-high coverage, and their defenders were rotating from one side,” Scott said. “If we ran away from that rotation, we had opportunities to find success with our running game.
“Their defense has been a little banged up, and we took advantage of that.”
Lutz had a more simple explanation.
“We stunk,” he said. “We stunk in all three phases. We missed a field goal. We couldn’t score in the first half. And we missed tackles all day ... missed tackles, missed tackles, missed tackles.”
SRU’s lone score was a 6-yard run by JayJay Jordan midway through the fourth quarter. He was held to a season-low 27 yards rushing.
Slippery Rock High graduate John Sabo caught six passes for 126 yards, serving as SRU’s lone bright spot on a dreary day.
Edinboro won its second straight game while throwing for less than 100 yards. The Scots passed for 70 yards Saturday and only 19 yards last week.
“We were hoping we’d have to alter our transportation plans next week (to Kutztown and the title game), but Edinboro hasn’t been spotted this high in the standings for a long time,” Scott said. “This feels pretty good.”
Slippery Rock 0 0 0 8 — 8
Edinboro 0 10 14 14 — 38
Second Quarter
E — Tanner Bruzda 26 field goal, 8:34
E — Bo Swartz 1 run (Bruzda kick), :57
Third Quarter
E — Caron Robinson 8 run (Bruzda kick), 5:09
E — Robinson 54 run (Bruzda kick), 4:52
Fourth Quarter
E — Swartz 1 run (Bruzda kick), 12:44
SRU — JayJay Jordan 6 run (Jordan pass from DaOne Owens), 8:57
E — Jeremiah Neeley 4 pass from Nico Marchitelli (Bruzda kick), 3:15
Individual Statistics
Passing: SRU, DaOne Owens 21-40-224-1. Edinboro, Nico Marchitelli 8-11-70-0.
Rushing: SRU, JayJay Jordan 10-27, DaOne Owens 8-18, Quentin Harrison 3-3. Edinboro, Caron Robinson 31-273, Nico Marchitelli 5-69, Bo Swartz 3-10, Jerry Dinkins 7-5.
Receiving: SRU, John Sabo 6-126, Joe White 4-37, JayJay Jordan 3-17, Latrell Sutton 2-22. Edinboro, Jeremiah Neeley 3-11, Clayton Bezon 2-16, Jaret Frantz 1-18, Junior Aderomilehin 1-18.
