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The Tufts Daily
Where you read it first | Friday, March 29, 2024

Tufts football opens season against Hamilton

Tufts-Football-2
11/09/2013 - Tufts football is defeated in their last game of the season on Kraft's Field (Shelby Carpenter / The Tufts Daily).

This Saturday, the Tufts football team will have an opportunity to snap its 31-game losing streak when it opens the season at home against the Hamilton Continentals. Hamilton was the sole NESCAC team that Tufts did not face in 2013, and both squads finished the year with matching 0-8 records.

Hamilton’s program does appear to be on the rise, however. During the offseason, Hamilton hired one of the winningest active head coaches over the past 25 years in Div. III football, Dave Murray. At Alfred University, Murray led his Saxons to an 8-3 record in 2013.

But Hamilton is certainly not without vulnerabilities. One of the major keys for the Continentals in Saturday’s game will be converting in the red zone. Last season, Hamilton only scored on 13 of its 25 possessions inside the opposing team’s 20-yard line. This 52 percent success rate ranked last in the conference. The team’s other major offensive issue from a year ago was its disastrous 30 percent conversion rate on third downs (37 out of 123).

Defensively, the Continentals finished the 2013 season sixth in run defense and ninth in pass defense, mediocre rankings in a 10-team conference. They had just six sacks and four interceptions in eight games, highlighting the team's struggle to put pressure on its opponents. The Continentals defense will need to be able to successfully blitz six or seven players on passing downs to force the Jumbos quarterback to make panicked decisions.

While Tufts quarterbacks last season threw for the third most yards in the NESCAC, the Jumbo's rushing attack will be even more critical to winning Saturday’s game. Few teams have success without being able to run the ball effectively and convert on short yardage situations. The upcoming game is likely to be close, given the two teams’ records last season.

Senior Zack Trause will return from a successful 2013 campaign to start for the Jumbos at running back. He ran for 417 yards and three touchdowns while adding 27 catches, proving to be a true dual-threat running back. After sophomore Chance Brady’s standout freshman season, look for Tufts to lean on him more and more as the season progresses. Brady averaged a whopping 5.7 yards per carry and could be a dark horse for the Jumbos' offensive player of the year.

Playing a home game against the other NESCAC cellar-dweller of 2013, Tufts will likely have its best opportunity for a win this season on Saturday. On the other side of the ball, though, Hamilton is looking for coach Murray’s first win as a Continental in what should be a nail-biter of a home opener.