During Saturday's football game against Bowdoin, two senior Jumbos delivered career performances despite the 28-26 loss. Running back Will Forde ran for 175 yards while wide receiver Dave Halas caught three touchdown passes. Forde broke a career high mark and has now rushed for over 100 yards in three consecutive games; Halas tied the Tufts record for most receiving touchdowns in a game and in the process set the Tufts' record for most receiving touchdowns in a career.
But in the context of a loss, the individual accomplishments seemed frivolous.
"It's tough [to perform that way in a loss] because obviously the biggest goal is to get a win," Forde said.
By looking at the exceptional statistics the Jumbos recorded, it's somewhat hard to believe that Tufts came out of the contest with a loss. In the end though, no matter how many rushing yards a team runs for or how many touchdowns are caught, the turnover battle often dictates the result. On Saturday, the Jumbos got slaughtered in that facet of the game, turning the ball over five times, including three times in the first quarter alone.
"I think it was poor execution on our part," junior quarterback Anthony Fucillo said, "You can't turn the ball over five times and expect to win ball games."
In addition to turning the ball over, Tufts also lost the battle for field position on Saturday. In the first quarter, the Jumbos lost the ball three times deep in their own territory. Bowdoin turned two of the turnovers into touchdowns, enabling the Polar Bears to jump to a 14-0 lead.
"I think we put our defense in a pretty tight spot and gave them a short field a number of times," Fucillo said.
Although the Jumbos managed to regain the lead in the second quarter -- stringing together three consecutive touchdown drives -- those surrendered 14 points from the first proved to be the difference in the game.
This week Tufts will have to prepare to face Trinity College, the perennial goliath of the NESCAC. The Bantams currently sit alone atop the conference at 3-0 and will be looking for revenge after the Jumbos upset them in 2007. If the Jumbos turn the ball over five times against this Trinity squad on the road, the game won't be close. Yet Forde is confident that his team will be able to right the ship.
"I know we'll respond well," Forde said, "We'll come out next Saturday and fix a lot of the mistakes that we made against Bowdoin."
