Sciulli’s Shock Picks: Wagner Seahawks

MOON TOWNSHIP — Have no fear, the long-awaited return of Sciulli’s shock pick’s is here. It seems like I have not written one of these in ages, but we are back in the saddle. On the slate for this week is the final football game of the season which pits the Robert Morris University football team (2-8, 0-5 NEC) against the Wagner Seahawks (3-7, 2-3 NEC).

The Colonials are coming off of an absolutely heartbreaking loss to the Eastern Kentucky Colonels after a failed two-point conversion led to a 40-39 defeat. As for Wagner, they beat the Bryant Bulldogs by a score of 52-36. This win has cemented the Seahawks in a tie for fifth in the Northeast Conference. The Colonials are holding up the rear in the conference.

Despite the fact that Robert Morris is buried at the bottom of the conference, I feel that there is still some reason for optimism in the final hoorah of Bernard Clark’s first season in charge of the Robert Morris football team. So without further delay, let’s get started.

The score

I have been saying it all season long, but I truly believe that this will be the first NEC victory of the Clark era. I just have a feeling deep down that the Colonials are going to win this game.

For starters, the RMU offense went through a resurgence last weekend. After scoring just seven points in both of the two games leading up to last week, the Robert Morris offense went off for 39 points. Jimmy Walker threw for 261 yards and four touchdowns, while Terence Stephens continued to perform as he added 132 yards and another touchdown to his resume.

Yes, Wagner did put up 56 points on a Bryant team that beat RMU earlier this season, but on the season the Seahawks only average 26.7 points per game which is just .3 points per game more than the Colonials. The defenses are almost identical in terms of points allowed per game as well, as RMU allows on average 43.7 points per game compared to the Seahawks 43 points per game average.

I could go on for days about how close these two teams compare statistically, but instead, I am going to predict a final of 52-49 in favor of the Colonials.

RMU player prediction

For my Robert Morris player prediction, I am going to pick Walker. For the redshirt senior quarterback, this is the last game of his collegiate and, most likely, his entire football career. I predict that he will go out with a bang. WIth his performance from last week, I expect that he will continue to sling the ball all over the field this week.

Entering this contest, the Wagner pass defense has allowed the most touchdowns through the air in the entire conference with a total of 23 passing touchdowns allowed.

With that in mind, I predict that Jimmy Walker is going to end his career on a high note with 220 passing yards and four touchdowns. against the Seahawks.

Wagner player prediction

This is the easy pick to make as I’m going with Ryan Fulse. Fulse is second in the FCS in rushing and is the NEC rushing leader by nearly a 300-yard margin. He averages nearly 150 ypg on the ground and has found the end zone nine times so far this season. This season alone he has been named the NEC offensive player of the week three times including last week when he ran for 218 yards and three touchdowns. On the other side of the ball is the 117th ranked rushing defense in the FCS. That’s all I’m going to say about the RMU rushing defense.

My prediction, Fulse goes off again and runs for 230 yards and three touchdowns.

Sciulli’s most shocking pick

My most shocking pick for this game is that Terence Stephens will outduel Fulse. Fulse is a great running back and will put up great numbers against this struggling Robert Morris defense, but I think Stephens may be able to outperform the NEC leading rusher. Stephens has been excellent this season as he is currently fifth in the conference in rushing yards and 14th in FCS football in all-purpose yards. If the Colonials defense can slow down Fulse, Stephens may be the running back that steals the spotlight on Saturday afternoon.