Two of the five seeded teams went home, three other home teams got upset, and DeAndre Presley lost his mind. Second round recaps, quarterfinal previews, and Friday football after the jump.
Note that only the top five seeds are actually “seeds”, and are guaranteed to play at home through the quarterfinals. The remaining seeds, as listed here, are simply bracket extrapolations for illustrative purposes.
Second Round:
at (1)Appalachian State 42, (17)Western Illinois 14
The Mountaineers (10-2) leaned on DeAndre Presley, who ran for 264 yards and added in a touchdown pass for good measure as Appy routed the Leathernecks. Western Illinois goes home with an 8-5 mark on the year.
(15)Georgia Southern 31, at (2)William & Mary 15
423 rushing yards was precisely what the Eagles (9-4) were looking for as they ran roughshod over the Tribe. William & Mary’s season concludes at 8-4.
at (3)Delaware 42, (19)Lehigh 20
The Mountain Hawks managed to escape the first half only trailing 20-13, but the Blue Hens (10-2) erupted for 21 unanswered points in the third quarter to salt away the victory. Lehigh concludes the campaign with a 10-3 record.
(13)North Dakota State 42, at (4)Montana State 17
The Bison (9-4) led a close game through three quarters, 14-10, and Montana State scored on the first play of the final period to take a 17-10 lead. North Dakota State then got on J.D. McNorton’s back and blew out the Bobcats over the final fifteen, reeling off 28 points. McNorton had 207 yards on the ground. Montana State closes the year at 9-3.
at (5)Eastern Washington 37, (12)Southeast Missouri State 17
The top-ranked, yet fifth-seeded, Eagles (10-2) found themselves in a nailbiter through the first half, as the teams entered the locker room tied at 17. 20 unanswered second-half points later, and the Redhawks — who only managed 26 yards of offense in the half — were done for. Southeast finishes at 9-3.
(11)New Hampshire 45, at (6)Bethune-Cookman 20
New Hampshire (8-4) jumped out to an early 14-0 lead, but BCU won the second quarter 14-0 to take a tie into the intermission. From that point on, it was all New Hampshire in the battle of Wildcats, scoring 31 straight points. Bethune-Cookman concludes the year at 10-2, with a two-game losing streak marring what had been a dream season.
(10)Wofford 17, at (7)Jacksonville State 14
The Terriers (10-2) survived on the legs of Eric Breitenstein, who had 178 yards and two scores to lead Wofford past the Gamecocks. The game was mostly a defensive struggle, with the unlikely score of 10-5 entering the final period. Jax tried to come back, to no avail. Jacksonville State lost three of their final four games of the season to finish at 9-3.
(9)Villanova 54, at (8)Stephen F. Austin 24
The Wildcats (8-4) dug themselves an early grave, falling behind 21-7 in the first quarter, and then 24-14 later in the second quarter as the Lumberjacks. Then ‘Nova opened up their can of whoop-ass, scoring 40 unanswered points and handing SFA their second head-scratcher of a loss this season (following their loss to Texas State, wherein the ‘Jacks gave up a 28-point fourth quarter lead). SFA closes the books at 9-3.
Quarterfinals:
(11)New Hampshire at (3)Delaware: Friday night, 8pm Eastern, ESPN2
New Hampshire won their regular-season meeting 35-30, at home. With Pat Devlin, Delaware can strike and strike quickly. Starting UNH QB R.J. Toman has been hurt; he may be game-ready by tonight, but Kevin Decker is probably going to start. All things considered, I think this game comes at just the wrong time for New Hampshire. If they had another week, I’d pick them to win… but they don’t.
(9)Villanova at (1)Appalachian State: Saturday, noon Eastern, ESPN
Matt Szczur is healthy, which is important stuff. His presence — and ‘Nova’s position as the highest seed of the road teams this weekend — actually makes this the most compelling game of the day. Both teams run the ball with abandon, and both teams have passing threats not to be ignored. The key here is probably Villanova’s run defense, which is not going to let Presley get away with the same shenanigans that Western Illinois did. The Mountaineers are probably the better team; Villanova is the defending champ, and they’ve got their star back. I’m calling the upset here.
(15)Georgia Southern at (10)Wofford: Saturday, 2:05 Eastern, ESPN3.com
Two months ago, Wofford won 33-31 at Georgia Southern. Now they get them at home, so you’d think things would lean more firmly in their direction, but the Eagles have grown up a lot in the last two months. Both teams run the triple and are going to run, run, and then run some more; this game may be over before the SWAC Championship (which kicks off at the same time) gets to the fourth quarter. I’m leaning Wofford here, but really this is a straight-up pick’em.
SWAC Championship, Alabama State at Texas Southern: Saturday, 2:05 Eastern, ESPN Classic
Texas Southern won their earlier meeting 21-7 at Alabama State. That was a low-scoring game for TSU; Alabama State has a punishing defense. They also have a Wisconsin-like offensive line, but were unable to get their ground game untracked in the previous contest. That’s because Texas Southern, making their first-ever appearance in the SWAC title game, also has a vicious defense, ranking in the top three in all of FCS in six different defensive categories including run, pass, and total defense. I’d expect a basic repeat of the previous game.
(13)North Dakota State at (5)Eastern Washington: Saturday, 3:35 Eastern, ESPN Game Plan
North Dakota State scrapped and clawed to get here. Eastern Washington steamrolled, and last week’s performance leaves me no doubt that they’re going to win this game.