#1 survived a serious scare in a week where most of the top 25 action went as expected. The FCS record for career blocked extra points fell, and a program’s founder reached a coaching milestone. And for the first time ever, an FCS/I-AA team played a game without attempting a single pass. All that and more after the break, but first:
It’s a slowish week this week, with only a handful of key games on the radar including a clash between the division leaders in the SWAC:
#6 New Hampshire at #16 William & Mary
#17 Towson at #18 Old Dominion
4-2 Prairie View A&M at #24 Alabama State
4-2 Bucknell at 3-1 Harvard
5-1 Drake at 5-1 San Diego
BIG SKY:
All four road teams won Saturday, after road teams had gone a combined 4-20 on the season heading into the weekend. Montana State took the battle for first place, holding off a late Portland surge and stifling a two-point conversion with under three minutes to go. Montana stuffed Idaho State, holding them to 121 yards of total offense in their shutout win. In Greeley, horrible conditions — wind, rain, and snow — made for a tough slog; Sacramento State became the first team in FCS/I-AA history to play an entire game without a single pass attempt in a 14-0 win. Four turnovers helped Eastern Washington continue getting back on the right side of the ledger.
This week, it’s the home teams you should expect to win, as there are no real key matchups. Portland State could give Montana some trouble, just as they did Montana State last week, but the Grizzlies are playing well and should handle the challenge.
BIG SOUTH:
Liberty scored on the opening drive, then recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff leading to another touchdown, and it was all cruise control from there in their win over Gardner-Webb.
Stony Brook has a cakewalk non-conference game this week, and are assured of at least being tied for second place in the league come Sunday. That, of course, is because Liberty and Coastal Carolina are going to tangle on Saturday. I have to think Liberty’s a slight favorite here. Saturday may be Charleston Southern’s last reasonable chance for a win, as they visit equally winless VMI. I expect the Keydets will probably figure out a way to win that one. Finally, Presbyterian will be a slight favorite over visiting Gardner-Webb.
COLONIAL:
I’m proud of myself; I called five out of six games correctly last week, and suggested the sixth could well be an upset win for Maine. Go, me. I was wrong, however, to suggest Massachusetts would return to the top 25 with a win. I think the CAA’s topped out at 8 teams in the poll, unless UMass, William & Mary, Maine, and JMU all win this week, while Towson and Old Dominion play a game which convinces voters not to drop the loser 8 spots.
Then again, UMass doesn’t really count anyway, do they?
New Hampshire and UMass cruised without incident, while Old Dominion came back from a deficit to capture their first-ever road conference win. Delaware shut out William & Mary for the first time in 14 years. Maine opted to go for two after scoring in the first overtime, and the gutsy call resulted in the upset. Towson, for their part, suffered their worst defensive performance of the year, but D.J. Soven booted a 27-yard field goal with zeroes on the clock to lift Towson to the win and their share of the conference lead along with Maine and New Hampshire.
Maine is in the driver’s seat this week, as they should handle Rhode Island with little difficulty. That puts the pressure on New Hampshire, probable winners at W&M, and on Towson, who travel to Old Dominion to see which of this year’s two cinderellas is going to stay at the ball. A loss wouldn’t kill Towson, but they’d surely like to remain in first place rather than trying to stalk back from behind. ODU, on the other hand, really needs the win. The difficulty in picking this game is that it’s a match between the league’s highest-scoring offense against the league’s most stingy defense. It could go either way, and both teams have proven themselves.
Delaware should handle UMass, and JMU shouldn’t have any trouble with Villanova.
GREAT WEST:
South Dakota bounced the defending GWC champs out of the top-25 and, really, out of the conference race, holding Southern Utah to 11 rushing yards. North Dakota cruised (and entered the poll afterward), as did Cal Poly; Cal-Davis, however, suffered an unsurprising upset at the hands of D-II Humboldt State.
North Dakota will pocket their #23 ranking and take the week off, while South Dakota travels to Illinois State for a winnable non-conference contest. The conference race is pretty much down to the Dakota teams now, and they’ll settle it on the regular season’s final weekend. Southern Utah will likely bounce back from their tough losses to the conference leaders as they visit Cal-Poly, while Cal-Davis is in danger this week hosting UTSA.
IVY:
Harvard and Yale won as expected to move to 2-0 in conference, while Penn got the job done against Fordham in non-conference action. Brown scored a bit of an upset, upending Holy Cross by virtue of a Stephen Peyton interception on the Crusader’s final drive, while Princeton and Columbia suffered expected defeats.
Harvard QB Colton Chapple had 414 yards passing, the second-highest output in Crimson history, on only 23 completions to lead his team past Cornell. (Oddly, despite being the second-highest yardage game by a Harvard QB, it was the 50th time a Harvard QB broke the 400-yard mark.)
The final crossover week is this week. Penn and Brown should win conference matchups, while Yale will certainly win their non-conference tilt. The remaining three non-conference games are dicier. Dartmouth will probably fall at Holy Cross; Cornell and Colgate is too close to call, and Harvard/Bucknell is really going to depend on which Bison team shows up.
MID-EASTERN:
North Carolina A&T’s defense showed up for work with an attitude, holding Bethune-Cookman to 108 yards of offense and creating four turnovers in an upset win. Howard also pulled an upset, trailing Florida A&M 21-0 heading into the fourth quarter but ripping off 29 points, including a 21-yard field goal with four seconds to go to seal the win. South Carolina State’s Asheton Jordan rolled for 226 yards on the ground in SCSU’s win over NCCU. Norfolk State ripped Delaware State, and lead the pack of teams “also receiving votes” in the poll despite having only lost to FBS West Virginia.
Norfolk holds a half-game lead over SC State, and a full game over NCA&T and Morgan, as we enter week seven. Odds are that will be a full game lead over all three this week, as the three teams other than SCSU should all win conference games; SCSU has a tough non-conference game against Georgia State. Florida A&M and Bethune-Cookman should win; Howard meets Georgetown in their local rivalry game, and that’s a toss-up.
MISSOURI VALLEY:
With the minor exception of South Dakota State’s mild upset of Youngstown, everything went as expected in the Valley Saturday.
Four of this week’s five games shouldn’t be too hard to decipher; the three ranked teams should win, while Illinois State will likely lose a non-conference matchup against future conference-mates #15 South Dakota. In the final game on the slate, Southern Illinois should be a slight favorite over Youngstown.
NORTHEAST:
Well, now things are interesting. Albany drilled Duquesne, and Robert Morris kept pace with a cruise job over Saint Francis, meaning what looked like a potential runaway for the Dukes has now turned back into a six-team sprint for the finish. Sacred Heart also reeled off their third win in a row, recovering from their 0-2 start to announce their presence in the fray.
Albany’s win was the 250th career victory for coach Bob Ford, pushing him past Lou Holtz on the all-time Division I ladder. Ford has helmed the Albany program since it started as a club team in the late ’60s, and has a career record of 250-176-1.
The co-leaders square off in Albany this week, and I expect the Danes to come out on top. Duquesne, Sacred Heart, and Bryant should also pick up wins, leaving four teams within a game of the lead.
OHIO VALLEY:
The leaders were off this week, leaving everyone else to jockey for position. UT-Martin destroyed Austin Peay with the help of six TD passes on 387 yards from QB Derek Carr. In Tennessee State’s rout of SEMO, Weldon Garlington returned a punt 91 yards for a touchdown; last week, he returned one 100 yards.
Everyone’s back on the field this week, and Jacksonville State and Tennessee Tech should remain atop the board with wins. Eastern Kentucky and Murray State should also prevail; UT-Martin may not be so lucky at South Alabama in a non-conference meeting.
PATRIOT:
Lehigh trounced Bucknell, extending their winning streak over the Bison to 14 games (longest active conference winning streak for one team over another in all of FCS). Bucknell’s Josh Eden blocked yet another extra point, setting the FCS career record with his eighth career block.
All six games this week are effectively non-conference matchups, and all have been discussed already save Lehigh’s visit to Fordham. Lehigh’s going to win, easily, so that’s that.
PIONEER:
San Diego and Drake did the job Saturday, but Davidson and Butler got themselves upset. With Jacksonville’s win over Dayton (scoring two TDs in the final five minutes to forge the comeback), we now have a three-way tie at the top, with the leaders two full games clear of the pack.
It should only be a two-way tie come Sunday, as San Diego hosts Drake in what ought to be a crazy game between two potent offenses. The Toreros have been just a bit better than the Bulldogs thus far, and that combined with home field advantage leads me to give the edge to USD. Jacksonville should remain tied for the lead, as their offensive prowess matches up well with Morehead State’s lack of defense. Campbell, Butler, and Dayton are probable winners in other action.
SOUTHERN:
Furman fell behind early and was unable to mount the comeback, falling to Samford and slipping off the pace in the conference race. Elon forced four turnovers, but still required a late TD and an interception on the ensuing hurry-up drive to get past Western Carolina. Wofford rolled, while Georgia Southern had to fight off a pesky Chattanooga team that’s much better than their 2-4 record would indicate. Chattanooga, behind redshirt freshman QB Terrell Robinson (in for the injured B.J. Coleman) never led, but a late touchdown brought the Mocs to within 28-27. The two-point conversion, failed, however, as did the ensuing onside kickoff, allowing the top-ranked Eagles to remain unbeaten.
That leaves GSU and Wofford alone atop the standings, and those two (as well as Appalachian State) should all win this week. Wofford’s game is non-conference, though, meaning that they’re going to be a full game back of the lead, albeit with two games in hand, come Sunday. Elon and Chattanooga should take the other two games on the docket.
SOUTHLAND:
Northwestern State pulled an upset over Lamar on Saturday by bolting out to a 27-7 lead and hanging on in a game delayed due to a power outage, while McNeese State fell at home to Texas State (and fell seven spots in the poll as a result). Sam Houston wrecked Stephen F. Austin before a crowd of over 25,000 at Reliant Stadium in Houston; that’s an attendance record for the series between the two teams, and the conference record itself (27,500) may fall next year if the current trend continues.
McNeese’s loss didn’t hurt them in the conference standings, of course, but this week might as they visit Central Arkansas. It’s the first UCA home game televised since the installation of the purple and gray turf, so you may want to check it out if you live in Texas or Little Rock. Or you can see it online. Sam Houston, on the other hand, is going to destroy Nicholls, so they’ll remain atop the standings one way or another. Northwestern State should win; Lamar will probably lose to Texas State.
SOUTHWESTERN:
Alabama State avenged last year’s SWAC Championship Game loss to Texas Southern, while Alabama A&M and Jackson State cruised. Prairie View beat Southern on a 19-yard Christopher Barrick field goal with 10 seconds to go, and are now firmly in control of the West Division race.
Alabama State and Jackson State broke into the poll this week; I have to editorialize here and say that I object, because the #26 team is Norfolk State, whose only loss is far less damaging than either ASU or JSU’s losses. Of course, this may all be moot next week, as Alabama State hosts Prairie View in a clash of division leaders. One of the two teams is going to all but secure their division title this week, though it will still be a few weeks before that can be set in stone. Alabama State is the clear favorite, however. Jackson State is definitely going to win; Alabama A&M and UAPB should. As for Grambling… I think they’ll beat Concordia, but it’s hard to tell what’s going to happen there. On the one hand, Concordia is an unaffiliated school. On the other, they’ve played a fairly decent schedule, and they’re 4-2, while Grambling has been stumbling around aimlessly. It’s a big test for both schools.
INDEPENDENT:
It took two overtimes, but South Alabama remains unbeaten against teams with fewer than 66 scholarship players. This week, they’ll risk it again against a decent UT-Martin team; they’re a slight favorite at home.
A Note:
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