Okay, I threatened you with a truncated recap, but you get a full one for D-II after all. We’ll see about D-III depending on how real life works today.
Three of the top six teams in the nation fell last week, causing a massive shakeup atop the poll. A division title was clinched on Saturday, the first title to be bestowed in this football season. And a quarterback you’ve probably never heard of had his second 500-yard passing day in a row. This week’s games to keep an eye on:
#3 Washburn at #6 Northwest Missouri State
#4 Pittsburg State at 5-2 Central Missouri
#10 Valdosta State at #1 Delta State
#9 Abilene Christian at #12 Midwestern State
#15 Humboldt State at 4-3 Western Oregon
#17 Wayne State (MI) at 5-2 Hillsdale
#18 West Virginia Wesleyan at 4-3 Glenville State (Glenville 4-0 in conference)
3-3 Lenoir-Rhyne at #21 Mars Hill (Mars Hill can potentially clinch the SAC title with a win)
CENTRAL:
Daronte Mitchell had 189 rushing yards as Elizabeth City State held on to the Northern Division lead. That race is wide open, and the leaders will clash this week at ECSU. In conference play, on paper, Bowie has been the better team statistically, but their last three weeks have not been kind. In the Southern Division, still-unbeaten Winston-Salem State has clinched the division title. Fayetteville, Johnson C. Smith, Virginia State, and Shaw should win this week.
One final CIAA note: next week, Saint Augustine’s will host JCSU for homecoming; it’s a big game for them, as it’s their first on-campus game since reinstating football in 2002. (They’ve been playing at various venues in the Raleigh area for the last nine years.)
GREAT AMERICAN:
The three teams at the top kept pace with one another. Southwestern Oklahoma State’s Dustin Stenta had 445 passing yards in his team’s loss to OUachita Baptist, but that wasn’t even the craziest aerial performance of the week. Northeastern State QB Johnny Deaton had 542 yards and six touchdowns — all six to Trey McVay, who rolled up 425 receiving yards in the process. Northeastern lost in heartbreaking fashion; trailing 42-41 with three seconds left, Eddy Carmona set up to kick a 38-yard field goal to win the game, but Henderson State’s Chris Myers blocked the kick, then recovered the loose ball and dashed 72 yards for a touchdown to put an exclamation point on the proceedings.
East Central visits Henderson State this week; the winner will remain within a game of the lead. East Central would appear to be the favorite, but in this conference never bet against Henderson when they’re in contention. Ouachita will retain their lead, with what should be an easy home win over Southern Arkansas. Southwestern and Southeastern should both win; Monticello plays out of conference, and that game is too close to call.
GREAT LAKES IAC:
(Note: standings reflect Thursday night’s result.)
Both Wayne State and Saginaw Valley were bitten by the upset bug, causing ties for the lead in both divisions. Saginaw Valley was reeled in by Indianapolis, to whom they lost, and Ferris State, who dispatched Northern Michigan with ease. Wayne State, upended by Ashland, fell into a tie with both Ashland and Hillsdale, winners over Michigan Tech.
Last night, Saginaw Valley cruised to an easy win over Ashland. That means in the south, the winner of the Wayne State-Hillsdale game will have a clear one-game lead over Ashland, the loser of that game, and… Findlay, who has bounced back from an awful start and visits hapless Lake Erie. In the North, Saginaw is guaranteed a share of the lead come Sunday. Ferris visits Grand Valley while Indianapolis hosts Northern Michigan; both of those games could go either way.
GREAT LAKES FOOTBALL:
Urbana and Missouri S&T both won easily, and it’s patently obvious that there are two awful teams and two mediocre teams capable of pounding the two awful teams. So, with that, look to October 29 when Urbana and MUST face each other; the winner will win the conference title (although if the winner is MUST, they’ll have to wait a week to win it outright).
The other two teams square off at Saint Joseph’s with nothing really on the line other than Kentucky Wesleyan’s winless record. They may lose that, or not. Both teams are just awful. MUST should handle William Jewell; Urbana probably will NOT handle Notre Dame.
GREAT NORTHWEST:
The conference leaders extended their hegemony Saturday, pretty much pushing their victims aside and out of the proceedings altogether. For Humboldt State, Lyndon Rowells had another silly day, running for 223 yards in the win. Western Oregon’s Bryce Pella had 129 return yards — nine on a punt, the remainder on two interceptions and a fumble recovery.
That sets up this week’s clash at Western Oregon. Still-unbeaten Humboldt State should win this game, which would give them a game and a half lead with three to play. It’s the first of two meetings between the two schools in the double round-robin, though, so Western will by no means be entirely out of things with a loss. It’ll be awfully rough to catch up, though.
GULF SOUTH:
(Note: standings reflect Thursday night’s result.)
West Georgia pushed the GSC’s non-conference record to 26-5 with a win at Saint Augustine’s, but that of course is the least important news of the week. Valdosta State squeaked past West Alabama in a game I mentioned in last night’s short piece, while #2 Delta State upset #1 North Alabama on the road in overtime to claim the top spot in the rankings.
Thursday night, West Alabama found the end zone while West Georgia had to settle for field goals too often, and that was the difference in the contest. Saturday, #10 Valdosta visits #1 Delta in kind of a big deal of a game. Delta has to be the favorite, but this really could go either way. The winner will have the inside track the rest of the way — indeed, if Delta wins, having already knocked off both Valdosta and UNA will almost certainly mean the conference title is theirs in the end. UNA is idle.
LONE STAR:
Texas A&M-Kingsville’s Jonathan Woodson almost pulled off the triple-triple: 162 yards rushing, 106 yards receiving, and 94 yards on kick returns. That’s 362 yards of total offense, so hats off to Jonathan there. Fine day, but almost for naught as Incarnate Word charged back from a 17-point deficit. Only the thump of the football against the upright on a field goal attempt with 101 seconds remaining in the game kept matters from overtime.
Midwestern State retained their grip on the lead by scoring more points on Angelo State than have ever been scored on the Rams before. Abilene Christian remained on Midwestern’s heels, shutting down West Texas A&M in the running game to take the matchup between ranked squads, and shunting WTAMU off to the side in the conference race.
Abilene turns right around and heads to Wichita Falls for a showdown with unbeaten Midwestern. Abilene’s defense? Almost twice as stingy as Midwestern’s in conference play. Midwestern’s offense? More than twice as prolific as Abilene’s in conference play. The game will hinge on which unit dominates. WTAMU should remain right behind the leaders with a win, and Angelo and Kingsville should also pick up victories.
MID-AMERICA:
The three leaders flat pummeled their opponents last week by a combined tally of 182-30. Pittsburg State’s starters were already on the bench by the end of the first quarter, as PSU led Lincoln 36-0 after one period and 50-0 at the half. Central Oklahoma suffered their worst loss since 1972 at the hands of Washburn, while Northwest Missouri got 444 passing yards and five touchdowns from Trevor Adams as they pummeled Eastern New Mexico in a non-conference game.
This week… well, get your helmets and flak jackets on, because the race really gets underway now. In what’s clearly the D-II game of the week, #3 and unbeaten Washburn travels to Maryville to face #6 Northwest Missouri. Northwest is out of the race with a loss, but on paper they’re a better team and I think they’re going to do Pittsburg State a huge favor. The question is whether Pittsburg will capitalize, as they have a tough challenge on the road in Warrensburg against Central Missouri. Pittsburg should win this one, but it’s not going to be easy. PSU stands to benefit with a game-and-a-half lead over their rivals after the dust settles, with only three games left to play; November 5, they host Washburn and that should wrap everything up one way or another.
NORTHEAST TEN:
Two teams were essentially sent to the sidelines in the conference race, but they weren’t the two I expected. New Haven did indeed dispatch American International, but Southern Connecticut upended Bentley, inserting themselves cleanly in second place in the process. Merrimack was also knocked out of a share of the league lead, upset by Assumption. Over at Stonehill, Jermetrius Troy rambled for 214 yards and four scores in the Skyhawks’ rout of Pace.
The four teams among the leaders who played last week simply trade partners this week. New Haven and SCSU should take those games, which would pretty much eliminate AIC and Bentley once and for all. Merrimack hosts Stonehill, and should remain in the mix with a win. Winless Saint Anselm will probably be winless no more after they visit Pace; Saint Anselm’s bad, but Pace is just horrific.
NORTHERN SUN:
Concordia-Saint Paul scored the week’s big upset, taking down Wayne State; there are now no NSIC teams without a conference loss as a result, and the race for the overall conference title is now a five-way logjam at 5-1. There are still four teams with no divisional setbacks, however. Duluth got 185 yards on the ground from Austin Sikorski, which wasn’t even half of the Bulldog’s rushing yardage in an easy win at Mary. Saint Cloud needed an interception with :13 left on the clock to avert a comeback attempt by Southwest Minnesota State, Augustana registered six takeaways in what was still a relatively tense win over Winona State, and Mankato cruised against Upper Iowa, as did Bemidji over Moorhead.
The contenders in the North should all have relatively pain-free weekends. The big matchup for the week is down south, where Wayne State visits Mankato, and looking at it I have to favor the Mavericks at home. Augustana should win; the other two games are iffy.
PENNSYLVANIA:
For the second week in a row, East Stroudsburg’s Ray Wagner broke the 500-yard passing mark, rolling up 503 against C.W. Post… in a loss, again. 239 of those yards came on connections with Jordan Hallman. Slippery Rock beat California to claim sole possession of the lead in the West, while surprising C.W. Post remains atop the East along with Bloomsburg, who handled Shippensburg easily. Lock Haven remains winless, getting thumped by Gannon.
This week, Slippery Rock should move a step closer to the division title, as they visit Lock Haven. Behind The Rock, California hosts a maddeningly inconsistent Mercyhurst squad; they should win and keep pace, but Mercyhurst IS capable of winning here. Indiana should also remain a step back with a win over Gannon, while Edinboro should handle Clarion easily. In the East, Bloomsburg should remain unbeaten, while they’ll be hoping that Kutztown will take down C.W. Post and give them a full game lead. That result is entirely possible, but the way Post has been playing since the start of conference play, it’s also entirely in jeopardy. Shippensburg should win, while East Stroudsburg’s best chance of utilizing that ridiculous passing offense in a winning effort is this week over Millersville.
ROCKY MOUNTAIN:
CSU-Pueblo remained unbeaten, notching a surprisingly easy win over no longer unbeaten Nebraska-Kearney to take control of the conference race, and Western New Mexico’s upset loss to Adams State pretty much hands the title to the ThunderWolves, who are two games clear of everyone but Kearney and don’t appear to have any challenges remaining on the schedule. Still, at best it will be another eight days before Pueblo can raise any hardware, and they may have to wait until November 5. Colorado Mines and Chadron State won to pull into a three-way tie with WNMU for third place, but that’s all academic at this point.
Pueblo, Kearney, and Colorado Mines should all win easily this week. Adams should get past Fort Lewis, while WNMU/Chadron is a toss-up.
SOUTH ATLANTIC:
It took overtime before a school-record 331 yard rushing effort by Mars Hill’s Jonas Randolph finally paid off, as Catawba hung in there despite the brutal ground assault. The win kept Mars Hill a game up on Wingate, who squeaked past Newberry; Lenoir-Rhyne fell off the pace after a heartbreaking one-point loss to Tusculum.
Lenoir-Rhyne’s agony isn’t going to go away this week, as they travel to Mars Hill. Don’t get the wrong idea; they may win, but it’s going to hurt. Wingate should handle Catawba, but if last week is an indication of new life, that could be up in the air. Should Mars Hill and Catawba both win, however, Mars Hill will clinch the SAC title. Regional rankings aren’t out yet, but that result would very likely mean a playoff berth as well. Newberry/Tusculum could go either way, and I have to predict non-conference losses for Brevard and Carson-Newman.
SOUTHERN IAC:
I think someone listened to me. After regaining a share of the East lead with a win over co-leader Morehouse, Albany State returned to the rankings at #25. As long as they don’t slip, that means the division title as well, since Benedict upset Clark Atlanta, leaving the East as a two-team race. Stillman, 6-1 and ignored nationally, remains in control in the west after a non-conference win; Miles gained a half-game on them and pretty much eliminated Kentucky State in the process. Tuskegee is still lurking, but I don’t see them as much of a threat at this point.
Albany visits Clark and Morehouse hosts Benedict; the two should remain tied atop the East. The remaining team in the east, Fort Valley, crosses divisions to host Stillman; Stillman’s probably going to remain atop the West as a result of that one. Miles should keep pace with a win over Lane, while I’m not sure what will happen with Tuskegee at Kentucky State.
WEST VIRGINIA:
No surprises, as the league’s top four teams all emerged unscathed. Well, sort of. Glenville’s perfect conference record almost came crashing down at the hands of hapless West Virginia State, of all teams; Glenville never trailed by more than six points, but had to muster 20 fourth-quarter points to tie the game and force overtime as both teams started clicking on offense.
The conference lead will be a single-team affair come Sunday, as WV Wesleyan visits Glenville. Wesleyan’s a prohibitive favorite here based on a full-season resume, but Glenville’s played just as well as WVWU over the conference slate. Still… needing overtime to beat a 1-6 team? Go with Wesleyan. Concord will be tied for second with the loser at 4-1 in-conference, as they’re idle. Shepherd and Fairmont should win; and someone’s got to win the West Liberty/Charleston game, but damned if I know who it’ll be. They’re almost identically awful.
INDEPENDENTS:
The independents again went according to form, and let’s give Oklahoma Panhandle State their due for finally winning a game. Can’t say the same for South Dakota Tech or Central State. That won’t change this week, either; they’re both going to lose, as is William Jewell. All the “N” teams should win, however.