D-III Spreadsheet: (Excel2003, 404 kb)
Division III Game of the Week:
The ridiculous deathmarch being undertaken by Wesley (DE) continued this week with a visit to Louisiana College. The Wolverines, “blessed” with independence, have opted for a brutal schedule which has already seen them take on rivals Salisbury and Mary Hardin-Baylor, with dates against Birmingham-Southern and Huntingdon still to come. You may notice that all four of those teams, plus Louisiana, have something in common when you check the grid down below.
After the Wildcats took a 3-0 lead early in the first quarter on an Adan Olivares field goal, the teams traded pairs of touchdowns in the second. Early in the third, Louisiana’s Jamie Bunting was picked off at the goal line by Leon Jones, who returned the ball to the 19. However, an illegal block penalty brought the ball back to the six; after a rush for no gain, a false start pushed the Wolverines back to the three. Justin Sottilare dumped a pass off to Steve Koudoussou, but he was trapped at the goal line and forced back for a safety. The comedy continued over the next couple of drives; a 22-yard Olivares field goal attempt was blocked and returned to midfield, but just a few plays later Sottilare was intercepted. That resulted in a 25-yarder from Olivares to give Louisiana a 22-14 lead.
On the Wolverines’ first possession of the fourth quarter, they erased the lead. Sottilare connected with Matt Barile for a 13-yard score, and then found Koudossou in the end zone for the two-point conversion. The teams traded punts, leaving the Wildcats with the ball near midfield with 3:42 to go. They stuck to the ground, including a 4th-and-1 conversion just inside Wesley territory, but on 2nd and 10 immediate after that, needing to get into field goal range with just over a minute remaining, Bunting was intercepted by Luke Maginnis. Maginnis fumbled at the end of his return, but Wesley’s Dwayne Glass managed to recover at the Louisiana 39. A few quick plays later and the Wolverines were on the 14 with just a second to go; Dan Tryon hit a 31-yarder, and Wesley had escaped with a comeback road victory.
The end result was that Wesley stayed put at #6, while the Wildcats, despite the loss, moved into the top 25 at #22. Their stay should last at least three weeks, at which point they’re going to have to deal with Mary Hardin-Baylor themselves.
Unspeakable Brutality:
Wilkes didn’t look bad coming into last week’s game with #21 Widener. A 9-7 win over Morrisville State wasn’t anything to write home about, but it wasn’t horrible either. A 27-13 loss to 2-0 Albright didn’t appear to be cause for alarm, especially since Albright had beaten then-#14 Kean to open the season. Even after the first quarter, it was only 7-0 in Widener’s favor.
Forty-five minutes later, Widener QB Chris Haupt had gone 21-27 for 415 yards and six TDs, and the Pride had added twelve touchdowns to the scoreboard in a 90-0 win. Widener led 681-276 in total offense, holding Wilkes to only 76 yards in the air. And just to underscore the extent to which time of possession is a function rather than a goal, Wilkes led TOP 36-24. Since allowing a first-quarter score to King’s (PA) on September 8th, Widener has now outscored the opposition 198-0 over a span of 168:32.
Awkward thing: the two schools have academic ties, as Wilkes graduates meeting certain criteria are guaranteed admission into Widener’s Doctor of Clinical Psychology program.
Faceplant:
Last week, unranked Buffalo State upset #1 Wisconsin-Whitewater on a touchdown pass with 3 seconds remaining in the game. This week, #19 Buffalo State got wafflestomped at home by Alfred, and are right back out of the poll. Worse, Buffalo State now hosts #7 Salisbury, and are probably going to fall to 2-3. This may well be a .500 team in the end, which will not do great things for Whitewater’s seeding come playoff time.
I Don’t Mean to Be Cruel:
You’ll recall Sam Durley of Eureka threw for 736 yards in the season opener, a new NCAA all-division record. Since then, things have been decidedly un-rosy. Never mind that Old Dominion’s Taylor Heinicke came only six yards shy of tying the record only three weeks later. Since then, Eureka’s been stomped by Saint Scholastica, barely escaped Crown, and last weekend got shellacked 54-0 by Simpson (IA). Since his record-breaking opening day, Durley is 52-118 for 596 yards with only two TDs and an interception.
And They’ve Reached the Tape:
We’ve been tracking the ECFC, and we can now report that the conference which finished 16 games under .500 in non-conference play last year will now finish this year’s regular season no worse than even. The conference clinched a .500 regular-season mark with Gallaudet’s 35-7 win over Newport News Apprentice last weekend, putting them at 11-10 with Saturday’s visit to New York Maritime by the NJAC’s 1-2 William Paterson squad being the final non-con game on the schedule.
Kenyon Goes Down… Fighting, Though:
After winning two straight to break their 22-game losing streak, the Kenyon Lords marched into St. Louis to take on Washington (MO). Their winning streak is now over, but they didn’t go down meekly in a 28-23 loss. They’re off this week, and after that things get considerably more difficult, but a .500 season isn’t out of the question just yet.
The New Top 25:
Other eye-catching scores:
Nail-Biters:
at Saint Norbert 28, Carroll (WI) 21 (OT)
at Rose-Hulman 28, Manchester 26
at Massachusetts-Dartmouth 23, Plymouth State 21
at Saint Olaf 17, Gustavus Adolphus 14
at Ohio Wesleyan 17, Case Western Reserve 14
Whitworth 17, at Chapman 14
at Bridgewater 17, Shenandoah 14
at Curry 31, MIT 28 (FRI)
Done Been Trucked:
at Delaware Valley 63, Fairleigh Dickinson-Florham 3
Cortland State 56, at Morrisville State 14
at Carthage 49, Lakeland 9
at Northwestern (MN) 54, MacMurray 14
Defense Is an Optional Package:
at Grove City 44, Bethany (WV) 40
Franklin & Marshall 45, at Juniata 38
at Massachusetts Maritime 42, Coast Guard 38
Guilford 45, at Averett 35
No Offense… But No Offense:
at Bluffton 14, Mount Saint Joseph 7
Grinnell 13, at Beloit 7