D-II Spreadsheet: (Excel2003, 309 kb)
D-II Games of the Week:
Due to a veterinary emergency which ate my day, this is going to be very brief (for me, anyway). Further, taking care of the poor thing over the next few days is going to result in the same situation for the D-III and NAIA recaps. Apologies for giving things short shrift this week.
There was no real “game of the week” candidate on Saturday, just five games which were relatively noteworthy. The only game matching ranked teams was #18 West Alabama visiting Wichita Falls for a non-conference tilt with Midwestern State. The Mustangs won handily, 42-27, ejecting West Alabama from the top 25. For the first time in god knows how long, no Gulf South team is ranked now. (North Alabama is 5-1, but getting no support from the voters for some reason.)
Grand Valley State’s woefully inept defense finally caught up with them as the 5-0, 3rd-ranked Lakers tumbled at home to Ferris State 40-24. I had commented within the grid previously that the ranking was unsustainable and that a loss was inevitable, and there we go. Grand Valley tumbled 11 spots with the loss, and they still have almost all their serious rivals left on the schedule.
Sioux Falls finally got around to losing, dropping a 10-9 heartbreaker at Winona State. Both teams committed two interceptions on the day, and although the game featured plenty of raw offense strong third-down defense kept the scoreboard calm.
In the Great American Conference, four teams entered Saturday still unbeaten. It’s down to three now, as 4-0 Harding hosted 4-0 Southern Arkansas and came away with a hard-earned 23-20 victory. Harding, who moved into the poll at #23 as a result, now has to host #12 and 6-0 Henderson State this week. Harding gets #11 Ouachita Baptist, almost certain to be 6-0 themselves, the following week, so a win Saturday for the Bison would set up a chance to all but secure the GAC title. If Henderson wins, we may be treated to a season-ending meeting between unbeatens who are so geographically proximate to one another that from one team’s field you can see the light standards of the other’s.
Finally, the second-ranked team in the nation barely avoided tumbling down the ladder as Colorado State-Pueblo survived 45-38 in overtime over Chadron State. It was the second consecutive time that the two teams met in Pueblo and had to go to overtime to settle matters. Glen Clinton had 205 yards rushing for Chadron, while J.B. Mathews had 174 for the Thunderwolves, who move to 6-0 and remain ranked 2nd, though they might have slipped… if Grand Valley hadn’t.
This coming Saturday, we’ve got three massive, massive games lines up. We already noted Harding/Henderson, but there’s also a major tilt at unranked-but-unbeaten Bentley when #5 New Haven comes to town, and the biggest game of the week will of course be the Fall Classic XI at Arrowhead Stadium between 7th-ranked Northwest Missouri State and #1 Pittsburg State.
Still Perfect:
Seventeen teams entered last weekend unbeaten, and one was assured to depart. That one was Southern Arkansas, who fell to Harding. Grand Valley State and Sioux Falls also suffered their first losses, leaving fourteen teams on the list. New Haven plays at Bentley with both teams 5-0, and Harding now has to deal with Henderson State, so two teams are leaving the party. Also at 5-0 are Ouachita Baptist and Pittsburg State; Ashland, Bloomsburg, Colorado State-Pueblo, Emporia State, Minnesota State-Mankato, Missouri Western State, Shippensburg, and Winston-Salem State are all 6-0.
Still Imperfect:
Lake Erie and North Greenville garnered their first wins of the season, leaving sixteen teams on the winless watch. At least two will depart Saturday as a pair of games match 0-6 outfits: Nebraska-Kearney at Lincoln (MO) and Pace at Saint Anselm. Also at 0-6 are Azusa Pacific, Benedict, Brevard, Lock Haven, Minnesota State-Moorhead, Northeastern State, Northwestern Oklahoma State, Quincy, Seton Hill, Southern Nazarene, and Western State. Lock Haven’s losing streak is now at 48. Fort Lewis, at 0-5, is the final winless team.
The New Top 25:
More notable finals:
Nail-Biters:
McMurry 22, at Southern Nazarene 19
Delta State 38, at Tarleton State 35
Lindenwood 20, at Fort Hays State 17
Adams State 20, at Black Hills State 17
Done Been Trucked:
Urbana 74, Kentucky Wesleyan 0
Kutztown 56, at Cheyney 7
at Virginia Union 61, Lincoln (PA) 13
Defense Is an Optional Package:
at Simon Fraser 66, Azusa Pacific 38
at Arkansas Tech 45, Southeastern Oklahoma State 38
No Offense… But No Offense:
Truman State 16, at Nebraska-Kearney 7
at Concord 14, Glenville State 9