Those Other Guys

Non-Division I for the Division I Fan

FCS: Week 9 Recap/Week 10 Preview.

Oct 31

Posted by Jon Morse in Division News and Notes, FCS | Comments off

We still have no playoff tickets punched, and unbelievably there is only one team which can clinch a playoff spot this week (Sam Houston State). The only honors claimed by any team thus far: Cal Poly-SLO has clinched a share of the Great West title. This week’s action isn’t nearly as bombastic as last week’s, but there are still some games you should keep an eye on:

#1 North Dakota State at #21 Indiana State
#2 Montana State at 3-5 Weber State (MSU would claim a share of the Big Sky title with a win)
#4 Sam Houston State at 2-6 Southeastern Louisiana (SHSU would claim a share of the Southland title, and the autobid, with a win)
#14 Towson at #7 Maine
#13 James Madison at #9 New Hampshire
5-3 Eastern Kentucky at #18 Jacksonville State
6-2 Jacksonville at 7-2 Drake
6-2 San Diego at 6-3 Dayton
5-3 Cal Poly-SLO at 2-6 Cal-Davis (CPSLO will convert shared title to outright with a win)

I have composed a handy primer for playoff formats and guidelines, because we’re getting very very close to starting to hand out bids.
Read the rest of this entry »

Tags:

NAIA: Week 8 Recap/Week 9 Preview.

Oct 29

Posted by Jon Morse in Division News and Notes, NAIA | Comments off

We missed last week, but we didn’t really miss much as almost everything went according to form. This week has only a couple of major games to deal with:

#14 Ottawa at #18 Bethany (KS) (Ottawa wins KCAC title with win)
#23 Dakota Wesleyan at #22 Northwestern (IA)

The weekly recaps are going to be missing game details from here on out, unless something truly special happened and I happened to catch it. This is because I’ve been brought on as a contributing author at Bring on the Cats, the Kansas State Wildcats blog at SBNation, and that’s going to have to take priority. Unfortunately, the “mining press releases for neat stat tidbits and game story notes” is by far the most crushing and time-consuming aspect of the process of writing these recaps. In order to at least keep you abreast of the progress of conference races, that’s just going to have to be sacrificed.

(When the playoffs roll around, we should get back to more details. No worries there.)

I have composed a handy primer for playoff formats and guidelines, because we’re getting very very close to starting to hand out bids.
Read the rest of this entry »

Tags:

D-III: Week 8 Recap/Week 9 Preview.

Oct 29

Posted by Jon Morse in Division III, Division News and Notes | Comments off

Because I’m late with this, I get to announce that the first spot in this year’s playoff field has been filled. Congratulations to Saint Scholastica on their Upper Midwest Athletic Conference championship and their impending trip to the post-season (the league’s first playoff representative).

Big games this week (bold indicates team will win conference title and autobid — or divisional title and not autobid, as noted — with a win; italics means they can do so):

Friday night: 8-0 Saint Scholastica 70, Presentation 20 – Saint Scholastica wins UMAC title and autobid

Saturday:
1-6 Gustavus Adolphus at #3 Saint Thomas (MN)
#11 Salisbury at #7 Wesley (DE)
#8 Thomas More at 5-2 Westminster (PA)
5-2 Ursinus at #14 Johns Hopkins
5-2 Rowan at #18 Kean
6-2 Central (IA) at 5-2 Wartburg
4-3 Albion at 7-0 Adrian
6-1 Lycoming at 5-2 Lebanon Valley
7-1 Monmouth (IL) at 6-2 Carroll (WI)
1-6 Coast Guard at 5-2 Framingham State (NEFC Bogan Division)
8-0 Endicott at 7-1 Western New England (NEFC Boyd Division)
6-0 Lewis & Clark at 4-2 Pacific Lutheran
5-2 Chicago at 6-1 Case Western

The weekly recaps are going to be missing game details from here on out, unless something truly special happened and I happened to catch it. This is because I’ve been brought on as a contributing author at Bring on the Cats, the Kansas State Wildcats blog at SBNation, and that’s going to have to take priority. Unfortunately, the “mining press releases for neat stat tidbits and game story notes” is by far the most crushing and time-consuming aspect of the process of writing these recaps. In order to at least keep you abreast of the progress of conference races, that’s just going to have to be sacrificed.

(When the playoffs roll around, we should get back to more details. No worries there.)

I have composed a handy primer for playoff formats and guidelines, because we’re getting very very close to starting to hand out bids.
Read the rest of this entry »

Tags:

D-II: Week 8 Recap/Week 9 Preview.

Oct 27

Posted by Jon Morse in Division II, Division News and Notes | Comments off

Both divisions of the GLIAC race went HAM on us, while everywhere else things are steaming toward some sort of resolution.

#5 North Alabama at #23 West Alabama
#6 Minnesota-Duluth at #11 Saint Cloud State
#13 New Haven at 5-2 Merrimack
5-2 Saginaw Valley State at #15 Wayne State (MI)
#24 California (PA) at 5-2 Indiana (PA)
6-2 Indianapolis at 5-3 Ferris State
5-3 Findlay at 5-3 Ashland
5-3 Missouri S&T at 5-3 Urbana (GLFC title on the line)
5-3 Augustana (SD) at 6-2 Minnesota State-Mankato
5-3 Miles at 6-2 Stillman (de facto SIAC West title game)

I have composed a handy primer for playoff formats and guidelines, because we’re getting very very close to starting to hand out bids.

The first Super Regional rankings of the year are out, and this is what the NCAA uses to determine the playoff field. I’ll note which teams are ranked in their Super Regional poll for each conference. At the end of the recap, I’ll also note who’d make the playoffs and what the pairings should be if the season ended today.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags:

FCS: Week 8 Recap/Week 9 Preview.

Oct 25

Posted by Jon Morse in Division News and Notes, FCS | Comments off

A quarterback returns from injury and has a 400-yard, 5 TD day the week after his backup did the very same thing. The MEAC went topsy-turvy. A top five team bit the dust, and this week two more teams are going to as we get to witness two titanic showdowns. All the goodies after the jump.

#1 Georgia Southern at #5 Appalachian State
#2 Northern Iowa at #3 North Dakota State
#9 James Madison at #15 Old Dominion
#21 Delaware at #13 Towson
#25 Tennessee Tech at #14 Jacksonville State
#16 Alabama State at 5-2 Alabama A&M
4-2 Pennsylvania at 5-1 Brown

I have composed a handy primer for playoff formats and guidelines, because we’re getting very very close to starting to hand out bids.
Read the rest of this entry »

Tags:

Playoff Primer 2011.

Oct 25

Posted by Jon Morse in Division II, Division III, FCS, NAIA, Non-Specific Babble | Comments off

As of this moment, no team has actually officially clinched a berth in the post-season in any of the lower divisions, but that’s about to change. To save me discussing the ins and outs of playoff selection for each division every week, I’m providing you a handy summary of the process right here, after the jump.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , ,

D-III: Week 7 Recap/Week 8 Preview.

Oct 21

Posted by Jon Morse in Division III, Division News and Notes | Comments off

The #10 team in the nation, unbeaten, got bushwacked by a winless foe, the Division III single-game record for team total offense got broken, a few teams are now in position to officially claim playoff bids, and one team was so offensively destroyed that I can kick a field goal longer than their entire offensive output this week.

#1 Wisconsin-Whitewater at #20 Wisconsin-Oshkosh
#3 Saint Thomas (MN) at #10 Bethel (MN)
4-1 Pacific Lutheran at #5 Linfield
#6 North Central at #15 Illinois Wesleyan
#18 Johns Hopkins at 4-2 Gettysburg
5-1 Lebanon Valley at 6-1 Widener
4-2 Bridgewater at 6-1 Washington & Lee

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags:

D-II: Week 7 Recap/Week 8 Preview.

Oct 21

Posted by Jon Morse in Division II, Division News and Notes | Comments off

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)

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags:

Tiding You Over: D-II/D-III Thursday/Friday.

Oct 20

Posted by Jon Morse in Division II, Division III, Division News and Notes | Comments off

There’s just no way I’m going to get to the remaining recaps for this week before tonight’s action, so I’m going to cover my own ass here and touch on the Thursday/Friday action in the remaining divisions, which will give me until Saturday to get back on track.  On the other hand, I suppose this means I can get more in depth on these four  games than I would in the full recaps, so consider it bonus coverage.

There are no NAIA games this week prior to Saturday; just two D-II games Thursday and two D-III games on Friday.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: ,

FCS: Week 7 Recap/Week 8 Preview.

Oct 20

Posted by Jon Morse in Division News and Notes, FCS | Comments off

A cinderella story continued in the most ridiculous of fashions, the CAA’s stranglehold on the top 25 actually increased, some pretenders had their illusions shattered, and an ugly incident occurred in Arkansas. All the fun stuff after our games of the week and the jump:

#9 Maine at #18 Richmond
#13 New Hampshire at #22 Massachusetts
#15 Towson at #14 William & Mary

…yes, that’s it. Three CAA games matching top 25 teams; every other top 25 team is either idle or facing an opponent they should handle easily, and there are no big games involving teams lurking below the bottom of the poll. Even though some races will shake down a bit, this is not a great week coming up.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: