Only two ranked teams lost to unranked teams Saturday — but one of them was #1. The first regional polls were released this week, and I’ll let you know who’d be in the playoffs if they started today, along with lots of other news, after the jump.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Gulf South:<\/strong> (Region Two) Southern Arkansas checked out West Alabama in overtime for the second year in a row. Nick Hardesty became HSU’s all-time passing leader with 4,609 yards in their Battle of the Ravine victory over cross-street rival Ouachita. (That’s right, their stadiums are separated by a mere half-mile. See what cool information I cough up for you?) Harding did their damage in the third quarter, reeling off 26 unanswered points to corral Monticello.<\/p>\n Saturday:<\/span> If the playoffs began today, Valdosta State (#2) and North Alabama (#5) would make the field.<\/p>\n West Georgia (3-5, 2-4) at #10 Valdosta State (7-1, 5-1) Mid-America:<\/strong> (Region Four) Saturday:<\/span> #3 Northwest Missouri State (7-1, 7-0) at #6 Central Missouri (9-1, 8-0) If the playoffs began today, Central Missouri (#2) and Northwest Missouri State (#4) would make the field.<\/p>\n Great Lakes IAC:<\/strong> (Region Three) A massive upset at the top of the schedule. Michigan Tech had not beaten Grand Valley since 1984, and it’s only GVSU’s second regular season loss since 2004. Tech RB Phil Milbrath shredded the Laker defense with 293 rushing yards. I’d expressed some concern about Grand Valley’s defense after the Lake Erie game, and lo and behold… Speaking of Lake Erie, the Storm picked up their second win in a row after starting 0-7.<\/p>\n Saturday:<\/span> The door just got kicked open, knocked off its hinges, and trampled. Grand Valley now only leads Michigan by a game in the North, but Michigan Tech now holds the tiebreaker, meaning the Lakers simply cannot slip again. In their favor is a soft remaining schedule compared to Tech. In the south, Hillsdale and Wayne are tied up, with Wayne holding the tiebreaker. Hillsdale has a major edge in schedule, though; both teams still have Findlay on the schedule, but whereas Wayne plays Indianapolis this week, Hillsdale gets Tiffin next week.<\/p>\n Northwood (4-5, 4-4) at #8 Grand Valley State (8-1, 7-1) If the playoffs began today, Grand Valley (#3) and Hillsdale (#5) would make the field.<\/p>\n South Atlantic:<\/strong> (Region Two) Tusculum picked up their first conference victory of the year on the strength of seven Bo Cordell TD passes. Wingate held onto their victory by blocking a potential game-tying field goal as time ran down. Carson-Newman rolled up 451 rushing yards to put away Newberry.<\/p>\n Saturday:<\/span> Lenoir-Rhyne (5-4, 2-3) at Carson-Newman (6-3, 4-1) If the playoffs began today, Catawba (#3) and Wingate (#4) would make the field.<\/p>\n Northern Sun:<\/strong> (Region Three) Saturday:<\/span> #1 Minnesota-Duluth (9-0, 8-0) at Minnesota-Crookston (1-8, 0-8) If the playoffs began today, Augustana (#1), Duluth (#2), and St. Cloud (#6) would make the field.<\/p>\n Great Northwest:<\/strong> (Region Four) Saturday:<\/span> Simon Fraser (1-7, 0-6) at Central Washington (6-3, 5-1) If the playoffs began today, Central Washington (#8) would make the field due to the Earned Access policy.<\/p>\n Lone Star:<\/strong> (Region Four) Saturday:<\/span> In the North, an East Central win gives them the title. If they lose, and Northeastern wins, the crown goes to Tahlequah. If they both lose, creating a three-way tie at 4-2, East Central would win the division based on head-to-head wins over both Northeastern and Eastern New Mexico.<\/p>\n In the south, Abilene wins the title with a victory. If West Texas wins, and Kingsville loses, West Texas grabs the title. If West Texas and Kingsville win, I have no idea how they’ll sort it out, because I can’t find LSC tiebreaking procedures.<\/p>\n The overall conference championship is still a bit up in the air, thanks to the crossover slate next weekend.<\/p>\n #2 Abilene Christian (9-0, 5-0) at #14 West Texas A&M (7-2, 4-1) If the playoffs began today, Abilene (#1), Texas A&M-Kingsville (#3), and West Texas A&M (#5) would make the field. Midwestern State (#6) would lose out due to Central Washington being ranked in the top eight in the region.<\/p>\n Pennsylvania:<\/strong> (Region One) Kutztown’s Kevin Morton lit up West Chester’s secondary with 451 yards passing and five TD tosses. Bloomsburg didn’t need them to win, but they got five field goals from Daniel Fisher, setting a school record. Coming off their upset loss last week, California trailed Indiana 15-0 in the fourth quarter before coming back to tie the game, then escaped in overtime.<\/p>\n Saturday:<\/span> #12 California (PA) (8-1, 5-1) at Edinboro (6-3, 3-3) If the playoffs began today, Kutztown (#2), Mercyhurst (#3), and California (#4) would make the field. Bloomsburg (#5) would miss out due to St. Augustine’s being ranked in the top eight in the region. Kutztown at Bloomsburg this week, however, will totally alter this.<\/p>\n West Virginia:<\/strong> (Region One) West Liberty QB Zach Amedro is 499 yards short of the all-time Division II passing record, and he’s got two more games to get there. He currently sits at 13,852 yards.<\/p>\n Saturday:<\/span> Fairmont State (4-5, 2-4) “at” Concord (7-2, 4-2) (at Princeton WV) If the playoffs began today, Shepherd (#1) would make the field.<\/p>\n Rocky Mountain:<\/strong> (Region Three) Saturday:<\/span> Fort Lewis (2-6, 2-5) at #9 Nebraska-Kearney (8-1, 7-0) If the playoffs began today, Nebraska-Kearney (#4) would make the field.<\/p>\n Southern:<\/strong> (Region Two) Fort Valley spotted Lane a 12-0 lead before coming back and putting things in order. Kentucky Wesleyan jumped out to a 20-0 lead on Miles, and held off a 21-point fourth-quarter charge to secure the win. Tuskegee scored the first 20 points, and the last 18, but temporarily let Kentucky State get back in the game in between.<\/p>\n Saturday:<\/span> #5 Albany State (9-0, 8-0) at #22 Fort Valley State (8-1, 7-1) If the playoffs began today, Albany State (#1) and Morehouse (#6) would make the field.<\/p>\n Northeast Ten:<\/strong> (Region One) Rob Parent threw seven TD passes and racked up 328 yards in the air to lead AIC to their win at Merrimack. Stonehill’s Stephan Neville returned a kickoff 78 yards for a touchdown; more interesting in that St. Anselm was squib-kicking through the afternoon.<\/p>\n Saturday:<\/span> St. Anselm (1-7, 1-5) at #23 New Haven (8-1, 6-1) If the playoffs began today, New Haven (#6) would make the field.<\/p>\n Central:<\/strong> (Region One) Saturday:<\/span> Shaw (7-2, 6-0) at #19t St. Augustine’s (8-1, 6-0) If the playoffs began today, St. Augustine’s (#7) would make the field due to the Earned Access policy.<\/p>\n Great Lakes FC:<\/strong> Saturday:<\/span> Missouri S&T (2-7, 1-1) at St. Joseph’s (IN) (5-4, 2-0) If the playoffs began today, haha, just kidding.<\/p>\n Independents:<\/strong> Saturday:<\/span> If the playoffs began today, no independent would be selected. Southwest Baptist might make a case if they pull off the FCS upset this week, but outside of that there’s little hope.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Only two ranked teams lost to unranked teams Saturday — but one of them was #1. The first regional polls were released this week, and I’ll let you know who’d be in the playoffs if they started today, along with lots of other news, after the jump.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8,7],"tags":[9],"class_list":["post-130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-division-ii","category-division-news-and-notes","tag-d2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p185sV-26","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/jonfmorse.com\/tog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/jonfmorse.com\/tog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/jonfmorse.com\/tog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jonfmorse.com\/tog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jonfmorse.com\/tog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=130"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/jonfmorse.com\/tog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":132,"href":"http:\/\/jonfmorse.com\/tog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130\/revisions\/132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/jonfmorse.com\/tog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jonfmorse.com\/tog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jonfmorse.com\/tog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n#21 North Alabama 31, at #19 Delta State 7 (Thursday)
\n#10 Valdosta State 21, at Arkansas Tech 7
\nat Southern Arkansas 30, West Alabama 27 (2OT)
\nat Henderson State 35, Ouachita Baptist 26
\nat Harding 33, Arkansas-Monticello 26
\nWest Georgia idle<\/p>\n
\nValdosta will win the conference title with a win Saturday and a Delta State loss. Either of those two things fails to happen, and we’re down to the final week; if the thing that fails to happen is Valdosta winning, we’re looking at a potential four-way tie for the conference title.<\/p>\n
\nWest Alabama (6-3, 4-2) at #18 North Alabama (7-2, 4-2)
\nDelta State (6-3, 5-2) at Ouachita Baptist (5-3, 3-3)
\nHenderson State (6-3, 5-2) at South Alabama (8-0, n\/a) (non-conference)
\nArkansas Tech (3-6, 2-5) at Harding (4-4, 2-4)
\nArkansas-Monticello (3-6, 2-5) at Southern Arkansas (1-7, 1-5)<\/p>\n
\nat #4 Northwest Missouri State 45, Fort Hays State 27
\n#7 Central Missouri 34, at Missouri Southern 21
\nat Missouri Western 42, Emporia State 14
\nWashburn 45, at Truman 12
\nNebraska-Omaha 48, at Pittsburg State 27<\/p>\n
\nDivision II game of the week right here, as two top-ten teams slug it out; winner gets the conference title, loser gets… well, probably a playoff bid anyway.<\/p>\n
\nMissouri Western (6-3, 4-3) at Nebraska-Omaha (4-5, 4-3)
\nEmporia State (5-5, 3-5) at Washburn (5-4, 4-3)
\nTruman (4-5, 2-5) at Pittsburg State (4-5, 2-5)
\nMissouri Southern (3-6, 1-6) at Fort Hays State (3-6, 1-6)<\/p>\n
\nat Michigan Tech 20, #1 Grand Valley State 17
\n#17 Hillsdale 35, at Northwood 28
\nat Indianapolis 37, Ferris State 33
\nWayne State (MI) 41, at Saginaw Valley State 27
\nAshland 56, at Findlay 7
\nNorthern Michigan 43, at Tiffin 14
\nat Lake Erie 30, Ohio Dominican 15<\/p>\n
\nI need to apologize for some confusion here; up until last week, the GLIAC was presenting their standings as a unified 14-team league, and now they’re showing them with divisional alignment. That changes things a bit.<\/p>\n
\nFindlay (1-8, 1-7) at #17 Hillsdale (7-2, 6-2)
\nIndianapolis (5-4, 4-4) at #24 Wayne State (MI) (7-2, 6-2)
\nMichigan Tech (6-2, 6-2) at Ferris State (5-4, 5-3)
\nAshland (6-3, 5-3) at Ohio Dominican (2-6, 2-6)
\nSaginaw Valley State (3-6, 3-5) at Northern Michigan (5-4, 5-3)
\nTiffin (1-8, 0-8) at Lake Erie (2-7, 2-6)<\/p>\n
\nCarson-Newman 35, at Newberry 13
\nCatawba 38, at Mars Hill 28
\nat Wingate 27, Lenoir-Rhyne 24
\nat Tusculum 51, Brevard 35<\/p>\n
\nA three-way tie for first, and the leaders are already done with each other and are locked in a transitive tie as well. That means that someone’s going to have to lose a game they shouldn’t for this to clear up at all, and the race won’t be decided until the final week.<\/p>\n
\nTusculum (5-4, 1-4) at Catawba (6-2, 4-1)
\nMars Hill (5-4, 3-2) at Wingate (6-2, 4-1)
\nNewberry (3-5, 2-3) at Brevard (3-6, 0-5)<\/p>\n
\nat #2 Minnesota-Duluth 40, #20 St. Cloud State 17
\nat #8 Augustana (SD) 17, Minnesota State-Mankato 13
\nat Bemidji State 41, Northern State 13
\nConcordia-St. Paul 41, at Minnesota-Crookston 7
\nat Upper Iowa 21, Wayne State (NE) 20
\nWinona State 44, at Southwest Minnesota State 19
\nat Mary 43, Minnesota State-Moorhead 17<\/p>\n
\nThat should get rid of St. Cloud (although it doesn’t technically do so yet). Duluth’s almost-certain win Saturday will take care of that. The NSIC crowns divisional champions and an overall champion, and there are no tiebreakers; that means that, at this stage, UMD and Augustana are likely to share the conference title. Duluth will win the north with a victory this week, and Augustana would win the south with a win and a Winona loss (divisional titles depend solely on divisional record).<\/p>\n
\n#7 Augustana (SD) (9-0, 8-0) at Wayne State (NE) (5-4, 4-4)
\nBemidji State (6-3, 5-3) at #25 St. Cloud State (7-2, 7-1)
\nUpper Iowa (2-7, 2-6) at Concordia-St. Paul (6-3, 5-3)
\nMary (2-7, 2-6) at Winona State (6-3, 5-3)
\nSouthwest Minnesota State (4-5, 3-5) at Minnesota State-Mankato (5-4, 4-4)
\nMinnesota State-Moorhead (2-7, 2-6) at Northern State (1-8, 1-7)<\/p>\n
\nHumboldt State 35, at Simon Fraser 14
\nat Western Oregon 42, Dixie State 7
\nCentral Washington idle<\/p>\n
\nBoth leaders have games remaining against Simon Fraser and Western Oregon (Dixie’s conference slate is done for the year). It all depends on who slips up, as the leaders split their two games. (I can’t find the tiebreak procedures, if any; if the next tiebreaker after head-to-head is overall record, Humboldt has the advantage, and if it’s point differential in head-to-head play, Central has the edge.)<\/p>\n
\nWestern Oregon (6-3, 4-2) at Humboldt State (7-2, 5-1)
\nDixie State (2-7, 2-6) at Southern Utah (5-4, FCS) (non-conference)<\/p>\n
\nat #3 Abilene Christian 33, Angelo State 20
\n#5 Texas A&M-Kingsville 56, at Southwestern Oklahoma State 17 (crossover)
\n#14 West Texas A&M 49, at Incarnate Word 10
\nat #22 Midwestern State 31, Tarleton State 26
\nat East Central 48, Northeastern State 21
\nTexas A&M-Commerce 31, at Central Oklahoma 30
\nat Eastern New Mexico 55, Southeastern Oklahoma State 20<\/p>\n
\nNext week is crossover week, so this is the final week of play which actually matters in terms of deciding divisional champions. As a result, I can clearly outline the possibilities.<\/p>\n
\n#19t Midwestern State (7-2, 3-2) at #4 Texas A&M-Kingsville (8-1, 4-1)
\nEastern New Mexico (4-5, 3-2) at Northeastern State (5-4, 4-1)
\nEast Central (4-5, 4-1) at Texas A&M-Commerce (3-6, 2-3)
\nCentral Oklahoma (2-7, 1-4) at Southwestern Oklahoma State (2-7, 2-3)
\nAngelo State (3-5, 1-5) at Southeastern Oklahoma State (3-6, 2-4) (crossover)
\nIncarnate Word (2-7, 0-5) at Tarleton State (2-7, 1-4)<\/p>\n
\nat #12 California (PA) 18, Indiana (PA) 15 (OT)
\n#13 Bloomsburg 36, at CW Post 16
\nat #15 Kutztown 45, West Chester 23
\nat #24 Mercyhurst 21, Slippery Rock 13
\nClarion 11, at Gannon 10
\nEdinboro 30, at Lock Haven 22
\nat East Stroudsburg 58, Cheyney 14
\nat Shippensburg 19, Millersville 14<\/p>\n
\nThe East will be decided in a huge game between Kutztown and Bloomsburg. A playoff bid will also essentially be on the line. In the West, Mercyhurst can snag the title with a win and a California loss. Otherwise, it’ll remain unsettled until next week. (If they both lose, the specter of a logjam at 5-3 starts to rear its ugly head.)<\/p>\n
\n#15 Kutztown (9-0, 6-0) at #13 Bloomsburg (8-1, 6-0)
\nClarion (3-6, 3-3) at #21 Mercyhurst (7-2, 5-1)
\nCW Post (5-4, 4-2) at Cheyney (1-8, 1-5)
\nGannon (5-4, 3-3) at Slippery Rock (6-3, 3-3)
\nMillersville (2-7, 0-6) at West Chester (3-6, 3-3)
\nShippensburg (3-6, 2-4) at East Stroudsburg (3-6, 2-4)
\nLock Haven (0-9, 0-6) at Indiana (PA) (4-5, 2-4)<\/p>\n
\n#11 Shepherd 56, at West Virginia State 19
\nat West Virginia Wesleyan 31, Glenville State 24 (OT)
\nat West Liberty State 37, Charleston 23
\nConcord 30, at North Carolina-Pembroke 26 (non-conference)
\nat Fairmont State 44, Seton Hill 29<\/p>\n
\nAll done. Shepherd won the title with their win Saturday.<\/p>\n
\nWest Virginia Wesleyan (7-2, 4-2) at West Virginia State (0-8, 0-6)
\nWest Liberty State (5-3, 4-2) at Seton Hill (2-8, 1-6)
\nCharleston (5-4, 3-3) at Glenville State (4-5, 3-3)
\n#11 Shepherd (9-0, 7-0) idle<\/p>\n
\n#9 Nebraska-Kearney 56, at Western New Mexico 31
\nat #16 Colorado Mines 24, Adams State 17
\nChadron State 38, at Fort Lewis 7
\nat Colorado State-Pueblo 66, New Mexico Highlands 0
\nat Mesa State 33, Western State 28<\/p>\n
\nIt’s all set up now. No matter what happens this week, the winner of next week’s Kearney-Mines tilt wins the conference title.<\/p>\n
\n#16 Colorado Mines (8-1, 7-0) at Chadron State (6-3, 5-2)
\nColorado State-Pueblo (7-2, 5-2) at Western State (1-8, 1-6)
\nMesa State (3-5, 3-4) at Adams State (3-6, 2-5)
\nWestern New Mexico (3-6, 2-5) at New Mexico Highlands (1-8, 1-6)<\/p>\n
\nat #6 Albany State 44, Stillman 5
\n#25 Fort Valley State 31, at Lane 18
\nMorehouse 17, at Clark Atlanta 7
\nat Tuskegee 45, Kentucky State 21
\nat Benedict 41, Concordia (AL) 14 (non-conference)
\nat Kentucky Wesleyan 40, Miles 28 (non-conference)<\/p>\n
\nHuge game in Fort Valley Saturday, and it will decide the division title, as this will be the final week of conference play.<\/p>\n
\nMorehouse (7-2, 6-2) at Miles (3-7, 3-5)
\nLane (0-9, 0-8) at Tuskegee (7-2, 6-2)
\nBenedict (4-6, 3-5) at Clark Atlanta (4-5, 4-4)
\nKentucky State (3-7, 2-6) at Stillman (1-8, 1-7)<\/p>\n
\nBentley 35, at Assumption 21 (Friday)
\nNew Haven 58, at Pace 19
\nAmerican International 59, at Merrimack 19
\nStonehill 41, at St. Anselm 27
\nSouthern Connecticut State idle<\/p>\n
\nNew Haven won the conference title with its win over Pace on Saturday.<\/p>\n
\nSouthern Connecticut State (4-4, 4-2) at Merrimack (3-5, 3-3)
\nPace (0-7, 0-5) at American International (4-4, 4-2)
\nAssumption (6-3, 3-3) at Stonehill (4-4, 2-4)
\nBentley (4-4, 4-2) idle<\/p>\n
\nat Shaw 31, #18 Winston-Salem State 27
\n#23 St. Augustine’s 33, at Livingstone 0
\nat Elizabeth City State 55, Chowan 14
\nVirginia State 35, at Virginia Union 7
\nat Fayetteville State 64, Johnson C. Smith 6
\nSt. Paul’s 16, at Lincoln (PA) 13 (OT)
\nBowie State idle<\/p>\n
\nShaw and St. Augustine’s meet to determine the South Division title. In the North, Virginia State would capture the division crown with a win or a Bowie loss. If Virginia State loses, Bowie would win the title by beating Chowan. (Elizabeth City lost to both, so they’re irrelevant in the event both teams lose and ECSU wins.)<\/p>\n
\nVirginia State (7-2, 5-1) at St. Paul’s (2-7, 2-4)
\nBowie State (5-4, 5-1) at Chowan (3-6, 3-3)
\nElizabeth City State (5-4, 4-2) at Lincoln (PA) (1-8, 0-6)
\nVirginia Union (3-6, 3-4) at Fayetteville State (4-5, 3-3) (crossover)
\nLivingstone (0-10, 0-6) at Johnson C. Smith (1-8, 0-6)
\nWinston-Salem State (8-2, 5-2) idle (season complete)<\/p>\n
\nat Southwest Baptist 51, St. Joseph’s (IN) 43 (non-conference)
\nUrbana 42, at Missouri S&T 25
\nat Kentucky Wesleyan 40, Miles 28 (non-conference)<\/p>\n
\nSt. Joe’s wins the conference title with a victory this weekend; a loss leaves a three-way tie at 2-1. I do not know how they’d settle it.<\/p>\n
\nCentral State (OH) (1-8) at Urbana (3-6, 2-1) (non-conference)
\nNotre Dame (OH) (2-7, NAIA) at Kentucky Wesleyan (4-5, 0-3) (non-conference)<\/p>\n
\nConcord 30, at North Carolina-Pembroke 26
\nat Southwest Baptist 51, St. Joseph’s (IN) 43
\nNorth Greenville 21, at Notre Dame (OH) 14
\nOklahoma Panhandle State 34, at Southern Nazarene 31
\nat Langston 31, Lincoln (MO) 21
\nat Lambuth 42, Central State (OH) 6<\/p>\n
\nSouthwest Baptist (7-2) at Southeast Missouri State (8-1, FCS)
\nNorth Greenville (7-3) at North Carolina-Pembroke (5-4)
\nOklahoma Panhandle State (5-3) at Northwest Oklahoma State (6-2, #17 NAIA)
\nAzusa Pacific (5-3, #22 NAIA) at Lincoln (MO) (1-8)
\nCentral State (OH) (1-8) at Urbana (3-6)<\/p>\n