{"id":1488,"date":"2011-12-09T10:00:17","date_gmt":"2011-12-09T16:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jonfmorse.com\/tog\/?p=1488"},"modified":"2011-12-15T19:32:15","modified_gmt":"2011-12-16T01:32:15","slug":"fcs-quarterfinal-previews","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/jonfmorse.com\/tog\/2011\/12\/09\/fcs-quarterfinal-previews\/","title":{"rendered":"FCS: Quarterfinal Previews."},"content":{"rendered":"

I’m not providing actual recaps this week, because… well, because this week has been hell. Previews, team capsules, and predictions for the quarterfinal FCS playoff games this week follow.
\n
\n\"\"\"\"
\nNorthern Iowa (10-2) at Montana (10-2)<\/strong><\/span>
\nWashington-Grizzly Stadium, Missoula MT, 8pm ET FRIDAY
\nAirs on ESPN2. Video available via ESPN3. Audio available via Northern Iowa<\/a> and Montana<\/a>. Live Stats available via CBS<\/a>.
\nSeries: Montana leads 4-0 (last: 38-0 at Montana, 2001 playoffs)<\/p>\n

My predictions from last week: Montana 34, Central Arkansas 23; Northern Iowa 28, Wofford 24.
\nActual: Montana 41, Central Arkansas 14; Northern Iowa 28, Wofford 21.<\/p>\n

Although Montana blew out Central Arkansas last week, the difference between the prediction and the outcome was basically one score going the other way, so I won’t self-flagellate too much. Northern Iowa capitalized on a Wofford blunder to score on their own kickoff after a touchdown to provide an insurance touchdown in the second half, and as a result I came very close to nailing that one.<\/p>\n

Jon’s Prediction<\/span>:
\nMontana 24, Northern Iowa 20. Northern Iowa’s bread-and-butter is on the ground, but Montana’s strength is stopping the run. The Panthers are not as adept at stopping the pass, however, which leaves the Grizzlies an opening to exploit.<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"\"\"
\nMontana State (10-2) at Sam Houston State (12-0)<\/strong><\/span>
\nBowers Stadium, Huntsville TX, 12pm ET SATURDAY
\nAirs on ESPN. Audio available via KXLB<\/a>. Live Stats available via CBS<\/a>.
\nSeries: tied 2-2. (last: 1991, 26-23 Sam Houston State, at Montana State)<\/p>\n

My predictions from last week: Montana State 38, New Hampshire 31; Sam Houston State 38, Stony Brook 23.
\nActual: Montana State 26, New Hampshire 25; Sam Houston State 34, Stony Brook 27.<\/p>\n

Up in Montana, the offenses weren’t as potent as I’d expected, and New Hampshire came a blocked field goal from sending the affair into overtime. Ironically, had they done so, my prediction may have been closer to the mark. As for Stony Brook, they stole four of the points I had allotted to Sam Houston State and kept them for themselves; I’m more amused that I got the actual combined total exactly right than I am about the Seawolves beating my spread by eight points.<\/p>\n

Jon’s Prediction<\/span>:
\nSam Houston State 30, Montana State 24. The key here is going to be Sam Houston’s potent rushing defense. Montana State will be able to throw, but unless they can establish the run it won’t be as effective as they’re accustomed to.<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"\"\"
\nMaine (9-3) at Georgia Southern (10-2)<\/strong><\/span>
\nAllen E. Paulson Stadium, Statesboro GA, 2pm ET SATURDAY
\nVideo available via ESPN3. Audio available via Stretch Internet<\/a> and Georgia Southern<\/a>. Live Stats available via NCAA<\/a>.
\nSeries: Georgia Southern leads 2-0 (last: 31-7 at Georgia Southern, 2002 playoffs)<\/p>\n

My predictions from last week: Appalachian State 29, Maine 24; Georgia Southern 40, Old Dominion 30
\nActual: Maine 34, Appalachian State 12; Georgia Southern 55, Old Dominion 48<\/p>\n

Uh… no. Obviously, Maine completely turned the tables on me, stifling Appalachian State’s offense and padding their own. Georgia Southern and Old Dominion didn’t really differ from my prediction in intent, but I didn’t expect them to trade scores quite so rapidly… or as often.<\/p>\n

Jon’s Prediction<\/span>:
\nGeorgia Southern 32, Maine 24. Maine’s going to get its points — after all, Georgia Southern gave up 560 yards last week — but I just don’t see them being prepared for the triple option attack, something they quite literally have not faced since the last time they played the Eagles.<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"\"\"
\nLehigh (11-1) at Towson (9-2)<\/strong><\/span>
\nFargoDome, Fargo ND, 4pm ET SATURDAY
\nAirs on ESPN GamePlan. Video available via ESPN3. Audio available via Lehigh<\/a> and KFGO<\/a>. Live Stats available via NCAA<\/a>.
\nSeries: first meeting.<\/p>\n

My predictions from last week: Towson 31, Lehigh 30; North Dakota State 27, James Madison 10
\nActual: Lehigh 40, Towson 38; North Dakota State 26, James Madison 14<\/p>\n

One of those was almost spot-on, so go me. Towson, of course, lost when they gave up a safety on their final possession of the game. There was a bit more offense than I expected, and I had downgraded Lehigh’s attack based on their schedule. Not doing that again.<\/p>\n

Jon’s Prediction<\/span>:
\nNorth Dakota State 31, Lehigh 18. Just because I’m not downgrading Lehigh’s offense doesn’t mean I think they’re going to score a lot of points against the stingy Bison defense. Besides, Lehigh’s All-American WR Ryan Spadola has been suspended for the game after retweeting a racist comment sent to him by someone else. (He was retweeting it to respond to it, not to agree with it, but he’s being disciplined anyway because he should have redacted the racist term. Let this be a lesson to you all.) So 96 receptions for 1614 yards will be unavailable, and Chris Lum’s going to have to find other targets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’m not providing actual recaps this week, because… well, because this week has been hell. Previews, team capsules, and predictions for the quarterfinal FCS playoff games this week follow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","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":[7,6],"tags":[41],"class_list":["post-1488","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-division-news-and-notes","category-fcs","tag-fcs"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p185sV-o0","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/jonfmorse.com\/tog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1488","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=1488"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/jonfmorse.com\/tog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1488\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1497,"href":"http:\/\/jonfmorse.com\/tog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1488\/revisions\/1497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/jonfmorse.com\/tog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jonfmorse.com\/tog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1488"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jonfmorse.com\/tog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}