{"id":63,"date":"2010-10-18T23:24:59","date_gmt":"2010-10-19T04:24:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jonfmorse.com\/tog\/?p=63"},"modified":"2010-10-21T11:41:26","modified_gmt":"2010-10-21T16:41:26","slug":"division-i-fcs-week-7-recapweek-8-precap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/jonfmorse.com\/tog\/2010\/10\/18\/division-i-fcs-week-7-recapweek-8-precap\/","title":{"rendered":"Division I FCS: Week 7 Recap\/Week 8 Precap."},"content":{"rendered":"

The front end of the FCS pack remained unchanged last week, but that’s not going to be the case when next week’s poll comes out: we have a titanic battle of top-5 teams coming our way.\u00a0 That story, plus two major upsets, the end of a streak, a game featuring 32 points in the final 4:15, and a coach looking for a new job… after the jump.
\nColonial<\/strong>:
\nDelaware improved to 7-0 with a disturbingly tense 24-17 victory over Rhode Island.\u00a0 The Blue Hens led 24-14 at the half, but couldn’t get back on the board; the defense held, only giving up a third-quarter figgie.\u00a0 #6 Villanova (4-2, 2-1) easily handled Maine in Orono.\u00a0 #16 New Hampshire pulled off a big road upset, scoring 15 unanswered fourth-quarter points to topple #7 James Madison 28-14. #20 Richmond also scored a road upset, knocking off #8 Massachusetts 11-10 despite having to rely on their fourth-string quarterback.\u00a0 In the new poll, UNH (4-3, 2-2) climbs to #10 while JMU (4-2, 1-2) falls to #11, and Richmond (3-3, 1-2) moves to #16 as UMass (4-2, 2-1) tumbles to #12.<\/p>\n

This weekend, the FCS game of the week takes place in Williamsburg, as #4 William & Mary (5-1, 3-1) comes off a bye week to host #2 Delaware.\u00a0 A win by the Blue Hens would put the rest of the conference on high alert; Delaware still has UMass and Villanova to close the season, so they can’t put the race to bed yet, but every week brings them closer.\u00a0 A Tribe win, on the other hand, would throw the entire race into absolute chaos; W&M has already knocked off Villanova, but lost to UMass.<\/p>\n

That’s not the only good game this week.\u00a0 #6 visits #11 as Villanova travels to Harrisonburg to take on JMU.\u00a0 For the Dukes, this is a must-win; a loss effectively eliminates them from the race.\u00a0 We also get #10 vs. #12 in Durham as UMass visits New Hampshire.\u00a0 #16 Richmond hosts Towson (1-5, 0-3), and in a game which somehow, despite being a CAA conference game has no bearing on anything at all, Maine (2-5, 1-3) travels to Rhode Island (2-4, 1-2).<\/p>\n

I should cover this under Independents, but it’s too relevant; there’s one other “conference” game this week, as Georgia State (5-2) travels to Old Dominion (3-3).\u00a0 GSU has won two games on last-second Ian Vance field goals, so Bill Curry is clearly still Bill Curry.<\/p>\n

Southern<\/strong>:
\n#1 Appalachian State (6-0, 4-0) had no trouble at home against The Citadel (2-5, 0-4) in a 39-10 romp, as DeAndre Presley tossed five TD passes.\u00a0 #14 Wofford (5-1, 3-0) had three players rush for over 100 yards apiece and racked up 501 yards on the ground as they rolled over Western Carolina (2-5, 1-3) 45-14, and was rewarded with a boost to #9 in the poll.\u00a0 Last week, I claimed that #21 Georgia Southern (3-3, 1-2) should be the underdog at unranked Chattanooga (4-2, 3-1); I was right, as the Mocs took a 35-27 win.\u00a0 The loss cost GSU their ranking, and Chattanooga took their place at #24.\u00a0 Furman (4-2, 2-1) also moved into the poll at #25 following their 27-10 win over samford (3-4, 1-3).<\/p>\n

So, what will Chattanooga and Furman do with their shiny new rankings?\u00a0 One of them will hand it right back, as the two meet in Greenville.\u00a0 Wofford travels to Elon (2-4, 1-2), hoping to keep pace with the Mountaineers, who head to Cullowhee to take on Western Carolina in a game they should win.\u00a0 Georgia Southern will try and rebound on the road at The Citadel, and Samford will spend the weekend watching that game in preparation for their visit to Statesboro next week.<\/p>\n

Big Sky<\/strong>:
\n#8 Montana State coughed up the league lead, and their top-ten ranking, with an embarrassing 34-7 loss at Northern Arizona (4-2, 2-1) in which the Bobcats only managed 123 yards of offense.\u00a0 The loss dropped the Bobcats (5-2, 3-1) to #15, and the Lumberjacks entered the poll at #22.\u00a0 That leaves Montana and Eastern Washington (both 5-2, 4-1) atop the standings; the Eagles have the tiebreak due to their earlier win over the Grizzlies.\u00a0 Montana, ranked #11 coming in, required a field goal with no time left on the clock to escape with a thrilling 23-21 win at Portland State (2-4, 1-2), while #12 EWU required a touchdown with 0:41 remaining to get past Northern Colorado (2-5, 1-4) on the road.\u00a0 Those victories moved both teams four spots up in the poll, to #7 and #8.\u00a0 In the day’s remaining game, Weber State (3-3, 2-2) notched a lethargic 16-13 road win over hapless Idaho State (1-6, 0-5).<\/p>\n

Saturday, Northern Arizona will take their new ranking to Missoula and try to make up ground on Montana.\u00a0 Eastern Washington will host Sacramento State (3-3, 2-2), Northern Colorado travels to Montana State, and Portland State visits Weber State.\u00a0 Idaho State get the week off to lick their wounds.<\/p>\n

Ohio Valley<\/strong>:
\n#3 Jacksonville State (7-0, 4-0) is still not in first place, although they retained their ranking with a workmanlike 24-0 home victory over Tennessee State (3-4, 0-2).\u00a0 #18 SE Missouri State (6-1, 5-0) retained their hold on first place, recovering from a 14-0 deficit to win 41-24 at Austin Peay (2-4, 0-2).\u00a0 SEMO moved up to #13 with the win.\u00a0 Tennessee-Martin (3-4, 3-2) held on at home 10-7 for their first-ever win in 21 tries over Eastern Kentucky (2-4, 1-1), while Tennessee Tech (3-4, 2-2) kept Eastern Illinois (0-7, 0-5) winless with a 34-20 win at home.<\/p>\n

Jacksonville State will probably remain unbeaten, as they host Austin Peay Saturday.\u00a0 SEMO hosts Eastern Kentucky, Murray State (2-4, 1-2) comes off their bye week by entertaining Eastern Illinois, and Tennessee Tech visits Tennessee State.\u00a0 In a Thursday night non-conference matchup, Tennessee-Martin will host Lambuth (2-4), an NAIA school in the process of trying to move to Division II.<\/p>\n

Southland<\/strong>:
\n#5 Stephen F. Austin (5-1, 2-0) cruised at home, handling Central Arkansas (3-3, 0-2) 30-7.\u00a0 SFA QB Jeremy Moses threw his 101st career TD pass, setting the conference record; he’s now nine yards shy of the record for total offense.\u00a0 Sam Houston State (4-2, 2-0) kept pace by crushing Southeastern Louisiana (2-4, 1-1) 57-7.\u00a0 Texas State (4-2, 1-1) got all they could handle from visiting Nicholls State (1-5, 0-2), finally coming out on top with a 45-39 4OT win.\u00a0 Lastly, in non-conference action, McNeese State (2-4, 1-1) put up a good fight in the first half, but LSU put them away in the second half, winning 32-10 in Death Valley.\u00a0 Lamar (3-4), not yet officially back in the league, got wiped out by South Alabama at home, 26-0.<\/p>\n

SFA and Sam Houston will battle in a neutral-site game at Reliant Stadium in Houston with first place on the line Saturday.\u00a0 Central Arkansas visits Nicholls State, McNeese travels to SE Louisiana, and Northwestern State (2-4, 1-1) comes off their bye week and travels to Texas State.<\/p>\n

Missouri Valley<\/strong>:
\nTwo ranked teams fell on Saturday, as #15 North Dakota State (4-3, 1-3) fell on the road to Illinois State (4-3, 3-2) 34-24, and #17 Southern Illinois (3-4, 2-2) suffered a 31-10 upset at home against South Dakota State (2-4, 2-2).\u00a0 Kyle Minett, who ran for over 100 yards on Nebraska, gained 144 in the Jackrabbits’ win.\u00a0 #22 Northern Iowa (3-3, 2-1) prevailed on the road with a 19-14 non-conference win over South Dakota, which earned them a jump to #19 in this week’s poll.\u00a0 Western Illinois (5-2, 3-1) remained in first place by half a game, defeating Youngstown State (3-4, 1-3) at home in a wild one, scoring the go-ahead TD with a minute left to win 40-38.\u00a0 Jamaine Cook rumbled for 161 yards for WIU, who moved into the rankings afterward at #21.\u00a0 In the remaining game, Indiana State (4-2, 2-1) came back from a two-touchdown deficit midway through the fourth quarter to overcome Missouri State (2-4, 1-2) in overtime at home, 38-35.\u00a0 It was the third OT game in the last five meetings between the two teams.<\/p>\n

It’s a bizarre season in the MVFC; Western Illinois and Indiana State had been picked to finish 8th and 9th in the preseason, and here they are atop the standings.\u00a0 While beating each other up is fun and all, the cannibalistic nature of this year’s conference play is going to have a negative effect on the league when it comes time to hand out playoff bids.<\/p>\n

Northern Iowa will host Illinois State, while Western Illinois travels to Missouri State.\u00a0 Indiana State heads west to North Dakota State, over whom they have never won, and South Dakota State hosts Youngstown State.\u00a0 Southern Illinois has the week off.<\/p>\n

Mid-Eastern<\/strong>:
\n#10 South Carolina State (4-2, 2-1) was upended at home 14-0 by #23 Bethune-Cookman (6-0, 4-0) with the help of four turnovers.\u00a0 As a result, SC State fell to #18 and ended a 21-game conference winning streak, while BCC climbed to #14.\u00a0 Hampton (5-1, 4-0) stayed in the first-place tie with a 7-6 win at home over Norfolk State (2-4, 1-3).\u00a0 Florida A&M (3-3, 2-1) hammered Savannah State 31-0 in a home non-conference game, while North Carolina A&T (0-7, 0-4) dropped a 31-26 decision at Delaware State (1-5, 1-3) in a battle between winless teams.\u00a0 North Carolina Central (2-4), not yet officially a conference member, dropped a road game to Georgia State 20-17 in overtime; in the aftermath, NCCU relieved fourth-year head coach Mose Rison of his duties.\u00a0 I guess losing to Bill Curry is unacceptable.\u00a0 Assistant head coach Darryl Bullock will finish out the season.<\/p>\n

BCC visits future conference member North Carolina Central in a non-conference game Saturday.\u00a0 Hampton will visit SC State with major title implications on the line.\u00a0 Delaware State visits Morgan State (3-3, 2-1), who had this weekend off.\u00a0 Florida A&M visits Norfolk State, and Howard (1-5, 0-3) will come off a bye hoping to scavenge their first conference win of the season at winless North Carolina A&T.<\/p>\n

Great West<\/strong>:
\n#13 Cal Poly-SLO (4-3, 0-1) fall down go boom, as Southern Utah (3-4, 2-0) celebrated homecoming with a 20-7 victory.\u00a0 The Thunderbirds take over sole possession of first place in the league as a result, while Poly fell to #23 in the poll.\u00a0 South Dakota (3-4, 1-1) lost at home to Northern Iowa, 19-14.\u00a0 North Dakota (2-4, 0-2) and Cal-Davis (3-3, 1-0) were idle.<\/p>\n

Cal-Davis hosts South Alabama in a non-conference game.\u00a0 South Dakota visits Southern Utah, and North Dakota travels to Cal Poly.<\/p>\n

Big South<\/strong>:
\n#19 Liberty (5-2, 2-0) clobbered VMI (2-4, 1-2) on the road, and moved up two to #17.\u00a0 Stony Brook (2-4, 1-0) lost at Lafayette 28-21 out of conference.\u00a0 Gardner-Webb (3-3, 1-0) handed host Charleston Southern (2-4, 0-2) a 35-25 defeat despite Buccaneers KR Gerald Stevenson returning two kickoffs for TDs.\u00a0 Stevenson also had a 100-yard kickoff return last week in a loss to Liberty.\u00a0 Coastal Carolina (2-4, 1-0) kept Presbyterian (0-7, 0-2) winless with a 35-7 drubbing on the road.\u00a0 Chanticleers QB Zach MacDowall passed for three scores and ran for a fourth in the lopsided win, which snapped a nine-game road losing skid; their last road win was also against the Blue Hose.<\/p>\n

Liberty will remain tied for first no matter what, since they’ve got a bye.\u00a0 VMI visits Charleston Southern, Stony Brook travels to Coastal with the winner grabbing a share of the lead, and Gardner-Webb may join them with a probably win at home against Presbyterian.<\/p>\n

Ivy<\/strong>:
\n#25 Penn (4-1, 2-0) beat Columbia (3-2, 1-1) 27-13 at home, and moved up to #20 as a result.\u00a0 In the other conference game, Brown (3-2, 2-0) scored a 17-13 win over host Princeton (1-4, 0-2).\u00a0 Harvard (3-2, 1-1) blanked Lehigh for three quarters; unfortunately, it was the 21 points the Crimson allowed in the third quarter that doomed them to a 21-19 defeat in Cambridge.\u00a0 At the Yale Bowl, the Elis (4-1, 2-0) didn’t get on the board until the start of the fourth quarter, but it was enough, knocking off Fordham 7-0.\u00a0 Cornell (1-4, 0-2) got plastered at home, losing 44-3 to Colgate, and Dartmouth (3-2, 0-2) scored 13 unanswered fourth-quarter points to get past visiting Holy Cross, 27-19, sealing the victory with a 43-yard pick-six with 48 seconds to go.<\/p>\n

Penn travels to Yale Saturday, and the winner will be assured of at least a share of first place.\u00a0 They’ll be all alone in first if Brown loses at home to Cornell, which seems unlikely.\u00a0 Columbia hosts Dartmouth, and Princeton entertains Harvard.<\/p>\n

Pioneer<\/strong>:
\nJacksonville (6-1, 4-0) did not, in fact, crack the poll this week despite traveling to Indiana and absolutely destroying Valparaiso (0-7, 0-4) by the unsightly tally of 86-7.\u00a0 The Dolphins racked up 656 yards of offense against the helpless Crusaders, but defense (two pick-sixes) and special teams (a blocked punt recovered in the end zone) aided the rout.\u00a0 Dayton (6-1, 4-0) remained in a tie for first with a 33-13 win at Butler (3-4, 1-3).\u00a0 The Flyers and Bulldogs combined for 747 yards of offense — 349 for Dayton, 348 for Butler.\u00a0 The difference wasn’t red zone efficiency; the teams were a combined 9-9 converting.\u00a0 No, the difference was that Dayton got into the red zone twice as often.\u00a0 Make note: the PFL plays an 8-game conference schedule with 10 teams, and you know what that means.\u00a0 Naturally, the team Jacksonville doesn’t play this season?\u00a0 Dayton.<\/p>\n

Drake (4-3, 3-1) remains hot on their heels following a 14-12 win at Campbell (2-4, 1-2).\u00a0 It was Campbell’s third consecutive home loss by three points or less.\u00a0 Davidson (2-4, 1-2) scored 14 points in the final six minutes, going ahead 17-10 on a 71-yard pass with 2:15 remaining to upend host Morehead State (2-4, 1-2), while San Diego (2-5, 2-2) scored with half a minute to go to overcome Marist (2-4, 1-3), 14-10.<\/p>\n

Jacksonville hosts Marist and Dayton welcome Campbell, so the top two teams are likely to remain in place come Saturday night.\u00a0 Davidson travels to Drake, Morehead State visits Butler, and Valparaiso probably won’t win, but at least they’ll be in beautiful San Diego.<\/p>\n

Southwestern<\/strong>:
\nGrambling (5-1, 5-0) maintained its hold on the West Division lead with a 38-28 win at home over Alcorn State (3-3, 2-2).\u00a0 Jackson State (5-1, 3-1) visited Southern (2-4, 1-3), and it was wild.\u00a0 Southern trailed 34-28 before hitting a 43-yard field goal with 4:15 remaining.\u00a0 They forced a punt with three minutes left, and Richard Wilson ran it back 60 yards to put Southern up 38-34.\u00a0 Jackson State drove, scoring on a 2-yard run by B.J. Lee to give Jackson a 41-38 lead with 38 seconds to go.\u00a0 Southern struck back quickly, scoring on a 73-yard pass from Jeremiah McGinty to Wilson with only 19 ticks on the clock, and Southern was back on top 45-41.\u00a0 Casey Therriault then hit Rico Richardson for a 28-yard TD pass with only two seconds remaining, giving Jackson the lead.\u00a0 After a successful two-point conversion, Jackson State had a 49-45 lead, and managed to keep Southern from scoring again in the final two seconds.<\/p>\n

Prairie View (4-3, 3-2) rolled in a 45-12 home non-conference win over Division II Lincoln (MO), and Arkansas-Pine Bluff (3-3, 2-2) scored the go-ahead touchdown with four minutes left, winning at home over Alabama A&M (2-5, 1-4) by a score of 21-14.<\/p>\n

Grambling should have no problem maintaining their lead when they travel to winless Mississippi Valley State (0-6, 0-5), who was idle last week.\u00a0 Also idle was Texas Southern (3-3, 3-1), who will try to keep up when they host Jackson State.\u00a0 This is probably the pivotal game in the SWAC schedule for all parties, as a Jackson win will put both Jackson and Grambling in commanding position with the schedule winding down.\u00a0 Alabama State (3-3, 3-3), idle last week, cannot make up ground on Jackson this week, as they host Savannah State in a non-conference game.\u00a0 Prairie View hosts Southern, and on Thursday Arkansas-Pine Bluff travels to Alcorn.\u00a0 Alabama A&M is idle.<\/p>\n

Northeast<\/strong>:
\nRobert Morris (6-1, 5-0) maintained their grip on the lead at home, trouncing Albany (3-3, 1-2) 38-0.\u00a0 The win gives the Colonials a full one game lead over idle Central Connecticut State (4-2, 3-0).\u00a0 Wagner (4-2, 2-1) traveled to Saint Francis (PA) (1-5, 1-3) and scored nine unanswered fourth-quarter points to win 22-14.\u00a0 Monmouth (2-4, 2-1) won at home 21-12 over Bryant (4-3, 1-3), and Duquesne (4-3, 2-2) had no trouble with visiting Sacred Heart (1-6, 0-5), handing them a 37-17 loss.<\/p>\n

Duquesne visits Wagner, and Monmouth hosts St. Francis, while Georgetown visits Sacred Heart for a non-conference matchup.\u00a0 Central Connecticut travels to Albany on Friday night with a chance to get back within a half-game; Robert Morris and Bryant are idle.<\/p>\n

Patriot<\/strong>:
\nBucknell (1-5, 1-0) opened their conference schedule on the road at Georgetown (3-4, 2-2), winning their first game of the year 24-21 courtesy of a fourth-quarter interception return.\u00a0 All other games were non-conference; Lehigh (4-2, 0-0) won at Harvard, Lafayette (1-5, 0-1) also won their first game of the year with a 28-21 home win over Stony Brook, Fordham (2-5, 0-0) fell 7-6 at Yale, and Holy Cross (3-4, 0-1) traveled to Dartmouth and lost 27-19.\u00a0 Colgate (4-2, 1-0) went to Cornell and were very rude guests, winning 44-3.<\/p>\n

For once, Georgetown is not playing a conference game, and everyone else gets to play one against someone other than the Hoyas.\u00a0 Georgetown travels to Sacred Heart.\u00a0 In conference, Bucknell is at Lehigh, Colgate hosts Holy Cross, and Lafayette travels to Fordham.<\/p>\n

Independent<\/strong>:
\nOnly one independent isn’t covered under their future conference above, and that’s South Alabama (6-0), who’s not even technically in FCS yet anyway.\u00a0 They went on the road and clobbered Lamar 26-0.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The front end of the FCS pack remained unchanged last week, but that’s not going to be the case when next week’s poll comes out: we have a titanic battle of top-5 teams coming our way.\u00a0 That story, plus two major upsets, the end of a streak, a game featuring 32 points in the final […]<\/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":[7,6],"tags":[41],"class_list":["post-63","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-11","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/jonfmorse.com\/tog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63","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=63"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/jonfmorse.com\/tog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":98,"href":"http:\/\/jonfmorse.com\/tog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63\/revisions\/98"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/jonfmorse.com\/tog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jonfmorse.com\/tog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jonfmorse.com\/tog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}