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Around FCS: We could have been contenders

Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - As a kid, I remember Muhammad Ali being unjustly stripped of his heavyweight crown, and boxing officials coming up with a rather curious way to determine a new champion.

They staged a series of elimination bouts to find one, with unheralded Jimmy Ellis ultimately coming away with the rather questionable title.

I thought back to viewing those bouts this weekend as I watched some heavyweight games in FCS. While Saturday's play didn't grab the headlines of upsets we've seen in the past few weeks, it did have some heartbreaking moments for teams who saw their once-promising seasons go up in smoke.

The weekend was particularly hard on some squads who had started the year ranked in, or near, the preseason top-25, as schools like Georgia Southern, North Dakota State, Delaware, The Citadel, Massachusetts and Sam Houston State witnessed the air seeping out of their playoff balloons.

THE EAGLES HAVE LANDED

You have to feel for coach Chris Hatcher and his Georgia Southern Eagles. Playing in the once-invincible environs of Paulson Stadium, Georgia Southern has lost games to the Nos. 2, 3 and 4 teams in the country - Appalachian State, Elon and Wofford - by a total of four points.

Making matters worse is the fact that all three games were to Southern Conference rivals. As excruciating as losing to Elon and Wofford might have been, Saturday's defeat to one of its two major rivals - Appalachian State - was even more painful for the Eagles.

The Appalachian State-Georgia Southern rivalry was tied straight down the middle at 11-11-1 heading into this contest, with 12 of the previous 16 games basically coming down to the final seconds. This finish, however, may have topped them all.

It was a nip-and-tuck game throughout, with one team scoring and the other answering as the lead changed hands eight times. Armanti Edwards finally gave the Mountaineers a hard-fought 37-34 lead when he leaped into the end zone on 4th-and-goal from the one with 2:36 remaining.

But Jason Vitaris missed the extra point, to leave the Eagles trailing by just three points.

Georgia Southern moved quickly into scoring range on the next play from scrimmage when Antonio Henton hit Tim Camp, who was wrestled down at the Mountaineer 18. On 3rd-and-8 from the 16, and a game-tying field goal within reach, Henton went for the win and was intercepted by reserve strong safety Travis Dowda at the one-yard line.

Like they have done for every snap since the 2004 season, the Mountaineers went into shotgun formation, this time from their own end zone. Edwards was swarmed by the Eagle defense and forced out of the end zone by Larry Beard for a safety to make it a 37-36 game with 1:29 left.

ASU punter Neil Young spiraled a free kick from the Mountaineer 20 that Georgia Southern's Raja Andrews, who had an 84-yard punt return for a touchdown in the first half, returned to the Eagle 42.

Henton rushed for 10 yards and one first down, then connected with Camp for 26 yards to the ASU 27, and it looked like the Eagles had Appalachian State on the ropes. But defensive end Quavian Lewis made maybe the most important play of the day when he beat his blocker and forced Henton into intentional grounding.

Faced with 4th-and-22 from the ASU 39 after a pair of incompletions, Henton was intercepted again in the end zone by Mountaineer free safety Mark Legree with 14 seconds left, and Appalachian State was able to escape with the victory.

TOUGHER THAN EXPECTED

It raised a few eyebrows before the season when newcomer North Dakota State was voted No. 1 in the Missouri Valley's preseason poll. There was no doubt that the Bison were coming off a great 10-1 season in 2007, but how many teams win league titles in their first attempt?

Those dreams, and in all probability the hope of making the FCS playoffs in its first year of eligibility, died for No. 20 NDSU on Saturday when No. 6 Northern Iowa built a 23-6 halftime lead and held on for a 23-13 victory at the UNI-Dome.

Northern Iowa never trailed, and took the lead for good with 5:38 to go in the first quarter when Jerred Herring's 70-yard kickoff return set up Corey Lewis for a 25-yard TD scamper on the next play to make it 10-3.

Billy Hallgren had three first-half field goals, including a season-long 47- yarder, to open scoring and quarterback Pat Grace fired a 35-yard scoring pass to D.P. Eyman to give the Panthers some breathing room.

From there, the UNI defense put the screws on the Bison offense, limiting them to 258 yards and forcing five turnovers. North Dakota State quarterback Nick Mertens (14-of-33, 128 yards, one TD) was intercepted four times.

With a 3-4 overall record and a conference mark of 1-3, North Dakota State can now start planning for next year. Northern Iowa, meanwhile, improved to 5-2 overall and is tied for first place with Western Illinois and Southern Illinois at 3-1 in the league, with South Dakota State and Missouri State lurking at 2-1.

No. 16 Southern Illinois kept pace with the Panthers by blanking Youngstown State, 33-0, and No. 15 Western Illinois throttled Indiana State 56-0 in the Leathernecks' most lopsided conference win ever. Missouri State shocked Illinois State with 20 fourth-quarter points for a 34-28 victory.

DEFENSE, WHAT DEFENSE?

The one thing you could always count on from UMass was its exceptional defense, trademarked by its heavy-pressure, blitzing schemes. But the defense has been lacking for the Minutemen this season, and the result has been a slide to 4-3 overall and 2-2 in the Colonial Athletic Association.

The No. 10 Minutemen had won automatic bids from their league in the previous two years, but their playoff hopes were pretty much finished by No. 9 Richmond in a 30-15 victory. Richmond, which had suffered losses to Villanova and James Madison in the past three weeks, needed the win to keep its playoff hopes alive.

Spider running back Josh Vaughan dominated the game, rushing for 156 yards and two touchdowns on 21 carries in the hard-fought game. Vaughan's five-yard scoring blast with 1:22 remaining sealed the victory, after UMass had cut the lead to 23-15 on Armando Cuko's third field goal of the game with 12:26 left.

Richmond's defense limited tailback Tony Nelson to 61 yards on 23 attempts and pounded quarterback Liam Coen, holding the decorated performer to 18-of-30 passing for 165 yards.

Another CAA team licking its wounds was Delaware, which was hammered, 27-3, at home against William & Mary. The Blue Hens are in last place in the CAA's South Division at 0-3 and are 2-5 overall, just a year following a trip to the FCS championship game.

William & Mary received another tremendous defensive performance and a big game from quarterback Jake Phillips (26-of-38 for 338 yards with one TD passing and one rushing).

The Tribe, at 4-2 overall and 2-1 in the CAA, is now in position to make the playoff run that nearly everyone took for granted that Delaware would make.

THE LONG MARCH

It has been a rough three weeks of Southern Conference play for The Citadel, another team that seemed poised for the playoffs before the season. The No. 24 Bulldogs fell behind early at No. 19 Furman and lost 34-20 in the 88th meeting between the two South Carolina and SoCon rivals.

Furman quarterback Jordan Sorrells had arguably the best performance of his career, hitting 21-of-29 passes for 253 yards and three TDs as he helped the Paladins to a 20-6 halftime lead.

Furman's defense constantly harassed Bulldog quarterback Bart Blanchard. Blanchard finished the day 20-of-37 for 196 yards and two touchdowns.

The Paladins improved to 6-2 overall and 3-1 in league on the verge of their trip to their personal chamber of horrors this week, Appalachian State's Kidd Brewer Stadium, with a chance to work their way back into the conference race.

ASU (5-2, 3-0) is one of three undefeated teams in the SoCon, along with No. 3 Elon (7-1, 5-0) and No. 4 Wofford (5-1, 3-0). Furman has already lost to Elon, so a win over the Mountaineers is a must to stay in the race.

SOUTHLAND SHOWDOWNS

The pretenders and contenders were separated from each other a bit more in the Southland Conference, with No. 12 McNeese State scoring a solid 28-17 victory over Sam Houston State and No. 13 Central Arkansas pounding out a tough 31-24 win over Texas State.

McNeese State, coming off a 45-42 loss at home to Texas State the previous week, rebounded behind the 24-carry, 194-yard, three-touchdown rushing performance from Todd Pendland to beat Sam Houston State.

Rhett Bomar hit just 18-of-39 passes for 237 yards and a touchdown for the Bearkats and he had a pass intercepted by Jeremy Haynes and returned 45 yards for a touchdown that gave the Cowboys a 21-10 lead near the end of the third quarter.

Many expected the scoreboard to be working overtime in Central Arkansas' trip to Texas State, particularly after the Bears had piled up 662 yards of total offense in a 63-21 win last year.

This time, UCA was glad to walk away with a win of any kind.

Nathan Brown was 18-of-22 for 163 yards and two touchdowns as the Bears were limited to 394 yards - their second lowest offensive output of the season.

But Brown's one-yard scoring toss to Nick Cowger with 6:29 to play, and Eddie Carmona's 35-yard field goal with 1:22 left gave the Bears enough breathing room to survive.

UCA kept pace with surprising Stephen F. Austin at 2-0 in league. The Lumberjacks, who went 0-11 last season, blasted Nicholls State, 50-39, a win sealed when Joe Savoie returned an interception 24 yards for a score and Cory Barlow raced 63 yards with another six-point pick-off in the final four minutes.

McNeese State and Texas State are still in striking range at 1-1 in league, while the panic flag is up for Sam Houston State and Nicholls State at 0-2 each.

REVISTING THE PAST

No. 5 Cal Poly and No. 21 South Dakota State had always had a spirited rivalry as members of the Great West Conference, so it was nice to see them renew acquaintances in a non-league game on Saturday.

This time on the road, Cal Poly showed off its impressive offense again and got its defense back in gear, rolling out to a 20-7 victory and finishing off a 42-28 victory.

The Mustangs piled up 419 yards with Jono Grayson rushing just eight times for 124 yards and two TDs. Ryan Berry was 19-of-33 for 252 yards and three touchdowns for the Jackrabbits, but he was intercepted twice and was sacked nine times. Cal Poly also blocked a punt.

WALKING ON THE WILD SIDE

Florida A&M and Southern looked like they were holding a track meet instead of a football game on Saturday night and when the smoke had cleared, the Rattlers had held on for a 52-49 victory.

FAMU recovered a fumble at the one-yard line with the Jaguars attempting to pull out the game in the final seconds. Curtis Pulley rushed for 118 yards and passed for 172 yards and three TDs for the Rattler. Bryant Lee of Southern was 25-of-42 for 407 yards and three TDs through the air, and also ran 16 times for 64 yards and three more touchdowns.

The game featured four blocked kicks, a safety and numerous other wild plays.

10/20/2008 5:12:22 PM

 

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