FCS Playoff Quarterfinals Roundup

Fargo, ND (SportsNetwork.com) – Distractions?

What distractions?

About the only thing that got in the way of two-time defending FCS champion North Dakota State on Saturday was the fact it didn’t score on one of its seven first-half possessions.

When the Bison are dominating in such a way, they are going to smother the upset dreams of any opponent, and the top-seeded team in the FCS playoffs did just that while rolling to a 48-14 rout of Coastal Carolina in the national quarterfinals.

The Bison (13-0), who have won a Division I-high 22 straight games, will host either New Hampshire or fourth-seeded Southeastern Louisiana, who play Saturday night, in the semifinals Friday night. The winner will then advance to Frisco, Texas, for the national championship game on Jan. 4.

NDSU’s thorough win came one week after 11th-year head coach Craig Bohl accepted the same position at the University of Wyoming. Bohl, who has a 102-32 career record, is finishing the postseason with the Bison, however.

The news had no effect on his team’s performance. The Bison have had the best defense in the FCS for three years running, and they slowed a Coastal Carolina offense that entered the game ranked third nationally with a 43-point average. And their offense, bolstered by quarterback Brock Jensen and a dominant running game, has long been underrated, this season ranking No. 1 in the Missouri Valley Football Conference in scoring offense and No. 17 nationally entering the weekend.

Jensen, whose career win total leading the Bison is an FCS-record 46, rushed for a pair of first-half touchdowns and threw for two more in the fourth quarter, while compiling 262 yards of total offense. Running back Sam Ojuri also scored on two touchdown runs, leading a 424-yard rushing attack with 162 yards on 20 carries.

The Bison even outperformed their FCS-leading average in time of possession, which was 33 minutes, 49 seconds, by 5 1/2 minutes.

Defensively, middle linebacker Carlton Littlejohn led the Bison with nine tackles and free safety Christian Dudzik had interceptions on back-to-back Coastal Carolina possessions in the fourth quarter.

Coastal Carolina, from Conway, S.C., followed its 2,492-mile trip to Montana for a second-round win last weekend with a 1,584-mile trek to North Dakota State. Once inside the Fargodome, though, the Chanticleeers (12-3) were halted by a road block.

In the first-ever meeting between the two programs, North Dakota State scored on its first three possessions to grab a commanding 17-0 lead in the first quarter. The visitors didn’t know what hit them while the Bison rolled to a 219-29 advantage in yards in the quarter.

Jensen’s 39-yard run set up a 26-yard field goal by Adam Keller to cap the Bison’s first possession. Ojuri broke free for a 73-yard touchdown run on their next possession. Jensen then accounted for everything on a 54-yard drive, completing two passes before he eased into the Chanticleers’ end zone on a 10-yard bootleg

North Dakota State didn’t score on its fourth drive, but followed that with touchdowns on Jensen’s 1-yard keeper and an Ojuri 4-yard run on the ensuing drives to make it 31-0.

John Israel’s 46-yard reception to the NDSU 3 allowed the Chanticleers to end the shutout on Lorenzo Taliaferro’s touchdown run two plays later – his Big South Conference-record 29th touchdown this season – with 30 seconds left in the second quarter.

But the Bison weren’t even finished at that point as they finished the half with Keller converting a 48-yard field goal for a 34-7 lead.

The second half was merely a formality as North Dakota State moved within two wins of capturing a third straight FCS national title, which has only been accomplished by the 2005-07 teams at Appalachian State.

The Bison improved to 12-1 all-time in the FCS playoffs. Their only loss was in overtime in 2010 at eventual national champion Eastern Washington. Since then, they have won 10 straight games in the postseason.

Friday Night

No. 7 seed Towson (12-2) 49, No. 2 seed Eastern Illinois (12-2) 39

Charleston, IL – Towson went west to Eastern Illinois for the FCS national quarterfinals Friday night.

Make that Towson followed Terrance West to an upset victory.

The junior tailback rushed for a playoff-record 354 yards as well as five touchdowns to earn the seventh-seeded Tigers a win at second-seeded Eastern Illinois and their first-ever berth in the semifinals.

The game was billed as a battle of top Walter Payton Award finalists between West and national passing leader Jimmy Garoppolo of Eastern Illinois. Each hopes to have his name called Monday night as the outstanding player in the FCS, as does Eastern Washington quarterback Vernon Adams.

If third-seeded Eastern Washington can beat Jacksonville State in a national quarterfinal on Saturday, it would host Towson (12-2) and its amazing 5- foot-11, 223-pound tailback next weekend for the semifinals.

Garoppolo came up big as usual Friday night, finishing 38-of-50 for 321 yards and two touchdowns but with three turnovers (two interceptions, one fumble). He also rushed for two touchdowns.

But West, the 2011 Jerry Rice Award winner as the national freshman of the year, enjoyed his biggest game ever on snow-covered O’Brien Field. He averaged over nine yards on his 39 carries as Towson posted its 11th straight road win, including eight this season.

“It took us a while to get used to the snow,” said Towson coach Rob Ambrose. “We have never even practiced on a snowy field. Once we figured out what we could do, we were fine.”

Neither team had much fun defending the other in the offensive showcase – also the first-ever meeting between the two programs.

Towson, from CAA Football, took its first double-digit lead at 35-24 on West’s fourth touchdown run, a 5-yarder with 1:13 left in the third quarter.

But Eastern Illinois quickly responded on Garoppolo’s 39-yard touchdown pass to an open tight end Jeff LePak in the Towson end zone at the 14:35 mark of the fourth quarter. When Garoppolo connected on a 2-point conversion to wide receiver Erik Lora, the Panthers pulled within 35-32.

But that the was the closest the Ohio Valley Conference champion got again.

EIU later punted from its end zone, and that set up short field position for Towson at the Panthers’ 42. West broke off a 37-yard run on the second play of their ensuing drive and freshman Darius Victor scored from 3 yards out on the next play to push the Tigers’ lead back to double digits, 42-32 with 9:53 left.

Following a Garoppolo fumble that was recovered by Towson’s Syd Holt at the EIU 22, the Tigers put the game away on West’s fifth touchdown from 3 yards out. The TD tied his career high as well as the FCS single-season record of 39, first set by Delaware’s Omar Cuff in 2007.

Most opponents don’t survive an early onslaught from Eastern Illinois, but Towson did after the Panthers scored touchdowns on their first two drives. It pushed their first-quarter scoring advantage to 257-38 this season.

But the Tigers scored 21 unanswered points in the second quarter to take a halftime lead. West scored on a pair of runs, including a 63-yard bolt along the EIU sideline to give the Tigers the 21-14 lead with 4:39 left in the half.

It marked the first time EIU trailed at halftime since its only other loss to Northern Illinois back on Sept. 21.

The loss to Towson was EIU’s first against an FCS opponent this season. The visiting Tigers were seeded seventh in the playoffs despite finishing the regular season with a No. 5 national ranking.

West went over 2,000 rushing yards for the season. The FCS rushing leader has 2,305 yards.

Garoppolo finished his season with FCS passing highs of 374 completions (a national single-season record), 5,050 yards and 53 touchdowns.

Lora caught 18 passes for 129 yards and one touchdown. He set the OVC career record with 4,006 receiving yards.

Categorized in: NCAA Football