In the FCS Huddle: Big Sky is a big scramble
Philadelphia, PA (SportsNetwork.com) – Cal Poly goes out and sweeps Montana and Montana State to move into a first-place tie in the Big Sky Conference.
And the Mustangs’ reward?
They have travel to Idaho State next Saturday to face the surging Bengals in a possible elimination game for an FCS playoff spot.
That’s how arduous the Big Sky schedule is this season.
A year ago, the Big Sky had more teams in the postseason than any other conference with four. Just two weeks ago, it appeared the conference might be receiving bids only for the three perennial powers – Eastern Washington, Montana and Montana State, who were all ranked in the Top 10.
But Eastern Washington fell late to Northern Arizona last weekend, Cal Poly pulled its Treasure State sweep and Idaho State ended a 48-game road losing streak with back-to-back road triumphs to push its winning streak to four.
And now the Big Sky title race is a six-team scramble in which Cal Poly and Eastern Washington are 5-1 each, and Idaho State, Montana, Montana State and Northern Arizona are 4-1 each. Each is 6-3 overall except for Eastern Washington at 8-2.
In the 13-team conference, each team misses four of its conference brethren – Eastern Washington and Cal Poly aren’t facing other, for example. Some play another of the schools in an early season non-conference matchup to cut down on travel expenses without the game counting toward the conference standings – like Eastern Washington and Montana State – which might confuse the picture to some outside the Big Sky.
The depth has gotten so strong so quickly that one more slip might be enough to knock a playoff-worthy qualifier to the chopping block in a few short weeks.
The easiest remaining schedule belongs to Northern Arizona, but the Lumberjacks may not even make the playoff field if it wins out because its big wins (Cal Poly and Eastern Washington) are hurt by its poor losses (South Dakota and Northern Colorado).
But NAU’s 38-35 win over Cal Poly on Sept. 27 could hang over Cal Poly if its playoff resume looks even with the Lumberjacks – despite the wins over Montana and Montana State.
Idaho State goes straight from playing Cal Poly to facing Montana State, and could play itself right into a bid or right out of one.
Eastern Washington may have to beat Montana next Saturday, or, incredibly, it could be playing for its playoff life in its road finale against rival Portland State.
And the bitter Montana State-Montana matchup to end the regular season, well, that might decide a playoff spot.
Clearly, all six teams aren’t postseason-bound, and five appears unlikely, too. Four is feasible.
But all six teams are feeling a little anxious in a tremendous race to the finish line.
SECOND AND 10
While the Big Sky race stood out, there were many other thoughts and observations from Week 10. Here are 10 more:
*The Wofford linemen are going to have to put their speed to good use against Chattanooga next Saturday or the Mocs are going to clinch their first playoff bid since 1984. Their big men in the trenches were absolutely dominant against Western Carolina in the showdown of Southern Conference unbeatens. The Mocs scored on eight of their first nine drives, while WCU went three-and-out seven times and had two drives in which it turned the ball over on its second play.
*Is this the November that Richmond’s Danny Rocco makes its to the FCS playoffs? It sure seems like it after the snakebitten coach led the Spiders (7-2) past fourth-ranked Villanova, 10-9 – their fifth straight win. Rocco is 8-0 in November at Richmond and 22-4 in nine seasons, including the first six at Liberty, where he never made it to the postseason. The Spiders have only lost to Virginia and No. 2 New Hampshire, and their starting quarterback now is Michael Rocco, Danny’s nephew.
*The depth of talented running backs in the Missouri Valley Conference is astounding. There are four backs over 1,000 yards this season after Illinois State’s Marshaun Coprich (1,158), North Dakota State’s John Crockett (1,039) and Youngstown State’s Martin Ruiz (1,039) joined South Dakota State’s Zach Zenner (1,233), the conference’s all-time leading rusher, on Saturday. Northern Iowa’s David Johnson (917), Western Illinois’ J.C. Baker (887) and Southern Illinois’ Malcolm Agnew (820) should give the conference seven 1,000-yard rushers in the coming weeks.
*Sam Houston State doesn’t want to go away, posting a 42-28 win over rival Stephen F. Austin in the Battle of the Piney Woods to tighten a wild Southland Conference race. It’s been an up-and-down first season for coach K.C. Keeler, including a loss to Eastern Washington in the first game of the college football season and then one to Division II CSU-Pueblo in a 1-3 start, but the Bearkats also have a win over McNeese State. With three winnable games ahead, a conference title is certainly possible.
*Monmouth’s 27-0 loss at home to Charleston Southern in the Big South underscored the difficulties of teams breaking into a new conference. Monmouth was 5-1 heading into its conference schedule, but is 0-2 since then. Add in Elon from the CAA, Mercer and VMI from the SoCon, and the Southland trio of Abilene Christian, Houston Baptist and Incarnate Word, and only Abilene Christian (5-5, 3-3) has at least a .500 conference mark.
*Quarterback Vernon Adams Jr. didn’t return to action for sixth-ranked Eastern Washington in a 54-3 thrashing of North Dakota, but he could grab the spotlight again next Saturday when the Eagles host 12th-ranked Montana in one of the biggest Big Sky games of the season. The Eagles are 3-1 since Adams suffered two broken metatarsal bones in his right foot on Oct. 4. Montana has the No. 1- ranked defense in the Big Sky, so there won’t be any time to ease Adams into action.
*After a tumultuous week in which Florida A&M fired head coach Earl Holmes four days before Homecoming, the Rattlers couldn’t have found a tougher way to lose to Norfolk State. Spartans defensive lineman George Riddick stopped A&M quarterback Damien Fleming for no gain on 3rd-and-goal from the 1 in the closing seconds, and the Rattlers didn’t get off another play before time expired in their 14-12 loss. The Rattlers fell to 2-7 overall and 2-3 in the MEAC.
*Jacksonville State and Eastern Kentucky matched each other with 56 points in wins to set up next Saturday’s huge showdown at EKU, where a blackout in the stands is planned. EKU’s conference rushing leader Dy’Shawn Mobley has surpassed 1,000 yards with four straight 100-plus yard games, and Jacksonville State has the conference’s top rushing attack (284.2 ypg, but 326.2 in conference games) because of its widespread production. Waiting in the wings is Eastern Illinois, which hopes Jacksonville State will pull out a win over EKU. The surging Panthers lost in OT to EKU yet still have to play Jacksonville State.
*The Pioneer Football League got much more interesting after Jacksonville was tripped up at Marist, 17-16, on an Armani Martin touchdown reception in the closing seconds. But the Dolphins (7-2, 5-1) got some desired results afterward as Campbell (4-5, 4-2) fell at home to Stetson when it could have moved into a first-place tie and San Diego (7-1, 5-1) beat Drake in a matchup of 4-1 teams. Although tied with USD, Jacksonville won the head-to-head meeting. Dayton (6-2, 4-1) is nipping at the co-leaders’ heels, but with a loss to San Diego.
*The weekly update of the College Football Playoff Top 25 rankings will make it more evident that strength of schedule and quality wins are being rewarded on the FBS level, which could make the Power Five conferences on the FBS level (the Big Ten, of course) more hesitant to schedule FCS opponents. Not only will elite programs not want to keep scheduling FCS schools for obvious reasons, but their conferences might push the same from lower-tier members so they won’t bring down everybody else’s strength of schedule as well.
WEEK 10 SCOREBOARD
A roundup of games in The Sports Network FCS Top 25 can be found at http://tinyurl.com/p3wrq8y.
The full FCS scoreboard can be found at http://tinyurl.com/pmg6o2b.
STOCK RISING, STOCK FALLING
Stock Rising – The fact Villanova quarterback John Robertson looked mortal against Richmond might have opened the door in the Walter Payton Award race. He’s still the favorite for the top individual honor in the FCS, but the likes of running backs Marshaun Coprich of Illinois State, David Johnson of Northern Iowa and Gus Johnson of Stephen F. Austin gained some stock Saturday. Coastal Carolina quarterback Alex Ross and New Hampshire wide receiver R.J. Harris also shot up after clutch performances. And could an Ivy Leaguer (Yale running back Tyler Varga) win the Payton?
Stock Falling – Having fallen to 5-4 with two straight losses, South Dakota State likely needs to sweep its final three games to earn a playoff bid for the third straight season. One of the Jackrabbits’ wins is over Wisconsin-Oshkosh, so anything shy of an 8-4 finish could leave them on the sidelines for the postseason.
OTHERWORDLY
Campbell could have pulled back into first place in the PFL, but the Camels lost at home to Stetson, 28-24. Stetson safety Donald Payne, who usually fills the stat sheet, took it to a higher level with 27 tackles, including two tackles for loss and one pass breakup.
PLAYOFF FIELD
Looking at where teams may stand in a projected playoff bracket on Nov. 23, and not based on current records or conference standings:
South Dakota State/Montana State winner at No. 1 seed North Dakota State
Eastern Kentucky/Illinois State winner at No. 8 seed Chattanooga
Cal Poly/McNeese State winner at No. 5 seed Eastern Washington
Jacksonville/South Carolina State winner at No. 4 seed Coastal Carolina
Bethune-Cookman/Liberty winner at No. 3 seed Jacksonville State
Bryant/Richmond winner at No. 6 seed Villanova
Sam Houston State/Montana winner at No. 7 seed Southeastern Louisiana
Fordham/Youngstown State winner at No. 2 seed New Hampshire
On the at-large bubble: Idaho State, Indiana State, James Madison, North Carolina A&T, Northern Arizona
A LOOK AHEAD
Another week, another chance for a Missouri Valley hopeful to end North Dakota State’s FCS-record 33-game winning streak. On Saturday, it will be Northern Iowa’s opportunity at home to beat an unbeaten team for the second straight week.
It’s just one in another week of key conference matchups, including Fordham at Bucknell (Friday night) in the Patriot League, Montana at Eastern Washington in the Big Sky, Jacksonville State at Eastern Kentucky in the Ohio Valley and Wofford at Chattanooga in the SoCon.
In addition: Big Sky, Cal Poly at Idaho State and Portland State at Montana State; Big South, Monmouth at Liberty; CAA, Richmond at Maine, James Madison at Stony Brook, Delaware at Albany and Towson at Villanova; MEAC, Bethune-Cookman at Norfolk State (Thursday night), Morgan State at North Carolina A&T and South Carolina State at Florida A&M; Missouri Valley, South Dakota State at Indiana State and Youngstown State at Illinois State; Northeast, Bryant at Duquesne and Sacred Heart at Central Connecticut State; OVC, Murray State at Eastern Illinois; Pioneer, Drake at Dayton; Southern, Western Carolina at Samford; Southland, Stephen F. Austin at McNeese State; and SWAC, Alcorn State at Alabama A&M and Texas Southern at Southern.
The Magnolia State will welcome the FCS when Presbyterian travels to Ole Miss and UT Martin visits Mississippi State. FCS teams are 8-92 (.080) against the FBS.
Categorized in: NCAA Football