In the FCS Huddle: CAA may be too good for itself

Philadelphia, PA (SportsNetwork.com) – On the surface, CAA Football appears to be in terrific shape for having FCS playoff teams next month.

Four of the teams have at least five wins and another four have at least four wins, making it the strongest conference outside the Missouri Valley Football Conference.

But too much of a good thing can catch up to a top FCS conference. The Missouri Valley learned the hard way last season when only two of its teams qualified for the playoffs (although North Dakota State went on to capture its third straight national title). Too many possible playoff squads had their resumes collapse in November.

Over the final five weekends of this year’s regular season, the CAA must hope its teams don’t do the same as the Missouri Valley did last year, when they knocked each other off in the wrong combination of results. If it happens in the deep CAA, the conference could go from having four or five qualifiers (if the playoffs began today) to only two come Nov. 23.

Fifth-ranked Villanova (6-1, 4-0) and third-ranked New Hampshire (5-1, 3-0) have been the most outstanding of the CAA teams and are the surest bets for playoff berths.

From there, it’s anybody guess.

Two results on Saturday were particularly damaging to the CAA’s playoff cause. Delaware (4-3, 2-1) and William & Mary (4-3, 1-2) both let a fourth-quarter lead slip away at home and lost a conference game. Delaware’s defeat was worse considering it occurred against a Towson team that was 2-5 and already out of the playoff picture.

Delaware visits William & Mary next weekend so the loser will sink even further.

There’s also five-win teams in Richmond and Albany, and high-scoring James Madison and defensive-dominant Stony Brook are surging but come from far off the pace. Any analysis of these teams’ remaining schedules creates great pause because of their toughness.

Anything short of eight wins may not be enough for an at-large bid. It won’t be easy for most of the teams to get there, and only one will receive the CAA’s automatic bid to the playoffs.

SECOND AND 10

While the CAA race stood out, there were many other thoughts and observations from Week 8. Here are 10 more:

*The expected game of the year in the Northeast Conference between last year’s co-champions didn’t disappoint as Sacred Heart scored the final 16 points for a 23-20 road victory over Duquesne. The host Dukes took a safety with 2:10 remaining in the fourth quarter, which pulled Sacred Heart within 20-16, before the Pioneers went 55 yards on their ensuing possession to score the go- ahead touchdown on RJ Noel’s 12-yard pass to Tyler Dube with 23 seconds to play. The NEC perhaps had the best race in the FCS last season. This season, Sacred Heart (6-1, 2-0) sits in the driver’s seat considering Bryant (5-1, 1-0) has to play at both the Pioneers and Duquesne, whose standout quarterback, Dillon Buechel, was injured on Saturday.

*If there’s a glaring negative to having large FCS conferences, it’s the unbalanced scheduling in which some of the top teams don’t face each other. Among the key games we’re not seeing this season: Eastern Washington/Cal Poly in the Big Sky; New Hampshire/Villanova (both unbeaten in conference) in CAA Football; Bethune-Cookman/North Carolina A&T in the MEAC; North Dakota State/Illinois State (both unbeaten in conference) and South Dakota State/Southern Illinois in the Missouri Valley; Jacksonville/Dayton (both unbeaten in conference) in the Pioneer League; and Central Arkansas/McNeese State and Sam Houston State/Southeastern Louisiana in the Southland Conference.

*Southeastern Louisiana may run away and hide with a second straight unbeaten campaign in the Southland Conference, but the depth of the race is quite impressive. Northwestern State’s 31-27 victory over Sam Houston State comes on the heels of Sam Houston’s rout of McNeese State. Plus, Lamar and Stephen F. Austin are both much improved. The Southland has risen in the last two seasons.

*The longest field goal in the FCS last year was 53 yards (Cal Poly’s Bobby Zalud). This season, there are eight field goals of at least 53 yards, including Liberty’s John Lunsford from 57 and 60 yards, and Southeast Missouri State’s Ryan McCrum from 54 and 55 yards. In fact, McCrum’s 51-yarder against Eastern Illinois on Saturday was his fourth from at least 50 yards this season. It also was the 22nd in the FCS from at least 50 yards, matching last year’s national season-long total.

*North Dakota State didn’t fall to the last team to beat it, shutting down Indiana State for over three quarters before winning, 34-17, for its 31st straight victory since 2012. The Bison tend to turn up their play when there is extra motivation, and the Sycamores provided that on Saturday. The Bison offense had terrific balance and senior defensive end Kyle Emanuel couldn’t be kept out of the Sycamores’ backfield. Yes, the Bison roll on.

*Northern Iowa will not only have to beat North Dakota State next month to make the FCS playoffs, but the Panthers probably have to beat all five Missouri Valley teams remaining on their schedule. A year ago, injuries played a big part in coach Mark Farley’s squad finishing 7-5 and out of the playoffs. This season, the Panthers are simply underachieving at 3-4. Despite having a veteran team that entered the season in the Top 10, they could miss the playoffs for a fifth time in six seasons.

*Four of the 10 remaining winless teams were victorious on Saturday, and all the story lines took on added layers. Three of the winners were from the state of Pennsylvania: Penn earned its first win of coach Al Bagnoli’s final season, 31-7 over Columbia to set an Ivy League record for the most consecutive wins over another league opponent (18); Lehigh stopped its longest losing streak (five) since 1967 by topping Cornell, 31-14; and Robert Morris won for the first time under rookie coach John Banaszak, 27-24 over Central Connecticut State behind the largest comeback (18 points) in program history. Later in the day, Austin Peay ended the longest losing streak in Division I at 18 games by defeating Ohio Valley Conference rival Murray State, 20-13.

*Western Carolina has been the surprise title contender in the revamped Southern Conference as the Catamounts (5-2) are 3-0 in the conference for the first time since 1994. They will play three of their final four conference games at home, including a Nov. 1 date with co-leader Chattanooga (4-3, 3-0). Coach Mark Speir was only 3-20 in his first two seasons, but the third one has been the charm. Quarterback Troy Mitchell has stepped up his play and the defense, which is strong against the pass, has been bend-but-don’t-break.

*Dayton’s Connor Kacsor beat up on Morehead State with 232 yards and four touchdowns on only 10 carries. He has games of 301, 213 and 232 yards this season. The Flyers are 3-0 in the Pioneer Football League, but still look up to Jacksonville (6-1, 5-0) and surprising Campbell (4-3, 4-0).

*The Grambling State story gets better by the week. First-year coach Broderick Fobbs has a team coming off a two-year mess (a combined 2-21) at 5-0 in the Southwestern Athletic Conference after its 63-39 pasting of Arkansas-Pine Bluff. The West Division-leading Tigers had eights sacks and quarterback Johnathan Williams accounted for five touchdowns in the win. They have a bye next week before finishing the regular season with four games in November.

WEEK 8 SCOREBOARD

A roundup of games in The Sports Network FCS Top 25 can be found at http://tinyurl.com/mztgsy8.

The full FCS scoreboard can be found at http://tinyurl.com/pmg6o2b.

STOCK RISING, STOCK FALLING

Stock Rising – You’re familiar with Big Sky quarterbacks Vernon Adams Jr. of Eastern Washington, Jordan Johnson of Montana, Dakota Prukop of Montana State and Garrett Safron of Sacramento State. Well, Idaho State quarterback Justin Arias has passed for over 400 yards in four straight games, including a career- high 465 yards against Southern Utah on Saturday. The senior leads the FCS in passing yards (2,485) and touchdown passes (25), helping the Bengals to a 4-3 record.

Stock Falling – The Ohio Valley Conference had four teams ranked in the Top 25 two weeks ago, but Tennessee State has fallen apart with a three-game losing streak, and the team that got the run started, Southeast Missouri State, has lost two in a row. Plus Saturday night, previously unbeaten Eastern Kentucky got to seven turnovers before it got to a seventh win in a loss to struggling Tennessee Tech.

OTHERWORDLY

Tennessee Tech safety Marty Jones intercepted four passes – the first two inside his team’s 20-yard line and the final two on Eastern Kentucky’s last two drives – and the Golden Eagles handed the Colonels their first loss, 39-31. The senior finished with 12 tackles and gave the Golden Eagles a 32-31 lead by taking a PAT snap with 3:41 left and running into the corner of the Colonels’ end zone for two points.

Gardner-Webb wide receiver Kenny Cook capped the biggest performance of his career with a 25-yard diving catch in the end zone in the second overtime to lift the Runnin’ Bulldogs to a 47-41 win over VMI in the Big South. Cook finished with 12 catches for a school-record 251 yards (also the national high this season). He had an 80-yard touchdown reception in the first minute of the second half.

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:

Southern Illinois/Montana State winner at No. 1 seed North Dakota State

Jacksonville/Fordham winner at No. 8 seed Illinois State

Richmond/Chattanooga winner at No. 5 seed Jacksonville State

Bethune-Cookman/James Madison winner at No. 4 seed New Hampshire

North Carolina A&T/Liberty winner at No. 6 seed Coastal Carolina

Sacred Heart/Youngstown State winner at No. 3 seed Villanova

McNeese State/Montana winner at No. 7 seed Southeastern Louisiana

Eastern Kentucky/South Dakota State winner at No. 2 seed Eastern Washington

A LOOK AHEAD

In Week 9 action next Saturday, defending conference co-champions meet when Harvard visits Princeton in the Ivy League and Bethune-Cookman goes to South Carolina State in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.

Coastal Carolina was 9-0 last season when it lost to Charleston Southern. This year, the Chanticleers will bring a 7-0 record into a home game against their intrastate Big South rival.

Other key games are: Big Sky, Eastern Washington at Northern Arizona and Montana at Cal Poly; Big South, Monmouth at Presbyterian and Gardner-Webb at Liberty; CAA, Delaware at William & Mary and Stony Brook at New Hampshire; Missouri Valley, Northern Iowa at Western Illinois, Youngstown State at South Dakota State, Indiana State at Southern Illinois and top-ranked North Dakota State at South Dakota; and Ohio Valley, Tennessee State at Eastern Illinois and Southeast Missouri State at Eastern Kentucky.

Also: Patriot, Fordham at Lehigh; Pioneer, Dayton at San Diego; Southern, Mercer at Chattanooga and The Citadel at Western Carolina; Southland, Northwestern State at Central Arkansas, Abilene Christian at Sam Houston State and Southeastern Louisiana at Stephen F. Austin; SWAC, Southern at Jackson State and Alabama A&M at Alabama State at Legion Field in Birmingham; and non- conference, James Madison at Charlotte and Colgate at Albany.

Categorized in: NCAA Football