SWC75
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NAIA FINALS
Most of the small college finals and semi -finals were played under adverse weather conditions. This was not one of them as it was played in Daytona Beach, Florida. Neither team had won a title before. ST. FRANCIS had the more impressive history, having reached the title game three times in the previous decade but lost. Baker had reached the NAIA Division II playoff title game back in 1986, (when the NAIA was split in two divisions), and lost on that occasion. Baker had been the, (slightly), more statistically impressive team this season, going 14-0 and outscoring its opponents by an average of 50-20.5. St. Francis was 12-1 and had out-scored its opponents by an average of 43-18. But St. Francis’s one loss had been to defending national champion and then #1 ranked Marian and they had one common opponent with Baker, Missouri Valley, a team Baker defeated 31-28 but who lost to St. Francis by a whopping 20-79 in the first round of the playoffs. St. Francis had defeated another statistically superior team, Reinhardt, (13-0, 53-12) by 42-24 in the semi-finals. St. Francis is from the Mid-States conference, which had won 4 of the previous five NAIA titles with multiple teams. There are differing levels of completion, even in the NAIA and St. Francis seemed to be a team that played on a higher level than Reinhardt or Baker and it showed when they met on the field.
I watched this game on ESPN3 and it was immediately noticeable, (and commented upon by the TV broadcasters) that the St. Francis players looked bigger and stronger than the Baker kids. Baker looked to me like a high school team. It didn’t matter that they’d rolled up big scores on other team: now they were playing St. Francis and they were over-matched. Baker got a field goal on their opening drive but St. Francis took over from there, rolling to a 17-3 halftime lead with almost 19 minutes of possession time. Baker again got off to a good start in the second half, scoring a touchdown to make it 10-17 but St. Francis ground out two more scores to take complete control at 31-10 on the way to winning 38-17.
Saint Francis Wins First National Championship
Saint Francis Cougars - Wikipedia
Baker University - No. 4 St. Francis Captures NAIA-FCS Title, 38-17, over No. 2 Baker
St. Francis’ final line:
SAINT FRANCIS (Ind.) 13-1 (601-257) ranked #4 / lost to Marian 21-35 / 27-15 (1)
Most of the small college finals and semi -finals were played under adverse weather conditions. This was not one of them as it was played in Daytona Beach, Florida. Neither team had won a title before. ST. FRANCIS had the more impressive history, having reached the title game three times in the previous decade but lost. Baker had reached the NAIA Division II playoff title game back in 1986, (when the NAIA was split in two divisions), and lost on that occasion. Baker had been the, (slightly), more statistically impressive team this season, going 14-0 and outscoring its opponents by an average of 50-20.5. St. Francis was 12-1 and had out-scored its opponents by an average of 43-18. But St. Francis’s one loss had been to defending national champion and then #1 ranked Marian and they had one common opponent with Baker, Missouri Valley, a team Baker defeated 31-28 but who lost to St. Francis by a whopping 20-79 in the first round of the playoffs. St. Francis had defeated another statistically superior team, Reinhardt, (13-0, 53-12) by 42-24 in the semi-finals. St. Francis is from the Mid-States conference, which had won 4 of the previous five NAIA titles with multiple teams. There are differing levels of completion, even in the NAIA and St. Francis seemed to be a team that played on a higher level than Reinhardt or Baker and it showed when they met on the field.
I watched this game on ESPN3 and it was immediately noticeable, (and commented upon by the TV broadcasters) that the St. Francis players looked bigger and stronger than the Baker kids. Baker looked to me like a high school team. It didn’t matter that they’d rolled up big scores on other team: now they were playing St. Francis and they were over-matched. Baker got a field goal on their opening drive but St. Francis took over from there, rolling to a 17-3 halftime lead with almost 19 minutes of possession time. Baker again got off to a good start in the second half, scoring a touchdown to make it 10-17 but St. Francis ground out two more scores to take complete control at 31-10 on the way to winning 38-17.
Saint Francis Wins First National Championship
Saint Francis Cougars - Wikipedia
Baker University - No. 4 St. Francis Captures NAIA-FCS Title, 38-17, over No. 2 Baker
St. Francis’ final line:
SAINT FRANCIS (Ind.) 13-1 (601-257) ranked #4 / lost to Marian 21-35 / 27-15 (1)