Playoffs! The Small Colleges - Update

[SWC75]

THE NAIA

SEMI-FINALS

Baker beat Eastern Oregon 45-41 by responding to 24 unanswered points and a 21 point run of their own to close out the game. Those three scores came in 4 minutes and 13 seconds, the last on a 77 yard TD pass with 38 seconds to play.
Eastern Oregon Mountaineers lose to Baker Wildcats in NAIA football semifinals: Box score, recap

St. Francis upset Reinhardt 42-24, turning them away on a 4th and goal from their two early in the third quarter, followed by a 98 yard run by Justin Green to blow the game open at 28-10. A 30 yard pick six eliminated any thought of a comeback by the high-scoring Eagles.
Saint Francis football clinches trip to NAIA title game - Sports - News-Sentinel.com


FINALS MATCH-UP

The 61st annual NAIA Football National Championship, presented by Waste Pro, is scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 17 in Daytona Beach, Fla. The City of Daytona Beach hosts the event at Municipal Stadium for the third-straight season. For fan and visitor information, click here. The game will be delivered live on ESPN3 starting at 6 p.m. EST.

BAKER (Kan.) 14-0 (700-287) ranked #2 / 16-15 (0)
Vs.
SAINT FRANCIS (Ind.) 12-1 (563-240) ranked #4 / lost to Marian 21-35 / 26-15 (0)

Comment: Both schools are veteran contenders for the NAIA title who have never won it. St. Francis is the Buffalo Bills of the NAIA, having lost in the finals from 2004-06. Baker lost the 1986 NAIA DII title, before the organization eliminated divisions. St. Francis didn’t even have a team until 1998, (Donovan McNabb’s senior year- think about that). Kevin Donley, the only coach they ever had, is 175-43 since then with ten 10+ win seasons in 19 years. Baker has the more impressive record numerically but so did Reinhardt, who had out-scored their opponents 53-12. Baker is currently at 50-21 and had to put on a furious rally to survive in the semi-finals. They have no common opponents.

 

[SWC75]

NCAA DIVISION III

QUARTERFINALS

MARY HARDIN-BAYLOR subdued Wheaton 38-16 behind a defense that held the Thunder to 22 yards rushing and intercepted passes to score a touchdown and set up another. They also scored on a blocked punt.
UMHB tops Wheaton 38-16 in Quarterfinals

JOHN CARROLL completed a sweep of the division’s super-powers, having beaten Mount Union 31-28 during the regular season, (the Purple Raiders first regular season loss since 2005) and now they have beaten Wisconsin-Whitewater in the playoffs and it wasn’t close, 31-14. Both games were in the powerhouse team’s own stadium. A 17-0 thrid quarter was the difference in this one.
Blue Streaks shut Warhawks down to advance to quarterfinals

Do you like weird statistics? Take a look at the WISCONSIN-OSHKOSH - St. Thomas game. Oshkosh outgained the Tommies 406-362 and won 34-31. That makes sense. But St. Thomas had 8 –EIGHT – turnovers to none for the Titans. How can you be +8 in turnovers in a game that was basically equal in yards and only win by 3? Here’s how:
FG, opportunistic defense sends Oshkosh to semifinals

Alfred hosted mighty MOUNT UNION at Yunevich Stadium and old Alex would have bene proud at the fight they put up. Quarterback Tyler Johnson threw for 534 yards and 5TDs as the Saxon scored an impressive 45 points. Unfortunately they gave up 322 yards rushing and 251 passing plus three turnovers all of which resulted in score, which added up to 70 points for the visitors.
Saxons’ season ends in NCAA quarterfinal loss to Mount Union


SEMI-FINAL MATCH-UPS:

MOUNT UNION (Ohio) 12-1 (628-184) ranked #7 / lost to John Carroll 28-31 / 93-14 (12)
At
MARY HARDIN-BAYLOR (Tx) 13-0 (628-190) ranked #1 / 30-14 (0)

And

JOHN CARROLL (Ohio) 12-1 (457-167) ranked #6 / lost to Wisconsin-Oshkosh 14-33 / 8-4
At
WISCONSIN-OSHKOSH 12-1 (526-178) ranked #4 / lost to Wisconsin-Whitewater 14-17 / 8-2 (0)

Comment: Mount Union find themselves on the road again, (that one loss to John Carroll really cost them: they had been ranked #1). But they have bene shaky since that game, outscoring four opponents, (including John Carroll) 164-118, an average of 41-30, after out-scoring their first 9 opponents 464-66, (52-7). Mary Hardin-Baylor is a perennial power that has never won it because they keep butting heads with Whitewater or Mount Union. This is their best-ever team and this may be their year.

Having beaten Mount Union and Whitewater, (in their places), you’d think John Carroll would be a heavy favorite but now they play Oshkosh, a team that beat them 33-14 earlier this year. John Carroll also owns a victory over SU: November 10, 1950 before 16,724 souls in Cleveland Municipal Stadium, which seated 81,000 and where the fans were far from the field:

It must have been like playing on the moon. John Carroll was more like a MAC team at the time:
Team Records Game by Game
One of their star players was Don Shula who, whenever he is in the presence of a Syracuse alum, never fails to bring that game up. Oshkosh won’t be playing that team but I think they’d better watch out, all the same.

 

[SWC75]

NCAA DIVISION III

QUARTER-FINALS

SHEPHERD continued their successful road trip in the playoffs, knocking off California (Pa) 41-30 The Vulcans took a 17-0 first quarter lead but were unable to sustain the momentum, falling behind 17-21 by halftime. California came out strong again the third quarter to take a 30-17 lead. They just couldn’t stop the Rams, who closed out the game with 20 unanswered points, clinching the win with a 83 yards15 play drive that took up most of the last 6 ½ minutes of the game.
Shepherd rallies to reach Division II semifinals


North Greenville “went south” against NORTH ALABAMA, going down hard 0-38. The Lions bolted to a 24-0 halftime lead and there was no comeback to be had. UNA held the Crusaders, who came in averaging 33 points a game, to 182 yards and took the ball away 5 times in recording the shut-out.
UNA destroys North Greenville, 38-0, to advance to 10th NCAA semifinals

Northwest Missouri had no more trouble downing Harding, 35-0. Harding came in with D2’s best rushing attack at 382 yards per game and the bearcats had the #1 rushing defense with 64 yards a game. The immovable object won, holding the Bison to 199 yards on the ground. The fact that Northwestern scored on its first five possessions helped out the defense as Harding had to abandon their triple option in a failed effort to mount a comeback.
Northwest Missouri State moves on with shutout of Harding

FERRIS STATE knocked off their fellow Great Lakes Conference rival, Grand Valley State, 47-32, avenging a 23-35 regular season loss. Trevor Bermingham ran for four touchdowns – all in the second half. He’s their seconds string quarterback who replaced the starter after a couple of turnovers. Sometimes change can be a good thing.
Ferris State upsets Grand Valley in Div. II quarterfinal, 47-32


SEMI-FINALS

FERRIS STATE (Mich) 12-2 (543-318) ranked #14 / lost to Ashland 31-39 and Grand Valley State 23-35 / 9-
7 (0)
At
NORTHWEST MISSOURI 13-0 (618-157) ranked #1 / 45-15 (5)

And

NORTH ALABAMA 10-1 (443-147) ranked #3 / lost to Jacksonville State 12-31 / 34-17 (3)
At
SHEPHERD (WVa) 13-0 (528-242) ranked #4 / 14-13 (0)

Comment: Ferris goes from the frying pan, (Grand Valley), into the fire, playing the Division’s super-power, Northwest Missouri in their own place. North Alabama’s championships all came 20 years ago, (1993-95) but this might be their best team since then: their only loss was to an FCS team. But Shepherd has made a practice of beating good teams on the road.

 

[SWC75]

NCAA FCS

SWEET 16

NORTH DAKOTA STATE had no problem at with San Diego, crushing the Toreros 45-7. Hey looked eveyr bit the five-time defending national champion. It started with a pick 6 and went on from there. (Look at all the “Hawk-tacking” in the video). The Bison out-gained the visitors 507-296 to move to 17-0 in the post season in the Fargo Dome.
San Diego vs. North Dakota State - Game Recap - December 3, 2016 - ESPN
By the way, here’s a good documentary on the history of NDS football. It was done in 1994 and doesn’t include the current era. Just their first eight national championships:

One of the Bison’s ancient rivals, the Jackrabbits of SOUTH DAKOTA STATE, ended the career of Villanova coach Andy Talley after 32 years with a field goal from Chase Vinateri, (Adam’s nephew) to beat the Wildcats 10-7 to get another shot at the Bison, whom they beat 19-17 during the regular season.
Villanova vs. South Dakota State - Game Recap - December 3, 2016 - ESPN

YOUNGSTOWN STATE eliminated #2 Jacksonville State 40-24, rolling up 520 offensive yards. The Penquins won four national championships under Jim Tressel back in 1990’sand are now making a comeback under former Nebraska coach Bo Pellini.
Youngstown State vs. Jacksonville State - Game Recap - December 3, 2016 - ESPN

WOFFORD stormed the Citadel, 17-3. Both teams ran the triple option and thus both teams knew how to defense it. The game was a scintillating 3-3 in the fourth quarter when freshman quarterback Joe Newman came in for an injured starter and ran 36 yards for a score. A 62 yard pick 6 clinched the otherwise dull game. The result avenged a 21-24 regular season loss that surely was more interesting.
Wofford vs. The Citadel - Game Recap - December 3, 2016 - ESPN

There was nothing dull about #1 ranked SAM HOUSTON STATE’S 41-36 victory over Chattanooga. The Bearkats bolted to a 21-0 lead only to see the Moccasins come back with three straight scores of their own to tie it early in the third quarter. The home team built the lead back up to 35-24, then saw it shrink to 35-33 before pushing it out to the finals core. Jeremiah Briscoe threw for 5 touchdowns for the winners to give him a record 57TD passes for the season. And he’s done it in “only” 459 passes, 38 per game:
http://www.foxsports.com/college-football/jeremiah-briscoe-player-stats
For comparison, Syracuse threw 522 passes this year (43.5 per game) and got 24TD passes out of it.
Chattanooga vs. Sam Houston State - Game Recap - December 3, 2016 - ESPN

New Hampshire, coming off a 64-21 blow-out of Lehigh, got blown out by JAMES MADISON 55-22. The Wildcats did OK in the first and fourth periods (14-6) but not so well in the second and third periods (8-49). Bryan Schor of JMU overcame an injury to his non-throwing arm to use his throwing arm to throw for 371 yards and 5TDs.
New Hampshire vs. James Madison - Game Recap - December 3, 2016 - ESPN

Another old foe of North Dakota State, North Dakota, went down to RICHMOND 24-27, despite building up a 24-7 third quarter lead. (By the way, North Dakota is no longer the “Fighting Sioux”. They are the “Fighting Hawks” now.)
Richmond vs. North Dakota - Game Recap - December 3, 2016 - ESPN

In a battle of directional teams, EASTERN WASHINGTON went thisaway, (to the Quarterfinals) and Central Arkansas went thataway, (home), 31-14. After a scoreless first quarter and a wild second quarter, ti was 21-14 at halftime. But Eastern’s defense took control in the second half. UCA scored the first two TDs but was blanked 0-31 the rest of the way.
Central Arkansas vs. Eastern Washington - Game Recap - December 3, 2016 - ESPN


QUARTERFINAL MATCH-Ups

SOUTH DAKOTA STATE 9-3 (421-319) ranked #7 / lost to Texas Christian 41-59, Cal Poly 31-38 and Illinois State 21-38 / 4-6
At
NORTH DAKOTA STATE 11-1 (355-195) ranked #3 / lost to South Dakota State 17-19 / 54-13 (13)

WOFFORD 10-3 (352-209) ranked #19 / lost to Mississippi 13-38, Samford 26-28 and The Citadel 21-24 / 9-10 (0)
At
YOUNGSTOWN STATE 10-3 (368-230) ranked #13 / lost to West Virginia 21-38, South Dakota State 10-24 and North Dakota State 3-24 / 30-10 (4)

SAM HOUSTON STATE 12-0 (637-321) ranked #1 / 21-11-1 (1)
At
JAMES MADISON 11-1 (580-280) ranked #5 / lost to North Carolina 28-56 / 10-11 (1)

RICHMOND 10-3 (401-290) ranked #12 / lost to Stony Brook 14-42, James Madison 43-47 and William and Mary 13-34 / 16-10-1 (1)
At
EASTERN WASHINGTON 11-1 (517-331) ranked #4 / lost to North Dakota State 44-50 / 16-11 (1)

Comments: The Bison get to avenge their lone regular season loss. They have a similar pattern to Alabama: they’ve won the last five national titles but only one of those teams went undefeated. But the post season is a different story. It will be interesting to see if Pellini can bring Youngstown back to the level of their glory years under Tressel. For some reason, #1 ranked Same Houston State is only a 5 seed and must got to Virginia to play James Madison a #4 seed. I think the Bearkats are a little vulnerable defensively and that might be what the committee was thinking about. The same could be true of perennial contender Eastern Washington but I think they’ve got enough to get by Richmond on their famous red turf.