Playoffs!- NAIA, D3 and D2 Finals and FCS Semi-Finals

[SWC75]

FCS SEMI-FINALS

#1 New Hampshire seemed on their way to the finals much of the evening as they went into the final quarter leading #7 ILLINOIS STATE 18-6. The game looked a lot like the Division II final with not a lot happening but most of what did favoring New Hampshire, including recovering a fumble on their 4 yard line and driving 96 yards for a touchdown. Then it all fell apart in the final quarter. The Red Birds, who won last week at Eastern Washington, 3,000 miles away, drove 84 yards in 10 plays to score on Marshaun Coprich’s 2-yard run. On their next possession tre Robertson raced 47 yards for the go-ahead score. A two point conversion made it 21-18. And that was it. Robertson passed for 278 yards and ran for 95 more. The Red Birds outgained the Wildcats 457-355, the difference being that foruth quarter.

#3 NORTH DAKOTA STATE, after looking vulnerable last week against Coastal Carolina, made short work of Sam Houston State, easily downing the Bearkats, 35-3. They may, indeed be poised to win a fourth straight national championship, something that’s been done only once: by Augustana of Illinois in Division III from 1983-86. The Bison seniors could actually have careers where they won the national championship each year. The Bearcats have certainly gotten the message: they lost in the finals in both 2011 and 2012 to the Bison. This one was only 7-3 at halftime but a 28-0 second half ended any drama. The yardage difference was only 398-336. Turnovers were only 1-0 and return yards were only 71-36 so this game demonstrated that it doesn’t just matter what you do but when you do it. The Bison “bunched their hits”, driving 90 yards in four plays to score on a 33 yard run by King Frazier, 55 yards in one play, a run by John Crocket, (who led everyone with 166 yards rushing and 3 touchdowns), 80 on 15 plays, ending in a 10 yard run by Crocket and 47 yards in 6 plays after a 35 yard interception return.

Illinois State is in the same conference with North Dakota State. But the Missouri Valley is a 10 team conference. They have no title game and teams don’t play every team in the conference. They have to skip one of them for an 8 game schedule. Guess who Illinois State and North Dakota State skipped this year? Now they’ll meet in the title game. Obviously, they have plenty of common opponents:

Western Illinois: The Bison beat them 17-10, the Red Birds 37-34 Advantage Bison +4
Southern Illinois: The Bison beat them 38-10, the Red Birds 44-29 Advantage Bison +13
Indiana State: The Bison beat them 34-17, the Red Birds 20-18 Advantage Bison +15
South Dakota: The Bison beat them 47-7, the Red Birds 46-26 Advantage Bison +20
South Dakota State: The Bison beat them 37-17 and 27-24 in the playoffs, the Red Birds 45-10 Advantage Red Birds +12
Northern Iowa beat the Bison 3-23 and the red Birds 28-42 but then lost to the Red Birds in the playoffs, 41-21 Advantage Red Birds +14
Missouri State: The Bison beat them 45-10, the Red Birds 21-7 Advantage Bison +31
Youngstown State: The Bison beat them 38-14, the Red Birds 35-21 Advantage Bison + 10
Net Advantage to the Bison +67 vs. 8 opponents so I’ll favor the Bison by 8.

Let’s see if that means anything. The match-up:

ILLINOIS STATE 13-1 (547-293), Northern Iowa 28-42, ranked #7, post season record: 7-5 (0 titles)
Vs.
NORTH DAKOTA STATE 13-1 (498-198), lost to Northern Iowa 3-23 ranked #3, post season record: 48-13 (11 titles)

The game will be played Saturday January 10 at 1PM on ESPN, (two days before the FBS championship game.)

 

[SWC75]

NCAA D2 FINALS

At least a game decided by old-fashioned defense. #1 ranked Minnesota State-Mankato, (let’s call the Mankato for short), came in averaging 447 yards and 43 points a game. #8 COLORADO STATE-PUEBLO- let’s call them “Pueblo” for short” held them to 265 and zero, (the Maverick’s first shutout in 128 games) to win the Thunder Wolves’ first national championship. Pueblo didn’t exactly march up and down the field either, totaling 327 yards and 13 points.

The Thunder Wolves blocked a 27 yard field goal attempt early in the second quarter, then marched forward, helped by a 34 yard burst by Cameron McDondle, to set up their own 27 yarder, which was good. After forcing a punt they drove to the Mankato 18. “quarterback Chris Bonner lofted a perfect strike to Paul Browning down the sideline for the game’s only touchdown.” (Kansascity.com) I saw the play and the 6-5 Browning clearly pushed off- on the shorter defender’s helmet, no less, but there was no flag and it counted. Pueblo got a field goal in the third quarter and that was it, 13-0 and a national championship. Sometimes, that’s all it takes.

The Thunder Wolves, (love the name) final line:

COLORADO STATE-PUEBLO 14-1 (556-206) lost to Fort Lewis 22-23, ranked #8, post season record: 5-3 (1 title)

 

[SWC75]

NCAA D3 FINALS

For the fifth consecutive time in their championship rivalry, the WISCONSIN-WHITEWATER Warhawks defeated the Mount Union Purple Raiders for the NCAA Division III championship, 43-34. It mattered little that the Purple Raiders had set an NCAA record by scoring 844 points , (60 a game) or that their defesne this eyar had been better than their defense from last year (130 points surrendered vs. 318). None of those blow-outs were against Whitewater, who immediately established control of the game with consecutive 78 yards touchdown drives, (of 11 and 10 yards), on their first two possessions. They missed an extra point but were up 13-0. They looked just as they did last year when they smashed Mount Union 52-14 for the title. They were dominating the line of scrimmage on both offense and defense. Kevin Burke, who had just received his second Gagliardi Trophy, the Heisman of Division III, was on the run when threw the ball. And the Raiders didn’t have a very balanced attack as they tried to struggle back into the game on Burke’s passing. Meanwhile Whitewater didn’t have many explosive offensive plays. They seemed able to punch a hole in the Mount Union front wall for five yards at their will. Meanwhile, their excellent quarterback, Matt Behrendt , had plenty of time to get passes off from his positon in the pocket. It looked as if the Warhawks could name the score.

But Burke did manage to lad a scoring drive that got Mount Union to within 7-13. The game seemed to hang in the balance for a while. You felt that if the Warhawks scored next, they’d be in control all the way but if the Raiders scored next, we’d have a ball game. THenn Brady Grayvold stepped in front of a Burke sideline pass, grabbed it and danced into the end zone to make it 20-7. Burke mounted another scoring drive but another turnovers, this time a fumble recovered by Marcus McLin on Mount Union’s 17 yard line, led to another Warhawk score and a 27-14 lead. Antoher Burke interception was returned by McLin 28 yards to the Mount Union 28, setting up the field goal that put the Warhawks ahead 30-14 at the half.

Vince Kehres, the son of Larry, who built the Mount Union program into a powerhouse, must have made quite a halftime speech because the Purple Raiders come out and totally dominated the third quarter, looking like the program that had won all those national championships. Mixing running and passing plays better than they had in the first half, they duplicated Whitewater’s first half feat of driving for touchdowns on their first two possessons, (on 9 and 10 play drives of 67 and 79 yards) of the second half to pull within 28-30. A field goal with 5:05 left in third actually gained them the lead over their nemesis, 31-30 and it appeared they had all the momentum.

But now the non-explosive War Hawks exploseded. Dennis Moore caught a swing pass from Behrendt and zig-zagged his way through the Mount Union defense for 75 yards and a touchdown to re-take the lead, 37-31. It was the key play of the game. The teams exchanged field goals after that and Whitewater was the winner again at 43-34.

Behrendt out-played Burke, completing 26 of 38 for 365 yards for 4 touchdowns and 2 interceptions. Burke had 25 compeltions but in 47 attempts for 323 yards and 3scores but 4 big interceptions. Jordan Ratcliffe ran for 116 yards for the winners. Moore ran for 74 and had 108 yards receiving and the big score. Jake Kumerow had 130 yards and a score on 8 catches. Logan Nemeth ran for 90 yards and a touchdown for Mount Union, who wound up scoring and incredible 875 points in 15 games but, once again, it wasn’t enough to beat the Warhawks.

WISCONSIN-WHITEWATER 15-0, (601-183), Ranked #1 post season record: 43-7 (6 titles)
They have also won 32 games in a row. They had previous 46 game winning streak from 2009-12.

 

[SWC75]

NAIA FINALS

FINALS

SOUTHERN OREGON won its first ever championship with a decisive 55-31 win over Marian of Indian, (who had won the 2012 title). The game was decided in the first half when a combination of Marian turnovers and record-setting quarterback Austin Dodge gave the Raiders a 38-10 halftime lead. Determined to get back in the game, the Knights scored on their first two possessions of the second half to close to within 24-38.But Dodge directed two more touchdown drives to push it to 45-24. Marian closed to 31-45 but it was close as they got.

It was a game of big scoring plays: Julian Rucker’s 54 yard interception return, a 64 yard pass from Dodge to Melvin Mason, a 75 yard pass from Hayden Northern to Anthony Jones Jr. and three other scores of 20 yards or more.

Dodge (21 for 39), threw for 429 yards and 3 scores. “The NAIA national player of the year leaves with his name stamped in the record books. He finished as the NAIA's leader in passing yards (17,250), completions (1,253) and touchdowns (154).” Oregonlive.com) Melvin Mason ran for three scores and caught a touchdown pass for the winners.

Marian’s Hayden Northern completed 35 of 55 passes for 495 yards and 4 touchdowns but threw 6 interceptions. Anthony Jones Jr. had 17 catches for a school-record 234 yards and three touchdowns. The Knights actually out-gained their conquerers 571-495 but couldn’t overcome 8 turnovers.

Southern Oregon’s final line:
SOUTHERN OREGON 13-2 (685-424), lost to Carroll 40-42 and Eastern Oregon 27-31. Ranked #8, post season record 9-6 (1 titles)

So I guess you can give up 400+ points and win a national championship. Their average score was 46-28.

 

[kcsu]

You are amazing. Thank you so much for all of the hard work that you put in to these post. I truly appreciate them.

 

[Crusty]

FCS SEMI-FINALS

#1 New Hampshire seemed on their way to the finals much of the evening as they went into the final quarter leading #7 ILLINOIS STATE 18-6. The game looked a lot like the Division II final with not a lot happening but most of what did favoring New Hampshire, including recovering a fumble on their 4 yard line and driving 96 yards for a touchdown. Then it all fell apart in the final quarter. The Red Birds, who won last week at Eastern Washington, 3,000 miles away, drove 84 yards in 10 plays to score on Marshaun Coprich’s 2-yard run. On their next possession tre Robertson raced 47 yards for the go-ahead score. A two point conversion made it 21-18. And that was it. Robertson passed for 278 yards and ran for 95 more. The Red Birds outgained the Wildcats 457-355, the difference being that foruth quarter.

#3 NORTH DAKOTA STATE, after looking vulnerable last week against Coastal Carolina, made short work of Sam Houston State, easily downing the Bearkats, 35-3. They may, indeed be poised to win a fourth straight national championship, something that’s been done only once: by Augustana of Illinois in Division III from 1983-86. The Bison seniors could actually have careers where they won the national championship each year. The Bearcats have certainly gotten the message: they lost in the finals in both 2011 and 2012 to the Bison. This one was only 7-3 at halftime but a 28-0 second half ended any drama. The yardage difference was only 398-336. Turnovers were only 1-0 and return yards were only 71-36 so this game demonstrated that it doesn’t just matter what you do but when you do it. The Bison “bunched their hits”, driving 90 yards in four plays to score on a 33 yard run by King Frazier, 55 yards in one play, a run by John Crocket, (who led everyone with 166 yards rushing and 3 touchdowns), 80 on 15 plays, ending in a 10 yard run by Crocket and 47 yards in 6 plays after a 35 yard interception return.

Illinois State is in the same conference with North Dakota State. But the Missouri Valley is a 10 team conference. They have no title game and teams don’t play every team in the conference. They have to skip one of them for an 8 game schedule. Guess who Illinois State and North Dakota State skipped this year? Now they’ll meet in the title game. Obviously, they have plenty of common opponents:

Western Illinois: The Bison beat them 17-10, the Red Birds 37-34 Advantage Bison +4
Southern Illinois: The Bison beat them 38-10, the Red Birds 44-29 Advantage Bison +13
Indiana State: The Bison beat them 34-17, the Red Birds 20-18 Advantage Bison +15
South Dakota: The Bison beat them 47-7, the Red Birds 46-26 Advantage Bison +20
South Dakota State: The Bison beat them 37-17 and 27-24 in the playoffs, the Red Birds 45-10 Advantage Red Birds +12
Northern Iowa beat the Bison 3-23 and the red Birds 28-42 but then lost to the Red Birds in the playoffs, 41-21 Advantage Red Birds +14
Missouri State: The Bison beat them 45-10, the Red Birds 21-7 Advantage Bison +31
Youngstown State: The Bison beat them 38-14, the Red Birds 35-21 Advantage Bison + 10
Net Advantage to the Bison +67 vs. 8 opponents so I’ll favor the Bison by 8.

Let’s see if that means anything. The match-up:

ILLINOIS STATE 13-1 (547-293), Northern Iowa 28-42, ranked #7, post season record: 7-5 (0 titles)
Vs.
NORTH DAKOTA STATE 13-1 (498-198), lost to Northern Iowa 3-23 ranked #3, post season record: 48-13 (11 titles)

The game will be played Saturday January 10 at 1PM on ESPN, (two days before the FBS championship game.)

Playoffs!!!