October 8th, 2013 12:00am
I have to admit, the first five weeks of this season have left something to be desired. There have been a few exciting games here and there, but generally speaking it is been a struggle for me to find more than a couple of games each week that are entertaining from a national perspective.
That all begins to change this weekend. There are games in the GSC, RMAC and LSC that may decide conference championships. Throw in a couple huge rivalry games in the PSAC and GLIAC and suddenly things are really heating up.
In our Top 25 poll, 17 of the teams are unbeaten. The high number of unbeatens tells me that we have a lot of sorting out to do in the next six weeks leading up to the playoffs. It should be a very interesting time to be a fan of D2 football.
Observations from Last Week
-A big question mark for Winston-Salem State coming into this season was whether the Rams could adequately replace star quarterback Kameron Smith. After Anthony Carrothers struggled a bit in the season-opening loss to UNC-Pembroke, the Rams made the switch to junior Rudy Johnson. Has he ever delivered. Johnson has thrown for 1016 yards and has accounted for 16 total touchdowns in his four starts. If he continues to play at a high level the Rams (4-1) will once again be a major factor in the postseason.
-Southwest Minnesota State set school and conference records with 828 yards of offense last week. The problem is that the Mustangs still lost to Sioux Falls 55-48 as the Cougars managed 618 yards themselves. The two teams also combined for 194 plays and 67 first downs.
-An early October snowstorm wreaked havoc with homecoming games at Chadron State and Black Hills State. CSC*s game with Adams State was moved to Sunday with the Eagles winning 31-0. BHSU and Western State were not as fortunate as the WSC team was unable to get to BHSU campus and the game had to be postponed. It may be made up on November 23rd.
-Minnesota-Duluth (4-1) flexed its muscle with a surprisingly easy 34-7 win over NSIC rival St. Cloud State (4-1). The Bulldogs rushed for 474 yards as a team and limited the normally potent Husky offense to just 190 total yards. UMD really seems to be putting it all together on both sides of the football and if I am an opposing coach I would not want to run into this team in the playoffs with the way they can pound the football on the ground.
-It is always interesting to see how teams react to the result of a big game. Two weeks ago Ohio Dominican smacked Grand Valley 57-14 but the Panthers actually trailed at the half against Walsh last week before rebounding for a 33-20 win. Meanwhile, Grand Valley regrouped and played its best game of the season in ripping Michigan Tech 49-3.
-Two years ago Humboldt State looked like it might be an emerging power in the West. The Lumberjacks went 9-1 that season, winning the GNAC title and narrowly missing a playoff berth. But HSU is off to an awful 0-5 start this season with injuries and turnovers being a major factor. It will be interesting to see if veteran head coach Rob Smith can get this program turned back around.
Top Games This Week
Valdosta State (4-0) at West Alabama (4-1)
Everyone remembers that VSU won the national title last season. But most probably do not realize that UWA actually won the GSC, beating the Blazers 39-28 along the way. In fact, UWA has won two of the last three in this series.
As I said last week, this is where the rubber will start to meet the road for Valdosta State in the sense that we will find out how the rebuilt Blazer offensive line will hold up against top competition. This is also VSU*s first game outside of Valdosta this season. This will be a great game, but I am going with UWA in a tight one.
West Alabama 27 Valdosta State 26
Lenoir-Rhyne (4-1) at North Greenville (4-1)
NGU is not officially a member of the SAC, but the Crusaders have a scheduling alliance where they play every team in the league. That makes this a huge game. The Crusaders have had trouble stopping the run this year, which will be a problem against Lenoir-Rhyne*s option based offensive attack. In addition the Bears are terrific defensively, which gives them another big advantage.
Lenoir-Rhyne 27 North Greenville 17
CSU-Pueblo (5-0) at Chadron State (4-1)
The game of the year in the RMAC. I said in the preseason that I liked CSC*s chances of winning the RMAC this year, but two things really concern me going into this game. One, the Eagle defense is not quite at the level I thought they would play at this season. And two, Eagle quarterback Jonn McLain has already thrown nine interceptions this year, which will kill a team in a big game.
CSU-Pueblo 31 Chadron State 23
IUP (5-0) at Slippery Rock (4-1)
This game will feature the potent offense of SRU-- which averages over 50 points per game-- against the IUP defense that has allowed a total of 10 points in the last four games. Oh, and these two teams do not like each other which will further add to the intrigue. SRU quarterback Nigel Barksdale has been phenomenal so far this season, but I expect that the IUP running attack will keep him standing on the sidelines enough to grind out a win.
IUP 27 Slippery Rock 19
Grand Valley (4-1) at Ferris State (3-2)
GVSU dominated this rivalry winning 11 straight against FSU before the Bulldogs won 40-24 last season. The GVSU defense played much better last week but will have to deal with one of the top running quarterbacks in the country in Jason Vander Laan (610 rushing yards, 10 touchdowns). A week ago I would have picked FSU by two scores in this game but it appears that the Lakers may be starting to figure it out.
Grand Valley 31 Ferris State 27
West Texas A&M (5-0) at Tarleton State (4-0)
TSU has largely flown under the radar this season as the Texans just entered our poll at number 25 this week. They will have their chance to really garner some attention if they can knock off the fourth-ranked Buffalos. Despite the 4-0 record, the Texans have been a bit suspect defensively and that is a problem when facing Dustin Vaughan and the potent WTAMU offense. I fully expect the Buffalos to win this game unless they have major turnover issues.
West Texas A&M 41 Tarleton State 31
Mailbag
[Q] Earlier this season you said that the Henderson State quarterback (Kevin Rodgers) was your favorite to win the Harlon Hill. Have you completely written off (Shippensburg quarterback) Zach Zulli?
Bill
[A] No. Especially since Zulli won the Harlon Hill last year. In the history of the award, six underclassmen have won it. Four of them went on to repeat as the winner the following year. Once a player wins the award they have a major name recognition advantage over most of the other players that are in the running and history has shown us that the voters tend to go with the known commodities.
After a terrible start to the season Zulli has rebounded with 12 touchdown passes in his last three games and is starting to put together some very solid statistics. That said; Zulli does not have as much talent surrounding him as he did a year ago and he will be playing against three very solid defensive teams in his last six games. I do not think Zulli is out of the running by any means, but I think it is more likely that a player like Rodgers or West Texas A&M quarterback Dustin Vaughan will have a bigger season.
Contact Me
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