November 19th, 2013 12:00am
Most of my writing time this week was taken up by the team by team playoff preview that can be accessed on the front page of our site. I do however want to offer up a few brief thoughts and predictions on the eve of the playoffs:
-I thought the CIAA handled the situation with the Virginia State the only way it could when it cancelled the league championship game and suspended the Trojans from being eligible for the NCAA playoffs.
-Missouri Southern*s 35-21 victory over Pittsburg State kept the committee from having to decide which one-loss team to leave out of the playoffs in Super Region Three. This was MSSU*s first victory over the Gorillas in 20 years!
-Tuskegee made the playoffs for the first time ever, but only after the Golden Tigers sweated out a 17-14 win by Albany State over Miles in the SIAC championship game. Had Miles won, I think they would have would have made the playoffs as the sixth seed in Super Region Four instead of Tuskegee.
-Judging from an absence of the angry emails I usually get from fans when their team does not make the playoffs, this was a controversy-free year when it comes to playoff selections.
-It has not been a good week to be a West Alabama fan. First, UWA narrowly missed the playoffs and then the news came on Thursday that head coach Will Hall was leaving to take over the program at GSC rival West Georgia. I know some people will be baffled by this move, but there is a great deal of potential at UWG for the right coach to come in and build a powerhouse. Hall just might be the guy.
-Pat Riepma is returning to the sidelines as the head coach at Northwood. Riepma previously coached the Timberwolves from 1993 to 2007 and led them to four playoff appearances. He had been the Northwood athletic director since 2008. NU (2-9 last season) faces an uphill battle as it is a very small school compared to many of its competitors in the GLIAC, but if anyone can get this program back on track it is Riepma.
SR1 First Round Predictions
Slippery Rock (9-2) at Winston-Salem State (9-1)
SRU leads the country in total offense while WSSU leads in total defense. Something will have to give. As I said in the playoff preview, SRU*s turnover problems concern me especially when playing against a physical and talented Ram defense.
Winston-Salem State 30 Slippery Rock 21
American International (9-2) at West Chester (10-1)
The Yellow Jackets have had a good season, but I think they are going to have big problems stopping WCU standout running back Rondell White.
West Chester 42 American International 24
SR2 First round Predictions
Tuskegee (8-2) at North Alabama (8-2)
Despite being in the same state, these two programs have only met twice, the last time being in 1980. UNA is the better team on both sides of the football.
North Alabama 38 Tuskegee 17
Newberry (9-2) at Carson-Newman (9-2)
The Eagles handled Newberry by 21 a couple of weeks ago. Unless the Wolves can quickly find a way to slow down the C-N veer, expect more of the same this week.
Carson-Newman 40 Newberry 27
SR3 First Round Predictions
St. Cloud State (10-1) at Henderson State (11-0)
The Huskies match up well with HSU because they have an excellent secondary to combat the Reddie passing attack and an offense that can control the football and score points. I do however expect this to be a pretty good game.
St. Cloud State 34 Henderson State 27
Emporia State (9-1) at Minnesota-Duluth (10-1)
It is expected to be 13 degrees with a 15 MPH wind in Duluth on Saturday. Add in the fact that UMD is much more physical and ESU is without its starting quarterback and I expect this game to be fairly one-sided.
Minnesota-Duluth 31 Emporia State 17
SR4 First Round Predictions
West Texas A&M (9-2) at Indianapolis (10-1)
My first instinct was to go with Indianapolis in this game. But WTAMU showed me something in gutting out a 19-12 win over Midwestern State last week. This game could go either way, but I think the Buffalos will find a way to win a close one.
West Texas A&M 24 Indianapolis 20
Saginaw Valley (9-2) at Grand Valley (9-2)
Despite being out-gained by nearly 200 yards, the Lakers did not allow any big plays from the SVSU passing game in beating the Cardinals 49-34 last week. It will be tough to do it again, but it is hard to pick against GVSU on their home field in the playoffs.
Grand Valley 37 Saginaw Valley 34
Mailbag
[Q] Why are there so few D2 football teams in the western part of the country?
Chris
[A] There really is not much small college football period in the western part of the country as there are a limited amount of Division III and NAIA teams as well. A lot of this has to do with the higher education systems in many states-- such as Arizona, Utah, Idaho, Wyoming and Nevada-- being set up differently than what you typically see in the rest of the country. Those states tend to have just a couple of major universities which are often fed into by junior colleges. In other parts of the country the regional public universities are the ones that tend to be D2 and those types of schools simply do not exist in many states in the West. The one western state that does have several D2 schools is California but most of those schools dropped football in the 90s because of Title IX.
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