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Pittsburg State, the winningest program in D2 history and for years a perennial playoff team, came back from consecutive six-loss seasons to steamroll through the MIAA; it's only hiccup being a loss to Washburn late in the season they later avenged in the playoffs.
Wayne State's turnaround has been a little longer time coming. Head coach Paul Winters, in his eighth year at the helm in Detroit, has taken a team that hadn't seen a winning season since the early 90s to its first playoff appearance in school history and four surprising road victories en route to Florence.
But the program's long-term turnaround wasn't the only one this team has seen this year. The Warriors entered the playoffs losers of three of their last five games, and Winters didn't even think his team would be competing in the postseason.
"I thought we were a good football team," Winters told NCAA.com. "Actually I thought we were a good football team that had blown a chance to show that we were a good football team."
The team's 6-0 start had nearly gone by the wayside, as the top-heavy GLIAC had at least four teams worthy of playoff considerations, including Grand Valley - who also at 8-3 had won their last seven games - and Hillsdale, another 8-3 team that claimed the outright conference title.
"As players, especially seniors, it was definitely a dark time for us," said Josh Renel, one of two Wayne State running backs who has tallied more than 1,300 yards on the season, of the wait between their overtime loss to Findlay in the final game of the season and the playoff selection show the next day. "We still had our fingers crossed. We didn"t want to give up and lose hope."
For more of what Renel had to say about the program's turnaround, their improbabl run to Florence, how he got to Wayne State and how he is handling preparing for a national title game and finals, listen to the video below: (Blog continues below video)
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"Selection Sunday" wasn't quite as nerve-racking in Pittsburg, where a couple hundred fans, players and coaches gathered at Carnie Smith Stadium to see where they would fall in the Super Region 4 playoff bracket.
Picked to finish just fifth in the MIAA, to call their turnaround surprising would be an understatement. To anyone, that is, except the Pitt State team.
"We have very high expectations," Beck said in August, as quoted by the Pittsburg Morning Sun, "but we've also got to get our players to buy into not looking ahead and playing one game at a time because anybody can beat anybody in this conference."
Pittsburg learned that the hard way the last few years, dropping conference games to perennial celler-dwellers and getting blown out in many of their matchups with the upper echelon of the MIAA. But this year, they took care of business, even knocking off rival Northwest Missouri - for years a thorn in their sides - with a last-second field goal in the regular season and in a blowout in the playoffs.
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There was no watch party in Detroit for the playoff selection show. In fact, Winters was so sure his team wasn't moving on, he didn't even watch.
Wayne State athletic director Rob Fournier was the only who called him to let him know the Warriors had been selected as the 6-seed in Super Region 3. "I was kind of like, 'Oh, okay. Let's get ready,'" Winters told NCAA.com.
Renel says while there was no one place a bunch of the team was watching the show, the players didn't join their head coach in not watching.
After what he calls an "emotional roller coaster" of a 6-0 start and a downward spiral to conclude the regular season, Renel says his team was relieved and excited to be in the playoffs.
Unlike Pittsburg State, who earned a first-round bye and has had three home games on their trip to the Shoals, Wayne has had to endure road trips to Minnesota (twice), Nebraska and North Carolina, knocking off teams in consecutive weeks that had compiled win totals of 9, 10, 11 and 13, respectively.
It's been a tough road for the Warriors, but it means facing a 12-1 Gorilla team and coming in once again as the underdog shouldn't get into their heads too much.
"That's where Wayne State thrives," Renel said, "trying to prove people wrong. Our team more than anybody believes in themselves and to us, that's all that matters."
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The Gorillas believe in themselves too, and have since the preseason. When asked by TeamKong.com after Saturday's victory over Delta State if they believed in August they could get to this point in the season, senior quarterback Zac Dickey was quick to answer.
"I really did believe that, I believed it the whole way," Dickey said. "I saw spurts of it in the last two games of last year. And in my heart of hearts, I knew we were gonna be a good team if some things came together. And those things came together."
That might be the understatement of the year. Dickey got himself a big play wide receiver via transfer by the name of John Brown, who has scored multiple touchdowns in the passing game, rushing game and on special teams.
The defense, in just the playoffs, has made two Harlon Hill finalists an the nation's best offense look mediocre at best, and the offensive line has paved the way for Dickey and his crew of running backs to run their way into the national title game.
Game time is set for 10 a.m. CST Saturday. It will be televised on ESPN2.
Got a comment, question or concern about this or any other blog? Want to chat about this week's game, or any other D2 football action? Leave a comment below, email me at [email protected], message me on Twitter @miAARONd2 or friend me on Faceebook.com/apheintz.
