A few quick hits from my observations of today's games:

1. First off, congratulations to West Virginia State on ending their 13 game losing streak with a 27-21 win over Seton Hill. It was every bit as close a game as the score indicated, and Seton Hill had chances to win in the final seconds. Give credit to two WVSU players for this win: RB Fabian Payne (190 all-purpose yards and two touchdowns) and QB Ricky Phillips (9-15, 185 yards, 3 TD). The defense as a whole was huge in the fourth quarter, bending but not breaking when they could have easily given up their 27-7 halftime lead and lost again.

2. Fairmont State is quite fortunate to have beaten Charleston today. Their 14-10 halftime deficit was from stopping themselves on penalties: 10 penalties for 87 yards in the first half alone. Add in a horrible punt and they gifted the Golden Eagles with great field position. But the defense played strong all day, and that's why the Falcons are now 4-1.

3. West Virginia Wesleyan may be 5-0 now, but I'm still not sure about them. Sure, they have the best quarterback in the WVIAC in Adam Neugebauer, but I'm not understanding yet how a 27-6 halftime lead turned into a 37-26 final score. And while it didn't matter, what was up with Neugebauer throwing the ball so much in the final five plus minutes of the game instead of running the clock down? Lincoln had some real chances to get back into the game late. That can't happen next week if the Bobcats are to beat Shepherd and go to 6-0. What looked like a top 25 team to me earlier may not be right now.

4. Glenville State's offense just keeps getting better each week. Let's look at the list of offensive threats to pay attention to now: Darold Hughes, Kareem Alexander, Joe Mesadieu, Jakharie Murphy, Antwan Stewart, and Jordan Griffin (and Akheem Figgs and Darrien Hudson are not far behind). This offense looks completely different now than it did at the start of the season against Carson-Newman. How far this team goes this year now depends on the Pioneers' defense.

5. To all those who are dismayed by Shepherd's 28-14 loss to Concord, think about this: at the half, it was only 21-14, even though Zack Grossi had thrown for over 250 yards at that point and Shepherd, as a team, had less than 100. Undoubtedly, Shepherd looked better on defense in the second half: imagine how bad it would have been if they didn't make some adjustments there. But still, this was pretty rough. Monte Cater, when asked after the game if there was anything positive the Rams could pull from the game, said, "No, I don't think so." Kudos to Concord on a dominant performance.

Finally, before anyone goes overboard, it's way too early to start thinking about playoff seedings and regional rankings. We're not even halfway through the season yet, and we're definitely still trying to figure out who some of these teams are. Yes, West Liberty, Charleston, West Virginia State, and Seton Hill are pretty much out of the hunt (though West Virginia State could still win the conference title, at which point I would start looking for the apocalypse), but out of the 10 games that involve the conference's top five teams, only two of them have been played. So, enjoy the season, whatever direction it takes, and we'll worry about the playoffs later.