The FCS Roundtable discussed defending national champion Eastern Washington’s surprising 0-3 start, and PantherTalk.com‘s Ben Moore had an interesting point: the combined record of the last two NCAA champions, EWU and Villanova, is 0-6.
VU lost numerous contributors from the 2009 national champion winning and 2010 semifinal teams, so its struggle is understandable. EWU’s is less so. Montana held EWU scoreless in the second and third quarters Saturday en route to just 14 points. The Eagle offense is scoring just over 19 points per game, ranking it No. 86 in the nation — quite the departure from last season’s 31.5 per game output.
The two most troubling statistics for EWU are 60.3 and 0. The former is the Eagles’ rushing yardage per game, which is worse than all but 12 programs of the 124 subdivision programs. The zero is the number of Brandon Kaufman touchdown receptions. Kaufman’s been targeted plenty despite dealing with double-teams. Bo Levi Mitchell has connected with him 23 times for over 77 yards per game, but the 6-foot-5 target has yet to be found in the end zone. Nicholas Edwards is the beneficiary of defensive attention turned to Kaufman, catching for more yardage than all but five FCS receivers. EWU needs both scoring in order to be successful.
The road doesn’t get any smoother for EWU, either. Montana State handed the Eagles their sole Big Sky loss a season ago in a rout. Equally troubling for EWU is that the seven points MSU allowed in last year’s 30-7 decision was the fewest points the Eagles scored. The good news for Beau Baldwin’s bunch is Saturday’s the first foray on the Inferno this season, where the Eagles were perfect in 2010.
Not all recent champions have such a grim outlook. The 2008 national champion Richmond dominated VMI in a game not as close as the final score would indicate, thus moving to 3-0. The Spiders faced tremendous adversity entering this season with the loss of LaTrell Scott as its head coach less than two weeks before the opener at Duke. UR also had questions lingering from a 2010 wherein it finished near the bottom of the CAA in most offensive categories.
The Spiders have answered those questions resoundingly. Quarterback Aaron Corp appears to be fully recovered from the the ACL tear that led to UR starting four different players under center a year ago. He’s provided the necessary passing punch to complement the two-pronged rushing attack from Kendall Gaskins and Garrett Turner. But the real strength of this Spider team is defense. UR is allowing opponents just 15.3 points per game, and most impressively has yet to allow a first quarter score.
Saturday’s contest against New Hampshire is a big one for both squads. Each could factor into the CAA title chase, but the best FCS conference seems to have a real logjam heading into the league slate: James Madison, Rhode Island, UMass, UR, New Hampshire, Delaware, Towson, Old Dominion, Maine; all have looked good early in the season and something has to give. James Madison scored a tremendous road win over a good Liberty team. The most promising development from that game was the Dukes’ 27 points. Scores haven’t come easily for JMU in recent seasons.
Points will be at a premiere for JMU this week, which travels to William & Mary. A low scoring affair is almost a certainty, given how stout each defense is and how uninspired the Tribe offense has looked. Preseason favorite W&M may have the most perplexing start of any CAA. Yes, the Tribe is 2-1 and winner of its last two. However, the Tribe’s offense was thoroughly underwhelming in those victories over VMI and New Haven.
Check back to SaturdayBlitz.com for contributor Joe Suhoski’s breakdown of the CAA week ahead, and his blog VBR Productions.
Sound the Upset Alert
Indiana State blew the doors off of Western Kentucky to secure the third FCS-over-FBS victory of the season. The Sycamore offense was virtually unstoppable, doing what SEC member Kentucky failed to: racking up yards through the air via Ronnie Fouch and on the ground with Shakir Bell.
It’s unlikely any of the FCS teams in action against the FBS this week rack up 436 yards en route to a 44-16 beatdown, but Saturday’s slate presents the subdivision’s best opportunity for multiple wins.
North Dakota State at Minnesota: Minnesota dropped a decision to South Dakota a year ago, lost to barely-FBS New Mexico State two weeks ago, and fell to this very NDSU program in 2007. Precedent for a Bison win certainly exists, and the Golden Gophers may struggle to contain an offense averaging 49 points per game with a potent and varied running game. The Bison were without DJ McNorton for Week 2’s rout of Saint Francis, but didn’t miss a beat using Sam Ojuri as the No. 1 option.
FCS Roundtable contributor Kyle Roth does an outstanding job covering the Bison. Visit BisonIllustrated and Bison Sports Blog for more.
UMass at Boston College: Prior to the season, this one was only on my FCS radar for the inter-commonwealth pairing in UMass’s final FCS season. However, after the Minutemen started strong and Boston College has faltered, this suddenly looks like a very winnable game for the subdivision.
Jonathan Hernandez is emerging as one of the best backs in the nation and will pose a challenge to an Eagle defense that last year finished No. 1 against the rush, but this season has exhibited holes. Meanwhile, the Eagles offense is sputtering, which should make for a slow tempo game. That plays to UMass’s advantage.
South Alabama at Kent State: Like UMass, South Alabama is only FCS for the time being. The Jaguars are bound for the Sun Belt, but in the interim playing an FCS schedule. Last week, USA traveled to NC State and performed well. It was the program’s first loss since restarting in 2009, but it was perhaps the most telling game of just how far ahead of the curve Joey Jones has this fledgling program.
Sam Houston State at New Mexico: The Lobos are a miserable 2-24 under Mike Locksley, and show little sign of improvement. Back-to-back big losses to Arkansas and Texas Tech were the result of a porous defense, which an experienced SHSU offense could exploit.
Southern Utah at UNLV: In its first home game, UNLV looked worlds better than in two blowout road losses opening the season at Wisconsin and Washington State. Nevertheless, in Southern Utah the Rebels could have their hands full. SUU employs a similar offensive scheme as WSU, with quarterback Brad Sorenson whipping the ball all over the field. The Thunderbirds mix it up with a steady dose from the run game as well. That offense has looked great since a perplexing Week One loss at South Dakota State, which brings us to another point.
SDSU was smashed in a non-conference tilt with Cal Poly. Third-year starting quarterback Thomas O’Brien struggled and was benched, which prompted him to leave the team earlier this week. O’Brien was never the same since a second half meltdown in the 2009 NCAA Playoffs wherein the Jackrabbits surrendered a 41-14 lead, gave up 47 second half points, and O’Brien was picked off three times.
SDSU as a program simply hasn’t been the same since. The blowout loss to Cal Poly was the second thrashing the Jackrabbits sustained in as many weeks, in Week 2 getting pasted at Illinois. The Jacks sport the same record (1-2) as Missouri Valley foe Illinois State heading into Saturday’s conference opener, but the Redbirds enter under much different circumstances.
ISU lost 31-24 on the road to Youngstown State, which launched itself into a solid MVFC start with a key road test at Indiana State ahead. The winner of the YSU-ISU tilt has a tremendous leg up in what should be a hotly contested race.
Other significant conference battles slated for the weekend will set the tone for playoff positioning. Sacramento State has twice faltered since knocking off Oregon State, and badly needs a win over Montana. The Hornets dropped a 28-25 heartbreaker in Missoula last season that effectively kept Sac State out of the postseason. This year’s squad may already have its playoff aspirations on the line, as a 1-3 start would put it in a deep hole.
Chattanooga travels to Appalachian State, an affair that will provide much insight into just how good this Moc team is. UTC beat Jacksonville State in Week 2, but needs to steal wins against the Southern Conference’s top tier teams like ASU, Wofford and Georgia Southern to sneak into the postseason.
Of Patriots and Wolves
The Patriot League went 4-3 against its non-scholarship counterparts from the Ivy League last weekend. Most impressive among the victories was Lafayette’s defeat of a Penn team that has been in the top 25 each of the last two seasons and led the Ivy as its clear cut top team. Lehigh has an opportunity to score an even bigger win for the conference when it hosts Liberty this Saturday.
Lehigh quarterback Chris Lum has been among the best quarterbacks in college football thus far. His 14 touchdown passes are far and away the nation’s best. Saturday he is lining up opposite one of the subdivision’s most talented snap takers, Mike Brown, Lum will have the opportunity to make some national noise.
Liberty’s Big South partner Stony Brook faces Lafayette in need of a win. The Seawolves have been disappointing since the fourth quarter of Week 1’s loss at UTEP. Stony Brook saw a win slip from its grasp in El Paso, and since have been sluggish in a rout at Buffalo and shockingly offensive anemic showing vs. Brown.
Brock Jackolski and Miguel Maysonet are again near the top of the FCS in rushing, but the yardage isn’t resulting in points.
Tracking The Awards Races
Aforementioned Chris Lum has a great opportunity to jump into the Payton Award conversation, but teammate and leading receiving target Ryan Spadola could be there as well. Spadola leads the subdivision with six touchdown catches. That’s a pace for a staggering 22 scores.
Cory McCaffrey of Portland State led the Vikings in a big win over Northern Arizona, and the tailback is setting the tone for FCS rushers with seven touchdowns (No. 1 nationally) and 145 yards per game (No. 4 ). If PSU continues to win, he will factor heavily into the discussion.
One of the rushers trailing McCaffrey in ypg is Northern Iowa’s explosive quarterback Tirrel Rinnie. What Rinnie has lacked passing — he’s 24-for-57 — he has compensated with his feet at 123 yards per game.
Defensively, the surprising start at Presbyterian has included some stellar play from defensive back Justin Bethel. Bethel is averaging an interception an outing. The Wofford bunch Presbyterian battled hard in Week 1 has seen outstanding production from sophomore linebacker Alvin Scioneaux. He has feasted off the scraps double-teams on teammate Ameet Pall create, racking up four sacks through two games.
The only linebacker arguably more difficult to contain is New Hampshire’s Matt Evans. Evans is the quintessential “rolling ball of knives,” as Petros Papadakis calls such wildly active players. Evans leads the nation with 48 tackles. That puts him on a pace to make roughly 175 tackles this season. That would surely be enough for a Buck Buchanan Award nomination.