Monday links, New FCS top 25

By Chris Lang
Sports writer
Published: September 8, 2008

First the Top 25, which is still muddled at this point. Hard to tell who the real No. 1 is. Richmond has a great FCS win at Elon but squandered opportunities at Virginia and was shut out. Appalachian State got hammered by LSU (as expected) and hammered Jacksonville (also, as expected). Not sure how good the Mountaineers are. North Dakota State? The Bison have played two weak opponents, but that schedule will get tougher. Props to Montana for the statement win of the week, going on the road with a young team and beating Cal Poly.

1. NORTH DAKOTA STATE (2-0)
Last week: beat Central Connecticut State, 50-14
The scoop: Led Blue Devils 43-7 at halftime. We’ll know a little more about the Bison after the next two weeks—at Wyoming and at Youngstown State.
Next up: Sept. 13 at Wyoming (1-1).

2. APPALACHIAN STATE (1-1)
Last week: beat Jacksonville, 56-7
The scoop: Mountaineers had no problems with non-scholarship Dolphins and get a week to rest before the showdown with JMU.
Next up: Sept. 20 at No. 8 James Madison (1-1).

3. MASSACHUSETTS (2-0)
Last week: beat No. 17 Holy Cross, 45-42
The scoop: Minutemen surviving a rough schedule so far, road game with Dukes looms.
Next up: Sept. 13 at No. 8 James Madison (1-1).

4. MONTANA (1-0)
Last week: beat No. 3 Cal Poly, 30-28
The scoop: Andrew Schmidt runs for 145 yards and a touchdown as Griz make statement to Big Sky that this may not be a rebuilding year after all.
Next up: Sept. 13 vs. Southern Utah (1-1).

5. RICHMOND (1-1)
Last week: lost to Virginia, 16-0.
The scoop: Spiders defense was stout, but Richmond couldn’t finish in the red zone against Cavs.
Next up: Sept. 13 vs. Towson (1-1).

6. DELAWARE (0-1)
Last week: Idle
The scoop: I’m apparently incapable of reading a schedule, since I thought this game was last week.
Next up: Sept. 13 vs. West Chester (0-0).

7. EASTERN WASHINGTON (0-2)
Last week: lost to Colorado, 31-24
The scoop: Eagles bounced back well from the Texas Tech game and had CU on the ropes until the Buffs outscored EWU 17-3 in the fourth quarter. Scheduling a bye after two FBS games a smart move.
Next up: Sept. 20 vs. Western Washington (0-0).

8. JAMES MADISON (1-1)
Last week: beat North Carolina Central, 56-7
The scoop: Now the real fun begins … UMass and App State in back-to-back weeks.
Next up: Sept. 13 vs. No. 3 Massachusetts (2-0).

9. NORTHERN IOWA (1-1)
Last week: beat South Dakota, 24-13
The scoop: Score was close, but Panthers were never in any danger of losing to Coyotes.
Next up: Sept. 20 vs. No. 16 South Dakota State (1-1).

10. CAL POLY (1-1)
Last week: lost to No. 10 Montana, 30-28
The scoop: Blew golden opportunity for statement win at home.
Next up: Sept. 13 at No. 11 McNeese State (1-1).

11. MCNEESE STATE (1-1)
Last week: beat Delta State, 52-27
The scoop: Cowboys averaging 464.5 yards per game.
Next up: Sept. 13. vs. No. 10 Cal Poly (1-1).

12. NEW HAMPSHIRE (1-0)
Last week: beat Army, 28-10
The scoop: Wildcats make it four straight against FBS opponents. No one should feel safe scheduling these guys.
Next up: Sept. 13 at Rhode Island (1-1).

13. WOFFORD (2-0)
Last week: beat Charleston Southern, 41-23
The scoop: Terriers continue march toward South Carolina FCS championship. Still has games left with Furman and The Citadel.
Next up: Sept. 20 at South Carolina (1-1).

14. SOUTHERN ILLINOIS (1-0)
Last week: beat Hampton, 37-31
The scoop: Led 20-0 early against Pirates but allowed 450 yards of total offense.
Next up: Sept. 13 at Northwestern (2-0).

15. ELON (1-1)
Last week: beat Stony Brook, 30-20
The scoop: Terrell Hudgins gets back on track at Stony Brook with 11 receptions for 138 yards and a touchdown.
Next up: Sept. 13 vs. Presbyterian (1-1).

16. SOUTH DAKOTA STATE (1-1)
Last week: beat No. 18 Youngstown State, 40-7
The scoop: Jackrabbits introduce themselves to conference by pimp-slapping a traditional power at home.
Next up: Sept. 13 vs. No. 19 Western Illinois (1-1).

17. HOLY CROSS (0-1)
Last week: lost to No. 5 Massachusetts, 45-42
The scoop: No shame in losing a shootout with a top-5 team.
Next up: Sept. 19 at No. 23 Harvard (0-0).

18. VILLANOVA (0-1)
Last week: Idle
The scoop: Nova’s offense was fine in week 1 against West Virginia. The Wildcats outgained the Mountaineers 399 yards to 354.
Next up: Sept. 13 vs. Lehigh (1-0).

19. WESTERN ILLINOIS (1-1)
Last week: beat Quincy, 63-0
The scoop: Still trying to figure out what a Quincy is.
Next week: Sept. 13 at No. 16 South Dakota State (1-1).

20. EASTERN ILLINOIS (0-2)
Last week: lost to Illinois, 47-21
The scoop: The money games are done for the Panthers, who should take out some frustration on FCS punching-bag Sycamores.
Next up: Sept. 13 vs. Indiana State (0-1).

21. LIBERTY (2-0)
Last week: beat Glenville State, 44-27
The scoop: Flames look to break pattern of last two years, when they started 2-0 against DII teams and lost first game on the road against DI squad.
Next up: Sept. 13 at Western Carolina (1-1).

22. CENTRAL ARKANSAS (2-0)
Last week: beat UC Davis, 24-21
The scoop: Remember QB Nathan Brown’s (50-for-72, 625 yards, 5 TDs in first two games) name come NFL Draft time.
Next up: Sept. 13 at Arkansas-Pine Bluff (0-2).

23. HARVARD (0-0)
Last week: Idle
The scoop: Ivy League schools don’t begin play until next week.
Next up: Sept. 19 vs. No. 17 Holy Cross (0-1).

24. SOUTH CAROLINA STATE (1-1)
Last week: beat Benedict, 42-3
The scoop: We’ll learn more about the Bulldogs after this week as they open the MEAC schedule.
Next week: Sept. 13 vs. Bethune-Cookman (1-0).

25. GEORGIA SOUTHERN (1-1)
Last week: beat Austin Peay, 34-20.
The scoop: Eagles trailed entering the fourth quarter but outscored Governors 21-0 in the final frame.
Next week: Sept. 13 vs. Northeastern (0-1).

DROPPED OUT: No. 18 Youngstown State.

ON THE RADAR (in no particular order): Northern Arizona, Portland State, Yale, Fordham, Grambling State, Prairie View A&M, Sam Houston State, Tennessee State, Hampton, Albany, Jacksonville State, Sacramento State, The Citadel, Furman.

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Big South awards for the week:

OFFENSIVE: VMI QB Tim Maypray (116 rush yards, two TDs) in his first start at QB for the option-heavy Keydets.

DEFENSIVE: Coastal Carolina DB Dominique Davenport, who set a school record with 20 tackles in the Chanticleers’ loss to Colgate.

SPECIAL TEAMS: Charleston Southern’s Gerald Stevenson, who set a Big South record with 255 kickoff return yards.

FRESHMAN: Stony Brook RB Edwin Gowins, who became the first frosh in league history to run for 100-plus yards in each of his first two games. Sounds like we better get used to this kid.

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Some links from papers that cover the conference:

A wild play at the end of Sunday’s Coastal Carolina-Colgate game left the Chanticleers heartbroken. Check out WPDE’s sports page for a video of the final play. The Sun News’ Sean Horgan compares the wild turn of events to the infamous Super Safety that cost Coastal a playoff berth in 2005. Sun News CCU beatnik Travis Sawchik adds some of his thoughts here.

Coastal coach David Bennett wonders why the clock stopped, giving the Raiders time to get their field-goal unit on the field, Chris Fischer writes.

Wofford had to rally to beat Charleston Southern, the Spartanburg Herald-Journal’s Todd Shanesy reports.

CSU coach Jay Mills likes the direction his program is headed, the Post & Courier reports.

Stony Brook coach Chuck Priore bemoaned his team’s lack of execution against Elon in this story by the Statesman’s Adrian Carasquillo. Newsday’s Steven Marcus is following a hometown hero, Stony Brook freshman Edwin Gowins.

VMI’s Tim Maypray was nervous before his first game at quarterback since the sixth grade, the Roanoke Times’ Katrina Waugh reports.