Six weeks down and the latest was definitely a fun one as we had upsets, grand performances, and we now have some surprising leaders in some conferences as we near the halfway pole of the season. Add in some intrigue and large groupings at the top of some of these conferences and there might be more than one surprising auto bid this year in the playoffs. So here are my thoughts on that and other topics from week 6
Surprise, Surprise! We're in 1st
So who among you were thinking that after week 6 we would have a four-way tie at the top of the CAA and none of those teams would be James Madison? I'll talk about the Elon upset in a bit, but right now Elon, Rhode Island, Towson, and Maine all sit at 2-0 in the CAA. And the best part, they all play each other at some point. Add in a very ticked off James Madison and a sneaky good Stony Brook, this could be the best conference race
Another surprise team at the lead in the conference is in the MEAC and Florida A&M. At 3-0 and a matchup with 2-0 North Carolina St next week they can put a huge gap between them and the rest of the MEAC in the title race and that Celebration Bowl birth. And its the defense that has been leading the way...outside of the 59 points given up @Troy, the Rattlers have allowed 7,18,13,14, and the shutout Saturday against Norfolk St
The other conference surprise leader would be East Tennessee St, who is looking more and more dangerous after its 45-0 blowout win versus Gardner-Webb has them sitting at 3-0 on the SoCon. Though they can't look ahead to the game @Wofford in two weeks as it has a trap game versus the option attack of The Citadel. I can't go without mentioning both Incarnate Word and Idaho St who are both tied for the conference lead but both have conference heavyweights left on the schedule and both are expected to fade...at least somewhat.
Upsets
So you may have heard that James Madison went down this week. And while Elon knocking them off isn't earth-shattering, the 28 point favorite Dukes (seriously way too high), did see their 20-game conference winning streak snapped. And if there is one thing the team will look back on are the missed opportunities, especially the four field goals. It could have been a different game if those were touchdowns. Also, a large credit goes to Elon as they did what very few teams have done outside of NDSU in recent memory and that's controlled the trenches. Not many teams can say they had 200+ yards of rushing offense and keep James Madison around 100.
One of the other major upsets from the weekend was N. Arizona over Weber St in a turnover-filled, sloppy affair. The teams combined for 11 turnovers and both had under 100 yards rushing. the Lumberjacks were on life support and the win helped them get back into the playoff conversation while the loss for the Wildcats almost certainly takes them out of a Top 8 seed and maybe the playoffs altogether
And the other upset that came out of nowhere...Portland St over Montana in another sloppy Big Sky tilt. This game had eight turnovers and Montana went 2 for 12 on 3rd down. Montana might be kicking themselves after this one...while the loss to Western Illinois doesn't sting too much, this one to Portland St really does hurt. The Vikings ended a 17 game losing streak against Division I competition, 12 in a row in the conference and the previous 10 on the road
Mama, there goes that man
How about the performance by a pair of senior signal callers Saturday...Samford's Devlin Hodges and Idaho State's Tanner Gueller both had "performance of the year" like games and both in winning efforts. Hodges, in the 66-28 win over W. Carolina, tied or broke six school records and set the high water marks in the SoCon for passing yards (562) and total yards (586). And let's not forget to add the six touchdown passes, all to different receivers. Its still a huge long shot, but performances like this will help any chance Samford has to make playoffs
So, not to be outdone and maybe even surpass Hodges performance, Gueller had 573 total yards and had eight touchdowns. 492 of those yards came through the air on only 19 completions with the last 81 coming on the ground in a huge 62-28 victory over in-state rival Idaho. The win also puts them at 4-1 (2-0 in the Big Sky). With the meat of the schedule looming, performances like this will be needed to keep pace and potentially make a playoff birth
Ancient Eight
A great nickname for the IVY League, but the oldest conference is still flexing its muscle in out of conference play this year. At 15-5, the record isn't going to wow most, but when you think that everyone else starts the season two or three games before any IVY League team it is an impressive mark. Even more impressive, with a win this upcoming Saturday versus Sacred Heart, Dartmouth could join the three other schools (Columbia, Princeton, and Penn) with having a 3-0 non-conference record.
Now if we could only get them to play more schools from other conferences...and yes the pipe dream of them potentially being a playoff team
Last to fall? Last to rise?
So it was a bit of a ho-hum weekend for the four remaining unbeaten teams as NDSU (5-0), Colgate (5-0), Dartmouth (4-0) and Princeton (4-0) won once again. Although, the Bison were tested for the first time in their first true road test @N. Iowa as they went into the fourth quarter down...they took the lead for good one play into the fourth quarter. Neither of the other three was tested and might not be next week either. NDSU has to go to a desperate WIU who is trying to keep its playoff hopes alive. November 3...Dartmouth goes Princeton in a game that might decide not only who stays undefeated but who wins the IVY League
Check off a trio of teams, New Hampshire, Savannah State, and South Carolina State, who all earned win number one this past Saturday. So now we have eight winless teams remaining: Tennessee Tech (0-6), Delaware State (0-5), Fordham (0-5) and Mississippi Valley State (0-4), Northern Colorado (0-6), Southern Utah (0-5), Valparaiso (0-5) and VMI (0-5). We are guaranteed at least one of these teams will get win number one as UNC and SUU play each other in the last Saturday in October. For the other seven, for a win to happen, the prospects are not as high as each are in the bottom 10 in scoring, scoring defense, or both
Surprise, Surprise! We're in 1st
So who among you were thinking that after week 6 we would have a four-way tie at the top of the CAA and none of those teams would be James Madison? I'll talk about the Elon upset in a bit, but right now Elon, Rhode Island, Towson, and Maine all sit at 2-0 in the CAA. And the best part, they all play each other at some point. Add in a very ticked off James Madison and a sneaky good Stony Brook, this could be the best conference race
Another surprise team at the lead in the conference is in the MEAC and Florida A&M. At 3-0 and a matchup with 2-0 North Carolina St next week they can put a huge gap between them and the rest of the MEAC in the title race and that Celebration Bowl birth. And its the defense that has been leading the way...outside of the 59 points given up @Troy, the Rattlers have allowed 7,18,13,14, and the shutout Saturday against Norfolk St
The other conference surprise leader would be East Tennessee St, who is looking more and more dangerous after its 45-0 blowout win versus Gardner-Webb has them sitting at 3-0 on the SoCon. Though they can't look ahead to the game @Wofford in two weeks as it has a trap game versus the option attack of The Citadel. I can't go without mentioning both Incarnate Word and Idaho St who are both tied for the conference lead but both have conference heavyweights left on the schedule and both are expected to fade...at least somewhat.
Upsets
So you may have heard that James Madison went down this week. And while Elon knocking them off isn't earth-shattering, the 28 point favorite Dukes (seriously way too high), did see their 20-game conference winning streak snapped. And if there is one thing the team will look back on are the missed opportunities, especially the four field goals. It could have been a different game if those were touchdowns. Also, a large credit goes to Elon as they did what very few teams have done outside of NDSU in recent memory and that's controlled the trenches. Not many teams can say they had 200+ yards of rushing offense and keep James Madison around 100.
One of the other major upsets from the weekend was N. Arizona over Weber St in a turnover-filled, sloppy affair. The teams combined for 11 turnovers and both had under 100 yards rushing. the Lumberjacks were on life support and the win helped them get back into the playoff conversation while the loss for the Wildcats almost certainly takes them out of a Top 8 seed and maybe the playoffs altogether
And the other upset that came out of nowhere...Portland St over Montana in another sloppy Big Sky tilt. This game had eight turnovers and Montana went 2 for 12 on 3rd down. Montana might be kicking themselves after this one...while the loss to Western Illinois doesn't sting too much, this one to Portland St really does hurt. The Vikings ended a 17 game losing streak against Division I competition, 12 in a row in the conference and the previous 10 on the road
Mama, there goes that man
How about the performance by a pair of senior signal callers Saturday...Samford's Devlin Hodges and Idaho State's Tanner Gueller both had "performance of the year" like games and both in winning efforts. Hodges, in the 66-28 win over W. Carolina, tied or broke six school records and set the high water marks in the SoCon for passing yards (562) and total yards (586). And let's not forget to add the six touchdown passes, all to different receivers. Its still a huge long shot, but performances like this will help any chance Samford has to make playoffs
So, not to be outdone and maybe even surpass Hodges performance, Gueller had 573 total yards and had eight touchdowns. 492 of those yards came through the air on only 19 completions with the last 81 coming on the ground in a huge 62-28 victory over in-state rival Idaho. The win also puts them at 4-1 (2-0 in the Big Sky). With the meat of the schedule looming, performances like this will be needed to keep pace and potentially make a playoff birth
Ancient Eight
A great nickname for the IVY League, but the oldest conference is still flexing its muscle in out of conference play this year. At 15-5, the record isn't going to wow most, but when you think that everyone else starts the season two or three games before any IVY League team it is an impressive mark. Even more impressive, with a win this upcoming Saturday versus Sacred Heart, Dartmouth could join the three other schools (Columbia, Princeton, and Penn) with having a 3-0 non-conference record.
Now if we could only get them to play more schools from other conferences...and yes the pipe dream of them potentially being a playoff team
Last to fall? Last to rise?
So it was a bit of a ho-hum weekend for the four remaining unbeaten teams as NDSU (5-0), Colgate (5-0), Dartmouth (4-0) and Princeton (4-0) won once again. Although, the Bison were tested for the first time in their first true road test @N. Iowa as they went into the fourth quarter down...they took the lead for good one play into the fourth quarter. Neither of the other three was tested and might not be next week either. NDSU has to go to a desperate WIU who is trying to keep its playoff hopes alive. November 3...Dartmouth goes Princeton in a game that might decide not only who stays undefeated but who wins the IVY League
Check off a trio of teams, New Hampshire, Savannah State, and South Carolina State, who all earned win number one this past Saturday. So now we have eight winless teams remaining: Tennessee Tech (0-6), Delaware State (0-5), Fordham (0-5) and Mississippi Valley State (0-4), Northern Colorado (0-6), Southern Utah (0-5), Valparaiso (0-5) and VMI (0-5). We are guaranteed at least one of these teams will get win number one as UNC and SUU play each other in the last Saturday in October. For the other seven, for a win to happen, the prospects are not as high as each are in the bottom 10 in scoring, scoring defense, or both
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