Skip to main content

Week 12

Well, that's over....well not quite just yet. It was one of the craziest, most unpredictable regular seasons that I can remember and it sure was a lot of fun. It was a mostly quiet week (go figure) in the FCS landscape as it was more of a week of records and accomplishments than it was intriguing. Now that isn't to say we had some really good games and finishes but at the end of the day things came out a little less exciting than the weeks prior.

Record Setter

 It really is a shame that we won't be able to see Samford QB Devlin Hodges in the playoffs. His career ended this past Saturday, and during the 38-27 victory over ETSU, Hodges set the FCS record for passing yards ending his career at 14,584 passing yards. That broke the mark set by the late, great Steve "Air' McNair. Pretty amazing that the record stood for over two decades

"Who wouldn't want to be the all-time passing leader? I'm just really glad I've had a lot of help along the way," Hodges said. "Some great guys have come through here and have helped me be the best I can be."

And while a 7-yard screen pass isn't the grandest way to set the record, it's still one that is amazing when you think about all that it takes to get to a number so high. The passing yards record wasn't all that Hodges set this year. Among the conference records, he also set the FCS mark for both completions (1,310) and attempts (1,896). Some impressive numbers we may not see anyone come close to reaching for a long time

A somber ending

 Normally a 10-6 game from two non-playoff teams don't draw much attention but when its the last game of one legendary coach you tend to take a bit more notice. Just under 10,000 people came to see the last game of William & Mary head coach Jimmye Laylock who has spent the last 39 years on the sidelines for the Tribe.

Laylock who played QB for the Tribe under both Marv Levy and Lou Holtz graduated from the school in 1970 and started is head coaching career a decade later. During his tenure, Laylock amassed 249 wins, 10 playoff births, and 5 league titles.

Oddly enough, the Tribe already announced Laylock's replacement...former assistant Mike London

Awards season

As the season ends, the finalists for the FCS awards will start trickling thru and first up are the 15 coaches who are finalists for this year's Eddie Robinson award. The finalists are as follows. And there are some really good candidates from some really good "feel good" seasons from some programs

The 2018 Eddie Robinson Award finalists

  • Brian Bohannon, Kennesaw State 
  • Joe Harasymiak, Maine 
  • Dan Hawkins, UC Davis
  • Roger Hughes, Stetson 
  • Dan Hunt, Colgate 
  • Chris Klieman, North Dakota State 
  • Dale Lindsey, San Diego 
  • Curt Mallory, Indiana State 
  • Tom Matukewicz, Southeast Missouri 
  • Fred McNair, Alcorn State
  • Eric Morris, UIW 
  • Randy Sanders, ETSU 
  • Jerry Schmitt, Duquesne 
  • Bob Surace, Princeton 
  • Sam Washington, North Carolina A&T 


Voting for the other awards has started but we won't know the finalist for them until later during the playoffs

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Conference Rundown #13 Southwestern Athletic Conference

Let me just start off by saying the SWAC might be the best of the abbreviated conferences when you say it. It just comes off as something cool and makes you puff out your chest a little when you say it. Ok enough being weird...we start off with a conference who, if your looking strictly at attendance numbers you would think it was a great conference, but alas the reality is that SWAC is at the bottom of the totem pole and for good reason. And it sucks that's its at this level because of all the history, tradition, the alumni but the product that is produced year after year is just bad. Placement Reasoning What you will see with a lot of the lower ranked conferences is that outside of the conference, most of the teams can't hang with the others. The SWAC is the guiltiest of the lot. Outside of Grambling, the SWAC doesn't have a lot in terms of depth and teams who can go out of conference and take down even a small fry from say the Southland or NEC. They were one of three...
Post a Comment
Read more

The weekend that was....(Part 2)

Here I am back again...did promise you more. My thoughts on the field of 24 and ranking them 24-1 from least likely to win to most likely to celebrate in Frisco, TX Playoff Selection Thoughts Look, I know, with me writing this I'm playing a "Monday Morning QB" deal but the committee of 10 had one hell of a time picking 24 teams to get in the playoffs. Not everyone will be happy but hey, that's part of the job So getting the nice nice out of the way...the fact that Nicholls, New Hampshire, and S. Dakota made the playoffs is just mind blogging. All three lost their last game, Nicholls lost on the road to SE Louisiana and New Hampshire got shutout by 4-7 Albany. But even while those are bad, the worst entry was S. Dakota...ending a season at 1-4 shouldn't give you a playoff team. But the weirdest twist, all three have a chance at deep runs and two host a playoff game The team with the loudest beef should be Austin Peay. Good story aside, to go 7-1 versus FC...
Post a Comment
Read more
So that's it...2017 season is over. The dynasty continues as North Dakota St won its 6th national championship in 7 years, more on those guys later. The playoffs as a whole were, to quote an old coach "not too stinky" While we got the end matchup everyone hoped for, getting there left a lot to be desired. That's not to say we got a good meal, but if we are being nit-picky about things the playoffs are the equivalent of some dishes not having and seasoning and others have a bit too much. The Bracket This one is the one big gripe from me and almost everyone in the land of FCS. The playoffs this year  were this weird hybrid of seeding with regional requirements that almost guarantees we get conference rematches, an unbalanced bracket, a some team really gets the shaft. This isn't some new problem unfortunately, ever since the playoffs were expanded first to 20 and now to 24 teams, we have seen a bracket and matchups that too often look slanted. In James Madi...
Post a Comment
Read more