Charging the field at Troy State

There were plenty of scores and highlights that caught my attention Saturday but the Troy State Trojans may have stolen the show. In a battle for Sun Belt bragging rights in the state of Alabama, Troy State rallied to beat South Alabama 34-33.

The Panthers scored two touchdowns in the final five minutes of the fourth to take a 33-27 lead. Troy State countered going 66 yards on five plays to steal the game  on a 20-yard touchdown pass with just seven seconds left.

South Alabama lost despite having 630 total yards compared to Troy’s 434. At 3-3, Troy State still has bowl hopes and also has this awesome first person video of charging the field to show off from the beginning of the game. It is amazing people don’t get trampled when you think about it. Especially the alumni cheerleaders you see at around the 55 second mark. Also note how bad the band sounds when the horns are right in your ear.

The battle for New Mexico
What is the saddest in-state rivalry game? Has to be New Mexico vs. New Mexico State. The Lobos are basketball school and the Aggies are so bad at football the Mountain West Conference did not want them forcing it to go independent. New Mexico won 66-17 Saturday but the problem is the Lobos are a 2-3 team and ranked No. 142 in the Sagarin ratings. The 0-6 Aggies dropped to No. 204 (worst among FBS teams). These two schools should probably stop playing each other, or could drop to the FCS level (bingo). The only chance New Mexico State has at winning a game this season is Oct. 26 when FCS independent Abilene Christian comes to town. Don’t know why, but tickets actually cost $40 for this game.

The sneaky unbeaten
Did anyone know that Missouri is undefeated? It dominated Vanderbilt in Nashville 51-28. The score was 30-7 at halftime! Now that Indiana shocked Penn State, Missouri’s win over Indiana looks stronger than ever. Now comes three straight games against ranked SEC schools (Georgia, Florida and South Carolina). It’s hard to see Missouri representing the SEC East in the conference championship game but you have to give it some consideration if the Missouri can pull off the upset at Georgia.

Poor Virginia
Virginia, a proud member of the ACC, got drilled by a MAC school on a shoestring budget in Ball State 48-27. Saturday’s loss dropped the Cavaliers to 2-3 and will probably make them an underdog the rest of the season. Yea for a 2-10 season! The Virginia football Twitter account pretty much summed it and is the depressing tweet of the week.

Following BSU TD, McGee fumbles after catching pass. Ball State takes over on UVa 39-yd line. #BALLvsUVA

— Virginia Football (@UVa_Football) October 5, 2013

Huskies validate themselves

Can you tell which team on the scoreboard is from the Big Ten and which one is from the MAC? For Purdue fans that question must kill them.

Northern Illinois was bashed by the national media last year for making it to a BCS bowl. This year, the 4-0 Huskies have taken down two Big Ten Conference schools, (Iowa and Purdue) the first Mid-American Conference team to do that in one season. Northern Illinois didn’t just beat Purdue, it bombed Purdue back into the stone age 55-24. Somehow the Boilermakers outgained the Huskies in total yards 524-402, but five turnovers killed any chance Purdue had.

The win was not an upset for NIU but forcing Purdue to surrender the most points ever at Ross-Ade Stadium sure was. Purdue plays Michigan, Ohio State, Notre Dame, Wisconsin and Penn State on a regular basis yet those schools scored less at Purdue than a MAC team. Anyone still think Northern Illinois had no business in the Orange Bowl last year?

Uniform trouble
Virginia Tech is a football program with a proud tradition. Wearing strange uniforms is for teams that have no tradition and are desperate enough to attract fans using gimmicks. So when I see a proud football program like Virginia Tech wear something like this…

Mr. Virginia Tech, tear down this wall!

It’s just unnecessary. Apparently, stone means something to those in Blacksburg, VA but to the rest of the nation it’s only a gray blob on television.

Scoreboard watching
Some of the scores that caught my eye this week…

• Another MAC school in Buffalo went bonkers on Connecticut 41-12. Buffalo needed five overtimes to squeak past FCS Stony Brook yet it could humiliate a BCS school at home. UConn dropped to 0-4 and fired its coach Paul Pasqualoni Monday. This coming one week after UConn nearly pulled off the upset over Michigan the previous week. I’m against firing coaches in September as it destroys any meaning the other two-thirds of the season can have. Looking at you USC Trojans.
• East Carolina didn’t just beat North Carolina Saturday it destroyed UNC’s dignity. The Pirates went on the road and came out with a 55-31 win. It was 28-10 at halftime! Just think about this. High school football players in that state dream about playing for their state school in the ACC. Not the Conference USA school that has a cardinal direction in its name. Yet somehow East Carolina has taken in more talent than its alpha dog brother in Chapel Hill. I don’t think the Pirates look up to the Tar Heels anymore.
• Tennessee nearly lost to South Alabama 31-24. People in Southeastern Conference country have a stroke when one of their own drops a game a Sun Belt team, the motel of college football. Losing to South Alabama would have been even worse as the Jaguars have only existed for five seasons now. The Volunteers better count their blessings for dodging this disaster.
• Western Kentucky held down Navy winning 19-7 in Bowling Green. This is a Navy team that popped Indiana of the Big Ten for 41 points. Yet Western Kentucky’s defense held Navy’s tricky option attack to just a touchdown. I don’t like their head coach Bobby Petrino for his well documented history (Atlanta Falcons and Arkansas) but he and the Hilltoppers (3-2) are getting things done.
• Boise State hung up 60 points in its 60-7 win over Southern Mississippi. This came after losing at Fresno State the week before. I think it’s safe to say the Broncos were in need of venting their frustration.

I was wrong
Last week I labeled West Virginia as a bear market team after it lost to Maryland 37-0. Just when I buried the Mountaineers, they pulled of a major upset at home against the No. 11 Cowboys of Oklahoma State. I didn’t see the 30-21 win coming at all. My apologies Mountaineer fans. As for Oklahoma State… what happened?

Working overtime
FCS Jacksonville State has played in three straight contests that went into overtime against three different levels of competition. On September 14, JSU escaped humiliation defeating division II North Alabama 24-21 in OT. Then the Gamecocks restored pride to the program taking down the worst team in FBS, the Georgia State Panthers, 32-26 in overtime again. The streak ended for Jacksonville State Saturday losing to FCS Murray State 35-34 as the Racers converted on a gutsy two-point conversion call in overtime. One thing for sure, JSU season ticket holders are getting their money’s worth with all the free football. For those wondering, Jacksonville State is located in Alabama, not Jacksonville, Florida. The latter is probably never going to see a quality NFL team play there again. Well, not unless you count the visiting team.

Twitter fun
Texas State went all out in making a big deal about their home game against Wyoming. Check out their Twitter profile picture simply saying “Beat Wyoming.” Not sure that’s a big enough game to change your profile picture as it makes it look like every Saturday is life or death. Playing in the Sun Belt conference makes that a problem. Texas State made its Twitter account proud taking down Wyoming 42-21 in a game delayed by lighting. That’s Mother Nature telling Texas State “Tweet this!”

The most depressing tweet goes to Eastern Kentucky, whose program was pasted by Eastern Illinois Saturday 42-7. I previously talked about how good EIU’s quarterback is as Jimmy Garoppolo shredded another defense for over 300 yards passing. Eastern Kentucky’s Twitter seemed to throw in the towel like its team Saturday.

FB: Unfortunately, @EKUFootball turns it over again and it’s costly. EIU returns a fumble 70 yards for a score. It’s 35-0 EIU.

— EKU Sports (@EKUSports) September 28, 2013

 

Chances are you don’t have to tweet this Eastern Kentucky. Do what the other bad football schools do and tweet about women’s volleyball. You can thank me later.

Losing to a D-II school equals a long year

This is a new Monday feature called “Sensor Scans” where we find the hidden gems and Easter eggs from the college sports week.

While some fan bases are hitting the panic button after unexpected losses Saturday (Florida, Southern Cal, and Texas) a few others are trying to pretend their football team does not exist.

Mississippi Valley State of the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) a FCS program dropped a home game to a division II program Delta State 24-14. It’s the equivalent of a college student losing a chess game to a six grader. Maybe losing at Wii Bowling to a senior citizen.

The Delta Devils of Mississippi Valley State has done the ultimate shame a D-I program can do on a football field to its fans, alumni and community residents of Itta Bena. Adding extra insult, Delta State even has the unique nickname of the “Statesmen.” Nothing like saying “Dude, we were owned by the Statesmen!”

Mississippi Valley State should have been able to recruit any kid on Delta State’s roster. Talent should have been on their side. I was shocked from this highlight video that Delta State has the all-time series lead as the Statesmen now has a 4-1 advantage after Saturday.

A few questions from that video.

1. Why is the Delta State coach having a curfew? You just beat a division I school. Go nuts Statesmen. He even said “We’re going to bounce back from this.” You only say that if you lose a game. Heck he even spent time explaining why his team executed a fake punt. You’re an inferior team on paper so there’s no need to defend a trick play.

2. It appears that Delta wore Mississippi Valley down. How is that possible? A division I program should have more players on their roster and therefore more depth.

3. Is Katie Smith single?

It is true that Delta State is a very good division II program with great postseason success but come on Mississippi Valley State. You can’t get owned by them at home. At least only 2,139 saw the game. How can the Delta Devils come back from this? I wish I had an answer and I bet Mississippi Valley State coaches wish they had one too.

Ranking notes
The new AP top 25 poll is out with really no surprises. What did catch my eye is how the Miami Hurricanes were unranked prior to their win over Florida on Saturday. To go from unranked to 15 is an insane jump that makes me wonder if Miami boosters are paying the pollsters. Just kidding. Too soon?

Bowling Green State out of the MAC also stood out. The 2-0 Falcons are not ranked but did receive seven votes. For a team not many know about it is great to see them get some love from the pollsters. With more wins BGSU should crack the top 25.

FCS vs. the MAC
While Bowling Green is doing well some of its Mid-American Conference colleagues are not. Four MAC vs. FCS games took place on Saturday ending in a 2-2 draw. The MAC is just a notch above FCS and is vulnerable to any competent team. Akron slipped past James Madison 35-33 and Central Michigan rallied from 21-7 to beat New Hampshire 24-21. Central had to convert a 3rd and 15 to get into field goal range on its final drive.

The MAC schools who laid an egg include Western Michigan losing to Nicholls State 27-23. Nicholls State suffered injuries to key players including at quarterback and still won on the road. FCS Maine defeated UMass 24-14 in what should be no surprise as UMass was an FCS team two years ago.

Dogfight of the week
Best game from week 2 goes to Eastern Illinois beating Southern Illinois 40-37 in two overtimes. Eastern Illinois upset FBS San Diego State last week 40-19. Southern Illinois came close to beating Big Ten conference monopoly Illinois 42-34 last week too. These are two great FCS teams in Illinois. I don’t think either of them would have lost to Delta State. At home 24-14? Epic fail.