Wed Jan 2 20:06:24 2008

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Around FCS: Looking back at 2007

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Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - Like most red-blooded, American football fans, I am recovering from the numbing experience of New Year's Day bowl games. And after a day of watching mostly bad football games, I am grateful that those making the decisions in the Football Championship Subdivision are not as foolish as their Football Bowl Subdivision brethren.

The FBS continues to connect itself to an IV drip of cash from the Bowl Championship Series, without regards to what would be best for the schools, players and fans of college football.

For most of the college football season, I am so engrossed in covering FCS that I get nothing more than brief glimpses of the ludicrous FBS world. But this time of year gives me the opportunity to be reminded of how dumb the BCS system truly is.

Less than three weeks ago, I was in Chattanooga, TN., sitting in a sold-out Finley Stadium, watching teams from Appalachian State and Delaware battle it out for a true national championship. Both had survived three previous weeks of tournament play to advance to this title game and when ASU defeated Delaware 49-21, there was little doubt that the Mountaineers were indeed the top team in FCS.

Next week in New Orleans, the BCS will throw us a sham of a championship game. The Superdome will be packed with screaming fans and the winner from the less- than thrilling matchup of LSU and Ohio State will be given a shiny, crystal trophy.

But no one will be fooling anyone about this being a national championship showdown.

Had FCS chosen this route, we would have watched Northern Iowa match up with either McNeese State, or Montana for the championship. One of these three undefeated teams would have been steamed about how it had been denied even a shot at the title.

Two-time national champion Appalachian State wouldn't have even gotten the chance to defend its crown, and No. 13-ranked Delaware wouldn't have been mentioned as a possible title-game participant.

Watching USC dismantle Illinois on New Year's Day in the Rose Bowl and seeing Georgia end Hawaii's dream season in stunning fashion at the Sugar Bowl left me believing that either LSU or Ohio State would have a hard time slowing down one of those powerful opponents in a true playoff format.

I'm not sure that either LSU or Ohio State would have wanted to try to slow down Wednesday night's Orange Bowl teams, West Virginia and Oklahoma, either.

Having witnessed my share of high-tension action during the FCS playoffs, I can't help but wonder what a playoff in FBS would have produced this season, with so many evenly-matched schools out there.

But at least, all of us around FCS have the memories of another great FCS tournament to reflect on as we head into a long off-season without college football.

TEN STORIES TO REMEMBER FROM 2007

Having covered fully half of the 30-year history of FCS, the 2007 season will go down as one of my favorite years. So listed below are 10 of my favorite stories from the just-completed season:

10. The tumultuous year of Mid-Major football

La Salle and St. Peter's dropped football, continuing the demise of the MAAC. St. Peter's ended its program during the summer, leaving several teams scrambling to fill schedules. La Salle went 0-11 and then pulled the plug on its team. The MAAC ended its run as a non-scholarship football league with Duquesne moving to the NEC. Iona and Marist were weighing an offer by the Pioneer Football League to join forces. In the ever-changing world of Mid- Major football, Dayton rebounded from a 3-8 record in 2006 to go 11-1 and tie for the PFL title. The Flyers then won the Gridiron Classic 42-21 over Albany, and captured the Sports Network Cup as the top-ranked Mid-Major team.

9. Mike Kramer is fired as the coach at Montana State

Just months after leading the Bobcats to the 2006 NCAA quarterfinals. MSU administrators reacted to a growing list of former players being arrested and academic concerns within the program by firing the popular and personable Kramer. Rob Ash, the longtime coach at Drake, was brought in to re-establish control at Montana State and led the team to a 6-5 record. The Bobcats finished 4-4 in the Big Sky Conference to tie for fourth place.

8. North Dakota State beats two FBS opponents

North Dakota State became the first FCS team since The Citadel in 1992 to win two games in the same season against FBS opponents. The Bison beat Central Michigan and then toppled Minnesota. Overall, NDSU won 10 straight games and climbed to No. 2 in the national poll before losing to South Dakota State in the final game of the regular season. Included in that streak were dramatic last-minute wins, led by quarterback Steve Walker, over Sam Houston State and Cal Poly. Running back Tyler Roehl finished eighth in the Payton Award balloting, linebacker Joe Mays was eighth in the Buchanan Award race, and coach Craig Bohl was fifth in the Robinson Award voting. It was NDSU's last year of transition before coming fully into Division I and joining the Gateway Conference next season.

7. Montana wins 10th straight Big Sky title in an undefeated regular season

Montana rolled through an 11-0 regular season and won a share of the Big Sky title for the 10th straight year. The Grizzlies qualified for the playoffs for the 14th consecutive year. Defensive end Kroy Biermann won the Buck Buchanan Award. The Grizzlies were seeded third in the playoffs, but were beaten 23-22 by Southern Conference champion Wofford in the first round of the playoffs.

6. McNeese State goes undefeated in the regular season

McNeese State experienced a resurgence in its program, going undefeated in the regular season for the first time since 1995. Senior defensive end Bryan Smith led an excellent defensive effort and finished third in the balloting for the Buck Buchanan Award. One of McNeese State's wins was a 38-17 thrashing of FBS Louisiana-Lafayette in a renewal of an old rivalry. The Cowboys beat Central Arkansas for their 11th straight win to clinch the Southland Conference championship and drew the No. 2 seed in the playoffs before the injury- decimated team lost 44-15 to Eastern Washington in the first round of the playoffs.

5. Jayson Foster wins the Walter Payton Award

Foster turned in the most dominant rushing season ever by an NCAA Division I quarterback, running for 1,844 yards and 24 touchdowns. He also passed for 1,203 yards and six more TDs. A year after being moved from quarterback to wide receiver by then-coach Brian VanGorder, Foster was moved back to quarterback by Chris Hatcher and helped the Eagles go from a school-worst 3-8 record to 7-4. GSU came within a narrowly-missed field goal against Furman of winning the automatic bid in the Southern Conference. Foster also led the Eagles to a 38-35 upset win at Appalachian State's Kidd Brewer Stadium, snapping the Mountaineers' 30-game home winning streak that dated back to the 2002 season.

4. The Colonial Athletic Association sponsors football for the first time

In a hostile takeover of the Atlantic 10, the CAA seized control of the northeast's preeminent league and watched a historic season unfold. Delaware's Omar Cuff scored an FCS-record-tying seven touchdowns in the first CAA game, a 49-31 victory over William & Mary. Massachusetts and Richmond tied for the first CAA championship, UMass winning the North Division crown and Richmond taking the South Division title. UMass won a coin flip for the automatic bid to the playoffs, and a record four CAA teams were chosen for at-large bids to the playoffs, Richmond, Delaware, James Madison and New Hampshire. JMU and UNH just missed first-round upsets of Appalachian State and Northern Iowa and UMass advanced to the quarterfinals before losing to Southern Illinois. Richmond reached the semifinals for the first time ever and Delaware made its second appearance in the championship game before both lost to Appalachian State.

3. Northern Iowa completes a magical 11-0 regular season

Northern Iowa dominated Iowa State 23-13 early in the regular season, going through the tough Gateway schedule unscathed and finishing undefeated for the first time since 1960. The Panthers were ranked No. 1 nationally from the middle of the season on and were the No. 1 seed in the playoffs. UNI added a dramatic 38-35 win over New Hampshire in the first round of the playoffs before falling to a 39-27 upset against Delaware in the quarterfinals. Coach Mark Farley was named as the Eddie Robinson Award winner and quarterback Eric Sanders was a finalist for the Walter Payton Award.

2. The death of legendary coach Eddie Robinson

If anyone needed a measure of the influence of former Grambling coach Eddie Robinson, they got it when the legendary Tiger icon was memorialized following his death on April 3. Robinson's body lay in state at the Louisiana state capitol building in Baton Rouge before a crowd of mourners packed the Eddie Robinson Athletic Center at Grambling for his funeral. The outpouring of emotion not only focused on Robinson's great coaching success, but his role as a civil rights leader and a builder of men. Robinson went 408-165-15 during a coaching career that ran from 1941 through 1997, leaving as the winningest coach in college history.

1. Appalachian State beats Michigan and wins its third straight national title

Appalachian State started the year with the biggest FCS win over an FBS team ever, beating Michigan 34-32 before 109,218 fans at historic Michigan Stadium. The Mountaineers then completed their season with an unprecedented third consecutive national championship. Corey Lynch began an unbelievable senior season by blocking a 39-yard Michigan field goal attempt to clinch the victory - the first ever by an FCS club over a ranked FBS opponent. Lynch won several other contests with late-game heroics, on the way to finishing second in the Buchanan Award balloting. Sophomore quarterback Armanti Edwards missed four and a half games with a shoulder injury, but returned to rush for 1,588 yards and 21 TDs and pass for 1,948 yards and 17 scores. Running back Kevin Richardson finished 10th in the Payton Award balloting and set career records at ASU for rushing and all-purpose yardage. Jerry Moore placed fourth in the Robinson Award voting, one year after winning the honor. The Mountaineers tied Wofford for a share of the Southern Conference title, the third straight year that ASU has worn a piece of the crown.

Some other great moments worth mentioning include Mid-Major Drake's 27-24 win over No. 7 Illinois State on the opening night of the season, wins over FBS opponents by Nicholls State (over Rice), Southern Illinois (over Northern Illinois), Delaware (over Navy) and New Hampshire (over Marshall), as well as numerous near-misses by other schools and fantastic performances by many individuals from the start to the finish of a great 2007 season.