Mon Oct 13 13:03:10 2008

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Around FCS: Why, Richmond, Why?

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Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - The question Richmond coaches, players and supporters have to be asking this weekend is a simple one.

Why, Richmond, why?

It was bad enough that the No. 5-ranked Spiders had blown a lead in the final minute of their game against No. 1 James Madison on Saturday afternoon, but Richmond still had the advantage of playing at home before a raucous crowd of 16,151 fans as the game appeared to be heading for overtime.

But then Richmond did something inexplicable, given the situation. The Spiders punted the ball to JMU's Scottie McGee, who promptly broke free up the sideline for a 69-yard touchdown on a return with one second left to lift the Dukes to a spectacular 38-31 victory.

It was a stunning finish for a Richmond team that appeared on its way to a win over the top-ranked Dukes just a few minutes before.

In a hard-fought game that was televised to much of the nation on various Fox sports affiliates, the Spiders scored two fourth-period touchdowns on three- yard runs from quarterback Eric Ward (17-25 passing, 224 yards, seven carries for 22 yards rushing) and tailback Josh Vaughan (23 carries, 94 yards, two TDs) to take a 31-23 lead with 3:21 remaining.

It wasn't surprising to see the tenacious Dukes respond with a touchdown drive of their own, or tailback Eugene Holloman (12 carries, 58 yards) breaking through tackles at the goal line to score from eight yards out with 59 seconds to play.

But Richmond appeared to be in position to stop a pass from Rodney Landers to Griff Yancey when Landers bootlegged to the right out of a trips formation as JMU went for a game-tying, two-point conversion. Not known for his arm, or his accuracy, Landers somehow managed to thread the needle and hit Yancey with a pass just inside the pylon.

Still, there was no reason for the Spiders to panic when they were faced with a fourth down play with 18 seconds left. Just kick the ball out of bounds, or any place where the shifty and speedy McGee couldn't field it, and Richmond was headed to overtime.

But first-year coach Mike London made a rookie mistake and it cost the Spiders dearly. Of course, London isn't alone. Five times in McGee's career, the inspirational returnman has taken returns to the house.

Even three-time national championship-winning coaches have made that mistake. Appalachian State's Jerry Moore did the same thing with a 21-0 lead to open the second half of the Mountaineers' game last month at James Madison and the result was a momentum-shifting, 99-yard kickoff return for a touchdown that sparked the Dukes to a 35-32 win.

At times, coaches let their machismo and ego get in the way of good judgment. And in this case, there wasn't a good reason for kicking to McGee, unless you wanted to put your team in a position to lose.

The defeat was a costly one for the Spiders, who had been viewed as a national championship contender after advancing to the semifinals last year and racing to the No. 1 national ranking and a 4-1 start. A 26-20 loss at Villanova knocked Richmond from its lofty perch, and the defeat to JMU has the Spiders on the brink of seeing their postseason aspirations quashed.

With a 5-3 record now, Richmond must negotiate a schedule that includes a trip this Saturday to No. 13 Massachusetts, a non-conference game against Georgetown, a pair of other Colonial Athletic Association road swings to Hofstra and William & Mary and a home contest against Delaware without a loss just to be in position for an at-large playoff bid.

With two losses in CAA play, the Spiders have little chance of repeating as the league co-champion.

James Madison is in the opposite position. The Dukes are sitting atop the CAA standings with a record of 4-0 in league play and 6-1 overall. Villanova, at 2-0, is the only other team in the CAA that is undefeated.

In all likelihood, the CAA title will be decided on Oct. 25, when the Dukes travel to Villanova for another top-10 showdown.

JMU has an off-week to prepare for the Wildcats, and then must close out the year with conference games at home against Delaware and William & Mary and on the road at Towson - a favorable schedule, if the Dukes can get past Villanova.

Villanova, which had a bye last week, closes it schedule with road contests at Rhode Island, Northeastern and Delaware and home games against JMU, New Hampshire and Towson.

But neither JMU nor Villanova will have to give much thought to Richmond, at least for the rest of the regular season.

WILD WEEKEND

It seems like there is always a weekend or two every season that makes a shambles of the FCS poll, and plenty of games on Saturday did that.

In all, seven ranked teams lost, while several others were left hanging on by their fingernails.

Probably the biggest shocker was No. 3 McNeese State's 45-42 loss at home to Texas State. New Hampshire, Delaware, Jacksonville State, The Citadel, Eastern Washington and, of course, Richmond were the other ranked teams to drop games, but none of those losses were as stunning as McNeese State's.

Now it is true that the Bobcats are 4-2, but a closer examination of the Texas State schedule shows wins over Angelo State, Northern Colorado and Texas Southern, not exactly the cream of the FCS crop.

In the Texas Southern game the previous week, Texas State had been torched for 599 yards in a 63-39 win. Texas Southern may have former Oklahoma State quarterback Bobby Reid around, but the Tigers had just five touchdowns and a field goal against the rest of their Division I schedule.

McNeese State managed 572 yards against the beleaguered Bobcat defense, but the Cowboys allowed 580 yards and a pair of costly turnovers.

Texas State, behind a 335-yard, four-TD pass performance from Bradley George, built a 38-14 lead in the third period before McNeese State mounted a furious comeback.

George hit Cameron Luke (nine catches, 154 yards) for scoring strikes of 39, 11 and 45 yards, and Karrington Bush fueled the running game with 13 attempts for 127 yards and a touchdown.

Derrick Fourroux was 24-of-39 for 308 yards and four TDs for the Cowboys, and Todd Pendland rushed 17 times for 161 yards and a score, but the MSU offense couldn't make up for the team's defensive deficiencies two weeks in a row.

McNeese State had held off South Dakota State 46-44 in triple overtime the week before.

Against, Texas State, the Cowboys pulled within three points on Fourroux's one-yard touchdown blast with 56 seconds left, but could not get any closer.

ADVANTAGE, WILLIAM & MARY

It is hard to understand why certain teams dominate others, but there is no doubt that William & Mary has some momentum going against New Hampshire. The Tribe went on the road and beat the No. 4 Wildcats for the sixth straight time, 38-34, on Saturday.

R.J. Toman (27-of-36, 305 yards, two TDs) gave New Hampshire a 34-31 lead with 4:40 remaining on a 34-yard scoring aerial to Mike Boyle, but the Tribe recovered to win when Jake Phillips (30-of-40, 310 yards, four TDs), back after a missing a week with injury, fired a 17-yard TD pass to D.J. McAuley with 22 seconds left.

William & Mary founds ways to exploit New Hampshire's weak secondary and also took advantage of a pair of Toman interceptions. For the second week in a row, the Tribe also showed the ability to make second-half adjustments.

After scoring 21 points after the break against Villanova, William & Mary rallied from a 21-7 halftime deficit against New Hampshire.

FADING HOPES

The playoff dreams of Eastern Washington, The Citadel and Delaware took major hits on Saturday when both teams lost in conference battles against ranked opponents.

No. 23 Eastern Washington suffered its fourth loss of the season when its offense went south in a 19-3 loss to Montana in Big Sky play. The Eagles packed a record crowd of 10,830 fans into tiny Woodward Field, but quarterback Matt Nichols was just 19-of-45 for 191 yards and the potent EWU attack never could get untracked against the Grizzly defense and was limited to 315 yards.

Montana dominated the game, but the Grizzlies didn't capitalize on many of its opportunities. Both of Montana's touchdowns were set up by blocked punts, with Cole Bergquist (15-of-25, 199 yards passing) hitting Marc Mariani (five catches, 118 yards) for a 39-yard scoring pass in the first period and an eight-yard TD strike to seal things with 10 minutes left in the fourth period.

The Citadel, which came into action rated 21st, lost for the second week in a row to a Southern Conference opponent from the top 10. After dropping a game to No. 2 Appalachian State the previous week, the Bulldogs came up short at home to No. 6 Elon, 27-23.

Elon trailed 16-13 at halftime, but drove down the field and took the lead on A.J. Harris' 11-yard scoring jaunt. After The Citadel answered on a 29-yard pass from Bart Blanchard (21-of-35, 239 yards, three TDs) to Andre Roberts, Elon scored again when Scott Riddle (18-of-32, 237 yards, two TDs) found Bo Williamson free for an 11-yard touchdown with 5:53 left in the third period.

The Phoenix defense held up from there, as Elon improved to 4-0 in league and 6-1 overall.

In a battle of Payton Award candidates at receivers, Terrell Hudgins gave the Bulldog defense fits with five catches for 130 yards and a 70-yard touchdown, while Roberts grabbed eight passes for 118 yards and two TDs.

Delaware's offensive woes continued against a strong Maine defense, with the Blue Hens losing 27-10 at home in CAA play.

Delaware managed just 14 yards on the ground and turned the ball over five times. Blue Hen quarterback Rob Schoenhoft was 29-of-48 for 344 yards and a touchdown, but gave up three more interceptions.

Maine managed just 258 yards of offense, but took advantage of the turnovers for points. Jordan Stevens sealed the victory with a 35-yard return of a fumble recovery for a touchdown.

THE OVC JUMBLE

Things got murkier in the Ohio Valley Conference when Eastern Kentucky knocked off No. 19 Jacksonville State, 38-35. The host Colonels intercepted five Ryan Perrilloux passes, two of them by safety Brandon Gathof, to hand the Gamecocks their first league loss.

Allan Holland completed 19-of-27 passes for 242 yards and one touchdown, but he only had one interception to key the win. Perrilloux was 21-of-41 for 304 yards, but had just one touchdown pass.

With that result and Tennessee-Martin's 29-26 victory over preseason favorite Eastern Illinois on Thursday, Tennessee State stands alone atop the league with a 2-0 record, while UTM, EKU and JSU are all a game behind.

The OVC race nearly needed a drawing of lots to decide the automatic bid a few years back, and could be headed in that direction this year if the first few weeks of the schedule are any indicator.

OTHER GAMES OF NOTE

-No. 13 UMass held off an upset against Northeastern, winning 28-24 when Tony Nelson's 30-yard run set up Liam Coen's game-winning three-yard option score with 6:42 remaining. Nelson rushed 37 times for 175 yards and one score.

-Harvard beat previously unbeaten Cornell 38-17 behind quarterback Chris Pizzotti, who completed 16-of-23 passes for 281 yards and three TDs. Nathan Ford was 32-of-53 for 279 yards and a touchdown for Cornell, but was intercepted twice.

-No. 22 Weber State won its first game against Montana State since 2000 by grinding out a 35-12 victory in the snow at Bozeman, MT. With WSU winning 9-7 in the second quarter, Wildcat receiver Bryant Eteuati was hit and fumbled after a reception. The ball bounced to teammate Mike Phillips, who raced 58 yards for the score.

Cameron Higgins was 28-of-35 for 349 yards and four TDs as the Wildcats kept pace with Northern Arizona in the Big Sky race.

-No. 18 Northern Arizona held Portland State to minus-14 rushing yards on the way to a 37-17 victory. The Lumberjacks showed a balanced attack with Lance Kriesien going 13-of-22 for 229 yards and a TD and Deonte Williams rushing for 138 yards and two scores. Curt Sweeney caught six balls for 130 yards.

-Sean Schaefer became the 20th quarterback in FCS to go over the 10,000-yard mark in passing as Towson beat Rhode Island 37-32. Schaefer had 373 yards and four TD passes.

-Jordan Scott helped Colgate to a 27-24 victory over Princeton with his 18th consecutive 100-yard rushing performance. Scott, who is now eighth in FCS career rushing, had 27 carries for 116 yards and two TDs.

Scott's 12 points made him the Patriot League's all-time leading scorer with 334 points. He now has 5,403 yards for his career and is the FCS active leader in nine categories and is tops this season in yards rushing, averaging 186 yards per game.