N/A
Before Auburn and Florida State face off in Pasadena on January 6 to determine the BCS national champion, the FCS level of college football will crown its champion.
On the Saturday before the BCS National Championship Game, North Dakota State and Towson will battle it out to determine the national champion at the second-highest level of college football.
Unlike their FBS counterparts, these two title hopefuls have earned their way into the championship game by making it through a 24-team playoff.
Let's take a look at the biggest game of the year in FCS football.
When: Saturday, January 4, 2 p.m. ET
Where: Toyota Stadium, Frisco, Texas
Who: North Dakota State University Bison, Towson University Tigers
How Towson Got Here
The Tigers are 13-2 so far this season, with both losses coming in conference play. That led them to a second-place finish in the CAA, behind only Maine. Towson's first game of the season hinted at the greatness to come, as the Tigers took down FBS team UConn 33-18.
In the playoffs, the Tigers got their first playoff win in 29 years by beating Fordham 48-28 in the second round after receiving a first-round bye. That was followed up with an impressive 49-39 quarterfinals victory on the road over Eastern Illinois and Walter Payton Award winner Jimmy Garoppolo.
That set up a semifinals matchup on the red turf of the Eastern Washington Eagles. Despite jumping out to a 21-0 lead in the first half, the Tigers found themselves trailing with less than a minute left in the game and their starting QB Peter Athens out with an injury sustained earlier in the game. WR/RB/QB Connor Frazier stepped in and led the Tigers on a 71-yard drive that culminated in his 1-yard touchdown run with 17 seconds to give Towson the 35-31 win and trip to the championship game.
How North Dakota State Got Here
By being the most dominant team in all of college football, quite frankly. The two-time defending champion Bison are riding a 23-game winning streak and are a perfect 14-0 on the season so far. NDSU has an otherworldly record of 42-2 over the last three seasons.
Head coach Craig Bohl will be leaving to become the head coach at Wyoming, but not before leading the Bison in their quest for a third-straight national championship.
NDSU started off the season with a 24-21 victory over Big XII team Kansas State, which can't really be considered an upset due to NDSU's recent dominance as a football team. The only other team to stay within single digits of the Bison on the season was Northern Iowa, who took NDSU to the wire before the Bison pulled out a 24-23 win.
The Bison have practically cruised through the playoffs, winning all three games by at least 30 points each. Furman, Coastal Carolina and New Hampshire were all no match for NDSU, and it remains to be seen if any FCS team can compete with the Bison currently.
Players to Watch
Terrance West, Towson RB
As impressive as North Dakota State has been, the single most dominant player on the field in Frisco will be wearing a Towson jersey. Terrance West had the best season of any running back in all of Division I football, putting up video game numbers.
The workhorse back has carried an absurd 391 times for 2,410 yards and 40 touchdowns. West broke the FCS single-season record for both rushing yards and rushing touchdowns, and has a chance to add to his record-setting season even more.
In the quarterfinals matchup against Eastern Illinois, West broke an FCS record with 356 yards rushing.
West is a strong, physical runner and could be a worthy adversary for even the vaunted NDSU defense. He finished third in the Walter Payton Award voting, although there is a strong case to be made that he deserved to win the award.
In addition to his running abilities, West is also a capable pass-catcher out of the backfield. He has hauled in 21 passes for 219 yards and a touchdown.
Marcus Williams, NDSU CB
The three-time first-team All-American is the top shutdown corner in the FCS and should force the Tigers to rely even more heavily on West than usual. Thanks to Williams' cover abilities, the Bison can afford to stack the box against the run. Williams could very well be the key to shutting down Towson's offense.
Brock Jensen, NDSU QB
Jensen is the FCS equivalent of Alabama's AJ McCarron. He is the longtime, always-reliable QB of a rushing-oriented team with multiple national championships. Jensen is now the FCS record holder for most career wins, with a 47-5 record during his time as a Bison.
The Missouri Valley Conference Offensive Player of the Year also finished fourth in the Walter Payton Award voting, by displaying the same consistency he has throughout his career.
Jensen has thrown for 2,658 yards and 33 touchdowns so far this season, while tossing only seven picks. He also used his legs to help lead the offense, amassing 459 yards and nine touchdowns on 96 carries.
With Jensen under center, it will be very difficult for the Towson defense to force mistakes by NDSU's deceptively powerful offense.
Major Storylines for the Game
Will NDSU's Rushing Defense or Towson's Rushing Attack Win Out?
In the battle of the unstoppable force versus the immovable object, the nation's leading rusher takes on the top-ranked rushing defense in the country. Towson is averaging 177 yards per game on the ground, 160 of which belong to West. NDSU, meanwhile, is allowing only 68 yards rushing per game. Something has to give, which will it be?
Can Towson Stop NDSU's Rushing Attack?
It's easy to get distracted by the dominant NDSU defense and lose sight of the fact that the Bison have a pretty potent rushing attack themselves. NDSU averages 180 yards rushing per game, even better than Towson. The backfield tandem of Sam Ojuri and John Crockett has combined for 2,563 yards and 19 touchdowns. Both Ojuri and Crockett have rushed for over 1,200 yards apiece.
Towson's rushing defense, meanwhile, hasn't exactly been dominant. The Tigers are allowing 120 yards per game and have faced few rushing attacks nearly as powerful as NDSU's. If the Tigers can't figure out a way to slow down the Bison backs, Ojuri and Crockett can quickly put a game out of reach while eating up the clock.
Is Bohls' Head in the Game, or Is He Looking Ahead?
NDSU head coach Craig Bohls has put together a Hall of Fame-worthy 12 years in Fargo. He took the Bison from a Division II powerhouse to an FCS juggernaut that regularly takes down FBS foes. There's no denying that his NDSU program is to be considered a dynasty.
The downside to his dominance at the helm of the Bison is that there is nothing left for Bohls to prove. The outcome of this game will have little bearing on his legacy.
That begs the question: Is Bohls looking ahead to his impending tenure at Wyoming? He is expected to take most of his coaching staff along with him to Laramie, and it would be easy for him and his staff to put forth less than a full effort in preparing for this game. If Bohls turns down the effort for this game, he could go out on a sour note.
Prediction: North Dakota State 42, Towson 21
While Terrance West is the best running back a coach could ask for, he simply isn't enough to counter how truly dominant NDSU is as a whole. The Tigers may be able to hang close for a quarter or two, but look for the Bison to eventually wear down their foe and pull away.
The University of Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens are a storied football program. Since moving up to what is now the FCS of college football in 1981, UD has won a national championship, lost in the championship game three other times and made it to at least the quarterfinals of the FCS playoffs a total of 12 times.
Legendary head coach Tubby Raymond amassed 300 wins in his 36 seasons as the head coach of the Blue Hens and was inducted into the NCAA Hall of Fame in 2003. Just two seasons after Raymond's 2001 retirement, his replacement, K.C. Keeler, guided the Blue Hens to a national championship.
The fanbase was a force to be reckoned with, too. Delaware was the only FCS team to average more than 20,000 fans per home game each season for the 10-year period between 1999 and 2009.
In 2009, the team's hometown, Newark, was listed in the top 200 of The Sporting News' 400 Best Sports Cities, earning that ranking almost entirely on the strength of the UD Football fanbase.
The Blue Hens made the FCS Championship game as recently as the 2010 season, experiencing a heartbreaking 20-19 loss to Eastern Washington.
Since that 2010 season, however, UD has taken a bit of a step back. First came a 7-4 2011 season that saw the Blue Hens miss the playoffs. Then came a 5-6 record last season, culminating in the firing of Keeler, the only head coach the team had known since Raymond's retirement.
The team hasn't fared so well recently in the Battle of the Blue against hated rival Villanova, either. UD has won the game only once in the past seven seasons, which is unacceptable to most fans.
The fanbase hasn't been quite as formidable either. The last season in which the team averaged at least 20,000 fans per home game was the 2009 season. Delaware was barely able to crack the top 5 of FCS attendance, despite having a stadium capacity and tradition that usually put them right near the top.
New head coach Dave Brock has no prior connection to the school, so his hiring hasn't exactly been greeted with excitement by most of the fanbase. The mystique surrounding the whole program isn't currently what it used to be.
Which begs the question: Can Delaware still be considered an FCS powerhouse?
For the first time in a long time, there is major uncertainty surrounding Delaware football. The Blue Hens just missed the playoffs for a second year in a row, fired their championship-winning head coach and hired an outsider who hasn't been met with open arms by the fans.
From that perspective, it seems like "powerhouse" might not be the most accurate title.
On the other hand, things might not actually be as bad as they seem.
Between winning the 2003 national championship and making a title game appearance in 2010, Keeler's teams missed the playoffs four times and twice posted losing seasons. That means that Delaware's status as an FCS powerhouse never came from year-in-year-out excellence. It came from sporadic greatness every few years. There's no reason to believe that the current two-year downturn isn't just part of that pattern.
The attendance figures can also be explained by student unhappiness with strict policies related to game security and a feeling that the University's administration doesn't value the football program or the fanbase properly. Changes to make game day more student-friendly would most likely result in a return to higher attendance.
Also, it is important to note that while attendance figures are down by UD standards, the team still posted the fifth-best attendance in all of FCS football last year, despite a losing season. The attendance may be disappointing by the program's traditional standards, but it still beats out almost all of the other schools in the Blue Hens' subdivision.
The conference schedule will also be getting a little easier for Delaware, as recent formidable team Old Dominion leaves the CAA to transition to the FBS ranks. One less difficult game on the schedule makes a return to glory that much easier.
Another good sign for the Blue Hens is the return of running back Andrew Pierce, who saw his production last season cut short by injury. The four-year starter is one of the top backs in the nation at the FCS level, totaling over 3,500 rushing yards and 34 touchdowns in what were essentially two and a half seasons of play.
So the potential for UD to have a great season this year is still very much there.
Is Delaware still an FCS powerhouse? It all depends on how you look at it.
Based on the quarterbacks who were drafted in the 2011 NFL Draft, the fact that former University of Delaware Blue Hens quarterback Pat Devlin went undrafted shows just how convoluted the NFL's process for selecting quarterbacks truly is.
Despite the numerous interviews and the multiple workouts NFL teams put prospective quarterbacks through, most teams have no idea what they should truly look for when trying to predict how a college quarterback will perform in the NFL.
Even though Devlin went undrafted, his college football résumé measures up extremely favorably to every quarterback who was drafted; for the purposes of this article, his college statistics will only be compared to the six quarterbacks taken in the first three rounds of the draft who started at least two seasons of college football.
Accuracy is the most important tool a college quarterback can possess when making the transition to the NFL, and those quarterbacks who have been able to consistently put up excellent completion percentages across multiple seasons are those who are most likely to experience success in professional football.
Under that criterion, it is Devlin and no other quarterback who is best suited to quarterback an NFL team. In his first year as Delaware's primary quarterback (games in which he either attempted the most passes or threw for the most yards) after transferring from Penn State, Devlin completed 64.0 percent of his passes for 7.7 yards per pass attempt.
Devlin then followed that up in his second year as a starter by completing 67.9 percent of his passes for 7.9 yards per pass attempt.
Part of his improvement in completion percentage from his junior to senior season is because his yards per completion dropped from an average of 12.1 yards to 11.6 yards. Even so, there is no doubt Devlin has elite accuracy.
It becomes even more elite when compared to the quarterbacks drafted in the first three rounds who started more than one season in college football.
Devlin's career completion percentage of 66.0 percent as a primary quarterback is statistically significantly better than Jake Locker's (54.0 percent), Blaine Gabbert's (61.2 percent), Christian Ponder's (62.4 percent), Andy Dalton's (61.6 percent), and Colin Kaepernick's (58.3 percent).
Although Devlin's career completion percentage was not statistically significantly better than Ryan Mallett's (60.2 percent) due to Mallett's incredibly inconsistency in his accuracy, it was still much better; in fact, it was 9.6 percent better.
Since no other quarterback in the draft could hold a candle to Devlin in terms of being very accurate across multiple seasons, it is absurd that no team was willing to reward him for his college football career. He should have been at the very least highly drafted. In a perfect world, he would have been the first quarterback chosen.
Devlin's college career is also superior to the career of former Delaware and current Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco.
For his college career, Flacco completed 63.4 percent of his passes for 7.5 yards per pass attempt, both worse than Devlin's 66.0 completion percentage and 7.8 yards per pass attempt.
Devin also had a higher touchdown percentage than Flacco (5.2 percent to 4.4 percent), which made up for the fact he had a slightly higher interception percentage (1.7 percent to 1.6 percent).
There is not much more a college quarterback could have done to convince the NFL he is worthy of a shot to start than to have a better college career than an NFL starting quarterback than what Devlin accomplished. Devlin did every single thing he needed to do to warrant an NFL team giving him a legitimate shot to be a team's franchise quarterback.
Unfortunately for Devlin, based on the fact he went undrafted, it is improbable that a team will allow him to truly compete for a starting quarterback position. Therefore, the NFL's thinking that he will not succeed in the NFL will become a self-fulfilling prophecy as he will probably never be given a chance to prove otherwise.
Devlin certainly deserves that opportunity, however.
Generally, the majority of pre-NFL draft headlines focus on the first few. Whether it be the first few teams to pick, the first few players projected to be selected by those teams or the first few mistakes that teams tend to make in drafting players, everything but the “first few” seems to get lost in the confusion.
However, thanks to the uncertainty about the prospects at the quarterback position, as many as six (Cam Newton, Blaine Gabbert, Jake Locker, Ryan Mallet, Christian Ponder, Andy Dalton) players have been mentioned as potentially the best at the position in this year’s draft. Nevertheless, even with the large pool to choose from, the man who could one day be the cream of the 2011 crop won’t be crashing that party on draft day. Meet former University of Delaware Hens quarterback Pat Devlin.
Had it not been for a change of schools, Devlin may have been the best quarterback prospect in the draft instead of just one of the guys. He was a highly-touted recruit in high school and originally signed to play at Penn State. In his sophomore season in 2008, he posted some mediocre but very promising numbers as a backup to Daryll Clark and even led the Nittany Lions to a win over Ohio State in Columbus when Clark was knocked out of the game. However, after the 2008 season Devlin decided to transfer to Delaware.
By transferring to Delaware, Devlin gave up the chance to remain in the spotlight as the quarterback of a high-profile team but made the best of his time as a Blue Hen. In his senior season, Devlin threw for over 3,000 yards and 22 touchdowns and led the FCS division in completion percentage. In the process, he made himself much more comparable to another former Delaware quarterback, Joe Flacco.
While Devlin doesn’t have the cannon of an arm that Flacco possessed, he does have the quick release and overhand throwing motion that NFL scouts love. In addition, Devlin has shown the ability to see the entire field, which may have been correlated to his high rate of completion of passes. However, that is where the similarities between Devlin and Flacco end. While Flacco was a first-round lock in the 2008 draft, it is realistic to think that Devlin may still be on the board as late as the sixth round. This is what potentially makes him such a steal.
While Cam Newton and Blaine Gabbert may get the lucrative signing bonuses for being high first-round draft choices, they will also be thrown into situations where they have to be “the guy” immediately. Not only will they be unable to learn behind a veteran quarterback, but they will be put on teams where “Need A Starting Quarterback” is only the most pressing of a long list of issues.
Meanwhile, Devlin, who is unlikely to be drafted before the fourth round, will more than likely be drafted by a team with the intent of developing him for a number of years behind an established starter, much like Aaron Rodgers was in Green Bay.
Also, the question has to be asked of this year’s quarterback crop: What exactly is the gap between No. 1 and a number as low as eight? Newton, as physically talented as he is, has some pretty major question marks for someone who has a good chance of being the No. 1 overall pick. Gabbert has to prove that he can thrive in a pro-style offense after playing in a spread offense in college. Jake Locker and Ryan Mallet have risen and fallen from grace at various points throughout the last year, and Christian Ponder and Andy Dalton could arguably be steals themselves.
Regardless of how Devlin ends up turning out as a pro, chances are the team that picks him won’t be set back for years by selecting him. Teams such as New England, New Orleans, Kansas City and the New York Jets have all reportedly been interested in Devlin, and none of those teams have an immediate need for a quarterback. They do have the ability to take a calculated risk on a quarterback from a small school with attractive set of tools to be a productive play-caller, though.
The team that takes a chance on Devlin could be stumbling upon the next Tom Brady. Just as easily, they could be picking up the next Colt Brennan. Regardless, it would be wise not to forget the name Pat Devlin. Again, that is.
The field goes down from eight to four as college football re-enters our Saturdays. The bowl games will stink, but don't worry...the real action is in the lower divisions.
Villanova and Delaware from the Colonial Athletic Association, Eastern Washington from the Big Sky Conference and Georgia Southern from the Southern Conference represent the final four. Here is a good look at the two upcoming semifinal games beginning with the Friday night game in Cheney, Washington.
Villanova (9-4) @ (5)Eastern Washington (11-2)
Friday 12/17 – 7:00pm CT, ESPN2
Notable National Rankings:
Villanova is coming off of a shocking win against the No. 1 seed, Appalachian State, last week by the score of 42-24. Eastern Washington was able to hold off North Dakota State in overtime, 38-31.
Even if the seeds and records say different, Villanova is coming in with more experience and trying to repeat as champions from last year. Their wildcat formation is led by senior quarterback Chris Whitney, but wide receiver Matt Szczur ended up stealing the show in Boone, North Carolina with a breakout performance.
Szczur scored in all three phases of the game, rushing for three touchdowns while receiving and passing for two. He was injured earlier this season for two months, and while slowly becoming more apart of the offense each week, caught on fire when needed.
Whitney is eighth is pass efficiency this year and had another solid performance going 12 of 16 for 106 yards and a touchdown.
They were able to add balance to their team and hold on to the ball with their key players: senior running back Aaron Ball and junior wide receiver Norman White. Ball had seven carries for 95 yards and White had four receptions for 88 yards and a touchdown.
After scoring 28 points, Villanova’s offense sputtered early in the second quarter until they regained control late in the third quarter and ended up shutting down the Mountaineers. Villanova converted four of 10 third down opportunities while Appalachian State was just five of 19.
Villanova comes into this game with seventh best rushing and scoring defense, as well as seventh best turnover ratio. They are able to defend what they do best on offense. They run first and run often, which opens up the passing attack where they are third in the nation in efficiency.
While this team is hard to burn on passing plays, they will rarely blitz, instead sitting back in zone coverage to avoid big plays. They don’t make mistakes often, and usually force the opposing offense to not make any either, or it will haunt them. Special teams is decent, but punt returning hasn’t been a strong suit for them.
Eastern Washington tried to give the game to North Dakota State, but the Bison didn’t want any part of it. The Cougars held on after committing five turnovers and going three for 15 on third down.
Even with three touchdowns, junior quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell was lackluster, going 13/32 with 141 yards and two interceptions. Junior running back Taiwan Jones was the savior getting big run plays and going 230 yards with 20 carries and a touchdown.
The Cougars use the spread offense that opens up the running and passing game for them. It’s a high scoring offense that gives them around 400 yards and 31 points a game. There are no star wide receivers as the pass attack is completely spread out for up to five or six different guys. Although it wasn’t shown last week, this team has a solid turnover ratio and usually doesn't make mistakes.
Over on defense, it blitzes a lot and tries to attack the quarterback. By doing this, they give up many big pass plays, and are in the bottom 10 in the rankings, giving up over 250 yards a game. The aggressive defense is able to get many tackles for loss, and one of those leaders is 10th ranked J.C. Sherritt.
This game is very interesting as both teams have wildly different offenses. The Cougars will have to play much better than they did last week, and be much more efficient and not make as many mistakes.
While they could get away with that against North Dakota State, they will not against the Wildcats. Villanova won’t have many possessions, and if they score on each one while dominating the clock, it could be a long night given the experience they have. For those of you that don’t follow Eastern Washington football (and most don’t), they have implemented a red-colored field into their stadium.
Georgia Southern (10-4) @ (3)Delaware (11-2)
Saturday, 12/18 – 11:00am CT, ESPNU
Notable National Rankings:
In Georgia Southern’s last game, I predicted a ton of running and no passing. Well, Wofford was able to throw a bit on them and had a balanced offense to keep the Eagles on the ropes, but GSU was able to hold on to the victory after falling stale from scoring 20 points in the first half and three in the third quarter.
Junior quarterback Jaybo Shaw is a dual-threat and was able to move the ball on the ground and the air when needed, totalling for 138 yards and a touchdown. Outstanding freshman running back Robert Brown had 17 carries for 50 yards.
Delaware has a history of not letting anybody score on them, and while their defense faltered a little bit at the end of the regular season, this team has stepped up in a big way in the playoffs. New Hampshire did absolutely nothing, and senior quarterback Pat Devlin torched them going 27/38 for 261 yards and two touchdowns.
They had a balanced attack with running back Andrew Pierce going 90 yards with 23 carries and wide receiver Nihja White getting eight catches for 94 yards and one touchdown. UNH went two of 13 on third down.
Even though both teams are ranked around 35th in the nation in scoring offense, this is going to be a defensive struggle. The Eagles are 14th in pass defense, and 27th in pass defense efficiency. The Blue Hens also defend the pass well, but more importantly, they are eighth in rush defense.
The key for Georgia Southern is to take advantage of the special teams and get good field position. They won’t be able to march down the field against this defense, but short fields and pounding the rock against them constantly could wear them down.
For Delaware, the defense will need to be solid and if they can force turnovers they have the potential to blow this game wide open, as GSU isn’t built to come from behind. Again, experience is favored for the CAA team.
CHAMPIONSHIP PREDICTION: It will be an all-CAA matchup as Villanova and Delaware will meet on January 7th.
Over 30,000 fans were in attendance Thursday night in the Georgia Dome to witness history, as the Georgia State Panthers (1-0) defeated the NAIA Shorter Hawks 41-7 in GSU's first ever football game.
A big offensive night for Georgia State began midway through the first quarter, as redshirt freshman running back Parris Lee took a handoff four yards in for the first touchdown in program history. The score capped an 11-play, 63-yard drive to begin the game.
Starting quarterback Drew Little, another redshirt freshman, threw GSU's first ever passing touchdown during the second quarter. The four-yard pass to tight end Emmanuel Ogbuehi completed the second of three-straight scoring drives during the quarter for the Panthers, the others ending with Iain Vance field goals of 22 and 18 yards.
Lee and Little were at it again in the second half, with Lee scoring on a 10-yard run in the third quarter and Little connecting with receiver Jordan Giles on a 16-yard pattern for a fourth quarter touchdown. Backup quarterback Kelton Hill broke off a 24-yard touchdown run with eight seconds remaining in the game to complete the offensive display.
Little finished the game 13 of 17 passing for 135 yards with the two touchdowns and no interceptions.
Lee, listed as the third-string running back on the Panther's probable depth chart, led the team in rushing attempts and yards, displaying excellent quickness and change-of-direction skills in picking up 62 yards and his two touchdowns on eight carries. The offense, playing together in a game situation for the very first time, did not turn the ball over on the night.
The Georgia State defense didn't embarrass itself either, holding Shorter's triple-option offense to seven points and 263 total yards. GSU did not record any sacks or interceptions against the run-heavy scheme but did recover a fumble that set up the Panthers' second touchdown drive.
Shorter's lone touchdown came on their first drive of the fourth quarter. GSU outside linebacker Jake Muasau, a junior transfer from Phoenix College, was extremely active throughout the night and finished with five solo tackles.
Georgia State hopes to capitalize on the momentum of their historic first win, as they move on to play a more challenging FCS schedule, including a game against Old Dominion of the Colonial Athletic Association, the conference in which GSU will be playing beginning in 2012. The Panthers' schedule is capped with a daunting trip to Tuscaloosa, Alabama to play the defending FBS National Champions on November 18.
Bill Curry is the man responsible for leading Georgia State this season and laying the program's foundation over the last two years. The 1985 ACC Coach of the Year at Georgia Tech and 1989 SEC Coach of the Year at Alabama has built the team from two recruiting classes and a sizable group of transfers and walk-ons.
One such transfer, Star Jackson from the University of Alabama, was expected by most Georgia State fans to win the starting quarterback job immediately and keep it throughout his three remaining years of eligibility.
He was listed as a co-possible starter along with Little and Hill coming into the game, but was the only one of the three quarterbacks to not play a down on Thursday. Look for him to earn more playing time as he gains a better grasp on the offense.
The Georgia State Panthers continue their first season of football September 11 against Lambuth in the Georgia Dome.
Is there a chance the Villanova Wildcats could be ranked in the AP college football poll sometime during 2010? The answer is an emphatic yes!
In 2007, after the FCS's Appalachian State defeated mighty Michigan in Ann Arbor, the AP decided to allow its voters to vote for an FCS team, if they've played an FBS team.
That year, the Appalachian Mountaineers finished with five votes in the final AP poll.
Last year, after the Villanova Wildcats won the FCS National Championship, they finished with two votes in the final AP poll. That made them the nation's No. 43 ranked team according to the Associated Press.
Jeff Sagarin, whose poll is part of the BCS computer rankings, listed Villanova as the No. 30 team in his final rankings of 2009.
In winning the 2009 FCS National Championship, Villanova went 14-1 and avenged the one loss when they beat New Hampshire 46-7 in the first round of the FCS National Championship Tournament.
They also beat a good Temple team, the only FBS team on last year's schedule.
So who are the Villanova Wildcats and what is the Colonial Athletic Association, of which they are a football member?
The Villanova Wildcats are a damn good football team and the Colonial Athletic Association is a damn good football conference—just ask the ACC!
On the opening day of the 2009 season, the CAA's William & Mary beat Virginia of the ACC and Richmond beat Duke.
One week later, the ACC's Maryland escaped with a 38-35 win over CAA James Madison.
The CAA's New Hampshire has a long record of beating FBS teams in recent years. Last season they beat the MAC's Ball State.
Villanova played a lot of good football in 2009. Along with their playoff blowout of New Hampshire, they beat Delaware, James Madison, William & Mary, and recorded a win over Montana in the Championship Game.
If the Wildcats were members of last year's ACC conference—you know, the one with Virginia Tech, FSU, and Miami—where would they have finished?
They'd probably have finished in the middle, ahead of NC State, Virginia, Duke, Maryland, Wake Forest, and who knows else.
But that was last year; where would they be ranked in this year's ACC? All I can say is they return 17 starters from last year's National Championship team.
This year's Wildcats team is an overwhelming favorite to win another FCS National Championship.
Coach Andy Talley leads a team of veteran skilled position players and Outland Trophy candidate Ben Ijalana at offensive tackle.
Senior quarterback Chris Whitney, along with Ijalana, is one of four All-Americans who have attracted the attention of most NFL scouts.
Once again, Villanova opens their season with cross-town rival Temple. This is their only crack at an FBS team, and if they put on a good show, they could turn more heads than those of just AP voters.
Temple went 9-4 last season and fought tough in a 30-21 bowl loss to UCLA. This year the Owls are expected to contend for the MAC title. If Nova can make a statement against them on Sept. 4, it could jump start their season.
Though it seems doubtful, it remains a possibility that Villanova could be ranked in this year's AP poll. If they make it, they will be the first FCS team to gain that distinction.
The Hofstra Pride joined the Northeastern Huskies in shutting down their football programs earlier this month.
Where to begin..?
Let me start by saying "look out Rhode Island, Maine, and New Hampshire fans, you may be next."
There are a million thoughts that come to mind in looking at why these programs were taken down. In the case of Hofstra, some fans and alumni blame the president of the university saying that he is anti-football.
I think in instances like this, where there is smoke there is probably fire. You don't start a review of the program unless you think the university can live without it.
It additionally seems very odd to read about less than 500 students attending games in multiple articles when total attendance was over 4000. (Hofstra was apparently giving student tickets away. That is always a bad idea. If you give tickets away, students won't value them. It is a viral bad idea.) The number of free students getting in seem irrelevant compaired to the number of paying fans. The fact it was in so many articles suggests a talking point. It seems a heck of a lot of spinning is going on down there.
The argument of the program not attracting enough national attention also seems hollow after conference mates in the CAA won the last two FCS national titles and had four teams ranked in the final FCS top 10 . Hofstra has probably never been in higher profile conference than the CAA today.
Hofstra seems to have had some things going in its favor but it probably was a convenient moment to pull the plug on football during a recession when backlash might be avoided.
In Boston, things seem a little more straight forward. Northeastern has long had trouble dealing with Parsons Field's location 1.5 miles away from campus.
One can blame that.
Or the placement of the field quite a distance from the grandstands.
Or the installation of only one grandstand.
Or the fact that it is a combination football/baseball field of all things. (And not a good one like San Fransisco's AT&T Park.)
Any one of those could potentially have a huge negative affect on a problem. Having all 4 has made Northeastern Football a zombie program for years.
The excuses to pull the plug have all been there since 1972.
Really, only Northeastern's academic reputation, which was attractive to fellow conference members, and the alumni's desire to be more like Boston College instead of Boston University has kept that program around.
I have a hard time generating much fire against the administrations at those schools. They are clearly being lead by people who aren't college football advocates. Those guys pulling the strings are short sighted jerks, but they were select to run your universities.
The braintrust that supports them is probably populated by a combination of people who agree with them or who are somewhat ambivalent towards college football because they don't understand how to run a program properly. (And I mean that with no disrespect. They are at Northeastern and Hofstra, not Delaware where they draw 20K+ per game. They haven't seen how to do it properly or even that it can be done properly.)
I am not concerned with attacking that leadership. If they showed a lack of intellectual curiosity in finding a way to right a struggling university program, they are probably reapeating that failing in multiple areas. Alumni and donors to the schools will probably deal with them in the future.
I do think that the lessons learned at Hoftsra and Northeastern can save programs at of schools like Maine, New Hampshire and Rhode Island.
It can be boiled down to a simple fact. Their stadium issues were never addressed.
The FCS world has changed. If you are a university participating at the FCS level and you want to be a stable program, you have to satisfy a couple minimum requirements.
Enrollment
You have to have a large enrollment. New Hampshire (14,964) and Rhode Island (15,650) are big enough. Maine is a little smaller, but large enough to hold their own at 11,818. Privates can do it with smaller enrollments as their students expect higher fees.
That said Hostra and Northeastern are large privates with the enrollments to absorb shortfalls. They have enrollments of 13,000 and 22,946 respectively.
Clearly having the money alone is not going to keep the anti-football administrator from shutting down your football program.
Stadium close enough to campus for student support
You have to have either an on campus stadium or a very easily accessible off campus stadium. Northeastern failed in this area, but Hofstra did not and the other CAA schools do not.
Northeastern would have been smart to bring pressure on the City of Boston to take the Parson Field site in exchange for other parks nearer to their campus. Parsons is a very usable high school football and baseball stadium.
I would have tried trading Parsons for Carter Playground with the caveat that the city finance part of new bleachers at Carter. I think two opposing 4K grandstands (for an 8K total) would have been more than sufficient for Northeastern's needs today and might have been done nicely and cheaply. (Consider Saputo Stadium, a 13,000 chairbacked seat soccer stadium was built on an existing practice field in Monteal for $14M.)
Carter Playground would be an ideal small stadium site as it allows the program to pull from Northeastern's 22,000 students and it has parking and public transport.
Maybe Northeastern will try something like this at some point in the future and give football a real shot to succeed.
Sufficient and well thought out seating.
The idea of building a stadium with seating on only one side seems asinine to me, especially in a conference with fairly strong programs. It is like you are telling opposing fans, "Don't give us your ticket revenue."
Having an abundance of bad seats in a stadium and a minimum of good seats is also a recipe for disaster. It hobbled UNT and SUNY Buffalo for years. North Texas is building a brand new stadium to escape that problem and Buffalo is ripping down their northern grandstands to reduce the problem at their school.
Hofstra had that problem. They over built their end zone too.
End zone seats are generally seats that are in low demand. Over building end zone seating for FCS football (and even low end FBS schools like UNT and UB) is inviting disaster.
Endzone seating should be thought of as overflow seating. People are not going to sit there unless they feel they absolutely have to see the game.
Hoftra's Shuart stadium seats 15,000, but almost 7000 of those seats are in the end zone. Having fans staring at 7000 empty end zone seats every game send the message to fans that the program is not well supported and as such not worth their time.
It may cost more to build sideline seating, but it is almost always the right solution to building up local support.
Perhaps one day, under a new administration, Hofstra might try football again.
One hopes that if that day comes, the university might give their program a much better chance by charging students a discounted rate for tickets instead of giving those tickets away, building up the west and east grandstands, and adding back supports on those sideline seats. Even adding planks that serve as back supports behind bleacher benches will dramatically increase fan retention.
Some of these issues could threaten programs at Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Maine in the near future.
Rhode Island
Rhode Island's Meade Stadium is a visually appealing but it is a cheap and small FCS stadium. It avoids the overbuilt overflow seating problems that Hofstra has, but only seats 5180. That has been a bottleneck in terms of attendance. In today's environment, that bottleneck can kill a program.
Fans and alumni should be pushing hard for an immediate and well planned stadium expansion to ensure the survival of the program.
Meade Stadium seats maybe 2000 on the east sideline in a grandstand the lies against their athletic facilities that stretches between the 15 yard lines and about 3000 on the much taller west sideline grandstand in some nice but inexpensive looking stands that stretch between the 25 yard lines.
I think the best solution is to finish building out what you have to allow better support at the FCS level and still leave the potential of one day moving to FBS without having to build a totally new stadium.
Rhode Island should make a point to really focus on maintaining the good balance Meade has today — in other words, don't add seating on one side of existing grandstands without doing it on the other side.
There is probably enough room to extend the west sideline grandstands to the end zones, even though it would create the need for some architectural and landscaping changes. That might add capacity for another 1000 fans, bringing capacity to 6000. As that is the side that faces away from evening sunlight, those seats will probably be appreciated by alumni and fans.
Maybe a year or two after that, on the east side, it might make sense to extend that grandstand to the end zones. If the grandstand is matched exactly, that would add another 2000-3000 seats bringing capacity to a much more survivable 9000.
That certainly would put the The Rams in much better shape to survive in today's FCS conditions.
It doesn't provide much help for them if schools like Delaware and UMass move up to FBS to protect their programs from the collapse of the FCS in the area. That would leave Maine, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire as distant outliers in the CAA or tied to America East schools like Stonybrook and C. Connecticut.
At best, adding overflow seating to the end zones would give another 4000, bringing capacity to 13,000, but those would be overflow seats. They wouldn't help in building the 15,000 regular local students, fans, and alumni needed to make FBS survival possible.
They need another 5000-6000 seats along the sidelines to make that viable.
It really seems like Rhode Island needs a stadium enlargment plan that can allow for the potential of moving to the FBS if needed. Maybe with careful planning of their FCS expansion efforts, they could position themselves where a dig down of their field could work, instead of a totally new stadium needing to be built to make moving up a possible option.
There are huge problems with that idea though.
The weather does not lend itself to a lowered stadium. Putting the grandstands near the field is generally a great idea for improving the fan experience and building fan support, but there is no track to displace in a dig down to provide the space for additional seating.
The east grandstands may lack an abundance of concrete and therefore appear to be capable of being deconstructed and moved back, but there are buildings under the grandstand that would likely complicate the issue, raising costs.
Rhode Island's stadium is a nice FCS stadium for the realities of the FCS 15 years ago, but it does very little to position them well for the realities of today and tomorrow. Rams fans need to take action to protect their program.
New Hampshire
New Hampshire has a good program on the field. The university is in the middle of nowhere, but there are a lot of people within driving distance who don't have a lot of good entertainment options.
In terms of stadium capacity and fan attendance, New Hampshire underperforms.
New Hampshire's Cowell Stadium seats 8000 on the sidelines of the stadium's track. About 6500 of those seats are on the east sideline against their athletic facility and there is a much smaller grandstand that probably seats about 1500 on the west sideline. Their stadium is adequate for today and if they were faced with a choice of moving to FBS or bleeding money at the FCS level, they are actually in decent shape for a FBS run.
They could execute a dig down, dispacing the track and likely add another 6000 good seats bringing capacity to 1400. 6000 end zone overflow seats would bring capacity to 20K. That would allow them to survive at the FBS level if circumstances forced them down that path.
It would do them better to look at replacing the west grandstand first though. If they replaced that to match the east grandstand that would give them about 13,000 good seats before even considering a dig down. I think a good promotional campaign could make this program's support parallel UMASS's fan support, giving the school similar options.
Maine
Maine's Alfond stadium seats 10,000 in their stadium along each sideline, outside of the track. It appears that just under 8000 of those seats are on the west sideline and a just over 2000 are on an off-centered east grandstand.
Maine also has an adundance of fans lacking better entertainment options.
Maine's stadium is large enough that if push came to shove, they could rip down the east grand stand, build a properly placed matching east grandstand and throw in two end zone burb bleachers and be near 19,000 — sufficient for FBS football.
They could make the jump potentially, but without having a 16K stadium in hand today with which to build up a regular audience in the 12-14K range, Maine could have a lot of trouble with pulling it off.
Maine is a strong FCS school today, but a shaky FBS candidate without some timely reworking of their stadium layout.
Today there is no reason any of these schools should feel they have to move up to the FBS level. As the termination of programs at Hofstra and Northeastern prove, tomorrow could be a different story.
With that in mind, fans at these northern CAA schools should be pushing their ADs to start developing stadium plans that protect the future of the program they love.
At worst, a properly expanded stadium that doesn't overbuild end zone seating will bring in more revenue at the FCS level, allowing more money to flow into other sports programs at these universities. It will make them elite FCS programs.
At best, a good plan could save the program if the University ever faces a decision of whether to move up to FBS or shut down due to runaway costs due to a lack of acceptable local competition.
The Hofstra Pride football team's 52-38 victory over Massachusetts on Nov. 21 will be its last, as the university chose Thursday to cut the program from its athletic department.
Hofstra president Stuart Rabinowitz announced at a press conference this morning that, after 69 years of competition in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision, Hofstra will cut funding to the football team.
"This has been a two-year process and has nothing to do with the win-loss record," said Rabinowitz. "It is a decision made by the Board of Trustees to better use in the long run those resources for academics."
According to Rabinowitz and Hofstra athletic director Jack Hayes, the amount of money that went into the football team, or any team in the Football Championship Subdivision, for that matter, far surpassed the revenue it generated for the university.
The decision was announced just 11 days after Northeastern University, also a member of the Colonial Athletic Association, decided to shut down its football program, after 74 years. According to Rabinowitz and Hayes, though, Northeastern's actions did not play any role in their decision.
The resources saved will be put toward making the university more affordable to students in need. There is $2.8 million in scholarships awarded annually that will now be available to offer to other students as academic awards and grants.
Despite the rich tradition of Hofstra football, and a handful of alumni in the NFL, Rabinowitz says the board examined every part of the budget, including athletics, which they hadn't looked at in some time.
"We want to play at the highest level of every sport we are playing in," Rabinowitz said. "We even looked into making the jump to the Football Bowl Subdivision, but we would have to renovate the stadium, and nobody was inviting us to join a conference, so to be a 1-A independent was not feasible."
"The branding we want is 'Hofstra University: Highest quality in everything, but academics first,'" said Rabinowitz.
Athletic director Hayes met with both head coach Dave Cohen and the members of the 2009 team, who finished 5-6, to discuss the board's decision.
"We know it's hurtful to players and coaches," said Hayes. "But we are doing everything we can to make this as appropriate a situation as we can for those involved."
Hofstra players that choose to stay at the school will still be granted the scholarships they were promised when they enrolled. Hayes also said that he will aid any players that will look to transfer to other schools to continue their football career.
Read Rabinowitz's full statement.
