Last week’s theme was “what the heck just happened?” and as appropriate as that might be and as easy as it would be to revert to it for week 10, I felt the readers of this column—both of you—deserved at least some effort on my part to show a little imagination and come up with something new to summarize what happened on the first Saturday in November and here’s the best I’ve got: “I didn’t see that coming.”
Nope, didn’t see Iowa scoring in the first eight seconds and hanging 55 on the Buckeyes. Didn’t see that coming. Didn’t see Sparty beating Penn State after a three and a half hour weather delay or Stanford losing. Didn’t see a lot of what I saw coming.
Maybe you didn’t either and chances are you’ve heard, read and saw all you need to hear, read and see but “didn’t see it coming” wasn’t limited to just the big schools and the major networks. Some of it happened “Elsewhere in College Football”…
Biggest Blowout of the Week
Any look to see who might have won by the largest margin on any week of college football always includes the team that played the Cheyney Wolves. Cheyney had been outscored 232-13 in the last four games, and this week Kutztown was in town and they tamed the Wolves 65-0 but neither that nor Southeastern University’s 77-12 win over Edward Waters was enough to take the title this week. Even St. John’s 66-point win over Hamline got trumped. The team with the biggest blowout this week was the University of Redlands.
The Bulldogs set a school record for most points in a game as they pounded the Poets of Whittier College 76-7. Redlands rolled p 666 yards and averaged 9.5 yards per play. Junior QB Levi Plante led the attack passing for 217 yards and two TD’s and rushing for another 55 yards. The ‘Dogs D limited Whittier to fewer than 300 yards, intercepted three passes and held the Poets to just 2 of 12 third down opportunities. Redlands also got a score on a 79-yard punt return by Kyle Kabeary late in the third quarter.
With the win Redlands improves to 6-2 and Whittier falls to 0-7.
Fewest Points by a Winning Team
Old Dominion only needed six points to pick up a victory Saturday. The Monarchs recorded the first shutout in program history with their 6-0 win over Charlotte in a Conference USA game in Norfolk, Virginia.
Nick Rice kicked two field goals to account for all the scoring. With the two field goals in addition to being the first shutout, this marked the first time ODU won a game without scoring a touchdown so the 20,118 at S. B. Ballard Stadium saw two unique records set.
The Monarchs had nearly a 20-minute time of possession advantage and the defense held the 49ers to just eight first downs, 231 yards of offense and they forced 8 punts. ODU is now 3-6 on the season and Charlotte sits at 1-8.
A first-time shutout and a first time winning without scoring a touchdown in the same game? Yeah, I didn’t see that coming.
Most Points by a Losing Team
It’s not surprising that a Big 12 team shows up in this category. At one point this category was subtitled “who got Horn Frogged?” after TCU lost to Baylor 61-58 three years ago so seeing Oklahoma State score 52 points and lose to Oklahoma by 10 wasn’t a big deal but finding another team that scored 52 points and lost. By the same score. Is.
Yeah, I didn’t see that coming.
Baker Mayfield and Mason Rudolph combined to throw for 1,046 yards and 10 touchdowns. Both teams combined for just under 1,500 yards of total offense but not scoring in the third quarter proved to be costly for the Cowboys. Typically a team with 52 points and over 650 yards of offense wins but the Cowboys didn’t and they were alone.
Dordt College, an NAIA school in the Great Plains Athletic Conference, put up some impressive numbers in their game at Dakota Wesleyan—697 yards of total offense, 8.9 yards per play, and 52 points. The problem was they gave up 62 points. The Dordt Defenders—tres a propos, n’cest-ce pas—couldn’t get Dakota Wesleyan off the field. The Tigers had a nine-minute time of possession advantage, ran 99 plays, racked up more than 600 total yards—including 494 by QB Dillon Turner—in the 62-52 win.
Turner was 28 of 39 passing for 386 yards and 3 TD’s. He also ran for 108 yards and two more scores. Hayden Adams was Turner favorite target with 14 catches for 228 yards and three touchdowns.
Dordt was led by quarterback Brock Lamle and slot back Levi Jungling. They accounted for 85% of the Defenders offense. Lamle was 23 of 40 for 415 yards and 5 touchdowns. Jungling had 14 catches for 281 yards and three TD’s. The freshman also had a 94-yard touchdown run.
Dakota Wesleyan ends their season at 6-5 overall and 4-4 in the GPAC. Dordt is 4-5 and will host Briar Cliff in their season finale next Saturday.
#2 Goes Down and Yeah, I Didn’t See That Coming
The Baker Wildcats, the #2 NAIA team saw it’s 26-game conference winning streak snapped as Missouri Valley College earned a 27-22 Heart of America Conference victory in Marshall, Missouri. Baker lost its first conference game since September 26, 2015.
The Wildcats dominated the stat sheet but two big plays did them in. The first was a 93-yard kickoff return by Elton Taylor following Bakers’ first score, a 25-yard field goal, midway through the first quarter. The second big play was an 80-yard TD strike from Jake Bridges to Dorian Stanard with 7:50 left in the game. That score made it 27-15. Baker scored a TD with less than a minute to play but couldn’t get the ball back.
Baker outgained the Vikings 551-234; ran 44 more plays; held MVC to just 4 yards rushing on 38 attempts and just 3 of 16 third down conversions but couldn’t come away with the win. Baker falls to 9-1 on the season and can still win the Heart South Division crown with a win over #25 Evangel next weekend. Missouri Valley College is now 5-5.
OK, So I Did See This Coming
It’s 32 straight losses and counting for Simon Fraser. Canada’s NCAA team hosted undefeated Central Washington and the visiting Wildcats scored early and often as they trounced the Clan 51-0.
Hasani Childs ran for a career-high 226 yards and scored four touchdowns to led the way for Central Washington. The Wildcats led 35-0 at the half and limited SFU to five first downs and 30 yards of offense. Simon Fraser averaged 0.6 yard per play and they punted ten times.
Simon Fraser wraps up the season next week at Western Oregon. The good news Western Oregon is just 2-8 so one might think SFU has a chance to finally get a win, but one would probably be wrong. SFU played WOU on October 7th and lost 82-21 so in terms of snapping the streak, I don’t see that happening.
I’ll Bet Some Fans Didn’t See This Coming
Through ten weeks of the season there are 29 teams—including Simon Fraser—in FCS, FBS, D-II, D-III and NAIA that have not won a game. Their combined records are 0-268.
Finally, Box Scores We Love
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | Total | |
| Slippery Rock (8-2; 5-2) | 14 | 21 | 28 | 14 | 77 |
| Seton Hill (0-10; 0-7) | 7 | 7 | 17 | 7 | 38 |
We like because it includes Slippery Rock, and the Rock, well, rock. It also includes one of the winless teams and it was one of those games that had a lot of everything and some things that because of penalties didn’t happen.
Beyond combining to score 115 points, these teams compiled 1,428 total yards; ran 149 plays; averaged 9.6 yards per play and converted 15 of 22 third down opportunities. Plus there were 4 touchdowns of 50 yards or more including a fifty-three yard run, a 68-yard run, a 75-yard run, a 77-yard run and an 85-yard punt return. Slippery Rock also had a 63-yard TD pass, a 33-yard TD pass and a 92-yard kickoff return called back due to penalties.
Tanner Garry, the Rock QB, was 24 of 30 for 326 yards and 4 TD’s. Isiah Neely led the rushing attack with 15 carries for 158 yards and two touchdowns. Seton Hill got big games from their quarterback Christian Strong who completed 24 of 37 passes for 333 yards and a TD and running back Jarvis McClam who set a new school record with 291 rushing yards and three scores.
The Griffins will try for their first win at Shippensburg next week and the Rock will travel to Kutztown.
