NCAA DIVISION I FCS – WEEKLY ROUNDUP (Nov
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NCAA DIVISION I FCS – WEEKLY ROUNDUP (Nov. 19, 2015) ® EVERY DOWN. EVERY DAY. FCSINSIDER.COM NCAA INFO: ncaa.com/fcs • STATS: ncaa.com/stats/football/fcs FCS HEADLINES u The NCAA Football Championship Selection Show is Sun- day at 11 am ET (ESPNU). Several leagues have secured their AAEA EE AQ already. Other scenarios outlined in conference recaps. Big South: Charleston Southern | Ohio Valley: Jacksonville State FACES of the FCS Patriot: Colgate | Pioneer Football League: Dayton Southern: Chattanooga | Southland: McNeese State u Two FCS teams are perfect: Dayton and McNeese State. Five additional FBS teams are perfect. u The final Big South game between Liberty and Coastal Carolina is tonight at 7:00pm on ESPNEWS. It will be the first time a conference game will air on one of ESPN’s linear networks, as well as the first league contest to be played on Thursday night. The teams are meeting the final week for the second consecutive year, and the series is tied, 6-6. u The FCS has 8 wins vs. FBS schools this year. A total of eight FCS teams defeated FBS schools in 2014. In 2013, the FCS set an all-time record with 16. Three top-25 FCS teams take on FBS schools this weekend. u A total of 23 STATS top-25 teams are in action, with a handful of intra-conference Drafted in 2008 (from Delaware), Joe matchups this weekend. Ranking listed below is STATS Top-25 poll. Flacco became just the second FCS QB CAA Football: #7 William & Mary at #14 Richmond, Saturday, 12 pm ET (ASN) ever selected in the first round and first Big Sky: #24 Northern Arizona at #20 Southern Utah, 5 pm ET (WatchBigSky.com) since Steve McNair (Alcorn State) was the Big Sky: #11 Portland State at #18 Eastern Washington, 5 pm ET (SWX/ WatchBigSky.com) third-overall pick in 1995. He was the Southland: #10 Sam Houston St. at C. Arkansas, 7 pm ET (ESPN3) (UCA is #25 in the Coaches poll) Super Bowl XLVII MVP. BIG SKY -- Southern Utah, Portland State, Montana and Northern Arizona still can earn the Big Sky’s automatic bid, while Eastern Washington and North Dakota are in position to earn at-large bids. Portland State bested Southern Utah, 24-23, this past weekend to move to 8-2 on the season, with seven Division I wins, including two FBS wins. The Vikings are 4-0 against ranked teams this season, and can win the Big Sky’s bid with a win over Eastern Washington and a Northern Arizona win over Southern Utah. In order to earn the conference’s AQ, Southern Utah needs to beat Northern Arizona at home, in the “Grand Canyon Rivalry.” Regardless of this weekend’s outcome, Southern Utah is guaranteed at least a share of the conference title. Montana stayed in playoff contention with a 57-16 win over Eastern Washington. Montana can win the Big Sky bid with a win over Montana State in the “Brawl of the Wild,” an Eastern Washington win over Portland State and a Northern Arizona win over Southern Utah. Northern Arizona can earn the bid with a win over Southern Utah, an Eastern Washington win over Portland State and a Montana State win over Montana. This week’s Big Sky football game on ROOT SPORTS features one of the league’s most storied rivalries, as Montana travels to Montana State for the “Brawl of the Wild,” in the quest to claim the Great Divide Trophy. The game will be nationally-televised on ROOT SPORTS, as well as DirecTV’s Audience Network. Fans and media can engage with the game using #BrawloftheWild, as well as #WHEREiROOT. OFFENSE: QB Case Cookus, N. Arizona | DEFENSE: DE Tyrone Holmes, Montana/CB Xavier Coleman, Portland St. | SPECIAL TEAMS: P Luke Daly, Montana St. BIG SOUTH -- Charleston Southern is the outright Big South Champion with its perfect 6-0 conference record. It is the Bucs’ first outright title and second-ever conference crown, the first coming in 2005. CSU is just the second team in league history to finish 6-0 in Big South games, and marks the eighth time that the Big South champion completed an undefeated conference campaign. The Buccaneers are the fourth differ- ent program to capture the league’s automatic bid in the six seasons the Big South has been an AQ conference (since 2010). Presbyterian College LB Donelle Williams needs seven tackles to become the third player in Big South history with 400 in a career, as he is third in league annals with 393 career stops. In addition, Williams is second all-time with 211 career solo tackles. Coastal Carolina RB De’Angelo Henderson and Monmouth RB Lavon Chaney are tied for second all-time in Big South history for most receptions by a RB (71). The record is 75 by Gardner-Webb’s David Montgomery (2006-09). Henderson is the Big South’s career leader for receiving yards by a RB (628), while Chaney is sixth (530). OFF: WR Nathan Perera, Charleston Southern/QB Alex Ross, Coastal Carolina | DEF: DT Jabarai Bothwell, Coastal Carolina | STEAMS: P Truett Burns, Charleston Southern CAA FOOTBALL -- William & Mary’s week 11 victory over Towson secured the Tribe at least a share of the CAA Football title. William & Mary can win the outright league title with a victory over Richmond. Richmond, JMU and Villanova each also remain alive for a share of the title. Richmond RB Jacobi Green was added this week to the STATS FCS Offensive Player of the Year watch list. He is second in CAA Football with 1,068 rushing yards, and leads the conference with 14 rushing TDs. He is also Richmond’s third-leading receiver with 22 catches for 299 yards. Stony Brook DL Victor Ochi continues his torrid stretch run of the season. He now has a CAA Football-best 11 sacks on the season, including 7.5 over his last four games. OFFENSE: QB Steve Cluley, William & Mary | DEFENSE: S Cameron McCurry, Villanova | SPECIAL TEAMS: DB Kye Morgan, Stony Brook IVY LEAGUE -- Harvard, Dartmouth and Penn enter the final weekend with a chance to share the 2015 Ivy League title. If all three win in their season finales, it will be the first time the title is shared by three teams since 1982 (Harvard, Penn and Dartmouth at 5-2) and will be just the fourth occurrence in the League’s 60 official seasons. The other two were 1966 (Dartmouth, Harvard and Princeton at 6-1) and 1969 (Dart- mouth, Yale and Princeton at 6-1). Penn has defeated two ranked teams in the same season for the first time since 2006 (at No. 22 Lafayette and vs. No. 17 Harvard). This year, the Quakers defeated No. 5/4 Villanova on Sept. 24. Former Harvard standout and current New York Jets quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick became the all-time Ivy League leader in touchdown passes in the National Football League, tossing his 138th career pass on Nov. 12 against the Buffalo Bills. He surpassed Columbia’s Sid Luckman, who threw for 137 touchdowns with the Chicago Bears. The League closes the 2015 campaign with three nationally televised games -- back-to-back games on NBCSN and NBC Sports Live Extra with Brown at Columbia on Friday night and 132nd playing of “The Game,” Harvard at Yale on Saturday and Princeton at Dartmouth on American Sports Network and The Ivy League Digital Network (ILDN) on Saturday. ILDN is also set for live coverage of Cornell at Penn on Saturday. OFFENSE: WR Justin Watson, Penn | DEFENSE: CB Vernon Harris, Dartmouth | SPECIAL TEAMS: RB/RS Ryder Stone, Dartmouth MEAC -- The MEAC’s tiebreaker is used to determine which team will serve as the MEAC representative in the Celebration Bowl against the SWAC cham- pion. In the event of a tie for the Conference title, all teams included in the tie will share the title and be named Co-Champions. Any MEAC team that does not compete in the Celebration Bowl game is eligible to receive an at-large bid to the NCAA Division I (FCS) Football Subdivision Championships. If North Carolina A&T State defeats North Carolina Central, then North Carolina A&T State would be the conference’s outright regular season champion and serve as the MEAC’s representative in the inaugural Celebration Bowl game. Should North Carolina Central defeat North Carolina A&T State, coupled with a Bethune-Cookman loss, then North Carolina Central would share the conference title with North Carolina A&T State, however, North Carolina Central would receive the berth to the Celebration Bowl because of its head-to-head victory over N.C. A&T. In the event of a three-way tie, featuring Bethune-Cookman, North Carolina A&T State, and North Carolina Central, North Carolina A&T State would tentatively be the conference’s representative in the Celebration Bowl and all three teams would be named Co-Champions. North Carolina Central would be eliminated from the tiebreak- er formula as the Eagles did not earn any points in the tiebreaker process with any wins against FBS or FCS teams, compared to Bethune-Cookman’s and North Carolina A&T State’s FCS non-conference victories. OFFENSE: QB David Watford, Hampton | DEFENSE: LB Deon King, Norfolk State | SPECIAL TEAMS: PK Nigel Macauley, N.C. Central MISSOURI VALLEY -- North Dakota State will earn the MVFC AQ with a win against Missouri State. The Bison could also earn the AQ with an Illinois State loss and a South Dakota State loss. Illinois State can only earn the AQ with a win (against South Dakota) and an NDSU loss.