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NCAA DIVISION I FCS ®
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NCAA INFO: ncaa.com/fcs • STATS: ncaa.com/stats/football/fcs
FCS HEADLINES QUARTERFINAL GAMES (Friday/Saturday, Dec. 8/9) Weber State at #1 James Madison | Friday, Dec. 8 -- 6 pm CT (ESPN2) #7 Wofford at #2 North Dakota State | Saturday, Dec. 9 -- 11 am CT (ESPN2) New Hampshire at #5 South Dakota State | Saturday, Dec. 9 -- 2 pm CT (ESPN3) Kennesaw State at #6 Sam Houston State | Saturday, Dec. 9 - 7:30 pm CT (ESPN3)
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FACES of the FCS
u After a week that featured four intraconference games, there are none this week. Only one game features two top-8 seeds No. 7 Wofford, representing the Southern Conference, travels to Fargo to take on No. 2 seed North Dakota State of the Missouri Valley Football Conference. The other three matchups feature Big Sky-CAA Football (Weber State/James Madison); CAA Football-MVFC (New Hampshire/South Dakota State); Big South-Southland (Kennesaw State-Sam Houston State). u Senior quarterbacks Jeremiah Briscoe of Sam Houston State and Chris Streveler of South Dakota, along with junior wide receiver Keelan Doss of UC Davis, were invited on Monday to the announcement of the 2017 STATS FCS Walter Payton Award. u Defensive ends Andrew Ankrah of James Madison and Darius Jackson of Jacksonville State, along with linebacker Brett Taylor of Western Illinois, were invited on Tuesday to the announcement of the 2017 STATS FCS Buck Buchanan Award winner. u More than two full NFL rosters could be filled with current FCS players in the National Football League (130). There are 36 inductees in the Pro Football Hall of Fame who represent current FCS institutions, including recent inductee Kurt Warner (2017, Northern Iowa).
Eight current head coaches in the NFL attended college at current FCS institutions. Pittsburgh’s Mike Tomlin (William & Mary), won a Super Bowl (XLIII) and is a two-time AFC Champion (2008, 2010).
BIG SKY -- Weber State is the lone Big Sky team left competing in the 2017 FCS Playoffs. The Wildcats registered a two-point victory over Western Illinois in the first round, and then went to Southern Utah and recorded a 17-point win in the second round to advance to the quarterfinals for the first time in school history. Weber State carries a seven-game win streak and school record 11 victories into Friday’s match-up at top-seeded James Madison. The Wildcats have made the playoffs six times, including the past two seasons. Prior to 2017, the Wildcats had last won a playoff game in 2008. Weber State will go up against James Madison for the first time in school history. The Wildcats are the first Big Sky school other than Eastern Washington to advance to the quarterfinals since Montana State in 2012. UC Davis’ Keelan Doss was named one of the three top finalists for the Walter Payton Award. Doss led the FCS and FBS in receiving yards, receiving yards per game and receptions per game. BIG SOUTH -- Kennesaw State defeated Jacksonville State, 17-7, in the second round of the FCS Playoffs to advance to the quarterfinals -- the Big South’s fourth all-time appearance in the final eight which have all come in four of the last five seasons. The Owls are the third different Big South member to reach the quarters, joining Coastal Carolina (twice) and Charleston Southern. KSU is now the second Big South member to win two playoff games in a season, while its two victories this postseason makes the squad just the third Big South member with two all-time playoff wins. The Big South is now 10-12 in the postseason, and has advanced in six of the last seven years. Kennesaw State QB and Big South Offensive Player of the Year CHANDLER BURKS is the first player in Big South history with 1,000 rushing yards and 1,000 passing yards in the same season. He ranks second in the conference with 1,060 yards rushing -- just two shy of becoming the second QB to lead the league in rushing. He has passed for 1,187 yards in 2017, and has been responsible for 25 scores this year (17 rush, 8 pass). Burks’ 1,060 rushing yards are the second-most in a single-season by a Big South quarterback. That record is 1,266 set by VMI’s TIM MAYPRAY in 2008. The Big South is looking to advance to the FCS semifinals for the first time, as the league is 0-3 in the quarterfinal round. Meanwhile, Kennesaw State is facing Sam Houston State in the quarterfinals this Saturday, the conference’s second-ever postseason match-up against the Bearkats. The previous meeting was in 2011 when Stony Brook fell by seven points to SHSU in the second round. Kennesaw State’s 12 wins this season has tied the Big South single-season victory record. Meanwhile, Kennesaw State is meeting Sam Houston State for the first time, and is 4-1 all-time against fellow “State”-named schools, including 3-0 this season. In 2017, KSU has defeated Alabama State, Montana State and Jacksonville State. Kennesaw State is 1-1 all-time vs. East Tennessee State.
CAA FOOTBALL -- James Madison hosts Big Sky foe Weber State on Friday night in a nationally televised game on ESPN2, while New Hampshire visits 5th-seeded South Dakota State out of the MVFC Saturday afternoon on ESPN3. The Dukes are 3-2 all-time in the quarterfinals, including victories in their past three appearances (2004, 2008 and 2016), while the Wildcats are 2-6 in the quarterfinals but have won their past two appearances (2013, 2014). The CAA has had at least one team in the semifinals of the FCS playoffs for the past four years (2013 - UNH and Towson, 2014 - UNH, 2015 - Richmond, 2016 - JMU). James Madison and New Hampshire used strong defensive performances to advance to the quarterfinals of the NCAA FCS playoffs last Saturday. The top-seeded Dukes intercepted five passes in a 26-7 win over fellow CAA Football foe Stony Brook, while the Wildcats forced four turnovers and knocked off 4th-seeded Central Arkansas, 21-15. It’s the fourth time in the last five years that two CAA teams have reached the quarterfinals and it’s the 26th consecutive season that at least one CAA team has made the quarters. CAA Football and the Missouri Valley Football Conference are the only leagues with multiple teams in the quarterfinals. CAA Football teams are 24-4 against non-conference FCS opponents this season, which is the best non-conference FCS winning percentage (.857) of any league. Making the numbers even more impressive is the fact that seven of the victories have been on the road. CAA Football teams went 24-7 in non-conference games against FCS opponents last season, which was the best winning percentage by an FCS conference. IVY LEAGUE -- Princeton senior quarterback Chad Kanoff and Yale senior linebacker Matthew Oplinger were announced as the Ivy League’s 2017 Football Players of the Year and Asa S. Bushnell Cup recipients in front of a capacity crowd in the Mercury Ballroom of the New York Hilton Midtown. Kanoff was named Offensive Player of the Year and Oplinger took home Defensive Player of the Year at a special press conference and reception co-hosted by the National Football Foundation (NFF), presented by the Pasadena Tournament of Roses and broadcast live on the Ivy League Network (ILN). An archive of the broadcast is now available on ILN and can be found by visiting IvyLeague.tv. Oplinger is the 10th Bulldog to receive the Bushnell Cup and the first since Tyler Varga was named Offensive Player of the Year in 2014. Oplinger is the first-ever Yale athlete to be named Defensive Player of the Year since its inception in 2011. Oplinger is the third Yale defensive player to be honored with the Bushnell Cup and the first since linebacker Tim Tumpane and defensive lineman Kevin Czinger went back-to-back in 1979 and 1980. Kanoff is the third Tiger to be named Offensive Player of the Year in the past five years, joining Quinn Epperly (2013) and John Lovett (2017), and the fifth to earn Player of the Year since the award expanded to Offensive and Defensive in 2011. Kanoff is the 11th Princeton athlete to receive the Bushnell Cup. MEAC -- North Carolina A&T State QB Lamar Raynard and South Carolina State LB Darius Leonard were named the 2017 MEAC Offensive and Defensive Players of the Year, respectively. The players were named officially at the 60th annual National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame press conference on Tuesday morning in New York City live on ESPN3. This marks the fourth consecutive year a player from North Carolina A&T State has been named offensive player of the year as Raynard passed for a MEAC-best 2,707 yards and 26 touchdowns en route to a 11-0 regular season mark and a berth in the Celebration Bowl. The redshirt junior from High Point, N.C. leads the MEAC in eight (8) statistical categories and shattered the Aggie record books as he broke the North Carolina A&T State single-season school records for touchdowns responsible, passing, total offense, touchdown passes and completions in a season. Nationally, Raynard ranks third in passing efficiency and yards per pass attempt while ranking 17th in passing yards and second in total offense en route to a 26-0 record as a starter. Leonard keeps the defensive player of the year trophy in Orangeburg for the fifth straight year as SC State defenders have won the award every year since 2013. The redshirt senior from Lake View, S.C. currently ranks fourth in the FCS with 113 tackles (11.3 per game) and second in solo tackles (7.3 pg). He also picked off two passes and had seven (7) sacks while finishing his career as the all-time leading tackler in SC State football history with 393 tackles. Leonard had six games in 2017 with 12-plus tackles highlighted by a high of 18 versus Morgan State. MISSOURI VALLEY -- The Missouri Valley Football Conference has recorded a 48-22 record since 2010 in the playoffs -better than any other league. Over the last three-plus years the MVFC has a 29-15 record in the playoffs, which includes seven intraconference games, meaning the league is 22-8 vs. the rest. For the sixth time in league history, two MVFC teams are seeded in the Top 8. North Dakota State (2) and South Dakota State (5) are the league’s seeded teams this year. The last time the league had those two positions (2/5) -- the teams met one another in the title game (2014). North Dakota State is 5-0 against Southern Conference teams, including 4-0 at home in the FCS playoffs. The Bison topped Georgia Southern in the 2011 and 2012 semifinals, Wofford in the 2012 quarterfinals, and Furman in the 2013 second round. The lone regular-season game was a 2006 win at Georgia Southern. The Bison host Wofford this Saturday. With their sixth consecutive victory, the fifth-seeded South Dakota State Jackrabbits improved to 10-2 overall, reaching the 10-win mark for the first time in program history. SDSU hosts New Hampshire on Saturday. NORTHEAST -- The Central Connecticut football team’s eight-game winning streak came to an end on the road in the first round of the NCAA Playoffs as the Blue Devils fell 14-0 to #21 New Hampshire. The loss gives the Blue Devils a final record of 8-4 on the season, including a perfect 6-0 Northeast Conference record and league championship. The Blue Devils season was highlighted with their first NEC title since 2010 and fifth overall. The Northeast Conference unveiled the names of the five individual awards recipients along with two 27-member All-NEC Teams via Twitter on Wednesday, November 22. All honorees were selected through a vote of the conference’s seven head coaches. Duquesne saw a league-high 12 athletes earn all-NEC status. Eight Dukes earned a spot on the All-NEC First Team, including five on the offensive side of the ball. Central Connecticut was second to Duquesne with 11 all-conference selections while six Blue Devils earned first team status. All seven NEC teams had at least two players receive all-conference recognition.
OHIO VALLEY -- For the fourth-straight season, Jacksonville State head coach John Grass has been named the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Regional Coach of the Year by his peers. The fourth-year head coach of the Jacksonville State football team has earned the honor in each season he has served as a college head coach after the AFCA released its 2017 Regional Coach of the Year winners on Tuesday morning. Grass is the only winner among the 10 Division I (five FBS and five FCS) winners that repeated his 2016 honor. The 2017 award makes him just the ninth coach in the Association’s history to win at least four-straight Regional Coach of the Year honors. Jacksonville State senior defensive end Darius Jackson has been named one of three finalists for the 2017 Buck Buchanan Award, presented by STATS to the FCS National Defensive Player of the Year. No OVC player has ever won the Buchanan Award. Jackson’s top-three finish is guaranteed to be the highest finish in OVC history, besting a fourth place finish by Jackson a season ago and also by Western Kentucky’s Melvin Wisham in 2000. PATRIOT -- Lehigh junior running back Dom Bragalone – the 2017 Patriot League Offensive Player of the Year – rushed for 75 yards on 17 carries in the playoff contest at Stony Brook, and caught two passes for 40 yards and a touchdown in the loss. Bragalone moved to 10th on the Patriot League career rushing list, with 3,567 yards. Lehigh and Colgate each won their final game of the regular-season to capture a share of the 2017 Patriot League Championship, with identical 5-1 League records. This is the fifth-time in League history that co-champions have been crowned, with the last time coming in 2006 when Lafayette and Lehigh split the title. Lehigh earned the Patriot League’s automatic berth in the FCS Playoffs this season, due to a, 41-38, head-to-head victory over Colgate.
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PFL -- San Diego junior quarterback Anthony Lawrence and senior defensive lineman Jonathan Petersen were named the Pioneer Football League’s Offensive and Defensive Players of the Year, respectively, leading the league’s 2017 Major Award recipients, presented Monday. Lawrence, the league’s 2015 Freshman Offensive Player of the Year, becomes the second-straight San Diego student-athlete to earn the league’s top offensive honor. Petersen was a unanimous pick as the league’s top defensive standout.
Dayton return specialist Christian Searles was named the PFL Special Teams Player of the Year. In addition, Valparaiso head coach Dave Cecchini was selected as the league’s Coach of the Year. The league also presented its top freshman awards, Monday. Campbell quarterback Daniel Smith was tabbed the PFL Freshman Offensive Player of the Year and Stetson defensive back J.J. Henderson nabbed the league’s Freshman Defensive Player of the Year. The USD Toreros knocked off the No. 25 ranked NAU Lumberjacks 41-10 in first round action of the 2017 NCAA Division I FCS Playoffs. It marked the second straight season the Toreros won their first round playoff match-up. SOUTHERN -- No. 7 national seed Wofford heads to Fargo for a Saturday meeting with No. 2 seed North Dakota State. The Terriers will be meeting the five-time FCS champions for just the second time ever and the first since a quarterfinal meeting in 2012, won 14-7 by the Bison en route to their second FCS national title. Southern Conference teams are 0-4 against NDSU in the FCS playoffs all-time. Georgia Southern faced the Bison in the semifinals in 2011 and 2012, while Wofford fell to North Dakota State in the quarterfinals in 2012 and Furman lost to NDSU in the second round in 2013. All four games were in Fargo and the Bison went on to win national championships in each of those seasons. Wofford, which earned a first-round bye for the first time since 2012, is in the FCS playoffs for the eighth time and second season in a row. The Terriers’ deepest run came in their first appearance, when they reached the semifinals in 2003. Southern Conference teams are 29-20 in the quarterfinals of the FCS playoffs. The league has not had a team advance to the semifinals since 2012, when Georgia Southern fell 23-20 to NDSU. SOUTHLAND -- No. 6 Sam Houston State survived a shootout with South Dakota at home last Saturday, holding off a second-half barrage from the Coyotes for a 54-42 win. Leading by four touchdowns at halftime, the lead was trimmed to as little as two points early in the fourth quarter. Southland Offensive Player of the Year Davion Davis accounted for four touchdowns as the Bearkats racked up 708 yards of total offense - third-most in program history. QB Jeremiah Briscoe, one of three finalists for the Walter Payton Award for the second-straight year after winning in 2016, now has 4,398 passing yards to his name (366.5 per game) along with 41 passing touchdowns and 264 points responsible for - all national-bests. SWAC -- Grambling State senior quarterback Devante Kincade completed 14-of-24 passes for 223 yards with two touchdowns and rushed for 75 yards with two more scores on the ground as the Tigers rode a gigantic second quarter to power post Alcorn State 40-32 Saturday to win back-to-back SWAC Football Championships at NRG Stadium. For Grambling State, it marks their eighth football championship in the SWAC title game era that started in 1999. Guided by head coach Broderick Fobbs, the Tigers have now won 10 straight games and last lost to a conference opponent in the 2015 SWAC Championship against Alcorn State. Grambling State advances to represent the SWAC in the Celebration Bowl and will play undefeated North Carolina A&T on December 16 in Atlanta at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
EVERY DOWN. EVERY DAY.
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NCAA INFO: ncaa.com/fcs • STATS: ncaa.com/stats/football/fcs
FCS HEADLINES QUARTERFINAL GAMES (Friday/Saturday, Dec. 8/9) Weber State at #1 James Madison | Friday, Dec. 8 -- 6 pm CT (ESPN2) #7 Wofford at #2 North Dakota State | Saturday, Dec. 9 -- 11 am CT (ESPN2) New Hampshire at #5 South Dakota State | Saturday, Dec. 9 -- 2 pm CT (ESPN3) Kennesaw State at #6 Sam Houston State | Saturday, Dec. 9 - 7:30 pm CT (ESPN3)
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FACES of the FCS
u After a week that featured four intraconference games, there are none this week. Only one game features two top-8 seeds No. 7 Wofford, representing the Southern Conference, travels to Fargo to take on No. 2 seed North Dakota State of the Missouri Valley Football Conference. The other three matchups feature Big Sky-CAA Football (Weber State/James Madison); CAA Football-MVFC (New Hampshire/South Dakota State); Big South-Southland (Kennesaw State-Sam Houston State). u Senior quarterbacks Jeremiah Briscoe of Sam Houston State and Chris Streveler of South Dakota, along with junior wide receiver Keelan Doss of UC Davis, were invited on Monday to the announcement of the 2017 STATS FCS Walter Payton Award. u Defensive ends Andrew Ankrah of James Madison and Darius Jackson of Jacksonville State, along with linebacker Brett Taylor of Western Illinois, were invited on Tuesday to the announcement of the 2017 STATS FCS Buck Buchanan Award winner. u More than two full NFL rosters could be filled with current FCS players in the National Football League (130). There are 36 inductees in the Pro Football Hall of Fame who represent current FCS institutions, including recent inductee Kurt Warner (2017, Northern Iowa).
Eight current head coaches in the NFL attended college at current FCS institutions. Pittsburgh’s Mike Tomlin (William & Mary), won a Super Bowl (XLIII) and is a two-time AFC Champion (2008, 2010).
BIG SKY -- Weber State is the lone Big Sky team left competing in the 2017 FCS Playoffs. The Wildcats registered a two-point victory over Western Illinois in the first round, and then went to Southern Utah and recorded a 17-point win in the second round to advance to the quarterfinals for the first time in school history. Weber State carries a seven-game win streak and school record 11 victories into Friday’s match-up at top-seeded James Madison. The Wildcats have made the playoffs six times, including the past two seasons. Prior to 2017, the Wildcats had last won a playoff game in 2008. Weber State will go up against James Madison for the first time in school history. The Wildcats are the first Big Sky school other than Eastern Washington to advance to the quarterfinals since Montana State in 2012. UC Davis’ Keelan Doss was named one of the three top finalists for the Walter Payton Award. Doss led the FCS and FBS in receiving yards, receiving yards per game and receptions per game. BIG SOUTH -- Kennesaw State defeated Jacksonville State, 17-7, in the second round of the FCS Playoffs to advance to the quarterfinals -- the Big South’s fourth all-time appearance in the final eight which have all come in four of the last five seasons. The Owls are the third different Big South member to reach the quarters, joining Coastal Carolina (twice) and Charleston Southern. KSU is now the second Big South member to win two playoff games in a season, while its two victories this postseason makes the squad just the third Big South member with two all-time playoff wins. The Big South is now 10-12 in the postseason, and has advanced in six of the last seven years. Kennesaw State QB and Big South Offensive Player of the Year CHANDLER BURKS is the first player in Big South history with 1,000 rushing yards and 1,000 passing yards in the same season. He ranks second in the conference with 1,060 yards rushing -- just two shy of becoming the second QB to lead the league in rushing. He has passed for 1,187 yards in 2017, and has been responsible for 25 scores this year (17 rush, 8 pass). Burks’ 1,060 rushing yards are the second-most in a single-season by a Big South quarterback. That record is 1,266 set by VMI’s TIM MAYPRAY in 2008. The Big South is looking to advance to the FCS semifinals for the first time, as the league is 0-3 in the quarterfinal round. Meanwhile, Kennesaw State is facing Sam Houston State in the quarterfinals this Saturday, the conference’s second-ever postseason match-up against the Bearkats. The previous meeting was in 2011 when Stony Brook fell by seven points to SHSU in the second round. Kennesaw State’s 12 wins this season has tied the Big South single-season victory record. Meanwhile, Kennesaw State is meeting Sam Houston State for the first time, and is 4-1 all-time against fellow “State”-named schools, including 3-0 this season. In 2017, KSU has defeated Alabama State, Montana State and Jacksonville State. Kennesaw State is 1-1 all-time vs. East Tennessee State.
CAA FOOTBALL -- James Madison hosts Big Sky foe Weber State on Friday night in a nationally televised game on ESPN2, while New Hampshire visits 5th-seeded South Dakota State out of the MVFC Saturday afternoon on ESPN3. The Dukes are 3-2 all-time in the quarterfinals, including victories in their past three appearances (2004, 2008 and 2016), while the Wildcats are 2-6 in the quarterfinals but have won their past two appearances (2013, 2014). The CAA has had at least one team in the semifinals of the FCS playoffs for the past four years (2013 - UNH and Towson, 2014 - UNH, 2015 - Richmond, 2016 - JMU). James Madison and New Hampshire used strong defensive performances to advance to the quarterfinals of the NCAA FCS playoffs last Saturday. The top-seeded Dukes intercepted five passes in a 26-7 win over fellow CAA Football foe Stony Brook, while the Wildcats forced four turnovers and knocked off 4th-seeded Central Arkansas, 21-15. It’s the fourth time in the last five years that two CAA teams have reached the quarterfinals and it’s the 26th consecutive season that at least one CAA team has made the quarters. CAA Football and the Missouri Valley Football Conference are the only leagues with multiple teams in the quarterfinals. CAA Football teams are 24-4 against non-conference FCS opponents this season, which is the best non-conference FCS winning percentage (.857) of any league. Making the numbers even more impressive is the fact that seven of the victories have been on the road. CAA Football teams went 24-7 in non-conference games against FCS opponents last season, which was the best winning percentage by an FCS conference. IVY LEAGUE -- Princeton senior quarterback Chad Kanoff and Yale senior linebacker Matthew Oplinger were announced as the Ivy League’s 2017 Football Players of the Year and Asa S. Bushnell Cup recipients in front of a capacity crowd in the Mercury Ballroom of the New York Hilton Midtown. Kanoff was named Offensive Player of the Year and Oplinger took home Defensive Player of the Year at a special press conference and reception co-hosted by the National Football Foundation (NFF), presented by the Pasadena Tournament of Roses and broadcast live on the Ivy League Network (ILN). An archive of the broadcast is now available on ILN and can be found by visiting IvyLeague.tv. Oplinger is the 10th Bulldog to receive the Bushnell Cup and the first since Tyler Varga was named Offensive Player of the Year in 2014. Oplinger is the first-ever Yale athlete to be named Defensive Player of the Year since its inception in 2011. Oplinger is the third Yale defensive player to be honored with the Bushnell Cup and the first since linebacker Tim Tumpane and defensive lineman Kevin Czinger went back-to-back in 1979 and 1980. Kanoff is the third Tiger to be named Offensive Player of the Year in the past five years, joining Quinn Epperly (2013) and John Lovett (2017), and the fifth to earn Player of the Year since the award expanded to Offensive and Defensive in 2011. Kanoff is the 11th Princeton athlete to receive the Bushnell Cup. MEAC -- North Carolina A&T State QB Lamar Raynard and South Carolina State LB Darius Leonard were named the 2017 MEAC Offensive and Defensive Players of the Year, respectively. The players were named officially at the 60th annual National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame press conference on Tuesday morning in New York City live on ESPN3. This marks the fourth consecutive year a player from North Carolina A&T State has been named offensive player of the year as Raynard passed for a MEAC-best 2,707 yards and 26 touchdowns en route to a 11-0 regular season mark and a berth in the Celebration Bowl. The redshirt junior from High Point, N.C. leads the MEAC in eight (8) statistical categories and shattered the Aggie record books as he broke the North Carolina A&T State single-season school records for touchdowns responsible, passing, total offense, touchdown passes and completions in a season. Nationally, Raynard ranks third in passing efficiency and yards per pass attempt while ranking 17th in passing yards and second in total offense en route to a 26-0 record as a starter. Leonard keeps the defensive player of the year trophy in Orangeburg for the fifth straight year as SC State defenders have won the award every year since 2013. The redshirt senior from Lake View, S.C. currently ranks fourth in the FCS with 113 tackles (11.3 per game) and second in solo tackles (7.3 pg). He also picked off two passes and had seven (7) sacks while finishing his career as the all-time leading tackler in SC State football history with 393 tackles. Leonard had six games in 2017 with 12-plus tackles highlighted by a high of 18 versus Morgan State. MISSOURI VALLEY -- The Missouri Valley Football Conference has recorded a 48-22 record since 2010 in the playoffs -better than any other league. Over the last three-plus years the MVFC has a 29-15 record in the playoffs, which includes seven intraconference games, meaning the league is 22-8 vs. the rest. For the sixth time in league history, two MVFC teams are seeded in the Top 8. North Dakota State (2) and South Dakota State (5) are the league’s seeded teams this year. The last time the league had those two positions (2/5) -- the teams met one another in the title game (2014). North Dakota State is 5-0 against Southern Conference teams, including 4-0 at home in the FCS playoffs. The Bison topped Georgia Southern in the 2011 and 2012 semifinals, Wofford in the 2012 quarterfinals, and Furman in the 2013 second round. The lone regular-season game was a 2006 win at Georgia Southern. The Bison host Wofford this Saturday. With their sixth consecutive victory, the fifth-seeded South Dakota State Jackrabbits improved to 10-2 overall, reaching the 10-win mark for the first time in program history. SDSU hosts New Hampshire on Saturday. NORTHEAST -- The Central Connecticut football team’s eight-game winning streak came to an end on the road in the first round of the NCAA Playoffs as the Blue Devils fell 14-0 to #21 New Hampshire. The loss gives the Blue Devils a final record of 8-4 on the season, including a perfect 6-0 Northeast Conference record and league championship. The Blue Devils season was highlighted with their first NEC title since 2010 and fifth overall. The Northeast Conference unveiled the names of the five individual awards recipients along with two 27-member All-NEC Teams via Twitter on Wednesday, November 22. All honorees were selected through a vote of the conference’s seven head coaches. Duquesne saw a league-high 12 athletes earn all-NEC status. Eight Dukes earned a spot on the All-NEC First Team, including five on the offensive side of the ball. Central Connecticut was second to Duquesne with 11 all-conference selections while six Blue Devils earned first team status. All seven NEC teams had at least two players receive all-conference recognition.
OHIO VALLEY -- For the fourth-straight season, Jacksonville State head coach John Grass has been named the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Regional Coach of the Year by his peers. The fourth-year head coach of the Jacksonville State football team has earned the honor in each season he has served as a college head coach after the AFCA released its 2017 Regional Coach of the Year winners on Tuesday morning. Grass is the only winner among the 10 Division I (five FBS and five FCS) winners that repeated his 2016 honor. The 2017 award makes him just the ninth coach in the Association’s history to win at least four-straight Regional Coach of the Year honors. Jacksonville State senior defensive end Darius Jackson has been named one of three finalists for the 2017 Buck Buchanan Award, presented by STATS to the FCS National Defensive Player of the Year. No OVC player has ever won the Buchanan Award. Jackson’s top-three finish is guaranteed to be the highest finish in OVC history, besting a fourth place finish by Jackson a season ago and also by Western Kentucky’s Melvin Wisham in 2000. PATRIOT -- Lehigh junior running back Dom Bragalone – the 2017 Patriot League Offensive Player of the Year – rushed for 75 yards on 17 carries in the playoff contest at Stony Brook, and caught two passes for 40 yards and a touchdown in the loss. Bragalone moved to 10th on the Patriot League career rushing list, with 3,567 yards. Lehigh and Colgate each won their final game of the regular-season to capture a share of the 2017 Patriot League Championship, with identical 5-1 League records. This is the fifth-time in League history that co-champions have been crowned, with the last time coming in 2006 when Lafayette and Lehigh split the title. Lehigh earned the Patriot League’s automatic berth in the FCS Playoffs this season, due to a, 41-38, head-to-head victory over Colgate.
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PFL -- San Diego junior quarterback Anthony Lawrence and senior defensive lineman Jonathan Petersen were named the Pioneer Football League’s Offensive and Defensive Players of the Year, respectively, leading the league’s 2017 Major Award recipients, presented Monday. Lawrence, the league’s 2015 Freshman Offensive Player of the Year, becomes the second-straight San Diego student-athlete to earn the league’s top offensive honor. Petersen was a unanimous pick as the league’s top defensive standout.
Dayton return specialist Christian Searles was named the PFL Special Teams Player of the Year. In addition, Valparaiso head coach Dave Cecchini was selected as the league’s Coach of the Year. The league also presented its top freshman awards, Monday. Campbell quarterback Daniel Smith was tabbed the PFL Freshman Offensive Player of the Year and Stetson defensive back J.J. Henderson nabbed the league’s Freshman Defensive Player of the Year. The USD Toreros knocked off the No. 25 ranked NAU Lumberjacks 41-10 in first round action of the 2017 NCAA Division I FCS Playoffs. It marked the second straight season the Toreros won their first round playoff match-up. SOUTHERN -- No. 7 national seed Wofford heads to Fargo for a Saturday meeting with No. 2 seed North Dakota State. The Terriers will be meeting the five-time FCS champions for just the second time ever and the first since a quarterfinal meeting in 2012, won 14-7 by the Bison en route to their second FCS national title. Southern Conference teams are 0-4 against NDSU in the FCS playoffs all-time. Georgia Southern faced the Bison in the semifinals in 2011 and 2012, while Wofford fell to North Dakota State in the quarterfinals in 2012 and Furman lost to NDSU in the second round in 2013. All four games were in Fargo and the Bison went on to win national championships in each of those seasons. Wofford, which earned a first-round bye for the first time since 2012, is in the FCS playoffs for the eighth time and second season in a row. The Terriers’ deepest run came in their first appearance, when they reached the semifinals in 2003. Southern Conference teams are 29-20 in the quarterfinals of the FCS playoffs. The league has not had a team advance to the semifinals since 2012, when Georgia Southern fell 23-20 to NDSU. SOUTHLAND -- No. 6 Sam Houston State survived a shootout with South Dakota at home last Saturday, holding off a second-half barrage from the Coyotes for a 54-42 win. Leading by four touchdowns at halftime, the lead was trimmed to as little as two points early in the fourth quarter. Southland Offensive Player of the Year Davion Davis accounted for four touchdowns as the Bearkats racked up 708 yards of total offense - third-most in program history. QB Jeremiah Briscoe, one of three finalists for the Walter Payton Award for the second-straight year after winning in 2016, now has 4,398 passing yards to his name (366.5 per game) along with 41 passing touchdowns and 264 points responsible for - all national-bests. SWAC -- Grambling State senior quarterback Devante Kincade completed 14-of-24 passes for 223 yards with two touchdowns and rushed for 75 yards with two more scores on the ground as the Tigers rode a gigantic second quarter to power post Alcorn State 40-32 Saturday to win back-to-back SWAC Football Championships at NRG Stadium. For Grambling State, it marks their eighth football championship in the SWAC title game era that started in 1999. Guided by head coach Broderick Fobbs, the Tigers have now won 10 straight games and last lost to a conference opponent in the 2015 SWAC Championship against Alcorn State. Grambling State advances to represent the SWAC in the Celebration Bowl and will play undefeated North Carolina A&T on December 16 in Atlanta at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
