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FCS Schools in the Big Dance

rwallace — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 16:48:02 GMT

Yes, schools that sponsor NCAA championship football also challenge for the NCAA basketball trophy. FBS schools don't (they do not win an NCAA football championship) but FCS schools do. Georgetown, Villanova, La Salle and Holy Cross have all won the basketball championship... but only Villanova has also won the football trophy.

Looking at the selections for this year's basketball tourney I see we have a number of FCS names.

Schools that currently sponsor FCS (*) that either won or were runner-up in the basketball tournament (I think):
2011 Connecticut (32-9) Jim Calhoun 53-41 *Butler Houston, Texas
2010 Duke (35-5) Mike Krzyzewski 61-59 *Butler Indianapolis, Ind.
1985 *Villanova (25-10) Rollie Massimino 66-64 *Georgetown Lexington, Ky,
1984 *Georgetown (34-3) John Thompson 84-75 Houston Seattle, Wash.
1982 North Carolina (32-2) Dean Smith 63-62 *Georgetown New Orleans, La.
1979 Michigan State (26-6) Jud Heathcote 75-64 *Indiana State Salt Lake City, Utah
1971 UCLA (29-1) John Wooden 68-62 *Villanova Houston, Texas
1970 UCLA (28-2) John Wooden 80-69 *Jacksonville College Park, Md.
1967 UCLA (30-0) John Wooden 79-64 *Dayton Louisville, Ky.
1955 San Francisco (28-1) Phil Woolpert 77-63 *LaSalle Kansas City, Mo.
1954 *La Salle (26-4) Ken Loeffler 92-76 Bradley Kansas City, Mo.
1947 *Holy Cross (27-3) Doggie Julian 58-47 Oklahoma New York, N.Y.
1944 Utah (21-4) Vadal Peterson 42-40 (OT) *Dartmouth New York, N.Y.
1943 Wyoming (31-2) Everett Shelton 46-34 *Georgetown New York, N.Y.
1942 Stanford (28-4) Everett Dean 53-38 *Dartmouth Kansas City, Mo.

CURRENT FCS SPONSORING SCHOOLS IN THE 2012 NCAA BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT BRACKET

FIRST FOUR (Dayton)
Tuesday, March 13
*Mississippi Valley State vs. Western Kentucky
BYU vs. *Iona

Wednesday, March 14
*Lamar vs. Vermont

SOUTH (Atlanta)

Louisville
Thursday, March 15
? No.1 Kentucky vs. No. 16 Mississippi Valley State/Western Kentucky winner

Albuquerque
Thursday, March 15
No. 3 Baylor vs. *No. 14 South Dakota State

Greensboro
Friday, March 16
No. 2 Duke vs. *No. 15 Lehigh

WEST (Phoenix)

Portland
Thursday, March 15
No. 4 Louisville vs. *No. 13 Davidson

Louisville
Thursday, March 15
*No. 6 Murray State vs. No. 11 Colorado State
? No. 3 Marquette vs. No. 14 BYU/Iona winner

Omaha
Friday, March 16
No. 2 Missouri vs. *No. 15 Norfolk State

EAST (Boston)

Albuquerque
Thursday, March 15
No. 5 Vanderbilt vs. *No. 12 Harvard
No. 4 Wisconsin vs. *No. 13 Montana

MIDWEST (St. Louis)

Greensboro
Friday, March 16
? No. 1 North Carolina vs. No. 16 Lamar/Vermont winner

Columbus
Friday, March 16
*No. 3 Georgetown vs. No. 14 Belmont

Best of luck to Mississippi Valley State, Lamar, South Dakota State, Lehigh, Davidson, Murray State, Norfolk State, Harvard, Montana and Georgetown!

The round ball, short pants, no helmets and other things may be distracting to FCS fans but look at the school logo and know that the FCS sponsoring schools do fine at D-I basketball too.

Bison Earn National Title

mhosea — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 21:21:44 GMT

A strong defensive performance lifted North Dakota State to the NCAA Division I Football Championship Saturday afternoon.

The Bison defense played extremely well in the post-season, holding high-scoring teams Georgia Southern and Sam Houston State to a total of 13 points over the last two games.

Both defenses played a great game, but the Bearkats fell under the weight of one great drive by the Bison offense and too many second-half miscues. Credit North Dakota State for coming out and taking control from the start of the second half.

Credit both teams for a good game. Congratulations North Dakota State on your first Division I football title.

Now we turn our attention to the 2012 season.

Finally, the FCS Title Game Is Underway

mhosea — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 18:35:22 GMT

Finally, the FCS Title Game Is Underway

Perhaps the only thing bigger than a turnover in a national title game is a defense thwarting a 4th-and-1 INCH play to keep the opponent from using that turnover.

The Bison make the game's first big play by stuffing Sam Houston State on the 4th-down try.

Glad to see such a large turnout for the game. No matter who is playing, that's important.

The first quarter showed that we should have a very competitive game this afternoon. North Dakota State appeared to have a step on the Bearkat defense, but Sam Houston State closed that off inside the 5.

I'm interested to see which team finds the other team's weak point first and uses that to create an advantage.

Halfway through the NCAA Division I Football Championship, the two defenses are doing what they can to win a championship.

Both offenses have less that 150 yards of total offense in two quarters of play. Here are some big points that I see at this point of the game.

First, Sam Houston State seemed to gain a little bit of control of the game in the second quarter. I wonder, though, if this could be a situation of missed opportunities. The Bearkats have two takeaways ...

Game On!

caatoday — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 18:08:30 GMT

Nice day for a championship game and it looks like a pretty packed house in Frisco as the Bearkats get the ball to start the game. Nice touch pass over the middle for 30+ yards to start the game! It's been a long three weeks of waiting but let's play for a title!

2012 Division I National Title Game, #2 North Dakota State vs. #1 Sam Houston State

Kent — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 15:38:09 GMT

FRISCO, TX--I am in the pressbox getting ready for the game between the Bison and Bearkats. I will have to admit that the pressbox is not quite as nice as the rest of the stadium but it is better than some that I have been to.

The weather right now is cloudy with temperatures in the upper 40s. It is expected to clear off by kickoff.

Like in the my preview, I think turnovers will be the key to game with the winner likely winning this area. Special teams is another area that I really didn't touch in my preview this week and this might also be a key area with the punting and place kicking being a big area as well.

I look forward to this game and will be blogging as we go. I will be providing my opinions and dialog as we go.

I look forward to a great game with a packed house here at FC Dallas Stadium and from the tailgating already happening, it should be a pretty rowdy crowd.

Like I said in my preview, I believe Sam Houston State will win a narrow game but really think this is as close as the statistics show. But we shall see in a couple hours.

2012 National Championship Game Eve

Kent — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 00:26:42 GMT

FRISCO, TX--I am in Frisco for the title game and had a busy afternoon today with intereviews and press conferences. I did get a chance to tour the FC Dallas Stadium as well. What a fabulous facilty this is after getting a chance to walk around the field.

Attached are some photos from the press conference--first from North Dakota State, second the award winners and finailst for the SportsNetwork Awards, and last from Sam Houston State.

See the gallery.

The following were the players and coaches interviewed:
NDSU: Coach Craig Bohl, DE Coulter Boyer, OT Paul Cornick, LB Preston Evans, and RB D.J. McNorton

SportsNetwork Awards: Towson Coach Rob Ambrose, the Robinson (Coach) Award Winner; RB Terrance West also from Towson, Jerry Rice (freshman) Award Winner, LB Matt Evan from New Hampshire for the Buchanan Award.

SportsNetwork Awards: Walter Payton Award finalist: QB Chris Lum from Lehigh, QB Bo Levi Mitchell from Eastern Washington, and RB Shakir Bell from Indiana State

SHSU: Coach Willie Fritz, OL Chris Crockett, DE Eddie Decambre, RB Tim Flanders, and OL Travis Watson

It was good to hear from each of the players and coaches on their strengths coming in and keys to victory. It is very similar to what I think will happen. Turnovers were a big key to both teams' press conferences and I agree that the winner of this game will likely be the one with the better margin.

Well, I will say so long for now and will be blogging again tomorrow during the game, which I believe will be a dandy of a game. I will provide my press box view of the game and opinions along the way.

E$PN Does It Every Time

rwallace — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 11:01:15 GMT

Yo E$PN, it is the NCAA Division I Football Championship, not the FCS championship.

Sorry capitalists, this is a true tournament system like all other major NCAA sports. Only football is the largest student participatory sport on campus. It is the epitome of college sports. So please take your cue to get it right.

There it is in all-cap type on their broadcast "HOME OF THE NCAA FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP".

They show the NCAA Division III Football Championship.

They show the NCAA Division II Football Championship.

They show the NCAA Division I Football Championship... <--- NO THEY DON'T SHOW THAT!

E$PN SHOWS "NCAA FCS CHAMPIONSHIP"

(hint: they also show "Presented by Enterprise Rent-A-Car")

Obviously the presentation is wrong.

E$PN does not want to lessen their BOWL game and FBS programs by actually reporting correctly. So they cheapen the NCAA D-I championship by not presenting it as it is.

Some fans screamed to get a certain game shown on pay per view this year. Do they scream about this disrespect?

More soon.

#4 Montana @ #1 Sam Houston State, Semifinal #1

Kent — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 00:59:05 GMT

Well, I couldn't make the trip to Huntsville so I am watching the game on TV. As I mentioned in my column this week, I see this game as a very closely fought battle between the Grizzlies and Bearkats.

I predicted that Montana would win the national title before the playoff and am not backing off this prediction.

But I will not be shocked if SHSU wins this game at home. The Bearkats have gone undefeated for a reason and they just might get a chance to stay in Texas to play roughly 200 miles up the road in Frisco.

This game should be fun and look forward to watching this one.

Coastal Carolina Searching for Its Second Head Football Coach

mhosea — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 23:45:12 GMT

For the first time in its still brief football history, Coastal Carolina University is without a football coach.

The university announced Dec. 9 that it had immediately relieved David Bennett � the school�s first football coach � of his head coaching duties and reassigned him within the university.

In announcing the decision, CCU President David DeCenzo noted the drop in the program�s record over the last five years as well as slippage in attendance. DeCenzo was clear regarding expectations for the football program.

His statement included the following: �It is true that we had a winning record this season but the record shows that the competitive stature of our program has diminished significantly against peer FCS opponents. Our expenditures in football, quite frankly are not resulting in a return on our investment. Of the 125 FCS schools, our spending on football operations is easily in the top 20. With that investment, we expect to annually place in the top 20 programs, with sights set on competing consistently for the FCS playoffs and national championships. That is simply not happening.�

Bennett came to CCU in 2002 to ready the program that began playing football in 2003. They met with immediate success, not having a losing season until 2007. His teams won four Big South titles and went to the playoffs twice (until this season, the only Big South team to do so). He finished with a nine-year mark of 63-39 at the helm. Three of his former players are currently on NFL rosters.

The last five seasons haven�t been as successful despite winning a co-championship in 2010 and the league�s first automatic qualifier. The Chanticleers were either 5-6 or 6-6 from 2007 through 2010 before finishing 7-4 this season.

At least part of the reason for the downturn were the additions of Danny Rocco as Liberty�s head coach (he just left to go to Richmond) and of Stony Brook to the league�s football teams. Bennett was 4-5 against Liberty but just 2-4 head-to-head with Rocco, including losses of 45 points in 2009 and 36 in 2011. He lost all four games to Stony Brook, falling by 42 points this year. So, since 2006, the Chanticleers were 2-8 against those two teams and 17-4 against everyone else in the Big South. Bennett finished with a winning record against all of the other league teams.

Bennett has shown an ability to coach and always appeared to be strongly interested in the development of the players in his program. It will be interesting to see if he gets another shot at a head-coaching job.

As for the second coach in CCU�s history, he will have a significant challenge meeting the expectation of regular spots in the top 20 FCS programs. For the Chanticleers to make such an accomplishment, the new coach likely can afford to lose only two games per season, at most, to teams under the FBS level. That�s a tall task for any coach and program.

Lehigh @ #2 North Dakota State

Kent — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 20:48:12 GMT

FARGO, N.D.--I am in the Fargodome for the final quarterfinal game pitting the Mountain Hawks against the Bison. All the news is about the suspension of Ryan Spadola for his comments on his Twitter account.

Even without him, I think Chris Lum will be able to pass it against the Bison defense but the key will be if they can score touchdowns or field goals. NDSU's defense becomes very stingy againt their opponents inside the red zone.

The Bison offense I think will be able to run the ball against Lehigh. They seem to give up a number of points so a rather high scoring game might be the case today.

I think the near sellout crowd in the Fargodome will cause some problems for the Mountain Hawks as it tends to get loud in this building when full.

I like the Bison to prevail in this one as I predicted earlier this week. But we shall see as we are about 15 minutes from the opening kickoff.

Following the FCS Scoreboard 12/9-10

rwallace — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 03:53:40 GMT

One Friday game and three Saturday.

December 9
FINAL #5 Northern Iowa 10 @ #4 Montana 48

December 10
FINAL Montana State 13 @ #1 Sam Houston State 49
FINAL Maine 23 @ #3 Georgia Southern 35
FINAL Lehigh 0 @ #2 North Dakota State 24
FINAL Alabama A&M 15 Grambling 16

Danny Rocco Leaves Liberty for Richmond

mhosea — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 00:52:28 GMT

After a highly successful six-year run as the head coach of Liberty University football, Danny Rocco has been named the new head football coach of the Richmond Spiders.

Rocco took over a Flames program that had gone 1-10 in 2005 and made it an immediate winner. He never had a losing season at Liberty, fashioning a 47-20 overall record. In addition, he guided the Flames to a 26-5 Big South record, turning out two undefeated league records and winning or sharing the league title in all four seasons from 2007 to 2010. Liberty went 5-1 in the Big South in 2011 but finished second to Stony Brook.

In those six seasons, Rocco�s team were frequent visitors to the FCS top 25 yet the FCS playoffs always proved elusive. The Big South did not land an automatic qualifier bid until the 2010 season, the season the Flames tied Stony Brook and Coastal Carolina for the league crown. The Chanticleers won the tiebreaker for the playoff spot. Liberty�s records of 8-3, 10-2, 8-3, and 8-3 from 2007 to 2010 were never quite enough to grab an at-large bid.

Still, it�s undeniable the upward trend of Liberty football under Rocco. Though he had never been a head coach prior to coming to Liberty, Rocco made an immediate impact on the program and created a consistent winner. His successor will inherit a strong FCS program.

As for the next coach, Liberty athletic director Jeff Barber said on the school�s athletics website that Carr Sports Associates will assist in the search for the next Flames coach. He said their focus will be as it has been in previous coaching searches � look for someone with �high Division 1 experience.� As for now, Barber said the �go-to guys� for the football program with be associate head coach/running backs coach Pete Sundheim and recruiting coordinator/wide receivers coach Charlie Skalaski.

Wofford @ #5 Northern Iowa, Round 2

Kent — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 21:32:05 GMT

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa--I am in the UNI Dome for this 2nd round playoff game with the Terriers visiting the Panthers.

UNI comes into this game with a 9-2 record and are the number five seed in the FCS playoffs. Wofford comes in with a 8-3 mark. Both teams were at large selections for the playoffs.

Of course the key for the Panthers will be to slow down the Terrier triple option running attack. The Terriers will look to slow down the dual threat of Tirrell Rennie both throwing and running.

I think this game will be close but the home crowd will probably be the difference in this game for a close UNI victory.

But we shall see. I look forward to this one.

Following the FCS Scoreboard (from the Georgia Southern pressbox)

rwallace — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 18:06:55 GMT

And we're underway in Statesboro. I'll be following all the games of the day here, updating as we go.

Central Arkansas @ Tennessee Tech, Round 1

Kent — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 20:07:37 GMT

Central Arkansas gets the ball first in a sunny day in Cookeville, Tennessee.

This should be a good game but as I wrote in my column this week, I think the Bears will be able to win on the road this week over the Golden Eagles.