Playoff Participants Headline 2010 Football Season In SoCon/Big South

The 2010 football season was filled with the expected and the unexpected in the Big South and Southern conferences

By Myron Hosea
South Columnist
College Sporting News

Despite the fact that its postseason featured more teams and more games and didn’t end until 2011, the 2010 Football Championship Subdivision season seemed to be one of the quickest in memory.

Along the way, we saw the expected — Appalachian State staying atop the SoCon, Wofford recovering to challenge the Mountaineers, and Liberty and Stony Brook fighting for the Big South crown.

We also witnessed the surprising — Coastal Carolina making it a three-team chase in the Big South and Georgia Southern’s first-year head coach, Jeff Monken, leading a rebirth of the Eagles program.

The 2010 season proved to be a season of change for three southern programs.

Furman parted ways with Bobby Lamb after three decades, and Steve Patton’s long tenure ended at Gardner-Webb.

Also, following the season, Elon’s Pete Lembo was hired at Ball State.

Former Furman player and assistant Bruce Fowler is the new head coach for the Paladins, while Jason Swepson, a North Carolina State assistant, takes over at Elon.

At this writing, Gardner-Webb had not named Patton’s replacement.

As usual, there’s a lot of ground to cover in a season review, so let’s get started.

STORY OF THE YEAR

Big South:

A Three-Way Tie for the First automatic qualifier

In the first year the Big South possessed an AQ in the FCS playoffs, three teams wound up tied for the league title.

The conference found itself going down the list of tiebreakers in order to choose Coastal Carolina for the playoff spot.

The Chanticleers garnered a postseason contest over Liberty and Stony Brook with a strong finish to the regular season. Coastal Carolina — still the only Big South team to reach the playoffs — lost in the opening round to Western Illinois.



SoCon:

The Eagles Are Back in Town

With the expanded FCS playoffs, the Southern Conference finally got three teams into the playoffs.

Appalachian State and Wofford tied for the championship, and both went to the playoffs (the Mountaineers as the automatic qualifier).

Georgia Southern trumped them both, however, in the playoffs.

The Eagles captured the third playoff spot for the league with a late-season winning streak to return to the playoffs for the first time since firing Mike Sewak as coach and junking the triple option in 2005.

That six-game winning streak continued all the way to the FCS semifinals with wins over South Carolina State, William & Mary, and Wofford before a loss at Delaware.



The Big South Conference in Review

Charleston Southern Buccaneers

Overall Record: 3-8

Big South Record: 1-5

Key Game: Bucs held off Presbyterian College for a 42-39 win, the only Big South victory for the program in 2010.

All Done: WR Kwame Krakue, OL Jordan Lancaster, WR Deon Lee, PK John Paglia, LB Chris Patrick, WR/KR Gerald Stevenson

Expected Back: DB Charles James, DB Chris Kuzdale, LB Cornelius Sterling, DL Joel Walton

Summary: Injuries and inconsistencies led to fewest wins under Jay Mills since the 1-11 finish in his first season at Charleston Southern.


Coastal Carolina Chanticleers

Overall Record: 6-6 (lost in first round of FCS playoffs to Western Illinois)

Big South Record: 5-1

Key Game: Coastal Carolina’s 30-27 victory at Gardner-Webb started the four-game winning streak that led to the playoffs.

All Done: DB Dominique Davenport, DL Kent Harper, QB Zach MacDowall, RB Eric O’Neal, OL Seth Smalls, WR Brandon Whitley

Expected Back: OL Jamey Cheatwood, TE David Duran, LB Andrae Jacobs (Big South Defensive Player of the Year), PR Niccolo Mastromatteo, DB Josh Norman

Summary: A late-season push – including a 70-3 blowout of Charleston Southern – carried the Chanticleers to the Big South’s first automatic qualifier spot and the school’s second FCS playoff game.


Gardner-Webb Runnin’ Bulldogs

Overall Record: 4-7

Big South Record: 2-4

Key Game: Gardner-Webb captured program’s first win over an FBS school by winning at Akron 38-37.

All Done: OL Corey O’Daniel, RB Patrick Hall, TE Josh Miller, LB Dami Teniola, LB Jeffery Williams

Expected Back: RB Juanne Blount, OL Jamie Dunaway, PK Ryan Gates, DB Bryce Nixon, DL Preston Pemasa (Big South Freshman of the Year), WR James Perry III

Summary: Numerous injuries and close loses combined to produce program’s fewest wins in over a decade. This season proved to be the last for head coach Steve Patton at Gardner-Webb.


Liberty Flames

Overall Record: 8-3

Big South Record: 5-1

Key Game: Liberty rolled past Stony Brook 54-28 to earn a share of the league title.

All Done: DL Terry Adams, LB Doncel Bolt, LB Kyle O’Donnell, OL Alex Stadler, OL Justin Vargas

Expected Back: PK Matt Bevins, QB Mike Brown (Big South Offensive Player of the Year), DL Asa Chapman, RB SirChauncey Holloway, WR Chris Summers

Summary: Despite collecting the most overall wins in the league, the Flames missed the playoffs again by losing out in the formula that broke a three-way tie for the league title.


Presbyterian College Blue Hose

Overall Record: 2-9

Big South Record: 1-5

Key Game: PC went on the road and knocked off Gardner-Webb 26-24 to end a lengthy losing skein.

All Done: LB Derek Brown, RB Trandon Dendy, QB Myron Gary, LB CeeJay Harris

Expected Back: DB Justin Bethel, DB Matthan Burton, P Patrick Morgano, WR Michael Ruff, QB Ryan Singer

Summary: The Blue Hose made progress, breaking the two-year-long losing streak and notching their first official Big South Conference victory.


Stony Brook Seawolves

Overall Record: 6-5

Big South Record: 5-1

Key Game: Stony Brook put itself in position for a league title run by knocking off Coastal Carolina 38-28.

All Done: OL Brian Crew, OL Paul Fenaroli, DB Arin West

Expected Back: WR Matt Brevi, QB Michael Coulter, RB/KR Brock Jackolski, RB Miguel Maysonet, LB Craig Richardson, PK Wesley Skiffington

Summary: The Seawolves survived a tough schedule to grab a share of the Big South title, but they came up just shy of the playoff spot.


Virginia Military Institute Keydets

Overall Record: 3-8

Big South Record: 2-4

Key Game: VMI carried the second half to capture a road win at Charleston Southern 34-16.

All Done: DL Damiso Alexander, RB Gabe Itoka, LB Kris Ware, PR Michael Rainey-Wiles, DL Josh Wine

Expected Back: DB Byron Allen, LB A. J. Gross, QB Cameron Jones, QB Eric Kordenbrock

Summary: The Keydets increased their win total, if only by one, over 2009 as they adjusted to a major shift in offensive focus from a running attack to a passing attack.


The Southern Conference in Review

Appalachian State Mountaineers

Overall Record: 10-3

SoCon Record: 7-1

Key Game: The Mountaineers dominated Wofford in a 43-13 home win, clinching the SoCon automatic bid for the FCS playoffs.

All Done: DL Jabari Fletcher, OL Brett Irvin, OL Daniel Kilgore, DB Mark LeGree, LB D. J. Smith, PK Jason Vitaris

Expected Back: RB Travaris Cadet, OL Orry Frye, DB Ed Gainey, TE Ben Jorden, QB DeAndre Presley (SoCon Offensive Player of the Year), WR Brian Quick

Summary: Appalachian State continued its reign atop the SoCon and appeared to have the stuff for a title-game run until 2009 champ Villanova ended the hopes of the top-seeded Mountaineers.


Chattanooga Mocs

Overall Record: 6-5

SoCon Record: 5-3

Key Game: The Mocs produced a massive fourth-quarter comeback to win 36-28 at Furman, a victory that at the time left Chattanooga 4-1 in the SoCon.

All Done: OL Chris Harr, TE Gerald Hughes, OL T. J. Hurless, DB Buster Skrine

Expected Back: WR Joel Bradford, QB B. J. Coleman, LB Ryan Consiglio, DL Chris Donald, DB Kadeem Wise (SoCon Freshman of the Year)

Summary: Chattanooga opened the season by barely losing to a pair of teams that spent time in the highest reaches of the national polls and then just missed a playoff spot.


Elon Phoenix

Overall Record: 6-5

SoCon Record: 5-3

Key Game: The Phoenix went to Chattanooga and knocked off the Mocs 49-35, launching a four-game winning streak that salvaged a winning record.

All Done: DL Jordan Gibson, WR Sean Jeffcoat, QB Scott Riddle, OL John Rubertone, LB Brandon Wiggins

Expected Back: OL Rodney Austin, OL Ned Cuthbertson, WR Aaron Mellette

Summary: Elon took a step back this year thanks to a tough start, but a strong finish gave the Phoenix another winning season. It turned out to be the last for Pete Lembo at Elon, though, as he accepted an opportunity to coach at FBS school Ball State.


Furman Paladins

Overall Record: 5-6

SoCon Record: 3-5

Key Game: In the season finale at home, a late fumble spurred a Georgia Southern rally in a 32-28 loss, meaning Bobby Lamb ended his nine-year run as head coach with a losing season.

All Done: DB Max Lerner, WR Adam Mims

Expected Back: LB Kadarron Anderson, PK Ray Early, DL Josh Lynn, DB Ryan Steed, RB Jerry Williams, RB Tersoo Uhaa

Summary: Furman started strong with four wins in five FCS games, but the Paladins blew three fourth-quarter leads down the stretch.


Georgia Southern Eagles

Overall Record: 10-5

SoCon Record: 5-3

Key Game: A 21-14 home victory over previously unbeaten Appalachian State started the Eagles on a six-game winning streak that extended into the playoffs, ending in the national semifinals.

All Done: LB E. J. Webb

Expected Back: OL Brett Moore, LB Josh Rowe, DL Brent Russell, DB Laron Scott, QB Jaybo Shaw, DL Roderick Tinsley

Summary: The return of a former assistant coach and the option offense brought the return of Georgia Southern’s winning ways along with a spot in the postseason.


Samford Bulldogs

Overall Record: 4-7

SoCon Record: 2-6

Key Game: The Bulldogs were the last team this side of Delaware to beat Georgia Southern, downing the Eagles 20-13 on the road.

All Done: DB Thomas Broussard, DL John Michael Clay, TB Chris Evans, OL Thomas Gray, P Bob Hooper, LB Bryce Smith

Expected Back: DL Alex Davis, WR Quin Roberson, QB Dustin Taliaferro, PK Cameron Yaw

Summary: After beating Georgia Southern, Samford stood at 4-4. The Bulldogs went the wrong direction from there, losing their last three.


The Citadel Bulldogs

Overall Record: 3-8

SoCon Record: 1-7

Key Game: The Bulldogs at least closed a dismal season with a win by edging Samford 13-12 on the road.

All Done: DB Cortez Allen, DL Erik Clanton, DB Demetrius Jackson

Expected Back: LB Tolu Akindele, DL Chris Billingslea, S Joseph Boateng, RB Terrell Dallas, LB Rod Harland

Summary: The switch to the triple option offense did not pay immediate dividends for The Citadel, which experienced a seven-game losing streak.


Western Carolina Catamounts

Overall Record: 2-9

SoCon Record: 1-7

Key Game: The Catamounts got a measure of revenge and local bragging rights by defeating nearby rival Gardner-Webb 28-14 on the road.

All Done: DB Mitchell Bell, DB Angelo Brown, DL Charles Johnson

Expected Back: WR Deja Alexander, QB Zac Brindise, P Blake Cain, RB Michael Johnson, DB Torez Jones, LB Rock Williams

Summary: Western Carolina suffered another difficult season, dropping its final six games after posting a 2-3 start.


Wofford Terriers

Overall Record: 10-3

SoCon Record: 7-1

Key Game: The Terriers rebounded from the stinging loss at Appalachian State by routing Chattanooga 45-14 in the regular-season finale and earning a SoCon co-championship.

All Done: OL Clark Bishop, OL Pat Illig, DB Tommy Irvin, RB Jeremy Marshall, RB Mike Rucker, LB Keaton Thompson

Expected Back: QB Mitch Allen, WR Brenton Bersin, FB Eric Breitenstein, DL Alex Goltry, LB Mike Niam, DL Ameet Pall (SoCon Defensive Player of the Year)

Summary: Wofford overcame a difficult 2009 to win seven conference games and a playoff game at Jacksonville State.