Jacksonville, Fla. – Lynchburg, VA (SportsNetwork.com) - A full game and two overtimes were played Saturday, but ultimately the Coastal Carolina-Liberty rivalry in the Big South Conference came down to a 40-yard field goal attempt.
In the second overtime, Coastal Carolina's LaDarius Hawthorne blocked a Liberty field goal try that would have sent the game into a third overtime, but instead gave the No. 6 Chanticleers a 55-52 triumph over the Flames.
Coastal, one of four unbeaten teams in the FCS, improved to 7-0 overall and 2-0 in the Big South. Liberty fell to 3-4 and 0-1 while having its 18-game home conference winning streak snapped.
Coastal running back Lorenzo Taliaferro was Superman on Saturday, notching 151 rushing yards and four touchdowns - including the game-tying score in the first overtime - on 26 carries.
Quarterback Alex Ross completed 24-of-39 pass attempts for 294 yards, three touchdowns and an interception in the win. He also ran for 79 yards on 10 carries.
Alex Catron's 35-yard field goal to open the second overtime gave the Chanticleers a 55-52 advantage.
Liberty running back Desmond Rice accounted for 170 rushing yards and three touchdowns, while quarterback Josh Woodrum kept the Flames in the contest with 382 passing yards and three touchdowns.
The Chants took a 6-5 all-time series lead. In the previous 10 meetings, the winner has gone on to win at least a share of the conference title eight times at season's end.
The 55 points were a season high for Coastal Carolina.
Saturday, Oct. 19
No. 1 North Dakota State (7-0, 4-0 Missouri Valley) 31,
Southern Illinois (4-4, 2-2) 10
Trailing 10-7 at halftime, North Dakota State pulled away to its 16th straight win on John Crockett's three touchdown runs in the third quarter. He finished with 171 yards on 23 carries.
Sam Ojuri added 137 rushing yards as NDSU gained 331 on the ground.
No. 9 McNeese State (6-1, 2-0 Southland) 31,
No. 2 Sam Houston State (5-2, 1-1) 23
Cody Stroud threw for 267 yards and three touchdowns and Marcus Wiltz had 122 yards and a touchdown on the ground to lead McNeese State.
Sam Houston's Brian Bell passed for 315 yards and two touchdowns, but running back Timothy Flanders was limited to 22 yards on 11 carries.
No. 3 Eastern Illinois (6-1, 3-0 OVC) 55,
Southeast Missouri State (1-6, 1-3) 33
The Panthers gained 665 yards of offense, including 283 rushing, in the win.
Shephard Little and Taylor Duncan each went over 100 rushing yards and totaled four touchdowns. Jimmy Garoppolo added three more passing touchdowns to his Division I-leading season total, now at 31.
Garoppolo broke Sean Payton's school record for passing yards - he now has 10,841 yards - and Casey Brockman's Ohio Valley Conference career record for total offense at Murray State - he now has 10,741 career yards.
No. 4 Eastern Washington (5-2, 3-0 Big Sky) 34, Southern Utah (5-3, 2-2) 10
Vernon Adams was 25-of-35 for 298 yards and three touchdowns and rushed for 58 yards, sparking the Eagles.
Redshirt freshman Connor Kupp had 11 receptions for 168 yards and one touchdown.
No. 5 Montana State (5-2, 3-0 Big Sky) 34, Weber State (1-7, 0-4) 16
DeNarius McGhee had his first big game since returning from a shoulder injury several weeks ago. He threw for 313 yards and three touchdowns on 20-of-29 passing.
His big effort gave him 10,153 career passing yards and made him the third player in Big Sky history to throw for 10,000 yards and rush for 1,000 yards in his career.
Jon Ellis caught a pair of touchdowns in the win.
No. 7 Towson (7-1, 3-1 CAA) 44, Albany (1-7, 0-4) 17
The Tigers easily bounced back from last week's loss to Villanova by routing Albany.
Terrance West bulldozed his way to 183 yards and two touchdowns on 22 carries, continuing his dominant season out of Towson's backfield. Freshman Darius Victor added 62 yards and a score to Towson's combined 279 yards on the ground.
No. 8 Fordham (8-0) 52, Yale (3-2) 31
Sam Ajala caught 10 receptions, including four touchdowns, for a school-record 282 yards to fuel unbeaten Fordham, which improved to 8-0 for the first time in school history. Two of Ajala's TDs went for 68 yards each.
Quarterback Michael Nebrich needed only 19 completions to rack up 421 yards, and he rushed for one touchdown.
No. 10 Montana (6-1, 3-1 Big Sky) 21, Cal Poly (3-4, 2-1) 14, OT
Jordan Johnson forced overtime with a touchdown pass with 12 seconds left in the fourth quarter, then connected with Ellis Henderson on a 23-yard scoring pass in the first overtime.
Brock Coyle's goal-line interception of Cal Poly quarterback Dano Graves ended the game.
Johnson's 2-yard TD pass to Clay Pierson sent the game to OT at 14-14. Montana drove 88 yards in the final two minutes of regulation after a Cal Poly field goal attempt of 26 yards by Bobby Zalud was blocked by Jordan Tripp.
For Cal Poly, Kristaan Ivory rushed for 121 yards.
South Dakota (4-3, 3-1 Missouri Valley) 38,
No. 11 Northern Iowa (4-3, 0-3) 31, 2 OT
Surprising South Dakota handed Northern Iowa its third Missouri Valley Conference loss in as many weeks. The Coyotes overcame a 28-7 deficit and UNI junior David Johnson's 181 rushing yards.
Kevin Earl's 1-yard touchdown run in the second overtime was the decisive margin. The South Dakota signal caller threw for 370 yards and three touchdowns.
No. 25 New Hampshire (3-3, 2-1 CAA) 29, No. 12 Villanova (4-3, 3-1) 28
New Hampshire quarterback Sean Goldrich scored from 4 yards out with 13 seconds remaining, and running back Chris Setian went in on a direct snap on the ensuing two-point try, to drop Villanova from first place in CAA Football.
Goldrich, who replaced Andy Vailas this week after Vailas underwent knee surgery, scored three total touchdowns, passed for 236 yards and ran for 27 more.
Villanova quarterback John Robertson rushed for 256 yards and three touchdowns and threw for another 122 yards for 377 total yards. He completed 15-of-17 pass attempts.
No. 13 Wofford (5-2, 4-0 Southern) 21, Western Carolina (1-7, 0-4) 17
Wofford improved on its perfect Southern Conference record by rallying from a 17-7 halftime deficit. Western Carolina lost its 26th straight conference game.
Wofford turned the ball over three times and possessed the ball over six fewer minutes than the Catamounts, but Octavius Harden's 16-yard touchdown run with 11:22 left to play proved to be the deciding factor. The Terriers had 372 rushing yards.
No. 14 Maine (6-1, 3-0 CAA) 34, William & Mary (4-2, 1-1) 20
After jumping ahead to an early 24-0 lead, the Black Bears withstood a fourth- quarter William & Mary push to hang on for their third CAA victory.
Marcus Wasilewski passed for 192 yards and two touchdowns, while Rickey Stevens added 93 rushing yards and a touchdown on 23 carries in the win.
William & Mary entered the game having trailed for only 28 seconds in its first five FCS contests.
Missouri State (2-6, 2-2 Missouri Valley) 35,
No. 15 South Dakota State (4-4, 1-3) 21
Missouri State raced to a 20-0 halftime lead in handing South Dakota State its fourth loss in five games. Ryan Heaton (122 yards) and Mikael Cooper-Falls (104 yards, two touchdowns) both went over 100 rushing yards.
SDSU's Zach Zenner rushed for 138 yards and a touchdown on 30 carries in the loss.
No. 16 Youngstown State (7-1, 4-0 Missouri Valley) 24,
Western Illinois (3-5, 1-3) 14
Martin Ruiz rushed for 199 yards and one touchdown to lead Youngstown State.
Penguins quarterback Kurt Hess completed only seven passes, but two went for touchdowns, including a 5-yarder to Nate Adams to provide a 24-14 lead with 2:34 to play.
No. 17 Bethune-Cookman (6-1, 3-0 MEAC) 48, Savannah State (1-7, 0-4) 21
Cary White rushed for three touchdowns and Isidore Jackson added a pair for Bethune-Cookman, which led 42-7 at halftime.
B-CU committed four turnovers, but forced five from Savannah State.
No. 18 Lehigh (6-1, 1-0 Patriot) 45, Georgetown (1-6, 0-1) 24
Lehigh's Keith Sherman broke loose for 157 yards and two touchdowns on 19 carries, while fullback Sean Farrell scored on three of his four carries.
Wide receiver Lee Kurfis' string of seven consecutive games with at least 100 receiving yards ended. He caught seven passes for 77 yards.
No. 19 Northern Arizona (5-2, 3-1 Big Sky) 39, Idaho State (3-4, 1-3) 30
Junior quarterback Chase Cartwright, who was the hero of last weekend's win at Sacramento State, picked up where he left off for Northern Arizona, throwing for 157 yards and three touchdowns.
Walter Payton Award candidate Zach Bauman dominated with 266 rushing yards and two touchdowns, and added 58 receiving yards and a score for good measure.
Idaho State quarterback Kevin Arias had 390 yards and three touchdowns on 57 pass attempts in the loss.
No. 21 Central Arkansas (4-3, 1-1 Southland) 26, Lamar, (3-4, 0-2) 24
The Bears managed to fend off Southland Conference foe Lamar under new quarterback Ryan Howard's leadership.
Howard, who filled in for the injured Wynrick Smothers, completed 10-of-19 pass attempts for 106 yards and a touchdown. Despite the fact Lamar held Central Arkansas to under 200 total yards of offense, the Cardinals didn't come up with enough offense of their own.
No. 24 Tennessee State (6-1, 4-0 OVC) 29, UT Martin (4-2, 2-1) 15
The Tigers used Daniel Fitzpatrick's 20-yard interception return for a touchdown and De'Ante Saunders' 54-yard return of a blocked field goal for a score to fuel the win over fellow Ohio Valley Conference member UT Martin.
The Skyhawks outgained Tennessee State on offense, but turned the ball over three times in the loss. They also were assessed 19 penalties for 146 yards.
Idle This Weekend
No. 20 James Madison (5-2)
No. 22 Samford (5-2)
No. 23 Georgia Southern (4-2)
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